Melchior and the Dorsey Band - 'Thrill of a Romance'

Way back when, I devoted several posts to the more informal recordings by one of the 20th century's greatest opera stars, the tenor Lauritz Melchior. I have now refurbished two of those recordings and am adding a new one, all timed to upcoming posts devoted to some of Melchior's lesser-known operatic and lieder recordings.

Today, we have the music from a Melchior film that I haven't posted before. It is Thrill of a Romance from 1945, in which the Heldentenor is transformed into a gigantic Danish Cupid bringing together famed aquatic thespian Esther Williams with war-hero Van Johnson.

Thrill of a Romance also starred the Tommy Dorsey band, so as bonus items I've added three commercial recordings of their songs from the film.

The Melchior Recordings

'Put on the bathrobe' - Melchior sings Pagliacci

When we (and Esther Williams) first see Melchior, he is on a balcony greeting the dawn with the verismo aria "Vesti la giubba," hardly the most cheerful piece for waking the neighbors. The best known excerpt from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci, it deals with the singer finding out his wife has been unfaithful. Then again, the screenwriters could have been ironically foreshadowing the plot, for Williams is about to ditch her husband for valorous Van.

"Vesti la giubba" does not appear in this collection, but it will be included in one of my upcoming Melchior posts. Instead the Victor album starts with Grieg's Ich liebe dich (I love you), which, as it happens, also will be contained in one of the upcoming Melchior posts, in a different version. Here, as in the rest of his recordings, the singer is backed by an orchestra led by his accompanist, Ignace Strasfogel, who is uncredited on the label.

Van Johnson, Esther Williams, unidentified actor, Lauritz Melchior

The next piece is Jenő Hubay's Lonely Night, adapted by music director Georgie Stoll from an unidentified work. This is succeeded by Schubert's Ständchen, D 889; in English, "Serenade." The words that Melchior sings, however, don't seem to be a translation of Franz Grillparzer's original text. "Ständchen" also will appear in a forthcoming post in a more traditional recording with piano.

Melchior is in a celebratory mood for the next item, called "Vive l'Amour," better known as the French folk song "Vive la Compagnie." Stoll again is the arranger.

I believe Ralph Freed and Sammy Fain wrote "Please Don't Say No" for the film. It was recorded by many artists at the time, including the Dorseyites, as discussed below.

Finally, a piece that could have been composed for Melchior, it suits him so well - Victor Herbert's "I Want What I Want When I Want It," from the 1898 operetta Mlle. Modiste. The tenor is in commanding form.

The modern tendency is to portray classical musicians as monsters (a la Tár) or complex characters (such as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro). In 40s musicals, they just as likely to be lovable matchmakers, such as Melchior in this film or José Iturbi in Anchors Aweigh.

The Dorsey Recordings

Melchior with the Tommy Dorsey band

Included in the download are three commercial recordings of music that the Dorsey band performed in the film: "I Should Care," "Please Don't Say No" and "Opus No. One" (later called "Opus One"). I don't think that "I Should Care" and "Opus No. One" were written for the film, but their commercial recordings were made before the final edit was released, and so helped promote the production. They also were the most popular numbers from the movie, and among the most enduring.

Two eminent former Dorsey arrangers, Axel Stordahl and Paul Weston, wrote the music for "I Should Care," with the words by Sammy Cahn. In the film, former Hal Kemp singer Bob Allen performed with the Dorsey band. On record, Bonnie Lou Williams and the Sentimentalists were the vocalists. The latter is a fine performance, but does not surpass Frank Sinatra's 1946 recording with Stordahl.

Freddie Stewart, Bonnie Lou Williams and Sy Oliver

The vocal on "Please Don't Say No" is by short-term Dorsey singer Freddie Stewart, who also had a career as the juvenile lead of B-pictures. The record features one of the leader's signature muted trombone solos, along with the 11-member string section that the band then featured for recordings.

Finally, another song by a Dorsey arranger, Sy Oliver's "Opus No. 1," one of the greatest of all swing instrumentals. Buddy DeFranco is the clarinetist, Buddy Rich the assertive drummer. Oliver uses the string section to great effect in supporting and contrasting with the powerful band. It's a memorable record.

LINK to Thrill of a Romance

More Melchior 

Thrill of a Romance was Lauritz Melchior's first film. His follow-up was Two Sisters from Boston. I transferred the Victor album of songs from that release more than a decade ago, and have now improved the sound and processed it in ambient stereo. As I wrote then, the film "plunders Liszt and Mendelssohn to concoct noisy cod arias that Melchior attacks with some enthusiasm." As a bonus, I have now added Jimmy Durante's songs from the movie - no Liszt of Mendelssohn and quite a contrast to Melchior. (Jimmy's arias are offered separately in a recent post below.)

Also newly redone is Melchior's recording of Romberg's famous operetta The Student Prince with Jane Wilson and Lee Sweetland. This 10-inch album comes from 1951. The orchestrations are by Victor Young, who also conducted the ensemble.

Jimmy Durante's Songs in 'Two Sisters from Boston'

The 1946 film Two Sisters from Boston gained its musical credibility from the presence of the great tenor Lauritz Melchior. His songs from that production appeared on my other blog some time ago and have now been reworked in ambient stereo.

In addition to the mighty Melchior, the musical also employed vaudevillian and popular radio personality Jimmy Durante as the character Spike, and gave him two songs to perform. "G'wan Home, Your Mudder's Callin'" and "There Are Two Sides to Ev'ry Girl" might not have been right for a heldentenor, but they suited the Schnoz just fine.

