Elaine Shaffer in Mozart Flute Concertos

This is another in a series of recordings by Efrem Kurtz that I have been uploading periodically over the past 18 months. Here he accompanies his distinguished wife, Elaine Shaffer, in the Mozart flute concertos. The LP also includes the Andante, K. 315 that some think was a less-demanding replacement for the first concerto's slow movement. The cadenzas in the concertos are by Franz Reizenstein.

Elaine Shaffer

The conductor and flutist worked together both with the Kansas City and Houston symphonies. They married in 1955.

Shaffer left Houston in 1953 and went on to become a well-known soloist, although she is little remembered today. Composer Ernest Bloch dedicated two works to her, and she premiered compositions by Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson, among others.

Shaffer did not make many solo recordings, and few of them are available today. I don't believe this record has been in the catalogue since a reprint on the Seraphim label in the 1970s. It is nonetheless impressive. The flutist has a beautiful liquid tone and both her playing and that of the orchestra are stylish, at least for the period.

At the recording session: Elaine Shaffer and Efrem Kurtz
flanked by Peter Andry and Victor Olof of EMI

EMI made this recording in late 1957 in Abbey Road Studio No. 1. The orchestral sound is atmospheric, but the stereo effect is vague, as these early stereo efforts sometimes are.

The download includes the usual high-res scans of the covers, plus reviews from Gramophone, High Fidelity, HiFi Review and Billboard.

 

Gordon MacRae in 'The Student Price' and 'Merry Widow'

I enjoyed preparing the recent post of Gordon MacRae with highlights from Roberta and Desert Song, so here is a second post containing two more operettas from the same series.

As before, Capitol teamed MacRae and Lucille Norman for Lehar's The Merry Widow. Dorothy Warenskjold was the female lead for Romberg's The Student Prince.

The Merry Widow production comes from 1952, The Student Prince from the following year. Capitol originally issued them on separate 10-inch LPs, then combined them on the 12-incher that was the source of my transfer.

As I mentioned in my previous post, these LPs were inspired by MacRae's long-running Railroad Hour radio show, which featured highlights from operettas and musicals, along with other musical fare. Both Norman and Warenskjold were heard on the program at various times during its 1948-54 run on the airwaves.

Lucille Norman

Lehar's operetta dates from 1905 and has been the subject of many recordings, being popular with both opera companies and with artists such as MacRae and Norman who enjoyed a broader appeal. Decca had Kitty Carlisle and Wilbur Evans record highlights in 1944. Then in 1949, Columbia came out with a selection of songs by Risë Stevens and Dennis Morgan. In 1952, Columbia invested in another recording, this time with Dorothy Kirsten and Robert Rounseville. That same year there was a film adaptation of the work starring, unpromisingly, Fernando Lamas and Lana Turner. M-G-M issued soundtrack highlights on LP. So there was no lack of competition for MacRae and Norman. But as before, the duo worked smoothly together and produced a highly enjoyable product. The recording uses the English lyrics by Adrian Ross, I believe. During this time, Norman had achieved enough renown to have her own trading card (at left), which could be found in the 1953 Bowman series, "Television and Radio Stars of NBC."

The Student Prince had been a enormous success on Broadway in the 1920s, running even longer than Show Boat. As with The Merry Widow, the operetta had quite a revival on records at mid-century, starting with heldentenor Lauritz Melchior, who starred in a 1950 Decca album that was offered here several years ago and is still available. Columbia came out with a Kirsten-Rounseville version in 1952. I am fairly sure I have that one too, if you haven't had enough of "The Drinking Song." In 1954, RCA Victor had Mario Lanza record highlights timed to the release of a movie version where he dubbed the vocals of Edmund Purdom. I definitely do not have that LP or its stereo remake.

Dorothy Warenskjold

For The Student Prince, Capitol teamed MacRae with Dorothy Warenskjold, an artist who appeared both with opera companies, mainly the San Francisco Opera, and on radio and television. In addition to this LP, she also recorded two solo albums for Capitol. As with Norman, Warenskjold also had achieved enough fame as to have a trading card in the 1953 Bowman "Stars of NBC" series (at right). The 96-card set included network personalities from Arnold Stang to J. Fred Muggs, but no MacRae.

