Florence Henderson

Florence Henderson is best known today for being the mother on The Brady Bunch, a well-remembered US television show of the early 70s. But as with many television stars then and later, she started in musical comedy and made her name on Broadway.

Young Florence

Henderson's debut was a small part in Harold Rome's Wish You Were Here, which opened in 1952. She was barely 18 at the time. By late 1954, she had graduated to the title role in another Rome musical - Fanny. I believe she stayed with the show throughout its two-year run.

She was not seen again on Broadway until starring in Noel Coward's The Girl Who Came to Supper in 1963. But she was very active on television, becoming almost inescapable on variety shows before being cast as Carol Brady.

This 1959 LP is one of two that Henderson made for RCA Victor's budget Camden label in which she sang the hit tunes from current shows. On this record, she essays Gypsy and Flower Drum Song. (The other covers Fiorello and The Sound of Music.) The results are pleasing, with the singer showing the decided influence of Mary Martin. This made her well suited for The Sound of Music, perhaps less so for a Merman specialty like "Some People." Still, she was a very skillful vocalist, handling difficult material like "Love, Look Away" very nicely.

The backing is by Sid Bass, an RCA staff arranger who had put out a number of LPs in what today is sometimes called the "space age bachelor pad" genre. Henderson is undeterred by the arrangements' period hokeyness, and the early stereo sound is remarkably vivid.

I'll be presenting a few more albums from the Broadway stars of the time in future weeks.