Here comes the Boogie (Woogie) Man

Well the clocks have gone back one hour to good old Greenwich Mean Time and thoughts have turned to the fast approaching night of 31st October - All Hallow's Eve!  Inspired by a recent post by Mim over at Crinoline Robot, I thought I'd do for Hallowe'en what I did for my last two bloggy Christmases so I've cobbled together a selection of spooky songs from the 1930s and '40s by some of my favourite artists of the day.



Mysterious Mose was an early Betty Boop cartoon from the Fleischer Studios (who would later have further successes with their famous Popeye and Superman cartoons).  It in turn was inspired by this song, written by Walter Doyle and also released in [April] 1930, originally by Rube Bloom and His Bayou Boys but swiftly recorded by a number of bands including Harry Reser, Cliff Perrine and and Ted Weems (with their respective Orchestras).



The great Cab Calloway features here twice - first in the seldom-heard 17th June 1931 recording of The Nightmare and then the later (28th February 1939) recording of The Ghost of Smokey Joe.



Me And The Ghost Upstairs often appears on Fred Astaire CD anthologies but was actually cut from the film in which it featured, 1940's Second Chorus. Luckily the raw footage still exists, albeit in pre-production quality and not subject to the final Astaire polish (not that you'd notice!) so we can see Fred jitterbuggin' and lindy-hopping with a ghost (actually his long-time friend and choreography partner Hermes Pan shrouded in sheets and wearing high heels!).



One from our English bandleader Henry Hall, who was well-known for doing child-friendly songs such as The Sun Has Got His Hat On and The Teddy-Bears' Picnic and who here performs a splendid rendition of Hush, Hush, Hush, Here Comes The Boogeyman, with singer Val Rosing, from 1932.



Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra are on fine form in this sweet version of a Larry Clinton composition from 1937, Satan Takes a Holiday.



We finish with the wonderfully-titled Celery Stalks At Midnight, originally recorded in 1940 by Will Bradley and His Orchestra but in this version from a year later (6th February 1941) masterfully sung by Doris Day, with Les Brown and The Band of Renown.

As well as playing these cracking and creepy tunes I have also lined up a Boris Karloff-fest for Wednesday night with a programme featuring Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy (plus Ghostbusters, of course - if I can fit it in!).  Have a spooktacular time, everyone!

Swingin' round the Christmas tree

Inspired by Mim over at Crinoline Robot and Lily at Lil Vintage Me posting up their favourite Christmas songs, and finally feeling a bit festive having put the tree up, I thought now would be the time to add a few more of my own Yuletide tunes.  Last year I did a post around one of my vintage Christmas CDs A Vintage Christmas Cracker: 47 Original Mono Recordings 1915-1949, now sadly out of print (keeps your eyes peeled, charity shoppers!) so this year I intend to include a few that I stumbled across on Youtube that aren't on any of my compilations and may not even be on any CD at all!

The reason why there is not a lot of "modern" Christmas music to be found much before the 1930s is simply because it hadn't been written or recorded yet! (The exception being Jingle Bells which, being written in 1857, was recorded as early as 1898).

Everything changed in 1934, however, when both Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town and Winter Wonderland were written, the former by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie (both of whom also penned You Go To My Head, and Gillespie Breezin' Along With The Breeze) and the latter by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith.

Through October and November of 1934 these songs were all cut by several different bands.  Harry Reser and His Orchestra were the first to record Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town on the 24th October 1934 and it featured in my Christmas music post last year; they beat George Hall and the Hotel Taft Orchestra by just under three weeks.  That version was recorded on the 13th November 1934 and sounds like this:



A year later in 1935 it was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra:



In the same year Benny Goodman and His Orchestra also recorded the classic Jingle Bells and for my money it is one of the best arrangements I've ever heard:



As well as that much-loved Christmas standard Goodman also recorded in 1935 a Johnny Mercer composition, Santa Claus Came In The Spring:



Winter Wonderland meanwhile really took off and was promptly recorded by no less than three bands, representing the three big record labels of the time.  RCA was the first with Richard Himber and His Hotel Ritz-Carlton Orchestra on the 23rd October 1934.  It was a happy accident - the vocalist Joey Nash stumbled across the handwritten manuscript and a homemade recording given to him by the brother of Richard B. Smith and convinced Himber to include it in the 23/10/34 recording session.  Unfortunately technical problems meant they ran out of time before Winter Wonderland could be recorded and Himber left the studio.  Nash was so enamoured with the song, however, that he convinced the rest of the band to stay behind and finish the recording.  They agreed on the one condition that if any mistake were made there would be no second chances.  Therefore what you hear now was made in one take, without the bandleader(!):



Ted Weems and His Orchestra recorded Winter Wonderland for Columbia on the 11th November 1934, but it was Guy Lombardo and His Orchestra on the Decca label who had the biggest hit, making the top 10 at the time.  Typically, the most successful version is the one that's not on Youtube, but here is the Ted Weems version:



