Christmas with Glenn Miller's AAF Band, 1943

The AAF Band led by Miller; Bobby Nichols on trumpet

Here from a long-ago bootleg is the 1943 Christmas Show presented by Capt. Glenn Miller and his Band of the Army Air Force Training Command. It's from the band's I Sustain the Wings radio program broadcast on NBC December 18, 82 years ago today.

Surprisingly, the show was not given over to Christmas material - although some did appear later in the program. Instead, the first song was Miller's instrumental "I Hear You Screaming," which won't make many Christmas playlists. Still, it's a vigorous start to the proceedings in an impressive performance by Miller's powerhouse crew.

Glenn Miller

Miller used a "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" gimmick for constructing medleys. For this program, the old number is "In the Gloaming" [not the later song "By the Fireside (In the Gloaming)" but the 19th century tune by Annie Fortescue Harrison]. 

Johnny Desmond

The new song is "For the First Time," sung by PFC Johnny Desmond, at the beginning of his career.

The "borrowed" item is "Stompin' at the Savoy," which was courtesy of Benny Goodman, who himself had borrowed it from Edgar Sampson. And the "blue" item is Peter De Rose's "Deep Purple."

Next, the band takes a break and there is a short playlet called "Johnny the Kid Next Door." It concerns the anxiety that Johnny, an Air Force mechanic, feels when the bombers he attends to take off on a run over continental Europe.

Desmond returns for "Along the Santa Fe Trail," written by Hugh Williams, Al Dubin and Edwina Coolidge for the 1941 film Santa Fe Trail. Miller's civilian band had recorded it with a Ray Eberle vocal.

Oklahoma! was a giant hit on Broadway in 1943, and Miller pays homage via Sgt. Jerry Gray's rocking version of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," with a Crew Chiefs vocal - the lead, I believe, is Artie Malvin.

Glenn Miller and Jerry Gray

We now move into the holiday portion of the show, with the band playing "Silent Night," "Jingle Bells," "White Christmas" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas." The latter is not the song familiar to us, but a different, touching wartime ballad with a Desmond vocal.

The program closes with one of Miller's great hits - F.W. Meacham's 1885 march "American Patrol" in Jerry Gray's famous arrangement.

All in all, a fine program in very good sound, sourced from a long-ago bootleg.

FYI - there's more Christmas radio from World War II new on the singles blog: a set of the 1944 Christmas Seal radio spots.

LINK to Glenn Miller's AAF Band Christmas Show

They All Sang Merle Travis

1956 Billboard ad

The charismatic country musician Merle Travis (1917-83) was a remarkably influential guitarist and a talented singer, but today's post will explore his gifts as a songwriter. We'll look at 26 recordings by other country musicians as well as such disparate performers as Lawrence Welk and Mickey Katz, and add a few that include Travis but were not issued under his name.

Early Life and Career

It's hard to discuss Merle Travis without citing his background, which colored some of his most famous songs. He was born and raised in coal-mining country, Muhlenberg County, Tennessee, and learned to play guitar from local musicians who included Ike Everly, father of Phil and Don.

By the time he was 20, he was playing with well-known country fiddler Clayton McMichen, and soon moved to become a staff musician at Cincinnati's WLW radio. His first recordings were in 1943 with fellow WLW staffer Grandpa Jones. They called themselves the "Sheppard Brothers" to sidestep their employer's prohibition on recording. Their "You'll Be Lonesome Too" and "The Steppin' Out Kind" (not included in this collection) comprised the first 78 ever issued by Syd Nathan's King Records.

1944-45 Recordings

It wasn't long before Travis was making a name for himself both as musician and songwriter. By 1944, he had moved to California and soon was in the studios with Capitol artist Wesley Tuttle. Together they wrote our first selection, "It May Be Too Late." The song is a standard bluegrass style yearning-for-the-old-folks-at-home number. It is a Travis record in all but name; he is the lead singer and guitarist on the recording. In just a few years Travis would record at Capitol under his own name.

