"College Rhythm" (1934)

Still in Movieland, we move into 1934 with the title song from "College Rhythm," another collegiate picture from Paramount!

Fascinatingly (I think), star Jack Oakie recorded the song on the budget Melotone family of labels!

Let's give it a listen:

Jack Oakie wasn't really a singer, but he could carry the occasional tune in the many musicals in which he appeared, often as a college football player!

I think this record, which paired "College Rhythm" with "Pick a Number from One to Ten" from the same film, was Jack's only commercial recording.

Equally fascinating (I also think) is that one of Jack's costars from the movie, the lovely and talented, Lyda Roberti, cut the same two songs for Columbia Records for her only commercial recording!

Let's give Lyda's recording of "College Rhythm" a listen:

Lyda shows off her trademark fractured English to comic effect!

Lyda Roberti was a very charming presence in a number of 1930s films before passing away from a heart ailment in 1938.

Lyda was backed by Jimmie Grier on her record and Jimmie also recorded the song with his band on Brunswick Records:

For another version, let's listen to singer/trumpeter Johnnie "Scat" Davis and his band on Decca Records:

That song suits "Scat" very well!

Now let's flip these records over to hear these all of these artists tackle "Pick a Number from One to Ten" from "College Rhythm" as well!

We'll snake it, so Johnnie Davis is up first:

Now Jimmie Grier with Betty Roth and the Three Cheers (Disclaimer: Not the actual flipside!):

Next is Lyda Roberti:

And back to Jack Oakie:

And just for fun, here's a clip of Jack and Lyda performing the title song:

Good fun all around!

"Lonely Lane" (1933)

Leaving the busy Old Ox Road, we run across a "Lonely Lane" in the form of this song from the Warner Brothers picture "College Coach" from 1933!

It's not specifically a college song, but Dick Powell croons the tune as a college football player in the movie.

Dick did get a chance to record the tune for Brunswick Records:

Solid job as always from Mr. Powell!

What's curious to me is that the song seems to have gotten more recordings by British artists at the time. Fair enough, but the movie was re-titled "Football Coach" for England!

Isn't that sort of backwards? Wouldn't British audiences expect a story about soccer?

Although he's featured on the British sheet music, I don't think Ambrose recorded the song.

British bandleader Roy Fox did, however, so here's his band with vocalist Peggy Dell on British Decca:

Very good and I kinda like Peggy Dell! I wonder if she's still hanging around the Kit Kat Restaurant?

"Down the Old Ox Road" (1933)

Staying in 1933, we come across the Paramount picture "College Humor," which naturally has a campus setting!

Although it's something of a frothy musical, the movie makes some interesting points about how college football players are used and abused by the system, which makes you realize that things haven't changed a much as we think in 90 years!

This is an early film for Bing Crosby, who has the biggest role, but he's still part of an ensemble, so it's not strictly a vehicle for him.

One of Bing's hit songs from the film with a college setting is "Down the Old Ox Road," which he recorded for Brunswick with Jimmie Grier (the Host of the Coast) accompanying him.

Let's give it a listen:

I've always been fascinated by this record!

There were a couple of other records of "Down the Old Ox Road" at the time, but you can't beat Bing on his own turf, so let's head in a different direction!

The wonderful singer Maxine Sullivan revisited the song in 1938 for Victor Record with pianist/arranger Claude Thornhill:

Makes me want to seek out that thoroughfare myself!

"That Co-Ed Party" (1933)

If we flip over Don Bestor's Victor recording of "You Gotta Be a Football Hero," we come across the song "That Co-Ed Party.".

So, let's give it a listen:

I recognize vocalist Maurice "Maury" Cross from his later records with Sammy Kaye (since nobody asked)!

As seen from the sheet music, "That Co-Ed Party" was also recorded by Bernie Cummins, so let's hear him with his New Yorkers on Columbia Records:

Hmm.. What was in those bottles?

"You Gotta Be a Football Hero" (1933)

Let's move into 1933 with "You Gotta Be a Football Hero," a song I remember hearing a lot over the years on TV variety shows and whatnot!

Here's Ben Bernie and All the Lads (including vocalist Manny Prager) on Columbia Records:

Good fun with the Old Maestro adding his talk-singing thing!

