Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, Plus a Related Reup

There is nothing Hollywood likes more than a sequel (unless it is a remake), so when Gentlemen Prefer Blondes became a big hit musical in 1953, what better to try to repeat the magic with a sequel called Gentlemen Marry Brunettes in 1955?

Jeanne Crain and Jane Russell

Trouble was, the Blondes film was based on a successful book by Anita Loos and a successful Broadway musical, with a very good score. And while the Brunettes sequel took on the title of Loos's follow-up novel (most of it, anyway - dropping "But" from the front-end), it changed the characters, tossed out the plot, and, since there was no existing musical, it cobbled together a bunch of old tunes with a new title song. Oh, and since Marilyn Monroe was not available for the new film, the producers slotted in the non-singing Jeanne Crain alongside holdover Jane Russell, adding the strange melange of Rudy Vallee, Alan Young and tough-guy Scott Brady as the male leads.

Perhaps predictably, it did not work so well, and the movie house patrons were indifferent. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy it on records, though, eh?

Anita Ellis

The principal attractions are once again the female leads, with Russell in excellent voice paired with the great Anita Ellis, who dubbed Crain's singing. They appear together or separately in most numbers, perhaps best in Bobby Troup's 1941 corker, "Daddy," which is perfect for two females on the make. Russell is terrific in the 1931 Rodgers-Hart song "I've Got Five Dollars," in spite of a clumsy dialog set up involving Russell and Brady, whose hard-bitten manner would be better suited to film noir.

Ellis's big feature is another Rodgers and Hart standard, "My Funny Valentine." She stays just this side of over-emoting, which in my estimation was always the danger with her singing - more so in her albums than in her many dubbing assignments. Alan Young comes in at the end, doing his own vocals, not particularly well, unfortunately. He is only marginally worse, though, than the person chosen to provide Brady's singing voice - arranger-conductor Robert Farnon. Apparently all the male vocal doubles were busy.

The title song was new, composed by the team of Herbert Spencer and Earle Hagen, both of whom had long careers in Hollywood, and Richard Sale, the screenwriter-producer-director of the opus. It's not a bad song, although in debt to "Always True to You in My Fashion" and especially the Guys and Dolls title song. The normally reliable Johnny Desmond presents it in overbearing fashion.

It's not entirely clear who did what in the music department. Farnon apparently conducted and did the underscoring, but Hagen was the orchestrator and music supervisor, both with uncredited help from Angela Morley and Bill McGuffie, per IMDb.

The sound, as usual from the Decca family, is adequate. I love the cover, though - particularly the spray-tanned Johnny Desmond.

The related reup is the excellent soundtrack to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which you can find here.

Constant Lambert - Piano Concerto and Eight Poems of Li-Po

My previous two posts devoted to the English composer-conductor Constant Lambert have included only one example of his music - the ballet Horoscope.

Constant Lambert in 1951

Today we have two notable compositions from his pen, the Concerto for Solo Pianoforte and Nine Players (from 1931) and the settings of Eight Poems by Li-Po (from 1927-30).

Let me discuss the second, and shorter composition first, because it is among the finest of Lambert's slim output.

Alexander Young

The Eight Poems were drawn from Shigeyoshi Obata's translations of the eighth century Chinese poet's work, which had appeared in 1923. Lambert had learned of the poems from his friend Arthur Bliss. His exquisite settings were dedicated to the film actress Anna May Wong, with whom Lambert had developed an unrequited attraction. The record sleeve does not include Obata's translations, but I have included the Internet Archive's PDF of the Obata book in the download. The solo voice is the superb Alexander Young, whom I have praised before on this blog.

The Piano Concerto is one of the many jazz-influenced compositions of the day. The excellent sleeve notes by Deryk Cooke tell us the work uses the "blue" notes characteristic of jazz in an extended manner, while delving into unusual time signatures that were not to be used in jazz for a few decades at least. So while influenced by jazz, the concerto is not in the least reminiscent of the jazz of the day nor of its high-toned variant, the "concert jazz" of Gershwin and Whiteman.

Gordon Watson

It does have an appeal of its own, however, not the least because of the dauntless performance of soloist Gordon Watson, the Australian pianist who had taken the piano part in the 1951 premiere of Lambert's final composition, Tiresias. Here as throughout the program, the playing of the Argo Chamber Ensemble under Charles Groves is admirable (although a bit more relaxation in the concerto might have added to the proceedings). As far as I can tell, this is one of the first recordings by Sir Charles. He had handled a few accompaniments for Decca back in 1946.

The LP is Westminster's U.S. pressing of the Argo U.K. original, one of a series that has been featured several times on this blog, with both Young and Watson appearing in the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Roger Quilter and Peter Warlock (dedicatee of the Piano Concerto under his given name of Philip Heseltine)

Charles Groves in 1956

The extraordinary cover art is by Olga Lehmann, an English artist, illustrator and scenic designer. You can see more of her work for Argo here. Together with Arthur Wragg, she produced some of the most distinctive album covers of the day while on commission for the small English label. (That said, I could not tell you what is symbolized by the architectonic edifices on the left side of the cover.)

