Bonus 78s - Recording Ban Movie Songs - Part 1 - 1943!

                                           

While discussing the song "I Love You," I had mentioned the strike by the American Federation of Musicians that led to a recording ban that started in 1942 and was not fully settled until the end of 1944 and how, as a result, the record companies released some sides that featured singers with no instrumental backing.

What has always struck me about that whole scene is how those a cappella records were especially needed so consumers could buy records of songs they had heard in movies.

Not that movies were the only source of hit songs, but there a lot of movie musicals in the 1940s and they did generate a lot of hit songs.

So, I thought we should listen to a few a cappella recordings of hit movie songs!

We start off with some 1943 records from Decca.

It seems to me that Decca had more of these singers-only releases and I presume it's because they really needed to keep new material flowing, as Decca was just a record label, unlike the heavyweight RCA Victor and Columbia labels, which were part of larger business conglomerates that didn't rely only on record sales to make money.

I'm also presuming that's why they settled with the musicians' union in 1943, well over a year before Victor and Columbia.

In any event, Decca had the biggest singing star of the day on their roster - Bing Crosby!

Bing had hit movie after hit movie, generating hit song after hit song, so you can see why they wanted new Crosby records.

From his movie "Dixie," here's Bing with his huge hit "Sunday, Monday or Always" with the Ken Darby Singers providing the vocal backing:

I like the sound of that a lot!

And of course I need to mention that Ken Darby had provided the vocal arrangements on Ronald Colman's 1941 recording of "A Christmas Carol," which was also on the Decca label! 

Decca had recently signed a new singing star, Dick Haymes, so they needed to make sure they put out some records by him so the public would not lose interest.

So, he teamed with the Song Spinners on a series of releases including a number of movie songs.

Here's their big hit version of the Oscar-winning "You'll Never Know," which had been introduced by Alice Faye in the movie "Hello, Frisco, Hello":

I think that sounds terrific!

Dick and the Song Spinners also scored with "It Can't Be Wrong," based on Max Steiner's theme for the Bette Davis picture "Now, Voyager":

Another good one!

Let's hear one more! Here's "In My Arms" from MGM's "See Here, Private Hargrove" (In which it was sung by Bob Crosby):

Dick Haymes had recently left Tommy Dorsey's band after having previously sung with Benny Goodman and Harry James and I think he never sounded better than on these records with the Song Spinners!

Also on the Decca roster was popular radio singer Kay Armen, and she cut some sides with the Balladiers (whoever they are), including "How Sweet You Are," which was sung by Dinah Shore in the all-star Warner Brothers movie "Thank Your Lucky Stars":

That's another lovely record!

Dinah Shore was on the RCA Victor label at the time and she did make some a cappella records for them, but not this song. Victor may not have gone down that road yet, though. 

We'll get to Dinah soon!

I don't get the impression that these records are held in high esteem by 1940s music fans, but I like them a lot from both musical and historical perspectives!