The death of composer Hugh Martin the other day started me thinking about what I could post as a tribute. Records of the shows and movies he did with Ralph Blane are now on CD – including Athena. Even the vocal LP they did in 1956 – once rare – is on CD.
Well, I decided to go ahead with the latter anyway, because a have a nice vinyl copy and because it is one of my favorite vocal LPs of the era. And if this turns out to be as much or more a tribute to Ralph Blane than Hugh Martin, that’s OK, too, because Blane was a remarkably good singer.
Martin and Blane had an unusual working relationship in that they both wrote words and music, and evidently worked separately on songs, bringing them together to produce the full score. In later years, Martin would claim to have written "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by himself, even though both men’s names were on it.
Whatever the working relationship, they were a very talented pair, being responsible for, among other works, Best Foot Forward, Look Ma, I’m Dancin’, Make a Wish, and Meet Me in St. Louis.
The strength of their songwriting shows in this collection, which includes songs from several of these scores. Most songs are presented by Blane, an exceptional vocalist who is particularly good on the great song "Ev’ry Time." His rendition includes the rarely-heard verse. Martin also is a good singer who is highly effective here as well.
Unsurprisingly, they started out as singers, and Martin appeared with Kay Thompson’s Rhythm Singers in the 30s. You will hear the Thompson influence on their vocal arrangements right from the first song of this LP. They had their own vocal group, the Martins, in the 40s, and there is an unidentified group by that name assisting on this record.
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Kay Thompson Singers, 1936 - from left, Ken Lane,
Hugh Martin, Al Rinker, John Smedburgh |
When the LP was announced, it was to come out on a label called Elf. Producer Bob Bach and Richard Kollmar must have thought better of that name – it was eventually issued on Harlequin. The Billboard article on the record says that the composers were working on a musical called Three Tigers for Tessie – a title so unlikely that I thought they were pulling the reporter’s leg. But I have since seen other references to that project, although as far as I can tell, it wasn’t ever produced.
The unusual cover has the pink-shirted Blane (left) and Martin surrounded by well-known 50s personalities. Too bad I don’t know all of them! From left we have “The Man in the Hathaway Shirt” (I believe he was Baron George Wrangell), Sammy Davis Jr., model Suzy Parker (I think), unknown man, Blane, columnist and TV personality Dorothy Kilgallen (Bach was the producer of her TV show, What’s My Line), Martin, Steve Allen, unknown woman, another unknown woman (Lena Horne? she introduced "Love," one of the songs on this LP), Bert Lahr.
The sound on this LP is quite good, and so are the Ralph Burns orchestral arrangements.
UPDATE: Thanks to swift responses from Dave Weiner and Progress Hornsby (two of the better informed people I know), we know have complete IDs for the cover personalities: from left they are “The Man in the Hathaway Shirt” (I believe he was Baron George Wrangell), Sammy Davis Jr., model Suzy Parker, producer Richard Kollmar, Blane, columnist and TV personality Dorothy Kilgallen (Bach was the producer of her TV show, What’s My Line, and Kollmar her husband), Martin, Steve Allen, Rosalind Russell, singer Sallie Blair, Bert Lahr.
Note (June 2024): this LP has now been remastered in ambient stereo.