In common with the previous collection, the backing and arrangements here are by George Greeley. The sound is very good.

1951 Railroad Hour ad (click to enlarge)

The Rarest Jeri Sullivan

Our ongoing exploration of the career of singer Jeri Sullivan has previously included two long posts on this blog and one on my singles blog.

Post number one detailed her early career and included a single on Signature records, a V-Disc of her "Rum and Coca-Cola" recording and two radio transcriptions. In post two, we looked at her work on the movie A Song Is Born and her releases under the name Jenny Barrett in the 1950s.

Later my friend Bryan Cooper contributed an additional Signature single, which I published on Buster's Swinging Singles.

Today we have an exceptional group of recordings, completely unknown to me, courtesy of Simon Buckmaster. These include six one-of-a-kind acetate recordings, a single on the Metro Hollywood label and an additional Signature single. This collection is a must-hear for those of you who like Jeri, and I am most grateful to Simon for bringing it our way. More details follow.

The Studio & Artists Acetates

The real prize of the collection consists of six acetates (or lacquers) that Sullivan made at Studio & Artists Recorders, which was in the CBS Building in Hollywood. The songs include "Gone with the Wind," "I Wish I Had a Penny," "Poi - Poi - Poi," "Take Care of You for Me," "There's a Small Hotel" and her own "Regular Man."

These records are excellent. Simon has done a spectacular job coaxing good sound from the fragile and dirty lacquers. Jeri is in terrific voice, accompanied by a small group with a prominent guitarist.

This is probably not the Johnny White Orchestra who backed her on the records issued by Signature. That group has a vibraphone not present on the transcriptions.

We don't know when they were made, but I suspect the early 1940s. We know it was not before 1942, when "Take Care of You for Me" was copyrighted. I believe the timing was circa 1944 for the following reasons. She cut "Regular Man" both for a commercial release and on this lacquer. The commercial release was on Signature in the late 1940s, but it was from a master made years earlier for a defunct label. Since the Signature sides also include "Dream House," the theme of her 1943-44 radio show, I suspect those commercial masters were made then - and possibly the acetates as well.

Now, what was the purpose of making these acetates? We know they were not publisher or songwriter demos - the presence of two well-known songs from 1937 rules that out. And they were probably not reference lacquers from a commercial session, because the commercial disc of "Regular Man" uses a different arrangement. Nor do they sound like air checks.

The answer is probably that Sullivan had them made to take to record companies in search of a contract - or even, as Simon suggests, to film studios. It was at about this time that she began making both commercial records and Soundies. So apparently this strategy may have been successful.

In any case, these six songs are a remarkable find.

The Metro Hollywood Sides

Simon also came up with two songs released by the small Metro Hollywood label circa 1948. Again, these have a convoluted history. They were probably recorded by the ARA label, which was active from 1944 to 1946, and purchased by Metro Hollywood. The latter label seems to have gone under in 1948 after having been sued by M-G-M records for infringement.

The A-side of Sullivan's 78 is "My Yiddishe Momme." Jeri switched ethnic identities for the B-side - "My O'Lovely, My O'Darlin', My O'Brien." The latter song was published in 1946, so the recording probably dates from about then. These are good performances with an anonymous backing that is probably not the Johnny White Orchestra.

Two More Signatures

Finally, Simon has discovered a Signature 78 that doesn't appear in the online 78 discography for that label. It pairs the Jeri's "Regular Man" with "Love Ain't No Good." These are splendid performances in good sound. Unfortunately, Simon's copy was chipped, so the performances are a bit abbreviated, but what's there is very fine indeed.

* * *

So what is missing as yet from the Sullivan legacy? Several things:

- Both Bryan and I have 16-inch transcriptions that we have not yet been able to transfer.

- Jeri made a set of eight songs for Standard Transcriptions with Johnny White and the Mel-Tones, which have not surfaced so far.

