David F.'s Shoe String Christmas

Our friend David F. has put together another fascinating and rewarding collection for holiday time, which he is calling "A Shoe String Christmas."

It contains 35 excellent selections from long ago. As David explains, "I've taken mostly Depression Era records about being broke and/or poor, and then climbed out of the red with songs my parents and grandparents could well have sung at this time of year."

The artists range from Dick Powell to John White and the Mound City Blue Blowers to Ramona Davies & Her Park Avenue Boys. I've just been enjoying David's last compilation, and believe me, his collections are worth hearing.

As he says, "To find music suitable for my fiscally austere times, I have to forage in the distant past when records spun at a speed that matches the age I will become on January 27th, Mozart's birthday, too. If that's the kind of music that you are looking for, look no farther."

Happy holidays to all, and thanks again to David.

Norman Vincent Peale's The Coming of the King

Norman Vincent Peale was surely one of the most famous members of the American clergy in the last century due to his writings, radio programs and television appearances. His 1952 book The Power of Positive Thinking sold as many as five million copies.

In 1956 Peale turned his attentions to children's books via his retelling of the Nativity story for young readers. In The Coming of the King, the author emphasized the humanity of the characters, and the difficulty and wonder of the Holy Family's odyssey.

David Wayne

That same year, Columbia Records produced an audio version of the book. It was narrated by the well-known actor David Wayne, who was backed by music from popular composer Don Gillis, whose Saga of a Prairie School appeared on this blog many years ago.

Despite the famous names involved - and what Billboard termed an "extremely potent promotion campaign" - neither the book nor record achieved any lasting renown. My friend Ernie, who has posted this LP on his blog, says it is relatively rare in the record and thrift stores he frequents.

Ralph Hunter

It's too bad, really, because the story is very well-done, the music is enjoyable and the performers are accomplished. The choral group is led by Ralph Hunter, a talented conductor who was then the director of New York's Collegiate Chorale in succession to its founder, Robert Shaw. In addition to classical and church programs, Hunter also dabbled in popular music. He is responsible for RCA Victor's 1959 LP Christmas Surprises, one of the best-ever records of holiday music.

It so happens that the Collegiate Chorale was named for Dr. Peale's Marble Collegiate Church in New York. When Shaw formed the group in 1941, he found rehearsal space at the church for a time. But as Shaw tells the tale, one day "I was called in by Dr. Peale into his office and he informed me that we could continue to rehearse there if we limited our membership to WASPs and 50% of those WASPs had to be members of the church." Peale - like most people at that time - was not without prejudice. As late as 1960, he opposed the candidacy of John F. Kennedy for American President because Kennedy was a Catholic.

Marble Collegiate Church

Much later, Peale and Shaw did reconcile. In about 1990, as Shaw recalled, "I got a letter – a complete surprise – from Dr. Norman Vincent Peale that said, 'Dear Mr. Shaw: I’m getting along in years and I made a mistake. I have followed your career and I am embarrassed about it and I just simply want to say I’m sorry. I made a mistake in those years.'" Peale later wrote about the matter in his magazine Guideposts in an article entitled, "It's Never Too Late."

Because of Hunter's presence, it is possible and even likely that the Collegiate Chorale or its members perform on the record. I suspect that the split between Peale and the Chorale is the reason why the group on the record is called the "Gothic Voices."

Arturo Toscanini and composer Don Gillis, who produced
the conductor's NBC broadcasts for many years

At this point, I might mention belatedly that The Coming of Christ takes up only one side of the LP. The other is devoted to mainly familiar Christmas songs as performed by the "Columbia Carolers," who sound very much like the Gothic Voices. Don Gillis' lovely carol "The Coming of the King" is performed by both groups, and while the recordings are not the same, they are very similar. Still, it seems odd that Columbia would ascribe the two sides to different groups if they are the same performers.

Ashley Miller

Also belatedly, let me mention that a great deal of the music for The Coming of the King is performed by organist Ashley Miller. The majority of that work consists of narrative accompanied by organ, with occasional interjections from the choir. Although the music is ascribed to Gillis, it's possible that some of the organ passages under the narration are performed ad libitum by Miller.

Like Hunter, Miller had roots in both popular and classical music. He spent a number of years as the Radio City Music Hall organist, and later provided music for both TV soap operas and New York's professional sports teams.

The Coming of the King is quite a good production. I hope that Ernie won't mind my posting it here - I've been trying to get a successful transfer of my pressing for years, and finally succeeded. If you enjoy this record, you might want to listen to Gillis' melodious Saga of a Prairie School, which I've newly remastered.

Title page of the book

David F.'s Vintage Winter Wonderland

Our friend David Federman thinks that like fine wine the vintage Christmas music is the best Christmas music. I do agree, and I suspect that many of you do as well.