For another version of the song, here's vocalist Neil Buckley with Don Bestor and his Orchestra on Victor Records. Play, Don...

But perhaps the definitive version of the song was performed by Olive Oyl in the 1935 Popeye cartoon of the same name:

Good fun!

"All American Girl" (1932)

As we move into 1932, we run into another one of those fickle co-eds, this one the "All American Girl" of said song title!

George Olsen returns with his Music and vocalist Fran Frey with this popular version on Victor Records:

I feel like I'm always picking on George Olsen, but his records, while kind of fun at times, just seem so old-fashioned, even by 1932 standards!

And I think by this point, I've lost track of hoe many times "Boolah! Boolah!" has been incorporated into an arrangement to give it the old college feel!

Dripping with early 1930s flavor is this version of "All American Girl" by the old maestro, Ben Bernie on Brunswick Records:

He's a fascinating character in that while you hear impersonations of him from back in the day, he's so exaggerated to begun with that you can't really parody him. Yowzah!

Next up is this snappy instrumental take by the All Star Collegians:

I can't dig up too much info on the All Star Collegians, but apparently it's Smith Ballew's recording group and Bunny Berigan is on trumpet!

There are some versions of the sheet music that show Richard Arlen and Gloria Stuart as a tie-in to the 1932 Universal picture "The All American," but I don't believe there's really a connection!

"A Hot Dog, a Blanket and You" (1931)

Gene Kardos is right back with another 1931 song, but this one's a stealth college song in that the title "A Hot Dog, a Blanket and You" conjures up more of a picnic in the park or at the beach à la "Hot Dogs and Sasparella," but it's actually about rooting for your college team while in the stands with your best gal!

So, without further ado, here's Dick Robertson with Gene Kardos and his Orchestra on Victor Records:

Snappy stuff!

I'm not sure if anyone else recorded the tune in 1931, but I think we're extremely fortunate that the Hoosier Hot Shots revisited "A Hot Dog, a Blanket and You" for this 1938 Vocalion record:

I love the Hoosier Hot Shots! Have I said that before?

"Freddy the Freshman" (1931)

Our college songs move into 1931 with another Freddy who hopes to be BMOC - Freddy the Freshman!

George Olsen looks pretty snappy on the sheet music, but I don't think he actually recorded the song!

But we have a great version by Gene Kardos and his Orchestra on Victor Records:

Vocalist Dick Robertson has a great voice for early 1930s collegiate hi-jinks!

There are a couple of other vintage recording of "Freddy the Freshman," but I don't really dig them, so I'm especially glad we have the Gen Kardos record!

Working in our favor, however, is that fresh Freddy was the star of an eponymous cartoon from Warner Brothers in 1932:

That's a lot of fun! Those old Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes haven't hit their stride, but they have loads of period charm!

I do note that Freddy says "Heigh ho, everybody!" à la Rudy Vallée as he makes his entrance!

Those old cartoons weren't on TV too much when I was a kid, but the later color ones were, so I first knew the song "Freddy the Freshman" from the 1956 cartoon "Raw! Raw! Rooster" in which Foghorn Leghorn's frenemy from college sings the song:

I love how Rhode Island Red is a parody of a 1920s college student!

"Fraternity Blues" (1930)

For our next collegiate song, we flip over the Ted Wallace record of "Football Freddy to find "Fraternity Blues" on the other side!

So, let's hear that Columbia recording:

That's "Ted Wallace" (Ed Kirkeby) on the vocal and Jack Purvis back on trumpet!

Another fun version of the song was cut by Hal Kemp's band on Brunswick:

The "vocal refrains" are by usual suspect Skinnay Ennis and Saxie Dowell (later noted as writer of "Three Little Fishies").

Hal Kemp comes back into the picture in a bit...

You probably noticed that an odd drawing of Kay Kyser is on the sheet music for "Fraternity Blues" and that he's listed as the composer.

Funny thing is that I don't think Kay ever recorded the song! This was very early in Kay's career and he was between recording contracts at the time.

