From the Back Room: Dottie Evans Sings the Hits

It was when I was preparing the post of the Ray Charles Singers' Cadence recordings that I had the idea of featuring one of the singers on the set. That person is Dorothy Evans - better known as Dottie Evans on seemingly innumerable Enoch Light budget records of the 1950s, which will be the focus of today's proceedings.

Dottie was a wonderfully versatile singer, able to tackle ballads, rhythm numbers and novelties with equal aplomb. She had excellent intonation and diction, and a lovely vocal quality. She's just fun to hear.

About Dottie Evans

The Murphy Sisters

Dottie was born Dorothy MacNicholl in Port Chester, NY in 1921 and died in Stamford, CT in 2000 as Dorothy Koczanski, the wife of the late Elmer Koczanski. She and her sisters Muriel and Marge toured as the Murphy Sisters (Murphy was her mother's maiden name) in the 1930s and 40s. They worked with the Carl Hoff and Vaughn Monroe bands, made at least one Soundie, and about 12 recordings for Apollo in 1947. The trio, a close-harmony outfit a la the Andrews Sisters, was versatile - ballads, oldies, even bizarre novelties like "Don't Eat Me." They were good, even if the material was not. I may devote a post to them.

Thereafter Dottie made her name as a studio singer, available for radio and television work, for jobs with such groups as the Ray Charles Singers, and for ads. In the 1960s, she made three LPs with folk singer Tom Glazer that were part of a six-album set known as "Ballads for the Age of Science." The songs by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer explained science concepts to children.

Sister Marge - also a skillful and appealing singer - made a quite a few budget records under the name Margie Murphy. She worked with Enoch Light's labels, as did Dottie, whose career we examine below.

The 1954-58 Budget Recordings

The Dottie Evans recordings in this set come primarily from the "18 Top Hits" label, which was one of Enoch Light's portfolio of budget marques, the best known of which may have been Waldorf Music Hall. 18 Tops Hits was exclusive to the Woolworth dime store chain. All this was before the impresario and former bandleader went upscale and started the Command label. Some of today's selections also appeared on the Bell label, which Light did not own, to my knowledge, so perhaps he leased some recordings to or from that operation.

Enoch Light the bandleader

Light's stock-in-trade was high quality budget cover recordings of the top hits of the day. He had a retinue of multi-talented studio singers - among them Artie Malvin, Loren Becker and of course Dottie and her sister Margie.

Most of Dottie's records have backing by Enoch Light and orchestra, although sometimes the bandleader is not named. Vincent Lopez and Jimmy Carroll also appear on a few records.

These records come primarily from Internet Archive 78s. Most of them cleaned up well; a few are a little scratchy.

The first two songs come from 1954 and were both Bob Merrill inspirations. We start with "Mambo Italiano," which Mitch Miller somehow got Rosemary Clooney to record. Rosie is great, but if anything Dottie is even more into the stage-Italian business that was popular in the postwar era. (Thanks, Louis Prima.)

Merrill also came up with "Make Yourself Comfortable," a success for Sarah Vaughan, and a record I bought when I was five. (I started young.) Dottie is just as welcoming as Sarah.

The marvelous "When You Wish Upon a Star" is by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington, written in 1940 for Disney's Pinocchio. I suspect that Evans' record was stimulated by a new TV show, Walt Disney's Disneyland, which began in 1954 and used the song as its theme.

"Hard to Get" is forgotten today, but the Jack Segal song was a smash for Gisele MacKenzie in 1955 - the biggest hit of her career. Gisele herself made budget records for Camden - an example, also from 1955, is here.

"Suddenly There's a Valley" is by Chuck Meyer and Biff Jones, and became a major hit for Gogi Grant on the Era label. It's one of the uplifting, quasi-religious songs that were popular at the time. Gogi's version can be found on my other blog.

Not well remembered - at least by me - is "You Are My Love." Jimmie Nabbie wrote it for Joni James, who apparently did well with it.

Another song that has not persisted in popularity is Kim Gannon's "Croce di Oro (Cross of Gold)." Patti Page had the hit with it in 1955-56.

