Howdy and Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas! 

For a little holiday fun, let's transport ourselves back to Christmas of 1951 and imagine how cool it must have been for a kid to receive the "Howdy Doody's Christmas Party" record set for a Christmas present!

Very cool, I submit, as you could enjoy listening to Howdy and his friends at your leisure, rather than having to wait until the show aired on TV!

 Let's give all four sides a spin:

I had originally featured this record set way back here, but that was a long time ago (over four years!) and I think it needs its own spotlight!

We also need to revisit the single version of "A Howdy Doody Christmas" featuring the popular vocal group the Fontane Sisters:

I love novelty records and appreciate the meta aspect of Howdy interrupting the girls' recording session to have them add his name and that's what's on the record. Like in-universe, RCA Victor released the recording of  a "real" unplanned collab that was caught on tape!

I don't think I had shared the flipside before, so here's "The Popcorn Song":

That doesn't do a lot for me, no actual Christmas theme and all, but it's professionally done and I can imagine 1951 tykes digging it!

Have a great day!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a great holiday!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

In keeping with the situation, here's Bing Crosby with "How Lovely is Christmas" on Kapp Records in 1957:

I think that may be Bing's most underrated Christmas single, as it's kind of "orphaned" since it's not on Decca, as were most of his classic recordings, nor on Capitol, which has tons of holiday reissues.

Enjoy your holiday!

Christmas Countdown - Day 24 - "Hello, Mister Kringle" (1939)

Happy Christmas Eve!

It's Day 24 of our Christmas Countdown and being that the holiday is tomorrow, if you didn't get the chance to write to Santa, you better get him on the phone!

With that in  mind, here's the cute novelty song "Hello, Mister Kringle" from 1939!

Kay Kyser recorded the song for Columbia with the whole gang chipping in:

That's a lot of fun, especially if you're familiar with the band and its vocalists!

Also of note is that this is the rare record of the era to fade out at the end, and it's a novelty effect to illustrate that Ish Kabibble's Christmas list goes on and on...

The only other record I can think of from around that time to fade out is "Cherokee" by Charlie Barnet, which was also from 1939.

In any event, Frankie Masters returns with his version of "Hello, Mister Kringle" on Vocalion:

Pretty fun!

And Vincent Lopez and Penny Parker are also back with the flipside of "(You're Just As) Cute As Christmas" on Bluebird:

I hope you enjoyed this selection of 1930s holiday and seasonal songs! Maybe you have a new favorite!

Christmas Countdown - Day 22 - "(You're Just As) Cute As Christmas" (1939)

Our Christmas Countdown reaches day 22 with another rare Christmas song - "(You're Just As) Cute As Christmas" from 1939!

This Bluebird record by Vincent Lopez and his Suave Swing Orchestra might be the only recording of the song:

This is very "suave swing" from veteran bandleader Vincent Lopez, who wasn't known for such sounds, but vocalist Penny Parker comes ever so close to being too cute for Christmas!

Christmas Countdown - Day 21 - "The Only Thing I Want for Christmas (Is Just to Keep the things That I've Got)"

Christmas is approaching fast as we're already up to Day 21 of our Countdown as we run into our old pal Eddie Cantor!

Here's Eddie's recording of "The Only Thing I Want for Christmas (Is Just to Keep the things That I've Got)" for Columbia in 1939:

A nice message and a rare chance to hear Eddie sing a "straight" song!

And how much do I love the intro with the A.P. reporter?

Eddie tells reporter Ed Sullivan how it is!

This song did get a couple of other recordings, including this relatively late one from the De John Sisters on Epic in 1955:

I say this sort of thing a lot, but this sounds exactly like you would expect a record from sister act in 1955 to sound!

Christmas Countdown - Day 17 - "(Don't Wait 'Till) The Night Before Christmas" (1938)

We hit Day 17 of our Christmas Countdown with another actual Christmas song -  "(Don't Wait 'Till) The Night Before Christmas" from 1938!

Here's Sammy Kaye's version on Victor:

That sounds so much like a Sammy Kaye record from 1938, with some tinkly piano added to give a Christmassy sound!

I'm not nearly as big a fan of Sammy Kaye as I am of the Hoosier Hot Shots, but this record kind of does meet the criteria I talked about last time!

