Lisa Kirk - 1950-53 RCA Victor Singles

At least once before on this blog, I've proclaimed my allegiance to Lisa Kirk and the cause of seeking more recognition for her as a singer. The Broadway artist whose superb renditions introduced "The Gentleman Is a Dope," "Always True to You in My Fashion" and "Why Can't You Behave" ought to be more recognized as a master of the craft.

A number of years I ago I devoted several posts to RCA Victor's "Show Time" Series of musical highlights, all of which contained Kirk contributions, and added several of her RCA singles to one of the collections. I've now done new transfers of all those six songs, and added 18 more to compose this collection of singles done for RCA from 1950 to 1953.

Before she became an RCA artist, Kirk came to public attention via her first Broadway appearance, in the 1947 Rodgers-Hammerstein show Allegro. In that show, she was the lovelorn nurse to the show's protagonist, Dr. Joe Taylor. Her version of "The Gentleman Is a Dope" is the high point of the cast album.

Lisa Kirk in Allegro. At the desk is John Battles as Joe Taylor.

The next year she was cast in the important role of Lois Lane in Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, in which she introduced "Always True to You in My Fashion" and "Why Can't You Behave" (as well as "Tom, Dick or Harry").

After that, Kirk was less seen in Broadway and more on television and in nightclubs, although in 1963 she replaced Janis Paige as a lead in Meredith Willson's Here's Love and in 1974 had a featured role in Jerry Herman's Mack and Mabel.

She was relatively active in the studio for RCA from 1949-53, and today's offering presents two dozen of her single sides from that era. Please see my other blog for a bonus - her only single for the Columbia label, dating from 1956.

A few notes on the RCA performances follow. For the most part, her backings are anonymous, although the first six sides are credited to Henri René and the final two to Harry Geller.

We start off with a cover of "Confidentially," the theme song of the English comedian Reg Dixon, which she handles with her customary warmth. (Reg seems to have been inspired by the oldie "Ragtime Cowboy Joe," which had been revived in 1947.) The b-side is a Livingston-Evans song, "Copper Canyon." The label says the tune comes from the 1950 Ray Milland-Hedy Lamarr movie of the same name, but it's not clear from the IMDb entry the song was actually used in the film.

"Have You Ever Been Lonely" was a 1932 song that became a country hit for Ernest Tubb in 1949. On both this and the flip side, "You Missed the Boat," Kirk duets with Don Cornell, who had recently gone solo after much success with as a Sammy Kaye vocalist. His final hit with that band was 1949's "It Isn't Fair," which contains the unusual Kaye introduction, "To sing this beautiful song ... here is ... Don Cornell," as if they were on the bandstand.

Kirk's relaxed, behind-the-beat rendition of "Life Is So Peculiar" is one of the best items in the set, displaying some of the characteristics that made her so special. "Life" is a Burke-Van Heusen song written for Bing Crosby's film Mr. Music. (The flip, "I'm Gonna Hang Your Picture (in the Post Office)," is best left unacknowledged.)

Next we have an excellent version of the Fields-McHugh song "Don't Blame Me." Here, Kirk's approach may remind you of Jeri Southern, who actually did not record until the year after this song was recorded. The flip side, "I Feel a Song Comin' On," is good, too.

Kirk seemed to have a preference for Jimmy McHugh songs at the time. Our next single couples the Fields-McHugh oldie "I'm in the Mood for Love" with the Gaskill-McHugh standard "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me."

1951 Billboard ad

The next item is another McHugh composition (with lyricist Harold Adamson) "You're a Sweetheart," coupled with the Fields-McHugh "Exactly Like You."

Kirk then moved away from standards with a raucous take on "Charlie Is My Darling," a traditional Scottish song, and "Beautiful Brown Eyes," a Delmore Brothers country song from 1951 that was made into a pop hit by Rosemary Clooney. The bass voice on Kirk's record is uncredited.

Kirk had married songwriter Bob Wells ("The Christmas Song") in 1949, and recorded a number of his songs for RCA. The first in this collection is "Sad and Lonely," a dreary folk-style lament. The sort of thing became popular in the wake of the Weavers and their 1950 hit version of "Goodnight Irene." Much better is the backing, "Love Is the Reason," drawn from the 1951 Fields-Schwartz musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Kirk sings it in canon with her own voice.

Next there are two duets with singer-songwriter Bob Haymes, sounding much more like the brother of Buddy Clark than Dick Haymes. The arrangement of "(I Wish We Were Sweethearts) Fifty Years Ago" shows the strong influence of the productions that Mitch Miller was directing for Columbia at the time. "Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie Blues" is based on a turn of the century Harry Von Tilzer song.

"If Your Heart is Breaking (Like My Heart Is Breaking)" was a new, relatively attractive song from 1952 by Jack Fulton and Lois Steele. Its flip, "How Come You Do Me Like You Do," is a Gene Austin song dating back to 1924.

In the overwrought "Do Me a Favor," Kirk harmonizes with herself in the manner of Patti Page. The noisy b-side, "King Size Kisses," has a relatively early Hal David lyric.

Speaking of Hal David, Bob Wells's "Fly Bird (And Tell Him)" predates David asking a Kentucky bluebird to take a "Message to  Martha/Michael" by a almost a decade. The flip side is "All Man and All Mine," one of Kirk's lesser efforts.

The sound on these records, which are largely old store stock or radio station copies, is very good, save for one noisy 78.