The Songs of Dana Suesse

Dana Suesse in 1932

For today's post we examine the songs of Dana Suesse (1909-87), who wrote popular works while maintaining an interest in classical music, which her success in pop music later allowed her to pursue.

Suesse was versatile: her best known piece is "You Oughta Be in Pictures," but also popular is the gorgeous, moody "My Silent Love," which began as an instrumental.

We have recordings of both works, along with many more worthy songs in this collection of 21 of her compositions dating from 1929 to 1954.

About Dana Suesse

Like many songwriters, Dana did not start out to compose popular music. Classical music was her inspiration and aspiration. But in the 1930s, there wasn't much of an appetite for her "serious" works.

"I had arrived in New York with a trunk full of instrumental music ... I quickly found that there was no market for them; publishers didn’t want things like that. They were too expensive to publish and they simply were not going to be popular with the public. So I looked around and saw that people were making money writing popular songs."

She found out she was good at it, too, and began working with noted lyricists such as Edward Heyman and Leo Robin. But her initial efforts were focused on instrumental music.

"At that time popular instrumentals were in vogue, sort of a hybrid between a serious piece and a pop tune. Duke Ellington, Lou Alter, and Rube Bloom were writing these kinds of works. There was a very distinctive, certain style and form to this kind of melody."

Our collection starts with just such a composition.

1929-32 Recordings

"A Syncopated Love Song" was the title of the first recording in the set, a 1929 work that is listed as a collaboration between Suesse and Nathaniel Shilkret, although it's not clear how much of it was Shilkret's work. Even so, he was an proficient musician who was director of light music for Victor and a prolific recording artist.

It's a strikingly well-wrought piece, with a memorable main strain. Dana presumably wrote that melody, for the credit to Shilket was nowhere to be found a few years later when it was turned into the torch song "Have You Forgotten?" with lyrics by Leo Robin and recorded by Ruth Etting.

Rudy Vallée

Also from 1931, "Whistling in the Dark" has another catchy melody and words by Allen Boretz, whose later claim to fame was writing the hit farce Room Service. Presenting the song was bandleader Rudy Vallée, who hadn't much of a voice, but did have a polished band, fine taste in music and a record contract. He must have liked Dana's songs - he appears later in the collection as well.

George Gershwin, Paul Whiteman and Dana Suesse

Suesse continued to compose works that were the classical-jazz hybrid that George Gershwin favored. In 1932, Gershwin champion Paul Whiteman commissioned her to write a "Concerto in Three Rhythms" for one of his concerts. The New Yorker proceeded to dub her the "girl Gershwin.” You can hear the piece on YouTube.

Loyce Whiteman

With "Ho Hum!" Dana attracted the attention of another important figure, bandleader Gus Arnheim, who engaged vocalists Loyce Whiteman and Bing Crosby for the record. Whiteman was then 19; it was her first record. This is the first song in this collection with lyrics by the young Edward Heyman, a distinguished figure with whom Suesse would work extensively. 

"Jazz Nocturne" is a second instrumental that would become a popular song. Nathaniel Shilkret is again the leader but does not share the songwriting credits for this one. With Heyman's lyrics, the work turned into "My Silent Love," an exceptional song. We will get to it later in this collection.

Edward Heyman

1933-35 Recordings

For our first selection from 1933, Rudy Vallée returns with "Free," a good pop song with one of the bandleader's better vocals. Heyman was again the lyricist.

Also from 1933, we have a recording of "Moon about Town," written for the Ziegfeld Follies production that opened in early 1934. It's not one of lyricist Yip Harburg's best efforts, although the song is occasionally revived. 

Another song from the same show, introduced by the same singer, Jane Froman, is "You Oughta Be in Pictures." An irresistible combination of clever words and cheerful music, it became a huge hit.

As far as I can tell, Froman did not record either song. Our version of "Moon about Town" is the one for Columbia by society bandleader Emil Coleman with a vocal by Jerry Cooper. 

For "You Oughta Be in Pictures," we return to Rudy Vallée for his popular recording. One oddity is that Vallée's Victor label says the song is from a film called New York Town. I can't find evidence of such a film from that year, nor of the song being used in another movie of the time. Also, IBDB does not list "You Oughta Be in Pictures" as being part of the 1934 Follies, which may mean it was added after the opening. In any case, Vallée's disc was not recorded until March 5, 1934, a few months into the run of the 1934 Follies.

