The Songs of 'State Fair'

The poster above is from the 1945 film State Fair, a charming film with six good songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the Americana mode that for them started with the blockbuster stage musical Oklahoma!

My intent was to collect some of the commercial recordings of songs from the 1945 film. Then I remembered that Richard Rodgers had written both words and music for several new songs for a 1962 remake. This in turn led me to the 1996 stage musical, which had its own additions from the Rodgers & Hammerstein back catalogue. And that production had been a reworking of a 1969 staging, which featured different R&H additions.

Eventually I ended up with 26 selections, which can be categorized as follows:

• The songs from the 1945 film: eight selections, including one song cut from the film and one alternate take. The title song also is included, albeit in a 1962 recording.

• The new songs for the 1962 film: four songs by Rodgers.

• The R&H catalog songs added to the 1969 stage musical, in their original versions.

• The seven catalog songs inserted into the 1996 Broadway musical, in their original versions, plus one song that was a reworking of another song cut from an R&H musical.

All this will become clear, or at least clearer, as we proceed. First some background.

The Story of State Fair

Ground zero for all these musicals - and a 1976 non-musical television adaptation - was Phil Stong's 1932 novel with the same name, which related the story of an Iowa farm family named Frake - father Abel, mother Melissa and teen offspring Margy and Wayne - and their trip to the State Fair. Romance for the youngsters and blue ribbons for Ma and Pa ensued.

Hollywood immediately picked up on the story. The following year, a non-musical film starring Will Rogers, Louise Dresser, Norman Foster and Janet Gaynor showed up in the nation's film emporia. You'll notice Lew Ayes snuggling with Janet Gaynor above. He's one of the love interests. Not sure who the other figure is. It can't be Louise Dresser, so it must be Sally Eilers, whose slinky attire apparently was designed to allure Wayne.

Songs from the 1945 Film

State Fair was the only musical that R&H composed directly for the screen. Although it is set at the fair, the story is really about two restless young people who are dreaming of a world beyond the farm. Ma and Pa provide comic relief - Abel with his giant hog; Melissa with her mincemeat pies.

"It Might as Well Be Spring"

The "dreaming" theme is quickly established by the most famous song from the score - "It Might as Well Be Spring," which Margy (Jeanne Crain, dubbed by Louanne Hogan) sings from an open window:

I keep wishing I were somewhere else / Walking down a brand new street

Hearing words that I have never heard / From a man I've yet to meet

This longing for something new was common in the times, and was a theme in American literature at least as far back as Eugene O'Neill's 1918 play Beyond the Horizon. In films it had shown up in The Wizard of Oz ("Over the Rainbow'). Later it would become integral to Aaron Copland's opera The Tender Land.

There were surprisingly few commercial recordings of the State Fair songs at the time. The most notable set was an album with five songs by Dick Haymes, who took the role of Wayne Frake. This collection includes three of those - "It Might as Well Be Spring," "All I Owe Ioway" and "It's a Grand Night for Singing." In the film, he features only in the latter, in ensemble.

Vivian Blaine and Dick Haymes

Oddly, Dick did not record his main song in the film - "Isn't It Kinda Fun?", a duet with Vivian Blaine, who played his prospective love interest, band singer Emily Edwards. So I've added an aircheck from his radio show, where his partner is Helen Forrest, along with a solo version that's an outtake from the film, I believe.

Haymes is wonderful, of course - his voice is evenly produced in a resonant baritone, with remarkably accurate pitch.

I've also included a few commercial recordings of interest. Margaret Whiting did a fine version of "It Might as Well Be Spring" with Paul Weston. This was one of Maggie's first recordings - Weston was top billed - and in truth his arrangement is beautiful.

Some jazz artists adopted the ballad as well. Stan Getz recorded it at least twice. He's here in a 1951 recording with the young Horace Silver on piano.

"That's for Me" also attracted a few record companies. This collection includes a version by Jo Stafford from 1945 that is too cool-toned for this enthusiastic number. Artie Shaw also recorded it with a vocal by the warm-voiced Hal Derwin (called "Hal Stevens" on the label).

One song was cut from the film - "We Will Be Together," presented by Vivian Blaine and the band's male singer, played by Wayne Marshall. He was Haymes' rival for Vivian's attention. This song is included as well.

