BILLY JONES AND ERNIE HARE

OLD TIME RADIO - 1 CD-ROM - 13 mp3 - Total Playtime: 3:07:49

Billy Jones (1889-1940) and bass/baritone Ernie Hare (1881-1939) Jones and Hare were already established as soloists on phonograph records. One of Jones's better solos was "Mary Lou," while Hare scored with the Yuletide novelty "Santa Claus Hides in the Phonograph." In 1920 recording executive Gus Haenschen had them sing an accompaniment on a Brunswick recording. They went on to do numerous recordings for Brunswick Records, Edison, and other companies. Similarities between the two singers were often noted: same height, same weight, birthdays a few days apart. Fred Rabinstein, who worked with Edison, recalled.....

They had amused themselves by singing opera in a burlesque fashion, as they [later] did in their 1922 record of "Operatic Syncopation"...They seemed to have everything in common except that Jones was a bachelor (he took a wife after his mother's death) and Hare was married, with a little girl named Marilyn, who was to serve for a short time as Jones's singing partner after her father's death in 1939... both had mothers whose maiden names were Roberts; both were five feet and seven inches tall; both had voices of operatic calibre that perfectly complemented each other, and both had had operatic experience.

They began on radio October 18, 1921 on WJZ (Newark, New Jersey), where they were sponsored by the chain of Happiness Candy stores. Listeners mailed in their comments about the singers on cards supplied to retailers by Happiness Candy. Beginning August 22, 1923, the Happiness Boys broadcast on New York's WEAF, moving to NBC from a run from 1926 to 1929. The duo sang popular tunes, mostly light fare and comic songs, and they engaged in humorous repartee between numbers. Their theme song was "How Do You Do" (1924). However, only the words to this song were new at that time. The melody had been used for a variety of other songs in the past and is still used in the camp favorite "If You're Happy and You Know It (Clap Your Hands)".

Radio's "Happiness Boys" changed their identities and allegiance whenever they changed sponsors. For Taystee Bread, for example, Jones and Hare became "The Taystee Loafers," and for Interwoven Socks they became "The Interwoven Pair." Regardless of their affiliation, they continued with their songs and jokes through the 1930s. The partnership ended with Ernie Hare's death on March 9, 1939. Hare's 16-year-old daughter, Marilyn Hare, joined Jones at the microphone, allowing the act to continue as "Jones and Hare" until Jones's death on November 23, 1940.

SHOWS LIST

Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (06) First Song - What's Good For The Goose Is Good For The Gander
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (08) First Song - It Happened This Way
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (09) First Song - True Love
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (13) First Song - I Hate Myself For Being So Mean To You
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (14) First Song - Pretty Polly Perkins
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (16) First Song - It's Springtime On Parade
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (19) First Song - Everybody Loves My Marguerite
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (26) First Song - What Do The Animals Do
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (27) First Song - I Got The Funniest Feeling
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (28) First Song - Let's Dress For Dinner Tonight
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 34-xx-xx (30) First Song - A Dose Of Sasparilla
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 37-09-13 Audition
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare Taystee Breadwinners 39-02-12 Saks Program Audition

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