Tony Martin - The Night Was Made for Love

I don't know whether that's a lover or a vampire on the cover, but the music is romantic, so I have to assume the former.

We do know that the singer is Tony Martin, who was popular from the 1930s through at least the 1950s and made many records. He has appeared here several times before, and is always welcome.

Tony Martin

We also know that these songs come from 1947-50, although the cover of this 1956 LP does not hint that they are not new recordings. The cover also tells us that Henri René is in charge of the orchestra, but that is true for only five of the songs. An equal number were conducted by Earle Hagen, and one by Woolf Phillips.

The title song, "Night and Day," "Deep Night," and "Goodnight Sweetheart" come from a 1948 album of 78s, whose cover is below. The rest are taken from singles.

A giant head appears in the night sky ...

Let me add that seven of the songs on the 12-inch LP also appeared on a 1953 10-inch album with a different cover and title, the better to bamboozle the record buyer. That cover is below.

The 10-inch LP cover

On to the songs on the 12-inch version ...

"The Night Was Made for Love" is a Kern-Harbach song from the 1931 show The Cat and the Fiddle. Even though it leads off the collection, it is not Martin's best performance. He is in generally excellent voice otherwise.

Tony had a hit with "Valencia" in 1950. It's a song with a curious history. Written in 1924 by Jose Padilla for a zarzuela, it became the title of a 1926 silent film and then a big success for Paul Whiteman and vocalist Franklyn Baur that same year.

"Marta (Rambling Rose of the Wildwood)" is another resurrection, this one from 1931, as recorded then by Manolo Castro and His Havana Yacht Club Orchestra. The music is by Moisés Simons; L. Wolfe Gilbert provided the English lyrics.

Tony had appeared in the Marx Brothers' 1941 film The Big Store, where he was allotted one of his signature songs - the "Tenement Symphony," which he introduced with Chico and Harpo. He did not record the number then, but that oversight was remedied in 1947 in a version recorded in London and first issued on HMV.

I must admit I love this piece, although (and perhaps because) it was very much of its time. Hal Borne wrote the music, Ray Golden and Sid Kuller the lyrics. (Sample: "The songs of the ghetto inspired the allegretto!")

HMV EP

"There's No Tomorrow" is based on "O sole mio." That song had music by Eduardo di Capua, but here the piece is attributed to Al Hoffman, Leo Corday and Leon Carr. Their version was done for Martin's film Two Tickets to Broadway. Tony's commercial recording was a hit in 1949. Another version of the tune - "It's Now or Never" - was a huge Elvis success in 1960.

The French song "Comme ci, comme ça" was recorded by several American artists in 1948. Bruno Coquatrix and Pierre Dudan had written it as "Clopin clopant."

"La Vie en rose" was of course the signature song for Édith Piaf, who made it popular in 1946. She wrote the lyrics, Louiguy the music. A version with English lyrics hit the American charts in 1950. Martin's recording was perhaps the most popular.

Tony also did well with another French song, "Domino," the following year. Louis Ferrari wrote the music, the French lyrics were by Jacques Plante, and the English version was by Don Raye. "Domino" was introduced by André Claveau.

"Deep Night" was a hit for Rudy Vallée in 1929. He wrote the words, Charles Henderson the music. Tommy Dorsey and Jack Leonard had a popular version in 1940.

Comma? No comma? 

"Goodnight, Sweetheart" was perhaps the biggest hit for bandleader-songwriter-actor Ray Noble, whose first version had a vocal by the great Al Bowlly. (Neither Ray nor Al are credited as performers on the HMV label above.) Ray later remade the song for Columbia with a lesser light, Snooky Lanson. Tony Martin's version was its competition in 1948.

So, should it be "Goodnight" or "Good Night" in the title? The labels of Noble's first and second versions use the compound word, but his publisher split 'em up on the sheet music.

OK, how about the comma between "Goodnight" and "Sweetheart"? The punctuation appeared on Noble's first record, but not the second. The sheet music eschews it. (Gesundheit.) To me, the comma belongs, but I am sure others would leave it out.

LINK

Lisa Kirk - More RCA Victor Singles

About five years ago, I presented 24 RCA Victor single sides from Broadway star Lisa Kirk, who had featured roles in Kiss Me, Kate and Allegro. Now I have 22 more from the same period, meaning that we've covered all or substantially all of her output for that label.

