We've run into quite a few popular female vocalists of the late 1940s/early 1950s as we've gone along with "Jingle Bells," but there doesn't seem to have been too many of the corresponding male vocalists who recorded the song.
Frank Sinatra and Perry Como did record "Jingle Bells" in the 1940s, but newcomers like Frankie Laine and Vic Damone did not, although they did record some holiday material, whereas, say, Guy Mitchell and Johnnie Ray didn't seem to record any such songs at all.
But one big exception was Eddie Fisher, one of the most popular singes of the early to mid-1950s (and my mother's favorite), who recorded "Jingle Bells" in 1952 as part of his "Christmas With Eddie Fisher" 10-inch LP (also on on 45s and 78s) on RCA Victor Records:
The arrangement by Hugo Winterhalter is very busy and almost plays like a Winterhalter record with Eddie Fisher as gust vocalist, but it's good fun!
Now I know the reason I think this is because a couple of years later in 1954, Hugo Winterhalter had a hit record of "The Little Shoemaker" on which the label credit read "Hugo Winterhalter's Orchestra and Chorus and a Friend," the friend being one Eddie Fisher!
Here's that record:
Back to 1952 and Christmas, Eddie had another single from the album that paired two seldom heard songs:
Those two songs have the big production typical of his hits with Eddie's voice front and center.
Both songs also have a feeling of wistfulness wistfulness, which is even more pronounced on Eddie's recording of "Christmas Eve in My Hometown," which he recorded for the 1951 holiday season while serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War:
That's a nice song and the introduction is interesting. It's kind of an "I'll Be Home for Christmas" for Korea.
Also interesting is that RCA pressed up another version of that recording for 1953 with the usual Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra and Chorus:
It's the label credit that catches my eye. I guess they had to say he was a "private citizen" since he wasn't in the army anymore!
I'm not sure if either of these recordings were available to the general public.
Of note is that the sing was later recorded by Kate Smith and Bobby Vinton. On the whole, those are not artists that would give a song street cred!
For my dough, the most memorable Eddie Fisher related Christmas record was this 1954 novelty song as recorded by Betty Johnson on the New Disc label:
That's just too funny! I love how the titles of some of Eddie's hits are worked into the song and the recitation!
Interestingly, the team of Joan Javitz and Phil Springer had written "Santa Baby" (along with Tony Springer) the year before. This one didn't hit it quite as big, though!
Being that Eddie was an RCA Victor recording artist, other labels probably wouldn't have wanted to release a version of the song, but RCA had Spike Jones cut it:
You'd expect something wacky, but the record is played very straight. The hint would be that the label credits Spike, but not the City Slickers. On the whole, it's pretty whelming. I appreciate the "Oh! My Papa"-style trumpet, though! Is it George Rock?
Within five years of the giddy heights of 1954, Eddie would divorce Debbie Reynolds to marry Elizabeth Taylor, tarnishing his image, have his RCA Victor recording contract and CBS TV show cancelled and my mother moved on to get married and start a family!
But for a while, Eddie Fisher was it!