- She recorded at least four songs for Coral in the 1950s under the name Jenny Barrett.

- Finally, there are many potential radio air checks out there - she not only had her own show, she appeared on many other programs such as Jimmy Durante's (see photo below). Reader boppinbob was kind enough to send along a link to a number of these shows, and I hope to mine them for content sometime in the future.

I also want to mention belatedly that Bryan Cooper consulted on the Sepia Records issue of the soundtrack recordings of A Song Is Born, where Sullivan dubbed Virginia Mayo's vocals. That CD includes the 1947 pre-recordings taken from original Goldwyn Studios acetates in Bryan's collection, along with the Capitol recordings and many other items.

Let me conclude by thanking Simon again for the wonderful recordings in this post!

Radio publicity photo from 1945: Garry Moore,
Jeri Sullivan and Jimmy Durante

Gordon MacRae in Desert Song and Roberta - New Transfer

Gordon MacRae starred in radio's The Railroad Hour from 1948 to 1954. Sponsored by the railroad industry, the show concentrated on highlights from operettas and musicals, featuring MacRae and a succession of guest vocalists, including Dorothy Kirsten, Dorothy Warenskjold, Risë Stevens and Lucille Norman.

Capitol, MacRae's record company, saw some commercial potential in starring the singer in its own series of abridged musicals and operettas. The first effort was excerpts from Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate in 1949, with Jo Stafford, which has appeared on this blog. Next was Sigmund Romberg's The New Moon with Lucille Norman in 1950. Capitol must have liked the pairing - the two teamed for Rudolf Friml's Vagabond King in 1951. Capitol even used the same cover as The New Moon, just changing the name of the operetta.

Lucille Norman and Gordon MacRae

In 1952, MacRae and Norman again were matched for Romberg's The Desert Song and Jerome Kern's musical Roberta. The following year, Capitol combined these two 10-inch LPs into the 12-inch album that is the subject of today's post. Also in 1952, MacRae and Norman appared in Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow.

In 1953, MacRae was paired with Dorothy Warenskjold for Romberg's The Student Prince. The series came to an end in 1954 with two Victor Herbert operettas - Naughty Marietta with Marguerite Piazza and The Red Mill with Norman. Later on, Capitol had MacRae redo several of the operettas in stereo with Dorothy Kirsten.

1953 Music Views ad

I offered the Desert Song/Roberta LP here almost 12 years ago, and recently decided to re-transfer it so I could offer it in lossless format. Here is some of what I wrote about the record in 2008:

"The first side is The Desert Song. MacRae starred in the 1953 film of that Romberg work with Kathryn Grayson. You can find her version of the songs (made with Tony Martin) a few posts below this one [here].

"This Capitol recording is presented less as a string of songs and more as a potted version of the operetta, complete with overture and a supporting cast of Bob Sands and the great Thurl Ravenscroft, who is heard in 'Let Love Come.'

"The Kern-Harbach Roberta takes up the other side of the record. MacRae and Norman (a very good singer who also had an acting career) are joined by character singer Anne Triola, who has a little too much character for my taste. The arrangements and musical direction on both sides are by George Greeley. [Let me add belatedly that Greeley's work is excellent.]

1952 Music Views ad

"The problem with trying to cram a great score like Roberta into 25 minutes is that the individual items don't get much time. That's OK with me when it comes to 'Yesterdays,' which has been recorded by everybody from Washboard Sam to Helen Traubel (or so it seems), but not so with 'The Touch of Your Hand,' a gorgeous song that is too little heard, perhaps because it is not easy to sing. This record includes the hit songs both from the stage show and two that were interpolated into the 1935 film ('Lovely to Look At' and 'I Won't Dance')."

When these records came out, many people could still recall the heyday of operetta, which had been 30-40 years earlier. In the early 50s, there were several versions of Naughty Marietta competing in the record stores - besides MacRae and Piazza, the teams of Nelson Eddy and Nadine Conner, Earl Wrightson and Elaine Malbin, and Doretta Morrow and Felix Knight could be heard on LP. The last-named pair have appeared on this blog.

