Music.

JOHN YDSTIE: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm John Ydstie.

LIANE HANSEN: And I'm Liane Hansen.

Music.

Unidentified Man #1: In deference to the Passover holiday, the program usually heard at this time will not be presented.

Radio static and chimes.

Unidentified Man #2: WEVD, New York.

Unidentified Man #3: WLTA, Brooklyn, New York.

Unidentified Man #4: WCNW, operating on a frequency of 1,500 kilocycles...

Music.

YDSTIE: Travel with us now back in time to New York City in the 1930s and '40s.

Radio static and beginning of radio program.

Unidentified Man #5: Now, folks, Sam Medoff and The Swingsters(ph) interpret that snappy, little nocturne called "Reptovital."

Music.

HANSEN: The Yiddish Radio Project has rescued a thousand fragile disks from the heyday of Yiddish radio...

Radio static.

Unidentified Man #6: (Yiddish spoken)

YDSTIE: ...recordings which allow us to eavesdrop on a lost world.

Radio static.

Unidentified Man #7: This holiday buy gefilte fish in gleaming, glass jars.

Unidentified Woman #1: Delicately light, always right, gefilte fish in jars.

Music, followed by radio static.

HANSEN: This week on the Yiddish Radio Project, music from a program called "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

Music.

HANSEN: The show ran from 1938 until 1955 on radio station WHN in New York, and it celebrated a peculiar hybrid; a mixture of traditional Yiddish klezmer music with popular American swing. Forty episodes of "Yiddish Melodies in Swing" survived. You'll hear excerpts from a few of them and the story behind the show from one of its stars, Claire Barry. We start with a broadcast from November 24th, 1940, of "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

Soundbite of "Yiddish Melodies in Swing" from November 24, 1940, followed by a chime.

Unidentified Man #8: WHN, New York. The following is transcribed.

Unidentified Man #9: From atop the Loews State Theater Building, your American-Jewish hour.

Drum roll, followed by a fanfare, then applause.

Unidentified Man #9: The B. Manishevitz Company, world's largest motzo bakers, happily present "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

Music.

Unidentified Man #9: They do it to "Eli Meylakh."

Unidentified Man #10: They do it to "Rhett Dovodall."(ph)

Unidentified Man #9: They even do it to "Yidl Mitn Fidl."

Unidentified Man #10: Who does what to which?

Unidentified Man #9: Yiddish swing takes old Yiddish folk songs and finds the groove for them in merry, modern rhythms. And now the Daughters of the Downbeat, the nation's swing beat.

Ms. CLAIRE "GAY" BARRY (Daughters of the Downbeat): Pert and Gay.

Ms. MERNA "PERT" BARRY (Daughters of the Downbeat): We take a tune that's sweet and low...

Ms. C. BARRY: ...and we rock it solid and make it gold.

Unidentified Man #9: The Barry sisters, Pert and Gay, begin bouncing the beat the Yiddish swing way as they tell us about King Cole's famous predecessor, that mellow fellow "Eli Meylakh."

Music.

THE BARRY SISTERS: (Singing) In the land of ...(unintelligible)

Ms. C. BARRY: That's me, Claire Barry, and my sister, Merna, more than 60 years ago. Back then, we were the Barry Sisters, the stars of "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

Soundbite of "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

THE BARRY SISTERS: (Singing) When the banjo started playing, you could see the people swaying and it looked like they were out to have their fling. They forgot their care and trouble as they nearly bent them double. They were dancing to Yiddish and swing.

Ms. C. BARRY: Jazz and klezmer. It might sound like a strange combination, but in 1940, it was the hottest thing in Jewish radio.

Soundbite of "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

THE BARRY SISTERS: (Singing in Yiddish) He's got rhythm, let's dance with-him. Eli Meylakh.

Ms. C. BARRY: The story of Yiddish swing actually begins eight years before this program was broadcast, when a composer by the name of Sholom Secunda wrote a song called "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen," "To Me You Are Beautiful."

Soundbite of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

Unidentified Woman #2: (Singing in Yiddish)

Ms. C. BARRY: The song was written for an obscure 1932 Yiddish musical, which just opened and closed. Fast forward a few years. Composer Sammy Cahn was catching a show at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. A pair of black performers took the stage and started singing "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" in Yiddish. The crowd went wild. Cahn couldn't believe his ears. The tune got some new English lyrics, and in November 1937, three sisters, just in town from Minnesota, recorded it: Patti, Laverne and Maxine, The Andrews Sisters.

Soundbite of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

THE ANDREWS SISTERS: (Singing) Bei mir bist du schoen, please, let me explain. Bei mir bist du schoen means you're great.

Ms. C. BARRY: It was an instantaneous smash hit and became one of the biggest-selling records of all-time. Everyone recorded it, Guy Lombardo...

Soundbite of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

Mr. GUY LOMBARDO: (Singing) I could say `bella, bella,' even say (German sung). Each language only helps me to tell you how grand you are.

Ms. C. BARRY: ...Ella Fitzgerald...

Soundbite of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

Ms. ELLA FITZGERALD: (Scat singing) Bei mir bist du schoen means you're great. Da-da-da-da. Da-da-da-da-da-da.