If that's the case, then you will want to avail yourself of his latest compilation - "Vintage Winter Wonderland Phonography 1914-1950" and its 36 heterogeneous selections. They range from Lucille Hegamin to the Savoy Orpheans and from Alfred Cortot to Jess Stacy. David is my kind of guy.

He writes, "My sole goal in making it was to take the listener as far back in recording history as possible to forget the present hell of holiday music. Toward that end, I’ve selected songs whose vintage gives them a viability absent from nearly all modern overly industrialized holiday music." His complete notes are included in the download.

Thanks, David, for this holiday gift.

Amahl and the Night Visitors

Reader Lockhart suggested that I post the legendary Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors this season, and I am happy to comply. Actually, Lockhart was looking both for this first recording and the stereo remake. I thought I had a copy of the latter edition, but it didn't turn up during a recent foray into the files, so we'll have to be content with this recording of the original cast.

Amahl was an important work - it was the first opera written for television, the first presented by the NBC Opera Theatre, and was immediately popular, so much so that it was repeated annually for many years.

Gian Carlo Menotti

The words and music for the 45-minute work were the inspiration of the 40-year-old composer Gian Carlo Menotti, already famous for his early works The Old Maid and the Thief, commissioned by NBC for the radio, and The Medium and The Telephone, which had been presented on Broadway. His first full-length opera, The Consul, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1950.

In the booklet included with this record (scans are in the download), Menotti says that his inspiration for Amahl was seeing Bosch's painting The Adoration of the Magi, depicted on the cover above, in the Metropolitan Museum.

Amahl and his mother, as the Three Kings approach upstage

NBC presented the opera on Christmas Eve, 1951. The lead roles of Amahl, a shepherd boy, and his mother were taken by Chet Allen and Rosemary Kuhlmann, both excellent in this recording, which was made in January 1952. Allen, a former member of the Columbus Boychoir, later appeared in films and on television, but did not make a successful transition to adult actor. He committed suicide at age 45. Kuhlmann had been in The Consul and Music in the Air on Broadway, and continued to appear in both opera and musical theater - including replacing Shannon Bolin as Meg in the national tour of Damn Yankees. She was always identified with her role in Amahl, however.

The televised production of Amahl and this recording were conducted by the 21-year-old Thomas Schippers, who became closely associated with the music of both Menotti and Samuel Barber. He was highly regarded for his work with opera, but his neglected orchestral recordings are worthwhile as well. I hope to present some of them in the future.

Thomas Schippers

This recording is exceptionally well performed and recorded, and fully deserves the fame accorded to it as a memento of the first performance. The 26-page booklet includes a synopsis and the libretto, in addition to Menotti's notes. I've also included a Life magazine article with photos from the 1952 City Center Opera production, which includes the production image above and several others. Life proclaimed the work a "Christmas classic," and so it is. What a time that was for the arts in America.

LINK (2025 ambient stereo remaster)

Amahl and the Kings

Christmas with the Chuck Wagon Gang

My friends Ernie and Lee have been two busy elves lately with their Christmas music shares. If you like unusual holiday selections, those are two stops you should be making on your Internet rounds.

I'm not nearly as industrious as those two fellows, but I do offer a seasonal album here and there. In that regard, I promised Lee some time back that I would transfer this Christmas LP by a favorite gospel group, the Chuck Wagon Gang.

A few words about the Gang might be helpful. The group was started by members of the Carter family of Lubbock, Texas, who began appearing on local radio in 1935. The following year the Carters moved to a larger Fort Worth station, changing their name in the process to the Chuck Wagon Gang, in succession to another group by that name that had been sponsored by radio advertisers Bewley Mills, which produced flour. As "Bewley's Chuck Wagon Gang," the Carters sang all types of music, including an occasional gospel number.

The early Chuck Wagon Gang: Dad, Anna,
announcer and manager Cy Leland, Rose, Jim

For some reason, the group's management thought it best that they all change their first names. So patriarch D.P. Carter became Dad Carter, Lola became Rose, Ernest became Jim and Effie became Anna, notwithstanding the fact that there was another Carter sister named Anna who was not in the group.

Also in 1936, the Gang came to the attention of ARC record producers Don Law and Art Satherly. Late that year, the group journeyed to San Antonio to cut their first records, a mix of country and gospel numbers. It wasn't until 1940 that they focused their material on sacred songs.

The Gang became very popular through their radio appearances and many records for ARC and its successor Columbia. I believe the songs on this LP represent their first venture into the Christmas repertoire.

