Completing Gordon MacRae's Musicraft Sides

Vocalist Gordon MacRae made 16 recordings for the small Musicraft label early in his career, before joining Capitol. I posted 12 of the 16 sides years ago on my other blog, where they are still available. Today's post completes the set.

Unlike the first post, this group comes from the original 78s, as found on Internet Archive and remastered by me. There are some excellent songs to be found here, led by Irving Berlin's superb "Everybody Knew But Me." Published in 1945, the song attracted the attention of such vocal luminaries as Dinah Shore, but MacRae's version is not inferior.

The second selection is "I Have But One Heart," also known as "O Marinariello," which was written in 1893 but revived in 1945, eventually becoming popular in the Frank Sinatra and Vic Damone versions.

"(It's Gonna Depend on) The Way That the Wind Blows" is a pretty good number by Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer. MacRae's picture appeared on the sheet music for this tune.

Another interesting item is "Slowly," written by David Raksin and lyricist Kermit Goell for the 1945 film Fallen Angel, where the song is heard on a jukebox as sung by Dick Haymes. MacRae was very much under Haymes' spell at the time, so this was a good choice for him.

Composer Raksin went on to write two of the enduring melodies from American films - "Laura" and the "Theme from The Bad and the Beautiful," amid much other movie music.

As on all his other Musicraft sides, MacRae is accompanied by a band led by Walter Gross, best known as the composer of "Tenderly."

A Public Health Push from Frank and Dinah

One of the most unusual recordings in Frank Sinatra's lengthy catalog is 1946's "It's All Up to You," a duet with Dinah Shore. Unlike the standard "My Romance," which they recorded at the same November session, "It's All Up to You" was a public service announcement in music - a plea to the citizens of North Carolina to get behind public health measures.

The single was part of a larger effort to improve the health of the state's citizens. The genesis of the campaign was North Carolina's poor record in providing manpower for the Second World War. About half the state's draftees were rejected for medical reasons. Clearly much more needed to be spent on public health, and the Frank-Dinah duet was designed to support that drive. (The download has an outline of the state's "Good Health Plan.")

Sheet music cover

Heading up the musical part of the campaign was bandleader and North Carolina native Kay Kyser. He enlisted the support of his label, Columbia, who offered the services of Sinatra and Shore. Also on board were frequent Frank songwriters Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn. Styne's tune is catchy, and Cahn's lyrics were unusual in his catalogue. It certainly was the only time he had Sinatra tout the wonders of "clinics where the poor can go for moderate fees."

The record was only distributed in North Carolina, and the original single (label above) is something of a rare bird. The song was included in Columbia's Sinatra box set in the 90s, but this transfer is from a copy of the 78 found on Internet Archive. 

I was surprised to see that the label attributes the backing to Kyser. The aural evidence says it's Sinatra's regular arranger-conductor Axel Stordahl, and the Sinatra sessionography supports that.

The flip side of "It's All Up to You" was a genuine Kyser recording. Appropriately, it's his rendition of "Carolina in the Morning," with a vocal by Gloria Wood and the Campus Kids. After consulting Nigel Burlinson's Kyser discography, it appears to me that this title was not otherwise released.

The Songs of Mae West's 'I'm No Angel"

Mae West was a buxom star of vaudeville, Broadway (her first play there was simply titled Sex), and the movies who prospered in Hollywood until the blue-nose police came along in 1934. Fortunately, the amusing comedy I'm No Angel arrived just before the Motion Picture Production Code made the merest hint of sex verboten.

I'm No Angel is generally remembered as being the second pairing of West and a good-looking English youngster named Cary Grant. (The first was She Done Him Wrong, earlier in 1933.)

The film is also notable for an excellent set of songs that are too little known these days. The music is by Harvey Brooks, reputed to be the first black American to have written a score for a major motion picture. The lyrics are by Ben Ellison and Gladys Du Bois.

Although young, Brooks had quite a lot of experience. He toured and recorded with Mamie Smith in the early 1920s. He then co-led the Quality Four with Paul Howard. He was the music director for West Coast bandleader Les Hite throughout the early 1930s.

Ben Ellison had written a few songs that were recorded by Leon René and Louis Armstrong in 1932. Du Bois had scored a major hit in 1931 with Russ Columbo's famous recording of "You Call It Madness (But I Call it Love)."

The I'm No Angel songs are well suited to Mae's cartoonishly sexy persona. In the title song, she assures us, "I can make it heaven when the shades are drawn / I'm no angel." But the real gem is her remarkable reading of "They Call Me Sister Honky-Tonk," which contains a miniature scenario of its own. It opens with a sleazy carnival barker extolling her virtues to a group of enthusiastic gentlemen, with bump-and-grind accompaniment. West then sings a chorus, moans and asks slyly, "Do you follow me, boys?" One spectator shouts, "Aw, we're way ahead of you!" and the barker adds, "Wrap it up and take it home with you, boys!"

"I Found a New Way to Go to Town" is the sort of double-entendre title that would later become the stock-in-trade of such entertainers as Ruth Wallis. "I Want You - I Need You" is more conventional, the kind of thing that would have been done by such red-hot mamas as Sophie Tucker.

