Much of the music that I first enjoyed in my crib, actually, was called “swing”, but for me, it usually meant hearing Frank Sinatra or the Andrew Sisters belt out one of their favorite tunes. For the reader not familiar with that musical world, I have listed below typical examples, which he/she will hopefully enjoy.
Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw were popular band leaders, and traveling band shows were a favorite source of entertainment for millions of Americans. These ensembles travelled from town-to-town across our whole country to provide enjoyable dance music to counter the fear and anxiety of many folks, who still had fresh memories about the Great Depression (1929 – 1939).
My mother, Claire (Charbonneau) Bolduc was well-known in the local community of dancers, who specialized in the fox trot, the waltz and the polka, all musical styles that dominated the Lowell music scene at the time. During the hey days of the Charleston, she had even taken first prize in one contest, a feat that pleased her ego even years later when that dance was no longer the craze.
Both of my parents had a musical affinty, which readily expressed itself in piles of sheet music that covered the top of our upright piano, which was located in the family room of our spacious tenement at 179 Ludlam Street in Centralville.
Often, I would hear a tune like Hora Staccato emanating from our private music chamber while fixing myself a sandwich in our kitchen. Surely, my mother must have been stationed at our piano and reliving her earlier days dancing away her worries at the Lakeview Ballroom overlooking the lake. This was great and inexpensive therapy.
Similary, my father might entertain us, in the early evening, with a piece of classical music, which he may have learned as a boy when his Bolduc household of mother, father and six children still held togather as a family unit. I know very little, even today, about those days of yore when many of the underpinings of our nearly theatrical drama were first launched.
He was never known to talk about any personal feelings or his role in that famiy entourage. In many ways, he was and remained a constant emotional question mark for me during my fourteen years of sharing a home with him. Maybe, my brother Bob and my two sisters, Michelle and Denise, managed to fashion a more meaningful connection with the man, but I really do not know.
Those marvelous melodies from the 1940s
The Hit Parade was a favorite radio spot for many of us captured in Lowell, Massachusets at the moment. Some of you may, yet, recall those soothing moments. See below:
Hit Parade 1940 | The Best Music Of The Year
1940s Music, 1940s Music Hits with 1940s Music Playlist of 1940s
The Songs & Music Of World War II: #1930s #1940s Songs Associated With #WorldWar2
Moonlight Serenade: The Best Of Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
20 Years of Jazz Medley:Sing Sing Sing / In the Mood / Chattanooga Choo Choo / Boogie Woogie…
Yet, another musical hero appeared on the TV screens of the late 1940s. Some of you just might also recall Nat King Cole .
This panoply of musical talent gave the 1940s a bright spot in otherwise painful escpades of the human condtion.