By the time of these 1954  sessions, the group had experienced a few personnel changes from the early days. Jim Carter left the group in 1953 (he was to return in 1968), and was replaced by his brother Roy. Howard Gordon, who was married to Anna, had newly joined the ensemble as guitarist.

The group on the record: Dad, Anna, Howard Gordon, Rose, Roy

This particular pressing comes from the mid-1960s, but the recordings themselves all date from 1954. Columbia originally issued the eight Christmas numbers on a 10-inch LP that I have never seen, then reissued them in this budget Harmony album, adding two well-known gospel numbers to fill out the program. These are "In the Garden" by C. Austin Miles and "In the Sweet Forever" by Luther G. Presley, the latter best known for his lyrics to "When the Saints Go Marching In."

When this reissue came out, it was the usual practice for labels to transform mono recordings into what was spuriously called "rechanneled stereo." In truth, it wasn't stereo at all, but a misguided attempt to create a stereo effect by parsing the frequency response between the two channels. I have dispensed with this chicanery, summing the channels into a good, honest mono signal.

I enjoy the Chuck Wagon Gang. I hope you will like them as well - you may hear traces of their sound in such groups as the Everly Brothers. The group's first LP, Favorite Country Hymns, was among the early posts on this site. That record, which includes some of the group's earliest recordings, is still available.

Christmas Music from St. Michael's, Tenbury

Back in September I presented one of the few recordings made by the Choir of St. Michael's, Tenbury. Now here is the final album from that English ensemble, a 1984 Christmas record made shortly before the choir school's closing.

It's a fine program, covering both familiar carols and newer material, with an emphasis on music and adaptations by English composers, who include Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, David Willcocks, Walford Davies, William Mathias, John Tavener, Patrick Hadley and Kenneth Leighton. The title song, "Torches," is by John Joubert. The school's music director, Roger Judd, contributed two arrangements.

Roger Judd

Judd was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and had been assistant organist of Ely Cathedral before his tenure at St. Michael's. Following the school's closing, he became assistant organist of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, where he accompanied the Chapel choir in its services, broadcasts, concerts and recordings. He retired from St. George's in 2008.

This record was issued by an EMI-affiliated budget label, Classics for Pleasure. It was among the first records supervised by the noted classical producer Andrew Keener. You may notice that the back cover credits the engineering to a certain "Mr. Bear" - a nom du disque for Mike Clements. The sonics are pleasing.

If you appreciate the sound of better-known English choirs such as King's College, Cambridge, you will likely enjoy this record. Coming from 1984, it's outside my usual time frame, but I transferred it as the result of a request by long-time blog follower A N Other.

The First Alfred Burt Christmas LP

My friend David F. shared his compilation of Alfred Burt's carols last year, but I thought some of you might want to have a transfer of and scans from the original 10-inch album that brought Burt's superb Christmas compositions to public notice.

Burt's best-known song is undoubtedly "Caroling, Caroling," but "Some Children See Him" and "The Star Carol" also are well-loved. All were first heard on this 1954 LP issued by Columbia after the composer's early death.

Alfred Burt and Anne Shortt Burt, 1945

Burt produced his carols for a circle of friends and family, one song each season from 1942 to 1954, when he succumbed to cancer at age 33. Writing carols was a family tradition begun by his father, the Rev. Bates Burt, rector of an Episcopal church in Pontiac, Mich. The two Burts wrote the lyrics to Alfred's earliest carols. After the Rev. Burt died in 1948, Alfred collaborated with Wihla Hutson, the organist at his father's church.

Alfred Burt attended the University of Michigan before and after Army service during World War II. After graduation, he become a professional musician, eventually working as a California-based trumpeter and arranger for Alvino Rey, Hal Richards and Horace Heidt.

Burt's carols had come to the attention of Columbia executive Jim Conkling, who was married to Donna King, one of the King Sisters who performed with Rey's orchestra. When Burt became sick in 1953, Conkling moved ahead with plans for a record. The first sessions took place late that year in Los Angeles area churches. Burt wrote one of his final carols for his Christmas card that year, "O Hearken Ye," followed by one of his most beloved works, "The Star Carol" early the next year. He died in February 1954.

The producer of this record was Buddy Cole, the well-known pianist. He was married at the time to another of the King Sisters, Yvonne. The performances are ascribed to the Columbia Choir, a group of studio singers. The conductor was Bud Linn, himself a well-known tenor who was a member of the King's Men and the Ken Darby Singers. The only other performer credited is soprano Norma Zimmer, even then a noted studio vocalist who appeared with the Ken Darby group, the Norman Luboff Choir, the Voices of Walter Schumann and the Pete King Chorale. She later had a long association with Lawrence Welk's television program.

My transfer is from the first issue (cover at top). The sound is excellent.

Reissue cover