Bing in Hawaii (and Iceland)

This is a tale of four locales - Hawaii, Hollywood, England and Iceland. They all pertain to the Bing Crosby picture-label 78 shown at right.

As you can see at right, the Hawaii location is the setting of The Groaner's 1937 flick Waikiki Wedding, produced of course in Hollywood. Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger wrote the tune "Blue Hawaii" for the film. Bing sang it with the wonderful Shirley Ross on the screen. For shellac purposes, he did a solo with Lani McIntire and His Hawaiians. McIntire was a steel guitar whiz who earned his island cred as a member of the legendary Sol Ho'opi'i Trio. "Blue Hawaii," although popular at the time, didn't really make a lasting impression on the public until murmured by Elvis Presley in the 1961 film of the same name.

Waikiki Wedding's big hit, which won an Academy Award, was "Sweet Leilani," a Harry Owens tune that Bing insisted on using in the film over the producer's objections. Owens led the band at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu, where Crosby first heard the number. On the commercial record, Bing cedes the first two vocal choruses to unnamed vocalists, presumably from the McIntyre ensemble.

Lobby card: Martha Raye and Shirley Ross flank Bing

Bing waxed two other songs from the score, both Robin-Rainger efforts. Victor Young provided the backing on "Sweet Is the Word for You"; Jimmy Dorsey handled "In a Little Hula Heaven." Young, Dorsey and McIntire were all on the payroll at Decca, where Crosby was the chief money-maker.

This post is designed to show off the nifty picture labels that Decca affiliate Brunswick slapped on the lacquer for sale in England and probably other markets. I found my copy in a interesting shop in Iceland, of all places. Brunswick issued two such 78s for Waikiki Wedding, and two additional discs for Bing's songs from Double or Nothing, also from 1937. I only have the "Blue Hawaii"/"Sweet Is the Word for You" coupling, alas. I'm not sure if Decca in the US employed a similar picture-label scheme, but I've never seen an example, if so.

My 78, visually mint, was almost unplayable. So I pulled out one of Decca's "Bing in Hollywood" reissue LPs from the 1960s and transferred the four Waikiki Wedding songs from that source. All are in the download.

Now that this blog has made a dramatic return to life, I'll see if I can locate a 78 or two by Crosby's co-star, Shirley Ross. Watch this space, just not too intently.

Gene Kelly Promo for 'Invitation to the Dance'

A few years ago I shared the soundtrack LP to Gene Kelly's 1956 film Invitation to the Dance, with music by Andre Previn, Jacques Ibert and Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, I forgot that I had this M-G-M promotional record for the film, which I came across a few days ago while looking for something else (which I never found).

This is a 10-minute interview of Gene Kelly transcribed onto a 12-inch, 33-1/3 RPM record pressed on red vinyl. The interviewer is the very radio-announcery Dick Simmons. And indeed the record would have been sent to radio stations in the hope that they would play this lengthy promo, or excerpts anyway.

The other side of the record contains Kelly's remarks sans the questioning from Simmons. This would have been sent out with a transcript, allowing DJ to use his own voice to query Gene, as if he were there in the studio. Golly!

Lobby card

Did it work? Sure, it did, to some degree, even if it was played only on relatively small stations at odd hours. The news director would say something like, "Gene Kelly's Invitation to the Dance is opening in town this weekend, and we had a chance to ask Gene how he got the idea for this all-dance, no-talk musical. Here's what he had to say."

In the end, Invitation to the Dance wasn't very popular, and didn't lead to more examples of the type. The studio, despite this promotional push, had little faith in the film, shelving it for four years.

FYI - the soundtrack LP is still available via the link above. Also a note that there is some background rustle on the transfer of this promotional record.

Mercer Ellington and Carmen McRae

One of the most fascinating people I've encountered in the collecting world is Mark Cantor, one of the leading collectors of and experts on jazz on film. Mark has a rewarding website, Celluloid Improvisations, where he shares and comments on filmed performances by jazz and other artists.

Mark's latest effort focuses on the 1946 film Sepia Cinderella and a rare appearance by a band led by Mercer Ellington, the trumpeter son of Duke. The link above takes you to Mark's exploration of the film and its production, notes on the plot and the stars, and other material of absorbing interest. The leads in the movie were Billy Daniels (less histrionic here than he would later become) and Sheila Guyse, a hard-luck singer whose sole LP has appeared on my other blog.

Mercer Ellington

For some reason the Mercer Ellington band appears under the name of arranger Gil Fuller. A clip from the film (featuring a tenor sax solo from Budd Johnson) can be found via Mark's home page under “2nd Chorus: Watch.” It's a song titled "Ring Around My Rosie"  - look for a thumbnail image located at the bottom of the list, the last item on the page.

In connection with this, I thought I might share Mercer Ellington's only Musicraft single, which is worthy in its own right. It couples "Metronome All-Out," a simple riff that Mercer's father concocted for a Metronome All-Stars date earlier in 1946, with Mercer's own tune, "Pass Me By," with a vocal by the great Carmen McRae, making her first appearance on record. At the time, McRae was married to drummer Kenny Clarke, and so is billed on the label as Carmen Clarke.

McRae is already an assured and soulful singer, portending the great things she was to accomplish in her career. Fittingly, the song opens with an alto sax solo heavily reminiscent of Johnny Hodges of Duke Ellington's band.

As a bonus, I've also included another early McRae single, this one on the Sunrise label and dating from circa 1953. The singer contributes a effortless version of "A Foggy Day" backed with the less-often heard Romberg-Hammerstein song, "Wanting You." The backing is by the wonderful accordionist Mat Mathews and his combo, featuring flutist Herbie Mann, who contributes an unexpected tenor sax solo (in a Stan Getz mode) on the Gershwin song.

