An article on The Playlist reports on an absolutely wonderful chat by Woody Allen and Dick Cavett at the 92nd St. Y in NY. It’s charming and nostalgic.
Every Allen afficionado will recognize the filmmaker’s extensive use of old jazz standards and classical composers and he revealed that his love of music came from growing up with the radio playing constantly.
“When I grew up radio was all we had,” Allen said. “And you turned it on, or at least in my family you did, when you woke up in the morning and when I was getting dressed the radio was constantly going. You heard sensational music… Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, [George] Gershwin, Cole Porter, [and] Rodgers and Hart inundated the household all the time.” Cavett replied by saying he felt deprived growing up in Nebraska, “We had “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” and the “Too Fat Polka” sung by [radio personality] Arthur Godfrey.”
They may have had different musical upbringings but the two were on the same page when it came to the old serials and radio shows, with Cavett saying, “Radio gave you imagination.”
I bet you have plenty of radio reminiscences of your own. What was it that made you love radio so much?
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