The Hudson-DeLange Orchestra

This post is devoted to an accomplished band from the 1930s that receives very little attention - the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra, founded by two young songwriters.

Will Hudson (music) and Eddie DeLange (words) had begun writing together in the early 1930s, achieving a huge success in 1934 with "Moonglow," their most famous piece. So they thought starting a band together might be a good idea.

The outgoing DeLange, a good singer, would front the band and the more reticent Hudson would stay off the road for the most part while writing songs and arrangements.

Will Hudson and Eddie DeLange

Musically this worked well. Almost all the titles in this collection were written by Hudson and one has DeLange lyrics. The musicians were skillful, and the group had a procession of fine singers - Ruth Gaylor, Fredda Gibson (later to become Georgia Gibbs) and Nan Wynn.

Hudson-DeLange - the leader is Eddie DeLange, the vocalist Nan Wynn

But eventually the two principals fell out and the band turned into the Will Hudson Orchestra, which continued until the leader joined the Armed Forces.

In its brief existence, the band made a succession of fine recordings, mainly for Brunswick. This post gathers 17 of them and adds a bonus recording of "Moonglow."

The first songs recorded by the band were made in January and March 1936. Those sessions yielded one of Hudson's most popular melodies - "Organ Grinder's Swing," based on a nursery tune. It was widely recorded at the time by the likes of Benny Goodman and Jimmie Lunceford. (Hudson had earlier written two popular numbers for Lunceford - "Jazznocracy" and "White Heat.") 

The other instrumentals from those dates include "Hobo on Park Avenue" and "Eight Bars in Search of a Melody." The latter song shows Hudson's predilection for whimsical titles, which may have influenced Raymond Scott, soon to be his label mate.

Ruth Gaylor

Even these early performances are notably smooth and professional - superior examples of what could be produced by a highly accomplished ensemble. The March date also included a specialty for the band's vocalist, Ruth Gaylor, a talented singer who did well with a variety of bands, finishing up with Hal McIntyre in the 1940s. The song is "You're Not the Kind," which credits Hudson and his manager Irving Mills as authors.

Fredda Gibson

By November, Ruth Gaylor had been succeeded by Fredda Gibson (called "Freddy" on the 78 label), who as noted would later achieve fame as Georgia Gibbs. She sings Hudson's "I'll Never Tell You I Love You" confidently, if not without a few mannerisms.

From the final session of 1936 we have Hudson's two-sided instrumental "Love Song of a Half-Wit." (I imagine Gibson was happy there were no lyrics for that one.) This again is an example of a highly polished band at work.

Bus Etri

Next are seven songs from three 1937 sessions. Two of these are tunes that Hudson did not write. (They were published by his manager, Irving Mills, however.) First was Hoagy Carmichael's hugely popular "Stardust," which Hudson presents as a bouncy instrumental. The other is "Bugle Call Rag," first recorded in 1922 by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Both are distinguished by terrific solos by the short-lived guitarist Bus Etri. Other fine soloists who can be heard on these discs include clarinetist Gus Bivona, tenor saxophonist Ted Duane and trumpeter Jimmy Blake.

Gus Bivona

Also recorded during the 1937 dates were Hudson's "The Maid's Night Off," "Mr. Sweeney's Learned to Swing" and "Sophisticated Swing," which was featured by other bands in a version with lyrics by Mitchell Parish.

By this time Ruth Gaylor was back with the band and singing "You're My Desire." DeLange himself croons "Back in Your Arms," which he and Hudson wrote.

Most of the 1937 recordings came out on Irving Mills' short-lived Master label. Soon enough, the orchestra was back with Brunswick.

The final recording under the Hudson-DeLange name is April 1938's "China Clipper," which notes that the band is "under the direction of Will Hudson." By the time the June 1938 sessions rolled around, there was no more DeLange in the band name. The instrumental "Hangover in Hong Kong" is billed as by Will Hudson and His Seven Swingsters.

Finally, we have Will Hudson and His Orchestra with the first recording of his excellent "There's Something About an Old Love," with a vocal by Jane Dover, an obscure artist who is nonetheless good in this number. This song recently appeared on this blog in Sylvia Syms' ingratiating 1952 recording.

