Why the Chimes Rang

"Why the Chimes Rang" is a 1909 children's book by Raymond MacDonald Alden, here adapted for a 1947 release on the RCA Victor label. It tells the story of mystical church chimes that had not rung for many years, and the sacrifice of a young boy on Christmas Eve that awakened the bells.

The RCA release features radio personality Ted Malone, whose specialty was reciting poetry and telling stories. Malone's soothing tones were reputedly the inspiration for the Ernie Kovacs character Percy Dovetonsils (a reference that no doubt will be meaningless to anyone but Americans of a certain age). Malone's talents are well suited to this material, as are the skills of organist Dick Leibert, who makes the Radio City Music Hall's mighty Wurlitzer stand in for a cathedral organ.

Ted Malone

I have included a PDF of the original book in the download. It is interesting to note the differences between the book and the adaptation. The story hinges on a boy named Pedro and his little brother finding an old woman in the snow. In the original, the boy tells his brother to go on ahead to the church but then to come back with help. That latter part is left off the records, leaving you to wonder if Pedro was planning to drag the poor old lady to shelter. Also, at the end of the story on the records, an angel appears to provide a moral to the story, which is left implicit in the book.

In all, a nice production. My copy is a bit worn, but the sound is still reasonably good. The download includes full scans, including two excellent illustrations found on the gatefold cover of this two-record set of 78s.

A Christmas Carillon

St. Joseph's Oratory on Mount Royal is Canada's largest church, and also has a large carillon. Here we have a record of two familiar Christmas hymns, probably issued soon after the carillon was installed in 1954. The church says it was originally designed for the Eiffel Tower, but doesn't explain how it ended up on a hillside in Montreal.

The record, a 78 with the cardboard cover at right, was probably offered as a souvenir of the church. Émile Vendette, carillonist of the Oratory in 1955-56, performs "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "Silent Night".

Carillons, which are collections of brass bells - in this case 56 of them weighing 12 tons - make an mighty noise, and this is a well recorded example. But they are unwieldy devices, played by striking paddles with fists, and are better suited to solemn music like "Silent Night" than such fare as "Angels We Have Heard on High". The sound of a carillon is not for those squeamish about intonation - not helped in this example by a warped pressing.

Despite that, I am sure you will be impressed by the sound of this magnificent instrument. Quite a contrast to the music box record I posted on my other blog today!

Our Christmas Waltz

I have to admit that I picked up this record primarily because of its Christmas coloring, but fortunately it's worth hearing as well as seeing.

This is a green vinyl promo copy of a 78 from 1949. That year, RCA Victor had begun issuing 45s, initially color coding the vinyl to signify genre - red for classical, yellow for children's records, etc. This 78 is pressed on the watery green vinyl that RCA used for its country 45s. And although "Our Christmas Waltz" started off as a country song, this is decidedly not a hillbilly record.

Larry Green

Larry Green was actually a society bandleader, located in Boston. He plays the piano heard here, in the style of Eddy Duchin.

Ray Dorey

"Our Christmas Waltz," a simple but attractive song, was a hit for Red Foley and Judy Martin on the country charts. It is coupled here with a new Hoagy Carmichael-Paul Francis Webster tune with the strange title "Follow the Swallow to Hide-A-Way Hollow". The Carmichael song is also a good one, with a lyric in the manner of "I'll Buy That Dream". Both are very well sung by the sonorous Ray Dorey. The baritone had been with Benny Goodman and made several singles for the Majestic label. He later became a Boston radio-television personality.

Honey Dreamers Christmas Single

How about starting the Christmas shares off with another Honey Dreamers record? This one is a kiddie record from 1956 celebrating the latest helper of Santa, one Rootie Tootie Tootie, who is also identified as a "kewtee bear". He is the fellow at the right in the picture sleeve. Just so there is no mistake, his beanie denotes him as "Santa's Helper". It's not clear why he has belt and suspenders, having no trousers to hold up.

The back story of this scene is that Santa has been loading up with cookies and has become too fat to get down the chimney. So Rootie has become the designated toy dispenser. Unfortunately, Santa and Rootie did not discuss their respective roles before getting to this house, and the appropriately porcine-looking Santa has become stuck, to Rootie's amusement.

I gather that the children of 1956 found this tale appealing, although I was a child in good standing at the time and have no recollection of it. (I like to think I would have rejected it out of hand, but that's probably just me imputing my fabulous adult taste to my preferences as a six-year-old.) There was a children's book, two different records, and a toy bear. Unfortunately for the promoters, Rootie did not become as popular as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

If you can handle kiddie records, you will find this to be is a good example of the genre, with a catchy melody well presented by the versatile Honey Dreamers. The flip side is "The Little Bell," a simple you-can-do-it anthem for the junior set. I have included the "Story of Santa's Kewtee Bear" in the download, for those who want the full experience. I haven't listened, myself, but I believe it features Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone) and May Questel (the voice of Betty Boop). It would have been more interesting if Santa had taken Fred and Betty along with him and left the bear at home.