Songs from the 1962 Film

By the time the 1962 remake of State Fair went into production, Oscar Hammerstein had died, so Rodgers decided to write the lyrics for several new songs himself, as he was to do for the Broadway show No Strings, which opened that same year,

While the results are not bad, they are not at the level of the 1945 songs, so none of them became popular. To represent the show I've included the soundtrack versions, which are as follows:

• "Never Say No to a Man": questionable motherly advice from Ma (Alice Faye, who came out of retirement) to Margy (Pamela Tiffin).

Alice Faye and Pamela Tiffin

• "Willing and Eager": a duet for Wayne (Pat Boone) and love interest Emily (Ann-Margret), who is a dancer rather than singer in this version. Pat is very good; Ann-Margret was more dancer than singer, but she's effective here.

Pat Boone and Ann-Margret

• "This Isn't Heaven": Bobby Darin sings this to Pamela Tiffin. A good song, which Bobby does well, but neither he nor Pamela could act.

Bobby Darin and Pamela Tiffin

• "The Little Things in Texas": Tom Ewell (Abel) and Alice Faye do this one. I should have mentioned that this version of the saga moves the locale from Iowa to Texas.

Rodgers actually wrote five songs for the 1962 film. But I pigheadedly left out Abel Frake's love song to his hog Blue Boy.

Tom Ewell and Blue Boy

Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops did record a 1962 album with songs from both State Fair and No Strings that included instrumental versions of "This Isn't Heaven" and "Willing and Eager." To represent the LP, I've included their instrumental version of the opening song "Our State Fair" as a sort of overture to the entire proceedings. Rodgers wrote this as a march, and arranger Richard Hayman leans into it, making it quasi-Sousa.

The 1962 film was not a success. Here are a few excerpts from Bosley Crowther's New York Times review:

Twentieth Century-Fox' remake of minor bucolic tribulations ... is a basically obvious and, for the most part, dull fare. This "Fair" is at best, only fair. For all its good intentions, it seems to be a parody of moviemaking of the past...

One has the feeling that the songs are being sung on cue and not because the drama inherent in the scene demanded a song.

The 1969 Stage Musical

Harriet and Ozzie Nelson

State Fair was unusual in that it was a musical film that became a stage musical. The first attempt to do so was in 1969 in St. Louis. Pa and Ma were Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, longtime TV stars who had been musicians in a prior life. The production had pedigree: Oscar Hammerstein's son James was the director and Rodgers himself supervised the show.

This production added three songs from one of R&H's "smaller" shows, 1953's Me and Juliet, which was a backstage story that included a show within a show (also called Me and Juliet). It was hard to stage and confusing, so it has seldom been revived. It did boast several excellent songs, as always with R&H.

Isabel Bigley and Joan McCracken

To represent the 1969 State Fair, I've included the versions of these songs from the Me and Juliet cast album. I don't know how they were used in the 1969 production.

• "It's Me" - sung by female lead Isabel Bigley and Joan McCracken

• "Keep It Gay" - done by the male heavy, Mark Dawson

• "Marriage Type Love" - sung by Arthur Maxwell, the "me" of Me and Juliet, the show-within-a-show

The 1969 score also included a new song, "Away from Home." I know nothing else about it. (Addendum - reader John S. and Alan Gomberg send the following information: In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch review of the Muny production, it was stated that the lyric for 'Away from Home' was by Lucille Kallen. She adapted the screenplay for the stage and was credited for that in the program. She was not credited with the lyric. It is not known whether the song, with music by Rodgers, was wholly new or was perhaps a trunk song for which Kallen provided new lyrics to existing Rodgers music.

The 1996 Stage Musical

State Fair made it to Broadway in 1996, in a new production also co-directed by James Hammerstein. Abel and Melissa were John Davidson and Kathryn Crosby. Margy and Wayne were Andrea McArdle and Ben Wright. Donna McKechnie was Emily and Scott Wise was Pat, the new Margy love interest.

John Davidson, Ben Wright, Kathyn Crosby, Andrea McArdle

The show included eight new songs, all of which were taken from other R&H shows, or were cut or adapted from them. I've included the original versions when available and the 1996 recordings when not.

These are as follows:

• "Driving at Night" - adapted by James Hammerstein and orchestrator Bruce Pomahac from an outtake from the 1947 R&H musical Allegro, "Two Short Years." This ensemble number is taken from the 1996 cast album.

• "You Never Had It So Good" - cut from Me and Juliet and done here by Donna McKechnie and Scott Wise.

• "When I Go Out Walking with My Baby" - cut from Oklahoma! and sung here by John Davidson and Kathryn Crosby.

John Battles and Gloria Wills

• "So Far" - from 1947's story-of-a life Allegro, with Gloria Wills from its original cast.