"Missouri Misery" from the Dorsey Brothers is much different. Pianist Peter Mintun, who edited a collection of the composer's works, said that "Suesse preferred this over any other commercial recording of 'Missouri Misery.' She liked the bluesy treatment rather than the danceable versions." Singer Bob Crosby, who was working with the Dorseys at the time, did not care for the record; he thought the key was too low for him. Harburg was the lyricist.

Another miniature concert piece is next, with Dana on piano accompanied by Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. It's the highly enjoyable, Gershwinesque "Blue Moonlight."

The next two songs come from a 1935 film called Sweet Surrender, filmed in Astoria, New York, and featuring radio and stage personalities such as Frank Parker and Tamara. It's a shipboard musical with a labyrinthine story line and seven numbers from Suesse and Heyman.

First we have the Jan Garber band and singer Lee Bennett with "The Day You Were Born," a predictable song in a grainy pressing. Much better, musically and technically, is "Love Makes the World Go Round," which may not have been the first time that was used for a title and certainly wasn't the last.

The Al Donahue Band; the leader is up front with violin

Even so, it's a pleasing song in a creditable performance from the Al Donahue band and singer Tommy Norato.

1936-37 Recordings

In 1936, Suesse spent three months in Fort Worth, Texas, composing the music for impresario Billy Rose's Casa Mañana, an attraction for that city's Frontier Days Celebration, which was designed to compete with Dallas's concurrent Texas Centennial Celebration. Casa Mañana was a 4,000-seat outdoor dinner theater and stage show that turned out to be very popular.

The big hit from the show was one of Dana's greatest songs, "The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful," with lyrics by Rose and Irving Kahal. The story is told that Rose ran into Kahal in the lobby of his Fort Worth hotel and convinced him to stay and write with him and Suesse.

Our first version of "The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful" comes from Jan Garber, this time with vocalist Russ Brown. It starts off with a martial cadence, for some reason, but Garber quickly turns things over to the overripe saxophones and choppy brass that were favored by the sweet bands of the time. Brown is a little too ripe himself, but this period piece nonetheless has its charm. We'll have a better performance later in the program.

Jolly Coburn

Also from the Casa Mañana show is "Gone with the Dawn," from the Jolly Coburn band, with a vocal by the pleasant Bill Hawley, who sounds like he could have been from Texas himself. Coburn hailed from New York, where his band played at the Rainbow Room.

There is a 20-minute short with excerpts from the Casa Mañana show on YouTube.

The Aquacade on Lake Erie

Rose next turned his attention to the Great Lakes Exposition in Cleveland, where he dreamed up an "Aquacade," another dinner amphitheater, this time with a water show along the shores of Lake Erie. "Happy Birthday to Love" comes from the score, heard here in the version by Tommy Dorsey with the talented Jack Leonard on the vocal. Dana worked with four different lyricists to concoct this number.

Post 1937 Recordings

Bob Allen and Hal Kemp

Rose transported his Aquacade concept to the 1939 New York World's Fair, bringing Suesse along to provide the music. She worked with the impresario and lyricist Ted Fetter on "Yours for a Song," the Aquacade theme, which we have in a recording by Hal Kemp and his orchestra. The vocalist is Bob Allen, who had replaced Skinnay Ennis the year before. Kemp was to die in an auto accident the following year.

Dick Todd

For our next number, we greet the sonorous Dick Todd, "Canada's Bing Crosby," as he was called, with a fine recording of "A Table in a Corner," which Dana wrote with the experienced Sam Coslow. Todd was in the midst of his brief heyday, when he recorded prolifically for Bluebird.

Next is one of Dana's most accomplished songs in one of the standout performances in this set - "Time for Me to Put My Heart Away," in a Liberty Music Shop disc from the esteemed cabaret singer Greta Keller, with backing by a Cy Walter band.

Greta Keller

In addition to the music, Suesse apparently wrote the lyrics for this song, which she seldom did. "Lyrics, I think are very difficult," she once said. "It took me approximately 20 years of apprenticeship to write what I’d term a presentable lyric. What I mean is, a lyric that satisfied me, that was up to the standard I felt a lyric should be. I learned a great deal from Billy Rose, and I worked with some extremely competent and gifted writers such as Yip Harburg, and the wonderful, creative Ira Gershwin."