In 1952 There also were multiple editions of Roberta to choose from. M-G-M had adapted Roberta as Lovely to Look At starring Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel, so Capitol came out with the MacRae-Norman Roberta LP and Columbia countered with a Jack Cassidy-Joan Roberts version. Several years earlier, there had been a Roberta studio album featuring Alfred Drake and Kitty Carlisle, which I transferred a while ago. It is still available here.

I doubt that any revival of this repertoire on record would achieve much of an audience today. But here we don't worry about such things, so I plan on transferring MacRae's Student Prince and Merry Widow soon.

First Recordings of Vierne Orchestral Works

Here is another in the Inédits ORTF series, following on my recent post of orchestral works by Gabriel Fauré.

As with the Fauré disc, this LP contains previously unrecorded music, in this case by the famed organist and composer Louis Vierne (1870-1937). The main work is his Symphony in A minor, his only orchestral symphony, which was dedicated to Fauré. Also on the album are four of Vierne's nine orchestral settings of Paul Verlaine,  Spleens et détresses.

Louis Vierne

Vierne's output was primarily organ works (he was the organist at Notre-Dame de Paris for 37 years) and chamber music. Vierne was born nearly blind, and it is thought that this condition made it difficult for him to orchestrate.

The Symphony in A minor is a enjoyable Franckian work, here well played by the ORTF Philharmonic Orchestra led by Georges Tzipine (1907-87). The conductor led the first performances of works by many of his contemporaries, including Honegger, Rivier, Roussel, Ibert, Milhaud, Poulenc and others.

Georges Tzipine

I can't pretend to enjoy Verlaine's dreary verse ("A long black sleep / Descends upon my life: / Sleep, all hope, / Sleep, all desire!"), but French composers at the turn of the century found his poetry irresistible. Vierne does well by these works, as does soprano Yva Barthélémy. Texts and translations are in the download.

Yva Barthélémy

This LP was the second in the Inédits series, which eventually encompassed about 40 LPs. It seems to date from 1969. The sound is excellent.

More Transcriptions from Doris Day

A little over a year ago I posted a memorial to Doris Day than mainly consisted of transcriptions that she recorded in 1952. Those recordings are still available here.

That post, however, did not include all the transcriptions she made in the early 1950s. Now longtime friend of the blog Giampaolo (aka Rio Veneno) has supplied this missing sides, and I have done my best to fix the pitch problems that seem to plague previous releases of these recordings. Last time, it took some help from reader Mac to get it right, so please let me know if these do not sound correct to you.

On these sides, Day is supported by either the Page Cavanaugh Trio or an orchestra led by Van Alexander. The selections are a mix of standards ("Embraceable You," "I've Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)") and the hits of the day ("Slowpoke," "Because You're Mine"). I do know that the song "I've Gotta Sing Away These Blues" also had a commercial release, appearing on the flip side of Day's giant hit, "Que Sera, Sera," from the 1956 film The Man Who Knew Too Much. Not sure if it's the same recording, however.

* * *

A few more items that may be of particular interest for those of you who like vocalists:

First, frequent contributor Bryan Cooper has unearthed a studio disk of Mary Healy singing "Star Dust" on the soundtrack of the 1940 film of the same name. This is a welcome addition to the recent post of her commercial and Second Fiddle soundtrack recordings that Bryan contributed. Thanks, Bryan! You can find "Star Dust" on my singles blog.

Also, reader Eric kindly left a link to the four Tony Martin songs that could be found on the 12-inch version of (A Stroll Through) Melody Lane but were missing from the double-EP edition that I posted. Please see the comments to the post for his link. Thanks, Eric!

Finally, reader Simon Buckmaster is sending us a real find - several unpublished demo disks made by Jeri Sullivan, probably sometime in the 1940s, along with a few commercial recordings I did not know about. These are superb - very much worth hearing, and a welcome addition to the Jeri material we have already published on this blog and the singles blog (with thanks again to Bryan). I hope to bring you Simon's contribution soon.