Kay had attended UNC and took over the campus band from Hal Kemp when Hal and Skinnay Ennis, et al turned pro. When Kay graduated, he recorded a few sides for Victor that didn't go anywhere, including this ode he co-wrote to another fair co-ed, "Collegiate Fannie":

Vocalist/saxist Sully Mason was with Kay from the start and remained a popular member of the band for many years. 

It's interesting to hear Sully singing "Collegiate Fannie" with a Kyser arrangement so different from what we usually think of from the Kollege of Musical Knowledge!

"Football Freddy" (1930)

Hot on the heels of Betty Co-Ed, we have another collegiate cut-up from 1930 - Football Freddy!

Harry Reser and Tom Stacks are back with The Six Jumping Jacks' record of "Football Freddy" on Brunswick:

I keep saying it, but I love those Harry Reser records with Tom Stacks! They're both one-of-a-kind!

A real character of the era who was just as seemingly unreal as Betty or Freddy was trumpeter Jack Purvis, a terrific musician but a less than upright citizen!

In any event, Jack is featured on this Columbia recording of "Football Freddy" credited to Ted Wallace and his Campus Boys (actually led by entrepreneur Ed Kirkeby who also provides the vocal):

Also very fun!

Apparently the idea for the song "Football Freddy" may have come from the gridiron exploits of Alabama All-American Fred Sington, but maybe not!

Fred came a little after Johnny Mack Brown at Alabama, so he could be BMOC as a football and baseball star without competition from Johnny!

"Betty Co-Ed" (1930)

We move into the 1930s with our college songs as we meet someone who definitely would have caught Collegiate Sam's eye - collegiate sweetheart Betty Co-Ed!

Yale man Rudy Vallée co-wrote the song "Betty Co-Ed" and recorded it for Victor with his Connecticut Yankees:

Fun how it kind of sounds like the school marching band is playing the song!

The song was so popular that it inspired a 1931 "Screen Song" cartoon from the Fleischer Studio with Mr. Vallée himself singing the song:

Those Fleischer cartoons are a blast! I love how Betty joins in on her own song!

Betty Co-Ed had a bit of a proto-Betty Boop vibe and she was perhaps one of the influences in the evolution of Betty Boop then happening at the studio.

Back to records, Phil Spitalny cut a fun version for the low-budget Hit of the Week label that pressed records on Durium:

Very fun, with Scrappy Lambert leading the vocal charge!

I kinda like British Betty!

Things get interesting with this British recording on the eight-inch budget Eclipse label by the Biltmore Players (Jay Wilbur's band):

It has generic lyrics as obviously the names of American colleges wouldn't translate, as it were!

But, sign me up for whatever school Betty attends!

"Collegiate Sam" (1929)

We close out the 1920s with our college-themed songs as we meet "Collegiate Sam from 1929!

A great song for a Harry Reser group, so here's he is under his own name for a change, Harry Reser's Syncopators on Columbia Records:

I always love the vocals of Tom Stacks!

But wait, there's more!

Harry and Tom and company also recorded the song for Brunswick Records as The Six Jumping Jacks:

Totally different interpretation! In this version at least Sam is a football star and not just a sheik!

Here's another version by Teddy Joyce and his Penn Stage Recorders:

Don't know much about Teddy Joyce, but this blurb from another piece of sheet music from 1928 is interesting:

Good fun all around!

"I Don't Want Your Kisses" (1929)

Still in 1929, we come across the early all-talkie "So This is College" from MGM!

The first song we'll hear, "I Don't Want Your Kisses," isn't college-themed, but the sheet music (shown at top) is really fun!

Here's Ted Weems and his Orchestra with vocalist Parker Gibbs on Victor Records:

The 1920s Ted Weems band had a lot of pep!

Ted and the boys return with another song from the movie, this one the actual college-themed "Sophomore Prom":

That's Parker Gibbs on the vocal again, with Art Jarrett and Parker Gibbs completing the trio. No sophomore slump for them!

The flipside of that Victor record is another song from "So This is College," but "Campus Capers" is performed by Charles Dornberger and his Orchestra:

Back in the day, it was more common for either side of a 78 to have a different artist from the other side.

Interestingly, long-legged comedienne Charlotte Greenwood gets co-writer credit on "Campus Capers" with her husband Martine Broones, who also co-wrote "I Don't Want Your Kisses" from the film!

