Still in a 1940s mood, let's celebrate New Year's Eve with a handful of 78s!
To ring in the 1940s, we start off at the end of 1939 with this typically idiosyncratic (in a good way) cut from the Raymond Scott Quintet on Columbia Records:
Always fun!
Of note is that the tricky trumpet part is played by Russ Case, later a prominent arranger/conductor for RCA Victor, working a lot with Perry Como.
Next up is Bing Crosby with another song from Irving Berlin's score for "Holiday Inn" on Decca:
Fun that Bing's brother Bob provides the backing with his band!
Leader Kay Kyser (right) introduces singer Harry Babbitt.
We jump ahead to 1947 for Kay Kyser's version of Frank Loesser's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" featuring Harry Babbitt on Columbia:
That's my favorite recording of that song. I'm always partial to big bands and Harry Babbitt might be my favorite band vocalist, having recorded a ton of great work with the Kyser band.
Another vocal group name to make me feel retro-smart is the Campus Kids. Kay Kyser's popular radio show was The Kollege of Musical Knowledge" so I get it!
I understand that Frank Loesser didn't think this song should be played at New Year's as the point is that the singer is jumping the gun with the title question. But, it does give a lot of people a chance to hear it every year, which can't be said of most 75-or-so-year-old songs!
Spike hopes his earmuffs block Doodles Weaver's "singing!"
We move to 1948 for the flipside of the massive Spike Jones hit "All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) on RCA Victor:
I love that record! Having listened to so many Spike Jones recordings and radio shows, I feel like I actually know Sir Fredrick Gas, George Rock and Doodles Weaver, so I really enjoy hearing their resolutions!
Doodles really crams a lot in there!
And it's not a 1940s New Year without Guy Lombardo, is it? So here's the Royal Canadian's 1947 Decca record of "Auld Lange Syne":
Another popular singer of the 1950s to record "Jingle Bells" later her in her career was Teresa Brewer!
She included the tune as part of a medley with "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" on a 1979 EP from RCA Special Products.
Here are both sides:
I have no idea what the whole thing is about, as that's very late in the game for an 45 rpm EP!
She sounds similar to how she did in her hot-making heyday, but definitely older.
Speaking of said heyday, she had a (much) earlier Christmas EP on Coral Records back in 1953, which gathered up a couple of her holiday singles, including "Ebenezer Scrooge."
Here are both sides of that EP:
That's how we know her best!
She had a knack for novelty sings and could sing a kid-oriented one such as "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" without being cloying, which is not an easy trick!
During my hunting around, I found that there was sheet music issued for "Ebenezer Scrooge" with Teresa's picture on it, but I can only find this teeny tiny picture of it:
Something else upon which I would like to get my mitts!
Teresa Brewer first rose to fame as an 18-year-old when her record of "Music! Music! Music!" became a huge hit in 1950:
Easy to see why that caught on, as it's still so infectious!
And that's some lineup of musicians, including Ernie Caceres, who played and sang on Glenn Miller's version of "Jingle Bells!"
Now that we're past the Christmas holiday (and Boxing Day) let's continue along with "Jingle Bells" and popular female vocalists with Rosemary Clooney and this wacky promotional item:
That's a laminated postcard that plays the jingle at 78 rpm!
I have one of these in my collection and it's tough to get it to play!
It's obviously from the mid-1950s, but is it from 1955 with the intention of looking forward to the newest model Ford or is it from 1956 with the intention of moving the current ones?
In any event, it's a lot of fun!
Rosemary Clooney wound up recording a "real" version of "Jingle Bells" in 1978 for her Christmas album on Misteltoe Records.
This was after she made a comeback following some tough years, but she's in good voice!
Of course, her most famous Christmas-related project was with her costarring role in the 1954 movie "White Christmas":
I'd say her best-known Christmas recording was "Suzy Snowflake" from 1951:
Suzy never reached the level of Rudolph or Frosty, but it's a cute song!
Like Patti Page, Rosemary Clooney started her career as a young vocalist while the Big Band Era was still going on and she first came to national fame with her sister Betty singing with Tony Pastor's band for a few years in the late 1940s.
