It was a pretty short trip on my train of thought from Duke’s “Old Man Blues” to the 1932 song “The Old Man of the Mountain.” Once that title popped into my head, the rest of today’s playlist practically assembled itself.
The Straight Shoot: Cab Calloway (1932)
Let’s start off with Cab Calloway’s budget-label recording. Cab sings the vocal relatively straight here - almost restrained by Cab standards - which lets his great band stretch out and show off those crisp early-’30s choruses. Even on a bargain imprint, they sound like a million bucks.
The Harmony: The Mills Brothers (1932)
Next up are The Mills Brothers, who bring their signature early-1930s blend of vocal harmony and uncanny instrument imitations.
We're fortunate that The Mills Brothers were captured on film singing "The Old Man of the Mountain" as featured in the 1933 Paramount short "The Little Broadcast":
That's pretty awesome! The emcee is Roy Atwell, perhaps the preeminent exponent of spoonerisms prior to Doodles Weaver!
The Studio Oddity: Victor Young, The Boswells & The Mills Brothers
Things get even more interesting with this next record. It brings back The Mills Brothers, but also includes Connee Boswell and The Boswell Sisters, plus Fran Frey, all backed by Victor Young (who co-wrote the song). It’s a true crossover before crossovers existed. The “Lucky” designation likely ties it to the Lucky Strike radio shows. If anyone has the deep discographical scoop on this one, I’m all ears!
I like how Connee (still "Connie" at this point) gets a solo chorus and solo billing but also gets a hot chorus with sisters Martha and Vet! (I put this sentence in Helvetica font as a little wink to Helvetia Boswell!)
The Curveball: Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians
Now for a fun one: Fred Waring on Victor, with session singer Chick Bullock and drummer Poley McClintock chiming in as the Old Man himself.
Waring made some wonderfully oddball novelty sides in this era - playful, tightly arranged, and just a little unhinged. It's hard to believe this is the same Fred Waring who, after a decade-long break from recording, would reemerge as the patron saint of square respectability in the 1940s!
The Visual: Betty Boop & Fleischer Surrealism
Of course, no discussion of The Old Man of the Mountain is complete without the Betty Boop cartoon. This is where the song goes full pre-Code surrealism. Through rotoscoping, Cab becomes the Old Man—slinky, supernatural, and just a little dangerous. It’s fascinating how the character shifts from a harmless hermit in the song to something far more sinister on screen.
So that’s today’s trek - from budget labels to animated cliffside shimmies. Does the Old Man feel like a friendly neighbor to you, or does that Fleischer rotoscoping make him a little too "Mountain King" for comfort?
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!
Still in 1927, "Collegiate" songwriters Moe Jaffe and Nat Bonx return with "I Love the College Girls" which presumably the earlier song's hitmaker Fred Waring got first dibs on!
Here are Waring's Pennsylvanians on Victor Records:
Pretty fun, but...
When we're talking 1920s novelty songs about college girls, you know one of Harry Reser's groups is going to get in on the action!
Sure enough, here's "I Love the College Girls" by the Six Jumping Jacks on Brunswick:
Going head-to-head, you can't beat a Reser record!
Let's stay in 1925 with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanian for another college song!
This one is the aptly "Collegiate" on Victor Records:
Good mid-1920s college fun! And it's a Shimmy Fox Trot! Where's sister Kate?
But wait, there's more this time too!
The song was so popular that it spawned an early answer song - "Collegiate Blues" from the same writers (Moe Jaffe and Nat Bonx) in the same year!
And naturally the Pennsylvanians (with brother Tom Waring on lead vocal) recorded it too:
I love the meta-ness of the sheet music for "Collegiate Blues" including the artwork of the sheet music of "Collegiate" itself!
Of course, no discussion of "Collegiate" is complete without mentioning that Chico plays the song in "Horse Feathers," the Marx Brothers, well, collegiate comedy:
It doesn't get any more meta than Groucho breaking the fourth wall!
And Thelma Todd as the college widow? Is it too late to enroll for the 1932 term?
Keeping with the College Football theme, we hit upon perhaps the best movie of the genre ("Horse Feathers" not withstanding): Harold Lloyd's "The Freshman" from 1925!
Very funny and charming, it holds up well almost 100 years later!
As a silent movie, it didn't have a song from it exactly, but it had a song inspired by it!
So, here are Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians on Victor Records with "Freshie":
Lots of 1920s fun with the new collegiate fox trot!
But wait - there's a bit more to the story!
Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians actually played live in theaters before the film, starting with the premiere at Grauman's, then touring the country with the film!
Here's the sheet music noting that:
Pretty cool!
Fred Waring had an affinity for college songs, having formed the Pennsylvanians while he was a student at Penn State along with his brother Tom and longtime drummer/wacky vocalist Poley McClintock!
Kind of a crazy Summer so far, as it’s either been raining or 90-plus degrees – or both!
So, I say we deserve some ice cream!
With that in mind here’s Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians with a recording of the fun 1927 novelty song "(I Scream - You Scream - We All Scream for) Ice Cream" on Victor Records:
Fred Waring made some pretty wacky records in the 1920s before he stopped recording for a decade or so while he turned more and more square!
Always fun to hear drummer Poley McClintock with his primeval Popeye-type voice!
Before we leave "Varsity Show," we sneak in one more recording of a song from that 1937 movie!
Fred Waring had stopped recording in the early 1930s, so he did not record any of the "Varsity Show" songs at the time of the film's release.
He resumed recording in 1942 and had a bunch of releases on Decca Records before the recording ban set in. It's kind of ironic that when Fred finally decided to start recording again, the musicians association wouldn't let him!
