RAY ANTHONY ORCHESTRA: Anthony was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, one of six brothers. He started the trumpet at the age of 5. In 1938 he joined Al Donahue and then Glenn Miller from November of 1940 to July of 1941. He then spent six months with Jimmy Dorsey before joining the Navy in 1942, leading his own band in the Pacific until 1946. Anthony started leading a civilian band under his own name in 1946, achieving popularity in 1949 after he joined Capitol Records. One of his biggest “hits” was the “Dragnet” theme, recorded in 1953. The transcription recordings here include vocalizing by THE SKYLINERS, MARCIE MILLER and/or TOMMY MERCER. As of 2006, Ray is still alive and performing. GLORIA HART and ART KASSEL: Saxophonist Art Kassel and his "Kassels in the Air" were a staple on the Chicago music scene for 30 years. Debuting in 1924 at the Midway Gardens, the group spent a 15-year engagement at the Bismark Hotel and frequented the Aragon and Trianon ballrooms, where it received national radio exposure. Gloria Hart joined as a vocalist in the mid-1940s and was Art's regular female vocalist for the next 20 years. In the late 1950s, Kassel moved to the West Coast, where he appeared for two years with his orchestra on a local television program, The Gloria Hart Show. In its early years, the band boasted jazz artists Benny Goodman, Bud Freeman, and Mugsy Spanier, but Kassel switched to sweet music during the 1930s. This latter orchestra had an extremely loyal following. After Kassel's death in 1965, the orchestra continued to perform West Coast engagements. Also accompanying the orchestra are the KASSEL TRIO, which included Art Kassel himself, PAULA GILBERT and CHUCK JOHNSON. The recordings here are from various radio on-air broadcasts from the late 1950s and early 1960s.