Haymes Sings Gershwin (American Pop Song)

Together with recent posts of David Allyn LPs, I've added a few of his appearances on the American Popular Song radio program of 1976, with composer Alec Wilder and pianist Loonis McGlohon. That was a National Public Radio series based on Wilder's influential 1972 book of the same name.

I've had some requests for more episodes of the show, which featured the great vocalists of the time. So I will be posting a few Dick Haymes appearances, starting with today's hour devoted to the music of George and Ira Gershwin.

The selections are generally well-known - "Who Cares?", "Someone to Watch Over Me," "How Long Has This Been Going On?", "Nice Work If You Can Get It," "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and "A Foggy Day," but a few deserve some additional commentary.

George and Ira

"Love Walked In" is from the last project George worked on. I described the scene in an earlier post as follows: "[D]iners often appeared in movies. The one that comes to mind is the Owl Diner in the Goldwyn Follies of 1938, with short-order cook Kenny Baker serenading Andrea Leeds via the Gershwins' 'Love Walked In.' You can see the clip here."

For "Bidin' My Time," Alec Wilder mentions seeing the Broadway run of Girl Crazy, which introduced the song in 1930. He was enthralled not just by the song but by the group that performed it, the Foursome - particularly because they played ocarinas in harmony, which Wilder found amazing. That group, a favorite of mine, has appeared on my other blog three times, with posts that include two different recordings of "Bidin' My Time." (I have the rest of the Foursome's complete Decca recordings if anyone is interested.)

Loonis McGlohon

The last Gershwin work that Haymes sings is "For You, for Me, for Evermore." Loonis mentions that Dick had the honor of introducing the piece in the 1947 film The Shocking Miss Pilgrim. Haymes recalls that composer Kay Swift, who was closely associated with George Gershwin until his 1937 death, was present during the filming, having prepared the songs with Ira Gershwin from unpublished melodies.

I recently posted a comprehensive look at Swift's own music, which also included the songs from The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, including both the soundtrack and commercial recordings of "For You, for Me, for Evermore."

Alec Wilder

All the American Popular Song programs included at least one song by Wilder. Haymes presented two. The first is "Night Talk," which Dick describes as being like "Lush Life," only better. Loonis was the lyricist. Alec wrote both words and music for the second song, "The Child I Used to Hold," which was new at the time. Both are worthwhile.

Dick's performances are not at the level he attained in the 1940s or 50s, but are still good, even though his pitch does waver a bit. I've mentioned before that these shows were not well recorded - I had a hard time getting Haymes to sound natural.

The program is fully tracked and tagged to facilitate repeat listening of the songs.

Coming up is a show devoted to the songs of Harry Warren.

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