Not Expecting That!

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and will have a stress-free Black Friday!

It's definitely the time for Christmas music and with that in mind, I've been checking to see what's new and what's been reissued.

An interesting find is a  collection called "1950's Christmas Classics" in three volumes, which is available on Amazon and probably some other services.

Lurking behind that unassuming title (and artwork) we find mostly pretty deep cuts from the RCA Victor and Columbia families of labels rather than the same familiar (but great) tracks that get reissued all the time. Some good stuff!

In any event, I was surprised to find that Volume 3 includes "Bah! Humbug" by Bob Corley, which I featured way back here!

Also included in Volume 3 is "Chinchy Old Scrooge" by Phil Moore!

Go find this collection!

A nice present and "Bah! Humbug!" totally holds up! 

The Gramophone Company - "Bob Crackett Telling Of Scrooge" (1908) - Bransby Williams - Part 1

"Bob Crackett Telling Of Scrooge" (1908)

Bransby Williams
The Gramophone Company

Bransby Williams returns once again with this 1905 Gramophone Monarch Record.

Give it a listen:

Next: A discussion!

Bonus 78s - Boots and Saddles!

As my custom after watching a musical from the 1930s or 1940 is to listen to the studio recordings (if any) of the songs from the film, so it is with "Boots and Saddles," the 1937 Gene Autry movie featuring Ronald Sinclair, young Scrooge from 1938's "A Christmas Carol."

Gene recorded a couple of the songs that he sang on the movie for the Brunswick umbrella of labels, which show up on Vocalion, Melotone, Conqueror, Perfect, etc.

The records on these budget labels were extremely popular with Gene's fans in rural areas.

So, here's Gene with the more-or-less title song, "Take Me Back to My Boots and Saddle":

Gene also sang "Ridin' the Range" in the movie:

The lyrics of that song don't make the cowboy life sound like too much fun, but it helped convince Ronald's character to want to save the ranch!

Also featured in the movie was "The One Rose (That's Left in My Heart):

That particular song has its roots as a Hawaiian number, but has been performed in all sorts of styles over the years in addition to country versions like Gene's.

I'm particularly partial to the 1937 hit version by the great Larry Clinton band with vocalist Bea Wain on Victor Records:

Good songs can be performed in any style!

William Sterling Battis Returns - Part 3!

Just a couple of notes on "Scrooge" by William Sterling Battis and the year of 1916...

One thing that jumps out at me is that the 12-inch 78 rpm records were $1.25 each.

That seems expensive to me for 1916, so let's convert that into 2022 money... Wow, that would be $32.54! That's a lot for about nine minutes of audio entertainment!

The label also indicates that this is a "Character Impersonation with effects." You do hear some violin and percussion here and there and some research indicates that Ted Levy played the violin and William H. Reitz played the "traps" on the recording.

Both of those musicians were very busy with session work for Victor during the first quarter of the twentieth century.

So, for fun let's hear Ted Levy on violin as part of the Victor String Quartet in 1915:

And William H. Reitz playing the chimes on this 1913 record:

Very charming!

Bringing things back to a Christmas vibe, Mr. Reitz played the chimes on the 1915 recording of "Adeste Fidelis" by legendary Irish tenor John McCormack on the fancy Victrola label:

And while we're here, let's listen to the greatest tenor of all, Enrico Caruso with "Cantique de Noël" from 1916, also on Victrola:

Caruso and McCormack sold tons of records back then and you can hear why: those guys were the goods!

William Sterling Battis Returns - Part 2!

 

I think the "Scrooge" series of records from 1916 by William Sterling Battis are a lot of fun, but, as I mentioned last time, I do have one beef!

It's nothing new, just that Scrooge keeps saying how the visits from the spirits were dreams!

Within the context of this particular adaptation, I can understand Scrooge thinking that the visit from Marley's Ghost was a dream when he wakes up during the night. But after the Ghost of Christmas Past leaves, he thinks that was a dream too. 

