The Playboy of the Western World

I have not presented any works of literature here before (unless you think of Lord Buckley's spiel as being a kind of literature), so I'm going to offer a few plays associated with Dublin's Abbey Theatre and recorded in the mid-50s by a troupe led by Cyril Cusack.

First is John Millington Synge's tragic farce of life among the peasants, The Playboy of the Western World, which made the Abbey famous due to a riot at its 1907 opening. The play was attacked from all sides, being denounced variously as a calumny upon the Irish people, a slur upon Irish womanhood, indecent and (by Sinn Fein) insufficiently political. It has also been denounced on literary grounds, with the likes of James Joyce complaining that the language of the peasant caste is unrealistically poetic.

Portrait of Synge
by John Butler Yeats

I am more of the mind with the prevailing opinion since then that this is one of the finest plays ever written. As Louis MacNeice writes in the insert booklet, Synge "has produced, in this his greatest play, through the medium of dialect, something more truly poetic than any of our verse drama since the Elizabethans."

The story of Christy Mahon, and how he became popular by belting his father in the head with a spade, The Playboy of the Western World is both deeply cynical about human nature and deeply sympathetic to the inhabitants of the human condition. It is many faceted, truly original and very influential, and is here presented by a superb group of actors led by Cusack as Mahon. Siobhán McKenna is Pegeen Mike and Marie Kean is the Widow Quin. The 1955 recording is apparently based on a 1953 production directed by Cusack. The three also appear in a recording of Juno and the Paycock by Synge's successor, Sean O'Casey, which I will be presenting here.

McKenna and Cusack

McKenna also appeared in a 1961 film version of The Playboy of the Western World. I have the soundtrack LP from the film, and I've been meaning to share it here for a long time. The score is by composer Seán Ó Riada, notable for his importance in the revival of Irish traditional music. That record is now packed away, but I will transfer it if and when I locate it.

J. M. Synge was not prolific, and died young. The insert booklet implies this was somehow due to the reception of The Playboy of the Western World, but that's not true. He died of Hodgkin's disease in 1909.

The download includes the insert booklet and the text of the play. Sound is excellent.

Pete Seeger and Folk Songs for Children

This 1953 LP from Pete Seeger is one of the most delightful recordings I've had the opportunity to present. It has its genesis in the 1948 book American Folk Songs for Children, compiled by his father's second wife, the composer Ruth Crawford Seeger. Pete chose 11 of the 90 or so songs in that collection for this Folkways album, where he accompanies himself on his long-necked banjo.

I have to say, the banjo is not an instrument that I love. Growing up during this time, I automatically associate it with the demonically grinning Eddie Peabody or the moronically grinning Freddy Morgan. Or, even worse, Art Mooney's 1948 atrocities "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover" and "Baby Face," both of which also feature the bellowing band chorus - an inexplicable 40s sensation.

Thankfully, Pete has more taste than that, and he presents these simple materials with great humor and considerable artistry. Many, if not all the songs are very familiar to someone of my background. "Jim Crack Corn," which probably derives from a slave song, was even a pop hit in 1945 for Burl Ives, under the title "Blue Tail Fly."

Pete Seeger

"Bought Me a Cat" had been set in 1951 by Aaron Copland; presumably his source was the Crawford Seeger book. You can contrast the Pete Seeger interpretation here with the justly famous William Warfield record, which I presented here about a year ago.

Like most if not all Folkways recordings of the time, this originally came with a text insert. Mine was missing, but through the Smithsonian Folkways site, I have been able to add a badly scanned (and incomplete) copy sourced from the University of Alberta. The order of songs in the insert differs from what I am presenting here. I am following the label order from my pressing.

By the way, the sound on this record is quite good.

Hugh Shannon

Hugh Shannon considered himself a "saloon singer"; one of his later LPs has that as a title. What he was, though, was a cabaret artist with a wide repertoire and a gusty approach who entertained in the hangouts of the wealthy. He began his career after the war and was relatively successful until his death in 1982.

I don't know if the title of this circa 1958 album was designed to twit his patrons or not; the title comes from an amusing (and relatively obscure) Rodgers and Hart song found on the second side. Otherwise, you will encounter such cabaret staples as "Ace in the Hole," "Three on a Match" and "I'm Shooting High" and some fairly unfamiliar tunes as well. These include "Sweet William," the sticky tale of two flowers in love: one is plucked by a little girl; loneliness ensues. Sentimentality apparently was popular with Shannon's clientele.

Hugh Shannon

To continue the floral motif, several tracks on the LP are graced by the presence of Blossom Dearie on piano; she also duets with Shannon on "Doodle-Dee-Do." She is identified on the cover as "Rosebud Cherie" to bamboozle the folks at Verve, where she had a contract.