From about the same time came the Travis-Tuttle "I Know It's Wrong," another standard country lament, with Tuttle singing and Travis' excellent picking.

Tex Atchison (upper left), Merle Travis (lower left), Cliffie Stone (right). Guitarist Red Murrell also recorded with Travis.

With the third side, we encounter one of Merle's most characteristic and famous songs, "Cincinnati Lou." Travis was to have a hit with the song under his own name for Capitol in 1946, but this 1945 version is by "Tin Ear Tanner and His Back Room Boys" for the small Bel-Tone label. Again, Travis sings and plays on the record, although it's not clear if he or fiddler Tex Atchison answered to "Tin Ear Tanner." The Back Room Boys included longtime Travis associate Cliffie Stone on bass.

1946 Recordings

Judy Canova

Travis really began to rise with his Capitol contract. His first session there, in March 1946, produced not only "Cincinnati Lou" but "No Vacancy," co-written with Cliffie Stone. It, too, was a hit and among the cover records was a version by ex-vaudeville personality Judy Canova, who was then popular in films. She cut it for the small ARA label (which unbeknownst to her and other ARA artists was a Soviet-front operation).

But Travis' biggest hit in 1946 was "Divorce Me C.O.D." from a July session. By that time the major labels were getting interested, and Decca had their popular novelty act the Hoosier Hot Shots do a version. The material was suited to their style and the results are convincing.

In August 1946, Capitol had Travis record an album of Folk Songs of the Hills, from which came several of Merle's most famous songs - "Sixteen Tons," "Dark as a Dungeon" and others. Among them was "That's All," here in a late 1946 rendition for 4-Star by "T" Texas Tyler, longtime country star.

1947-49 Recordings

In early 1947, Merle had another big success with "So Round, So Firm, So Fully-Packed," here in a cover version by one of the biggest names in country music, Ernest Tubb. In the lyrics, Travis wove in several takeoffs on current advertising slogans. The title is a Lucky Strike cigarettes catch phrase. Other products referenced in the song are Sunkist oranges, Camel cigarettes, Packard automobiles and Pepsi-Cola.

"Weary Lonesome Me" is another standard country lament that Travis had recorded during in his first Capitol session. It was unissued then, but his old associate Grandpa Jones picked it up and recorded it in 1947 for King. Among those playing on the record are Nashville session musicians Henry Haynes and Kenneth Burns, who soon would become known as musical satirists Homer and Jethro. I believe the guitarist is Hank Garland.

Deuce Spriggins and His Band (Deuce is to the right of the accordionist)

The biggest country hit of 1947 was "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)," written by Travis and Tex Williams. Among the musicians playing on Tex's superb, fast-paced recording were bassist Deuce Spriggins, who ventured into the studio a few months later to record his own version for Coast (which spelled his name "Spriggens"). It's not at all a bad record, although Deuce did not possess Tex's superb timing or resonant voice.

"Smoke" was such a big country hit that even someone like bandleader Lawrence Welk got interested, enlisting Bob "Tex" Cromer for the date. Cromer did have a country background, and recorded a few numbers with Spade Cooley later on. This record is not as limp as you might suspect, but posed no threat to Tex Williams or even Deuce Spriggins.

Travis recorded his distasteful "I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size" for Capitol in July 1947. The big country star Johnny Bond was in Columbia's studios a few weeks later for a cover version, suggesting again that recording companies and leading artists were paying close attention to Travis. Later that same year, Bond and Columbia put out Merle's ballad "A Petal from a Faded Rose."

Wade Ray in 1919

Wade Ray had been in vaudeville as a young child. By 1949, he had become a versatile country artist, singing and playing all the instruments on "Cuddlebug." I had to check the label twice to make sure this was a Travis song. It's catchy and accomplished, but old-timey, a song that could have been written back when Ray was a boy fiddler.