The download also includes Alec Robertson's contemporary Gramophone review of the LP, from my collection. (It's always nice when I can actually find one of these reviews; I am too cheap to pay for access to the magazine's digital facsimiles, considering I have at least half their archives stored in boxes!) The sound is close, but true.

Reups - Soundtracks and More

Nine reuploads for you tonight, most of them soundtracks and all but one remastered for much improved sonics. The links below take you to the original posts, where you will find the new links in the comments.

Alexander the Great. You have to follow the link if only to get a good look at the cover of this one - Richard Burton costumed in blue diapers and a blond wig, contemplating world domination, backed by Mario Nascimbene's noisy score. From 1956.

Bonjour Tristesse. Georges Auric's music from the 1958 film of Françoise Sagan's tale of decadence among the Parisians. The highlight is a perfect, languid version of the title song by Juliette Greco. The famous cover art is by Saul Bass.

Quo Vadis. The movies of the 50s sure seemed to be full of bombastic music, none more so that Miklos Rozsa's score for Quo Vadis, accompanying romance and revolt in Nero's Rome. (Rozsa toned it down for the romantic bits.) A big hit in 1951.

Magnificent Obsession. Frank Skinner's score from 1954's Magnificent Obsession, with a cover featuring Rock Hudson's magnificent compression against Jane Wyman's chest. Skinner riffs on themes from some fellows named Beethoven, Chopin, and Johann Strauss. No bombast here!

Music of Grace Williams and Gustav Holst. Boyd Neel and Mansel Thomas leading London ensembles in vintage performances of the "Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes" from Williams and the "St. Paul's Suite" from Holst. Highly recommended.

Willard Robison - Deep River Music. The idiosyncratic songwriter Willard Robison was a favorite of many musicians. This very early Capitol LP contains six Robison songs, two sung by Johnny Mercer, three by Robison himself and one, anonymously, by the great studio singer Loulie Jean Norman.

Sargent Conducts Vaughan Williams and Elgar.  Early 50s recordings of Vaughan Williams's "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis" and Elgar's "Wand of Youth" Suite No. 2, with proceedings directed by blog favorite Sir Malcolm Sargent.

Elgar - Enigma Variations (Beecham). Sir Thomas Beecham was never considered an Elgar specialist, but he does well by the composer's second most famous work, the "Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma)", in this 1954 performance.

High Tor. I have a very soft spot for this 1957 Bing Crosby TV musical, with some fine songs by Arthur Schwartz and playwright Maxwell Anderson. The production was perfect for Bing, and features good support from Julie Andrews and Everett Sloane

Sweet Smell of Success. This acrid film noir tale of power and corruption, with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, is swept along by Elmer Bernstein's strong, swaggering jazz score. Also from 1957.

Remembering Two Great Singers

I was sorry to hear about the death Sunday of a great singer, Vic Damone, who has appeared on this blog as many times as any artist. While I have nothing new prepared to mark Damone's passing, I do want to take the occasion to honor another talented vocalist who died in the recent past. Marlene VerPlanck never achieved the renown of Vic Damone, but she was nonetheless a supremely talented singer who made many fine records.

Marlene VerPlanck

VerPlanck started recording early, with a solo LP under the name Marlene for the Savoy label in 1955, when she was 21. That effort was reissued on CD a number of years ago. She did not record again under her own name until the late 60s, with two records on her own Mounted label. Then she was not heard from until 1979, when she signed with the Audiophile label, where she recorded for the balance of her career. Audiophile has also reissued her Mounted recordings.

VerPlanck was in demand as a singer even when not busy under her own name, first as a vocalist with some of the remaining big bands, then as a member of a cabaret act, the John LaSalle Quartet, and notably as one of the most in-demand studio singers. If you are as old as me (and I hope you are not), you have heard her voice - taking on the Campbell Soup tagline ("M'm, m'm good") and Nationwide Insurance's motto ("Nationwide is on your side"), among many others. Her perfect diction and intonation allied to an innate warmth made her a highly successful representative for these brands.

Today I wanted to share what I believe is her second recording. In it, she appears as a member of the John LaSalle Quartet, which also included Hugh Martin and Bill Smith. This LP, dating from 1959, is titled Jumpin' at the Left Bank, even though it was surely taped in the studio, not at the New York night spot where the group was appearing. The Left Bank was owned by Dick Kollmar, an actor, producer, radio personality and husband of columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, both of whom are name-checked on the LP.

It's a good record by a fine group, with interesting arrangements by Billy VerPlanck, Marlene's husband. The quartet went on to record another album for Capitol, and LaSalle did a solo LP for Columbia a few years later.

You can learn more about VerPlanck via a detailed New York Times obituary and a knowledgeable Marc Myers appreciation.