Vic Damone's SIngles from 'Rich, Young and Pretty'

The soundtrack record for the 1951 musical comedy Rich, Young and Pretty (the title describes star Jane Powell) found a home on the main blog many years ago and is still available.

The film has a nice score by Nicholas Brodszky and Sammy Cahn, and the tunes are well presented by Powell and Danielle Darrieux. (Despite being only 12 years older than Powell, Darrieux played her mother.) The glowering father was Wendell Corey, mercifully left off the soundtrack LP. (Would that the same were the case for Fernando Lamas.)

Also missing from the soundtrack album is juvenile lead Vic Damone, who certainly can sing and does so well in the film. Presumably M-G-M could not get the rights to include him in its LP from his record company, Mercury.

Mercury instead had Damone do his own versions of three songs from the score. And while Powell handles "Wonder Why" and "I Can See You" beautifully in the film, it's great to have Vic's versions on a single.

Damone also offers one song that isn't on the soundtrack LP: "How D'Ya Like Your Eggs in the Morning?" In the film, this tune is delivered by the Four Freshmen as singing waiters in a peculiar breakfast boîte where the patrons cook their own meals at their tables. Young lovers Damone and Powell endure predictable mishaps.

The Four Freshmen march away from Damone and Powell

It's actually a catchy and clever song, and racy for the period ("How d'ya like your eggs in the morning? / I like mine with a kiss."). Damone's single is highly effective.

Apparently Vic or the Mercury folks couldn't find another Rich, Young and Pretty song they liked: they backed "Eggs in the Morning," appropriately, with "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening." Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer contributed that number to Bing's Here Comes the Groom, another 1951 musical. Damone's reading, aided by the Pied Pipers, is exceptionally good.

Jane and Vic canoodle while Wendell fumes

Vic had the benefit of backings and presumably arrangements from George Siravo, a favorite around here who has appeared on the main blog several times - as has Damone. 

The singer was to be paired with Jane Powell twice more - in 1954's Athena and 1955's Hit the Deck. Vic appears on both soundtrack LPs - Athena can be found here.

The download includes many posters, lobby cards and stills from Rich, Young and Pretty. The recordings were cleaned up from originals found on Internet Archive.