The Songs of 'State Fair'

The poster above is from the 1945 film State Fair, a charming film with six good songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the Americana mode that for them started with the blockbuster stage musical Oklahoma!

My intent was to collect some of the commercial recordings of songs from the 1945 film. Then I remembered that Richard Rodgers had written both words and music for several new songs for a 1962 remake. This in turn led me to the 1996 stage musical, which had its own additions from the Rodgers & Hammerstein back catalogue. And that production had been a reworking of a 1969 staging, which featured different R&H additions.

Eventually I ended up with 26 selections, which can be categorized as follows:

• The songs from the 1945 film: eight selections, including one song cut from the film and one alternate take. The title song also is included, albeit in a 1962 recording.

• The new songs for the 1962 film: four songs by Rodgers.

• The R&H catalog songs added to the 1969 stage musical, in their original versions.

• The seven catalog songs inserted into the 1996 Broadway musical, in their original versions, plus one song that was a reworking of another song cut from an R&H musical.

All this will become clear, or at least clearer, as we proceed. First some background.

The Story of State Fair

Ground zero for all these musicals - and a 1976 non-musical television adaptation - was Phil Stong's 1932 novel with the same name, which related the story of an Iowa farm family named Frake - father Abel, mother Melissa and teen offspring Margy and Wayne - and their trip to the State Fair. Romance for the youngsters and blue ribbons for Ma and Pa ensued.

Hollywood immediately picked up on the story. The following year, a non-musical film starring Will Rogers, Louise Dresser, Norman Foster and Janet Gaynor showed up in the nation's film emporia. You'll notice Lew Ayes snuggling with Janet Gaynor above. He's one of the love interests. Not sure who the other figure is. It can't be Louise Dresser, so it must be Sally Eilers, whose slinky attire apparently was designed to allure Wayne.

Songs from the 1945 Film

State Fair was the only musical that R&H composed directly for the screen. Although it is set at the fair, the story is really about two restless young people who are dreaming of a world beyond the farm. Ma and Pa provide comic relief - Abel with his giant hog; Melissa with her mincemeat pies.

"It Might as Well Be Spring"

The "dreaming" theme is quickly established by the most famous song from the score - "It Might as Well Be Spring," which Margy (Jeanne Crain, dubbed by Louanne Hogan) sings from an open window:

I keep wishing I were somewhere else / Walking down a brand new street

Hearing words that I have never heard / From a man I've yet to meet

This longing for something new was common in the times, and was a theme in American literature at least as far back as Eugene O'Neill's 1918 play Beyond the Horizon. In films it had shown up in The Wizard of Oz ("Over the Rainbow'). Later it would become integral to Aaron Copland's opera The Tender Land.

There were surprisingly few commercial recordings of the State Fair songs at the time. The most notable set was an album with five songs by Dick Haymes, who took the role of Wayne Frake. This collection includes three of those - "It Might as Well Be Spring," "All I Owe Ioway" and "It's a Grand Night for Singing." In the film, he features only in the latter, in ensemble.

Vivian Blaine and Dick Haymes

Oddly, Dick did not record his main song in the film - "Isn't It Kinda Fun?", a duet with Vivian Blaine, who played his prospective love interest, band singer Emily Edwards. So I've added an aircheck from his radio show, where his partner is Helen Forrest, along with a solo version that's an outtake from the film, I believe.

Haymes is wonderful, of course - his voice is evenly produced in a resonant baritone, with remarkably accurate pitch.

I've also included a few commercial recordings of interest. Margaret Whiting did a fine version of "It Might as Well Be Spring" with Paul Weston. This was one of Maggie's first recordings - Weston was top billed - and in truth his arrangement is beautiful.

Some jazz artists adopted the ballad as well. Stan Getz recorded it at least twice. He's here in a 1951 recording with the young Horace Silver on piano.