So, he would have had to been dreaming that Marley's Ghost visited him, then within that dream he would have dreamed that he woke up, then had a dream within that dream that the Ghost of Christmas Past appeared. And so on...

Makes your head spin after a while!

Of course, Bransby Williams goes as far as to name the parts of his monologue as "Before the Dream," "The Dream" and "After the Dream," so there's no mistaking  his take on it!

Was that a thing then? That it was all a dream or series of dreams?

And if it were a dream, it wouldn't be "A Ghost Story of Christmas," would it?

William Sterling Battis Returns - Part 1!

Hey, if Bransby Williams can return, so can fellow Dickens monologist William Sterling Battis!

With his return he brings us the second 12-inch 78 rpm of his "Scrooge" performance from 1916 on Victor Records, which we didn't have back here.

Let's hear Parts 1 and 2 again:

And now the much-anticipated (by me anyway!) Parts 3 and 4:

Next: My beef with it!

Bonus 78s - Sailing Along!

If you've been paying attention, you'll know it's time to hear some recordings of the songs from 1938's "Sailing Along" starring Jessie Matthews! 

Jessie cut the four main songs from the movie for British Decca backed by Peter Yorke and his Orchestra.

Here's the coupling of "Souvenir of Love" and "Trusting My Love":

And here's "Your Heart Skips a Beat" backed with "My River":

Sounds good!

Decca also had Sidney Lipton and his Grosvenor House Orchestra record "Souvenir of Love" and "Trusting My Luck" with the great Al Bowlly on vocals:

Al Bowlly was just a great singer. He's best-known for his many recordings with Ray Noble both in England and the U.S.

RCA had British bandleader Roy Fox record the same two songs (flipping them as the A and B sides) which they released in America on the Bluebird label:

To top it all off, RCA also had the musical director of "Sailing Along," Lou Levy, record all four songs on two sides on their British His Master's Voice label featuring vocalists Gerry Fitz Gerald and Eve Becke:

Lou Levy worked on a ton of British films including the Alfred Hitchcock classics "The 39 Steps" and "The Lady Vanishes."

Lots of good recordings of the "Sailing Along" songs!

Bonus 78s - Gangway!

Since I was just talking about the 1937 movie "Gangway" starring Jessie Matthews and Barry MacKay and since I never pass up the opportunity to listen to some 78rpm records, let's hear some of the songs from the movie!

The film's main four featured songs all had studio recordings by Jessie Matthews on British Decca, backed by Jay Wilbur and his Band. 

Here's the title song:

What's interesting is that although it's the title song, within the context of the movie it's a song that Jessie's character had heard in a stage production and she performs it for a co-worker. So, it's sort of from the movie but sort of not, you know?

The flipside is "Lord and Lady Whoozis" (which was sung as a duet with Barry in the movie):

Interesting to note that the Australian label says the song is from the film "Sparkles." That's the name of the jewel thief whom Jessie is suspected as being. I wonder if that was the original pre-release title.

Another duet in the movie was "Moon or No Moon":

And then there's the snappy "When You Gotta Sing You Gotta Sing":

I always enjoy tap dancing sounds on records and if you're going to namedrop Fred Astaire in the lyrics, why not?

I like the very 1930s sound on those records. Jessie's singing style seems very much of the period as well, kind of in the Deanna Durbin and Snow White (from the Disney film) family.

I don't think that these records of Jessie Matthews were released in America, but Decca did have American releases of the versions of the same four songs recorded by popular British bandleader Ambrose, whom we heard with "Winter Wonderland" not too long ago.

Here's "Gangway" featuring vocalist Evelyn Dall:

For the flipside, this version of "Lord and Lady Whoozis" keeps it as duet, with Sam Browne and future star Vera Lynn:

Then Sam Browne gets a solo vocal on "Moon or No Moon":

And the Manhattan Trio (per the original British label) sings "When You Gotta Sing You Gotta Sing":

I like these Ambrose records a lot, as I'm partial to dance band records anyway, and they offer a nice contrast to Jessie Matthews's versions.

