Mercury Artists Introduce Their 1948 Christmas Records

My friend Ernie brought this promotional record to my attention, and he has himself posted the contents in two of his giant Christmas collections. But I wanted to post it, too, because the records that the Mercury artists introduce have all appeared on my main blog at one time or another. But you don't have to go chasing them - I've packaged the bundle together in this single post.

The singers involved are Vic Damone, John Laurenz, Frankie Laine and Eddy Howard, all leading artists for Mercury in 1948. This particular promo record went out to disk jockeys with hopes that they would play the contents as introductions to the vocalists' respective Christmas offerings.

First, Vic Damone promotes his coupling of "White Christmas" and "Christmas Morn," which I included as part of a Damone holiday collection not long ago.

John Laurenz

John Laurenz is up next. He is the least known of the quartet, although he made quite a few records for Mercury in the late 40s. Laurenz was a warm vocalist, sort of a combination of Bing Crosby and Buddy Clark, with some Perry Como thrown in.

His record is "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," which appeared in a holiday compilation back in 2018. I hope to prepare a post devoted to Laurenz's other recordings for the main blog in the new year. 

Frankie Laine promotes his "Tara Talara Tala" and "You're All I Want for Christmas." My other blog shared these tunes back in 2016 as part of a Mercury holiday LP that also included the Eddy Howard selections in this group ("The Christmas Song" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas") - and the Damone items for that matter.

Billboard, November 13, 1948

Eddy Howard was a singing bandleader whose Christmas songs seem to have been issued first in 1947 on the Majestic label. Mercury must have purchased the master recordings, as it sometimes did with smaller labels that were folding.

Our final selection is the flip side of the Mercury promo record, an advance copy of Vic Damone's next record, "My Heart's in the Middle of July," scheduled for a January 1 release date. That song is of seasonal interest - and it's good - so it makes for a nice conclusion to this program.

Thanks again to Ernie, and happy holidays to all!