1938 Randall's Island Carnival of Swing - 70th anniversary
Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:23 am
And here it is - the 70th anniversary of this unique in all history event.
There isn't much one can do to celebrate it - near all the participants from either side of the stage have passed into the ether.
The documentation is slim - some newsprint and photographs, some newsreel footage, some facts and figures. Was there a live broadcast on that Sunday back in May of 1938? Is there advertising and paper ephemera extant? Or is it all now just the memories of those who were there seven decades ago - memories alive in the minds of men and women now in their mid 80s and beyond?
What a show!
Hail to the Randall's Island Carnival of Swing!
Once upon a time..........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbubFSgU ... re=related
NY TIMES
SWING BANDS PUT 23,400 IN FRENZY; Jitterbugs Cavort at Randalls Island as 25 Orchestras Blare in Carnival Trek Begins at 8 A. M. Excitement Only Starts
May 30, 1938, Monday
For a full five hours and forty-five minutes, 23,400 assorted jitterbugs and alligators-more conservatively known as swing music enthusiasts - cavorted yesterday at Randalls Island Stadium to the musical gymnastics of twenty-five swing bands, vainly bucking the lines of police and park officers who were sworn to protect the swing maestros from destruction by adulation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbubFSgU ... re=related
There isn't much one can do to celebrate it - near all the participants from either side of the stage have passed into the ether.
The documentation is slim - some newsprint and photographs, some newsreel footage, some facts and figures. Was there a live broadcast on that Sunday back in May of 1938? Is there advertising and paper ephemera extant? Or is it all now just the memories of those who were there seven decades ago - memories alive in the minds of men and women now in their mid 80s and beyond?
What a show!
Hail to the Randall's Island Carnival of Swing!
Once upon a time..........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbubFSgU ... re=related
NY TIMES
SWING BANDS PUT 23,400 IN FRENZY; Jitterbugs Cavort at Randalls Island as 25 Orchestras Blare in Carnival Trek Begins at 8 A. M. Excitement Only Starts
May 30, 1938, Monday
For a full five hours and forty-five minutes, 23,400 assorted jitterbugs and alligators-more conservatively known as swing music enthusiasts - cavorted yesterday at Randalls Island Stadium to the musical gymnastics of twenty-five swing bands, vainly bucking the lines of police and park officers who were sworn to protect the swing maestros from destruction by adulation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbubFSgU ... re=related