Follow a Star · 1924–1969
Guy Lombardo
The band that owned midnight
For nearly fifty years, the last thing America heard in one year and the first thing it heard in the next was Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians playing 'Auld Lang Syne'. The journey follows the London, Ontario brothers from the hotel bandstands where the network lines found them, through the wartime forces discs, to the New Year's Eve broadcasts that turned a sweet dance band into an annual national ritual.
181 recordings across 4 chapters
Chapter 1 · 1924–1955
A line from the bandstand
The Royal Canadians made their name on remotes — a microphone at the hotel, a line back to the studio, and the sweetest music this side of heaven going out to whoever was still up. These are the surviving pickups whose own titles name the band.
- Series
Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians The Sweetest Music This Side Of Heaven
Big Band Remotes · 1934 · 3 min
- Series
Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians v Carmen Lombardo My Old Flame
Big Band Remotes · 1934 · 3 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Winter Wonderland
Big Band Remotes · 1934 · 3 min
- Series
Remote-GuyLombardo Royal Grill ItsALovelyDayToday
Big Band Remotes · 1944 · 25 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Under The Moon
Big Band Remotes · 1927 · 2 min
- Series
Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Canadians Baby
Big Band Remotes · 1928 · 2 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Cy
Big Band Remotes · 1924 · 2 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Sweet Dreams
Big Band Remotes · 1927 · 3 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Coquette
Big Band Remotes · 1928 · 2 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Sweethearts On Parade
Big Band Remotes · 1928 · 3 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Where The Shy Little Violets Grow
Big Band Remotes · 1928 · 3 min
- Series
Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Baby
Big Band Remotes · 1928 · 2 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Me And The Man In The Moon
Big Band Remotes · 1928 · 3 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Shell Come Along
Big Band Remotes · 1930 · 2 min
- Series
Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Something In The Air
Big Band Remotes · 1930 · 3 min
- Series
Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians v Bing Crosby Youre Beautiful Tonight
Big Band Remotes · 1930 · 2 min
- Series
Guy Lombardo Orch I Still Get A Thrill
Big Band Remotes · 1930 · 3 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians v Carmen Lombardo Living On Love
Big Band Remotes · 1930 · 3 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Sweet and Lovely
Big Band Remotes · 1931 · 3 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians v Kate Smith Too Late
Big Band Remotes · 1931 · 3 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Paradise
Big Band Remotes · 1932 · 2 min
- Series
Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians River Stayway From My Door
Big Band Remotes · 1932 · 3 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians v Bing Crosby Young And Healthy
Big Band Remotes · 1933 · 3 min
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Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Young And Healthy
Big Band Remotes · 1933 · 3 min
- Series
Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Youre Getting To Be A Habit With Me
Big Band Remotes · 1933 · 2 min
- Series
Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Youre Driving Me Crazy
Big Band Remotes · 1935 · 3 min
- Series
Guy Lombardo Royal Canadians Seein is Believin
Big Band Remotes · 1935 · 2 min
Chapter 2 · 1943–1946
Cut on disc for the troops
The Armed Forces Radio Service pressed the popular bands onto V-Discs and Spotlight Bands transcriptions and shipped them where no network reached. Lombardo turns up in both.
- Series
Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands 47-10-24 (AFRS 1108) Guy Lombardo, First Song - Coquette
Afrs Spotlight Bands · 1947 · 15 min
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382b Guy Lombardo-1 Stuart Foster-2 Jimmy Brown-Poor Little Rhode Island-Come With Me My Honey
Afrs V Discs · 1944 · 5 min
- Series
490a Guy Lombardo - Comin' Around The Corner - Humoresque
Afrs V Discs · 1944 · 4 min
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243a-Guy Lombardo - Tony Craig - It's Love Love Love - Take It Easy
Afrs V Discs · 1944 · 5 min
- Series
243b-Guy Lombardo - Jimmy Brown - Frankie And Johnny
Afrs V Discs · 1944 · 3 min
- Series
433b - Guy Lombardo - (Medley) Once In A While - I Love You Truly - Coquette - In A Little Dutch Mill - Goodnight Sweetheart
Afrs Spotlight Bands · undated · 5 min
Chapter 3 · 1944–1946
In the newscasts
A dance band big enough to make the news bulletins and the sports reels. Short mentions, but they date the band's standing better than any billing does.
