Bob Crosby Meets Harold Teen

Those characters on the cover above - in case you don't recognize them, and I imagine you won't - are from the comic strip "Harold Teen," which ran in American newspapers for 40 years. The "Sugar Bowl" in the record title relates not to the annual college football game played in New Orleans but to the ice cream shop that Harold and his cohorts frequented.

In this scene, we find Harold (with the "C" on his sweater), his sidekick Alec "Shadow" Smart, who appears to be feeding Harold a straight line, Pop Jenks, proprietor of the establishment, and Harold's girlfriend Lillums Lovewell.

In 1939, the adventures of Harold and company were chronicled in a Better Little Book (a successor to the popular Big Little Books) called "Swinging at the Sugar Bowl."

Now, what does all this have to do with Bob Crosby? Not much, except that Bob and his band recorded a song inspired by the book, and the Coral people reissued it in 1950 as the title song of this 10-inch LP. It's actually a good tune with a spirited vocal by guitarist Nappy Lamare - but before we delve into musical matters, let's peek at the background of the Crosby band.

Bob Crosby, Bob Haggart, Ray Bauduc and band

Bob was, as you probably know, Bing's brother, and he too sang, although not as well. In 1935, when a good portion of the Ben Pollack band broke away, then decided to call on Bob as a front man for a new band, which was to be a cooperative. Bob - who was not a musician - was happy to assume that role and handled it well until 1942, when the band broke up during wartime.

Despite being issued in 1950, this LP chronicles recordings that the Crosby group made from 1936 to 1939. The band became noted for performing not only in the swing idiom but the older Dixieland style. Three of the band's core members were from New Orleans - Lamare, tenor saxophonist Eddie Miller and drummer Ray Bauduc - and all had an affinity for the style. Appropriately, the earliest record included here - 1936's "Muskrat Ramble" - marked the first time the band explored a Dixieland standard on record. Because of its interest in Dixieland, the band was a precursor to the New Orleans revival styles that sprang up in the 1940s. The renewed popularity of this music may well have been the impetus behind this Coral reissue.

Joe Sullivan

Also to be heard on the record are pianists Bob Zurke and Joe Sullivan. Ironically, Zurke is featured on Sullivan's best-known composition, "Little Rock Getaway." Zurke become the Crosby pianist while Sullivan was being treated for tuberculosis. Sullivan himself had recorded the song in 1935;  my guess is the band did it again to help support Sullivan during his convalescence. They also organized a large-scale fundraiser for him in 1937.

The cover notes say that pianist Jess Stacy can be heard on this album, but as far as I can tell, he is not - although he was a member of the band at one point. You can see him with the band, however, in an excellent 1942 Snader video of "Muskrat Ramble" available on YouTube. In addition to Stacy, Lemare, Miller and Bauduc, the video gives you glimpses of Crosby stalwarts Billy Butterfield (trumpet), Warren Smith (trombone), Matty Matlock (clarinet) and Bob Haggart (bass), who also are heard on this LP.

Nappy Lamare, Eddie Miller, Matty Matlock,
Ray Bauduc, Bob Haggart

In common with other bandleaders of the time, Crosby had a smaller "band-within-a-band," called the Bob Cats. On this LP, they are heard on two college-related tunes - the "Washington and Lee Swing" and "Peruna - Southern Methodist University Song." The latter is the same tune as "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" and the spiritual "When the Chariot Comes." Wikipedia explains, "The name Peruna originated in the fall of 1915 when SMU student George Sexton substituted the words, 'She'll be loaded with Peruna when she comes ...' to the tune of 'Coming 'Round the Mountain.' In the early part of the century, Peruna was the name of the most famous elixir in Texas and had a reputation as a cure-all. The popularity of Peruna soared during Prohibition due to the high alcohol content allowed for 'medicinal' purposes." Now you know.

This is an enjoyable record, well recorded for the time. Crosby literally does nothing on the LP except lend his name to the proceedings; even so, it's high time I featured him and his fine aggregation on this blog.

1937 Billboard ad (click to enlarge)