She embarked on a solo career in 1949 and hit the bigtime with this novelty number from 1951:
I do need to point out that "Come On-A My House" was co-written by acclaimed novelist William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian, Ross being better-known as David Seville, creator of the Chipmunks!
We come to the end of our 1940s Christmas music playlist with a 1949 song that's one of the best-known Christmas songs ever: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!"
Gene Autry was the first to record the song on Columbia Records:
Rudolph's rise to fame in the music world parallels his story as the song was rejected all over town until Gene Autry recorded it as an afterthought and next thing you know, Rudolph and his song went down in history!
Rudolph started as an advertising character for Montgomery Ward (a once-mighty chain of department stores) created by Robert L. May in 1939. May's brother in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, adapted he character into the song, which eventually was recorded by Mr. Autry.
The success of that song following Gene's earlier hit "Here Comes Santa Claus" from 1947 established him as the foremost purveyor of Christmas novelty songs. Despite his huge success as as singing cowboy in movies, Gene's most famous these days for those songs.
So many versions available for 1950!
"Rudolph" was so popular during the 1949 holiday season that it seemed like everyone who passed on the song before took a crack at it in 1950!
There's always a twist, though, isn't there? Peruse this ad from the "Billboard" issue of October 1 1949:
That indicates that Eddy Howard had already recorded his version for Mercury Records!
And, indeed, the issue from December 31, 1949 shows it as available on Mercury Record number 5360:
So, unless the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come was working for "Billboard" magazine, Eddy's record was released in 1949, despite most sources saying it was 1950.
Let's give it a listen:
Fun effects on that one, but no points for copy editing on the label!
(Don't forget Eddy's recordings of the not-as-successful advertising character "Uncle Mistletoe" and not-as-loveable "Ebenezer Scrooge!")
That "Billboard" blurb also mentioned that "Rudolph" was also available by T. (Ted) Black on Dana Records, so let's listen to that one too:
That's also fun!
So, the moral of the story is that Gene Autry didn't have the only recording of "Rudolph" that was available in 1949, it's just that his was the first and by far the most popular!
We have one more rendition from 1949, this from the "Fibber McGee and Molly" show of December 6 featuring "Teeny" (Marian Jordan) singing with the King's Men:
Those lyrics are so different! Where did they come from? Did Ken Darby of the King's Men do a rewrite?
Incidentally, you may recognize announcer Harlow Wilcox from his similar duties on Basil Rathbone's recording of "A Christmas Carol" from 1942!
A couple of 1950's new recordings of note include Bing Crosby's version on Decca Records:
The way the song is presented plays more like a radio version to me, like an arrangement they would do on Bing's show, but not so much on a record. Unlike Gene Autry's version, it doesn't (teddy) bear up to repeated listening.
But fun to hear Rudolph make a little cameo appearance!
Whose nose is redder - Rudolph's or Spike's?
Another 1950 version of note to me is the one by Spike Jones and his City Slickers on RCA Victor:
Fascinating that Rudolph (himself) sings the whole song in the first person, expanding upon the Bing Crosby version, as if the events were happening in real time!
That's a really cute Rudolph voice. I think it's by Marian Richman, as she's credited with doing Peter Cottontail's voice on Spike's 1951 record of that song and it sounds similar. It's definitely not George Rock as I sometimes see!
Spike's version is also set up like a little audio skit and Spike's writer Eddie Maxwell even gets label credit!
Let's jump ahead to 1960 with one more version that also has a little framing story. It's by the Chipmunks from the Liberty Records LP "Around the World with the Chipmunks" also released as a single:
Rudolph's voice is closing in on the one from the famous Rankin/Bass TV special from 1964!
The original context of this cut was that David Seville and the Chipmunks met Rudolph while visiting the North Pole on their trip around the world. It was later included on the "Christmas with the Chipmunks" LP from 1962 and the countless reissues since.
There have been a zillion other recordings of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," but just like in the movies, Gene Autry always comes out on top!
Our 1940s Christmas music playlist certainly includes some songs that have more or less slipped through the cracks and we have another one today: "Merry Christmas Waltz."
This one did get a couple of recordings at the time, including this gem from Buddy Clark on Columbia Records:
This was one of the last songs recorded by Buddy Clark, who tragically passed away in a plane crash on October 1, 1949, about a month after the recording date.
