Betty Johnson - the Bell Recordings

Betty Johnson was not among the most famous vocalists of the 1950s, but she was popular on radio and television and made many good records.

Today's post collects her first 15 pop recordings, made for the Bell family of labels in 1954 and 1955. The releases did include one hit, which, as it happened, was a novelty record.

On my other blog you'll find the RCA Victor recordings that Betty made in 1955, right after her Bell contract expired. (More below.)

The Johnson Family Singers

Betty was a professional singer from the time she was 10. She, her parents and her brothers had formed a gospel group, the Johnson Family Singers, in 1938, and were heard on radio in Charlotte, North Carolina for more than a decade. Betty herself had a program starting in 1948.

The Johnson Family Singers

The Johnsons began recording for Columbia in 1946, issuing 50 or so numbers until their contract expired in 1954. The record company had seen the potential in clear-voiced Betty and began issuing gospel recordings under her name in 1951.

But Betty was also interested in pop styles. In the early 1950s, she appeared on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts program, sharing top prize. She also began appearing every Sunday evening on the radio with the CBS orchestra, along with another spot on the Galen Drake Show. 

The Bell Recordings

Betty's pop recording career began in 1954 with Bell, part of the publishing company Simon & Schuster, which distributed the Bell products through its book network. Bell specialized in high quality cover records. Johnson was well suited to its approach - she was skillful, versatile, possessed good intonation and diction and a lovely voice.

Betty's first assignment was to cover the Patti Page hit "Cross Over the Bridge," a natural for her because the song was one of those uplifting quasi-gospel tune that were popular back then. "Change your reckless way o' livin', cross over the bridge," the song commanded. Betty is entirely convincing in the piece.

Her next release was Hank Williams' 1949 composition "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight," which Columbia had newly recorded with Tony Bennett. Betty and bandleader Sy Oliver take a semi-R&B approach that works beautifully.

That song was backed by a cover of Ronnie Gaylord's hit "Cuddle Me," which Johnson and Oliver do in a shuffle rhythm. Not a great song, but a fine performance.

"My Restless Lover" was a hit for Patti Page, initially under the name "Johnny Guitar." Oddly enough, at the same time there was a film coming out by that name that had an excellent title song by Peggy Lee, so the title of Page's record was changed. Lee's song is better, but Johnson does well by this second Johnny Guitar tribute.

Next was a hit for Eddy Arnold, "This is the Thanks I Get." Johnson was to become a regular on Arnold's radio show in 1955. The bandleader here and for many of her later Bell records was ex-Miller arranger Norman Leyden. Betty also recorded with Norman's brother Jimmy.

"I Need You Now" was first done by Joni James, but I believe the most popular version was by Eddie Fisher, who will reappear in this narrative a little later on.

Bell then had Betty record one of Rosemary Clooney's biggest successes - "This Ole House," another quasi-gospel song, this one by Stuart Hamblen. Betty's proficient recording was aided by a sonorous bass singer who sounds very much like Thurl Ravenscroft, who had appeared on Clooney's Columbia record.

"Whither Thou Goest" is another song with gospel overtones, having been adapted from Biblical verse by Earl Chalmers Guisinger under the name of Guy Singer. The most popular version was by Les Paul and Mary Ford.

Far and away the most popular song from Cole Porter's broadway musical Silk Stockings was "All of You." Don Ameche introduced it; Fred Astaire perhaps did it best in the film version, but Johnson handles it nicely.

Bob Merrill's "Make Yourself Comfortable" was a hit for Sarah Vaughan, with contending discs by Peggy King and by Steve and Eydie. I'm a big Vaughan admirer and I've owned her version since it came out 70 years ago, but I do believe that Betty's reading is just as accomplished.

The New-Disc Recordings

In September 1954, Bell entered the market for non-cover material with a conventionally distributed label called "New-Disc." Betty was among the artists who featured in its releases. She produced the label's first and perhaps only hit, a novelty called "I Want Eddie Fisher for Christmas." It was written by Joan Javits and Phil Springer, the team behind "Santa Baby," who included references to Eddie's many hits.