And doesn't this movie on the whole have awesome promotional artwork?

"Doin' the Campus Crawl" (1929)

Moving into 1929, Irving Mills is back, this time with Bob Finley and his Orchestra with "Doin' the Campus Crawl":

These things get kind of confusing, as I'm not sure if Bob Finley was a real person!

To add to things, there's also an unissued (at the time) Irving Mills/Jack Pettis instrumental called "Campus Crawl":

The melody sounds kind of familiar to me, but it doesn't seem to be the same song as "Doin' the Campus Crawl."

This Pets group incudes Glenn Miller on trombone this time around!

Irving Mills (shown at bottom) and Jack Pettis keep the college dance rolling along with "At the Prom" on Victor Records, as by Irving Mills and his Modernists:

That's Irving doing the scat vocal, with Jack  on sax and most of the usual suspects from his Pets!

I'm not sure I have any of this straight, but some fun music!

"Freshman Hop" (1928)

Here's a snappy little number from 1928 titled "Freshman Hop" by saxman Jack Pettis and his Pets on Victor Records:

Very fun with lots of period flavor!

Jack Pettis and co-writer pianist Al Goering were bandmates with Ben Bernie along with trumpeter Billy Moore and they moonlighted on sessions like this arranged by song publisher Irving Mills.

I think that's Mills on the vocal and the Pets include Tommy Dorsey on Trombone, Mannie Klein on trumpet and Carl Kress on guitar, in addition to Pettis, Goering and Moore!

To keep things interesting, Jack Pettis also recorded an instrumental version of "Freshman Hop" for Okeh Records in 1929:

This band apparently includes Jack Teagarden on trombone and Benny Goodman on clarinet!

Musicians like that will keep the freshmen hopping all night!

"Doin' the Raccoon" (1928)

Still roaring along in 1928, our next college-themed song is "Doin' the Raccoon" by songwriters Raymond Klages and J. Fred Coots. Mr. Coots being best-known as co-author of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" a few years later!

The sheet music really evokes wacky college antics of the 1920s with raccoon coats and all!

The most popular version of "Doin' the Raccoon" was by George Olsen and his Music on Victor Records:

George Olsen's records have plenty of 1920s feel to them, but I think they were a bit square even at the time!

One of the most popular singers of the 1920s was Rudy Vallée, who was well-known for having attended Yale University. As such, he had a college-vibe, so it's not surprising for him to pop up with this budget label take on "Doin' the Raccoon":

The label says Rudy is accompanied by his Yale Men rather than the usual Connecticut Yankees. Hmmm...

I remember seeing Rudy Vallée on TV when I was a kid and it was hard to reconcile the older character actor with the "Vagabond Lover" of the 1920s, but he was a sensation back in the day!

For a sequel to "Doin' the Raccoon" we need to turn once again to Spike Jones, who included an original tune called "Doin' the New Raccoon" from his 1950 Charleston album:

Not sure what the story behind the song is, but Eddie Maxwell produced  lot of original material for Spike.

The label credits the vocal duo as "Gil Bert and Sully Van," which is obviously a gag, but one of the singers is definitely former City Slicker Del Porter. It seems to be a bit of a mystery as to who the second singer was, but it may have been Eddie Maxwell himself. 

"Collegiana" (1928)

Still in 1928, we have the song "Collegiana" from the hit songwriting team of Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh!

I'm partial to this version by Hal Kemp and his Orchestra with Skinnay Ennis and "vocal effects" on Brunswick Records:

As the label helpfully points out, Hal Kemp started his band at the University of North Carolina!

Hal's UNC Senior yearbook photo!

Vocalist/drummer Skinnay Ennis and pianist arranger John Scott Trotter were among Hal's UNC classmates who made the jump to the big time with him!

It' still the 1920s and there's a quality college-themed song making the rounds. Can Waring's Pennsylvanians be far away?

Well, no, they're right here with their version of "Collegiana" on Victor Records:

It's kind of interesting that the Kemp band's label mentions "vocal effects" but the Waring record has wackier vocal effects courtesy of drummer Poley McClintock!