• "The Man I Used to Be" - from Pipe Dream, a 1955 sequel to Cannery Row written by John Steinbeck with music by R&H, here sung by William Johnson of its original cast as lead character Doc.

• "That's the Way It Happens" - from Me and Juliet, sung by Isabel Bigley.

• "Boys and Girls Like You and Me" - this song had the misfortune of being cut from three productions - Oklahoma! and two more not otherwise by R&H, the films Meet Me in St. Louis and Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Judy Garland made a commercial recording of the song, but here we have Frank Sinatra's outtake from the baseball musical. It's a beautiful piece, although the verse is a fine example of Hammerstein poesy.

William Johnson and Judy Tyler

• "The Next Time It Happens" - from Pipe Dream, here sung by Judy Tyler of its original cast.

The 1996 production carried over two songs from the 1962 film, "More than Just a Friend" and "Willing and Eager."

In the New York Times, Vincent Canby summarized both the appeal of the score and the failure of the Broadway production (it lasted four months):

State Fair still clings today, in large part because of the lilting score that includes such songs as "It Might as Well Be Spring," "That's for Me" and "Our State Fair." Be warned, however: If you allow any one of the melodies to penetrate your consciousness, you put yourself at risk. It will buzz around in the mind forever, or until a deep doze sets you free...

Here's a faithful, utterly mechanical stage replica of a work that, while it was never exactly top-drawer, was typical of the kind of miracles Rodgers and Hammerstein could pull off when in good form...

There's nothing wrong with the good old family values that State Fair is still promoting, except they're now being promoted with less theatrical guile than brazen push.

The first production was sincere; a valentine to a rural America that was changing. Adapting that to later times proved challenging. But the music endures.

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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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A V-Disc Christmas

This post gathers all the Christmas V-Disc releases I could find - with the exception of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra's material, which is available elsewhere.

V-Discs were produced by the US government for distribution to its troops during World War II. Their contents were taken from commercial recordings, radio transcriptions and even special V-Disc recording dates - all of which are represented below.

The artists we hear include Richard Crooks, Marian Anderson, Claude Thornhill, Andre Kostelanetz, Charlie Spivak, Dick Haymes, Eileen Farrell, Jan Peerce, Nelson Eddy and Dinah Shore.

Christmas V-Discs for the most part used the red and green color motif seen above, although the early issues came out with the standard red and blue regalia.

This set contains 25 cuts, presented in order of their release on V-Disc, except for the final number.

The first Christmas V-Disc came out in 1941, and was a reprint of a commercial recording that the tenor John McCormack had made fifteen years earlier. That recording of "Adeste Fideles" can be found in a McCormack Christmas compendium I put together a few years ago.

Richard Crooks

Our first entry in this collection comes from another tenor, Richard Crooks, who is not as well remembered as McCormack. Crooks come from a time when a popular Metropolitan Opera star - which he was - could also be a favorite on the radio. His performance of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" was taken from a 1941 commercial recording. Here is an article on this fine artist.

Marian Anderson, 1946

Another singer who achieved great popular and artistic success was the distinguished contralto Marian Anderson. Her recording of the "Ave Maria" setting associated with Schubert was done at a special V-Disc session in late 1941. Anderson's first Christmas LP - less well known than her later album - is available here, newly remastered.

Claude Thornhill

I believe bandleader Claude Thornhill recorded his lovely theme "Snowfall" a number of times, starting in 1941. The version on V-Disc comes from a Lang-Worth transcription recorded that same year.

Andre Kostelanetz

The "Christmas Medley" from maestro Andre Kostelanetz is derived from a 1943 broadcast of The Pause That Refreshes on the Air, a title that was taken from Pepsi-Cola's slogan of the time. Baritone Leonard Warren of the Met soloed in "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear."

The other side of Kostelanetz' V-Disc presented the Army Air Force Training Command Band with another "Christmas Medley," featuring the sonorous soloist Bob Carroll, then an Army corporal. He has appeared on my other blog a few times, including a recording of "White Christmas" with Gordon Jenkins. This side has a brief introduction by Shirley Temple. These recordings came from a special 1944 Christmas broadcast of For the Record that was later excerpted for V-Discs.

Charlie Spivak

The popular band of trumpeter Charlie Spivak made a set of World Transcriptions that included "White Christmas," later issued on V-Disc. The vocal is by Garry Stevens.

Dick Haymes

Dick Haymes makes his first of two appearances, in company with the Travis Johnson Singers and organist Jesse Crawford. Dick sings "O Little Town of Bethlehem," the Singers take over for "Deck the Hall," and Haymes returns for "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." These are also from World Transcriptions.

