A 1934 Christmas Party with the Men About Town

My great pal Ernie (who is busily uploading Christmas music on his blog) expressed an interest in this particular record, which I happened to have, so here it is for one and all.

Now, I know Ernie, being a record collector, really wants the shellac item rather than the digital replica, but perhaps this will suffice.

It is a two-sided Decca 78 from 1934 called "Christmas Party," and it joins together holiday tunes familiar and not so, all under the auspices of the mysterious "Men About Town," which puts me in mind of a bunch of fellows in top hats and tails. Except that one of the most prominent party attendees is clearly a woman, who takes the lead during a good part of the vocalizing.

Not much can be found about the Men About Town and their female accomplice, but I think I have solved the mystery of at least the main protagonists on the record. The male lead is very likely Frank Luther, who at the time was equally prominent as a hillbilly and dance band vocalist, and who would later go on to dominate the children's record industry. The female voice is undoubtedly Luther's wife, Zora Layman, who is credited on the label of a Men About Town record from a few months earlier.

Frank Luther

Zora Layman

Under their own names Luther and Layman would go on to record a similar medley, "Christmas in Song," for Decca in 1939. (I should mention that the Men About Town also laid down a two-sided "Christmas Day" medley at the same November 1934 session in New York, and that both singles appeared on the Montgomery Ward label as well as Decca. I don't have the "Christmas Day" 78.)

As for the other voices on the "Christmas Party," my guess is that they are J. Donald Parker and Phil Dewey, who had recorded with Luther under the name the Melody Three. Parker and Dewey earlier used the "Men About Town" appellation with Will Donaldson.

I picked up this record many years ago hoping it would be at least a little ribald. Sorry to disappoint, but it is entirely sober, but pleasing nonetheless.

Christmas with Clark Dennis

Capitol had a sterling roster of vocalists in the late 40s - among the men were Nat King Cole, Johnny Mercer, Gordon MacRae, Andy Russell, Matt Dennis and Jack Smith. The label's moguls added radio tenor Clark Dennis to the rolls in 1946, and he quickly scored a chart success with the oldie "Peg O' My Heart."

That was to be the high point of Dennis's relatively brief recording career, which mainly consists of the three dozen or so sides that the crooner laid down for Capitol from 1946-50.

I believe this is the sole Christmas single he recorded during that time, although he was well suited to the genre. Evidence is his impassioned rendition of the "Cantique de Noel," which here is backed by a worthy version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" combined with "Joy to the World."

Clark Dennis

The busy studio keyboard artist Buddy Cole contributes what is optimistically described as "orchestral accompaniment." To my ears it sounds like harp plus the tones of Buddy's mighty Wurlitzer. (Does anyone hear any other instruments?)

The initial release of this coupling was in 1949; my copy is a reissue from about 1952. The sound is good.

Dennis, who earlier had vocal stints with Ben Pollack and Paul Whiteman in addition to his radio assignments, was about 40 when these recordings were made. He died in 1992.