"That's for Me" also attracted a few record companies. This collection includes a version by Jo Stafford from 1945 that is too cool-toned for this enthusiastic number. Artie Shaw also recorded it with a vocal by the warm-voiced Hal Derwin (called "Hal Stevens" on the label).

One song was cut from the film - "We Will Be Together," presented by Vivian Blaine and the band's male singer, played by Wayne Marshall. He was Haymes' rival for Vivian's attention. This song is included as well.

Songs from the 1962 Film

By the time the 1962 remake of State Fair went into production, Oscar Hammerstein had died, so Rodgers decided to write the lyrics for several new songs himself, as he was to do for the Broadway show No Strings, which opened that same year,

While the results are not bad, they are not at the level of the 1945 songs, so none of them became popular. To represent the show I've included the soundtrack versions, which are as follows:

• "Never Say No to a Man": questionable motherly advice from Ma (Alice Faye, who came out of retirement) to Margy (Pamela Tiffin).

Alice Faye and Pamela Tiffin

• "Willing and Eager": a duet for Wayne (Pat Boone) and love interest Emily (Ann-Margret), who is a dancer rather than singer in this version. Pat is very good; Ann-Margret was more dancer than singer, but she's effective here.

Pat Boone and Ann-Margret

• "This Isn't Heaven": Bobby Darin sings this to Pamela Tiffin. A good song, which Bobby does well, but neither he nor Pamela could act.

Bobby Darin and Pamela Tiffin

• "The Little Things in Texas": Tom Ewell (Abel) and Alice Faye do this one. I should have mentioned that this version of the saga moves the locale from Iowa to Texas.

Rodgers actually wrote five songs for the 1962 film. But I pigheadedly left out Abel Frake's love song to his hog Blue Boy.

Tom Ewell and Blue Boy

Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops did record a 1962 album with songs from both State Fair and No Strings that included instrumental versions of "This Isn't Heaven" and "Willing and Eager." To represent the LP, I've included their instrumental version of the opening song "Our State Fair" as a sort of overture to the entire proceedings. Rodgers wrote this as a march, and arranger Richard Hayman leans into it, making it quasi-Sousa.

The 1962 film was not a success. Here are a few excerpts from Bosley Crowther's New York Times review:

Twentieth Century-Fox' remake of minor bucolic tribulations ... is a basically obvious and, for the most part, dull fare. This "Fair" is at best, only fair. For all its good intentions, it seems to be a parody of moviemaking of the past...

One has the feeling that the songs are being sung on cue and not because the drama inherent in the scene demanded a song.

The 1969 Stage Musical

Harriet and Ozzie Nelson

State Fair was unusual in that it was a musical film that became a stage musical. The first attempt to do so was in 1969 in St. Louis. Pa and Ma were Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, longtime TV stars who had been musicians in a prior life. The production had pedigree: Oscar Hammerstein's son James was the director and Rodgers himself supervised the show.

This production added three songs from one of R&H's "smaller" shows, 1953's Me and Juliet, which was a backstage story that included a show within a show (also called Me and Juliet). It was hard to stage and confusing, so it has seldom been revived. It did boast several excellent songs, as always with R&H.

Isabel Bigley and Joan McCracken

To represent the 1969 State Fair, I've included the versions of these songs from the Me and Juliet cast album. I don't know how they were used in the 1969 production.

• "It's Me" - sung by female lead Isabel Bigley and Joan McCracken

• "Keep It Gay" - done by the male heavy, Mark Dawson

• "Marriage Type Love" - sung by Arthur Maxwell, the "me" of Me and Juliet, the show-within-a-show

The 1969 score also included a new song, "Away from Home." I know nothing else about it. (Addendum - reader John S. and Alan Gomberg send the following information: In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch review of the Muny production, it was stated that the lyric for 'Away from Home' was by Lucille Kallen. She adapted the screenplay for the stage and was credited for that in the program. She was not credited with the lyric. It is not known whether the song, with music by Rodgers, was wholly new or was perhaps a trunk song for which Kallen provided new lyrics to existing Rodgers music.

