Fran Warren Takes Us from 'Temptation' to 'Envy'

Vocalist Fran Warren is a long-time enthusiasm of mine. Her work has appeared several times on these blogs: 20 of her RCA Victor single sides and the Mr. Imperium soundtrack on the main blog, and, on this blog, a Camden EP and her first record, with Charlie Barnet's band.

Little recognized today, her work is worth saving and celebrating. Warren's prime was her 1948-51 tenure with Victor, which plugged her work heavily. She was often depicted in trade ads and RCA promoted her directly to disc jockeys in other ways.

One such promotion is today's disc - "From 'Temptation' to 'Envy,'" which the label sent to radio stations in fall 1949. The idea was the DJs would play the five-minute promo on the air followed by the record it plugged, in this case Fran's new disc, "Envy."

In this sense, it's very similar to the 1950 promo for and by Mindy Carson that recently appeared here. Warren was not as polished a presenter as Carson, but her disc was nonetheless very well done.

"From 'Temptation' to 'Envy'" is an interesting audio tour through the use of the beguine rhythm in popular music. Fran starts by demonstrating Bing's 1933 hit "Temptation," and continues through Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and "Begin the Beguine," Ernesto Lecuona's "Andalucia" (a hit in America as "The Breeze and I"), and Kurt Weill's "Speak Low."

The payoff is a lead-in to Fran's new record, the beguine "Envy," conveniently on the other side of the promo disc. It's a characteristic Warren record, with complete involvement allied to a lovely vocal quality. The good anonymous backing is by a band and what sound like a Wurlitzer organ.

I've also included the flip side of the commercial disc of "Envy," a good song called "You're in Love with Someone." Both items are also included in my collection of Warren's RCA recordings, although I note that my commentary mistakenly called "Envy" a rhumba rather than a beguine. Fran has now put me right.

The promo record was sourced from Internet Archive.

Joe Mooney Obscurities

Joe Mooney at a recording session

Joe Mooney is one of those musicians who inspires passionate devotion among the few while remaining unknown to the many. He was an accomplished accordionist and organist, while also being a stylish vocalist. 

I featured Mooney on my other blog several years ago, presenting 15 of the 18 sides he made for Decca in the late 1940s. Today I add one more Decca to the pile, with five other obscurities on other labels.

The Decca, "Stars in My Eyes," is from July 1947, and as with all the recordings from this period features the Joe Mooney Quartet - Mooney (accordion), Andy Fitzgerald (clarinet), Jack Hotop (guitar) and Gate Frega (bass).

The next single was recorded for the small Carousel label in 1951, and features Mooney's vocals and organ on "Crazy She Calls Me" and "Long Ago Last Night." Also on the date are guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and bassist Bob Carter.

The next year, Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan brought in Mooney for one of the several vocals he recorded with the Sauter-Finegan Band. This one is a fine reading of "Hit the Road to Dreamland."

Guitarist Johnny Smith had Mooney on organ for a 1953 Roost date, producing "Ramona" and "Terry's Theme" from Limelight. Also on the session were bassist Eddie Safranski and drummer Don Lamond.

These singles all were remastered from lossless originals on Internet Archive. The sound is very good.

Fred and Ginger's Commercial Recordings for 'Top Hat'

I thought I might follow up my recent post of the Carefree commercial recordings with the singles from Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' most famous film, 1935's Top Hat. 

As with Carefree, Fred and Ginger's records were done for two different companies, Brunswick (Fred) and Decca (Ginger). And as before, Astaire recorded more songs than Rogers - five to four.

Fred was, of course, a far more accomplished singer than Ginger, who could barely carry a tune. I will say that she seems more at ease here than she did three years later, at the Carefree sessions. Even so, her discs can be considered more souvenirs than masterworks of recording.

But who wouldn't want to have a chance to sing these glorious Irving Berlin tunes, written for the film. Both Astaire and Rogers have a go at the famous "Cheek to Cheek" and "The Piccolino," a novelty number that despite being set in Italy has a Latin beat. Ginger liberally rewrites the melodic line of "Cheek to Cheek."

There also are separate recordings of "No Strings," which in the film marks the nadir of the two's relationship. Both also do "Isn't This a Lovely Day," which accompanies their reconciliation. It's one of Berlin's best songs and Astaire's best vocals - also a good effort by Rogers.

The only song recorded by Fred but not by Ginger was, logically, "Top Hat," another iconic Astaire number. Both this number and "No Strings" include the sound of his remarkably rhythmic dancing.

For "Isn't This a Lovely Day" and "Top Hat" Fred is accompanied by Johnny Green, who in his mid-20s was already a well-known songwriter and a popular bandleader who backed Astaire both on records and the radio.

"Isn't This a Lovely Day?"

Astaire's other songs were conducted by Leo Reisman, who made a great many records in the 1920s and 30s. (FYI - the flip side of Astaire's "The Piccolino" is a Reisman instrumental, not from the film and not included here.)

Rogers' backings were by Decca bandleader Victor Young, who would soon relocate to Hollywood and find greater fame in the movies.

According to the Discography of American Historical Recordings, the Rogers 78s were issued only in England. I had to work from lossy originals for her recordings of "Isn't This a Lovely Day" and "No Strings." All other items were cleaned up from lossless originals found on Internet Archive. The sound is in general quite good.

The download includes many posters, lobby cards and stills from the film. 