Good 1930s fun!

Bonus Song - "Ooh! You Miser You" (1934)

Inspired by "An American Christmas Carol," we hang around the 1930s with this snappy little number that a Depression-era Belle could have sung to a Depression-era Ebenezer:

That's a fun record from Don Bestor and his Orchestra on Victor Records in 1934!

Don Bestor was best-known as the spats-wearing orchestra leader on Jack Benny's radio program way back when. So long ago that Jack might actually have been 39 at the time!

After a bit of banter during the show, Jack would instruct Mr. Bestor to perform a musical number by saying, "Play, Don..." which became something of a catchphrase.

An interesting artifact of this is that Groucho Marx says, "Play, Don..." to the unimpressed conductor who is about to start the overture in 1935's "A Night at the Opera." I imagine most modern viewers have no idea what he means!

In case the Depression-era Ebenezer wants his turn, this version by Tom Berwick and his Orchestra on Bluebird has him covered:

That's also fun!

I think "Tom Berwick" was a pseudonym used by the Bluebird label for various bands, but who knows at this point!

The vocal is by the ubiquitous Dick Robertson, who sang on a zillion records back then!

Love those 1930s records!

Of Pocket Books and Whatnot...

While thinking about the edition of "A Christmas Carol" published in 1939, I was reminded that one of those stray trivia things it seems like I've always known is that the first Pocket Book to be released was "Lost Horizon" by James Hilton. Haven't had much practical use for that fact until now, I guess!

And, of course, the star of the classic 1937 movie version of "Lost Horizon" was Ronald Colman. It's been a couple of days since I last mentioned Ronald Colman, so there we go!

Here's a nice-looking trailer for a theatrical reissue:

And for even more fun, here's Ronald Colman starring in an adaptation of "Lost Horizon" recorded for Decca Records in 1944:

Interesting to note that this is an adaptation of the book, not the movie per se.

This 78 rpm album was a follow-up Decca's earlier recording of "A Christmas Carol" from 1941. I may have mentioned that one once or twice!

A bit more trivia: the kangaroo's name is Gertrude!

Basil Rathbone - "The Night Before Christmas" (1942)

"The Night Before Christmas" (1942)

Basil Rathbone

Columbia Records

We now turn from the mash-up of "A Christmas Carol" and "The Night Before Christmas" to a straightforward recording of the poem by frequent Scrooge portrayer Basil Rathbone.

"The Night Before Christmas" being the colloquial title of "A Visit from St. Nicholas," the famous poem credited to Clement C. Moore.

I say "credited to" because there is apparently some debate over whether Moore actually wrote the poem, which was originally published anonymously. Such matters don't matter an awful lot in the general scheme of things, but it's interesting.

In any event, this 12-inch 78rpm record was released by Columbia Records.

Give it a listen:

I've seen this record occasionally listed as being from 1939, but the 1942 date seems more appropriate, as it has a cappella backing from the Robert Mitchell Boychoir with no orchestration, befitting the 1942-1944 musicians' strike and the resulting recording ban.

 

1942 was also the release year for Basil's recording of "A Christmas Carol," which no doubt had a much longer production schedule.

Here's the flipside of "Night Before," "Little Jesus":

Basil Rathbone and Christmas - a good combination!

"Uncle Mistletoe" - Eddy Howard and his Orchestra (1949)

"Uncle Mistletoe"(1949)

Eddy Howard and his Orchestra

Mercury Records

So, as mentioned, the song "Scrooge" recorded by Roye Goodrich made me think of the song "Ebenezer Scrooge" recorded by Eddy Howard. And this in turn made me think of "Uncle Mistletoe," also recorded by Eddy Howard!

Uncle Mistletoe is not a Scrooge-like character, but doesn't he totally look like a reformed Scrooge?