The 1996 Stage Musical

State Fair made it to Broadway in 1996, in a new production also co-directed by James Hammerstein. Abel and Melissa were John Davidson and Kathryn Crosby. Margy and Wayne were Andrea McArdle and Ben Wright. Donna McKechnie was Emily and Scott Wise was Pat, the new Margy love interest.

John Davidson, Ben Wright, Kathyn Crosby, Andrea McArdle

The show included eight new songs, all of which were taken from other R&H shows, or were cut or adapted from them. I've included the original versions when available and the 1996 recordings when not.

These are as follows:

• "Driving at Night" - adapted by James Hammerstein and orchestrator Bruce Pomahac from an outtake from the 1947 R&H musical Allegro, "Two Short Years." This ensemble number is taken from the 1996 cast album.

• "You Never Had It So Good" - cut from Me and Juliet and done here by Donna McKechnie and Scott Wise.

• "When I Go Out Walking with My Baby" - cut from Oklahoma! and sung here by John Davidson and Kathryn Crosby.

John Battles and Gloria Wills

• "So Far" - from 1947's story-of-a life Allegro, with Gloria Wills from its original cast.

• "The Man I Used to Be" - from Pipe Dream, a 1955 sequel to Cannery Row written by John Steinbeck with music by R&H, here sung by William Johnson of its original cast as lead character Doc.

• "That's the Way It Happens" - from Me and Juliet, sung by Isabel Bigley.

• "Boys and Girls Like You and Me" - this song had the misfortune of being cut from three productions - Oklahoma! and two more not otherwise by R&H, the films Meet Me in St. Louis and Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Judy Garland made a commercial recording of the song, but here we have Frank Sinatra's outtake from the baseball musical. It's a beautiful piece, although the verse is a fine example of Hammerstein poesy.

William Johnson and Judy Tyler

• "The Next Time It Happens" - from Pipe Dream, here sung by Judy Tyler of its original cast.

The 1996 production carried over two songs from the 1962 film, "More than Just a Friend" and "Willing and Eager."

In the New York Times, Vincent Canby summarized both the appeal of the score and the failure of the Broadway production (it lasted four months):

State Fair still clings today, in large part because of the lilting score that includes such songs as "It Might as Well Be Spring," "That's for Me" and "Our State Fair." Be warned, however: If you allow any one of the melodies to penetrate your consciousness, you put yourself at risk. It will buzz around in the mind forever, or until a deep doze sets you free...

Here's a faithful, utterly mechanical stage replica of a work that, while it was never exactly top-drawer, was typical of the kind of miracles Rodgers and Hammerstein could pull off when in good form...

There's nothing wrong with the good old family values that State Fair is still promoting, except they're now being promoted with less theatrical guile than brazen push.

The first production was sincere; a valentine to a rural America that was changing. Adapting that to later times proved challenging. But the music endures.

LINK

The Margaret Whiting Holiday Collection

The distinguished vocalist Margaret Whiting (1924-2011) made records for 50 years but never produced an complete album of holiday songs. This post collects the ones she did make, dating from 1947-93. By using a broad (very broad) definition of seasonal music, I've been able to corral 19 items in all.

Whiting was born into a musical family. Her father was the songwriter Richard Whiting, who wrote the music for many standards in his short life (he died when Maggie was 14) - including "Beyond the Blue Horizon," "My Future Just Passed," "She's Funny That Way," "Till We Meet Again," "Too Marvelous for Words" and "You're an Old Smoothie."

With Johnny Mercer

Maggie became a professional singer at a young age, and quickly showed that she had great talent - excellent intonation, clear diction, sensitivity to lyrics, lovely tone, and so on.

Her father's former co-writer, Johnny Mercer, brought her into the studios the day before her 18th birthday for a Capitol recording date that included her father's "My Ideal." It was the beginning of regular Capitol sessions, but it wasn't until five years later that Maggie set down a holiday song - and that's where our chronological review begins.

