Tuesday Tidbit: The Love That Wasn’t

Yesterday, we flipped over the Brunswick and Victor records to find Duke’s hidden gems and Cornell Smelser’s all‑star accordion. Today, we finish the job by flipping over that Cornell and His Orchestra record on Okeh.

The “Ghost” Vocal: Collegiate Love (1930)

If you look at the original Okeh label for Collegiate Love, it explicitly promises a “vocal refrain.” But when you drop the needle? Nothing. Not a peep. It’s a pure instrumental!

Adrian Rollini with his ginormous bass sax!

Whether session singer Artie Dunn stepped out for a smoke or the label printer was just having a bad day, we end up the winners - because it leaves more room to enjoy that incredible lineup: Jack Teagarden, Jimmy Dorsey and Adrian Rollini, all weaving through a snappy, campus‑fresh arrangement. And when Rollini opens the record with that big, swaggering bass sax, we know we’re in for a treat!

The Comparison: Ted Weems & His Orchestra

To hear what that “missing” vocal might have sounded like, we turn to the high‑society sparkle of Ted Weems. His Victor version from 1930 captures the collegiate spirit in full Technicolor - light, bright, and very vocal‑forward, telling us exactly what this kind of love is supposed to be.

I love peppy collegiate songs from the 1920s and ’30s, but this one somehow slipped past me back when I was on my college‑song kick. If you’re in the mood for more rah‑rah charm, be sure to check out the Warehouse archives.

Which version fills you with the most collegiate love - the ghost‑vocal Okeh side or the polished Victor vocal? Personally, I just love that we get both.

Christmas Countdown - Day 2 - "I'll Keep Warm All Winter (With My Sunny Summer Love)" (1934)

For Day 2 of our countdown to Christmas, we have a snappy seasonal song: "I'll Keep Warm All Winter (With My Sunny Summer Love)" from 1934!

Here's Smith Ballew and his Orchestra with a budget label recording:

Smith's been popping up a lot, but I like his singing!

For another version of the song, here's Ted Weems on Columbia:

Always love to hear Red Ingle with the vocal, whether it's with Ted Weems, Spike Jones or his own Natural Seven!

If we flip over the Ted Weems record, there's another new seasonal song from 1934:

What became of that song anyway?

"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 Country Washburne 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?

"Winter Wonderland" - Part 1 - The Beginning!

Now that we're done with "Jingle Bells" (for now), I thought I would turn my attention to some other holiday/seasonal songs in between Scrooge-related content.

Let's get started with "Winter Wonderland!"

The song was introduced in 1934, a time when there were really no new seasonal songs. We know "Jingle Bells" was still being recorded, but that was about it until "Winter Wonderland" with words by Dick Smith and music by Felix Bernard came along.

Those songwriters are not well-known except for this one song.

Lyricist Dick Smith

I don't know if Dick Smith wrote any other songs that were recorded, but Felix Bernard did co-compose the 1919 hit "Dardanella," if nothing else of note.

Both had untimely passings, Smith in 1935 and Bernard in 1944, neither seeing their song grow into the the huge seasonal standard it eventually became.

The first recorded version of "Winter Wonderland" was by Richard Himber and his Ritz-Carlton Orchestra with vocalist Joey Nash. Nash had apparently discovered the song and had sang it on the radio with the Himber band prior to recording it at the tail end of a Himber recording session.

Here's that first version on Victor Records:

Sounds good in that "hotel band" style so popular in those just-slightly-pre-swing-era days! I always like the sub-tone clarinet!

I don't think the Himber record made any splash at all, but another popular band came right along to make the song a hit...

The extremely popular Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians cut their version for the new Decca label:

The Lombardo recording was very popular and, to me, represents the band in its element, when its style was most popular and Guy's brother Carmen was leading the vocal trio with his very distinctive voice.

As referenced on the label of the Lombardo record, at some point "Winter Wonderland" made it into the 1934 Ziegfeld Follies. Flo Ziegfeld had died in 1932, but his widow Billie Burke attempted to revive the franchise, with her name noted on the sheet music seen at the top of the page.

Another popular version from 1934 was by Ted Weems and his Orchestra featuring singer Parker Gibbs on Columbia Records:

That's a pretty jaunty version and you have to dig the blue shellac!

Freddy Martin and his Orchestra also cut a version in 1934 with pianist Terry Shand on the vocal for Brunswick Records:

Freddy Martin's band wasn't as established as those of Guy Lombardo and Ted Weems at the time, so his version is more obscure, but it's good!

Those bands were all very popular, but the name Angelo Ferdinando, cool as it is, is way more obscure. He did, however, cut some sides with his Hotel Great Northern Orchestra for Bluebird Records, including another 1934 version of "Winter Wonderland":

The vocalist on that record is the prolific studio singer Dick Robertson, who remains well-known to 1930s music buffs, but by no means the general public!

Another busy studio vocalist of the time was Chick Bullock, who in addition singing with various orchestras was sometimes the leader, such on this 1934 recording of "Winter Wonderland" on the Perfect label:

The Levee Loungers has a ring to a it!

I think Chick's record is the only one at the time to have to include a vocal of the verse. Some of the other records have the band play a bit of it, but since Chick is the leader, he gets more room to spread out vocally than the band singers.

Records such as Chick Bullock's were issued on various labels from the American Record Corporation line in addition to Perfect (Banner, Melotone, Conqueror, etc.) and sold at five and dime stores for a lower price than those on the big labels, not a bad idea considering the Depression.

Chick was a great singer and employed a lot of great backing musicians, so the product was as good as anything on the major labels!

Also on the Perfect (and others) label was another 1934 version of "Winter Wonderland," this one by the Marimba Novelty Orchestra, which was led by xylophone/marimba player Joe Greene:

I don't know who the vocalist is on this one, but he sounds typical for the time. I do like the marimba!

I think those are all the American versions from 1934, so the song was off to a good start!

Next: We go across the pond!