To fill out the program, I've added three Irish numbers that Haymes sang in the 1944 film Irish Eyes Are Smiling, sourced from the soundtrack and V-Discs.
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| Dick Haymes |
The back cover of the LP tells us that Decca decided to make an Irish-themed album with Haymes following the success of his recording of "How Are Things in Glocca Mora?", from the then-current Broadway show Finian's Rainbow. The "Glocca Mora" 78, which came out in early 1947, was coupled with "'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream." The balance of the LP was recorded late that same year, in time to beat the union recording ban that went into effect on New Year's Day 1948. I believe the set debuted as a 78 album in 1948, followed by this 10-inch LP in 1949.
The fare on the album is somewhat unusual - it avoided the popular favorites like "Galway Bay." Instead, Decca reached back to songs that had been recorded by John McCormack decades earlier, while adding one song from a then-current movie.
"Glocca Mora" and its discmate were arranged by Gordon Jenkins. The balance of the numbers were led by Victor Young. Here are a few notes on the selections.
"There's a Dear Little Plant" is usually called "The Dear Little Shamrock," and was recorded under that title by John McCormack in 1910. It dates from the 18th century and has been attributed to Andrew Cherry.
"Eilleen Allanna" is another McCormack song, released in 1913. The song dates from 1873, and seems to have been written in America by J.R. Thomas and E.S. Marble.
"My Snowy Breasted Pearl," written by George Petrie, dates back to 1855. It was recorded by Paddy Reilly, The Wolfe Tones and McCormack, to name a few.
"The Blarney Roses" is another traditional song, with words by Alex Melville and music arranged by D. Frame Flint. It was recorded by George O'Brien in 1926.
"Hush-a-Bye (Wee Rose of Killarney)" comes from the 1947 film My Wild Irish Rose, where it was sung by Dennis Morgan. The music was by M.K. Jerome; lyrics by Ted Koehler.
Bonus Songs from Irish Eyes Are Smiling
The first item is Haymes' brief recording of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," which comes from the soundtrack.
I have taken the other two from V-Disc sources. The first, "A Little Bit of Heaven," also is supposedly from the soundtrack - or so the label and V-Disc discography seem to indicate. However, IMDb suggests that Haymes did not sing the piece in the movie.
That also is true about the final selection, "Mother Machree," which comes from an unknown source per the discography. My guess is that both songs were taken from radio programs of the time.
The sound on all these items is reasonably good, although you may notice some background occasionally on the LP and V-Discs.
Thanks again to John for his transfer of the LP!
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| A 1946 ad in which Haymes, Jenkins and Helen Forrest demonstrate their enthusiasm about spark plugs |
Link (Apple lossless):
ReplyDeletehttps://mega.nz/file/7RVVHQ4J#zYB7MFZ-gvef4pgDhowO2ji9SZ1QnmFIltiKbKprT3M
Many thanks, Buster!!
DeleteThanks for this one. It's hard to top Dick Haymes. I always liked that this album mostly avoided the same old Irish numbers that had been done to death even back then.
ReplyDeleteThnaks a lot Buster. Still amazed where you get all those beautiful things.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the share, gentlemen.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you suppose there are so many albums of Irish tunes? You don't see nearly so many collections of Welsh music, or Hungarian. Scotland, yeah, there are some, but not like Irish. Was it an offshoot of Irish-themed movies? A radio show that popularized it? It just seems to have taken on a life of it's own over the years. I guess in some ways it's survived to present day with the Lord Of The Dance stuff.
America saw a huge amount of immigration from Ireland at the turn of the 20th century, I think it was nostalgia for Americans of Irish decent, perhaps songs their parents had always sung to them.
DeleteBoogieman - Agreed!
DeleteAs Boogleman notes, there was an enormous influx of Irish refugees, actually starting in the 1840's due to the Potato Famine. Some of my forebears were among that tidal wave.
DeleteBy at least the 1870's their go-getter sons dominated popular music publishing. They were young and hungry. Other professions were not, in many cases, open to them so song-writing offered an opportunity to make serious money. And there was a built-in market for nostalgic songs about the old country.
Most of the biggest hits among "Irish" songs were actually written by American born descendants of Irish immigrants. Indeed, a singer-songwriter-actor named Chauncey Olcott had a hand in most of the "Irish" songs closely associated with John McCormack, either as composer or lyricist or both. And most of his collaborators with American-born, as well.
My Wild Irish Rose, Mother Machree, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, . Macushla, and Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral are all written or co-written by Olcott for shows in which he was the star. He could also sing them well. I won't say he was as refined a singer as McCormack but he was very good, as old recordings testify, well able to put across his own material. He was a handsome fella, too and apparently an effective actor at least in the style of his day. (See: Youtube for examples of his singing.) These songs were all hits before McCormack took them up and amplified their popularity.
On the other hand, George M. Cohan, a generation younger, did not write nostalgia for the Emerald Isle material. His songs emphasize all-American subjects.