These singles are very much worth hearing, with vivid sound from the vintage 78s.

Carmen McRae

Ray Anthony on Parade

Ray Anthony started his band in the Glenn Miller mode, but grew out of the Miller manner into a more varied approach as the years went by. This 1954 EP adopts the Dixieland style, collecting single sides from 1949, 1950 and 1953.

The bandleader had for some time included Bob Crosby-style big-band Dixieland in his book, probably in an attempt to recognize the popularity of the Dixieland revival that began in the 1940s. That movement had room for such rediscovered musicians as Kid Ory and George Lewis, as well as the Chicago school of Bud Freeman and others and such revivalist bands as Turk Murphy.

Anthony himself has a credible Dixie solo on the first tune, "Darktown Strutters' Ball," with phrasing reminiscent of Louis Armstrong and Bobby Hackett. "When the Saints Go Marching In" adopts a quasi-live ambiance most likely created in the studio with a dubbed-in audience. Anthony himself leads the singing - or, more accurately, shouting - of the lyrics.

While bands such as Anthony's tried to co-opt the Dixieland style, the musicians also tended to look down on Dixieland ensembles, so they tended to kid the Dixie style at the same time as they tried to capitalize on its popularity. This can be heard on "Spaghetti Rag," where pianist Eddie Ryan uses what sounds like a tack piano, which is associated with the corniest versions of the style, later giving rise to such phenomena as "Crazy Otto" and his ilk, with the bowler hats and sleeve garters. Yikes.

Anthony would go on to record an entire Big Band Dixieland LP in 1955, including a remake of the "When the Saints Go Marching In."

This EP is a companion to a post on my main blog of Anthony's 1951 LP Houseparty Hop.

"Thanks, Fred, for congratulations" (?) - a 1954 Billboard ad

More Spirituals from Marian Anderson

This is a companion to a post on my main blog that presents a Marian Anderson 10-inch LP of spirituals dating from 1952.

Here we have an EP that brings together four additional spirituals that Miss Anderson recorded for Victor in May 1947.

As with the LP, the singing here is magnificent, and the identification with the material is total. The contralto was in all ways a phenomenon.

As usual, Miss Anderson's pianist is Franz Rupp, who accompanied her from 1940 until her 1964 retirement.

The sound from RCA's New York Studio No. 2 is very good.

Marian Anderson and Franz Rupp

To the Moon with Raymond Scott

A moon landing was 20 years off when this children's record was recorded in 1949, but space travel was already in the public consciousness and had been for some time. So it was no real novelty for the fledgling Young People's Records to concoct the idea of a disc telling the tale of a trip to the moon, and contracting composer-arranger Raymond Scott to score the proceedings.

It's a curiously casual trip - not with the astronauts we are accustomed to, but a gaggle of space tourists, who seemingly had chosen the voyage in preference to, say, a bus trip to Detroit. They seem shocked by the hub-bub when they return - "What's all the cheering about?"

Raymond Scott was a perfect choice for composer - his off-center approach to arrangement seems just right for this retro-futuristic fantasy. You will hear echoes of the compositions that even then were beginning to be used as cartoon backings - "Powerhouse," "The Toy Trumpet" and the like.

The stentorian announcer is Ralph Camargo, a radio actor and voice-over artist. The Gene Lowell Chorus sings and its members presumably interject the few spoken remarks needed. At one point, a fellow wants the captain to turn the rocket around because he forgot his wallet. The captain's reply: "You won't need your wallet here, a thousand miles from the atmosphere." This was in the days before they charged for everything on air voyages.

Longtime blog supporter David Federman says he had this record as a young fellow, and is looking forward to hearing it again. I hope he and all of you enjoy it.

Raymond Scott

A couple of minor notes. "By Rocket to the Moon" first came out on Young People's Records in 1949, then was reissued by its successor, the Children's Record Guild, about 1953. My transfer comes from a clean CRG pressing.

Those interested in Raymond Scott are invited to head over to the main blog, where I have refurbished an early 10-inch LP that collected some of Scott's 1930s output, including "Powerhouse" and "The Toy Trumpet." The post dates from the early days of the blog, but I have now remastered the sound and it's much improved.

Lisa Kirk's Sole Columbia Recording

This is a companion post to the selection of 24 single sides by the great singer Lisa Kirk that can be found on my main blog.

Here we have her sole recording for the Columbia, done in 1956, a few years after she left RCA Victor. It contains two songs from a CBS television production starring Kirk. The label at right identifies the program as A Heart to Call My Own, but that is a mistake. It actually was The Human Touch, broadcast on April 15, 1956.

The teleplay, which appears to be lost, was almost literally "ripped from the headlines," as they said back then. Kirk played a New York night club singer, which she was in real life. After her character, Ruth Elliott, becomes the subject of a scurrilous article in a Confidential-style scandal magazine, she threatens a defamation lawsuit. Elliott then is offered a juicy Broadway role contingent on dropping the suit. The drama turns on the choice of following through with the suit or taking the role.

Lisa Kirk in full nightclub mode

Such plots were not uncommon at the time. It has some similarities, for example, to Sweet Smell of Success, a 1950 Ernest Lehman story that would become a film in 1957.

The Human Touch contained at least two songs, coupled on this single. "A Heart to Call My Own" by lyricist William Engvick and composer Alec Wilder, is the better of the pair, even though it contains a fairly conventional waltz melody by Wilder standards. The other song is "A Smile and a Ribbon" by Kirk's husband Bob Wells and Mark McIntyre.

The backings are by Columbia stalwart Percy Faith. I like Faith, but these arrangements can best be described as characteristic. The sound is excellent.