Without a doubt the most famous of the 1930s/40s all girl orchestras was ‘Phil Spitalni’s Hour Of Charm All-Girl Orchestra.’ Typically, though, the most famous is somehow the least interesting. It’s not that the players aren’t terrific. It’s the choice of material–much more conservative and a silly combination of mickey-mouse big-band era stuff and classical pieces reimagined as novelty items–that does them in. Spitalny was a Russian musical prodigy who came to the U.S. early in the century and had a sort of successful but not terribly distinguished run of leading hotel orchestras–he headlined NYC’s Pennsylvania Hotel for several years. The ‘aha!’ moment of the all-girls band must have struck him at some point in the early 30s. He wasn’t the first to do this as we know from yesterday’s post about ‘The Ingenues‘–but he sensed that the act needed to feel more ‘respectable’, less jazzy and more faux-sophisticated. The ‘Phil Spitalny and His All-Girl Orchestra’s Hour Of Charm’ radio show began in 1934 and ran for ten years. As with the highly successful ‘Edgar Bergan/Charlie McCarthy ‘ radio shows, it’s hard to understand its appeal without the visual element. Isn’t a big part of watching a ventriloquists act seeing if you can see the puppet master move his lips? What good is it listening to an all-girl orchestra play mediocre middle-brow music when watching them is the major part of the acts appeal? Above is a mercifully short sampling of the band in a 1935 Vitaphone short. I present this dutifully rather than enthusiastically but who knows? The country certainly embraced their act at that time and maybe you will too. Somehow, I doubt it….