The Young Steve Lawrence - His First Recordings

Steve Lawrence made a whole lot of records and a whole lot more appearances on stage and television in a career that lasted nearly 70 years. The singer-actor-comedian died last week at age 88.

Something of a prodigy, Steve was signed by Dewey Bergman of Cincinnati's King Records while the young man was still in high school, this on the strength of Steve's winning on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts television program.

Bergman, who had made his first record with Ted Weems in 1924, was experienced and prescient. From the moment Steve started to sing in the New York studio on that April day in 1952, Bergman must have known he had a winner. Lawrence was that good - at 16.

"Steve Lawrence" was born Sidney Liebowitz in Brooklyn in 1935, adopting his stage name from the given names of two nephews. Bergman not only contracted with Steve, he had him bring brother Bernie along to form a duo called the Leslie Brothers, who issued a few King records concurrently with those released under Steve's name. Three of the four Leslie Brothers sides are in this set, along with all the numbers released by Steve - 21 songs in all.

For this post, we'll first review the songs that King later compiled for its only Lawrence LP, then go back over the non-LP tracks. These are remastered from my collection and Internet Archive holdings.

The King LP

King did not get around to issuing its album until 1958 - about five years after Lawrence had left the label for Coral, and possibly to capitalize on Steve's hit cover of Buddy Knox's "Party Doll."

The Cincinnati label led off its LP with Lawrence's only semi-hit for that outfit - the first song he ever recorded, "Poinciana." It was an odd choice for a debut number - a bolero from Cuba that had been adapted into an instrumental by Manuel Lliso in 1936, then readapted by Nat Simon with English lyrics by Buddy Bernier. Eventually bandleader Jerry Wald and others took it up, with the first vocal version by Bing Crosby in 1943. Thereafter, it seemed to pop up again every few years, including versions by Frank Sinatra and Alan Dale in 1947.

Steve has often been linked with Sinatra, but vocally his version is much closer to that of Alan Dale, a somewhat more declamatory singer than the Voice, who was then in his hyper-romantic stage. (Let me add that I think Sinatra's record is brilliant.) What is most surprising is that the 16-year-old from Brooklyn can be credibly compared to Frank. His control and technique are well advanced, even if he did not have a unique profile as yet.

The second song on the album was issued on a single by the Leslie Brothers, but the LP does not bother to differentiate between the numbers recorded by Steve and the Steve/Bernie duo. The tune is "Say It Isn't True," an easy-going semi-R&B number that the brothers handle smoothly. The pair could have been successful had they continued.

Dewey Bergman

"Never Leave Me" is a solo effort on an overwrought "who can I turn to without you" song. (This is not the Gordon Jenkins song from Manhattan Tower.) It's good of its type, with a lovely, swooning chart by Bergman. Steve is entirely convincing - an amazing performance by a teenager with a beautiful voice.

Romantic is also the key word for "Tomorrow" - where young Steve faces an existential crisis: "Days one by one pass in loneliness / What have you done with my happiness?" he pleas. I would call him an angst-stricken adolescent, but he doesn't sound like a teen.

The Leslie Brothers return with "My Shawl," the theme song of bandleader Xavier Cugat, which again must have been a Bergman choice. The boys give it a calypso treatment, which works well. This is another song recorded by Sinatra, in a much more dreamy vein.

"King for a Day" is a galloping, heroic number that presumably was designed to show off Lawrence's range. It's the sort of thing best left to Mario Lanza, but Steve pulls it off.

Steve was to become the biggest star - but not on King's horizon

The second side starts with a generic ballad - "Fill me with sweet desire / Hold me 'til I'm afire," Steve declaims in "Mine and Mine Alone," accompanied by an impassioned chorus. He does it nicely, but again, it's not strong material.

The more restrained "With Every Breath I Take" is better, but then it's a more substantial composition. The song, by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, is from 1934. This is one of the best, if not the best readings on the LP.

