"Jingle Bells" - Part 60 - Primo Cuts!

We started off in 1948 blast time, so we'll stay there for this version of "Jingle Bells" by the Keynotes with Primo Scala and his Banjo and his Accordion Orchestra, released on London Records:

I must point out that the Keynotes sing "o'er the hills we go" rather than fields and "Oh what joy..." Is that a British thing?

Anyway, the flipside is the first recording of the never-did-quite-catch-on holiday song "The Mistletoe Kiss":

Those sides have a fun old-timey singalong feel to them, but more on that next time.

I've had that 78 for I don't even know how long and just always figured that Primo Scala was a European banjoist who lead a band featuring accordions. 

At some point I learned that "Primo Scala" was actually a pseudonym used by British musician Harry Bidgood. I'm not even sure if he played banjo!

Incidentally, the London Records label was used by British Decca to release recordings in the U.S. (British and American Decca having earlier split off from each other). The original label is shown at the top.

In any event, "Primo" (billed first this time) and the Keynotes had a big U.S. hit earlier in 1948 with the old British tune "Underneath the Arches":

The success of this record spawned a large number of cover versions of the song by American artists in 1948.

The next year, the whole bunch released their version of "Cruising Down the River," a more recent British song:

This one did moderately well in the U.S. but was essentially buried by a zillion other popular recordings!

The biggest version of "Cruising Down the River" was by veteran bandleader Russ Morgan on Decca Records:

That sounds a lot like the Primo Scala record!

Perhaps coincidentally, Russ Morgan also cut a version of "The Mistletoe Kiss" in 1949 (a year after the Primo Scala record):

That has more of a Guy Lombardo feel!

I do "get" that the vocal group is called the Heartbeats because Russ Morgan's theme song was "Does Your Heart Beat for Me?" I always feel smart when I catch 70-odd year old references!

Perhaps my favorite version of the song is the slightly retitled "Mistletoe Kiss Polka" by Margaret Whiting on Capitol Records in 1949:

Fun that Frank De Vol pops up again!

Next we delve a bit more into the "sound" of the Primo Scala record...