Hudson led the band until about 1941, when he began concentrating on arranging. He was attached to Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band in World War II, then studied classical composition after the war.

DeLange went on to write lyrics for quite a few well-known songs. With Jimmy Van Heusen alone he penned "Darn that Dream," "Deep in a Dream," "All This and Heaven Too" and "Shake Down the Stars."

To my knowledge, Hudson and DeLange never recorded their most famous song, "Moonglow." So as a bonus, I've appended the excellent 1934 recording by Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, with a relaxed vocal by the underappreciated Kenny Sargent. (This particular side has also appeared in a compilation on my other blog.) Note that the label at left attributes "Moonglow" to Hudson and Venuti, presumably Joe Venuti, who was the first to record the song.

Most of these recordings were derived from an ancient bootleg, which did have reasonably good sound that I have hopefully enhanced. The problem with most of these items was that the pitch was quite flat, which I believe was the fault of the original 78 pressings. I've adjusted the pitch; please let me know if anything still seems amiss.

LINK

The Early 'Babes in Arms' Recordings

Cover of souvenir booklet

The Rodgers and Hart score for 1937's Babes in Arms is a brilliant achievement - memorable melodies and clever lyrics abound. While several of its songs are still familiar, we don't know much about how they sounded on the stage in 1937 because there was no original cast album. This, of course, was a shame - the musical featured talented young performers who made just a handful of recordings in general, and only a few of the songs from this production.

The 1939 film version is not much help, either - Hollywood in its wisdom threw out almost all of the Rodgers and Hart songs, substituting songs by producer Arthur Freed and his close associate Roger Edens, and adding everything from "Oh! Susanna" to "Ida! Sweet as Apple Cider." In fact, there are more of the original Babes in Arms songs in the 1948 Rodgers and Hart biopic Words and Music than there were in the filmed musical.

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart

However, there are enough early recordings of the Babes in Arms songs to allow us to assemble a collection that, while not a facsimile of what the audience in the Golden Theater heard in 1937, is an interesting artifact in its own right.

Let's take the songs in the order of their appearance in the score.

Mitzi Green and Ray Heatherton

The juvenile leads in 1937 were Mitzi Green as Billie and Ray Heatherton as Val. Green, who made few if any recordings (although we have an aircheck of "The Lady Is a Tramp" below), was known primarily as a Hollywood child star. Heatherton was a band and radio singer with some stage experience.

Fortunately there is what seems to be an aircheck of Heatherton singing one of the score's major hits, the wistful "Where or When" with an unknown orchestra, and that fine version leads off the collection.

Victor did have Heatherton in the studio to record "Where or When," but it teamed him with stodgy society bandleader Ruby Newman, who saw the piece as a tango, and made Heatherton wait until the song was nearly over to introduce Lorenz Hart's fascinating lyrics.

Douglas McPhail and Betty Jaynes

"Where or When" is one of the two original songs that appears in the 1939 film, sung by Douglas McPhail and Betty Jaynes, with a very brief appearance by Judy Garland. These are presented as two separate files in the collection. (Note that the out-of-tune string playing is deliberate - the vocalists were supposedly being accompanied by a band of children.)

Douglas McPhail leads the 'babes in arms'

The show's title song, "Babes in Arms," is a stirring march, and is another thing that the film got right. There it was sung primarily by McPhail, who possesses the proper heroic quality for the piece. So heroic that whoever did the orchestral arrangement inserted more than a little Wagner into the mix.

'I Wish I Were in Love Again'

The filmed version dropped the enduring standard "I Wish I Were in Love Again," but the film's stars, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, did eventually record it, for Words and Music (Garland's last film for M-G-M). Rooney is hammy in the piece, and even Garland mugs too much for me. She also recorded it in 1947 for Decca (her final song for that label), but the tempo there is too fast.

Edgar Fairchild and Adam Carroll

The Babes in Arms songs go from strength to strength - next up is the perennially popular "My Funny Valentine." Here we call on the duo pianists Edgar Fairchild and Adam Carroll, who were in the Babes in Arms pit band, and who recorded several songs from the score for the Liberty Music Shop label. There is orchestral backing on this and all their sides. (Fairchild has been heard on the blog before - in a piano duo with Ralph Rainger with a medley from Oh, Kay!.)