With the similarly enormous influx of Jewish immigrants fleeing pogroms and persecution, the process repeated itself.
Anyhow, I reason that the prevalance, for decades, of Irish-American songs meant that, even as the wave receeded, the best ones became standards, albeit old-fashioned, and have never completely disappeared to this day.
Charlot - Thanks for these interesting and very relevant comments! This might be a good place for me to mention my post called "Buster's Irish Stew," which contained a large number of these Irish-American songs, with several by Olcott, including one vocal IIRC:
Deletehttps://big10inchrecord.blogspot.com/2020/03/lets-sing-quasi-irish-song-with-buster.html
I knew I had encountered Olcott somewhere.
DeleteIf someone tried to re-stage one of his ancient stage hits it would certainly be an embarrassment to watch.
You couldn't even cobble one of those Greatest Hits shows on Broadway (should it ever re-open) because all of his best stuff was sentimental.
Aside: My Irish-American mother absolutely detested "Mother Machree."
To my knowledge, my Irish grandmother and Irish-English mother never, ever listened to Irish music. But then, both were born in the US.
Deletethank you Buster and Morris!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, everyone!
ReplyDeleteErnie - Multiple reasons, I think. Lots of Irish immigrants in the US. Popular performers of Irish descent - Bing Crosby, John McCormack, etc.
McCormack put many of these songs on the map. And he was an enormously popular recitalist and recording artist. Hardly any household with a Victrola lacked a John McCormack record in the cabinet almost any vaudeville show would have at least one McCormack imitator, likely a not very good one.
ReplyDeleteThis carried on into radio, viz Jack Benny with Kenny Baker and later Dennis Day. If you take a gander at PBS's repeats of Lawrence Welk shows, you'll find one Joe Feeney.
Crosby was also enormously popular and sold huge numbers of records. (Haymes shows an obvious Crosby influence, though he had a very different voice.)
Also, I can't think of a Welsh or Scottish or Hungarian singer who was anywhere near as popular as McCormack or Crosby.
Of course, Caruso was, if anything, even more popular and look how well his repertoire has survived!
Chalot - Thanks for the note! I am a great admirer of all those Irish singers, save for Feeney.
ReplyDeleteOur John could turn dross into gold.
DeleteJoe Feeney could turn gold into dross.
Thanks so much Buster love Dick Haymes
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this Buster! Always appreciate your write-ups.
ReplyDeleteI would add James Melton and Christopher Lynch (whom John McCormack anointed his true successor) to the A-List.
ReplyDeleteMelton had a great natural voice and even made it to the Met. He was not particularly well-trained and Beecham notably mocked him as "the gentleman jockey, but on records he seems like the ideal Pinkerton." His career fizzled out too soon.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit having not heard of Lynch before. Thanks for that!
My personal candidate for almost-best McCormack follower would be Richard Crooks.
Thanks for the response.
DeleteMelton's first act duet with Licia Albanese in Madame Butterfly is, I think, awfully good.
Both that and several Lynch songs are available on YouTube. I'd be interested in your assessment.
I'm also an admirer of Crooks, although I think his voice is somewhat darker than the McCormack-type tenors.
I have listened to some of the airchecks and agree with you that Lynch had a sweet voice, well-suited to the McCormack rep.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to judge how big the voice was and whether he could project it in a hall. And he seems not to have had any interest in Our John's Mozart and Handel interests, not to mention Hugo Wolf.
Great I&R regret: I know it was the Great Depression but couldn't somebody have recorded The Messiah with McCormack, Peter Dawson, Isobel Baillie and Dame Clara Butt? I don't care who waved the baton but, if I had a choice, how about Hamilton Hardy?
To get back to Lynch, still, a catch and he manages to get through Idabelle Firestone's atrocious ditties with some degree of dignity. There are some clumsy ad-libs but he had that McCormack voix-mixte. I will continue to look for more examples.
I really only know Melton from his commercial and aircheck Butterflies with Albanese. And he sounds ideal. Something went wrong, terribly wrong, with his voice but he had the goods, at least for a time.
I agree that Crooks' voice was in a different category. I hope it doesn't sound dismissive to call him the ultimate utility player. He could be a great lyric tenor. He could sing Lohengrin. His French was impeccable, and his Italian and his German. We haven't seen even a third of him in the past 20 years.
Charlot
I understand that Lynch studied with McCormack during the year before the latter's death--which may be why McCormack thought so highly of Lynch.
DeleteAs for the Messiah, I thought for a (scary) moment that you were going to refer to Beecham's version, which I find both overblown and egocentric, and perhaps should replace the Star Spangled Banner before ballgames.(I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes.)
Best
Howard
PS: Your assessment of Crooks doesn't sound the least bit dismissive. Perhaps "all-purpose" is a better description, in that he was adept in a variety of roles.
Many thanks Buster and Morris!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot!
ReplyDelete