"Cry Me a River" is an unusual song in that it was written by Arthur Hamilton for Ella Fitzgerald to sing in the film Pete Kelly's Blues, but not used. It was recorded a few years later by Julie London at the urging of Bobby Troup, who would later become London's husband. The song made her career. Evans' emotive version is accomplished as well.

The final song from 1955 is "When Christmas Comes to Our House," which is the only number that is original to Dottie. It was composed by Light and a writer named Kurzene, who is possibly the Iranian-American composer Massard Kur-Zhene. Enoch included it on his holiday compilations of the time. My friend Ernie has posted the complete LP a few times, most recently last year.

"Mr. Wonderful" is by Jerry Bock, George David Weiss and Larry Holofcener, written for the Broadway musical of that name starring Sammy Davis, Jr. (Olga James sang the number on stage.) Teddi King put out a popular version of the song in 1956 - her version is in this collection of her Victor singles.

One of the biggest hits of 1956 was "The Wayward Wind," which was Gogi Grant's other big success along with "Suddenly There's a Valley." In a post on my other blog about Gogi, I noted that, "'The Wayward Wind' is a second cousin lyrically to Lerner and Loewe's 'Wand'rin' Star' from the Paint Your Wagon score."

For a while there, songs by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans seemed to pop up in every other film that Hollywood released. One of their best items was "Que Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)," which formed part of the plot in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. Doris Day sang it in the film, it became a very popular Columbia single and won an Oscar.

"Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now" has a peculiar history in that the Milton Kellems song was first recorded by country singer Roy Hogsed, who was better known for "Cocaine Blues." That first recording was in 1951. The song then went to Teresa Brewer. Finally the unknown juveniles Patience and Prudence set it down it in 1956, and it became a big seller. (I had it on 78.) Pat and Pru were the daughters of Mark McIntyre, former Sinatra pianist. For Dottie's recording, she is joined by Audrey Marsh, who also appeared on the Cadence Pajama Game LP.

The lovely "Graduation Day" is a Joe and Noel Sherman song that did nicely for the Four Freshman and the Rover Boys. I missed it the first time around and learned it from the Beach Boys' Freshmen-esque recording.

Jack Fulton and Lois Steele wrote "Ivory Tower," which hit for Cathy Carr, Gale Storm and Otis Williams (separately, not together).

The Ethel Merman vehicle Happy Hunting spawned "Mutual Admiration Society." For a while there, this Harold Karr-Matt Dubey was inescapable whenever two singers showed up on the same stage (assuming they didn't want to do "Me and My Shadow"). La Merman was joined by Virginia Gibson for the Broadway duet.

Moving to 1957, the song "Old Cape Cod" by Claire Rothrock, Milton Yakus and Allan Jeffrey put the Massachusetts peninsula on the map, as it were. Patti Page's voice was the vehicle.

Livingston and Evans return for "Tammy," the theme song for the Debbie Reynolds film Tammy and the Bachelor. Debbie sang it in the film and had a hit with it, although the version over the credits was by the Ames Brothers. You can find the soundtrack album for the film here.

Enoch Light also put out LP compilations in the late 50s, one of which contained the songs from My Fair Lady. Evans sang "I Could Have Danced All Night," which was a hit for Sylvia Syms and can be found in this Syms collection. Lerner and Loewe were the songwriters.

Light also issued a Show Spectacular album in 1958 with a various showtunes. From that collection we have Dottie singing "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" from Finian's Rainbow, the handiwork of Burton Lane and Yip Harburg.

Hope you enjoyed this tribute to a fine, albeit overlooked singer.

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The Voice of Sally Sweetland

Although she never became a big star, Sally Sweetland (1911-2015) had an extraordinary voice that led to a long career as a studio singer and later as a teacher.

Born Sally Mueller, she acquired the name "Sweetland" upon marrying her husband Lee Sweetland, himself a well-known studio singer and actor.

In this post, we'll examine the breadth of Sally's achievements, which spanned film dubbing, band work, solo recordings, backup vocals and children's records. There are 29 selections in all.

