All The Cats Join In (1946 - NBC Radio) - Music from Fibber McGee and Molly | Billy Mills Orchestra

A digitally enhanced and restored NBC Orthacoustic Electrical Transcription disc of the musical portion of the "Fibber McGee and Molly Show" as heard on the live OTR broadcast. Billy Mills was the "maestro" - or musical director of the show - and his 18 to 22-piece radio studio orchestra was populated with musical radio stars like Buddy Cole on piano, Perry Botkin on guitar, Herb "Tiny" Berman on bass, and soloists like Andy Secrest on trumpet and Abram Lincoln on trombone - as well as NBC staff musicians.

On this song, "The Kings Men" do the vocals, arranged (and sung) by Ken Darby.

Hear these vintage and rare big band swing arrangements as performed live during the 'musical interlude' of the show - never intended to be heard again - with a high-fidelity quality than originally heard on AM radio over 65 years ago. Billy Mills was orchestra leader for the show from 1938 to 1953, at which point NBC dropped the live orchestra and cut the show to 15 minutes due to viewer competition with television.

Cartoon video excerpts are from the 1946 Walt Disney short, "All The Cats Join In", directed by Jack Kinney. Benny Goodman and his Orchestra performed this song in the original cartoon version - and that cartoon was adapted and re-edited to fit the Billy Mills radio version of the song. At their peak, this top-rated Old Time Radio show, "Fibber McGee and Molly", would have had over 35 million listeners on a typical Tuesday night broadcast (at 9:30p ET) - until television came along, decimating the radio network audiences.