"I Need" is a pleasant waltz that Steve dispatches efficiently. It's another yearning song; he had the ability to project such emotions without seeming artificial - quite a feat for a singer in high school.

King promoted both Steve
and the Leslies

There was some discrepancy about the title of the next song - the single release had it as "Magdalena (Last Night)" while the LP says it is "This Night (Madalena)." The latter is probably the closest to being correct. It's a 1950 Brazilian song by Ary Macedo and Ayrton Amorim released as both "Magdalena" and "Madalena," and given English lyrics ("This Night") by singer-songwriter Sunny Skylar. It's another vehicle for the Leslie Brothers in R&B mode, and one of the best things on the LP.

Steve is solo for the smooth number, "How Many Stars Have to Shine," by Jack Edwards, Leo Corday and Bert Mann, later recorded by Carmen McRae. This was another number that helped make a name for Lawrence, deservedly so. In this period he is sometimes compared to such big voice emoters like Frankie Laine and Eddie Fisher, but his vocal approach is more like that of Don Cornell with overtones of Billy Eckstine. Steve had a more personal quality than Cornell, though.

"Tango of Roses (Love Me)" is another one of those foreign-language songs that had the American songwriters competing to produce an English version. "Tango delle rose" was written by the Italians Aldo Bottero and Filippo Schreier. One English version was "More Than Love," recorded by Ralph Flanagan and Guy Lombardo. Another was the one that Steve did for his King record. The effect is a little overbearing - but he is certainly to be preferred to the anemic Kenny Martin with Lombardo.

Adequate production is by no means a given with King LPs, particularly reissues, but the sound from this album is surprisingly good, similar to that of the 78s reviewed below, with a tad more reverb. 

The Uncollected King 78s

We'll discuss the rest of Steve's King recordings in the order of their release.

Bergman went back a few years in King's catalogue for our first number, "All My Love Belongs to You," a 1948 hit for Bull Moose Jackson and His Buffalo Bearcats, written by King producer Henry Glover with Sally Nix. Glover was an important figure in the 40s and 50s music scene. Steve does the Moose proud with this excellent reading that overcomes the prefab lyrics. He's in gorgeous voice here. I also enjoyed the chart, presumably by Bergman.

Next, Lawrence had the task of recording a theme song - "Sudden Fear" from a Joan Crawford film noir with Jack Palance as the heavy. Irving Taylor ("Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb") and Arthur Altman ("Play, Fiddle, Play") were the authors. The film only used an instrumental of the tune, but Steve's vocal version is worth a spin.

"Always Love Me" is another of the moonstruck numbers that dominated the market, just the sort of material that demonstrated Lawrence's considerable gifts.

King often put bio details on its promotional labels (click to enlarge)

"If Not for You" is more of the same, with a lush backing and an obbligato that was possibly by Henry Glover, a trumpeter as well as songwriter and executive.

Steve switches genres easily with "To the Birds," an R&B number with a hybrid background, part big beat, part big band. "You took my heart and fed it to the birds," the singer complains. His vocal production here is at times reminiscent of Sammy Davis, Jr., who had started recording for Capitol just a few years earlier.

With "You Can't Hold a Memory in Your Arms," Lawrence is squarely in the swinger arena, pulling it off superbly.

A slightly later arcade card

"Too Little Time" is easily one of the best items in this set. It was the theme song for The Glenn Miller Story, written by Henry Mancini and Don Raye. Suitably, it receives one of Steve's most passionate performances. The first-rate backing is by Glenn Osser, who did much work for Vic Damone and other top vocalists. Osser also arranged "With Every Breath I Take" and the final two songs below.

"Remember Me (You Taught Me to Love)" is a Latin-tinged piece by Billy Reid, presumably the British bandleader-songwriter. It's a good song, skillfully performed. 

The final song is "Liebchen," also recorded by Bing Crosby, a towering figure who nonetheless had little apparent influence on Lawrence's singing. The song is by Sid Wayne, later a writer for Elvis, and Joe Sherman. As usual, Steve's vocals are right on point.