Film Work

Throughout the 1940s, Sweetland was busy in the studios, dubbing for Joan Fontaine, Brenda Marshall, Martha Vickers and particularly Joan Leslie in several films. In our first selection, she introduces the famous Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer song "My Shining Hour" in the 1943 Fred Astaire film The Sky's the Limit, dubbing for Leslie.

Joan Leslie and Fred Astaire in The Sky's the Limit

It's a song that's associated with Astaire, but Sally sang it first in the film - Leslie played a vocalist. Soon thereafter, Fred's brash character tells Leslie she sang it too straight, and proceeds to demonstrate how it ought to go, as the characters seemingly improvise new lyrics (which actually don't make too much sense).

Also from this film is the duet "A Lot in Common with You," which involves Fred intruding on Joan Leslie's act. (You will hear her telling him to "Get out!")

With Tommy Tucker

Tommy Tucker was not as famous as, say, Tommy Dorsey, but he did lead a good band for 25 years. Sally made several records with him in 1950 and 1951, starting with "Looks Like a Cold, Cold Winter," where she did a pleasing duet with Don Brown. The disk did OK in the market, but I believe Bing and Mindy Carson did better.

Don Brown and Tommy Tucker

Next was "Hullabaloo," which, true to its title, was a noisy polka, a genre popular back then. "Sonny the Bunny" was a kiddie novelty possibly themed to Easter 1951. Don Brown is the lead on this one with Sally mainly providing harmony. They made a good pair.

The final recording with Tommy Tucker was "Whisp'ring Shadows," where Sweetland duets with Peter Hanley, who became Tucker's male singer following Don Brown's death in a traffic accident. Hanley too was a talented vocalist. This is a charming waltz.

Religious Fare, Grandma Moses and Ted Maxim

Tucker recorded for M-G-M, which also engaged Sally for a series of religious songs. I've included "Our Lady of Fatima," where she contends with an organ and male quartet.

At about the same time, Columbia Records brought her in for one of her specialties - high-register vocalese. The song was "Lullaby," one of the numbers in the suite that Hugh Martin and Alec Wilder put together for a film on the painter Grandma Moses. This is truly gorgeous singing. The entire suite is available here.

Also in 1951, Sweetland was at Decca for two waltzes by polka bandleader Ted Maksymowicz (here credited as Ted Maxim). First was "Beautiful Brown Eyes," which had been written in the 1930s by the country artists Arthur Smith and Alton Delmore. Maxim's record would seem to have been a cover of Rosemary Clooney's revival of the song on Columbia.

Pat Terry and Ted Maksymowicz

The second Maxim record, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One," also was associated with Smith and the Delmore brothers, who recorded it in the 1930s. It was, however, a traditional tune. On both records, Sally works seamlessly with the excellent studio baritone Pat Terry.

Work for RCA Victor

We move on from Decca to RCA Victor, where Sweetland's first assignment was to record the vocal on Bob Dewey's record of Franz Lehár's "Vilia" from The Merry Widow score. It's not clear why RCA and Dewey (actually Guy Lombardo arranger Dewey Bergman) decided to record an operetta selection in sweet band style in 1951, but Sally does fine.

One of her most noted records was Perry Como's 1952 version of "Summertime." There could be no better singer than Como to present a number describing how "the living is easy." Sweetland's vocalese is heard throughout the record, which perfectly sets off Como's low-register vocal. A superb record.

Perry Como and Eddie Fisher

Victor repeated this formula the next year for Eddie Fisher's massive success "I'm Walking Behind You." Here, in addition to the vocalese, Sally  does some high-register duetting with Fisher, which is very striking. It's a memorable record - one I owned myself when I was four. (I started collecting records early.)

Solos with Enoch Light

Sweetland recorded several cover records for bandleader/impresario Enoch Light in 1952. This type of work required the ability to sing many genres convincingly, a Sweetland specialty. We've already heard her in operetta, polka, and kiddie material. Her first record for Light was a cover of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya," which suits her well. Here, I suspect the real intention was to cover Jo Stafford's pop version for Columbia. This is a thread that runs through her other Enoch Light records.