West came out of that vaudeville tradition. You'll have to forgive her faltering intonation and erratic rhythm (although her comic timing in "Sister Honky-Tonk" is superb).

West did not record one of the five songs written for the film, "That Dallas Man." I've added it to the download in a very enjoyable performance by Allan Lane and His Orchestra. The "Allan Lane" pseudonym was generally associated with Al Mitchell. The anonymous singer was the ubiquitous studio vocalist Dick Robertson.

The "Dallas Man" arrangement was heavily influenced by Eddie Durham's work on Bennie Moten's "Moten Swing" in 1932 (a song later to become even more famous in the Count Basie remake).

In addition to Mae's recording, I've included one more version of "I'm No Angel" - that by the excellent Gus Arnheim Band and enthusiastic vocalist Shirley Ross, a blog favorite. This and its flip side were the earliest recordings by Ross and apparently the only ones she made with Arnheim.

Shirley Ross

I've included that flip side - "Like Me a Little Bit Less (Love Me a Little Bit More)" - even though it doesn't come from I'm No Angel. It is from the prize-fightin' film Palooka, which was certainly inspired by the "Joe Palooka" comic strip of the day (adapting comics for the movies is nothing new for Hollywood). The songwriters were a very young Burton Lane and equally young lyricist Harold Adamson. 

While "Like Me a Little Bit Less" didn't have much staying power (it's not a great tune), the film also introduced Jimmy Durante doing his signature song, "Inka Dinka Do," which did.

The download includes many cleaned-up posters, lobby cards and other ephemera from I'm No Angel. The sound files were sourced from Internet Archive and remastered by me.

Vic Damone's SIngles from 'Rich, Young and Pretty'

The soundtrack record for the 1951 musical comedy Rich, Young and Pretty (the title describes star Jane Powell) found a home on the main blog many years ago and is still available.

The film has a nice score by Nicholas Brodszky and Sammy Cahn, and the tunes are well presented by Powell and Danielle Darrieux. (Despite being only 12 years older than Powell, Darrieux played her mother.) The glowering father was Wendell Corey, mercifully left off the soundtrack LP. (Would that the same were the case for Fernando Lamas.)

Also missing from the soundtrack album is juvenile lead Vic Damone, who certainly can sing and does so well in the film. Presumably M-G-M could not get the rights to include him in its LP from his record company, Mercury.

Mercury instead had Damone do his own versions of three songs from the score. And while Powell handles "Wonder Why" and "I Can See You" beautifully in the film, it's great to have Vic's versions on a single.

Damone also offers one song that isn't on the soundtrack LP: "How D'Ya Like Your Eggs in the Morning?" In the film, this tune is delivered by the Four Freshmen as singing waiters in a peculiar breakfast boîte where the patrons cook their own meals at their tables. Young lovers Damone and Powell endure predictable mishaps.

The Four Freshmen march away from Damone and Powell

It's actually a catchy and clever song, and racy for the period ("How d'ya like your eggs in the morning? / I like mine with a kiss."). Damone's single is highly effective.

Apparently Vic or the Mercury folks couldn't find another Rich, Young and Pretty song they liked: they backed "Eggs in the Morning," appropriately, with "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening." Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer contributed that number to Bing's Here Comes the Groom, another 1951 musical. Damone's reading, aided by the Pied Pipers, is exceptionally good.

Jane and Vic canoodle while Wendell fumes

Vic had the benefit of backings and presumably arrangements from George Siravo, a favorite around here who has appeared on the main blog several times - as has Damone. 

The singer was to be paired with Jane Powell twice more - in 1954's Athena and 1955's Hit the Deck. Vic appears on both soundtrack LPs - Athena can be found here.

The download includes many posters, lobby cards and stills from Rich, Young and Pretty. The recordings were cleaned up from originals found on Internet Archive.

A Special Gordon MacRae 78 Promoting Community Chest

Here's a circa 1950 charitable contribution in song from Gordon MacRae and his radio sponsor, the Association of American Railroads. It promotes giving to Community Chest, the forerunner of today's United Way in the US.

The disc dates from 1948-50, which is when MacRae's show, The Railroad Hour, was on the air.

You'll notice that the label says that the record was produced for the "United Red Feather Campaigns of America." The red feather was the symbol of the campaign; when you gave, you would get a red feather lapel pin in recognition. Even as a child, I received such pins for my small contributions.

The Community Chest campaigns began in Cleveland in 1913, then spread rapidly throughout the nation. Even today, the biggest contributors to the local United Way receive a "Red Feather" designation.

MacRae's song was called "Give Your Best to Community Chest," a march with music by Gus Haenschen, long-time radio and music industry figure who made many records under the name Carl Fenton. The lyricist was Bea Adams. I suspect she was the person of that name who was the creative director of the Gardner Advertising Agency of St. Louis.

The flip side of this record is the "United Red Feather March," by the Earl Paul Brass Band and Chorus. I can't tell you anything about the artist, or the Phil Davis who wrote the music.

This record is a companion to a post on my main blog focusing on the records of MacRae and Jo Stafford from the same period.