Cash Box November 6, 1954

The trade press at the time made some vague reference to "restrictions" being put on the record; perhaps it was an objection by Fisher's label, RCA Victor (who would soon have Johnson under contract). But whatever the hitch was, it soon was overcome. RCA even had Spike Jones cover the song.

The backing number for "I Want Eddie" was the innocuous "Show Me" (not the Lerner and Loewe song).

Also for New-Disc, Betty recorded "Did They Tell You" and "Buckle on the Boot," a song by Norman Gimbel, who would play a part in Johnson's next semi-hit record.

New-Disc lasted only to the middle of 1955, but Bell continued in one form or another into the 1970s.

"The Touch" and Bally Records

New-Disc also handled the first issue of a song that was to become the title number of Betty's first LP - which came out on another label, Bally Records, after New-Disc's demise. That song was "The Touch," which Jean Wiener wrote as the theme music for the French film Touchez pas au grisbi, starring Jean Gabin as an underworld anti-hero.

In the film, the theme was played on harmonica. For the US release on New-Disc, Norman Gimbel came up with lyrics that have nothing to do with the film. Cash Box was entralled by the performance of "sexy-voiced" Betty. The reviewer liked the flip side even more - it was Sy Oliver's jazzy instrumental version of the theme, which I've included as a bonus. Sy should have provided the backing for Betty's vocal as well - it had to be better than the harmomica.

I will probably upload Betty's Bally recordings along with some of her overlapping Atlantic releases before too long.

LINK to Betty Johnson's Bell Recordings

The RCA Victor Recordings

Both Betty and the Johnson Family Singers moved on to the RCA Victor label in 1955 for a series of recordings. Victor released six songs by Betty and two LPs by the group. Both LPs have appeared on this blog previously - I have newly remastered them and in one instance did a re-recording. You can find the LP Old Time Religion here. Sing Hymns with the Johnson Family Singers is here.

As mentioned above, I've collected Betty's RCA Victor recordings for a new post on my other blog. There are six single sides along with a rare secular Johnson Family Singers recording.

Way back when, I mentioned that I would prepare a collection of the Johnson Family Singers' recordings for Columbia. I recently put together an extensive program of 40-some recordings, but the files somehow disappeared from my hard drive. This had to be a Windows 11 glitch of some type - couldn't be my fumble fingers, right? Anyway, I have put the Columbia project aside for a later date. Unfortunately it won't be as thorough as I had intended because the group's Columbia singles also disappeared from Internet Archive in its recent massive purge.

Material for the two Betty Johnson posts is derived from my collection with help from IA.

'All the Way' with Sammy, Plus Bonus Singles

I haven't featured Sammy Davis, Jr. here much before, so I hope today's post makes amends. It includes his 1958 LP All the Way . . . and Then Some! with a substantial bonus of nine relatively rare single sides, also from Davis' time at Decca.

I transferred the LP for my friend John Morris, who is assembling all Sammy's recorded output. I then added the singles from lossless needle drops on Internet Archive that I remastered.

My previous Davis post involved his brief contribution to a PanAm promotional LP.

All the Way . . . and Then Some!

In the time-honored record company practice, the title of this LP is different from front cover to back cover to liner notes to label. (That's OK, I'm not entirely consistent myself.) I'm going with the front cover title, with standard capitalization.

The LP consists of the usual 12 tracks, assembled from six 1957-58 recording session with five different arrangers - Morty Stevens, Sonny Burke, Dick Stabile, Russ Garcia and Jack Pleis. In other words, it's not the sort of cohesive entity that Davis' great friend Frank Sinatra was putting out at the time. Usually when this is the case with an LP, the tracks are collated from previously released singles. But all of these songs were first issued on this LP and contemporary EPs.