The 1940s

Frank Loesser's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" was new when Whiting recorded it in May 1947. Hers was the first recording of this standard, and it's a good one, with backing by her frequent collaborator, bandleader Frank De Vol. Loesser did not intend his song to be a seasonal item - he pictured it being sung earlier in the year - but no one else seems to agree. This collection includes both Capitol's originally-issued take and an alternate.

With Frank De Vol

These days, "While the Angelus Was Ringing" is better known by its original title, "The Three Bells." It is a Swiss-French song, first a hit for Édith Piaf and Les Compagnons de la chansons as "Les trois cloches." In the US, "Angelus" was originally more popular than the competing "The Three Bells," but that was to change, particularly following the Browns' 1959 hit under the latter title.

In common with many other American artists, Whiting recorded "Angelus" in 1948. (On the record label, Capitol managed to mangle the title into "When the Angelus Is Ringing.") Under any name, the song's simplicity and sincerity make it well suited to the season. Whiting herself was to record "The Three Bells" years later - we'll get to that below.

Maggie set down another new Frank Loesser song in 1949, this one definitely seasonal - "Baby, It's Cold Outside," here in a duet with Johnny Mercer. Paul Weston conducted. It's a good, professional version; I prefer a little more nuance, a la the Pearl Bailey-Hot Lips Page rendition.

Later in the year, Whiting was to go to work on several seasonal songs, along with a special Capitol promotional record.

First is "(It Happened at) The Festival of Roses," which is a nice song but only the most generous of judges would consider it a holiday item. Fortunately I am just such a benevolent character. The song is by Al Goodheart and Dick Manning, the latter of whom also wrote the words for "While the Angelus Was Ringing."

Whiting's big Christmas coupling for 1949 was "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" along with the "Mistletoe Kiss Polka." The former, a Martin and Blane classic, came from the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis. Maggie is suitably sensitive. For the contrasting latter number, she is appropriately bouncy. Polkas were popular in the late 40s - this entry is unexpectedly by the Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy, working with Constance Palmer. De Vol again is the bandleader, with the Mellomen as supporting vocalists.

"Season's Greetings from Capitol" was a fun promotional record from 1949 aimed at the jukebox operators of the nation. I first posted it last year; you can read more about it here.

The 1950s

Also in 1949, Whiting had begun recording with singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely. They were successful right out of the gate with a cover of Floyd Tillman's honky-tonk anthem "Slipping Around." The next year, Capitol decided to have them attempt some seasonal fare, and again the results were pleasing. One side was a cover of Livingston and Evans' "Silver Bells," which was written for the Bob Hope epic The Lemon Drop Kid. The Bing Crosby-Carol Richards recording of the song became a hit in 1950, well before the film's 1951 release.

Vocally, Whiting and the unassuming Wakely were well matched, and their "Silver Bells" is nicely sung. The backing is by yet another singing cowboy, Foy Willing, and his ensemble. It lacks impact and has little holiday flavor so the record was never a threat to Bing's disk.

Willing, Wakely and Jack Kenney collaborated on writing the flip side, "Christmas Candy," which is more lively. Musically, the song is strongly reminiscent of 1947's "Here Comes Santa Claus."

Whiting was to remain at Capitol for several more years, but no more Christmas songs were forthcoming from that label. However, let me add another "bells" number - 1952's "Singing Bells" by George Wyle and Eddie Pola, who were responsible for the Christmas classic "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." "Singing Bells" is sort of a clog dance, which you can do around your Christmas tree if you so choose. Lou Busch - then Whiting's husband - leads the band.

On the radio

Also from this period we have an aircheck of Maggie doing "It's Christmas Time Again," a very good song by Sonny Burke, Jack Elliott and James Harwood that was introduced by Peggy Lee in 1953. The Whiting edition likely comes from a 1953 or 1954 Bob Hope Show - she performed it both years.

