The Young Carol Bruce

Today I want to look at the early career of Carol Bruce, a talented singer and actor who has appeared on this blog a few times before.

Born in 1919, she first gained notice as a teenage vocalist with Larry Clinton's band. Fortunately, YouTube has a good quality 1938 clip of her with Clinton in "Stop and Reconsider. Bruce had considerable presence even at that early age.



Nineteen-forty was a big year for the young performer. She made her Broadway debut in the Irving Berlin musical Louisiana Purchase, where she made a big splash with her number "The Lord Done Fixed Up My Soul."

Still from Louisiana Purchase, Bruce at center

Life Magazine was so impressed that it devoted two photo spreads to her that year - in addition to a separate article about Louisiana Purchase.

Decca records signed the young vocalist later that year, pairing her with arranger Harry Sosnik. Among her first records were covers of two English hits: "Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye," associated with Gracie Fields, and "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," a Vera Lynn specialty. Bruce copes well with Sosnik's leaden two-beat arrangements.

For her next assignment, Decca changed tack by assigning Bruce eight Latin-flavored numbers, directed by one of the label's top talents, Victor Young. Decca then marketed the set as the Carol Bruce Souvenir Album that is the basis of today's post. (Note: the Discography of American Historical Recordings claims that Sosnik directed these sides. However, the Decca album and labels credit them to Young, and the arrangements sound nothing like Sosnik's earlier charts for Bruce.)

Bruce does well with this material, although she had not yet developed the abundant personality that shines through in her later recordings, such as her 1958 Tops LP, which first appeared here in 2011 and which I have newly remastered.

Today's download includes several bonuses, including the Decca recordings of "Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye" and "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," as well as one of Life Magazine's features on the singer and two songs from Louisiana Purchase. While there was no cast album for the musical, Bruce recorded the title song and "The Lord Done Fixed Up My Soul" for the small Schirmer label. Perhaps fittingly, Bruce's rendition of her big number is reminiscent of the great New Orleans singer Connie Boswell. (I haven't been able to find out of Schirmer Records was associated with the publishing company of the same name. However, the songs from Louisiana Purchase were published by Berlin's own company, not Schirmer.)

In 1941, Paramount Pictures bought Louisiana Purchase as a vehicle for its big star Bob Hope, who took over the William Gaxton role. Victor Moore, Vera Zorina and Irène Bordoni repeated their stage roles. Paramount replaced Bruce with another singing actor, Dona Drake, but "The Lord Done Fixed Up My Soul" was only heard in instrumental form.

Meanwhile, Bruce did make it to Hollywood that same year, via a three-film contract with Universal Studios. She sang two songs in This Woman Is Mine, released in August, and another two in Keep 'Em Flying, a November release featuring the insufferable Abbott & Costello. Bruce's big number in the latter film was "You Don't Know What Love Is," a superb Don Raye-Gene de Paul composition that has since become a standard. Universal dropped the song from Keep 'Em Flying, but then included it in Bruce's third and final film for the studio, Behind the Eight Ball, where she was saddled with the nitwit Ritz Brothers.

Although Universal cut "You Don't Know What Love Is" from Keep 'Em Flying, it did put out a promotional record of Bruce's rendition, backed with a number from her co-star, Martha Raye, also dropped from the production. (At least the studio was consistent.) You can find that record on my companion blog.

As Mama Carlson

Bruce eventually had a long career in Hollywood, and today is far better known as an actor than a singer. She is well remembered as "Mama Carlson" in the American television show WKRP in Cincinnati (although not by me - I never watched the show).

Most of today's selections were found during my recent descent into the bottomless pit of Internet Archive, but all have been remastered and are in good to excellent sound.

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