Another version was recorded by handsome society pianist/bandleader Eddy Duchin with vocalist Stanley Worth on Brunswick:

Now that's some tinkly piano!

Christmas Countdown - Day 16 - "The Man with the Whiskers" (1938)

Our Christmas countdown hits 1938 with Day 15, as we come across perhaps my favorite record of the whole bunch - "The Man with the Whiskers" by the Hoosier Hot Shots!

Here are the boys on Vocalion Records:

The boxes this record checks for Christmas music:

• An artist I like
• The song is performed in the artist's usual style (but maybe some sleigh bells or something thrown in)
• A rare or unique song (not many, if any, other recordings of the song)

And there we go!

I had talked a bit about this record before, but one other note is that the song takes to the extreme the idea that it won't actually name who the Man with the Whiskers is or his holiday!

Christmas Countdown - Day 12 - "I Told Santa Claus to Bring Me You" (1937)

Day 12 of our Christmas Countdown finds the snappy 1937 holiday number "I Told Santa Claus to Bring Me You," written by popular singer Pinky Tomlin!

Curiously, Pinky didn't seem to record this umber himself, although he was recording during this time frame.

Whatever the case, here's a nice version by Bernie Cummins and his Orchestra on the Vocalion label:

Another version was recorded by Jimmy Ray and his Orchestra on Bluebird. Since the flipside of the record was yesterday's featured song, "I Want You for Christmas," let's hear both sides:

Bandleader/trumpeter/vocalist Jimmy Ray is pretty obscure, but he cut some good sides back in the day!

But now I can't get that 1990s earworm "Are You Jimmy Ray?" out of my head!

Christmas Countdown - Day 11 - "I Want You for Christmas" (1937)

Day 11 of our Christmas Countdown takes us into 1937, where we meet Betty Boop!

More to the point, it's Mae Questel, Betty's cartoon mouthpiece, who returns with her Decca recording of "I Want You for Christmas":

I just love those records by the Betty Boop Girl!

Another version of the song was recorded by Russ Morgan and his "Music in the Morgan Manner" on Brunswick Records:

I'm a sucker for little novelty touches like the band vocal into at the beginning!

Christmas Countdown - Day 8 - "The Fairy on the Christmas Tree" (1936)

For Day 8 of our Christmas Countdown, we have a song that seems ot be strictly British - "The Fairy on the Christmas Tree" from 1936!

Popular British singer recorded the song for Regal Zonophone:

Gives me that musical hall vibe!

Henry Hall returns with the BBC Orchestra for another version of the song featuring The Three Sisters on Columbia:

More of a traditional dance band sound, but still so very British!

 

Christmas Countdown - Day 7 - "Tell Santy I Live in a Shanty" (1936)

For Day 7 of our Christmas Countdown, we move into 1936 with a Depression-era Christmas song!

It's "Tell Santy I Live in a Shanty" from Frank Dailey and his Meadowbrook Orchestra with vocalist Ann Lee Davies on Bluebird:

Pretty snappy if not in keeping with the situation!

If remembered at all today, Frank Dailey was best-known as the owner of the Meadowbrook, a popular nightspot in New Jersey featuring bands that were more popular than his own ever was!

The Santy/Shanty rhyme had been used a couple of years before for the title song of the 1933 Warner Brothers "Merrie Melodies" cartoon "The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives" (see image at top), but I don't think that song as ever commercially recorded.

That cartoon is now in the public domain, so it's easy to find, but it's really a bit too politically incorrect to be lumped in holiday cartoon collections so frequently.

Eddy Arnold used the same Santy/Shanty concept in his 1949 hit "Will Santy Come to Shanty Town," but that's another story!

Christmas Countdown - Day 6 - "What Will Santa Claus Say? (When He finds Everybody Swingin')" (1936)

As our Christmas Countdown moves into 1936, the Swing Era is firmly underway, as evidenced by the song "What Will Santa Claus Say? (When He finds Everybody Swingin')" by Louis Prima!

So, here's Louis and his New Orleans Gang on Vocalion Records:

This track is probably the one I've seen reissued most out of any we'll encounter during this countdown. This is mostly because of Louis Prima's latter-day fame among wannabe swing hipsters!

Whatever the case, it's a solid platter!

For fun, let's listen again to the King of Swing himself, Benny Goodman and his great Victor recording of "Jingle Bells":

Can't hear that enough!