Let's zoom ahead to 1959 and Maggie's new home at Dot records. There, she remade two of the songs discussed above. First was a version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with studio vocalist Bill Lee, a member of the Mellomen group that assisted on the "Mistletoe Kiss Polka." Lee was a talented singer, but he is too bland for this song. This cut comes from the LP Margaret Whiting's Great Hits. It's one of those early stereo affairs with extreme separation of the two voices. At one point, they change sides, which I imagine is supposed to suggest Bill Lee pursuing Maggie. Russ Garcia conducts.

Circa 1960

Next we revisit "The Three Bells," recorded in the wake of the Browns' chart success. The Whiting version, which comes from the LP Ten Top Hits, includes the tolling bells vocal backing ("bum, bum, bum, bum") identical to the Browns and similar to Les Compagnons de la chanson on the original. Milt Rogers was arranger and conductor.

Later Recordings

Maggie was to produce no more seasonal records for another 20 years. For her 1982 album Come a Little Closer she included the obscure (and depressing) "After the Holidays," where she implores her mate to stay with her for one more season. As a downer, it is right down there with Gordon Jenkins' "Happy New Year."

Circa 1980s

Whiting contributed two numbers to pianist Loonis McGlohon's 1990 album We Wish You a Merry Christmas - "White Christmas" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." McGlohon was an excellent musician and these are accomplished readings, although Maggie's voice is not as fresh as it once was.

Loonis McGlohon

McGlohon's follow-up was 1992's A Christmas Memory. Whiting is heard on a remake of "Silver Bells," thankfully without Foy Willing.

The following year, Maggie recorded "The Christmas Waltz" for the album A Cabaret Christmas. Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne wrote the piece for Frank Sinatra. Whiting's rendition includes a bridge that sounds improvised; the entire performance is quite free, interestingly so. Her music director, Tex Arnold, is the pianist.

That's all we have from Maggie's sporadic holiday output. It's a shame there was no seasonal album from such an accomplished artist. This collection was assembled from a variety of sources, including Internet Archive and my collection. The sound is generally very good.

LINK

 

Les Brown - Six Navy Shows from 1953

Here from the original 16-inch transcription discs are six episodes of The Les Brown Show, which the bandleader produced for US Navy recruiting purposes in 1953.

The 15-minute programs each include four songs, two instrumentals and two vocal features. The singers are Jo Ann Greer, Butch Stone and Stumpy Brown from the band, and guests Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely.

The provenance of the musical selections is largely unknown. It's assumed in some quarters that these are from broadcasts, but I think that is unlikely. For one thing, the applause is obviously dubbed in. These may items may be from transcriptions for radio stations or commercial issues, probably both. Whatever the source, the music is uniformly excellent - Brown had a top-notch working band at the time - and the sound is quite good as well.

So in total we have 90 minutes of programming, including 24 songs. Each program is fully tracked, so you can listen to Hy Averback's announcements and Navy promos once (if that often) and then move on to the musical selections.

Program No. 1

We start off, appropriately, with Program No. 1 in the series, which has Margaret Whiting as guest vocalist. Her numbers are "C.O.D. (My Broken Heart)" and "No Other Love," both popular favorites at the time. Whiting did a commercial recording of "C.O.D." for Capitol, but this is not that performance. She did not record "No Other Love" commercially.

Margaret Whiting

As usual with Whiting, she presents each tune sympathetically, with perfect diction and a fine rhythmic sense. The Capitol version of "C.O.D." can be found here. Back in 2011 I called it an execrable song, but I must be mellowing - now I like it! "No Other Love" is the Richard Rodgers melody originally titled "Beneath the Southern Cross" when used in his music for the Victory at Sea television series. He then repurposed the tune for the musical Me and Juliet, with the addition of Oscar Hammerstein's lyrics.

