Christmas 2009, Part 7--Take a Message to Jesus

I have nothing against taking a message to Jesus, but this is pretty corny. ("Pretty corny?" you ask?) Well, it's typical of its genre. That of kids saying things which are, at the same time, darling and heart-breaking and which involve a deceased parent and some attempt to contact that deceased parent via telephone, direct contact with Jesus, etc.

Central, Can You Get Me Heaven? is a much earlier example.

Take a Message to Jesus was co-written (with Teresa herself) by Bob Thiele, who also produced.

Just as sentimental, but in a highly different way, is Harry Black's (Frank Luther) Christmas Holds No Joy for Me. It's the feel-good classic of the season, hands down. Have some Prozak on hand, speaking of. The flip, Jesus the Light of the World, brings us back to a happier version of the holiday. Near-mint 78s, these, hence the clear fidelity.

It's Santa Claus and Jingle Bells were ripped from a Junior label 78, Junior having been a subsidiary of Remington. Remington owner and producer Don Gabor co-arranged the second title. The organ is fabulous, and Scotty Macgregor does his best Bing impression. The picture sleeve is memorable: Junior 1001. "Age 3-7," it says. I think we're covered--it's aged more than 60 years since 1948.

From 1911, Felix Arndt's Snow Time, one of my favorites from the season, brilliantly performed by the Columbia Quartette. Love the line, "Mistletoe and cheeks-aglow time." This song might be the link between older-style pop Christmas songs like Jingle Bells and Up on the Housetop and the more modern kind we're used to (Winter Wonderland, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town).

And there are four more, including two versions of the glee club classic Winter Song.

Click here to hear: Christmas 2009, Part 7--Take a Message to Jesus.

SLEIGHLIST

TAKE A MESSAGE TO JESUS (Brewer-White-Thiele)--Teresa Brewer.
SNOW TIME (Felix Arndt)--Columbia Quartette, 1911.
WINTER SONG (Bullard)--Peerless Quartet, 1910.
CHRISTMAS HOLDS NO JOY FOR ME (Robison-Luther)--Frank Luther, 1928.
JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (Elderkin)--Frank Luther, 1928.
IT'S SANTA CLAUS (Macgregor)--Scotty Macgregor (Junior 1001), 1948.
JINGLE BELLS (Arr: Gabor-Macgregor)--Same.
WINTER SONG (Hovey-Bullard)--Shannon Four, 1922.
SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT (Gruber)--Trinity Choir, 1917.
EVERYBODY SKATE (Phillips)--Marche--The Organ Masters, 1969.


Lee

Christmas 2009, Part 6--A Sommerfield Musical Card (1948), or, Operation: Save "Jingle Bells"

I took a photo of this gorgeous 1948 Christmas-card-with-record (78 rpm, of course), and then I dismantled it. Had to--it was the only way to actually hear the record, since getting it to track as-is was an impossible task. After removing the lean, clear-plastic disc, I attached it to an expandable 45 to flatten it-- see photo.

No, wait--I meant, an expendable 45, not expandable.

Now I had a playable disc.

And a fun disc it is, too: Jingle Bells (1948)--A Sommerfield Musical Card.

Hated to cut up the card, but I did save the face (minus the disc), which is the main part. No one said that preserving history didn't require sacrifices.

Operation: Save Jingle Bells was a resounding success. In closing, I would like to thank the following people (blah, blah, blah)....


Lee

Christmas 2009, Part 5

Storage issues--but, for the moment, they seem to be under control. I'd keep my fingers crossed, but this cold and wet weather has my joints aching. Ouch.

And we continue to OD on Christmas here. The best way to go, Leethinks.

Ruth White, who composed #'s 5 and 6 in our sleighlist, became a famous electronic music person--check her out on the Google.

Merry Christmas You Suckers is making its annual blog appearance here--it's a 1962 variation on "Bah, humbug" (as you can likely deduce from the title). Very well done. And I love Perry Como's Christmas Dream (1974), in spite of its having been co-written by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The Bell That Couldn't Jingle features music by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Larry (A Time for Us) Kusik. At this point, I have nearly every version made of this (though one can never say an unmodified "every" when talking about a Burt song). And, from 1960, the Nutty Squirrels.

Also, the Organ Masters and a mega-cheap (but fun) version of Frosty the Snow Man on the Robin Hood label, on which no one is credited. They were saving on ink, I guess.

