Mexican Hayride

I've been very busy for a long time, but I wanted to slip in a quick post, in this case the 1944 Cole Porter musical Mexican Hayride.

This is not one of Porter's best known scores, nor is the cast the starriest, but the record is entirely agreeable and worthy of your attention.

The star of the show was June Havoc, who was best known for being Gypsy Rose Lee's sister, called Baby June on the vaudeville stage. Havoc (née Hovick) was also apparently known for her legs. Producer Mike Todd commissioned Alberto Vargas to design a gargantuan billboard of Havoc recumbent, which appeared outside the Winter Garden theatre when the musical was in residence. That is co-star Bobby Clark ogling June through his painted-on eyeglasses.

The block-long June Havoc

Somehow Clark got left out when it came time for the Decca cast album, here presented as "selections from" Mexican Hayride "featuring members of the Original New York Production." Beside Havoc, those members were Wilbur Evans and Corinna Mura.

Evans made his name on the operetta stage. On Broadway, he also appeared in Up in Central Park, later By the Beautiful Sea. He can be heard in a few Decca operetta albums.

This was Mura's only Broadway show. She had appeared in Casablanca (singing the Marseillaise) and other movies.

I transferred the songs from the 10-inch LP of 1949, and included scans, as usual, but since I also have the 78 set, I have added scans from that album's inside front and back covers, which present photos from the show and the recording session, respectively. (The latter is below.)