Gordon MacRae and Lena Horne Christmas Seals Shows from 1959

Following up on the previous set of Christmas Seals shows from Julius La Rosa and Jack Benny, here is an LP from 1959 featuring Gordon MacRae and Lena Horne.

Unlike the previous 16-inch record, which came from 1954, this LP was a 12-inch product and came in a sleeve. The cover is above, but I will confess I embellished it  -  the only thing in color on the original was the troupe of zombie children marching to the mailbox.

The other difference to at least the La Rosa program is that none of the musical specialties were recorded specifically for Christmas Seals. They all came from commercial LPs. The intros and spots, of course, were done for these programs.

Each program includes five musical selections, three Christmas Seals spots, and announcements. Here is a quick rundown of the selections.

Gordon MacRae Show

Gordon MacRae

Most of MacRae's songs came from his then-recent Capitol LP, The Seasons of Love - "It Might as Well Be Spring," "Autumn Leaves" and "It's Summer in Your Eyes." (There are no winter songs on that album, save for "June in January.")

Also on the Christmas Seals program were "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," likely his 1956 recording, and "Count Your Blessings," from 1954. The latter is sometimes considered a Christmas song because it was introduced in the film White Christmas. Van Alexander leads the band on all these selections.

Gordon is a big favorite around these parts. Here are links to his recordings on this blog and the singles blog.

Lena Horne Show

Lena Horne

Lena Horne has appeared here only a few times, mainly because her recordings are widely available. I did transfer her first LP (on M-G-M) as a memorial 13 years ago, only to find that the songs were to be reissued the following week. And with her Black & White singles, those too have been reissued, as I discovered recently in preparing a post devoted to those early discs.

I've newly redone the M-G-M LP in ambient stereo for those interested.

Horne's Christmas Seals program starts off with a song that Billy Strayhorn wrote for her - "You're the One," a very good piece that surprisingly is otherwise unrecorded. 

The Strayhorn number, "You Do Something to Me" and "It's All Right with Me" come from her 1956 LP It's Love. "Just in Time" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" come from 1958's Give the Lady What She Wants. The orchestra is led by Lennie Hayton on all songs.

Happy holidays to all!

LINK

Digression No. 22

For those of you who were interested in the Henry Mancini score for Summer Love, I have found a undamaged copy of the title song on a second copy of the LP I discovered in a most unlikely place - under "S" in my soundtrack collection. You can just download the new title song rip via this link or go to the Summer Love post below for the entire score with the new track.

I also came across an EP version of the Lena Horne 10-inch LP that I recently posted - thought you might want to have the EP cover, which is different from the LP. As with almost all the graphics on this site, this is a high resolution image. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Lena Horne on M-G-M

In tribute to the great singer Lena Horne, who has died at age 92, I offer this 10-inch LP, which I believe was her first. It collects records that she made in the late 40s for M-G-M.

As with many other singers, I think that Horne's first period was her best. It may be clichéd to say it, but there was a freshness about her singing that was lost in later years, when she could seem stylized, even cold.

Don't misunderstand - I am a great admirer of her work. Her 50s LPs for RCA are as elegant as she always was. There's no question - she was one of the greats.

I'll probably be back at a later date with some more of her recordings from the 1940s.

UPDATE - Will Friedwald tells me that Universal has issued these and some other M-G-M singles on CD. Some of you may be interested in checking that out. My transfer is, of course, from the original vinyl.
ANOTHER UPDATE - Apparently the singles collection isn't out until next Tuesday (May 18). I think Will gets things early, lucky fellow.

LINK - this has now been remastered in ambient stereo