Ronnie Lang

The program also includes the instrumentals "Midnight Sun," a Sonny Burke-Lionel Hampton theme that is not a favorite of mine, and "That Old Black Magic," the Harold Arlen composition that is a favorite. The former is a showcase for alto saxophonist Ronnie Lang, who was with the band only in 1953. Brown did record "Midnight Sun," both for Coral and World transcriptions. There also is a Coral single of "Black Magic," dating from 1951.

Program No. 2

Jo Ann Greer

Program No. 2 features Les' new singer Jo Ann Greer, who was to stay with him for several decades. And why not - she was a supremely talented vocalist who had the great presence that a band singer needs. Not as welcome is singing saxophonist Butch Stone, who was with Brown for the better part of 30 years and whose novelties were reputedly popular with audiences. I must be hard to please.

Greer's showcase is "Something Wonderful Happens." This is neither the King and I's "Something Wonderful" nor the Sinatra favorite "Something Wonderful Happens in Summer." It is a enjoyable pop song from 1953 that was recorded by Margaret Whiting, among others I imagine. Jo Ann deploys her extraordinary vibrato to good effect here.

Les is awed by Butch Stone's shiny mouth

Butch Stone's feature is called "The Shiniest Mouth in Town," in which he is proud of all the gold fillings in his mouth, which apparently were the sum total of his net worth. This Stan Freberg concoction merited a 1952 commercial recording. (This may be it.)

Les also recorded "Ramona," an L. Wolfe Gilbert-Mabel Wayne composition from 1928, both for Coral and for transcription. Another oldie, "My Baby Just Cares for Me," is from 1930. A Walter Donaldson-Gus Kahn song, it was introduced by Eddie Cantor in the film Whoopie! There isn't a commercial recording of this number. Both are smoothly done.

Program No. 9

We leap ahead to Program No. 9 in the series, with vocal features for both Jo Ann Greer and Les' brother Stumpy, so named because he was short. (People were less sensitive back then, or, more likely, they were inured to such mocking monikers.) The label calls him "Stompy," but that isn't correct. Stumpy played the bass trombone in addition to singing.

Greer's feature is "When I Fall In Love," which she didn't record with the band. Former Brown vocalist Doris Day had a hit with the Victor Young-Eddie Heyman piece in 1952, but her version does not eclipse Jo Ann's passionate reading. There also is a striking trombone solo, possibly by Dick Noel.

Stumpy/Stompy

Stumpy Brown's feature is "Lulu's Back in Town," the Warren-Dubin item that Dick Powell and the Mills Brothers introduced in 1935. Brown wasn't a great singer but he could carry a tune and had a good sense of time, helpful when you are a jazz musician.

The instrumental features are "Brown's Little Jug," a take on you-know-what that the band also recorded for Coral in 1953, and "Rain," a Eugene Ford item from 1927 that appears on Les' 1952 LP Musical Weather Vane.

Don Fagerquist

"Rain" is a feature for trumpeter Don Fagerquist. Frank Comstock was the arranger. Les' other arrangers back then included Skip Martin and Van Alexander. He hired the best.

Program No. 10

Jimmy Wakely

The guest artist for Program No. 10 was Jimmy Wakely, who was ubiquitous at the time, having appeared in dozens of B Western movies, either as the lead or a supporting act. He also was a recording artist, on Decca for several years in the 1940s, then on Capitol, where he was particularly successful in duets with Margaret Whiting - "Slippin' Around," "Silver Bells" and others.

Jimmy's first feature is "Side by Side," which to me works better as a duet. His genial version of the 1927 Harry Woods song was probably occasioned by Kay Starr's hit record of the period.

Wes Hensel

"Crying in the Chapel," written by Artie Glenn, was a hit for his son Darrell in 1953, and was covered by many artists, including a big R&B success for the Orioles. Wakely did not record it for Capitol; that label's entry was by Wesley Tuttle. I actively dislike this piece, probably because of Elvis' insincere 1965 version.