One of the songs he cut before the ban was "Moonlight on the Campus":
As you can see from the photo at the top, the Pennsylvanians had about as many singers as musicians, as Fred was heavily featuring choral arrangements by this time.
Fred Waring's other big interest was a new-fangled blender that he promoted and is still named the Waring Blendor (with the sporty O).
Another movie of the older variety I just watched is "Varsity Show" from Warner Brothers in 1937.
I'm kinda fascinated by the college musical genre that was popular during the 1930s, things like "College Humor" (1933), "Pigskin Parade" (1936), "College Swing" (1938), etc.
"Varsity Show" is another in that line and it's enjoyable if you like that sort of thing, but it has a few things of interest to separate it from the pack a bit.
The star is Dick Powell, who plays an alumnus of the fictional Winfield College who's now a Broadway producer and is called upon current students to help them with the... Varsity Show!
Dick Powell was about 32 when the movie was filmed and he was youthful looking, but I think it was smart not to cast him as a current college student, which would have been the case just a couple of years earlier.
He's totally convincing in this movie and I can't imagine that anyone in 1937 would have thought that he'd be a hard-boiled, film noir type actor within a decade!
Powell's sidekick in "Varsity Show" is Ted Healy, who's best (only?) remembered these days as the star comedian to whom the Three Stooges were the stooges. He seems to be largely dismissed as a footnote of entertainment history, but was actually a talented comedian who could toss off a cynical one liner with the best of them.
Second-billed to Dick Powell, though, was bandleader Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians. Waring plays a music professor at the college and is pretty good for a non-actor, as those things go.
Members of the Pennsylvanians aggregation appear as students at the college and that's where things really get interesting...
Rosemary (above right) and Priscilla Lane had been featured singers with Fred Waring and came to Hollywood to make this movie. They have featured parts and do quite well, which led to each appearing in several subsequent movies for Warner Brothers, including the "Four Daughters" series with older sister Lola Lane and not-actual-sister Gale Page.
Of all the main players, Priscilla seems the most age-appropriate to play a college student and she was about 21-22 at the time. She's adorable!
Rosemary was a little older, so she got to be Dick Powell's romantic interest!
The other member of the Pennsylvanians to get a contract from Warner Brothers was Johnny "Scat" Davis, who's kind of a bizarre 1930s caricature of a singing, trumpet-playing swing musician. You can see him as the rather square Fred Waring's concession to the swing movement. Everything about Davis is exaggerated but he's sure enthusiastic!
Fred Waring always seemed to have a lot of siblings in his group, including his own brother Tom, and in additional to the Lane Sisters, he also featured the McFarland Twins who were both saxophone players.
They both appear in "Varsity Show," but only George (and not Arthur) is credited for some reason. They have the look of 1930s college students!
The McFarlands later had their own band, and the idea of identical twin bandleaders is fun!
A longtime member of the Fred Waring band was drummer Poley McClintock, who also supplied a wacky Popeye-type voice. He was too old in 1937 to be a college student, so they explained it away by Dick Powell's character remarking that Poley was junior when he (Powell) was a freshman. Apparently Poley could never pass Latin!
Left to right: Carole Landis, Sterling Holloway, Priscilla Lane, Lee Dixon, Rosemary Lane, Dick Powell, Mabel Todd, Ted Healy.
The other main students are played by non-Waring actors Sterling Holloway, Mabel Todd and Lee Dixon, who vaguely seem college-age.
A then 18 year old Carole Landis also pops up, dancing with Holloway (of all people!) in the finale.
The outstanding dance team Buck & Bubbles appear in the stereotypical role of janitors, but they get to show off their skills a couple of times. John Bubbles in particular is brilliant!
So, I think the cast is interesting, but that may not even be the most interesting thing about the movie.
The tantalizing thing is that "Varsity Show" was originally about 120 minutes when released in 1937. Then it was re-released in the 1940s, but cut by about 40 minutes. But no one knows what happened to those 40 minutes and the only known print available is a mere 80 minutes!
So, what was cut? I'm guessing a lot of musical numbers, as some songs that were listed in the credits do not appear in this print and others seem to be reprised during the finale, but had probably been featured earlier in the film.
What makes me wonder the most, though, is why (as mentioned) George McFarland is credited (as "Hap") and Arthur is not. Was there a cut scene in which George had more dialogue or something and someone actually called him Hap?
Note: this George McFarland is definitely not George "Spanky" McFarland of "Our Gang" fame, so don't worry that somehow "Varsity Show" featured a lost Spanky appearance!
Does anyone care enough about "Varsity Show" these days to track down and release a complete print? We can only hope!
What's left is fun, though, if you like that sort of thing or any of the featured players.
The finale was staged by Busby Berkeley and includes a fun salute to other actual colleges:
Of course, the spectacle could never fit on an actual theater stage, but that's also part of the fun!
We're back with Decca Records for a couple of renditions of "Jingle Bells" from a couple of the most popular "sweet" bands from back in the day, each of which had a multi-record Christmas album in the early 1950s.
First up is Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians with an epic two-sided version of "Jingle Bells" from 1950:
That's really something! The Pennsylvanians get a workout!
Fred Waring was popular on the radio for a long time, but interestingly did not make recordings for a decade or so starting in the early 1930s, as he apparently did not want his records to be played on the radio, thus competing with his live performances.
Guy Lombardo, however, kept recording with his Royal Canadians all the while, selling millions of records!
Here's their take on "Jingle Bells" from a 1952 album:
That's a more typical version of "Jingle Bells" - short and literally sweet! The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven, in fact!
And could Decca have possibly put you-know-what as the flipside of this record? Oh, yes:
Fred Waring and Guy Lombardo both appealed to a large segment of the listening audience and their records serve as reminders that the Big Band Era wasn't just Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey all the time!