The Viennese Keller had come to the US in 1938 and was already a feature in some of New York's top locations. Her voice may remind you of Marlene Dietrich; that's because Dietrich based her singing on Keller. Whatever you may think of her voice, her identification with the lyrics is total.

"This Changing World" was one of the composer's own favorites. "In 1940, I wrote a song called 'This Changing World,' with a wonderful lyric by Harold Adamson," she said. "The song is so relevant even today, and the lyric, as well as the melody, was ahead of its time. It had a strong harmonic progression, although simple in structure, but the song didn’t go anyplace. There were several recordings, but it just didn’t hit the charts the way I had hoped." The fluent performance is by Ginny Simms with the Kay Kyser band.

In the 1940s, Dana continued her association with Billy Rose, writing songs for his Diamond Horseshoe club, which operated from 1938-51 in New York's Paramount Hotel. Following the war, she studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris for three years.

Dick Haymes, who appears to be orbiting the moon

I wanted to include two later recordings of Suesse songs that were discussed above. First we have Dick Haymes' disc of "My Silent Love," made in 1947 with the backing of Gordon Jenkins. The second is Ray Anthony's 1950 recording of "The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful," with a sterling vocal by Ronnie Deauville.

Finally, two recordings of the theme song from the hit stage production of The Seven Year Itch, which opened in late 1952 with incidental music by Suesse. First "The Girl Without a Name," performed by pianist Art Lowry and his orchestra. The published version lists lyrics by Dana and Scott Olsen, but I haven't found a recording of that version. The Lowry record credits "Engvick" presumably lyricist William Engvick, along with Suesse, but it's an instrumental.

There's yet another version of the tune. Eddie Bracken, who had succeeded Tom Ewell in the leading male role on Broadway, wrote his own words for  Suesse's music and recorded it under the name "That Girl" for the R&B label Chance, where he and Barbara Cooke coo to one another. (Update: my friend Geoconno informs me that "Barbara Cooke" is actually the wonderful Barbara Cook, in what must be one of her first recordings.)

Most of these recordings were remastered from Internet Archive 78s.

LINK

More by Dana Suesse

In 1941, Dana contributed to an album of "Modern American Music" put together by then radio conductor Meredith Willson. Her composition was "American Nocturne," a lovely piece somewhat tentatively played by the ensemble. You can hear the work - and the entire album - newly remastered via this post. "American Nocturne" is a different composition from the "Jazz Nocturne" above.

Finally, I am preparing a post of recordings by the short-lived jazz harpist Casper Reardon that will include Suesse's suite "Young Man with a Harp." I hope to finish that project soon. 

Lee Wiley Sings Harold Arlen

Here is the third in our exploration of the composer songbooks recorded by the great Lee Wiley from 1939-43. The earlier posts were devoted to Gershwin and Rodgers and Hart. The R&H article provides background on the singer.

This time, Wiley does wonders for Harold Arlen, a distinctive composer whose songs are suited to her vocal manner.

Lee Wiley Sings Songs by Harold Arlen dates from 1943 and was issued by the Schirmer label, in succession to the Liberty Music Shop (Gershwin and Cole Porter) and Rabson's (R&H). 

Along with the Schirmer album, for this collection I've added five other Wiley recordings of Arlen, dating from both earlier and slightly later in her career.

Wiley's Cole Porter recordings will be next in this series.

Shirmer's Lee Wiley Sings Songs by Harold Arlen

As with the previous songbooks, for the Harold Arlen album the vocalist is accompanied by a group of like-minded musicians, led in this case by guitarist Eddie Condon.

Eddie Condon

The album starts off with a jaunty version of "Down with Love," with a intensely swinging Billy Butterfield trumpet obbligato that plays off Wiley's vocal perfectly. She is in excellent voice here, and the session is notably well recorded. A strong opener.

Billy Butterfield

"Down with Love" comes from the 1937 musical Hooray for What, where Arlen worked with his frequent partner, lyricist Yip Harburg. Introducing the song was Jack Whiting, June Clyde and Vivian Vance.

