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

The Foursome - 1926-37 Singles

Back in April I posted some Gershwin songs as performed in 1939 by the Foursome vocal group, both on their own and accompanying Shirley Ross. That delightful act mated clever vocal arrangements to harmonizing on the ocarina, the sweet-potato shaped wind instrument with a distinctive sound. They helped popularize the instrument in the 1930s.

Today, a return to the Foursome via eight additional songs, ranging from their first record, from 1926, through to the bulk of their solo discs, made for Decca in 1937, and including the first recording of their most famous number, the Gershwins' "Bidin' My Time."

I am indebted to Jordan Young's biography of the group on Allmusic for much of the following information. The original group included Marshall Smith, Dwight Snyder, Harry Isaacs and Kearney Walton, all from the Pacific Northwest. By 1926, they had recorded a single with bandleader Paul Ash, "There Ain't No Maybe in My Baby's Eyes," a big hit song that year. Ash's version is bouncy in the style of the time, and the Foursome acquit themselves well, although their style was not yet distinctive.

By 1930, the group had appeared in a few films then on Broadway in Ripples, an Oscar Levant-Irving Caesar musical that went nowhere. By this time, the group consisted of Marshall Smith, Dwight Snyder, Del Porter and Raymond Johnson, the members for most of the ensemble's history.

Not sure, but this may include at least three of the Foursome - still from Girl Crazy

Ripples may have flopped, but the quartet had much better luck with their next opportunity - Girl Crazy from the mighty Gershwins. Introducing "Bidin' My Time" helped make their career. This set includes their first recording, made for Brunswick in 1930, which presumably is close to what was heard at the Alvin Theater as the opening number in the show. (Confidentially, their 1939 remake is better.)

By 1937, the group had secured a Decca recording contract, and devoted its solo first session to a dynamic specialty by Del Porter and Ray Johnson, "Sweet Potato Swing," which was backed by the 1923 chestnut "Nobody's Sweetheart," which is handled much better than the song deserved. By this time, the group had mastered playing their ocarinas. Jordan Young quotes Ray Johnson: "We worked like hell to get them in tune. You'll never hear that sound again - nobody would be fool enough to do it."

The Foursome

The final four songs in this set come from a November 1937 recording date, where the Foursome was joined by a Perry Botkin ensemble, with Botkin the stylish guitarist and Spike Jones as the drummer. 

Again the group reached back to the rhythm numbers of the 1920s for "My Honey's Lovin' Arms" and "Sweet Georgia Brown," both well suited to their style, and both most impressive. They added "Chinatown, My Chinatown," a 1906 number which is badly dated today but was a jazz favorite for many years, and "Blue (and Broken-Hearted)," which was popular in 1922 and for some time thereafter. The Foursome do both beautifully.

Perry Botkin

The groups' final records under their own name were included in the previous post. They also kept busy accompanying some of Decca's biggest artists, including Bing Crosby and Dick Powell. As I mentioned in the earlier article, later on, Del Porter started a band called the Feather Merchants, which eventually turned into Spike Jones and the City Slickers. The Allmusic article adds that Porter, Johnson and Snyder also were in a group called the Sweet Potato Tooters, and that the first two appeared on Capitol as members of the Starlighters. (The version of that group that I am familiar with had different personnel, however.)

Most of these recordings come from Internet Archive needle drops, which I've cleaned up in ambient stereo, but which still have some residual noise at times. Great performances, though!

Shirley Ross and The Foursome Sing Gershwin

A few Gershwin recordings today from one of my favorite artists, Shirley Ross, backed by The Foursome vocal group - who also get two songs on their own.

The four numbers were recorded in July 1939, and came out in two Gershwin albums issued by Decca soon thereafter.

Shirley Ross made relatively few recordings, some of which I've posted on this blog. These include her earliest disc, made with Gus Arnheim (it can be found in a post mainly devoted to Mae West) and four songs from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart show Higher and Higher, in which she took a starring role on Broadway. Today she is remembered, if at all, as Bob Hope's partner in the movie songs "Thanks for the Memory" (from The Big Broadcast of 1938) and "Two Sleepy People" (from the follow-up film called, confusingly enough, Thanks for the Memory).

Shirley Ross

In this set, she sings two of my favorite Gershwin songs, "Mine" (from Let 'Em Eat Cake) and "That Certain Feeling" (from Tip-Toes). On both songs, she is backed by Victor Young's band along with The Foursome.

The latter group's solo songs are "Bidin' My Time" (from 1930's Girl Crazy) and "Oh, Lady Be Good" (from 1924's Lady Be Good). The former is another favorite of mine, and is particularly notable here because The Foursome introduced it in the original production. For this performance, the group includes the seldom-heard and very effective verse.

The members of The Foursome at the time of the recording were Del Porter, Dwight Snyder, Marshall Smith and Ray Johnson. The group was unusual because its members not only sang but played ocarinas, an ancient wind instrument that can be heard in quite a few records of the time, in part because of the group's advocacy.

The Foursome

The Foursome appeared in films as well. You can see them in the 1936 Eleanor Powell musical Born to Dance in such numbers as "Rap, Tap on Wood". In 1940, Bing Crosby recorded the Burke-Monaco song "Sweet Potato Piper" for Decca with The Foursome's backing. For those not familiar with the ocarina, it resembles a sweet potato, thus the song title.

The Foursome also appeared on Decca records by Dick Powell and Pinky Tomlin and made a number of other discs on their own. Later on, Del Porter started a band called the Feather Merchants, which eventually turned into Spike Jones and the City Slickers.

This post is now available in excellent ambient stereo.