Recordings of the 1950s

Grandpa Jones

Grandpa Jones returned in 1950 with "Dark as a Dungeon," one of Travis' best and most famous songs, which originally appeared in the Folk Songs from the Hills album. Jones does it full justice in a most affecting bluegrass recording. (For some reason, King attributed the song to Jones.)

In late 1950, Tex Williams took Travis' "Don't Make Love to Mary (With Mabel on Your Mind)" into the studio, with hopes of repeating the success of "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!" This brilliant novelty is just as good as "Smoke," although not as profitable. "Don't slip and call her Ginger / If her name is Clementine" is the advice here.

Tex Williams

Lindy Doherty was a pop singer on Capitol's rolls for a short time. He did a good job in 1950 with "Sweet Temptation," a bid for crossover success with lush backing from Sid Feller. Travis had recorded the song back in 1946.

Roberta Lee was a former band singer who began a recording and a night club career in the late 40s. In 1952, she did a sardonic and highly effective version of Travis' "Common Folks." It's a lesser known but very worthwhile example of Merle's talking-blues style.

Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan

"Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan" (Lee Roy Pettit) is best remembered for his 1951 hit "Hot Rod Race" (a cover for Capitol of Arkie Shibley's Gilt-Edge original). He is commanding on 1953's "The Wheel That Does the Squeakin'." This driving honky-tonk side boasted Capitol's best sidemen, including Jimmy Bryant, Billy Strange, Speedy West, Red Murrell, Muddy Berry and Billy Liebert. Another exceptionally clever song.

Molly Bee

From about the same time is "What'll He Do?" from the 14-year-old Molly Bee, who had scored with her 1952 version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Bee was a talented youngster who often was on American television in the 1950s.

Travis' own bid for Christmas immortality was 1953's "Freddie, The Little Fir Tree," yet another anthropomorphic tale in the mode of "Frosty the Snowman." I think it's creepy, and it did not become one of Gene Autry's most famous holiday records. Ned Fairchild was the co-author.

"Steel Guitar Rag" was a famous Bob Wills instrumental written by Leon McAuliffe of the Wills band (although it was based on earlier songs). Travis and frequent collaborator Cliffie Stone added words and recorded it in 1947. The Dinning Sisters, a country version of the Andrews Sisters, revived it for Decca in 1953. Decca arranger Jack Pleis' work is unidiomatic; he probably was not used to having a steel guitar in his studio. The words are fine, but this is not a song that was crying out for lyrics (or the Dinnings, for that matter).

Eddy Arnold, RCA Victor's country superstar, was in rare form with "Bayou Baby (A Cajun Lullaby)," a lovely song, one of Travis' best. This superb record was an early 1956 release.

Travis' most popular composition is probably the surreal coal-mining song "Sixteen Tons," one of the numbers in his 1946 Folk Songs of the Hills. It wasn't until 1955 that the song it became a huge hit, in Tennessee Ernie Ford's compelling version (a favorite of mine when I was six). This Ford record elicited some unlikely cover versions, including one by the talented pop singer Johnny Desmond, who does surprisingly well in the face of Dick Jacobs' unsympathetic arrangement.

Mickey Katz and his 16 tons of salami

Tennessee Ernie's record was so pervasive that it invited parodies, including a Mickey Katz deconstruction. Instead of sixteen tons of No. 9 coal, Katz loads sixteen tons of hard salami in the delicatessen to which he owes his neshamah. It's incredible, as are many of Katz' records. This may be the only Travis record with a klezmer-style break.

As country morphed into rockabilly in the mid-50s, a popular example of the genre was Sanford Clark's "The Fool" of early 1956. Later that year he covered "Nine Pound Hammer," which had appeared in the Folk Songs of the Hills album. The song is so associated with Travis that it is usually ascribed to him (as it is here), although it's a traditional number and was identified as such in the original album. Clark's pounding rockabilly reading is probably not what Travis had in mind, although it's compelling in its own way (in fact, it's better than "The Fool"). Guitarist Al Casey discovered Clark and plays the stinging solo on this record.