The contrasting next number is "Stormy Weather," which was premiered by Ethel Waters and Duke Ellington in the 1933 Cotton Club Parade revue, but could have been written for Wiley. Her combination of weariness and wistfulness is ideal for the song. Butterfield is again a standout. Ted Koehler wrote the famous lyrics for this one.

Ernie Caceres

Lee sings the verse for many songs, including "I've Got the World on a String." Her vocal quality and presentation do wonders for the song. The clarinet soloist here is the versatile Ernie Caceres, who was at the time the baritone saxophonist in the Glenn Miller band. The song, again with Koehler lyrics, dates from the 1932 Cotton Club Parade.

"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" is another celebrated number with a relatively unfamiliar verse, which sets off the chorus nicely. It comes from a 1931 Cotton Club show, again with words by Koehler. Ernie Caceres is featured.

Bobby Hackett

For the second set of four songs, the band is augmented by three trombones, with Billy Butterfield succeeded by Bobby Hackett, who also wrote the arrangements for the first two songs. The busy pianist you hear is Dave Bowman.

"Fun to Be Fooled" is a strikingly good song that is not heard often enough. It comes from the 1934 revue Life Begins at 8:40, where Frances Williams introduced the number. Yip Harburg and Ira Gershwin were the lyricists.

The earliest song in the set is "You Said It," from the 1931 college musical of the same name, with book and lyrics by Jack Yellen. It has an ecstatic element that is well suited to Lee's vocal quality.

"Let's Fall in Love" is another Ted Koehler collaboration from a 1933 film of the same name. Ann Sothern sang it on screen. This is another favorite song of mine, and Wiley does it well. She does not include the distinctive verse, though.

One of the least known songs in the Schirmer set is the final one, "Moanin' in the Mornin'," another number from Hooray for What, sung on Broadway by Vivian Vance. It's an extraordinary piece, one of the most attractive songs in Arlen's catalog. Wiley is superlative; Hackett too is memorable in this fine composition.

Harold Arlen

More Arlen Songs

We have five additional Arlen songs that Lee recorded both before and after the Schirmer album, starting relatively early in her career. The first song comes from a 1933 Dorsey Brothers date that remained unissued until decades later, when it turned up on a Epic LP set devoted to 1930s recordings.

The young Dorseys

The song is "I Got a Right to Sing the Blues," from a 1932 Earl Carroll Vanities. It is very much suited to Lee's talents and temperament. She is in splendid voice and already a full formed artist at age 24. The obbligato is by Bunny Berigan. I've also included an alternate take that has appeared on bootlegs over the years, but it doesn't differ markedly from the Epic release.

During the 1940s, Eddie Condon promoted a variety of jazz concerts, at times with Lee as vocalist. A second version of "Down with Love" is taken from a March 31, 1945 date at the Ritz Theater in New York. It uses the same arrangement as the Shirmer recording, and even the same trumpeter - Billy Butterfield. Unsurprisingly, it's just as good a performance.

Jess Stacy

A few months later, Lee was in the Victor studios with her erstwhile husband, pianist Jess Stacy, and a relatively large ensemble. The subject was one of Arlen's most familiar songs, "It's Only a Paper Moon." That number was written for the 1932 play The Great Magoo, where it was known as "If You Believed in Me." The next year, it was interpolated into the screen version of the musical Take a Chance. A number of artists recorded it at the time, including Paul Whiteman.

In 1944, Nat Cole revived it and had some success, which apparently stimulated other recordings, perhaps including the Stacy-Wiley session. The easygoing arrangement features Stacy's idiosyncratic pianism, followed by Wiley's equally idiosyncratic singing. In truth, Russ Case's chart is not all that suited to either pianist or vocalist, but it's well played even so.

Dick Jurgens

Finally, we have a second version of "Stormy Weather," taken from a 1948 aircheck of the Dick Jurgens band. This large ensemble is very good indeed - and Lee is too - but she is best in a small group setting.

These selections for this post are taken from Internet Archive needle drops and my own collection, cleaned up for listening. The sound is generally splendid.

LINK to Lee Wiley Sings Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen Sings Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen himself was a singer who began making records in the 1920s and was still at it in the 1960s. As a performer, he was sly, witty and attuned to conveying the meaning of the lyrics. He had everything but a great voice, but even so is fun to hear. I've gathered 13 of his 1930s recordings in a new post on my other blog.