Enoch Light

Jessie Mae Robinson's "Keep It a Secret" was a hit for Stafford in 1952-53. Sally and Stafford also recorded Pee Wee King's "You Belong to Me." Sally sounds particularly like Jo in this recording.

The melodramatic "Kiss of Fire" is based on a 1906 song "El choclo" by Victor Argentine. Louis Armstrong revived it in 1952, but the hit was by Georgia Gibbs. Sweetland does what she can with this overheated item.

The Ice Capades Brigadoon; "Getting to Know You"

In 1953, the Ice Capades traveling show presented an ice skating version of the Broadway hit Brigadoon. Columbia records decided to issue a potted version of the show in honor of the program, with Lee Sullivan and Sally as the fine soloists in the seven-minute presentation. Sullivan had been in the original cast of Brigadoon in 1947.

Brigadoon picture sleeve; Lee Sullivan

Sally is heard in abbreviated versions of "Almost Like Being in Love," "Heather on the Hill" and "From This Day On." I've presented this record before, but this is a new version.

Sweetland made a substantial number of children's records. I've included one of the group she recorded for Golden Records - "Getting to Know You" from The King and I. It's a brief rendition, but nonetheless effective. As with many of the Golden records, the support is by the Sandpipers vocal group and an orchestra led by Mitch Miller.

With Sauter-Finegan

Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan engaged Sally for several records by their Sauter-Finegan Band. First was their sumptuous 1952 version of "April in Paris," where Sweetland does nicely both in vocalese and snatches of the lyrics. This was the first superior big band version of the song from the 1950s, along with Count Basie's much different arrangement from a few years later.

Bill Finegan and Eddie Sauter

Speaking of different, "The Moon Is Blue" is a quirky pop song with lyrics by Sylvia Fine and music by Herschel Burke Gilbert, written for the 1953 film of the same name and performed by the S-F band. Sauter and Finegan (or RCA Victor) did not give Sally a label credit for "April in Paris," but rectified that omission on this release.

Sweetland is heavily featured in the band's version of the Rodgers-Hart "Where or When," both with the lyrics and a climactic venture into high vocalese. This comes from the album Concert Jazz. The principals comment on the cover, "Our first love, Sally Sweetland. We hope you appreciate her as we do."

Two SF covers - one by Jim Flora (left), the other in his style

The band's 1954 LP Inside Sauter-Finegan features Sally in a muted and very lovely version of "Autumn Leaves."

Sauter-Finegan's "Where's Ace" is a spoof of the crime jazz genre of the time. The band keeps asking Sally "Where's Ace?" and she replies "Who??" They search him for in various locales. Sally ends up asking the band, "Where's Ace" and they reply "Who?"

With Hugo Winterhalter

The popular maestro Hugo Winterhalter engaged Sweetland for a few records as well. In 1953 she joined with studio vocalist Bud Dee to present an enjoyable reading of Jessie Mae Robinson's "The Lovers' Waltz."

Hugo Winterhalter

In 1955, she recorded one of her best discs - "Autumn Rhapsody," a conventional but attractive ballad by Carolyn Leigh and Alex Alstone.

An Unusual Children's Record

Sally Sweetland and Marni Nixon

We complete this exploration of Sally's legacy with a slightly later record - from 1964, the story of "Hansel & Gretel" with music from Humperdinck's opera. (A orchestral suite from the work can be found here.) Sweetland combines with another eminent studio singer, Marni Nixon, for two superb and all too brief selections: "Brother, Won't You Dance with Me" and "When at Night I Go to Sleep." I believe that Sally is the voice of Hansel. Tutti Camarata leads the band.

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This collection was inspired by David Federman, as have many things I posted over the years. I believe that David was enchanted by Sweetland's stratospheric vocalese - me too - but there are many other items to appreciate here. I was surprised to find that I liked in particular her children's records of "Getting to Know You" and the Humperdinck adaptations. She also works beautifully with the relatively little-known Don Brown and Pat Terry (among others). A wonderful legacy by this talented and much loved singer and vocal teacher.

This selections are cleaned up from Internet Archive and my collection. 

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