Capitol also got in on the tune with Gordon MacRae:
I think Buddy Clark and Gordon MacRae offer an interesting contrast in their vocals.
Buddy, to me, is kind of conversational and sounds like what a normal person would sound like if said normal person had a really great voice. Gordon also had a great voice, but sounds like a singer, you know?
We have one more recording of "The Merry Christmas Waltz" from 1949, this one on Decca from the ubiquitous Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians:
That is full-on Lombardo, which must have seemed so dated to anyone with even the slightest amount of hipness in 1949!
I think Kenny Gardner was a good vocalist. He can't compete with Buddy Clark or Gordon MacRae, but he goes along with the schmaltz instead of fighting it!
I don't think RCA Victor had a recording of "Merry Christmas Waltz" for whatever reason, but they did have society pianist/bandleader cut a competing 1949 song, "Our Christmas Waltz":
That's pleasant, but not a lot of oomph.
Decca also got out a version of "Our Christmas Waltz" by country superstar Red Foley with Judy Martin:
Same song, totally different style. Larry Green and Red Foley weren't competing for the same gigs!
I feel I must point out that while Red sings "Our Christmas waltz," Green Vocalist Ray Dorey sings "The Christmas Waltz." Was there a reason?
The smaller Rondo label also got out a version that wouldn't be confused with either of the other two. It features star organist Ken Griffin with vocalists Karen Ford and Bill Snary:
The organ certainly gives it a holiday vibe. And this uses both "our" and "the" in there!
If we jump back a year to 1948, there was a different song titled "The Christmas Waltz" and think it got just one recording, which was by country artist Cliffie Stone on Capitol:
That's very nice too and pairs well with Red Foley's record.
None of these songs went anywhere, but a Christmas waltz song finally broke through in 1954 with Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne's "The Christmas Waltz" recorded by Frank Sinatra on Capitol:
Frank re-recorded it a couple of times and several other artists have also recorded it, so Christmas waltzing goes on!
Let's sneak in one more unique recording, this one also titled "Merry Christmas Waltz," by Gene Autry on Columbia in 1955:
Nice tune and rare non-novelty holiday offering from Gene!
Here's another 1949 song for our Christmas music playlist that didn't see a lot of recorded action: "Ol' Saint Nicholas."
I think the only recording was by Doris Day on Columbia Records:
The "Male Quartet" mentioned on the label is apparently the Sportsmen Quartet, who did a lot of vocal backing on radio and records. We heard a bunch of examples back here.
I think that's a fun record and a snappy little song, so I wonder why nobody else recorded it.
It was the flipside of Doris's version of "Here Comes Santa Claus" and "Billboard" gave both sides a positive review in the October 8, 4949 issue:
The song "Ol' Saint Nicholas" really didn't "draw plenty of play" at the time, so it's very curious to me why it popped up again a couple of years later in the Warner Brothers movie "The Winning Team," again sung by Doris Day in a Christmas scene from the movie:
Doris Day was just adorable!
"The Winning Team" was a 1952 biopic of baseball Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander, so it wasn't Christmassy and you'd think "Ol' Saint Nicholas" had been forgotten. But, there you go!
The actor playing Alexander looks familiar to me. I wonder if he ever made a name for himself?
Our 1940s Christmas music playlist hangs around 1949 with both sides of a Christmas single on MGM Records by the great Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys!
Here's "When It's Christmas on the Range":
And the flipside, "Santa's on His Way":
I like that a lot! I love the Western Swing sound and always appreciate unique songs!
But the Scrooges at "Billboard" didn't like this one either:
I don't know if "When It's Christmas on the Range" was ever properly recorded by anybody else. There are some similarly-titled songs out there, but they're different songs.
An intriguing one was recorded by Eddy Howard in 1940 on Columbia Records:
Not too westerny, this catches Eddy after he had left the Dick Jurgens band but before he started his own band, which caught on in 1946.
Coincidentally, singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely had an album of Christmas carols on Capitol Records in 1949 with the title "Christmas on the Range." Really nice, but no relation!
I think there was only one other recording of "Santa's on His Way," although there are bunch of similarly-titled songs for it too!