Or... download without delay our latest sleighlist: Christmas 2009, Part 5

SLEIGHLIST

THE BELL THAT COULDN'T JINGLE (Bacharach-Kusik)--Catherine McKinnon, 1966.
SKATER'S WALTZ (Waldteufel)--The Organ Masters, 1969.
RUDOLPH --JOLLY OLD ST. NICHOLAS--JINGLE BELLS--Banjo Barons, 1963.
MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU SUCKERS (Roberts)--Paddy Roberts, 1962.
SANTA'S CHRISTMAS PARTY (Ruth White)--Narration: Kathryn Hume, Sung by Grace Lynne Martin.
ACTIVITY SONGS FOR CHRISTMAS (Ruth White)--Grace Lynn Martin (Rhythms Productions CC 617-1)
NUTTY NOEL (Burland-Elliott)--Nutty Squirrels, 1960.
PLEASE DON'T TAKE OUR CHRISTMAS TREE FOR CHRISTMAS--Same.
CHRISTMAS DREAM (Webber-Rice)--Perry Como, 1974.
FROSTY THE SNOW MAN--No creidt (Robin Hood 1001)


Lee

Rain, frazzled cats, Post-MOG

It's been a wet and cold day. The carpet cleaner came today, cleaned all of the carpets. Most of the cats ran and hid. They were terrified--strange (unfamiliar) man, lots of noisy equipments (hoses, etc.), things being moved from their usual place (scary!!), and rain falling on them should they decide to seek refuge in the yard. But they survived the ordeal.

They can't wait until next time. Well, yeah, they can, actually.

And tonight marks my no longer being with MOG. Zero cents from the ads, which I didn't like, anyway. They asked that that their affiliates stay with them at least six months before departing (if they choose to depart), and it's been nine.

That's life in the big blogosphere, I guess. More holiday music is coming.

Lee

Your blogger at the organ: "Tune Your Harps for Holy Song"

Take me, my Casio CTK-551's "ChrchOrg" patch, a wonderful Christmas carol, and MAGIX's Acoustics Simulator (to create the sound contour of a cathedral), and you have our first sound file. Tune Your Harps for Holy Song is the name of the carol, and it comes from an 1882 Episcopal Sunday School book (middle, above). My only trick of editing was to redo the first chord change, which I had rushed, and splice it in. And then repeat the whole thing.

Okay, my only two tricks of editing. (Or is that three?)

Our bonus track, Millicent Kingham's God Is Working His Purpose Out, is completely "live." Kingham wrote the fabulous 1899 tune; the 1894 text is by Arthur C. Ainger, which doesn't do us a lot of good to know, since I didn't sing it. Be glad. I played this from the hymnal on the left.

Tune Your Harps is tricky to play, not being a very pianistic arrangement, and I was stumbling through it last night. Tonight, I sat down and did a faster and much smoother run-through. My late foster father, John, was obviously correct when he said that we do most of our learning between studies and practice, not during.

To the zip: Your blogger at the organ


1. Tune Your Harps for Holy Sound
2. God Is Working His Purpose Out (Ainger-Kingham)

Lee Hartsfeld, Casio church organ


Lee

Christmas 2009, Part 4--Merry Christmas from Line Material!

Line Material Christmas--an M(Y)PWHAE holiday tradition. This blog is your source for Line Material Christmas recordings. Accept no imitations. Get your LM groove on here.

We'll start with an explanation of Line Material. Here are two great links for that purpose: Cooper Power Systems and The Line Material Co.

Seems that Line Material annually produced cool Christmas give-away records from (at least as early as) 1949 to (at least as late as) 1964. If you find yourself wondering why the 1957-1962 sides sound so spectacular, consider the talent involved during that particular period: choral arranging by John McCarthy (of Ambrosia/John McCarthy Singers fame) and instrumental arranging by David Carroll (of Mercury). I know for sure they were behind Santa's Factoree, and I'm guessing they're the architects of/on the others from 1957-1962. Line Material was apparently able to hire the best, though I'm guessing that John McCarthy's services were cheaper prior to his 1961-66 stint as choral director for the London Symphony Orchestra.

The LM (and CLM of Canada) sides which date from before and after the 1957-62 period have proven--so far, at least--to be considerably less spectacular, especially 1964's The Story of Santa Claus and Turkey, the Bible Land, which pulled double duty as a Turkish Information Office issue! All the sides are entertaining, but the McCarthy/Carroll efforts raised the company-holiday-record bar to the stratosphere. To the thermosphere, even. Well, maybe not the thermosphere--too hot.

The Magic of Christmas is courtesy of Ernie (who snail-mailed me the small, vinyl 78-rpm disc year before last), and the 1964 files were kindly provided by Stubbysfears. For this post, I've replaced the latter with cleaner copies and rips. (I recently chanced on a mint edition.)

