Buddy Clark on V-Disc

The great but short-lived vocalist Buddy Clark recorded four songs for V-Disc that aren't found among his commercial recordings, at least in the same form. This post collects the four.

"How Are Things in Glocca Mora" is an alternate take to his 1946 Columbia record. The backing was by frequent collaborator Mitchell Ayres.

Buddy did "Peg O' My Heart" for Columbia, but this version for V-Disc was taken from an aircheck of a Contented Hour broadcast from May 1947. Percy Faith provided the accompaniment

The third item is one of the most unusual of all V-Discs. It was taken from a 1946 Columbia session that represented his first attempts at "Isn't This Better than Walking in the Rain."

Buddy Clark

Here for a V-Disc subtitled "Fluffs at a Record Session," we have a mash-up of two breakdown takes. In the first one, Buddy flubs the melody and makes up his own, invoking Dick Haymes and "Bingie Boy" in the process. In the second, he launches into a broad Jolson imitation. He ends with a plaintive "What the hell am I doing?"

The final item has a spoken Clark introduction - a feature of many V-Discs - followed by a reading of "You're Too Dangerous, Cherie" (an English-language version of "La Vie en Rose"). It was sourced from an October 1947 Contented Hour broadcast.

These are not my transfers, but I did work over the sound, and it's good, except for a high frequency roll-off and a bit of noise in the final item.

This post is a companion to a new survey on my other blog of some of Clark's Okeh, Columbia and Varsity records.

ADDENDUM - Sharp-eyed reader Max pointed out that I overlooked one of Clark's V-Discs, and it's a good one - a wonderful version of the Carmichael-Mercer "How Little We Know" made in 1945 with an excellent Army orchestra when the singer was Cpl. Buddy Clark. I've added a link to a repitched and remastered version in the comments. Thanks, Max!

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