Eileen Farrell

The other side of Haymes' V-Disc has greetings to the troops from Brig. Gen. Joseph Byron, the Ben Yost Choir with "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" and the marvelous young soprano Eileen Farrell with "O Come, All Ye Faithful." She was then on radio; later she would become an opera star. These were taken from the same For the Record broadcast noted above.

Jan Peerce

Also from that session, but issued on a separate V-Disc, Farrell was heard in the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria" and "O Holy Night." They were coupled with the Met's Jan Peerce presenting a Bizet setting of "Agnus Dei."

Nelson Eddy

A December 1945 edition of radio's Electric Hour yielded several songs with Nelson Eddy, a choral group and Robert Armbruster's orchestra. First we have the inescapable and interminable "Twelve Days of Christmas," a greeting from Eddy himself, "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" from the choir, "Gathering Clouds" from Eddy, "Silent Night" from the choir, and the "Hallelujah Chorus" from one and all.

Dick Haymes then returns with a spoken greeting, "Silent Night" and "O Come, All Ye Faithful," backed by Gordon Jenkins' orchestra.

Dinah Shore

To complete the package, I've added a song that is really more suggestive of the season that truly a part of it, simply because I like both the tune and the singer. This is Dinah Shore's 1944 version of "Sleigh Ride in July" with Al Sack's orchestra. It's a Burke and Van Heusen song that V-Disc took from Dinah's commercial recording.

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From the Back Room: the Music of Kay Swift

The name of composer Kay Swift is well known; her works, except for a few songs, less so.

Swift (1897-1993) achieved a certain level of fame relatively early on with a number of songs that continue to maintain their appeal.

But at the same time she was writing those songs with her husband - financier and amateur lyricist Paul Warburg ("Paul James") - she was engaged in an intense relationship with George Gershwin that would define a good part of her life, even after Gershwin's 1937 death.

In this post, we'll examine the songs that made Swift famous, along with a few others that she wrote over the years, her music for the stage, and other miscellaneous works - encompassing all the music associated with her that I could locate.

The discussion below is separated into her early songs, the Mark 56 LP set from 1975 with much of her concert music, her score for the 1952 Broadway show Paris '90, and her work preparing Gershwin manuscripts into songs for the 1947 film The Shocking Miss Pilgrim. There are download links in each section.

The Songs

Swift was classically trained - her composition teacher was Charles Martin Loeffler. But she had an interest in popular music, which grew after 1925, when she met Gershwin. In 1929, she and her husband contributed perhaps Swift's best and best-known song to The Little Show, primarily by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, but also with other songs such as "Moanin' Low" by Dietz and Ralph Rainger. Both "Moanin' Low" and Swift's "Can't We Be Friends?" were introduced by Libby Holman. That singer's commercial recording is the first selection in this set. Also included is Bing Crosby's version from the same time.

Libby Holman in the "Moanin' Low" scene of The Little Show

Swift and Warburg then provided all the songs for the 1930 musical Fine and Dandy, a showcase for vaudevillian Joe Cook. (This was the first score for a Broadway musical by a woman.) "Fine and Dandy," introduced by Cook and Alice Boulden, is another Swift song that has become a standard. A second song from that show that has achieved some currency is "Can This Be Love?" sung by Boulden in the original production.

Rehearsing Fine and Dandy: Joe Cook, Dave Chasen,
Kay Swift, James Warburg

For this collection, we have the contemporary recordings of the two songs by Victor Arden and Phil Ohman and Their Orchestra, with vocals by Frank Luther.

FYI - there is a Fine and Dandy studio recording from about 20 years ago, with a somewhat revised book. More information here.

In 1933, Kay collaborated with Edward Heyman on a good song, "A Moonlight Memory," here in a version from Freddy Martin with a vocal by Elmer Feldkamp.

The following year, she was commissioned to write the score for a George Balanchine work for the New York City Ballet. The music for Alma Mater is covered in the next section.

Irene Dunne and Fred MacMurray in Never a Dull Moment

In 1939, Swift became Director of Light Music for the World's Fair. There she met a cowboy named Faye Hubbard, married him and wrote a book about her experiences at their Oregon ranch called Who Could Ask for Anything More? This then became the 1950 film Never a Dull Moment, with Irene Dunne as Kay and Fred MacMurray as her husband. Swift wrote a few songs for the film, one of which, "Once You Find Your Guy," was recorded by Margaret Whiting, among others.