That was all from Steve at King. He was off to his next label - a step up to Coral, a subsidiary of Decca, which issued its first Lawrence single in fall 1954. By then, comedian and television personality Steve Allen had added Lawrence to his New York TV program, which later was to become a network effort called The Tonight Show. There, Steve met the brilliantly talented Eydie Gormé, one of the other Allen vocalists. They would marry a few years later and go on to achieve remarkable success individually and as a team.

LINK

Steve and Eydie with Steve Allen

GM's 50th Anniversary Show, Plus Bonus GM Songs

As 1957 drew to a close, General Motors was looking forward to its 50th Anniversary. The previous year had not been its best. Despite offering cars that still are considered classics - particularly by volume leader Chevrolet - that marque had been dethroned in the 1957 sales race by Ford. GM was determined not to have that happen again.

And so for the traditional fall unveiling of the new models, GM went all out to ensure that its cars would be noticed in the market during its 50th year. They started by pumping up the size of their relatively svelte 1957 counterparts. The Chevy Bel Air, for example, gained nine inches in length on a stretched wheelbase, and acquired a bloated look accentuated by new double headlights up front. You could order the Chevy (or any other GM line) in a hideous "Anniversary Gold" that would guarantee they would see you coming down the road.

"Anniversary Gold"

Meanwhile the other GM models gained all manner of chrome gee-gaws on their similarly bulging exteriors - rockets on the Pontiac, glitzy quarter panels on the prestigious Cadillac, and multiple accent pieces on the Oldsmobile and Buick.

GM planned a two-hour television special to mark its 50th, and, unlike the products it had newly introduced, it took pains to make it as tasteful and distinguished as possible. The show had a long list of celebrities taking part, everyone from actor Ernest Borgnine to dancers Jacques d'Amboise and Bambi Lynn. There was comedy with Eddie Bracken and Alice Ghostley, drama with Don Ameche and Peg Lynch, and the obligatory moment of prestige with Helen Hayes intoning a poem written for the occasion by scriptwriter/lyricist Helen Deutsch.

New York Times ad, November 17, 1958

About half the program was given over to music, and much of that was captured on a commercial LP issued by RCA Victor, which is the first musical specimen presented in today's post. (Please see below for bonus items.)

The show began with a Sammy Fain number written for the occasion, "The Happiness Theme," befitting the special's theme, "The Pursuit of Happiness." 

The vocal numbers start with Pat Boone, who had made his name with bland covers of R&B hits and latterly had become a GM spokesperson. Based on his vocal style, I'd say Boone was a follower of Bing Crosby rather than Little Richard, and here he is assigned "Where Are You," a 1937 Jimmy McHugh-Harold Adamson piece that Frank Sinatra had revived a few months earlier for the title song of one of his best Capitol LPs. Boone is not at all a bad singer, some insecure intonation aside, and he does well here.

Steve Lawrence

Up-and-coming crooner Steve Lawrence had the next spot, at least on the LP, and works wonders with 1948's "Far Away Places," often heard on the variety shows of the time. It lent itself to exotic scenery.

Lawrence sticks around for a less-familiar novelty, "The Bullfrog Patrol," penned by none other than Jerome Kern with lyricist Anne Caldwell for the 1919 show, She's a Good Fellow. Joining in are musical comedy veteran Dan Dailey and newcomer Carol Burnett, who had recently become popular on television and in night spots.

Just as recherché was the next number, "The March of the Ill-Assorted Guards" from the 1956 Producer's Showcase television musical Jack and the Beanstalk. The March seems to have been assigned this outing because it was penned by scriptwriter Helen Deutsch in collaboration with Jay Livingston.

The proceedings turned strange for the following number. Not that the song "Mutual Admiration Society" was strange. It was at the time inescapable whenever two people who could carry a tune found themselves on the same stage. The song comes from 1955's Happy Hunting, the Ethel Merman starrer, where it was an attempt to replicate the success of the duet "You're Just in Love," featured in Merman's Call Me Madam of a few years earlier.