Here's some of what I wrote about her in 2017:

At least once before on this blog, I've proclaimed my allegiance to Lisa Kirk and the cause of seeking more recognition for her as a singer. The Broadway artist whose superb renditions introduced "The Gentleman Is a Dope," "Always True to You in My Fashion" and "Why Can't You Behave" ought to be more recognized as a master of the craft.

Before she became an RCA artist, Kirk came to public attention via her first Broadway appearance, in the 1947 Rodgers-Hammerstein show Allegro. In that show, she was the lovelorn nurse to the show's protagonist, Dr. Joe Taylor. Her version of "The Gentleman Is a Dope" is the high point of the cast album.

The next year she was cast in the important role of Lois Lane in Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, in which she introduced "Always True to You in My Fashion" and "Why Can't You Behave" (as well as "Tom, Dick or Harry").

After that, Kirk was less seen in Broadway and more on television and in nightclubs, although in 1963 she replaced Janis Paige as a lead in Meredith Willson's Here's Love and in 1974 had a featured role in Jerry Herman's Mack and Mabel.

Kirk was with RCA from late 1949 to 1953. Today's selections are primarily from late 1949 through early 1951, with a few from 1952-53.

The first number in this group (and Kirk's first single) is "Charley, My Boy," an oldie from 1924 made popular by Eddie Cantor and revived in 1949 by the Andrews Sisters. Kirk has just the jaunty approach this piece needs. 

The flip side is "Shame on You," which was the greatest hit by Western Swing's Spade Cooley, back in 1946. I'm not sure why RCA wanted to revive it with a boogie-woogie beat and hand-clapping by the Three Beaus and a Peep, but here it is. Kirk's coy vocal doesn't work as well as Tex Williams' deadpan original. Henri René is the maestro here and on the majority of records below.

Billboard ad, March 11, 1950

"Dearie" was opportunity for a comic duet with another star RCA vocalist, Fran Warren, arguing about who's older. It's fun, although Kirk is the better actor. The B-side, "Just a Girl that Men Forget," is another battle of the divas, also enjoyable. Victor often paired Kirk with other singers - last time out we had Bob Haymes and Don Cornell. 

In "Sweet Promises and Good Intentions," the Three Beaus, a Peep and hand-clapping return for yet another light number. Nice tune, but it does not make the most of Kirk's talents. Its discmate, "Kiss Me," also lightweight, is better suited to Kirk's style, without any other voices or hand-clapping.

Speaking of Eddie Cantor, as we were a few paragraphs ago, he pops up for Lisa's next single, "The Old Piano Roll Blues" coupled with "Juke Box Annie (Doodle-Oodle-Oo)." Victor enlisted Sammy Kaye's orchestra for the backing. Kirk and Cantor are surprisingly compatible. "Juke Box Annie" was the plug side, and a hit in the various versions on the market. "The Old Piano Roll Blues" is fine, but it uses a strange sounding piano. But please, RCA, enough of the novelties!

Oh well, the quasi-gospel "Faith and Determination" was next on the recording docket, and the hand-clapping returns, although the Beaus and Peep have ceded the mic to the talented Honeydreamers. The flip, "Love Me a Little Bit" is a continental-style production, complete with accordion and violin. Very well done.

One of the stand-outs in the set is the little-known "Love Like Ours," taken from Dimitri Tiomkin's music for the Marlon Brando melodrama The Men. The words are standard-issue, but the material is well-suited to Kirk's abilities. The flip side is "I Didn't Slip, I Wasn't Pushed, I Fell," a popular item in 1950 that Lisa does nicely. (She should have slammed the studio door on the whistler, however.)

Kirk is outstanding in "Gotta See Ya Once More," although René's gimmicky orchestration is not entirely welcome. She reaches back to the '20s again (actually, 1918) for the coupling, "Ja-Da." Not sure why Victor kept having her record songs from a quarter-century earlier, but she is very good here, too, showing off her sense of rhythm. René's band provides a suitable Dixieland backing.

Finally, Victor handed her the sheet music for a standard! "I'm in the Mood for Love" is not a great song, but well suited to Kirk's strengths. The backing is another (and better) Jimmy McHugh item, "I Can't Believe You're in Love with Me," which is one of the best pieces in this collection. Kirk is splendid but the anonymous backing is just OK. She recorded six McHugh songs at the same time, presumably for an album, although I don't believe it was issued as such.

Her next song is another welcome respite from the novelties and the hectic pop screamers we are about to encounter. While not a standard, it is a good song by Ralph Freed, "I Thought of You Last Night," here in a sensitive performance backed by the excellent David Terry. On the pop charts, I believe that the Jeri Southern single did a little better.