As a measure both of the distance music had come in a decade and of Travis' greatness as an artist, we end this collection with Merle's own 1946 recording of "Nine Pound Hammer," which shows how his inimitable narrative and superb vocal and guitar playing made the song his own.

All these recordings come from the vast reaches of the Internet Archive, as cleaned up by me. The sound is generally excellent.

Travis Himself on Film and Video

YouTube has these examples of Merle performing songs in this collection:

Nine Pound Hammer

Sixteen Tons

Sweet Temptation

Dark as a Dungeon

1956 Billboard ad

Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, Plus a Related Reup

There is nothing Hollywood likes more than a sequel (unless it is a remake), so when Gentlemen Prefer Blondes became a big hit musical in 1953, what better to try to repeat the magic with a sequel called Gentlemen Marry Brunettes in 1955?

Jeanne Crain and Jane Russell

Trouble was, the Blondes film was based on a successful book by Anita Loos and a successful Broadway musical, with a very good score. And while the Brunettes sequel took on the title of Loos's follow-up novel (most of it, anyway - dropping "But" from the front-end), it changed the characters, tossed out the plot, and, since there was no existing musical, it cobbled together a bunch of old tunes with a new title song. Oh, and since Marilyn Monroe was not available for the new film, the producers slotted in the non-singing Jeanne Crain alongside holdover Jane Russell, adding the strange melange of Rudy Vallee, Alan Young and tough-guy Scott Brady as the male leads.

Perhaps predictably, it did not work so well, and the movie house patrons were indifferent. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy it on records, though, eh?

Anita Ellis

The principal attractions are once again the female leads, with Russell in excellent voice paired with the great Anita Ellis, who dubbed Crain's singing. They appear together or separately in most numbers, perhaps best in Bobby Troup's 1941 corker, "Daddy," which is perfect for two females on the make. Russell is terrific in the 1931 Rodgers-Hart song "I've Got Five Dollars," in spite of a clumsy dialog set up involving Russell and Brady, whose hard-bitten manner would be better suited to film noir.

Ellis's big feature is another Rodgers and Hart standard, "My Funny Valentine." She stays just this side of over-emoting, which in my estimation was always the danger with her singing - more so in her albums than in her many dubbing assignments. Alan Young comes in at the end, doing his own vocals, not particularly well, unfortunately. He is only marginally worse, though, than the person chosen to provide Brady's singing voice - arranger-conductor Robert Farnon. Apparently all the male vocal doubles were busy.

The title song was new, composed by the team of Herbert Spencer and Earle Hagen, both of whom had long careers in Hollywood, and Richard Sale, the screenwriter-producer-director of the opus. It's not a bad song, although in debt to "Always True to You in My Fashion" and especially the Guys and Dolls title song. The normally reliable Johnny Desmond presents it in overbearing fashion.

It's not entirely clear who did what in the music department. Farnon apparently conducted and did the underscoring, but Hagen was the orchestrator and music supervisor, both with uncredited help from Angela Morley and Bill McGuffie, per IMDb.

The sound, as usual from the Decca family, is adequate. I love the cover, though - particularly the spray-tanned Johnny Desmond.

The related reup is the excellent soundtrack to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which you can find here.

Johnny Desmond on M-G-M

Balladeer Johnny Desmond first achieved fame as a member of Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band during World War II, although he had previous big band experience.

After the war he became a solo act, and quickly lined up a record contract with RCA Victor. That label marketed about a dozen Desmond sides in 1946-47, then the singer went looking for a new company. His manager announced that he was going with Majestic late in 1947 - just in time for that small imprint to implode.

Johnny Desmond

So Desmond moved on to the nascent M-G-M operation in 1948, beginning one of his more notable associations with a record label, recording some 50 numbers with that concern into 1951.