Ms. C. BARRY: ...Benny Goodman played it at his historic concert at Carnegie Hall...

Soundbite of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

Ms. C. BARRY: ...Judy Garland...

Soundbite of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

Ms. JUDY GARLAND: (Singer) Bei mir bist du schoen, please let me explain. Bei mir bist du schoen means that you're great. I mean, you're the grandest.

Ms. C. BARRY: ...and that was just in the United States.

Soundbite of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

Unidentified Woman #3: (Singing in foreign language)

Unidentified Woman #4: (Singing in foreign language)

Unidentified Man #11: (Singing) I could say, `bella, bella,' even say (German sung). Each language help, help me tell you how grand, grand you are.

Ms. C. BARRY: The song's original composer, Sholom Secunda, was already legendary for an earlier career blunder: telling a young George Gershwin to take a hike when the two were set up as a songwriting team. Gershwin went on to change the course of Western popular music. Secunda went on to sell "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" for $30.

Soundbite of 1962 interview.

Mr. SHOLOM SECUNDA (Composer): I thought that $30 was a pretty good sum of money for a song that's not doing anyway.

Unidentified Woman #5: I agree.

Mr. SECUNDA: So I thought, `Give me the $30, and here's the song.'

Ms. C. BARRY: This may be the only surviving recording of Sholom Secunda's voice, a 1962 interview on radio station WEVD in New York.

Soundbite of 1962 interview.

Mr. SECUNDA: My mother was the one who suffered the most. She, being a very pious woman, felt that she must have sinned and that I am paying for her sins. And she went very often to the synagogue just for praying. One day, she made up her mind she's going to stay in the synagogue all day and pray and fast and maybe God will help her and I will be recognized for the song.

Unidentified Woman #5: Well, now I'm afraid our time has run out. But before it really goes all the way, I think this would be a very good time to listen to the song we love so well in its newest arrangement, which is by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

Soundbite of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

Mr. STEVE LAWRENCE and EYDIE GORME: (Singing) Bei mir bist du schoen, please let me explain.

Ms. C. BARRY: Secunda could never escape the song. No one knows exactly how how many times it was covered. Hundreds? Thousands?

Soundbite of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

Unidentified Group #1: (Singing) Bei mir bist du schoen, again, I explain.

Unidentified Man #12: (Singing) It means you love Paris in the land.

Unidentified Group #2: (Singing) I could say `bella, bella,' even say (German sung). Each language only helps me to tell you how grand you are.

Unidentified Woman #6: (Singing) So it don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing. So let the rafters ring and stand right up and sing bei mir bist du schoen.

Ms. C. BARRY: It was a fluke. No other Yiddish song ever hit it that big again, but Jewish radio would never be the same.

Soundbite of "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

THE BARRY SISTERS: (Singing) It's Yiddish swing time, it's always springtime every Sunday at 1. It's Yiddish swing time, it's dance and sing time. Come on. Let's have fun.

Ms. C. BARRY: When "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" came out, my sister and I were the singing Bagelman Sisters. The very day we heard it on the radio, we changed our names from Clara(ph) and Minnie(ph) Bagelman, the Bagelman Sisters, to Claire and Merna Barry, the Barry Sisters. Soon after, "Yiddish Melodies in Swing" and the Barry Sisters were on the air.

Soundbite of "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

THE BARRY SISTERS: (Singing) Ooh, Mamma, am I in love? Ooh, Mamma, heaven's above. He's the third assistant to the guy who says yes to the boss. Ah, but when it comes to making love, he gets the point across. YIDDISH SUNG

Music.

Mr. PAUL PINKUS (Musician): Hello. I'm Paul Pinkus, and I'm a klezmer musician. I've got to interrupt Claire Barry for just a couple of moments to talk about the "Yiddish Melodies in Swing" bandstand. Listen to the clarinet.

Soundbite of "Bridegroom Special," with clarinet solo.

Mr. PINKUS: The tune is "Bridegroom Special," on clarinet: Dave Tarras, possibly the greatest klezmer clarinet player of the 20th century; possibly because of one other clarinet player. I'll get to him in a second. For now, let's listen to a little bit of Dave Tarras' "Second Avenue Square Dance."

Soundbite of "Second Avenue Square Dance."

Mr. PINKUS: Pete Socolo(ph) was Dave Tarras' last keyboard player.

Mr. PETE SOCOLO (Musician): Dave was a total and complete master, and he plays the dickens out of everything.

Mr. HENRY SAPOZNIK (Klezmer Historian): He played like he had 22 fingers on each hand.

Mr. PINKUS: Klezmer historian Henry Sapoznik.

Mr. SAPOZNIK: Dave was the disciplinarian, a real strict band leader. Only the best musicians could be on a Dave Tarras bandstand.

Mr. SOCOLO: Dave had a very severe mean about him. He came on like, `Young man, know your place. You are in the presence of royalty.'

Mr. PINKUS: But there was another contender for the crown, Dave Tarras' archrival: Naftule Brandwein.

Music.

Mr. PINKUS: I'm one of the only guys alive who played with both of them.

