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.

* * *

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. 

LINK

Three Evenings with Fred Astaire, Barrie Chase and Chrysler

Barrie Chase and Fred Astaire

I recently posted General Motors' 50th Anniversary television show, and noted in passing that while I had honored GM and Ford (after a sort; it was an Edsel promo), Chrysler had not yet been in the spotlight. Then reader Jeff M. reminded me that the Chrysler Corp. had sponsored three Fred Astaire specials, in 1958, 1959 and 1960, and had issued promotional LPs for each show.

Fortunately I have those LPs and they are the basis of today's post, which also gives me the opportunity to discuss the auto styling then in vogue at Chrysler.

On each of the programs, Astaire was partnered by dancer Barrie Chase, who is little heard on the LPs. Fortunately, Fred was a singer as well as dancer, or we would have a few hours of background music and guest stars.

Also, as a bonus, to honor one of Astaire's earlier (and most famous) partners, I am posting the singles that Fred and Ginger Rogers issued separately in connection with their 1938 film Carefree. It's on my other blog and features a nifty picture label with Fred's floating head front and center (well, to the left of the spindle hole anyway).

An Evening with Fred Astaire (1958)

The first show in the series was broadcast on October 17, 1958. As did GM, Chrysler chose this fall to show off its newly introduced models. As I mentioned with GM's 1958 models, the cars of the time were becoming ever more bloated. The top of the line 1959 Imperial below resembled a luxurious barge with fins, suitable for emperors and anyone else with the appropriate amount of cash.

The 1959 Imperial

Jonah Jones

The TV show was not nearly so ostentatious. Besides Barrie Chase, the program showcased trumpeter Jonah Jones and David Rose and his orchestra. The dance numbers are backed alternately by Rose and Jones, the latter of whom also gets a solo spot on "St. James Infirmary." Jones' trumpet playing is pure Louis Armstrong, his singing is Armstrong strained through Fats Waller. Jones' group was quite a swinging combo. Nothing original here, but still entertaining. Rose's orchestra and arrangements are enjoyable, too: good thing because we can't see the dance routines.

This is a good time to mention that the program was the first to be captured on video tape and can be seen in color on YouTube. should you want to see what Astaire, Chase and Hermes Pan cooked up. It is well worth watching. Fred was still a supreme dancer, and Chase was one of the best partners he ever had.

It also gives you a chance to see the Chrysler ads that were tastefully left off the LP. They are from another world than today's commercials, with a stentorian announcer leading into a male chorus, a la Mitch Miller's Sing-Along Gang, with a musical run-down on the cars' many attributes.

Fred sings "Change Partners," the superb Irving Berlin song from Carefree (which as noted above can be found in its original commercial release on my other blog), then a medley of his many hits, a feature he would continue through the next two shows.

The critics were ecstatic about the program. Jack Gould of the New York Times proclaimed it "a joy, an hour that will rank among the great contemporary theatre nights in any media." The show went on to win nine Emmy awards, and led to the two encore evenings we discuss next.

Missing the dancing, the LP is not worthy of such elaborate praise, although Jones' and David Rose's contributions are enjoyable. (Rose had a terrific piano player.) Reader Jeff was concerned about the sound quality on this LP, and it did prove to be screechy right out of the sleeve. However, with some adjustments, it and its successors now sound very good.

I do like the cover for this LP, with line drawings and calligraphy reminiscent of the jazz LP designs by David Stone Martin, Andy Warhol and Burt Goldblatt. The designer was Emrich Nicholson.

Another Evening with Fred Astaire (1959)

The first evening was so successful that Chrysler brought back the same team for an encore in 1959, and another promotional LP. They did vary things a bit by adding announcer Ken Nordine, who had issued a few quasi-hipster albums of what he called "Word Jazz." The bit on this show is a standard concept pivoting on the word "baby" and involving that popular cliché of the time, a visit to a beatnik hangout. (Astaire and Hermes Pan had done something similar in Funny Face.) Fred and Barrie Chase make the scene into an amusing dance nonetheless, which you can see on YouTube. Nordine's record company rushed out a single of "My Baby," noting on the label that it was "from the TV spectacular 'Another Evening with Fred Astaire.'"

Prop cover for "That Face"

Also new to the troupe were the excellent Bill Thompson Singers, who added some aural variety to the mix. They back Astaire as he sings and dances to "That Face," written for him by Alan Bergman and Lew Spence. In this, Astaire is inspired by a mock-Vogue cover with Barrie Chase's portrait.

Astaire himself wrote "The Afterbeat" with Johnny Mercer. It took the combined genius of those two distinguished fellows to come up with a piece that sounds just like "The Bunny Hop."

In another number, Chase dances with several swains, only to end up with Fred, who is wearing a mask of Mad magazine's Alfred E. Newman. Some reviewers thought this tasteless.

Jonah Jones and ensemble made a return appearance, accompanying Astaire in a "Night Train" scenario. "Train" is not a great composition, despite its Ellington roots, but Fred and the singers do well with its repetitive riffs.