I don't mean to signal that it's a bad record - far from it. Davis was almost as engaging on record as he was on stage - and he was famed as one of the world's greatest live entertainers. That said, it's hard to convey Sam's multiple talents on record - dancing, playing drums and trumpet, impressions and comedy along with the singing. But Davis did incorporate his gift for mimicry onto the occasional record, to the extent of producing an All Star Spectacular of impersonations for Reprise in 1961.

This particular LP starts off, in fact, with a credible impression of Frank Sinatra singing his then-current hit, "All the Way." After finishing the song, "Frank" dismisses conductor Nelson Riddle with the wish that he "sleep warm" (the title of a Sinatra-Riddle single and LP track). Davis then enters in his own voice and asks Frank to leave the band behind so he can do his own version of the song - which is more uptempo.

The LP follows "All the Way" with "Look to You Heart," a Sinatra song from several years earlier. Davis then leaves the Voice's repertoire behind in favor of an unlikely resurrection of Jane Powell's "Wonder Why" from the 1953 film Rich, Young and Pretty. It's good!

The balance of the songs are standards, with the possible exception of 1934's "Stay as Sweet as You Are," a Revel-Gordon tune from College Rhythm. As usual, Davis is effective whether in lyric or swinging mode.

Sammy Davis and Eartha Kitt in Anna Lucasta

The recording of the first track here ("They Can't Take That Away from Me") took place just as Mr. Wonderful, the Broadway show that had been written for Davis, was closing in February 1957. The last song recorded was "All the Way" in May 1958, after which Davis left for California and a starring role in the film Anna Lucasta, opposite Eartha Kitt. Later that year, he was Sportin' Life in the film version of Porgy and Bess.

Decca Singles

Unlike the LP's material, the songs from the singles are largely unfamiliar. I chose singles that the online Davis sessionography says haven't had an official re-release.

First up is "The Red Grapes," a Ross Bagdasarian tune. This recording, from a 1954 session, came after Bagdasarian's first big success as a songwriter, "Come on-a My House," but before his hits with "Witch Doctor" and the "The Chipmunk Song." Sy Oliver is the maestro for the Sammy single.

The four succeeding songs, all dating from 1955, are directed by Morty Stevens. "A Man with a Dream" comes from Victor Young's short-lived Broadway musical Seventh Heaven. Next are two duets with Gary Crosby - "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" and "Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar," the Ray McKinley specialty. Sam and Gary have no special chemistry, but the results are not unpleasant, and Sammy manages to work in an excellent Louis Armstrong impression. These are the only two records that Crosby and Davis made together.

Frank and Sam

The final song from 1955 is notable as a Jimmy Van Heusen-Sammy Cahn song written for Sinatra that Frank never released. It is "The Man with the Golden Arm," a title song manque for the film of the same name that starred Sinatra. The music for the film was by Elmer Bernstein and was superb. The Van Heusen-Cahn song was designed as a promotional song for the film. Frank recorded it, but it went unreleased until the 90s. Odd - it's a good song, and Davis does it beautifully, a few intonation problems aside.

Mr. Wonderful: Olga James, Sammy Davis, Chita Rivera

As 1956 began, Davis was preparing the Broadway show that was built around his talents, Mr. Wonderful, which opened in March and ran for nearly a year. In the run-up to the opening, Decca had him record the Jerry Bock-Lawrence Holofcener-George David Weiss songs from the score, including "Jacques d'Iraque." This take is different from the one that appeared on the cast album. Morty Stevens - who also did some of the arrangements and conducted the Broadway show - is again the leader of the band.

Peter Cadby's "'Specially for Little Girls" is a sensitive song done beautifully by Sammy with Sy Oliver conducting. At about this time, Cadby scored a children's film sponsored by the American Jewish Committee. This song may be from that film.

"Good Bye, So Long, I'm Gone" and "French Fried Potatoes and Ketchup" are the final two songs in this set, both from May 1956. They are essentially R&B numbers that David handles very nicely, particularly the latter item, which also was done by Amos Milburn for Aladdin. Sy Oliver is again in charge of the band.

The sound both on the LP and the singles is more than adequate.