The band's features are the "One O'Clock Jump," Count Basie's famous 1937 blues number, and "The Montoona Clipper," written by Wes Hensel, trumpeter and arranger for Les' group. Brown recorded the latter composition twice for Coral - once for a single, once for his LP Concert at the Palladium, Vol. 1.

Program No. 13

The vocal soloists for Program No. 13 were again the band's own Jo Ann Greer and Butch Stone. Greer's specialty was "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues," written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler and introduced by Lillian Shade in Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1932. Jo Ann is again superb.

Butch Stone and Stumpy Brown - that's entertainment!

Butch Stone weighed in with "Etiquette Blues," written by Gayle Grubb and first recorded by several artists in 1928. "Always put both elbows on the table" is among the dubious pointers in this one, and "Thank you for your very kind attention" is the catchphrase. It suits Butch's persona poifectly.

"Green Eyes" was a big hit for Helen O'Connell with Jimmy Dorsey in 1941, but had been written back in 1931 as "Aquellos Ojos Verdes" by Adolfo Utrera and Nilo Menéndez. Les Brown's version is an instrumental, although I am sure Jo Ann Greer would have had no trouble improving on O'Connell's strained vocalizing. The composition also appeared on Brown's Over the Rainbow LP and his first live Palladium album.

Frank Comstock in emphatic mode

The other instrumental in this session was "Happy Hooligan," written by arranger Frank Comstock and the band's pianist, Geoff Clarkson.

I believe all the music in this program may have come from transcriptions. 

Program No. 14

Jo Ann Greer and Stompy/Stumpy Brown again were the vocal soloists in the final program on today's docket.

Jo Ann's feature is "Don't Take Your Love from Me," a Henry Nemo piece first recorded by Mildred Bailey in 1940. Stumpy added a easygoing version of "When I Take My Sugar to Tea," a Sammy Fain composition recorded in 1931 by everyone from the Boswell Sisters to the Chocolate Dandies.

Meanwhile, the band offered a lively version of "Stompin' at the Savoy," one of the hardiest of jazz standards, written by Edgar Sampson in 1933 and made famous by Benny Goodman in 1936.

The other instrumental feature was "You Are My Sunshine," which Les introduces as a folk song. That it may have been, although some research claims that a Georgia musician named Oliver Hood wrote it. Singer and later politician Jimmie Davis bought the music from Hood in 1939 and copyrighted it soon thereafter. This may have been the best $35 Davis ever spent - it made him famous. Surprisingly, it works nicely in a big band arrangement.

These shows demonstrated several things. The Brown ensemble was highly proficient and swinging, certainly one of the best postwar big bands. Jo Ann Greer was a terrific vocalist. Brown used two musicians from the band - his brother Stumpy and Butch Stone - to provide some variety to his programs and no doubt add some levity to live appearances. I make light of their contributions above, but no doubt they were important to the band's considerable success.

Rodgers and Hart's 'Too Many Girls' - the Early Recordings

For this latest in a series of early recordings from 1930s and 40s musicals, we return to Rodgers and Hart from Cole Porter. The subject is the pair's 1939-40 success Too Many Girls, a typically contrived college caper with a typically tuneful score.

Too Many Girls did not have as many hits as some Rodgers and Hart musicals, but it did boast one enduring favorite ("I Didn't Know What Time It Was") and several other songs that achieved some popularity or at least attracted the recording companies. This collection includes 10 selections, two of them in alternative versions.

From the stage production

The show, combined with the subsequent film, made stars of Desi Arnaz and Eddie Bracken. Marcy Westcott, the heiress on stage, turned into Lucille Ball in the film, and Ball and Arnaz turned into a famous couple. The two other main female roles were taken by Mary Jane Walsh and Diosa Costello on Broadway, Frances Langford and Ann Miller in the movie. (Walsh also can be heard here in songs from Cole Porter's Let's Face It!)