Rome by Sophia, Lingerie by Yolande

Sophia cover

American television viewers in 1964 were treated to a travelogue of Rome courtesy of Sophia Loren and sponsor Chemstrand, makers of nylon. Sophia Loren in Rome had a score by the illustrious John Barry, which Columbia promptly issued on LP.

Yolande cover

Sponsor Chemstrand decided to issue a promotional LP with excerpts from the Sophia Loren music on one side and the soundtrack of a Chemstrand-sponsored industrial film on the other. The latter was called The Bride Wore Yolande. Yolande was and perhaps still is a purveyor of lingerie made of Chemstrand nylon. You can see its products displayed on both sides of the album cover at right, one devoted to Sophia, one to Yolande. Despite the implication of the top cover, what you see is not Sophia Loren in her nighty.

More about both sides of this promotional LP below.

Sophia Loren in Rome

Sophia Loren in Rome was a follow-up to the successful Elizabeth Taylor in London program of 1963, which also offered a John Barry score.

Along for the ride in Rome was Marcello Mastroianni, who had been paired in a number of films with Loren.

Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren

As is usual with soundtracks, although there are 12 selections, there are only six themes. "Secrets of Rome" comes around four times - versions with large orchestra, small orchestra, a vocal by Loren and a waltz treatment. "Sophia," "Arm in Arm" and "Marcello" are heard in both large and small orchestra form.

When you net all this out, the abridged version of the score on the Chemstrand LP only leaves out one theme ("The Aggressors"). Nonetheless, I don't want anyone to feel short-changed, so the download includes a lossy transfer of the entire commercial LP, which I have remastered. It, like the Chemstrand album, is in mono, but in both cases the sound is pleasing.

Unsurprisingly, Loren showed off the fountains
of Rome during the program

The Bride Wore Yolande

The Bride Wore Yolande had the good fortune to employ the talents of the kinetic Helen Gallagher, who had a very long career on Broadway, winning two Tonys, and on television, winning several Emmys.

Her first song on the LP assures us that, "With the right nightgown, a woman can rule the world!" I am not sure this explains the rise of such women rulers as Margaret Thatcher or Indira Gandhi, but it does make for a catchy ending to her first song, "Live the Life of Yolande." Gallagher's second song, "They Did It with Yolande," expands on this theme, informing us in the process that Salome "got a head" with veils made by Yolande.

Helen Gallagher

For the final two Yolande songs, Gallagher yields the stage to Jill Bartholomew, who admonishes us that "You Shouldn't Have Done It" before assuming the title role of the bride in "What Shall I Wear Tonight." In real life, Bartholomew was the spouse of actor Joseph Campanella, and most of her IMDb credits are game show appearances with her husband. She was also in the ensemble of the short-lived Mary Rodgers-Martin Charnin Broadway show Hot Spot in 1963.

The LP provides no information on who wrote the music or lyrics for this show, other than it was a production of Spectrum Associates.

1963 Yolande ad

Those who like Helen Gallagher may be interested in her previous appearances on this blog. Both of those were in RCA's 1953 "Show Time" series of potted Broadway shows. She belts out "I Got Rhythm" on the Girl Crazy set, and four Cole Porter songs from Anything Goes, including a duet on "You're the Top" with Jack Cassidy.

Neither Sophia Loren in Rome nor The Bride Wore Yolande are on YouTube, but both can be found on DVD. The LP originally included a booklet of fashion drawings entitled "Yolande - Designer's Sketch Book of Lingerie Fashions of the Future," but my copy is missing that insert, sorry!

If you like industrial musicals or other promotional records, I've previously featured The Going Thing for Ford from 1970, The Shape of Tomorrow: A Musical Introduction to 1958 Westinghouse Appliances, the Edsel Dealer Announcement Show, also from 1958, The Real Joy of Living for Schlitz Beer from the late 50s, the Where There's Life Budweiser tie-in from 1960, Warner's Color TV Fashion Show from 1956, and The Two Sides of the J's with Jamie, with that group's commercial work from the early 60s. All can be found via this link.