The version in question of "Santa's on His Way" comes from a likely source: latter-day Western Swing torch carriers Asleep at the Wheel, who included a faithful version on their 2006 album "Santa Loves to Boogie":
The Wheel has a couple of Christmas albums out there and they're a blast!
George Strait has also been known to remake some Bob Wills songs, so when his 1999 album "Merry Christmas Wherever You Are" came out and I saw that one track was titled "Santa's on His Way," I thought it might be the same song.
Still in 1949 with our 1940s Christmas music playlist, we move back into the country field with a not overly recorded song: "An Old Christmas Card."
Here's Ray Smith on Columbia Records:
I always thought it was interesting that the song almost seems sad until you realize that the singer is still together with the card-giver and not pining over lost love!
The flipside is an update of "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas":
I think that's a nice little record, but "Billboard" wasn't overly impressed in the review from the September 10, 1949 issue:
I find the "Billboard" reviews fascinating, as they're basically snap judgements from the critics upon hearing the record and not always indicative of what the public thought.
Both of those songs were written/adapted by Vaughn Horton, who was a member of the Pinetoppers group with Ray Smith.
The Pinetoppers had their own version of "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" on Coral Records in 1951:
I don't know if Ray Smith was involved with that record, but he did sing with the Marlin Sisters on some Coral records.
I first knew the Vaughn Horton adaptation of "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" from the 1949 Decca recording by Stubby and the Buccaneers:
That's the definitive version to me. I'm a sucker for a novelty group!
As for "An Old Christmas Card," it didn't really go anywhere until Jim Reeves included it on his 1963 RCA Victor album "Twelve Songs of Christmas" and also released it as a single:
Good job by whoever remembered the song, as it suits Jim so well.
The big difference in this recording is the narration that wasn't present in Ray Smith's record.
But things take an interesting turn as there was another recording of "An Old Christmas Card" in the 1940s:
I haven't heard this one, don't know Jimmy Atkins or Don Baker and I'm not familiar with the Continental label.
But, there's a little blurb in the January 3, 1948 issue of "Billboard" magazine:
Two things: The record must have been released in 1947, two years before Ray Smith's and it has "talking" after the first chorus! Is that the same narration used by Jim Reeves?
"Billboard" then reviewed the record again (a touch more favorably this time) in the October 15, 1949 issue as if it were a new release:
Jimmy Atkins "recites," eh? Hmmm...
Another piece of the puzzle is that "Jim" Atkins recorded with the Pinetoppers on Coral Records:
So I'm surmising that Jimmy Atkins and Ray Smith both recorded "An Old Christmas Card" because they were friends with Vaughn Horton through the Pinetoppers.
In any event, now another one of my tasks is to hear Jimmy's record of it somehow!
Strictly coincidental I'm sure is that Chet Atkins produced Jim Reeves's version!
"An Old Christmas Card" has gotten some additional waxings (as "Billboard" would say!) post-Jim Reeves and one that caught my ear is from veteran Canadian country music singer Wilf Carter on his 1965 "Christmas in Canada" album on RCA's Camden label:
I'm presuming it was the Reeves recording that brought the song to Wilf's attention, but I find the vibe more like Ray Smith's, although Wilf includes a (somewhat-different-from-Jim-Reeves) recitation.
Wilf's delivery is very non-Jim Reeves, but has its own old-school charm.
The whole album sounds so old-school in fact, that the opening tracks are actually from an old single from 1950 on RCA Victor, when Wilf Carter was using his American nickname of Montana Slim. They don't sound out of place except that they're mono vs. the stereo of the new recordings.
Intriguingly, one of the sides of the 1950 single is "Jolly Old St. Nicholas":
So, that's basically the same song as Ray Smith's version, but without the "Jingle, jingle, tinkle, tinkle..." part, which I'm presuming was Vaughn Horton's contribution to the traditional song.
Presumably the lack of the "jingle" part is why the label of the Montana Slim just indicates it's a traditional song rather than giving a writer credit. It probably doesn't mean much, but this label does abbreviate "Saint" rather than having it spelled out.
The Canadian label doesn't give an indication of the authorship at all:
Wilf Carter with The Calgary Stampeders, though!
But the label of that 1965 album using that 1950 recording does credit Vaughn Horton as the writer:
Should Vaughn Horton have been credited back in 1950 and somebody squawked? I guess we'll never know!
