Jane Morgan's First Record

Jane Morgan

I was saddened to see that the singer Jane Morgan died yesterday, just a day after she was featured in a post on movie songs from 1957. She was 101. I stumbled across news of her death while researching an article about her early recordings. 

I knew that Morgan had been a vocalist for Art Mooney's band in the mid-1940s, when she was in her early 20s. Searching on the holdings of Internet Archive led me to what is probably her first appearance on record, and it's an interesting one, less so for the performance, more so for the disc.

Mooney was one of the first signings to the new Vogue label, a Detroit start-up that had a different slant on the record as product. As you can see at left, Vogue issued colorful picture discs. The artwork was pasted onto a aluminum core, which was coated with clear vinyl and then stamped with the record's grooves.

In this example - issued in 1946 but probably recorded in late 1945 - Mooney and vocalist "Janie" Morgan performed "Seems Like Old Times," a popular end-of-war song written by Carmen Lombardo and John Jacob Loeb, although based on an earlier song by Sam Stept and Charles Tobias.

The hit versions were by Guy Lombardo and several others, not including Mooney. The reason is not hard to figure out - the Mooney version cost more than double the Lombardo disc and all other versions . Vogues were not only priced much higher than conventional 78s, their distribution was haphazard. So if you wanted to hear Mooney and Morgan, you had to pay for the privilege - if you could actually find the record.

Billboard December 22, 1945

So the Vogue label didn't last long - barely more than a year and 60-80 releases. Then to bankruptcy court they went. Morgan - and Mooney - did much better. Art transformed his troupe from the standard-issue big band heard on this record to an old-timey brigade that had hits with "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" and "Baby Face" in 1948.

Morgan eventually became one of the most popular singers of the 1950s and 60s, with the Kapp label seemingly issuing a new LP with every change of the season.

This early effort shows her to be a competent, if stiff singer even at an early age. Vogues have a reputation for good quality, but this recording is anything but that. The sound was dead with no bass and Morgan's voice buried in the mix, all of which I have attempted to address in this mastering.

If you are interested in Vogue recordings, I've included two old issues of Record Research that tell the story of the label and provide a discography. The records are still highly collectible.

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