The Honey Dreamers on the Beach

This is a companion post to one on my other blog devoted to the Honey Dreamers, a fine 50s group that's now forgotten.

The back of the EP (below) indicates that this group includes lead singer Patty McGovern, which would date the recordings as being made before 1955. However, this particular release must date from several years later, because it's on SESAC Repertory Recordings, which didn't come into existence until 1958.

To clear up any mystery, SESAC was and is the smallest of the performing rights organizations (the others are ASCAP and BMI). I believe that SESAC had a transcription service to showcase works by its composers. The Honey Dreamers must have made some recordings for them, later issued on this and one or two other EPs.

Here they are accompanied by the excellent Richard Maltby band, and the tunes, while not deathless are enjoyable and characteristic of the time; the wordless "A Peach on a Beach" includes wolf whistles, etc. The performances are, if anything, better than on the Gershwin album on the Big 10-Inch Record site.

The sound is lathered with reverb, but otherwise fine.

Gospel Boogie

Today we have one of the great hits of Southern gospel music; also one of its most controversial records. It's also a song that I've loved since I was a young fellow.

This particular record has two titles: "Gospel Boogie" and "(Everybody's Gonna Have) A Wonderful Time Up There". I got to know the song from Pat Boone's 1958 version, but this is the original, from 1947.

The tune originated with Lee Roy Abernathy, who brought it with him when he joined the leading gospel group the Homeland Harmony Quartet in 1947. Issued on White Church Records (and later picked up by King), it sold quite well. "Gospel Boogie" is a "talking blues," a form that was being popularized in country music by Tex Williams, whose "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette" was a big hit that same year. The "talking blues" date back to Chris Bouchillon's 1926 record of that name.

The controversy was not in the singing (or "talking") so much as the song's strong boogie rhythm, which was decidedly secular and a real novelty in the field. In that it was well ahead of its time and looked forward to the work of such groups as the Statesmen (whose Hovie Lister had passed through the Homeland quartet in 1943). On this record, the quartet (actually a quintet with Abernathy) makes sounds that both look forward to the vocal backing you might hear on rock 'n' roll records 10 years later, and at the same time reflect what the singers might have heard on the radio from such black pop/gospel groups as the Charioteers.

The flip side - "You Can't Believe Everything You Hear" - is hardly less successful, so this is a really superior record, strong both in lyrics and in musical presentation.

Lee Roy Abernathy was only in the group for a short time, but went on to a long career in gospel music as singer and songwriter. Pictured above is the ensemble that I believe appears on this record. Abernathy is seated. Standing from left are Connor Hall, Shorty Bradford, James McCoy and A.D. Soward.

The record has now (June 2023) been remastered in ambient stereo and has much better sound.

Day, Dawn and Dusk

I enjoy doing research into the histories of more obscure artists, with the thought that the ordinary is more illuminating of its time that the extraordinary. I hope you won't think I am damning the singing group Day, Dawn and Dusk by calling them ordinary - they were talented people who seem to have had a good career, as careers go in the high-risk musical field. But they never had a real breakthrough and I think you will agree after experiencing their work that they were enjoyable without being (as they say on American television) "amazing!!"

Day, Dawn and Dusk were (as you have surmised) a trio. The two constants in the group were arranger and tenor Eddie Coleman and pianist and bass Bob Carver. The baritone (and chief comic) of the group was at first Gus Simmons (or Simons), succeeded by Mack Smith. The first evidence of the group's existence is a 1942 mention in Billboard. The trio began making records in 1944, and appeared on a succession of small labels periodically until 1956, the last mention I can find of them.

Coleman, Carver and Simmons in 1944

Smith, Coleman and Carver in the 50s

The record under examination today was made in 1954 for Herald, an R&B and gospel label. Nonetheless, on the basis of these sides, Day, Dawn and Dusk (called the Day, Dawn, Dusk Trio by Herald) was decidedly a pop ensemble, sounding more like the Ames Brothers than an R&B group. "All Through the Years," is typical pop of the time. The other side, "The Kiss (That Broke My Heart)", sounds like it could be accompanied by slap-dancing fellows in lederhosen.

The early ad at left above describes the group as "comedy singing stars" - and a few videos survive from the 1940s showing them doing their specialties. I have included these (I think they were Soundies) in the download. Even though the video quality is execrable, you can see the talent they possessed, but you can also see they were not inspired performers.

The group that appears on the Herald record is likely the unit at right. The sound is very good.