- Series
eel - 461213 - Guy Lombardo
Bill Sterns Sports Newsreel · 1946 · 14 min
- Series
490 V-Disc A Guy Lombardo & his Orchestra - Comin' Around The Corner & Humoresque
Radio News 1944 · 1944 · 4 min
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382 V-Disc B Guy Lombardo and his Orchestra - Poor Little Rhode Island & Come With Me My Honey
Radio News 1945 · 1945 · 5 min
- Series
470 V-Disc A Guy Lombardo & His Orchestra - Stars In Your Eyes & El Rancho Vegas
Radio News 1945 · 1945 · 4 min
Chapter 4 · 1935–1960
showing 40 of 144
The hours before midnight
The reason the name still means something: New Year's Eve on the air. The countdown broadcasts, the party shows and the midnight bells the archive holds — Lombardo's own and the rest of the dial's, so you can hear the night he defined the way it actually sounded.
- Series
New Year's Eve Address 'The Battle At Tannenberg'
Wwii News Sound Files · 1932 · 1 min
- Series
DRF Hindenburg - New Years Eve Address The Battle At Tannenberg
Wwii News Sound Files · 1932 · 1 min
- Series
DRF Hindenburg - New Years Eve Address The Battle At Tannenberg vbr
Wwii News Sound Files · 1932 · 1 min
- Series
New Year's Celebration
Fibber Mcgee and Molly · 1935 · 29 min
- Series
ee - 380101 - Jack Haley - New Years Show
Log Cabin Jamboree · 1938 · 31 min
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No Date for New Year's Eve
The Jack Benny Program · 1939 · 29 min
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L&A (238) Lum's New Year Resolution
Lum and Abner · 1940 · 14 min
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Lum's New Year Resolution
Lum and Abner · 1940 · 14 min
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KFWB Robert Arden News Commentary New Year War News
Radio News 1941 · 1941 · 15 min
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New Years Eve Skit
The Jack Benny Program · 1942 · 29 min
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Goldbergs 43-01-15 (1385) No Celebration on New Year's Day
The Goldbergs · 1943 · 14 min
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A Fresh Start For The New Year
Fibber Mcgee and Molly · 1943 · 28 min
- Series
A Fresh Start For The New Year
Fibber Mcgee and Molly · 1943 · 28 min
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A&A #013 (Edward G Robinson) New Year's Eve (aka Mr 1943)
Amos N Andy · 1943 · 27 min
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31 (51) New Year's Eve Party
The Life of Riley · 1944 · 31 min
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28 (137) New Year's Eve - 10 Dates for Babs
The Life of Riley · 1944 · 27 min
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31 (226) Riley Invites Himself to His Boss's New Year's Eve Party
The Life of Riley · 1944 · 29 min
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It's Time To Smile (173) New Year's Show (poor)
Eddie Cantor · 1944 · 29 min
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What is a New Years Resolution
It Pays to Be Ignorant · 1944 · 28 min
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Big New Year's Eve Party
The Great Gildersleeve · 1944 · 29 min
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L&A (749) New Year's Day at Abner's
Lum and Abner · 1945 · 10 min
- Series
New Year's Day at Abner's
Lum and Abner · 1945 · 10 min
- Series
New Year's Eve
Challenge of the Yukon · 1945 · 14 min
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New Year's Eve at Home
The Great Gildersleeve · 1945 · 29 min
- Series
AFRS New Year's Eve Radio Dance Party
Radio News 1945 · 1945 · 1h 0m
- Series
LOR 1946-12-28 #137 New Year's Eve - 10 Dates For Babs
The Life of Riley · 1946 · 25 min
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New Year's Resolution
The Phil Harris Alice Faye Show · 1946 · 28 min
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New Years Eve Party With Fred Waring
Fibber Mcgee and Molly · 1946 · 27 min
- Series
NBC Fred Waring New Year's Eve Party
Radio News 1946 · 1946 · 27 min
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Big New Year's Costume Ball
The Great Gildersleeve · 1947 · 29 min
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New Year's Nightmare
The Mysterious Traveler · 1947 · 28 min
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FredAllen-471214 The Fred Allen Show-New Year's Eve Plans (Guest George Jessel)
The Fred Allen Show · 1947 · 27 min
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New Year's Eve Plans
The Fred Allen Show · 1947 · 27 min
- Series
ily B064C14 New Year's Eve With The Barbour Clan
One Mans Family · 1947 · 28 min
- Series
e 471229 030 Rain on New Year's Eve
Quiet Please · 1947 · 24 min
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Rain on New Year's Eve
Quiet Please · 1947 · 24 min
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043 New Year
Milton Berle 47 · 1947 · 22 min
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Salutes the New Year
Milton Berle 47 · 1947 · 29 min
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Salute To The New Year
Milton Berle 47 · 1947 · 29 min
- Series
lo New Year's Eve
Abbott and Costello · 1947 · 28 min
What the record cannot tell us
Lombardo's fifty New Year's Eve broadcasts were mostly never transcribed, and the network's own midnight feeds survive only in fragments. The remote pickups here are the ones whose surviving titles name the band; the midnight chapter is the wider night, not all Lombardo, and says so.
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