TOMMY DORSEY BAND WITH FRANK SINATRA, OPENS THE PALLADIUM IN 1940
By Sharrie Williams · Written April 2012 · 2 min read
In the 1940’s, all the great bands played the Hollywood Palladium, including Freddie Martin, Phil Harris, Jimmy Dorsey, Glen Miller, Bob Crosby, Stan Kenton, Harry James, Kay Kyser, Les Brown, Artie Shaw, Wood Herman, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, Alice Faye, the Andrew Sisters and Gene Krupa.
During WW2 the Palladium hosted a radio broadcast. Betty Grable and other Stars would greet servicemen and ask for their favorite song to be played, while kids listened on their car radio’s, while cruising Sunset Blvd.
Betty Grable without makeup, in a before and after Maybelline ad, 1940, made girls aware of what a difference Maybelline made in their sex appeal.
A big Star like Grable, brought thousands of girls into the dime stores to purchase Maybelline…. before going dancing at the Palladium that night.
Maybelline print ad’s like this were placed in all the movie magazines during WW ll.
Hedy Lamarr like many other big Stars, were featured in Maybelline ads in the 1940s.
Servicemen, were regulars at the Palladium during the War and Maybelline helped sell War Bonds with ads like this placed in movie magazines.
The Hollywood Palladium opened with vocalist Frank Sinatra playing with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
A few weeks later, they recorded an album at the Palladium.
The Palladium that night must have seemed like a dreamy refuge in a world that was growing darker
by the day.”
Yet the excitement must have blown the top off the Ballroom….. with six bars serving liquor and two more serving soft drinks and a $1 cover charge and a $3 charge for dinner.
Dorothy Lamour was there to snip the ribbon, spangled with orchids, and as Jack Benny, Judy Garland and Lana Turner looked on, hundreds of couples danced the jitterbug.
During WW ll, radio shows originated from the Palladium to raise funds to aid war sufferers in Britain. Celebrities guest included; Ronald Coleman, Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Jack Benny, Claudette Colbert, Myrna Loy and Charles Boyer.
Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra,
“I’ll Never Smile Again,” 1940.
Read more about the Palladium during WW ll, and all the big Stars that were featured in Maybelline ads, in my book, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.
Coming soon · Next from Sharrie Williams
Maybe She’s Born With It
The next chapter of the Maybelline family story. Get a text the day it’s out.