Christmas Countdown - Day 4 - "The Santa Claus Express" (1935)

Still in 1935, we continue to Deck the Hall(s) as we move from George Hall to Henry Hall with Day 4 of our Christmas Countdown!

So, here's Henry Hall directing the BBC Orchestra with "The Santa Claus Express" on Columbia Records:

Love the train effects!

This recording sounds very British, except don't they call him Father Christmas?

Christmas Countdown - Day 3 - "Santa, Bring My Mommy Back to Me" (1935)

Day 3 of our Countdown to Christmas features another song lost to time: "Santa, Bring My Mommy Back to Me" from 1935!

Here's George Hall and his Hotel Taft Orchestra with star vocalist Dolly Dawn on Bluebird:

Per the (lovely) sheet music, it's actually Daddy that the singer wants back, but with billing as shown in the photo, Dolly can sing whatever she wants!

Speaking of George Hall, it seems to me he recorded another Santa themed song the year before:

Whatever became of that song?

Christmas Countdown - Day 1 - "Under the Mistletoe" (1932)

Happy First Day of December!

Now that we're here, let's start our Christmas Countdown!

We have Christmas/Holiday/Winter songs from the 1930s in more-or-less chronological order each day until the big day!

First up is Lou Gold and his Orchestra with "Under the Mistletoe" from 1932:

The arrangement and vocal by Buddy Lane are not forward leaning by 1932 standards, but plenty of period charm!

And always good to hear obscure holiday songs!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

In keeping with the situation, here's Dick Todd singing "All Around the Xmas Tree" with Mark Warnow's orchestra from Sonora Records in 1945:

I had featured this tack before in an off-season post, but I like it and it's fairly obscure, so I wanted to share it again!

I think the sound is better this time, if not quite clear as a bell!

Plus it's the rare Christmas song that actually takes place, if you will, on Christmas Day!

Have a great day!

Christmas Eve!

 Happy Christmas Eve!

Of course, Christmas Eve is also known as the Night Before Christmas, so let's hear Stan Freberg with his version on Capitol Records in 1955:

Don't sleep on the label describing this as a Christmas Story (?) - question mark included!

The little girl is 9 year old child actress Babette Bain, who does a great job of keeping up with Stan!

Now let's hear the flipside, which is Stan's awesome take on the then-current novelty hit "Nuttin' for Christmas":

The wackiness extends to the label on this side as well, as it's described as Vocal with Burglar!

Stan Freberg was simply brilliant!

1940s Christmas Playlist Housekeeping - Part 3!

The biggest leftover from my 1940s Christmas Playlist is getting to listen to Jimmy Atkins's recording of Vaughn Horton's "An Old Christmas Card."

I'm still waiting, but as I continue to search for it, I do come across the occasional interesting thing.

For example, here he is as Jim Atkins with the Pinetoppers on Coral Records in 1953:

I'm partial to songs with "Johnny" in the title and that's a very snappy version of the song!

The writer of "Juke Joint Johnny," Lattie Moore, had first recorded the song on the small Speed label in 1953:

That's really cool!

I see that record described as Rockabilly fairly often, sometimes even said to be the first Rockabilly record ever!

I don't think it's really Rockabilly, though. I'd say it's more Hillbilly Boogie, but it's certainly close to Rockabilly and shows how one branch of Country music was heading that way.

I was first familiar with "Juke Joint Johnny" from Red Sovine's 1957 recording on Decca:

That record is also often categorized as Rockabilly, but I don't think it quite is, despite the hot guitar from ace session player Grady Martin.

I mostly remember Red Sovine from a tacky late-1970s TV commercial for a compilation of his hits - which seemed to be mostly maudlin truck-driving songs - in the wake of the infamous Slim Whitman commercial!

Good to know Red had some pep 20-ish years before!

The song finally crossed over into more solid Rockabilly territory (although the label says it's country and western) when Lattie Moore changed the title (but not the rest of the lyrics) to "Juke Box Johnnie" and recorded it in 1956 for ARC, another small label:

Juke box definitely sounds more 1950s than juke joint, but I've never liked the "ie" spelling of Johnny!

Getting back to juke joints, interestingly enough, Vaughn Horton co-wrote a song called "Juke Joint Mama with singer Denver Darling who recorded the song for Decca in 1945:

Sounds good!