Here he is keeping the Santa line moving along:

I don't have any firsthand Uncle Mistletoe experience, but apparently he was well-known in the Chicago area as the holiday mascot for Marshall Field's department store.

He was created in response to Montgomery Ward's Christmas mascot, a young fellow known as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!

Uncle M's song from 1949 obviously was nowhere near as popular as Rudolph's from the same year, but they did get it recorded by the Three Suns on RCA Victor and Owen Bradley on Coral in addition to Eddy Howard on Mercury.

Here's Eddy's record:

Also non-Scroogey for Uncle Mistletoe is that he avoided a Belle situation by marrying Aunt Holly!

"Scrooge" - Roye Goodrich with the Holidays (1952) - Part 3

A few thoughts about the song "Scrooge" as recorded by Roye Goodrich and the Holidays for King Records in 1952...

The song seems pretty obscure. I think it was just recorded that one time. And that one time being on the independent King label by an unknown artist, if it didn't catch on, it was gone.

I'm presuming the publishers would have love to have had the song recorded by name artists on bigger labels.

Flash-forward a year to 1953 and a very similar song, "Ebenezer Scrooge" (discussed here) was making the rounds and got recorded by Teresa Brewer on Coral and Eddy Howard on Mercury. And that song went nowhere either!

The two songs are really similar. Coincidence? At this point who knows?

What probably is a coincidence is that the flip side of Roye Goodrich's record is called "Home for the Holidays," but it's not the same song as "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays," which was published in 1954, a couple of years later.

That song became a holiday standard when it was recorded that year by Perry Como!

In any event, as a bonus here's Roye Goodrich with Holidays' recording of "Home for the Holidays":

"Scrooge" - Roye Goodrich with the Holidays (1952) - Part 2

If you got a chance to listen to King Records' 1952 release of "Scrooge" by Roye Goodrich with the Holidays, I hope you liked it!

Finding little obscure gems like that really scratches an itch for me!

Here's what "Billboard" Magazine said about this release in its November 22, 1952 issue:

I don't know anything about Roye Goodrich, but he sounds very 1952 on this record!

They seemed to be going for the big pre-rock type sound I associate with Columbia Records and the productions of Mitch Miller and Ray Conniff.

He reminds me of somebody? Don Cherry, maybe?

"Billboard" nails it with this review from the August 22, 1952 issue of an earlier Rooye Goodrich release:

It actually surprised me a bit to hear this style on a record from King, as I associate them with country artists like Moon Mullican and Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas, as that's what they're best-remembered for these days.

In any event, it doesn't seem that Roye Goodrich's career never really went anywhere. It was probably already stalled out, but the emergence of rock and roll put his type of singing out of business.

For fun, here's Roye with the overdone "Jungle Drums":

"Scrooge" - Roye Goodrich with the Holidays (1952) - Part 1

"Scrooge" (1952)

Roye Goodrich with the Holidays

King Records

Here's an obscure little single from Roye Goodrich with the Holidays on King Records from 1952!

Give it a listen:

I think it's awesome!

Bonus: Charles Laughton - "Mr. Pickwick's Christmas" (Decca Records 1944)

"Mr. Pickwick's Christmas" (1944)
Charles Laughton
Decca Records

Watching "The Pickwick Papers" (1952) naturally put me in a Pickwick mood, so I immediately thought of this 1944 78rpm record album from Decca Records featuring Charles Laughton reading "Mr. Pickwick's Christmas."

This particular recording seems inextricably linked with Ronald Colman's Decca recording of "A Christmas Carol" ever since they were reissued as two sides of an LP in 1950.

It's a lot of fun, so give it a listen:

And don't forget that Charles Laughton recorded his own version of "A Christmas Carol" for RCA Victor in 1951, as discussed here, here, here and here!

"Dickens' The Christmas Carol" - Bret Morrison (1953) - Part 2

Some words about Bret Morrison's "The Christmas Carol," recorded in 1953 for Cricket Records...