Moving on a couple of years to 1937, Dick Robertson and His Orchestra recorded another rare seasonal composition on the 19th October - I Want You For Christmas:



Jumping forward a few years again to 1941 we return to Benny Goodman and His Orchestra who on the 27th November 1941 recorded this wintry number with Peggy Lee and Art Lund singing the vocals:



Finally, we find ourselves in 1947 with Frank Carle and His Orchestra who recorded this seldom-heard number, with Marjorie Hughes taking the vocals:



So there we are - enough songs there to make a CD I reckon, but alas few if any are available in that format.  Still, it's nice to think that people were swinging along to Christmas tunes like this in the Thirties and Forties and that they can be found today with a bit of searching.  Maybe there's hope for a CD yet.  In the meantime thank goodness for Youtube is all I can say.  I hope these classic tunes put you in the vintage Christmas mood, as they have me.

Christmas is coming!

Today is the 1st of December and that can only mean one thing - Christmas is just around the corner! I try to make it a general rule to avoid Christmas as much as possible before the actual month itself, which is practically impossible outside my own four walls as it's usually prevalent in shops from the about the middle of September. It seems to me that in these more austere times things have been rather low-key up until now compared to previous years, though. I shan't be putting up any decorations for another week yet - I know Advent was last Sunday but my parents always used to operate a "two weeks either side of Christmas Day" policy and I continue to follow that tradition. However I feel more than happy to start playing Christmas songs now, and have dug out my CDs and stuck them on the iPod.

For years all my Christmas music consisted of was mainly modern interpretations of classic tunes, such as by the new Glenn Miller Orchestra. The furthest any of my CDs went back to was 1950s Dean Martin and Nat King Cole recordings which, while perfectly pleasant, soon started to pall slightly after so many Christmases. I was just beginning to think that nobody recorded any Christmas standards prior to 1940 and was despairing of finding anything to supplement my existing collection of songs when I came across a 2CD set a couple of years ago (now sadly out of print - or whatever CDs are when they're no longer available) called A Vintage Christmas Cracker: 47 Original Mono Recordings 1915-1949. The title says it all really - a wonderful selection of traditional carols and classic Yuletide favourites recorded by some long-forgotten performers of the first half of the Twentieth century. It's the perfect accompaniment to the more usual songs of the season and just what I was after. Below are some of the highlights, courtesy of Youtube:

We begin in 1930, with Ray Noble & The New Mayfair Orchestra and their recording of the Savoy Christmas Medley. Despite this being a popular selection with many of the dance bands of the '30s, it's difficult to find now. In fact I couldn't actually find the version on the CD, so this is the original Debroy Somers and his Savoy Orchestra cut from the previous year:



Was there ever a more distinctive voice than that of Paul Robeson? He's long been a favourite in our family and this traditional spiritual was recorded by him in great style on the 16th December 1931 in London:



Now a special treat for you all. This next tune is apparently the first ever recording made of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. This is Harry Reser & his Orchestra, with vocalist Tom Stacks, recorded in New York on the 24th October 1934:


Winter Wonderland now, but not one of the more well-known versions by the likes of Dean Martin, The Andrews Sisters or Perry Como. This is British bandleader Lew Stone & his Band with vocalist Alan Kane, recorded in London on the 28th December 1934. For my money this is one of the best versions of this perennial favourite:



The next two tunes are both by the BBC Dance Orchestra under the direction of Henry Hall and were cut just over a year apart. The Santa Claus Express features vocals by Dan Donovan (and chorus) and was recorded in London on the 23rd October 1935; The Fairy On The Christmas Tree with vocal trio The Three Sisters on the 29th November 1936. Both are archetypal 1930s Christmas songs and highly enjoyable:





On the same day that Henry Hall was recording The Fairy On The Christmas Tree in London, Fats Waller and his Rhythm were busy recording Swingin' Them Jingle Bells in Chicago. No video for this one, but the typically jazzy Waller recording can be heard here.

I mentioned that I have a Christmas CD by the current Glenn Miller Orchestra but the only Christmas song Glenn and his band ever recorded themselves was Jingle Bells, in New York on the 20th October 1941. Tex Beneke, Ernie Carceres and The Modernaires sing the vocals:



No Christmas record would be complete without at least one recording by the great Bing Crosby, and this CD set has several. Three of my favourites follow - Silent Night, Holy Night recorded in Los Angeles on the 8th June (that must have been weird!) 1942, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town recorded with The Andrews Sisters on the 30th September 1943 and I'll Be Home For Christmas recorded on the 11th October 1943:







Finally, we end with Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians, who recorded this in L.A during December of 1944, especially for the American Forces. Two years previously Waring's version of this 19th Century poem A Visit from St Nicholas became his first and only million-seller:



Well, that's a sample of the music I shall be singing and swinging to in the run-up to Christmas; I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I shall undoubtedly post again before the 25th, but whatever you're up to in the next three weeks I hope you have fun doing it to a festive soundtrack.