When discussing the 1937 Warner Brothers Movie "Varsity Show," I mentioned that among the members of Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians who portrayed college students were the saxophone-playing McFarland Twins.
I also mentioned that they co-led a band after leaving the Waring organization.
Since you don't hear much about them, why don't we listen to some of their records?
First off, from 1940 on the Okeh label (a subsidiary of Columbia), we have their theme song, "Darkness":
In addition to being a big band buff, I'm also a them song aficionados, so I love to hear the theme songs of various bands. And "Darkness" sounds like a theme song!
For the flipside, Bert Ennis and the Glee Club return for "The Bells of St. Mary's":
You may notice that the label says "Sweet and Swing Time with the McFarland Twins and their Orch," so they're obviously trying for a catchy "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye"-type slogan.
By 1941 they were going with the catchier "Music that Wins by the McFarland Twins," as seen on this Okeh recording of "I Close My Eyes" with Bert Ennis:
The flipside of that record is the patriotic "We're All Americans," which includes the Norton Sisters, who were later featured with Vaughn Monroe, among the many singers:
It seems like the McFarland Twins cut a number of novelty records, many with a patriotic theme as the country was preparing for war.
In addition to the Sammy Kaye-type slogan, I get a Sammy Kaye-type vibe from the McFarland Twins on the whole.
So, it may not be surprising that future Sammy Kaye star vocalist Don Cornell had been singing with the McFarland Twins when he was "discovered" by Sammy!
Don was with the band when they cut a session for Bluebird Records in 1942.
Since WWII was in full swing by then, the patriotic novelties kept coming, including "Hey! Zeke," which was the band's most popular record:
It's corny but fun!
The flipside is a Waring-irsh version of the old Paul Whiteman hit "When Day is Done":
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