Milton Berle Sings, and We Cry 'Uncle!'

On my other blog, we have been delving into the composer songbooks recorded by Lee Wiley in the 1940s, starting with Rodgers and Hart, so now it's time for an opposing viewpoint, as provided by comic Milton Berle in 1947. At the time, "Uncle Miltie," as he was known, was popular on the radio, and in a few years would become the first big star of television. When Victor issued this set of R&H tunes, radio was bringing the nation the Milton Berle Show, featuring such comedy stalwarts as Arnold Stang, Pert Kelton, Jack Albertson and Arthur Q. Bryan, the voice of Elmer Fudd.

So Berle could do comedy. He was not, however, known for his singing voice, and that was a liability when his was the name above the title on a Rodgers and Hart album. Miltie did have Broadway experience, but his singing resume was scant. He had appeared in the Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1932, but did not sing. He did have a singing part in the short-lived 1934 show Saluta. In the Ziegfeld Follies of 1943, he sang a Harold Rome song called "The Micromaniac." Later on, he was one of the producers of, but not a performer in, the Walter Kent-Kim Gannon musical of Seventeen.

Betty Garrett

For the R&H album he was called upon to duet with Betty Garrett in "This Can't Be Love" and "Ev'rything I've Got" and do a solo on "Mountain Greenery." He does OK with the by-play in the first song, but quickly dispenses with the melody when called on to sing. He is acceptable in "Ev'rything I've Got," a comic song, but someone who could sing would be better. "Mountain Greenery" is beyond him in every way.

Fortunately, three good performers are along for the program. Betty Garrett is very well suited to her solo take of "The Lady Is a Tramp." I have heard her in steadier voice than in "Manhattan," and she doesn't have the top note.

Vic Damone and Marie Greene

But on "Manhattan" she had the good fortune of being paired with the young Vic Damone, who was making his first records (at Berle's behest). He's in great voice, and singing in a higher register than he did later on. You'll also notice this in "There's a Small Hotel," which he shares with Marie Greene. She was a singing actress who made some recordings for Signature and Columbia, and with Shep Fields and Les Brown.

Vic and Marie also duet on "Falling in Love with Love." Marie solos on "Here in My Arms."

In short, the album is enjoyable, if you can tolerate Berle.

Bonus: "The Milton Berle Polka"

I've added a bonus consisting of a 1949 record called "The Milton Berle Polka," presumably honoring the comic's eminence in the nascent television industry. The artists are the Marlin Sisters, in reality Goldie and Gittile Malavsky. They were heard on my other blog supporting Frankie Yankovic in his classic recording of the "Blue Skirt Waltz." The Berle record is an enjoyable example of that elusive genre, the polka exploitation song.

Celebrating Milton Berle made the Marlin Sisters glum 

The Berle/R&H cover at top was reused from a Dinah Shore Gershwin set of 1945, which can be found here, in a newly revised version in ambient stereo. I wonder if Victor used the cover design for other sets.

The Berle R&H album was remastered from Internet Archive originals. The sound is fine.

LINK

Betty Garrett Rhumbas with Humphrey Bogart

Betty Garrett was at the height of her screen popularity in 1949, when she made this record for M-G-M's captive record company. That year, she appeared in the fine musicals On the Town and Take Me Out to the Ball Game, both with Frank Sinatra.

The attraction here is a novelty called "The Humphrey Bogart Rhumba," which is a catalogue song calling out many if not most of the then stars of Hollywood, including Garrett's husband Larry Parks and Betty herself. Strange that M-G-M chose Bogie to honor - he was a Warner Bros. contractee. Bogart does make an appearance on the record, by the way.

The South American influence was strong in music at the time, and Garrett had even introduced a song that parodied the whole craze three years earlier - "South America, Take It Away" in Harold Rome's show Call Me Mister. (The original cast LP is available on my other blog, Big 10-Inch Record, here.)

Garrett hawks cold cream

Through a good part of the song, Garrett affects a flat, sardonic tone reminiscent of Virginia O'Brien (another M-G-M player). Not in the least my favorite approach to any song, but I guess it works well enough here.

The flip side is "Johnny Get Your Girl," an advice-to-the-lovelorn song similar to the almost exactly contemporary tune "Don't Cry, Joe (Let Her Go, Let Her Go, Let Her Go)". The music here is by Vic Mizzy, whose greatest hits were the themes to Green Acres and The Addams Family. Mizzy's melodies tended to be simple to the point of childish - this one may remind you of "A Tisket, A Tasket". It's still an attractive recording - as was the competing version by Dean Martin.

The sound is quite good, as are the arrangements by Harold Mooney.