Stuart Foster with Ina Ray Hutton

Stuart Foster and Ina Ray Hutton

Vocalist Stuart Foster has been extensively documented on my main blog - both his solo singles and his recordings with Tommy Dorsey. Today we examine this gifted singer's first records, made with another talented artist, bandleader Ina Ray Hutton.

Hutton (1916-84) made records starting in 1934, initially as the leader of an "all-girl" orchestra that became known as the Melodears. (I wonder if her birth date is an error: 18 seems like a young age to be a bandleader.) By 1940, she was the head of an all-male band, with young vocalist Stuart Foster (1918-68).

Hutton herself had given him his stage name. As I explained in an earlier post, "Born Tamer (or Tamir) Aswad to a Syrian-both father and American mother, he acquired the name 'Stuart Foster' upon joining Hutton's band. She introduced him as such on a broadcast, neglecting to tell 'Stuart' of his new name ahead of time. He went with it."

Ina Ray, herself a singer, knew a talented vocalist when she heard one, and right from the start, Foster made good records - just not very many of them. OKeh had Hutton in for a session in 1940 and another the following year, which produced eight songs, two of which had Foster vocals. Hutton then moved over to the Varsity outfit, which association resulted in only four sides. Hutton's name was prominently displayed on the resulting 78s, issued by Varsity's Elite imprint.

The Hutton band is strictly a dance outfit; there is no swing on these sides, and the charts tend to be cluttered. Foster sounds good, but his approach would become more personal later on in his career.

Foster's first record, on OKeh, was a song first recorded by the Glenn Miller band with Ray Eberle, an apparent influence on the 22-year-old singer. Jack Lawrence and Red Shapiro wrote the lovely "A Handful of Stars" for the film Hullabaloo, where Virginia Grey and Dan Dailey (both dubbed) introduced it.

The next song, "At Last," was again introduced on film by Ray Eberle. This time he appeared with Lynn Bari (dubbed by Pat Friday) in the 1942 Miller movie Orchestra Wives. But "At Last" actually had been written for the first Miller film, Sun Valley Serenade of 1941, although it was cut from the completed product. (You can hear both versions in the posts devoted to those films.) Even though the song did not appear in the final print of Sun Valley Serenade as planned, Hutton and Foster still recorded it in July 1941. Miller and Eberle did not get around to making their own commercial recording until May 1942. Foster's singing is suitably romantic and impassioned.

Moving on to the Elite label, Foster sang on both sides of Hutton's first release, "A Sinner Kissed an Angel" and "Madelaine." The former was a Ray Joseph-Mack David song that has become a semi-standard. Its first release was by Dick Haymes with Harry James, followed quickly by Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey. Hutton and Foster were among the hopeful challengers. Regardless of its eventual popularity, their recording is a worthy effort.

"Madelaine" is a nice tune by bandleader Phil Spitalny with words by Joe Capwell. Spitalny recorded it with his Hour of Charm Orchestra, another "all girl" orchestra - Phil had been a direct competitor with Ina Ray Hutton as far back as 1934.

The final Foster record with Hutton is "Ev'rything I Love," the Cole Porter song recently discussed on my other blog in a post on the Broadway musical Let's Face It! Foster handles it beautifully.

Ina Ray was one of two sets of show business sisters with the name "Hutton." Her own sister was the vocalist June Hutton. The other pair was Marion Hutton of the Miller band and the explosive singer-actor Betty Hutton. None of them were born with the name Hutton. Ina Ray and June were Odessa and June Cowan. Marion and Betty were Marion and Elizabeth Thornburg. Why so many Huttons? Probably because in 1930s America the Woolworth heir Barbara Hutton was a fixture in the news.

The five sides are all remastered in ambient stereo from originals found on Internet Archive. The sound is generally good, although the OKeh 78s were not in the best condition.