Claudia Crawford and Cyril Ritchard

No, the strangeness came from the setting, in which seven-year-old Claudia Crawford talks that old scene stealer, Cyril Ritchard, out of a suicide attempt. The melodrama ends with a traversal of "Mutual Admiration Society," and everyone goes home happy (as was the theme of the show).

Doretta Morrow

Doretta Morrow made the first of her three appearances with "Hi Lili, Hi Lo" (another Deutsch song). Morrow had an active career at the time, both on Broadway (Where's Charley?, The King and I and Kismet) and in Hollywood, (opposite Mario Lanza in Because You're Mine). Earlier in 1957 she had toured in Fanny.

1958 ad plugging RCA TVs and Dinah's Chevy show

No GM show would have been complete without an appearance or three by long-time Chevy mouthpiece Dinah Shore. She is exceptionally good in "They Say It's Wonderful," mostly keeping Dan Dailey on pitch. The always-welcome Howard Keel is characteristically sonorous in "Where or When," then Doretta Morrow returns for another Rodgers and Hart song, "My Romance."

These vocal items are punctuated on the LP by instrumentals from an orchestra led by Bernard Green - "It Might as Well Be Spring," "Out of Nowhere" and "Lover." On television, the latter two were backings for dance numbers from Jacques d'Amboise, Bambi Lynn and Chita Rivera. The orchestrations by Sidney Fine and Milton Weinstein are excellent.

Dan Dailey

Dinah has a solo spot with "These Foolish Things," an Eric Maschwitz-Jack Strachey piece from 1936, and includes the seldom-heard verse. Doretta Morrow and Howard Keel follow with a pleasing medley. The show's finale, "Taking a Chance on Love," was allotted to Dan and Dinah.

There are a quite a few excerpts from the show on YouTube, mainly provided by the son of producer Jess Oppenheimer. The program was broadcast in color, but the excerpts are from black-and-white kinescopes.

• Introductions
• Bullfrog Patrol
• Carol Burnett, Steve Lawrence, Dan Dailey, Chita Rivera
• Eddie Bracken and Alice Ghostley sketch
• Claudia Crawford and Cyril Ritchard
• Extended excerpt

The Anniversary Show was well received. The New York Times' Jack Gould was ecstatic, calling it "artistic television of a high order." Perhaps it was, but it was hardly diverse, neither in participants nor material. And while the LP is pleasant to hear, it leaves out any hint of the unconventional or experimental.

The Fisher Body version of GM's 50th Anniversary graphic

Bonus: I Want a Merry Little Lavender Rocket 88 (GM Songs)

You don't need me to tell you that music was changing at the time, and other musical traditions besides the pop song and musical comedy were becoming increasingly popular. Although GM did not acknowledge these in its program, the practitioners of various alternative musical genres had been extolling the merits of GM cars for many years.

Indeed, the most famous song about a GM product was written even before there was a General Motors. That was Gus Edwards' "In My Merry Oldsmobile," from 1905. It also was the first of many tunes to equate the automobile with freedom and even sex! As young Johnny Steele tells his Lucille, "You can go as far as you like with me / In my merry Oldsmobile."

The hit version of the song was by the prolific Billy Murray on Victor. Murray recorded it in 1905, 1906 and 1909, under the same catalogue number. The pressing in this set could be any of those.

A second version of "In My Merry Oldsmobile" dates from about 1918 and was produced specifically for Oldsmobile, with unidentified artists. Olds would go on to use the song for promotional purposes for many years.

Next we have a 1924 record from Bennie Krueger, his alto sax and orchestra. "Ray and His Little Chevrolet" drolly tells the tale of how the protagonist has no trouble attracting girls despite his undersized equipment. The vocalists are studio regulars Billy Jones and Ernest Hare.