Music.

Mr. PINKUS: Pete Socolo again.

Mr. SOCOLO: He was brilliant. He had this command. He had this edgy kind of a sound.

Mr. PINKUS: Henry Sapoznik.

Mr. SAPOZNIK: Naftule--you always got the feeling that he was just about to fall into, like, some flaming abyss.

Mr. SOCOLO: He was a total and complete alcoholic. He was a drunk.

Mr. SAPOZNIK: He was the preferred band leader for `Murder, Incorporated.'

Mr. SOCOLO: Dave used to say all his friends were bums; they were gangsters; low-lifes.

Mr. SAPOZNIK: Well, they were. Whoever he was playing poker with the night before, that's who was on the bandstand the next day, whether they played an instrument or not.

Mr. SOCOLO: He would take chances with things that the others wouldn't dare. It was like the Charlie Parker of his music. Charlie Parker took every chance that was possibly imaginable to take, and that was Naftule.

Mr. SAPOZNIK: Still, you listen to these records today and it still takes your breath away.

Music.

Mr. SAPOZNIK: Naftule had a suit, like a Uncle Sam costume, made up of Christmas tree lights that he would wear.

Mr. SOCOLO: With a, you know, stars and stripes, tall hat.

Mr. SAPOZNIK: The blue, swallow-tail jacket with the stars and the red-and-white-striped pants.

Mr. SOCOLO: Wrapped in Christmas lights plugged into a wall. And one day, he was going hot and heavy and he began to sweat, and all of a sudden you hear--(makes buzzing noises)--and you begin to see sparks coming out of the Christmas lights while he's playing.

Mr. SAPOZNIK: Lights start popping and smoke starts emanating and there's sizzling.

Mr. SOCOLO: He doesn't stop. He's drunk. And he's boogying away and the steam is coming out of the wires. And the other guys in the back, they see this, they come running out and they threw blankets on top of him to try to smother the fire.

Mr. SAPOZNIK: Somehow they managed to put him out. And in typical Brandwein fashion, he just goes on playing as if nothing happened.

Mr. SOCOLO: He was one of a kind.

Music, followed by a chime.

Mr. PINKUS: Brandwein was way too wild to play on live radio. That's why Dave Tarras ruled the bandstand on "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

Sorry for the interruption. Now back to the show.

Soundbite of radio program.

Unidentified Man #13: And now maestro Sam Medoff and the lads of the Yiddish Swingtet bring us the rollicking rhythms of Dayenu.

Music, followed by an advertizement.

Unidentified Man #14: Boy, what flavor. Hey, Mom, can I have some more?

Unidentified Woman #7: What's all the excitement about?

Unidentified Man #14: Haven't you heard? The whole town's talking about the new Manischewitz American Matso.

Music.

Unidentified Group #3: (Singing) There is nothing that quite hits the spot so, your family will like a lot so. When they're set to eat, just give them this treat, Manischewitz American Matso. M-A-N-I-S-C-H-E-W-I-T-Z.

Unidentified Man #9: Well, with a hey diddle diddle, the Barry Sisters sent one right down the middle, as they tell us the story of...

THE BARRY SISTERS: ..."Yidl Mitn Fidle."

Music.

THE BARRY SISTERS: (Singing) Once there were 10 brothers and they organized a band. When they got together, gee, the music sounded grand. Joseph with his fiddle and Charlie with his bass, they played "Diddle Diddle" as they went from place to place.

Group of Background Singers: (Singing) They played "Diddle Diddle" as they went from place to place.

Ms. C. BARRY: "Yiddish Melodies in Swing" ran for almost 20 years, one of the longest-running shows ever on Jewish radio. We outlived the swing era, the heyday of radio and practically Yiddish culture itself. When we premiered the show in 1938, we had a huge orchestra and a live audience of more than a thousand. By the end of the run, it was just me, my sister, Merna, and a little, four-piece band in a tiny studio on West 44th Street; forgotten.

Now Merna is gone, and everyone else involved with the program, too. But you know what? I'm not going to think about that. I'm going to think about those couple of years when Old World and New World smashed together and we created a beautiful sound that washed over New York; those years when a couple of sisters from the Bronx had the time of their lives, singing their hearts out on "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

Soundbite of "Yiddish Melodies in Swing."

THE BARRY SISTERS: (Singing in Yiddish)

Mr. LUIS CHARLES: This is Luis Charles saying good afternoon and inviting you to...

Tone.

Unidentified Group #4: (Singing) ...listen in again next week, same time, same station...

Mr. CHARLES: WHN, New York.

Ms. C. BARRY: I'm Claire Barry.

Chime.

HANSEN: Henry Sapoznik is co-producer of the Yiddish Radio Project, with Dave Isay and Yair Reiner.

YDSTIE: To hear full-length tunes from "Yiddish Melodies in Swing," visit our Web site, npr.org, and search on the keywords `Yiddish Radio.'

HANSEN: On next week's installment of the Yiddish Radio Project, a glimpse at life in the tenements of New York in the '30s and '40s; the radio dramas of Nahum Stutchkoff.

Music.

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