LINK to the Songs

The Mark 56 Album

In 1975 the Mark 56 label issued a two-record set, Fine and Dandy: the Music of Kay Swift, with a comprehensive overview of her career, including much biographical information, included in the scans.

Louise Carlyle sang several of the songs covered above, plus "Up Among the Chimney Pots" from the failed Nine-Fifteen Revue of 1930.

Scene from the Alma Mater ballet

The second side contained "Three Dances from the Alma Mater Ballet" for small ensemble. This was the work she wrote for George Balanchine and the New York City Ballet. That side also contains a Theme and Variations for Cello and Piano, with cellist Marie Rosanoff and Swift herself in the piano part.

Louise Carlyle

Finally, there is the song cycle, "Reaching for the Brass Ring," written by Swift for her grandchildren and premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Alexander Hilsberg at a 1953 children's concert. The soprano then and for this set was Louise Carlyle. She is accompanied in the recording by an orchestra under Robert Russell Bennett. A few additional songs are performed by Swift herself.

LINK to Mark 56 album

Paris '90

Swift wrote both words and music for Cornelia Otis Skinner's one-woman show Paris '90, which ran on Broadway for three months in 1952. The show was a dramatization of the lives of varied Parisian women, as portrayed in the paintings of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Columbia issued an LP capturing the score. Swift's songs were orchestrated by Russell Bennett.

Cornelia Otis Skinner as a laundress

LINK to Paris '90 LP

The Shocking Miss Pilgrim

Swift devoted herself throughout her life to preserving the music of George Gershwin. She worked closely with Ira Gershwin to prepare unpublished songs from the Gershwin catalog to form the score of the 1947 film musical The Shocking Miss Pilgrim. The stars were Betty Grable and Dick Haymes.

Betty Grable and Dick Haymes

The results were uneven, although to my mind the soundtrack does contain at least two fine songs - "Changing My Tune" and "For You, for Me, for Evermore."

The download includes all the songs from the soundtrack, the two commercial recordings that Haymes made with Judy Garland, and a particularly good version of "Changing My Tune" from Mel Tormé and Artie Shaw's orchestra.

LINK to songs from The Shocking Miss Pilgrim

Kay Swift and George Gershwin

More Songs from the 'Dick Haymes Show'

At the height of his popularity in the mid to late 1940s, the singer Dick Haymes had a weekly radio show that also featured Helen Forrest, the Four Hits and a Miss vocal group, and bandleader Gordon Jenkins. Not long ago, we had a selection of songs from the program, with cleaned up audio and corrected pitch. Today we present Vol. 2, just as good if not better, with 17 songs. And once again, most of the selections are songs that Haymes did not record commercially.

This volume begins with a classic show-opener, the perky "Back in Your Old Backyard," introduced by Al Jolson in 1928 and written by Jolie, Dave Dreyer and Billy Rose. The Four Hits and a Miss add to the festivities.

Helen Forrest

Helen Forrest joins Dick for "Come to Baby, Do," an excellent end-of-the-war song by Sid Miller and Inez James. Doris Day recorded this one with the Les Brown band.

The soulful "I Can't Begin to Tell You," by Jimmy Monaco and Mack Gordon, came from the film The Dolly Sisters, where it was murmured by John Payne. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1946, but this was when the Academy put up 15 songs or so for the Oscar. (That practice would change the next year.)

"It Might as Well Be Spring," one of the great Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, did win an Oscar, in 1945. Haymes was one of the stars of the film - which is charming and has a terrific score - along with Vivian Blaine, and they appeared together on the sheet music. Jeanne Crain shows up in a vignette above, presumably because it was her song in the production. (She was dubbed by Louanne Hogan.) Although Dick didn't sing the tune in the film, he was identified with it and issued the first commercial recording.

Next is one of the many songs that first achieved popularity in another language before being adapted for the American market. "What a Diff'rence a Day Made" started off in Mexico as "Cuando vuelva a tu lado" ("When I Return to Your Side"), written by Maria Grever in 1934. With English lyrics by Stanley Adams, the song was popular in the US in 1944 due to a recording by Andy Russell. But its greatest renown was to come later, under a slightly different title - "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" - in the 1959 hit version by Dinah Washington.

