"Stay As Sweet As You Are" (1934)

We just heard a bunch of recordings of songs from the Paramount picture "College Rhythm" of 1934, but we have yet to hear "Stay As Sweet As You Are," the big hit from the movie!

The British version of the sheet music (shown at top) for the song prominently features popular radio singing star Lanny Ross (in one of of his handful of movies), but top-bills Mary Brian, as I guess she was more of a name in England than Joe Penner and Jack Oakie?

In any event, Lanny sang "Stay As Sweet As You Are" in the movie and recorded the song for Brunswick Records:

Lanny's sort-of-operatic-tenor style served him very well as a radio star and also as the voice of the prince in the 1939 animated feature "Gulliver's Travels," which is how I first knew him!

We heard from Jimmie Grier with those other songs from "College Rhythm," and he also recorded a popular version of "Stay As Sweet As You Are" for Brunswick Records with vocalist Harry Foster:

I think Jimmie Grier, the Musical Host of the Coast, has just that right 1934 sound!

For another nice version of the song, we have Archie Bleyer and his Orchestra on Vocalion Records:

A very nice arrangement, but the main attraction is the vocal by Buddy Clark early in his career!

Jut for fun, let's give a listen to Buddy's solo version, which he cut for Columbia Records in 1947 for his "Songs of Romance" album:

Such a wonderful singer!

One other note about "College Rhythm" that was a big deal at the time was that this was the feature of Joe Penner, the very popular (at the time) radio comedian of "Wanna Buy a Duck?" and other wacky catchphrases!