I really like these old kiddie records if they're well done and I think this one is. Bret Morrison has a great voice and has the right level of enthusiasm yet authority that would make a kid listen!

Despite the label claiming there's a "full cast" involved, I think Bret's doing all the voices. This puts me in mind of Ireene Wicker's recording from 1949, which I discussed here.

Bret gets about twice as long to tell the story as Ireene did and manages to get a lot in there, getting the main points across.

(You do need to hear the scratchy old 78 to get the full story, as the later LP compilations have an edited version that makes some questionable cuts at the end, although the sound is much better.)

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come speaks on this record and this plus what he says about newer buildings make me think of the 1941 Ronald Colman recording. But I think about that one a lot!

This spirit says that the people talking about Scrooge refer to him as "Old Scratch," but we resolved that issue here - I think!

All in all, something fun to keep those kids entertained in those pre-video dark ages!

"Dickens' The Christmas Carol" - Bret Morrison (1953) - Part 1

"Dickens' The Christmas Carol" (1953)
Scrooge: Bret Morrison
Cricket Records

We stay in the audio world for this record with an old-time radio connection: "The Shadow" star Bret Morrison performing "The(?) Christmas Carol" for Cricket Records!

It won't even cost you seven minutes, so give it a listen:

Pretty fun!

Bonus Phil Moore!

The question from last time was whether we were done with Phil Moore. The answer of course is a resounding NO!

When I think of Phil Moore, I actually think of a couple of snappy WWII era songs that he wrote.

If you were to do word association thing with me and said, "Phil Moore," my answer would be "Shoo-Shoo Baby!"

That was a song sung by the Andrews Sisters in the movie "Three Cheers for the Boys" and their single of the song on Decca Records was a huge hit in 1944:

From my penchant for reading record labels and such, I knew that someone named Phil Moore had written this sing before I knew there was a group called the Phil Moore Four. I don't know how I ever found out anything in those dark, pre-Internet days!

I also like the song "I'm Gonna See My Baby" (also 1944) which I was familiar with by way of Johnny Mercer's version on Capitol Records, the flipside of his huge hit "Candy" (sung with the great Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers):

Thanks to the Internet, I was finally able to hear Phil Moore's version of "I'm Gonna See My Baby" with the Phil Moore Four from his earlier stint on RCA Victor Records:

Phil's version is definitely jazzier than Johnny's big band record. I get a strong King Cole Trio vibe, which is a beautiful thing!

Here's "Billboard's" take:

Interesting to know it was his wax bow!

OK, we'll leave  Phil Moore alone for a while!

"Chinchy Old Scrooge" - Phil Moore with the Phil Moore Four (1953) - Part 4

While mining the pop culture reference points for Phil Moore's 1953 RCA Victor recording of "Chinchy Old Scrooge," I can't let it pass without pointing out the one person who gets name-dropped...

One particular line goes, "This ain't a fit night out for Clyde McCoy!"

Being somewhat hip by 1953 standards myself, I immediately recognize Clyde McCoy as the embodiment of corny music. He was a popular bandleader and trumpet player who featured the ultimate "wah-wah" sound on his horn. (This circuitously led to the non-corny wah-wah pedal for guitars in the 1960s, but that's another story!)

His type of square music is typical of what the bop cats were rebelling against. The difference between Clyde McCoy as a trumpeter and, say, Dizzy Gillespie is incalculable!

The thing is that I think Clyde McCoy is awesome! I absolutely love his theme song "Sugar Blues." He recorded it a few times, but my favorite is his 1935 version for Decca Records:

I love hipsters vs. squares circa 1953!

Just to provide a bit of context, here are "Billboard" magazine's top ten best selling singles from November 28, 1953, when "Chinchy Old Scrooge" was released:

I know all those records very well and they're not without merit, but they are pretty square!

The spiritual successor to Clyde McCoy is Pee Wee Hunt with his version of "Oh!"

So, are we done with Phil Moore?