12-inch LP on Lion

For some reason, M-G-M saw Johnny as a specialist in French repertoire, and a significant minority of the songs he taped were from or about France. A 1952 10-inch LP gathered eight of these items, and there were enough left over that in 1958 the label could issue a 12-inch version on its budget imprint, Lion.

I have both editions, and this post consists first of the songs on the 10-incher, followed by the extra songs added to the Lion LP, "Johnny Desmond Dreams of Paris." The earlier album has marginally better sound, but there isn't much in it.

To complete the package, I have added Desmond's first M-G-M single, "P.S., I Love You," as well as the attractive ballad "If You Could Care," from 1951. Both are from 78 sources (sonics on the former are not ideal, although listenable).

Desmond worked extensively with guitarist-arranger Tony Mottola, who is in charge of the proceedings on most of not all these songs. Johnny was a romantic balladeer in the Sinatra mold (although he did not sound like The Voice), and Mottola appropriately evokes Sinatra arranger Axel Stordahl in his fine orchestrations.

At this time, Desmond was much better with the dreamy stuff than with up-tempo or novelty scores. Fortunately most of these recordings are of the softer variety, with the exception of "C'est Si Bon" and its follow-up "C'est La Vie," in which Desmond, Mottola and a group called the Quintones try to sound fizzy and end up sounding flat.

Note (December 2023) - these recordings have now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK

The Stingiest Man in Town

I've written before about the original musicals written for American television in the 1950s. Fifty-five years ago tomorrow, "The Alcoa Hour" presented a musical version of A Christmas Carol called The Stingiest Man in Town.

The creative team (Fred Speilman, music, and Janice Torre, book and lyrics) is not well known these days, but they produced quite a good score, memorialized in this 1956 Columbia release.

Damone, Madigan, Rathbone

At their service are an array of singers from both the pop and opera worlds; also Basil Rathbone as Scrooge.

Vic Damone, Johnny Desmond, Patrice Munsel and Betty Madigan offer an array of attractive numbers, although none became holiday standards. The Four Lads are utilized as a sort of Greek fraternity chorus in the guise of carollers commenting on the story.

Rathbone and Martyn Green

Spielman was a German expatriate composer who spent time in Hollywood. His biggest hit (written with Torre) was "Paper Roses," a country song.

Lost for many years, a kinescope of the original production was recently discovered and issued on DVD. The sound on the cast recording is vivid, although Columbia added a wash of reverberation, possibly to cover up dry studio sound.

The LP's back cover notes are fairly confusing, so a relevant cast list may be helpful:

Vic Damone - Young Scrooge
Johnny Desmond - Fred
The Four Lads - Carolers
Martyn Green - Bob Cratchit
Betty Madigan - Martha Cratchit
Patrice Munsel - Belle
Basil Rathbone - Ebenezer Scrooge
Robert Weede - Marley's Ghost
Robert Wright - Spirit of Christmas Present

LINK

Christmas with the Crooners

A 1953 Julius LaRosa EP leads off tonight's share of Christmas records by some of the popular crooners of the postwar era, which also includes a passel of unusual songs by other singers.

The EP came out shortly after LaRosa's infamous on-air firing by American TV host Arthur Godfrey (a man who struck me as creepy even back then, when I was barely out of diapers). Julie has a reputation among vocal aficionados that is far greater than his popularity, and this record shows why. He performs these songs beautifully (a tendency to sing a little flat aside). He maintains his quality of voice even when singing loud, which is unusual for pop singers. And he is very involved in the repertoire. Excellent support by the Columbus Boychoir and Archie Bleyer. There is a small amount of groove noise on this EP - the second side was defective, but I managed to navigate around almost all the damage.

Billboard ad

We begin the assorted holiday singles with Johnny Mercer's 1946 recording of "Winter Wonderland," made with the Pied Pipers and Paul Weston. This one's a little worn, but the rest of the evening's fare is in excellent shape.