Arnaz, Bracken, Richard Kollmar (Richard Carlson in the film) and the wonderful dancer Hal Le Roy played football players who were hired to watch over the heiress while she was at Pottawattamie College. But none of those performers were asked to make records - nor was Marcy Westcott - so it fell to the cast's Mary Jane Walsh and Diosa Costello to do so.

Marcy Westcott, Diosa Costello and Mary Jane Walsh tend to stricken Desi Arnaz

As was common back then, a minority of the musical's songs attracted the attention of the record labels. Seven R&H songs were heard in the stage show before one was selected for a recording - "Love Never Went to College." Westcott sang the tune on Broadway, but Columbia turned it over to Walsh.

The Smoothies - Charlie Ryan, Arlene Johnson, Little Ryan

Walsh's version (with anonymous backing) is a good one, but I also wanted to include the sophisticated Victor recording by Hal Kemp and His Orchestra, with a vocal by the Smoothies. The latter group was earlier known as Babs and Her Brothers, even though there were a series of "Babses" and none of them was a sister to Charlie and Little Ryan, the other members of the group.

Diosa Costello and Desi Arnaz

Diosa Costello, who was Puerto Rican and apparently known as "the Latin Bombshell," had appeared with Arnaz in nightclubs before being cast in Too Many Girls. She performed "All Dressed Up (Spic and Spanish)" on stage as a solo, reprising it with the ensemble. The small Schirmer label engaged her to record it with a band led by Vladimir Selinsky. I don't know for sure if Hart intended the title to be a play on the ethnic slur, but I do believe the term was in use as such back then.

One of the best known songs from the score is "I Like to Recognize the Tune," which Mary Jane Walsh cut for Columbia, again with anonymous backing. On stage this was done by an ensemble that included Walsh.

Costello and Arnaz handled "She Could Shake the Maracas" on Broadway, but Costello recorded it for Schirmer solo, again with the orchestra of Vladimir Selinsky.

Margaret Whiting

The best song in the score is surely "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," sung in the show by Marcy Westcott and Richard Kollmar, but for Columbia by Mary Jane Walsh. Over the years the number has attracted many good recordings, and was interpolated into the Sinatra film of Pal Joey along with three other Rodgers and Hart favorites. One of the best readings is Margaret Whiting's 1946 single for Capitol. If anything, the Whiting aircheck in this collection, from a 1949 Carnation Contented Hour, is even better. She is backed by Ted Dale's orchestra. (The single version is available on this blog in her Rodgers and Hart collection.)

Mary Jane Walsh and ensemble

The final song from the stage production in this set is "Give It Back to the Indians," which Walsh introduced on stage and then cut for Columbia.

Too Many Girls ran on Broadway for six months, then its director, George Abbott, turned it into a film, where Diosa Costello somehow turned into Ann Miller, and Mary Jane Walsh into the well-known vocalist Frances Langford.

Frances Langford serenades Lucille Ball and Richard Carlson 

Rodgers and Hart added one enduring song to the filmed version - "You're Nearer," introduced by Trudy Erwin dubbing Ball, and reprised by Langford and others. Langford's label, Decca, asked her to record the song, backed by Victor Young.

Ann Miller and Desi Arnaz

I've also added the Arnaz-Miller version of "All Dressed Up (Spic and Spanish)" from the soundtrack. This is for archival purposes only - Desi really could not sing.

Hal Le Roy

Finally, I did want to draw attention to the great dancer Hal Le Roy, even though he recorded nothing from the score. He can be seen in a clip from the film online. All his films are worth seeking out - his dancing in them, anyway.

The sound on these items, remastered mainly from Internet Archive needle-drops, is good. The download includes more production photos and ephemera, along with Brooks Atkinson's New York Times review. He found the show "humorous, fresh and exhilarating," but was less impressed by Mary Jane Walsh and Diosa Costello.

Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers