100 years ago: Ben Selvin hit #1 with “Dardanella” for first of 13 weeks

Dardanella Ben Selvin

Writer(s): Johnny S. Black and Felix Bernard (music), Fred Fisher (lyrics) (see lyrics here) First Charted: January 24, 1920 Peak: 113 US, 11 GA, 13 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 8.5 (includes 2.0 in sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Ben Selvin (1898-1980) launched himself as a professional musician at age 15 playing fiddle in New York City nightclubs. SB Over his career, his 2000+ recordings rank him above any other bandleader. PM The Guinness Book of World Records estimates his output as high as 20,000 song titles, giving him the distinction of having recorded more musical sides on 78-rpm discs than any other person. WK Part of his prolific output was due to him recording for dozens of different labels at a time when the industry was at high growth. WK His bands featured such famous sidemen as Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman AMG and vocalists like Ruth Etting, Ethel Waters, and Kate Smith. AMG In addition to working as a musician and bandleader, Selvin was an innovator and record producer. WK He had his first chart hit, the #1 “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” in 1919 when he was still just a teenager. His biggest hit, an instrumental version of “Dardanella,” came the following year. Its continuous bass line helps it stand out. DJ-44 As the first song to sell over 5 million copies PM it became the biggest hit of 1920, CPM one of the ten best sellers of the first half of the 20th century, PM and the biggest-selling song in the first quarter-century of recorded music. SB Prince’s Orchestra, Harry Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra, and the duet of Henry Burr and Albert Campbell all charted with the song in 1920 as well. PM It was revived in 1949’s Oh, You Beautiful Doll, a biopic about the song’s lyricist, Fred Fisher. DJ-44 Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Ben Selvin AMG All Music Guide DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 44. SB Songbook1.wordpress.com PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 379, 490, and 631. CPM Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Record Research, Inc.: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 35. WK Wikipedia.org First posted 1/24/2013; last updated 1/28/2023.

On This Day (1912): American Quartet hit #1 with “Oh You Beautiful Doll”

Oh You Beautiful Doll Billy Murray & the American Quartet

Writer(s): Nat D. Ayer (music), Seymour Brown (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: December 16, 1911 Peak: 11 US, 13 GA, 112 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.23 video, 0.21 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “The definition of beauty or attractiveness has changed over the years…The men of the early 1900s would considered many of the beautiful women of the 21st century under nourished,” TY2 as suggested by the line “Oh, you beautiful doll / You great big beautiful doll” in the “ragtime love song” WK “Oh, You Beautiful Doll.” “In ’00, the Florodora girls were considered the epitome of feminine allure. The six girls were 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 130 pounds each.” TY2 The American Quartet had a #1 hit with the song. Although Billy Murray received a separate credit, “this was definitely a group effort with the Quartet joining in as a harmony group right from the beginning and not being dominated by Murray.” SM This was the fourth chart-topper for the American Quartet, who first charted in 1910. PM The song has been recorded hundreds of times WK including an instrumental by Arthur Pryor’s band DJ in 1912. Al Campbell & Arthur Collins, the Crew-Cuts, Mitch Miller, Nancy Sinatra, Mel Tormé, and Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. SH Judy Garland sang the song in the 1942 movie For Me and My Gal. DJ It has also been featured in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), Broadway Rhythm (1944), Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949), Strangers on a Train (1951), The I-Don’t-Care Girl (1953), The Eddie Cantor Story (1953), The Taming of the Shrew (1969), and Somewhere in Time (1980). Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 150. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) SH SecondHandSongs.com TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 58. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 23-5. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/26/2023; last updated 9/6/2023.