The great Top Hat ensemble - Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore, Ginger and Fred, Erik Rhodes

Speed Riggs Proclaims 'Sold to American!'

Cigarette ads have been banned on US television and radio for 50 years, but way back when, tobacco companies were among the most active sponsors of the shows Americans watched and listened to every night.

The American Tobacco Co., makers of Lucky Strike cigarettes, were particularly busy on the radio, notably sponsoring Your Hit Parade, which ran on radio and then television from 1935-59. Luckies used a variety of ad techniques during this time - in print, it sponsored a series of paintings by such American Scene artists as Thomas Hart Benton and Doris Lee, all depicting tobacco growing and auctioning. It used celebrity advertising, as did many other tobacco companies. And it spawned a variety of catchphrases - "LS/MFT - Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco," "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet," and "It's Toasted." But perhaps the most famous of them all was one that few people could imitate - the spiel of tobacco auctioneer L.A. "Speed" Riggs and his incomprehensible, fast-paced recitation of the bids before ending with the sing-song, "Sold to American!"

L.A. "Speed" Riggs

Riggs' act is hard to describe, so perhaps it is best to hear it, and today's post provides the opportunity to do so. It's a transfer of a promotional transcription that Lucky Strike put out circa 1938, in which Riggs demonstrates and explains his craft to announcer Basil Ruysdael. This would have been soon after American patriarch George Washington Hill brought Riggs on board to be a spokesperson. The auctioneer quickly became famous for his vocal acrobatics, and promoted the brand for several decades.

Luckies also used a number of other tobacco auctioneers on its programs, all distinctive, but they were a letdown after Riggs. The idea was to have each auctioneer provide testimony to the quality of Lucky Strike. "Why, year after year I've seen Luckies buy the finest, the mildest, the most flavorful tobacco," they would tell the listeners, adding, "I've smoked 'em myself for [10 - 15 - 150] years." The commercial would inevitably add (as does Basil Ruysdael), "With men who know tobacco best, it's Luckies two to one!"

On one memorable Jack Benny radio show, the auctioneer averred that he had "smoked 'em myself for nigh onto 15 years!" The Benny cast was astonished by the antique phraseology straight out of North Carolina tobacco country, and it became a running joke.

This transcription is cleaned up from Internet Archive.

1938 Lucky Strike ad

Mindy Carson Promotes Her New Record and a Sticky Candy

Singer Mindy Carson became popular in the late 40s through band experience, and then on radio and early television shows. RCA Victor took her on as an artist in 1949, and her single of "Candy and Cake" and "My Foolish Heart" did well.

Seeing her potential, the record company gave a big push to her 1950 recording of "A Rainy Day Refrain," with large ads in the trade papers (at bottom) and a special 45 (at right), which was sent to disk jockeys. These records are the subject of today's post, along with a jingle for a sticky candy of the time, as sung by Carson.

The DJ 45 was actually a five-minute radio show, "The Magic of Rain Songs," in which Carson tells of her love of rainy-day ditties, and sings several of them. At the end, she introduces "A Rainy Day Refrain." The program is charming, and Carson is believable even in the narrative nonsense written by a Victor publicist. ("Oddly enough, almost every important event in my career happened on a rainy day..." she tells us.)

Mindy Carson

"A Rainy Day Refrain" stands on its own: it's a good song that I haven't heard before from the excellent English songwriter Eric Maschwitz. The B-side is another pleasant outing, "Looks Like a Cold, Cold Winter," which my pal Ernie has also posted. His is in the Georgia Gibbs version.

The flip side of the DJ record was another, unrelated promo featuring Spike Jones and his crew, which Ernie also may have posted (although I can't find it).

Carson had a lovely voice, perfectly suited to the commercial spots that were so much a part of the advertising business back then. I've included a promotional record from about the same period in which she sings the Bit-O-Honey jingle, accompanied by organ. The number is catchy, and I think I remember it. I definitely remember the candy. It was a honey and almond concoction that was waxy and not very appetizing, although it must have some appeal because it's been around for a century (slightly longer than me).

Mindy Carson has appeared on these pages only once before, in another promo, this one for the then-new TV sets, "I Want a Television Christmas." It's in a Christmas post from 2010 that's still available.

These records were found in the Internet Archive trove of vintage 78s, and cleaned up by me. Good sound, although "The Magic of Rain Songs" has some residual noise.

1950 Billboard ad

Sokoloff Conducts Rimsky and Tchaikovsky

Last year I devoted a long post on my other blog to conductor Nikolai Sokoloff and his recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra, also a late LP with his La Jolla orchestra. Today, here is a brief coda consisting of a 78 that Sokoloff and the Clevelanders recorded in 1926.

This Brunswick disc couples Rimsky-Korsakov's Song of India (in an arrangement by Victor Herbert) with the famous waltz from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet music.

As with the previous post from this source, the music is played with great spirit from a remarkable ensemble that was founded less than a decade before.

These are electrical recordings, but were done with the GE "Light-Ray" method, which was inferior to the Western Electric process used by other companies. (The light-ray was soon extinguished by Brunswick). These recordings are not ideally clear, and become congested above forte. There are good enough, however, to demonstrate the sterling qualities of the conductor and orchestra. [Note (June 2023): These are now available in ambient stereo with better sound.]

My earlier post discusses Sokoloff's tenure in Cleveland, his dismissal in 1933, and his later career. This single was cleaned up from a needle drop found on Internet Archive.

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."