Bing's 'Welcome Stranger' - the Promo Discs and Commercial Releases

In casting Bing Crosby's latest film, 1947's Welcome Stranger, Paramount Studios tried to recreate the success of the Groaner's most recent films. First, they enlisted Barry Fitzgerald, the beloved foil from one of Crosby's most successful entries, Going My Way. Only this time, Bing and Barry would be doctors instead of priests.

Then, for good measure, Paramount cast Joan Caulfield as the love interest, as it had in Crosby's most recent film, Blue Skies. And as usual Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen were on hand to provide the songs (although the Irving Berlin catalog had graced Blue Skies).

The result was a success at the box office, but the songs are less remembered than many others written for Bing's film projects. Even Bing's The Bells of St. Mary's had a more durable hit, "Aren't You Glad You're You?", the only Burke-Van Heusen song in the score.

Too bad, because the Welcome Stranger songs are accomplished and varied - and perfectly suited to Crosby's talents and persona. Today we get to hear not only the four Decca sides recorded in conjunction with the film, but the same songs as heard on the soundtrack, courtesy of the promotional records that Paramount sent out in advance of the film's opening.

The sets lead off with the gorgeous ballad, "As Long as I'm Dreaming." Both versions are effective and affecting, but the soundtrack has a level of involvement that Bing sometimes didn't attain in his commercial recordings. The same is true of most of the other recordings, which is perhaps understandable considering that the Decca sessions were nine months after the soundtrack recordings.

The "dreamer" was a central element of Crosby's film and TV characters from Holiday Inn through to High Tor. A related aspect was the "regular guy" personality that was embodied in Welcome Stranger by the song "My Heart Is a Hobo." In this number, Bing insists that he "loves to go out berry pickin', hates to hear alarm clocks tickin'," while admitting that he "hates the stodgy guy that I am." (He apparently had to work at being irresponsible.)

"Country Style" is a square dance - far more common back then - which comes off better on the soundtrack than in the studio.

"Smile Right Back at the Sun" was a cracker-barrel philosophy piece that was a bid to replicate the popularity of "Aren't You Glad You're You?" or Going My Way's "Swinging on a Star." It didn't achieve as much success, even though it's a good song. Here the commercial recording is just as effective as the soundtrack.

The songs in both sets are well-recorded and very enjoyable. The download includes many stills and posters from the film, along with the booklet included in the 78 set (cover below). All recordings were cleaned up from Internet Archive originals.

Dennis Day's 1950 St. Patrick's Day Message and Single

In 1950, singer-comedian Dennis Day was at the peak of show business. He was famous on radio (with Jack Benny and in his own show), and his records did well. Television was to come, later in 1950 with Benny, then on his own show in 1952.

One of Day's his successes in 1949 was his single of  "Clancy Lowered the Boom." So when St. Patrick's Day 1950 drew near, he sent a recorded message to disc jockeys across the U.S. asking them to make his new Irish-themed record a success.

In this one-minute spiel, Day thanks them for plugging "Clancy," and asks that they do the same for his new record, "How Can You Buy Killarney?", which he proclaimed could be even greater than "Galway Bay." "Killarney" was included on the other side of the promo record shown above.

"Killarney" was, in truth, a nice song, although no "Galway Bay," and far different from the rollicking "Clancy Lowered the Boom," which trades on the stereotype of the fighting Irishman. "Whenever he got his Irish up, Clancy lowered the boom" went the refrain. It was a popular tune, and its publisher went so far as to push repeat sales in the 1950 season.

On the record available to the public, "How Can You Buy Killarney?" was backed with "O, Katharina!", which Day tells the disc jockeys was a popular favorite when he was young. It turns out to be a L. Wolfe Gilbert-Richard Fall song from 1924, an early example of a song making fun of an obese girlfriend. Just a few years before Day's record, Hoagy Carmichael had had a hit with the similar "Huggin' and Chalkin'" and Arthur Godfrey had made the "Too Fat Polka" a success. "O, Katharina!" also allowed Day to display his gift for dialect, in this case German. 

I've also included Day's follow-up to "Killarney"/"Katharina" - "The Horse Told Me," in which the singer becomes impressionist. He imitates (in order) Jimmy Durante, Ronald Colman, Jerry Colonna, Titus Moody of Fred Allen's radio show, and Bert Gordon ("The Mad Russian"). Most of these names are unfamiliar today, but would have been known to the 1950 American audience. "The Horse Told Me" is from the Bing Crosby horse-racing flick Riding High. (The hits from the Burke-Van Heusen score were "Sunshine Cake" and "A Sure Thing.")

In his records, Day also showed interest in Western themes - the flip side of "The Horse Told Me" is "There's an 'X' in the Middle of Texas" and the backing for "Clancy" is Cindy Walker's fine waltz, "The Romance of the Rose." 

If you want to hear more of Day, my other blog has his album of Irish songs as heard in the 1947 film, My Wild Irish Rose, newly remastered.

Thanks to my pal Ernie for alerting me to the Day promo record! Make sure to check in with Ernie at his blog - he's posting unusual Christmas material each week. Those items come from Internet Archive, as did these Dennis Day selections.

Dennis Day was popular on television in its early years