This is one of those records that has one title on the cover, another on the back and a third on the label. (There is nothing on the spine, otherwise they could have made it a grand slam of confusion.) The cover also features a highly dysfunctional mink-lined bathtub and is autographed by Shannon to one "Shep" with the zen advice to "Be" - the shortest possible message, I suppose.

This was issued on the small Harlequin label. I've done my best with the sound, which isn't great for the time, but listenable. [Note (July 2023): I've now fixed the pitch and remastered the sound in ambient stereo; it is much better.]

Gordon Jenkins Plays Gordon Jenkins

Composer-arranger-conductor Gordon Jenkins is a favorite with the readers and proprietor of this blog, so I am happy to have the chance to present this 1950 LP of his own compositions.

The year 1950 was quite a good one for Jenkins. He had enjoyed a big double-sided hit with the Weavers and "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" and "Goodnight, Irene" and was doing well backing Decca artists such as Dick Haymes, the Andrews Sisters and the venerable Al Jolson, who passed away that year. A March appearance on the Ed Sullivan television show presenting "Manhattan Tower" (which has a big following here) led to renewed interest in that work. And his own discs were selling nicely, as well.

In October, Decca released this album of Jenkins performing his own songs. These days, he is remembered as a songwriter primarily, I would guess, for Sinatra's versions of such material as "P.S. I Love You" and "Goodbye" (among others), but Jenkins was a formidable songwriter whose material is of unusual emotional depth. He worked with fine lyricists - here Johnny Mercer, Tom Adair and Joe Bishop. His own lyrics for "Homesick - That's All" (a war song) and "Goodbye" are excellent, if occasionally awkward. The latter, reportedly written after the death of his first wife, is one of the most wrenching pop songs ever composed. I've always thought it odd that Benny Goodman used it as a closing theme; only the title is appropriate.

This is quite a good (and well recorded) LP, although the overall effect is more detached than some versions of the individual songs by others, notably Sinatra.

Bonnie Lou Williams
in 1944

The vocalists, all closely associated with Jenkins, are accomplished and a pleasure to hear. They are not well known today, so here are a few words about them. Bonnie Lou Williams, an ex-Tommy Dorsey singer, became one of the most frequently used singing doubles for such stars as Virginia Mayo, Lana Turner and Betsy Drake. Bob Stevens had a mild hit with "Unless" in 1951, backed by Jenkins. Don Burke recorded with several bands, including Sonny Burke, Vic Schoen and George Cates.

More Jenkins to come.

Early Andre Previn

Andre Previn has been a world class artist as jazz pianist, film and classical composer, and classical conductor. Even his wives have been noted artists - songwriter Dory Langdon, actor Mia Farrow and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Previn's remarkable ability has shown itself since the beginning of his career. In 1945 and 46, while he was still in high school, he recorded on piano for the Sunset and Monarch labels. He even made V-Discs at that time.

This particular post concentrates on the recordings he made for RCA Victor from 1947-50. The earliest (originally in a 78 album) were  collected in the 45 box set above, "Andre Previn at the Piano," in 1950. Lineups and dates are as follows:

Andre Previn Quartet: Andre Previn (p) Al Viola (g) Charles Parnell (b) Jackie Mills (d)
Los Angeles, October 20, 1947
But Not for Me
This Can't Be Love
Mad About the Boy

Lloyd Pratt (b) replaces Parnell
Los Angeles, November 3, 1947
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
My Shining Hour
Hallelujah
Just One of Those Things

The group setting may remind you of Nat Cole, but the pianism is certainly inspired by Art Tatum. It is dazzling - remarkably facile and inventive, as are all these recordings.

The next set of recordings were originally collected in another box of singles in 1950, and abridged to an EP titled "By Request" in 1952. They were as follows:

Lloyd Pratt (b) + unknown string section
Los Angeles, April 13, 1949
Who
Bewitched

Unknown strings out
Los Angeles, May 4, 1949
Anything goes

Los Angeles, October 21, 1949
Who cares?

In 1950, Previn was the music director for a biopic of songwriters Kalmar and Ruby called "Three Little Words." In honor of that assignment, he recorded songs from the movie for an album of the same name. This must be one of the first jazz versions of a musical. Several years later, Previn was part of a group headed by drummer Shelly Manne that recorded the songs from "My Fair Lady". It became a best seller and started the fashion of jazz versions of musical scores. "Three Little Words" is a precursor. The recordings were made on March 31 and April 14, 1950.

The sound on all these is reasonably good, although the pressings are variable. The three sets comprise about 40% of the RCA Victor recordings by Previn.