Pavane for Two Dead Airlines

I enjoy at least some promotional LPs, and here are two good ones, both honoring now-defunct airlines.

Above we have "The Name of the Game Is Go," issued to celebrate a new advertising campaign, circa 1970, for Pan Am, at the time the largest international airline serving the U.S. The audience was likely travel agents, among others.

Below is a 1965 LP, "Images in Flight," which took the unusual step of having three conservative American composers gussy up the Eastern Airlines theme music into an aural travelogue depicting some of the destinations Eastern served. The cover notes imply that the record was a giveaway for Eastern employees, but I have seen the LP many times over the years, so I suspect its circulation was wider.

Both albums come from a time when air travel was rather more glamorous than it is nowadays. My own flying experience spans the period from when these records were issued until today, and I can tell you the only things I don't miss from those earlier days are cigarette smoke in the cabin and the less sophisticated weather forecasts of the time, which often led to bumpy if not dangerous flights.

But rather than going off into a reverie about the old days, let's look at each of the albums in turn.

Pan Am

The Pan Am record is listed online as coming from 1969, but since it references the Boeing 747, which Pan Am did not fly until 1970, I believe it is from a little later. The first side is devoted to several iterations of "Name of the Game is Go" advertising spots, which feature the catchy theme developed for the campaign and various versions of the clever lyrics. Each spot ends with a segue into the older "Pan Am Makes the Going Great" tagline music.

As usual with advertising jingles, the composer and copywriter for the "Name of the Game" spots are anonymous. However, "Goin's Great" music is also present in two recordings made of the music as adapted into song form, as performed by Sammy Davis, Jr. and Steve Allen circa 1969. The credits ascribe the music to Stanley Applebaum and lyrics to Sammy Cahn. Allen helpfully quotes "Shortnin' Bread" in his piano solo, suggesting where Applebaum may have found inspiration.

Gatefold - click to enlarge

The album's covers and gatefold display the ad campaign's print element. The artwork is by Henry "Hank" Syverson, a cartoonist with a very distinct style who worked for magazines and advertisements.

The music, arrangements, lyrics and artwork are all redolent of the time, and were largely aimed at the tired businessman looking to get away from it all. As was the custom then, women were mainly stereotyped as housewives.

Note (October 2024): this LP has now been remastered.

LINK to The Name of the Game Is Go

Eastern Airlines

The Eastern LP is the result of a collaboration between the airline and Andre Kostelanetz, a high-toned mood music maestro and the conductor of the New York Philharmonic's pops concerts. Kostelanetz then commissioned three reputable composers - Alan Hovhaness, Paul Creston and Henry Cowell - to produce a suite, "Images in Flight," making use of the airline's theme music. As with the Pan Am music, the composer of the Eastern theme is anonymous.

The result, as recorded by the New Yorkers in 1965, is surprisingly palatable in its easy-going way. The album is filled out by an instrumental version of the Eastern theme music, called "Bermuda Concerto" for some reason, as arranged by Clay Wernick (I believe) and performed by studio pianist Dick Hyman and the Kostelanetz ensemble. The balance of the LP consists of reissued Kostelanetz sides mainly on the travel theme.

The sound on these records is generally above average for promotional items, which often have dim sonics. The "Images in Flight" suite sounds quite good.

Note (October 2024): this LP has now been remastered.

LINK to Images in Flight

Film Music from Louis Lane and the Clevelanders

Here is the second in a series of recordings that the late conductor Louis Lane made with the Cleveland Orchestra's summer assembly, then called the Cleveland Pops Orchestra.

Lane in his summer Pops garb

This program of film music is varied, with contributions from composers who concentrated in musicals (Frederick Loewe, Richard Rodgers, Harold Rome), classical composers (William Walton, Virgil Thomson) and a film score specialist (Ernest Gold).

As you might expect, Lane and his group do particularly well with Walton's beautiful string pieces from Henry V and Thomson's characteristic Acadian Dances from Louisiana Story. When they get into fare that requires ardor, such as the theme from Gigi, they seem detached in a way that (for example) the Boston Pops did not in its recording of the same music.

The analytical recording from Severance Hall (then a rather dry acoustic) adds to this impression - so different from the billowing reverberation that RCA Victor derived from Boston's Symphony Hall. But the clarity in the Cleveland sound has its benefits, allowing you to fully enjoy the superb playing throughout the program.

Epic's sessions for the Thomson and Walton were in July 1961, per Michael Gray's discography. It's likely that the other works were set down at about the same time. Lane was then the assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra.

E. Power Biggs with Familiar Bach

I've had an occasional series of recordings by organist Virgil Fox going on for some time. Today we have a contrasting approach to the instrument from Fox's great mid-century rival, E. Power Biggs.

Fox was known for flamboyance; Biggs for a more measured, even chaste approach. That is not to say his work is dull - far from it, and this mellifluous program of familiar J. S. Bach items is evidence.

Biggs is accompanied by the Columbia Chamber Orchestra conducted by Richard Burgin, in a set taped May 24, 1951 in Boston's Symphony Hall. Given that Burgin was assistant conductor and concertmaster of the Boston Symphony at the time, and that all but one of the named soloists were members of the ensemble, it seems likely that the "Columbia Chamber Orchestra" was at least in part made up of BSO members.

Harrison and Biggs meet with Albert Schweitzer during the build of the Aeolian-Skinner destined for Symphony Hall

Biggs performs on the G. Donald Harrison-designed Aeolian-Skinner organ, which had been installed in Symphony Hall a few years previously. Columbia began recording him on that organ almost as soon as it was available.

The soloists on the LP are as follows:

• Roger Voisin, Marcel LaFosse - trumpets
• Phillip Kaplan, Lois Schaefer - flutes (Schaefer was not then a BSO member, although she joined much later on)
• Alfred Krips - violin

First cover

The transfer, the result of a request on another site, is from a nice pressing dating from later in the 1950s, with the modernized cover shown above. (The first cover is at left.) The download includes scans of the covers, as always, and discographical information from Michael Gray's site.