We move ahead to 1950 and Frankie Laine's 78 of "Merry Christmas Everywhere" and "What Am I Gonna Do This Christmas." Also from that year is the first of two singles from that fine singer Johnny Desmond - "Sleigh Ride" and "A Marshmallow World."

Next up is "That's What Christmas Means to Me," a good song and performance by Eddie Fisher. Back to Desmond for 1954's "Happy Holidays to You" and "Santo Natale" (think "Santa Lucia").

Billboard ad

Finally, from 1955 we have Tony Martin's "Christmas in America" and "Christmas in Rio."

The songs on this set range from the overly familiar ("Silent Night") to sorta familiar ("Sleigh Ride") to sorta unfamiliar ("A Marshmallow World") to completely unfamiliar (most of the rest). Many of the non-hits are very worthwhile, and I think that makes for a good holiday listening.

Johnny Desmond

This 1955 LP, responding to a request by Will Friedwald, finds Johnny Desmond in mid-career, looking for a hit to bolster his career. He had already sung with Bob Crosby and Gene Krupa before the war, notably with Glenn Miller's AEF band during the war, and solo for RCA and M-G-M before joining Coral in 1953.

This 10" album brings together several singles of greater or lesser success for Desmond. Perhaps the most successful was his version of "The High and the Mighty," which short-circuits the eerie whistling in favor of Johnny's vocal, which had nothing to do with the film. Two other film tunes are on board as well - "Tara's Theme" and the "Song from Desiree." The entire second side is collected from an 1954 EP of film tunes.

The title song did have some chart action, and was listed by Billboard as the 48th most popular record of 1955 (right above Chuck Berry's "Maybelline"). Johnny introduced this song on a TV show - the LP cover photo is taken from that program. The ad below comes from that period. It also features a bigger hit - the McGuire Sisters' cover version of the Moonglows' "Sincerely," another indication of the changing tastes of the time.

It would be a stretch to call "Play Me Hearts and Flowers" a great song, then again, the lack of great material doesn't bother me in the least. I am as much an admirer of the canonical American songbook as any vocal collector, but please, how many times can the canon fire off the same shells? If I never hear "Yesterdays" or "I Get a Kick Out of You" again, I won't be sad. I do like to hear lesser-known songs and sometimes they are well worth getting to know. Too bad this isn't one of those times. Perhaps the weakest song here is "A Woman's Loveliest When She Is Loved." The lyrics to this condescending anthem were written by Sylvia Dee, best known for "Too Young" and worst known for "Chickery Chick." There is some groove damage on this item, perhaps intentional. (Note (December 2023): most of the noise has now been removed.)

Johnny does sound good, as always. By this time he had modified the vocal approach that got him called the Creamer and the GI Sinatra (by his publicist, anyway) in favor of a more robust attack similar to Tony Martin. I like the earlier Johnny better, but it's a matter of taste. Desmond went on to record some excellent LPs, for Columbia in particular.

Note (December 2023): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK

The New Christmas Songs for 1952

In 1952, Coral Records wrapped up Christmas themed singles from some of its leading pop acts, put a red bow around them, and sent them to record stores in a 10-inch album. These were the "NEW Christmas Songs," as the cover helpfully points out, and were Coral's attempt to generate some holiday cheer (and sales).

Not sure how much success they had, and the only song on here that has had much shelf life has been the adaptation of "The Night Before Christmas" by Johnny Marks, who produced several Christmas hits, starting with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

But it's a good record nonetheless. I enjoy pop tunes with a holiday theme that haven't been heard over and over, and this is a good collection of them. The artists include some of Coral's finest, including the Ames Brothers, Don Cornell, Eileen Barton and Johnny Desmond.

One reason why record companies like Christmas albums is that they can bring them back on a yearly basis to generate new sales. Coral did that with this record in 1953, just with a slight modification of the cover. You can see the results over at Ernie (Not Bert), one of the web's leading purveyors of Christmas music.

Note (December 2023): this record has now been remastered in ambient stereo and has complete scans.

LINK