Mindy Carson Promotes Her New Record and a Sticky Candy

Singer Mindy Carson became popular in the late 40s through band experience, and then on radio and early television shows. RCA Victor took her on as an artist in 1949, and her single of "Candy and Cake" and "My Foolish Heart" did well.

Seeing her potential, the record company gave a big push to her 1950 recording of "A Rainy Day Refrain," with large ads in the trade papers (at bottom) and a special 45 (at right), which was sent to disk jockeys. These records are the subject of today's post, along with a jingle for a sticky candy of the time, as sung by Carson.

The DJ 45 was actually a five-minute radio show, "The Magic of Rain Songs," in which Carson tells of her love of rainy-day ditties, and sings several of them. At the end, she introduces "A Rainy Day Refrain." The program is charming, and Carson is believable even in the narrative nonsense written by a Victor publicist. ("Oddly enough, almost every important event in my career happened on a rainy day..." she tells us.)

Mindy Carson

"A Rainy Day Refrain" stands on its own: it's a good song that I haven't heard before from the excellent English songwriter Eric Maschwitz. The B-side is another pleasant outing, "Looks Like a Cold, Cold Winter," which my pal Ernie has also posted. His is in the Georgia Gibbs version.

The flip side of the DJ record was another, unrelated promo featuring Spike Jones and his crew, which Ernie also may have posted (although I can't find it).

Carson had a lovely voice, perfectly suited to the commercial spots that were so much a part of the advertising business back then. I've included a promotional record from about the same period in which she sings the Bit-O-Honey jingle, accompanied by organ. The number is catchy, and I think I remember it. I definitely remember the candy. It was a honey and almond concoction that was waxy and not very appetizing, although it must have some appeal because it's been around for a century (slightly longer than me).

Mindy Carson has appeared on these pages only once before, in another promo, this one for the then-new TV sets, "I Want a Television Christmas." It's in a Christmas post from 2010 that's still available.

These records were found in the Internet Archive trove of vintage 78s, and cleaned up by me. Good sound, although "The Magic of Rain Songs" has some residual noise.

1950 Billboard ad