Then Jimmy Swan recorded a version in 1952 for the small Trumpet label:

Solid honky tonk that no one should say is Rockabilly!

So, all of this is based on the premise that Jimmy Atkins is also Jim Atkins. And he might be the older half-brother of guitar great Chet Atkins after all - but I have no solid evidence.

That's another rabbit hole for another day!

1940s Christmas Playlist Housekeeping - Part 2!

Now we tend to a bit of housekeeping on the song "(It's Gonna Be a) Lonely Christmas," the 1948 hit by The Orioles.

I had mentioned that I could only find one other version of the song, which appeared to be a 1958 album track by tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate (shown at top of page).

So, I was excited to come across this 1951 record by the Cedric Wallace orchestra on the Derby label:

The label says it features Jimmy Holmes on tenor sax.

My initial thought was that it sounded a lot like the Buddy Tate recording, then I realized, it is the Buddy Tate recording! Or, more properly, the Buddy Tate recording is the Cedric Wallace recording!

Let's hear the flipside of the Cedric Wallace record, which is "White Christmas":

So, can we do any untangling?

Well, the Cedric Wallace record is a "real" release, reviewed in the December 1, 1951 issue of "Cash Box" and all:

Love the show biz lingo!

Now, I do realize that small, independent labels like Derby would record a number of tracks, then disappear after a while and the recordings would be somewhat up for grabs and rereleased on other labels, often in a very budget-minded context. (See the Hollywood label releases.)

This budget label (Halo? Who are they?) credited to Buddy Tate did trick me, which was the intention in 1958:

I just figured that the album featured new recordings by Buddy Tate and it was called "Rock and Rollers Orchestra."

Closer inspection shows that one side is by Buddy Tate and the other by the "Rock and Rollers Orchestra" and that the album doesn't really have a title. And now we know that the tracks attributed to Buddy Tate (including the oddly retitled "Snowy White Christmas" are recycled!

I feel like I should have known better, as these budget LPs would include a few tracks by a "name" artist (so they could put their name in big letters on the cover) from various sources, with the rest of the album filled out by, well, filler.

Here's one of the tracks by the "Rock and Rollers Orchestra":

Despite the song being titled "Let's Rock and Roll," this sounds to me like an older r 'n' b track. Not bad, but not rock and roll!

So, now the question is whether "Lonely Christmas" and "(Snowy) White Christmas" are Buddy Tate tracks at all. And the answer is: I don't really know!

I do know that Cedric Wallace was a real person. He was a very talented bassist who cut several sides with Fats Waller in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He later did producing and session work, including for the Derby label.

The real question is who is the "Jimmy Holmes" credited with the tenor sax solos?

I can't find any references anywhere else to a sax player by that name.

There was a Jimmy Holmes in the music business around that time, but he was a singer, a member of the version of The Ink Spots led by original member Charlie Fuqua with three new members - The Ink Spots story is complicated!

This Jimmy was certainly an accomplished singer, but most likely not so skilled on the tenor sax, so I don't think it's the same guy.

Was it maybe Buddy Tate using a pseudonym? Could be. He actually did record for Derby records, including this 1952 release, both sides of which pop up on the Halo album:

That's pretty solid!

Count Basie's band in 1940, including Buddy Tate (far left in sax section) and fellow tenor man Lester Young (at far right).

Buddy Tate was definitely a real guy, having a long career, including playing with the great Count Basie band from the late 1930s (he replaced the late, great Herschel Evans) until the late 1940s. 

So, did Buddy play the tenor sax on the Cedric Wallace record? Or more to the point, did Halo Records know or care?

At this point we've accounted for four of the Buddy Tate tracks on the LP, but I can't determine the origin of the other two. Maybe someday!

Let's go a bit further down the budget label rabbit hole with this album on the Allegro label:

Yes, the same stock cover images were used over and over on budget LPs!

This one pairs the same Buddy Tate-credited tracks with some from another tenor sax player, Don Byas!

In an unusual bit of provenance, the cover indicates that the Byas tracks are from a 1945 all-star session. And in a rare bit of truth in advertising, that's quite a lineup!

But a look at the original 1945 releases of those songs on Jamboree Records shows that info was right on the label, so they just carried it over!

Let's listen to this coupling of a couple of standards:

Sounds good!

The moral of the story is that we'll probably never know who Jimmy Holmes was!