Dick Haymes Sings Irving Berlin

Dick Haymes and Carmen Cavallaro

The amazingly long-lived and prolific songwriter Irving Berlin (1888-1989) produced a huge number of classic songs that are still heard today. In the late 1940s, he was celebrating forty years in the business - nearly all of them at the summit - while passing his 60th birthday. But he was still at the height of his powers.

All but one of these 15 Dick Haymes recordings were made after the tremendous success of Annie Get Your Gun once again demonstrated Berlin's primacy among popular songwriters. The collection is anchored by the 10-inch LP Haymes did with fellow Decca artist Carmen Cavallaro just a few days before the 1948 recording ban began. It also includes seven Berlin songs that Haymes recorded from 1945-49 - including three from Annie Get Your Gun and two from Berlin's follow-up, Miss Liberty.

The Haymes and Cavallaro LP

Decca's idea in the musical mating of Haymes with pianist Cavallaro was certainly to dazzle the market with their combined star power. Musically, however, the results are less successful than Haymes' usual orchestral backing.

Cavallaro's many-noted style is not ideally suited to accompaniment. His elaborate roulades draw attention to the pianist and away from the singer. He uses the same phrases over and over, in any context, apt or not. While I am not a fan, Cavallaro does have strengths - he has a beautiful tone and touch and plays with good rhythm.

Not to make too much of this - the LP is certainly enjoyable, even if not one of Haymes' best.

As with the last Haymes LP I presented, this post was a collaboration between me and vocal aficionado John Morris. This time, he supplied the scans and I did the transfer. Thank again, John!

Haymes Singles

Lyn Murray - or Gordon Jenkins?

Although Haymes recorded "How Deep Is the Ocean?" in 1945, it may have been made in the run-up to the 1946 Bing Crosby-Fred Astaire film Blue Skies, which showcased Berlin's songs. Bing does well by the number in the movie, but not better than Haymes' rendition. "How Deep Is the Ocean" is conducted by Lyn Murray, but the arrangement is strongly reminiscent of Gordon Jenkins, who had just joined Decca and had experience providing arrangements for Haymes.

Annie Get Your Gun was a Broadway sensation in 1946, and its score was fertile ground for pop singers of the day. It's surprising that Decca waited until the show had been open for six months before it brought Haymes into the studio to set down "The Girl That I Marry." Charles "Bud" Dant provides a mellow accompaniment of celesta and strings. A most beautiful record.

Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters with Irving Berlin

Decca waited even longer to bring Haymes together with two of its other leading acts - Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. It took until March 1947 for them to assemble and record "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Anything You Can Do." Bing and the sisters had a well-known rapport by that time, so Haymes seem like a fifth wheel, although the results are never less than pleasant. This may be the only time Haymes and Crosby collaborated, although Dick did record with the Andrews siblings one other time. The backing is by Vic Schoen, the sisters' music director.

In September 1947, Haymes set down his classic recording of the 1923 waltz, "What'll I Do," with a characteristic Gordon Jenkins arrangement.

While Annie Get Your Gun was the apex of Berlin's career, his next show, 1949's Miss Liberty, was a relative disappointment. It lacked the star power of Ethel Merman's Annie, relying instead on the genial Eddie Albert and the young Allyn Ann McLerie. (Tommy Rall and Dody Goodman had small roles.) Even so, its score was popular with the vocalists of the time, and today is much underrated - it includes "Homework," "Paris Wakes Up Smiles," "Only for Americans," "Just One Way to Say I Love You," "You Can Have Him" and "Me and My Bundle."

Haymes recorded the biggest song from the show, "Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk" and the delightful and much less-known "Little Fish in a Big Pond." The singer handles both beautifully, with apposite backing by Jenkins.

The sound on all these records is quite good - and is newly remastered in ambient stereo.