Military Music And Banjo Solos
People entering a music store to purchase a Columbia record in 1900 would leave not with a flat disc, but a cylinder. Its content would consist of a military band instrumental (probably conducted by...
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  Who says Americans lack a sense of irony? While the financial world was crashing about their ears in 1930, this was the tune that haunted the airwaves and phonographs. Columnist Shana Alexander, daughter of composer Milton Ager, tells that the song was originally penned for a movie so bad all footage was scrapped. Several months later, MGM tycoon Irving Thalberg, hearing the song played in a Hollywood hotel, asked an associate why the studio couldn't get material like this. Upon finding out that his studio indeed owned it, he immediately recalled the cast of the dead film, rewrote the script, and made this tune the featured number. It's rendered here by orchestra leader Ben Selvin, who reportedly took part in recording over 10,000 sides in his fifty-year career.

From Chasing Rainbows; (M. Ager/J. Yellen); Produced by Ben Selvin; Ben Selvin, directing large studio orchestra, featuring: Bob Effros, trumpet; Andy Sanella, soprano saxophone; The Crooners, vocal trio; Rec. New York, February 3, 1930. Columbia 78 RPM 2116-D (mx W.149956-3); Originally Released 1930