Fortunately, Astaire left "The Bunny Hop," "Night Train" and Alfred E. Newman behind for a concluding medley of his many vocal hits.

It may have been "Valiant," but it sure wasn't attractive

As with the previous special, Chrysler used the platform to proclaim the merits of its new 1960 models. The best designed was probably the low-priced Plymouth, with its simple lines and swooping tail fins. New that year was the small Valiant, a clumsy looking effort that nonetheless was a preview of Chrysler's new design direction.

The critics were once again complimentary, with several saying that "Another Evening" was superior to the award-winning first "Evening." "Fred Scores Again! Tops 1st Triumph!" was one breathless headline. 

The cover of this second LP was not as striking as the first one, but did give Astaire a chance to show off both his immaculate footwork and his splendid wardrobe.

Astaire Time (1960)

The final edition in this three-year run (there was to be a reprise in 1968) was Astaire Time of 1961.

For this concluding episode, Jonah Jones's small group was replaced by Count Basie's big band, which ovr the years had evolved into a chrome-plated musical limousine such that the Chrysler Corporation never imagined. Basie himself is in exceptional form, and the remarkable band is propelled by his new drummer, Sonny Payne. The crew can be seen on YouTube, with Astaire dancing to "Sweet Georgia Brown."

Count Basie

Basie's vocalist, Joe Williams, is featured in a blues medley, which was his specialty. I think he sang "Everyday I Have the Blues" every time he appeared on TV. That's OK; it never got old.

Astaire and Barrie appear in Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets," a famous if overworked tune. Their routine can be seen on YouTube. Fred later presents Porter's "Thank You So Much, Mrs. Lowsborough-Goodby," a sub-Noel Coward piece that I have never taken to. This is the lead-in to Astaire's third medley.

Chrysler, meanwhile, was introducing its 1961 lineup. The higher-priced lines still had the gigantic tail fins that had been a Chrysler signature for several years. The low-priced Plymouth, however, had tamped down the fins into a sweeping design that was very attractive. The dowdy Valiant soldiered on, this time with a sibling, the similar Dodge Lancer.

1961 Plymouth

As for the reaction to the show, the critics were again battling to see who could be most effusive with the praise. The winner was probably John Crosby, who insisted that, "Not only did it set a high mark for television, but it set a new high mark for everything else ... stage or screen or nightclubs."

As I mentioned, Astaire and Chase were to present one more special, The Fred Astaire Show, in 1968. Musical tastes had changed and in place of Count Basie were the immortal Simon & Garfunkel and the now-forgotten pop-rockers The Gordian Knot. No LP exists for this show, to my knowledge.

Just a reminder that Fred and Ginger can be heard in songs from Carefree on Buster's Swinging Singles.

Holiday Inn, Plus a New Year's Bonus

I recently heard a CD of the songs from the 1942 film Holiday Inn that sounded awful. It's a famous film and score, so I decided to produce my own version of the set working from the original 78s. I think it shows off Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire to much better effect than the other edition I heard.

In addition to Bing and Fred's contributions, David Federman has left us another holiday gift in the form of a New Year's compilation.

Holiday Inn

A copy of the Holiday Inn 78 set resides in my basement, but it was easier and quicker to make use of the lossless transfers that I found on Internet Archive. The results to me are pleasing, although perhaps predictably "White Christmas" has more surface noise than the other tracks. (I checked all four of the transfers of the 1942 recording that IA had available.) While you may find quieter transfers, this version is well-balanced and satisfying. The sound on the other tracks is generally excellent.

Most of the songs in Irving Berlin's score are themed to the year's holidays, and almost all are delightful. The exception is the "Abraham" number that tried to honor Lincoln's birthday with a blackface routine. The performance in the album is not as objectionable as the film, with its minstrel show scenario, but the record still includes stereotypical language that even then was considered racist.

Most of the songs in the album are sung by Crosby, with Astaire taking over for "I Can't Tell a Lie" and "You're Easy to Dance With." Bing and Fred split "I'll Capture Your Heart," aided by Margaret Lennart, standing in for the film's Virginia Dale. The backings are split between the bands of John Scott Trotter and Bob Crosby.

Bing, Marjorie Reynolds, Fred, and Virginia Dale

I imagine many of you will have a copy of this album, but if you don't, please enjoy this memorable score, but maybe leave "Abraham" out of the playlist.

The download also includes many cleaned-up lobby cards, posters and other ephemera.

A New Year's Compilation

David F. has provided a long and satisfying compilation to greet the New Year: 39 tracks all chosen to represent three incarnations of the compiler: "Daves of New Years Past, Present and Future," he explains. "Hence I call this download, 'An End-Times New Years Carol.'"

As you listen, all three Daves have this New Year's wish for you: "Stay warm; stay safe; stay sound, and, the toughest wish, stay sane. Staying sober remains optional."