As far as I can tell, none of the revival cast albums include the next number, for reasons that the title will make clear - "All Dark People Are Light on Their Feet." In the original production, this number was a specialty for the amazing Nicholas Brothers, who played the DeQuincy brothers. One Babes in Arms subplot was the discrimination faced by the DeQuincys. The only recording I have found is by the Bunny Berigan orchestra, with a vocal by white singer-trombonist Ford Leary. Neither the Nicholas brothers nor this song are in the film version.

The clever "Way Out West" ("Get along little taxi / You can keep the change / I'm ridin' home to my kitchen range / Way out west on West End Avenue") is not heard these days, but is always fun to encounter. In the musical, it's a specialty for the character of Baby Rose, played by the 16-year-old Wynn Murray. There is a good live recording of her singing the piece, which I've included in the download.

Teddy Lynch

Next in the collection, Fairchild and Carroll reappear, bringing along the mannered cabaret artist Teddy Lynch as vocalist in "Way Out West." Lynch wasn't a great singer, but she was talented enough to attract the attention of the world's richest person, J. Paul Getty, whom she would marry a few years later.

Ruth Gaylor and Hal McIntyre

The standard "My Funny Valentine" was introduced by Mitzi Green. In absence of a recording by her, we again turn to Fairchild and Carroll for our first interpretation. I've added a superior 1944 recording by Hal McIntyre's big band, with a good vocal by Ruth Gaylor, betraying the influence of Helen Forrest. The McIntyre arrangement is in a different sound world from Ruby Newman or Fairchild and Carroll.

Wynn Murray and Alfred Drake

Wynn Murray did make a commercial record of her number "Johnny One Note," one of the best-known songs in the score. It appeared on the flip side of the record that Ray Heatherton did with Ruby Newman. To me, Murray's clear voice is just right for this song, which can be annoying if belted.

Murray, Alfred Drake (making his first non-operetta appearance on Broadway) and Duke McHale presented the underrated "Imagine" in the original production. The song has a Depression subtext ("Imagine your bills are paid / Imagine you've made the grade," etc.). I can find no better version than the one by the obscure Mardi Bayne, from the 1952 studio cast recording. She is so appealing it's surprising she did not do more on Broadway. (She was about to appear in Wish You Were Here with Jack Cassidy at the time of this recording.)

Jack Cassidy

Val and Billie returned for "All at Once," but neither Mitzi Green nor Ray Heatherton recorded it. So I have turned to the 1952 studio album again for the splendid singing of Bayne and Cassidy.

One of the score's most famous songs is "The Lady Is a Tramp," not least because it was in Sinatra's repertoire for many years. It was introduced by Mitzi Green and this collection includes what sounds like an aircheck of her singing the piece with a great deal of personality. It must have come across well on the stage.

Mitzi Green sings 'The Lady Is a Tramp'

I've also added a version by Teddy Lynch with Fairchild and Carroll and orchestra.

The final number in the score is the neglected "You Are So Fair," which has a lovely melody but not one of Hart's best set of lyrics. Jack Cassidy makes the most of it for the 1952 album, which was conducted by Lehman Engel. The orchestrations are by Carol Huxley.

Lee Sullivan

I thought it might be helpful to include Richard Rodgers' own recordings of a few songs from the score, which are drawn from his album Smash Song Hits by Rodgers and Hart, released in early 1940. For "Where or When," he turned to the talented vocalist Lee Sullivan (who would later originate the role of Charlie Dalrymple in Brigadoon). These recordings were made "under the personal direction of Richard Rodgers," and if that is accurate, I can attest that he favored a rapid tempo for "Where or When." Sullivan also appears in "Johnny One Note," where his part consists of only that one famous note. This Johnny is more mellifluous than most - somewhat similar to Wynn Murray, in fact. The complete Rodgers album can be found here.

The recordings come from Internet Archive and my collection. The sound is good; even the airchecks are listenable. The download includes a number of production stills other than the ones above. It also has my restoration of the original 16-page souvenir booklet, from the New York Public Library site. As usual with such library files, the resolution lacks the detail that one might wish, but the booklet is fun!