The songs were written by Sammy Fain and Ralph Freed, but about half of each song consists of Durante's asides, one-liners and other comic riffs, no doubt drawn from a lifetime on the stage.

Both songs made it to a single on the short-lived but interesting Majestic label. Durante is joined by Eddie Jackson, a frequent collaborator, who sings harmony. Ted Dale and his band provide the backing.

The numbers are well performed, well recorded and highly amusing.

LINK

Jimmy Durante in Two Sisters from Boston. He seems to be enjoying himself.

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Bing and Dottie on 'The Road to Singapore'

Here's the latest in a series examining Bing Crosby's musicals, with his own commercial discs and other recordings of interest. This time out we have The Groaner in his first "road" picture - 1940's Road to Singapore, his first film with Bob Hope and joint filmic love interest Dorothy Lamour.

For this episode in our series, we have Bing's Decca singles along with Dottie's Bluebird shellacs, plus recordings of a few numbers from the film those two didn't bother with.

Let's introduce the main tunes via Crosby's recordings. First, the biggest song from the score, the lovely and beautifully performed "Too Romantic" from songwriters James V. Monaco and the ever-present Johnny Burke. The backing is by John Scott Trotter and orchestra.

For the next song, Monaco and Burke wrote a number for Bing and the vocal group the Foursome, who were amazing ocarina virtuosi. (See these two posts devoted to the quartet.) The song is is the utterly delightful "Sweet Potato Piper," which not only a tribute to the Foursome's skill, but also Crosby's rhythmic dexterity.

Dottie, Bing and Bob play the pipers

The final song for Bing is "The Moon and the Willow Tree" is unusual in that the music was composed by the film's director, Victor Schertzinger, an accomplished musician whose best known songs are "I Remember You" and "Tangerine." Burke again was the lyricist.

Dorothy Lamour

Dorothy Lamour was already known for films set in "exotic" locales when cast in Road to Singapore. She was a apt choice because she could sing, having some experience as a band vocalist. Bluebird had her record the same three songs as Crosby, with Lou Bring leading the band.

Lamour's husky voice takes some getting used to, but she's very persuasive in "Too Romantic" and "The Moon and the Willow Tree." For "Sweet Potato Piper" she has neither the Foursome and their ocarinas nor the personality of Bing, but she does fine otherwise. I haven't heard her sing before, except for seeing the road films a long time ago, but I was impressed.

Neither Bing nor Dottie attempted another song from the score, "Captain Custard," in the film a comedy feature for Crosby and Hope. The number shows off Schertzinger's or perhaps Burke's fondness for Gilbert & Sullivan, and relies heavily on visual clowning.

Nonetheless, intrepid bandleader Ray Noble, who had a sideline in playing Bertie Wooster-style silly Englishmen in the movies, took up the cause of the Captain, who is apparently the chief usher in a movie theater. His Columbia record is pleasant, but without the visuals, it does fall flat, sad to say - I generally enjoy Noble and his records.

Ray Noble and Mildred Bailey

Finally, one from left field - "Faithful Forever," which Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin wrote for the animated film Gulliver's Travels, which was in production at Paramount at the same time as Road to Singapore. Victor Young, music director for both films, borrowed the tune for use in an ironic way during a scene announcing Crosby's ill-fated engagement.

Despite its Academy Award nomination and many recordings, "Faithful Forever" is a predictable song that lends itself to lachrymose performances, including Young's commercial recording. I've chosen one of the livelier ones, that of Benny Goodman's band with vocalist Mildred Bailey, with the arrangement by Eddie Sauter.

These recordings are cleaned up from my collection and Internet Archive.

LINK

Early Recordings by Howard Hanson

Howard Hanson

As a companion piece to the posts of Howard Hanson recordings as presented on my main blog, here are a few of the earliest disks that conductor made, back in 1939.

Hanson (1896-1981) was one of the most active proponents of American music, as demonstrated by his 40 years as founding head of the Eastman School of Music and by the dozens of recordings he made starting with these Victor disks, set down during a busy May 1939 session.

Not only did Hanson record the four pieces on today's program, he also tackled compositions by John Knowles Paine, Leo Sowerby, Edward MacDowell and George Whitefield Chadwick, along with his own Symphony No. 2.

Our program begins with an item by the American impressionist Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1886-1920), The White Peacock, introduced by Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra near the end of the composer's short life. The work was orchestrated from one of Griffes' Roman Sketches, which can be heard here in a performance by Lenore Engdahl.

Charles T. Griffes, William Grant Still

The second selection is one that Hanson himself premiered - it is the Scherzo from the Afro-American Symphony by William Grant Still (1895-1978), which dates from 1931. The conductor later led the first performances of a number of other compositions by Still.

Joe Clark Steps Out is a genre piece by Charles G. Vardell, Jr. (1893-1962), reflecting his own North Carolina heritage. Vardell, a long-time educator in that state, was a doctoral student at Eastman when this recording was made.

Kent Kennan, Charles Vardell

The Night Soliloquy by Kent Kennan (1913-2003) is perhaps his best known work. Kennan was another graduate of Eastman, later a longtime professor at the University of Texas. Hanson was to record the piece twice more, in 1954 and 1962. The earlier rendition is available on my other blog.

These recordings are remastered from Internet Archive transfers.

LINK