Switching genres, we move to 1930's "Riding in a Chevrolet Six" with Oscar Ford, one of the Georgia string band musicians who also included Gid Tanner and Riley Puckett. (Puckett plays on this record.) Oscar tells us that "If you're single and you wanna get a wife / Just buy you a Chevrolet Six." He also advises that "You can outrun the revenuers night and day / If you travel in a Chevrolet Six."

Ben Webster, with Buck Clayton at right

The enduringly popular Cadillacs were the subjects of a few jazz songs, including Dizzy Gillespie's "Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac." But today we turn to alto saxophonist Benny Carter and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster for the latter's terrific instrumental "Cadillac Slim" from 1946. The record was issued under Carter's name, but the bulk of the solo space is given over to Webster, although Carter and trumpeter Buck Clayton also appear. Interestingly, Webster's solos are entirely in the swing idiom, but the theme is clearly influenced by the then-new bop music.

Sonny Boy Williamson

Now we move over to the blues realm for "Pontiac Blues" by Sonny Boy Williamson. This is the musician sometimes called Sonny Boy Williamson II, whose real name was Aleck or Alex (or Rice) Miller. Miller had rebranded himself in the early 40s to capitalize on the fame of another harmonica player. By the time of this 1951 record, Sonny Boy Williamson I had died, so Miller had the name to himself.

I don't mean to take anything away from Miller. "Pontiac Blues," an early issue on the Trumpet label, is a entertaining opus featuring Sonny Boy's powerful harmonica. He tells us, "I found out what my baby likes. / That's a whole lotta lovin' / And that straight-eight Pontiac."

Bea (soon to be LaVern) Baker

From that same year comes a wonderful 78 on OKeh, the first to be issued on the label's new incarnation as Columbia's R&B outfit. It also was the first record by Maurice King and the Wolverines. King was previously music director for the International Sweethearts Of Rhythm. Singer Bea Baker (later to become very well known as LaVern Baker) insists that "I Want a Lavender Cadillac," assuring us that if she gets what she wants, "I'll be good to you."

The final song is "Rocket 88," a big hit for Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats on Chess. The band was actually Ike Turner and His Kings of Rhythm (Brenston being one of the royal family), but Jackie sang and got the credit. The story is that producer Sam Phillips changed the attribution when he shopped the master to Chess records.

Jackie Brenston emotes while Ike Turner stares

Whoever gets credit, it's a deservedly famous record. Jackie assures us that "Takin' my Rocket on a long, hot run / Ooh, goin' out, oozin' and cruisin' and havin' fun!" (Rocket 88 was an Oldsmobile model, by the way.)

"Rocket 88" is sometimes claimed to be the first rock 'n' roll record, a pointless discussion if ever there was one. What is true is that it has musical antecedents, among them boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson's "Rocket 88 Boogie" and jump blues artist Jimmy Liggins' "Cadillac Boogie." The Brenston record is an amalgamation of both styles, accentuated by Ike Turner's terrific band and the novelty of a fuzztone guitar playing the bass figure. The fuzztone was supposedly caused by the an accidental tear in the amplifier speaker, which sounds like an apocryphal tale. Whatever, it's most effective.

There have been many more songs about GM cars, but these are a few of the ones that preceded the GM 50th Anniversary Show, and present a more diverse range of styles. The 50th Anniversary Show album comes from my collection. The 78s are from the endless reaches of the Internet Archive. The sound on the LP was shrill, which I have amended. The 78s can be a bit crackly, but even the Billy Murray record is more than listenable.

In its heyday, GM had five marques - in ascending order of prestige, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac. Only Buick is unrepresented here; however, I have posted two different versions of the promotional song, "My Buick, My Love and I" on my singles blog, where I also detail a few other Buick songs.

If you are more inclined to the Ford lineup, this blog has a post devoted to a 1970 album by The Going Thing, a semi-folk-rock, Ford-sponsored group, and another to the dealer introduction show for the ill-fated Edsel, not one of Ford's better ideas. Nothing yet from Chrysler!