"Slowly" is another movie song, one that Haymes did sing, in the film Fallen Angel, where Dick's Decca record is heard on the jukebox. Haymes didn't show up on the sheet music - stars Alice Faye, Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell did. The three look cheerful on the cover (well, maybe not Darnell), but the story is a grim film noir. The song is probably Hollywood composer David Raksin's second biggest hit, behind "Laura," from the film of the same name. Dana Andrews was also the male lead in Laura, with Gene Tierney rather than Darnell the femme fatale. Neither song was nominated for an Academy Award.

Another end-of-the-war song is next - "Gee, It's Good to Hold You" by Doris Fisher and Allan Roberts. Helen Forrest again duets with Haymes. Among the commercial recordings were those by Jo Stafford and by Woody Herman with a Frances Wayne vocal.

The commercial recording

"Look for the Silver Lining" comes from as far back as 1919. Jerome Kern and Buddy DeSylva wrote it; Marilyn Miller made is famous in Sally. The hit disc back then was by Marion Harris. The song is best known these days via the Judy Garland rendition in the 1946 Kern biopic Till the Clouds Roll By. But Dick and Helen had revived it earlier - for a 1944 Decca recording. This solo-Haymes aircheck presumably comes from the same period. (The flip side of the 78 was "Long Ago and Far Away," a Kern-Ira Gershwin song that is one of my favorite Haymes-Forrest records.)

Now we have another wartime love song - this one about a furlough rather than a homecoming. "Ten Days with Baby" is from the 1944 film Sweet and Low-Down, where it was done by Lorraine Elliott with Benny Goodman's Orchestra. This is another Jimmy Monaco-Mack Gordon composition. Here, "Ten Days with Baby" is more like 60 seconds with Dickie - I don't think this is the complete performance.

"My Heart Tells Me (Should I Believe My Heart)" is another movie song with lyrics by Mack Gordon, working this time with Harry Warren. It comes from 1943's Sweet Rosie O'Grady, where it was sung by Betty Grable. It is a typically skillful song from these composers, here done ample justice by Haymes.

Gordon Jenkins

DeSylva-Brown-Henderson's 1928 tune "Button Up Your Overcoat" is tailor-made for a duet, which you could encounter on half the musical and variety shows on radio and TV in the 1940s and 50s. Dick and Helen handle it affectionately without getting too cutesy. Gordon Jenkins starts this one with some atmospheric effects. The Four Hits and a Miss join in later.

"Symphony" started life in France as "Symphonie," written by Alex Alstone, André Tabet and Roger Bernstein. Jack Lawrence added the English lyrics. Alstone first wrote it as an instrumental; the words were added and it became a hit in 1945. It's a little overheated for me, but this is the sort of thing that Haymes did well.

The 1934 film College Rhythm yielded "Stay as Sweet as You Are." Lanny Ross did the vocal on screen. The Harry Revel-Mack Gordon song was popular with singers for many years - including Haymes.

Haymes material?

Dick surprisingly comes out with a version of "Old Folks," one of Willard Robison's most celebrated songs, this one with words by Dedette Lee Hill. The song has a rural ethos, which did not match Haymes' usual repertoire all that well, although he did play a farm boy in State Fair. He does well here for the most part. (The performance is unfortunately truncated.) The song dates from 1938; the first recordings included Mildred Bailey - a famous reading - Bing, and Bea Wain with Larry Clinton. The interest of Dick (or Jenkins) might have been stimulated by Tony Pastor's 1946 album of Robison songs. Robison's own recording is here.

A very different type of song is represented by "All the Things You Are," the renowned Kern-Hammerstein composition from 1939's Very Warm for May. The early commercial recordings included Helen Forrest with Artie Shaw. (Helen does not appear here.) The song had been featured in a few films about this time - 1944's Broadway Rhythm (Ginny Simms) and 1946's Till the Clouds Roll By (Tony Martin). Haymes includes the rarely used verse, which is worth hearing. The head voice at the end was not a good idea.

"Some Sunday Morning" comes from the 1945 film San Antonio where it was presented by Alexis Smith, dubbed by Bobbie Canvin (aka Barbara Ames). The song is by M.K. Jerome, Ray Heindorf and Ted Koehler. The first recording was by Haymes and Forrest; they recreate their duet here, although with Gordon Jenkins presiding rather than Victor Young. There are a few minor audio burbles on this recording.

For our final song, Dick breaks out "Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are," which Cahn and Styne wrote for Frank Sinatra to sing in 1944's Step Lively. It's not a great song; the best part of it may be the verse, which Haymes doesn't include. You can hear it in the film version, although first you have to wade through a painful Gloria DeHaven nightclub sequence. Dick's version is quite short.

I believe I have the pitch right on these selections, but please let me know if you disagree.

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