You'll love these, even if you've heard them before. If you haven't, prepare to be spending the next several weeks singing "Merry Christmas, from Line Material. (Repeat X3, fade)." We start with the 1957-1962 McCarthy/Carroll classics, including two Canadian (CLM) editions featuring different closing ditties. Both of which are courtesy of Captain OT of A Christmas Yuleblog:

To the zip: To the zip: Merry Christmas from Line Material, 1949-1964 Merry Christmas from Line Material, 1949-1964


SLEIGHLIST--LINE MATERIAL CHRISTMAS RECORDS

SANTA'S NORTH POLE BAND--1957
THE KINDS OF CHRISTMAS--1958
THE SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS--1959
SANTA'S FACTOREE--1960
THE DAY THAT SANTA WAS SICK--1961
LET'S TRIM THE CHRISTMAS TREE--1962
THE SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS (CLM edition)--1959
SANTA'S FACTOREE (CLM edition)--1960
THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS--Created and Rel. By Line Material--Year Unknown
KEEPING CHRISTMAS, PTS. 1 and 2--Jim Ameche, Narr., 1949.
TURKEY, THE BIBLE LAND--CLM Industries, 1964.
THE STORY OF SANTA CLAUS--CLM Industries, 1964.

Here are some more label shots: More LM labels



Lee

Christmas 2009, Part 3--The 78s never stop!

Well, actually, they do--once I've shut off the motor. And I will eventually run out of holiday 78 rips, but not for a while. I always have more of these things than I realize. Where do they come from? Do I haul them in? When? How? Why? (Sorry--collector's amnesia.)

So, what do I know about the Record Pak label (above)? Zilch. Nada. Except that it was obviously a low-cost outfit. The singers on this one are quite good, though, and I was even able to find information on the Ralph Berger Orch., which was a quintet that began at Northwestern University circa 1949. Here's a scan I swiped from eBay: Scan, swiped. Good luck reading the tiny print.

Then we have stuff on the Bowmar label, which corresponds to a songbook. I'm a bit surprised to find the famous Marilyn Horne on these sides, but of course I do not complain.

The wonderful Christmas Tree Man, ripped from a 1920 Columbia 78, is songbook-related, too. Music education was a big deal in the olden days.

The two 1908 Kinderchor sides (recorded in Germany, where else?) are beyond delightful, and the sound quality is pretty extraordinary, considering. I used to be tired of hearing O Tannenbaum, but I could put this version on repeat play and keep it there. All I need is an mp3 player (besides the one on my PC). Ihr Kinderlein Kommet (O Come, Little Children) is one of the best carols of all time, imo, and this version ranks up there with the Trapp Family Singers' brilliant recording.

Recording thereof, I mean.

Dance of the Toy Regiment, co-written (music?) by Nat Shilkret, is yet another Parade of the Wooden Soldiers-style novelty--pleasant enough, but considerably less memorable than the earlier masterpiece. You will hear surface noise. As ever, I did my best to minimize it.

The Night Before Christmas (Tops label) is fairly hammered, but it was too good to not post. Tops is one of those labels (like Big 4 Hits, Prom, etc.) that turns up "as is." Or, in this case, "as isn't."

To the 78s: Christmas 2009, Part 3--The 78s never stop!

SLEIGHLIST

CHRISTMAS TREE ANGEL--Marilyn Horne, Soprano (Bowmar Records).
FUNNY LITTLE SNOWMAN--Marilyn Horne, Soprano.
ON A CHRISTMAS NIGHT--Marilyn Horne, Soprano.
TEN LITTLE JINGLE BELLS--Richard Robinson, Tenor.
SNOWFLAKES--Marilyn Horne, Soprano.
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS--The Music Hall Drama Group and Orch. (Tops 209)
THE CHRISTMAS TREE MAN (Hesser)--Bessie Calkins Shipman, 1920.
BLUE CHRISTMAS--Jeri Shannon (Record Pak label)
DANCE OF THE TOY REGIMENT (Green-Shilkret)--Victor Salon O., Dir. Nat Shilkret, 1925.
IHR KINDERLEIN KOMMET--Kinderchor Mit Harmonium und Kircheglocken, 1908.
O TANNENBAUM--Same.
I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS--Jerry Smith (Record Pak)


Lee

Sunday morning gospel: Merry Christmas from the Blackwood Brothers (1979)

The jacket is actually a little closer to burgundy in color, but otherwise this is a decent image. I think, anyway. So rushed was this rip-and-post job that I've only had the chance to spot-listen to the selections. But what I heard sounded great. Not A-1 classic Blackwood, but very expertly done holiday music. And it occurs to me that I'm not sure how to spell "A-1 classic." What a time to discover that.

In other news, as I said last time, I don't even want to see another "Seasons Greetings" sign. I mean, it's "Season's Greetings." With an apostrophe. (Wasn't funny the the last time, either? Oh. Sorry.)

The Voice Box label (of Memphis, Tennessee) is a new one on me. No time to Google-research it. But it's the label we're hearing from today.

To the LP: Merry Christmas from the Blackwood Brothers (1979)

SLEIGHLIST

WHITE CHRISTMAS
THE FIRST NOEL
OH HOLY NIGHT
CHESTNUTS ROASTING
SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT
IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR
JOY TO THE WORLD
HARK, THE HERALD ANGELS SING
OH COME ALL YE FAITHFUL
AWAY IN A MANGER

(Voice Bo 0779; 1979)

Lee