The Freed number is backed by "Look Up," an attractive, hymn-like song by Joop de Leur and Harold Rome. I suspect that Rome's contribution was English lyrics to the Dutch composer's tune. Rome had done this for other songs, notably Henri Laurent Herpin's "(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings." Kirk is completely convincing here.

Now on to the noisy numbers, staring with "Boomerang," a loud Leon Pober item that was making the rounds in 1952. This commotion was backed, appropriately, by "Hurricane," a Janice Torre-Fred Spielman storm front that passes over in a few minutes, thankfully. Kirk belts as required. Interestingly, the anonymous chart uses a figure that is identical to one that would resurface in the James Bond theme a decade later.

"Catch Me If You Can" features Lisa being coy with a backing male quartet. "Do you wanna?" she asks. "Yes, we wanna!" they reply. And so on. She even asks them if they wanna see her etchings. (Addendum - frequent commenter Boursin informs me that the vocalists are the Ray Charles Singers and the band is none other than the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra!)

This nonsense is backed with one of her finest records, which fully shows what she could accomplish with the right material. It is the rueful Bernstein-Comden-Green ballad "O-HI-O" from Wonderful Town, then (1953) on Broadway. It's superior material, and Kirk is exceptional in it. 

"O-HI-O" is sung by the character Ruth in Wonderful Town, one of the roles most associated with Rosalind Russell. I can't help but speculate that Kirk would have been right for the role as well. As it was, she ended up dubbing most of Russell's songs in the movie version of Gypsy a decade later.

The exigencies of the commercial market meant that talented singers like Kirk were assigned the current pop songs and novelties in a search for a hit. It often was fruitless for both artist and label, although it is fun to revisit the pop tunes from mid-century, and it always is a pleasure to hear from Lisa Kirk.

The previous Kirk recordings came from my collection. Most of these present records have been remastered from the massive Internet Archive of 78s, with the addition of a few from my collection and a few other lossy originals. The latter sound good, although with some sacrifice of detail and warmth.

Kirk models the Playtex company's products for a 1949 ad

'Kiss Me, Kate' with Keel, Grant and Jeffreys

My Sid Ramin post somehow led to a long discussion of this studio version of Kiss Me, Kate in the comments section, involving stalwart blog followers Charlot, JAC, Wortley Clutterbuck and Geoconno. Those who have heard this record, extolled it. Those who hadn't asked me for a transfer.

Here it is and it has many merits, starting with three fine singers, two of whom were experienced in the musical: Howard Keel played Fred Graham in the film version, and Anne Jeffreys succeeded Patricia Morison as Lilli Vanessi on Broadway. The excellent pop singer Gogi Grant had no such advantages, but she is not outclassed in their company.

Howard Keel in the filmic Kiss Me, Kate

The LP also benefits from the imaginative arrangements of the Henri René, whose pop orientation pervades the proceedings. Even with the presence of Keel and Jeffreys, this isn't really a quasi-cast album so much as it is an enjoyable ramble through Cole Porter's songs.

Because there are only three singers, parts in the ensemble songs are reassigned to those on hand. So, rather than the usual trio of gangsters, you will hear Grant, Keel and Jeffreys left to right in "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." The three also take on "Too Darn Hot" and "Another Op'nin', Another Show" in place of the minor characters who present the numbers on stage. In all of these, Keel scales back his voice, hardly sounding like the heroic bass-baritone we all love.
 

Anne Jeffreys as Lilli Vanessi

All three were apparently encouraged to be broad in their effects. This usually works well enough, such as in Grant's bravura version of "Always True to You in My Fashion." But her torchy reading of "Why Can't You Behave" is too externalized; the song benefits from the simpler approach of Lisa Kirk of the original cast. 

In another assignment switch, Grant turns up in "So in Love," which is a Lilli solo in the stage musical, so ordinarily would be assigned to Jeffreys. RCA probably decided it needed to make more use of Grant: the label was giving her a big build-up at the time.

Grant was with Victor for less than two years, but it was enough time for her to record three solo LPs, three potted musicals (this one, Show Boat, also with Keel and Jeffreys, and Gigi with Tony Martin), the soundtrack LP for The Helen Morgan Story, singles and at least one EP. The latter featured four songs from 1958's low-budget, teen exploitation film The Big Beat, which Grant appeared in. I've posted the EP along with her biggest pop hits ("The Wayward Wind" and "Suddenly There's a Valley") on my other blog.

