The Basin Street Boys Explain Thursday Evening Swing
At Past Entertainment we try to provide accurate information about the clips we show, but some clips are more difficult to research than others. “Thursday Evening Swing” by the Basin Street Boys from the 1938 movie, The Duke is Tops” was among the most difficult. The group is not announced prior to their performance, and only mentioned in the credits as one of the movie’s “specialty acts.”
There are also several groups that sang under the name “The Basin Street Boys” in this era. Separating reports of the groups can be difficult. The group appearing here started in the early 1930’s as “The 4 Dots” in Lynchburg, Va. In 1935, the group joined Jean Calloway’s touring show and she renamed them “The Basin Street Boys” despite their lack of connection with New Orleans. They stayed with Calloway only a few months but retained the name when they left the show.
In 1938 the group consisted of George Thompson, Same Hutcherson, Perry Anderson, and on guitar, Steve Gibson. As they rose to fame, they were considered rivals of the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots. In the fall of 1938 Gibson left to join a better-known group, The 4 Toppers. That group later merged into the well-known, well-respected group, “The Red Caps.”