Gogi Grant

The impetus behind this Kiss Me, Kate recording was probably two-fold: the dawning of the stereo era and a late 1958 televised production of the play with Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison from the original Broadway cast. After seeing the play on TV, anyone who wanted a recording could choose between the old mono Columbia of the Broadway cast and the new Living Stereo version on RCA Victor. Capitol stepped into the market in 1959 with a quasi-original cast recording in stereo featuring Drake, Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.

At the time, it was not unusual for record companies to issue multiple versions of the same musical. This was particularly true with a new score: there were at least a dozen Gigi recordings: cover versions, budget LPs, instrumental renditions, jazz make-overs, and what not. When RCA put out this Kiss Me, Kate LP, it also issued a competing version on its budget label, Camden, and gave it a bigger promotional push!

Again, this is an good record presented in the ping-pong stereo that was then fashionable and is still enjoyable. The download includes favorable reviews from Billboard and HiFi-Stereo Review.

Henri René Returns

Just the other day I reuploaded an early Henri René instrumental LP, and now here comes our friend Ernie with another one of René's lush creations, and in stereo!

Henri René

This one has the antiquated title Music for the Weaker Sex, with the cover model seemingly all aflutter at the sight of René's sheet music scattered at her knees.

Well, it's not a concept that would pass inspection these days, 60 years later. Nor is the music anything that would be written today. René has concocted 12 originals, titling them for the male musical idols of the time. The composer used only their first names, so a key might be helpful for those of you who, unlike me, weren't around when this record was issued. In order, we have tributes to Perry Como, Frank ("Frankie") Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, Tab Hunter (not sure how he got in the mix), Eddie Fisher, Mario Lanza, Pat Boone, Dean ("Dino") Martin, Nat Cole, Johnny Mathis, Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley.

Don't expect portraits in sound. The numbers are indistinguishable, except for the "Harry" and "Elvis" tunes. Presley's tribute is the sort of sedate rock-n-roll that big band leaders used to introduce by saying, "Now here's something for the younger set." Belafonte is represented by a cha-cha-cha, a dance that came from Cuba. Belafonte himself came from Jamaica (or his parents did), and he was famous for popularizing the island's calypsos. A calypso ain't a cha-cha. But since the islands are near to one another, René must have figured that was close enough.

Benny Carter

I have to say that I enjoyed this LP immensely, despite the gauche title and clumsy theme. René was a gifted composer of easy listening music, and the record's attractions are heightened greatly by the presence of Benny Carter's alto sax on most cuts. Carter, a distinguished instrumentalist, arranger and bandleader, plays beautifully. Using great jazz players as soloists on easy listening records was a trend at the time, one made popular by the solo trumpet of Bobby Hackett on many of Jackie Gleason's records.

I should mention that Ernie recently offered another set of Henri René compositions on his own blog via an LP called Passion in Paint. Ernie likes it even better that the Weaker Sex album, so be sure to look into it if you like this one.

Thanks once again, Ernie!

Henri René

There have been quite a few people named René in the music business over the years - this LP is by the one who is not related to any of the others.

Let's see, there have been record moguls Leon and Otis René, Leon's son Googie René, and Googie's son, Chris, a singer.

This René, however, is Henri, whose real name was Harold Kirchstein. He was a long-time arranger and producer who was a staffer at RCA Victor when these records were made.

Henri René

René has popped up here a few times before, backing singers contracted to RCA. I was motivated to pull this LP off the shelf after listening to his arrangements for Fran Warren. René also backed April Stevens on some of her early recordings. "Roller Coaster" on this LP, in fact, was the flip side of April's hit, "I'm In Love Again".

Listen to Henri René compiles singles issued from 1949 to 1952. The LP is from 1953. René produced a form of light music - pop music that aimed a little higher than the norm (although not that high). So here we have the faux-operetta waltz "Wunderbar", "Intermezzo" from the high-toned melodrama of the same name, and the like. "Bon Soir, Paris" is from one of the lesser known Wright-Forrest adaptations of music by classical composers, in this case Villa-Lobos. It comes from a 1948 operetta, Magdalena, that was produced in Los Angeles and on Broadway.

This music could hardly be less in fashion, but I do enjoy it. The craftsmanship and musicianship on display are striking, and the sound is excellent. I also love the typography on the cover, so characteristic of the period - beautifully done, like the music.