The Haunted Victrola--78s for Halloween 2015!

For Halloween, thirteen selections from my overflowing 78 collection, covering the years 1908 to 1934, and all ripped and restored by me.  What titles--Mummy Mine, Vamp Me, Spooky Spooks, Dance of the Demon, Greenwich Witch, The Loch Ness Monster....  This slaylist will have you tapping your toes all the way to the cemetery.  As the beatnik ghost said, "It's just tomb much, man."

Note that British radio comedian John Tilley's "humorous monologue," The Loch Ness Monster, hails from the same year (1934) as the famous Nessie hoax photo known as the "Surgeon's Photograph."  In this brilliant skit, not only does Tilley treat the Nessie legend as a joke (and then some), he presents it as the latest in a long line of tourist-baiting scams.  If Tilley could figure that out back in the day, why is the myth still afloat eight decades later?  Extremely abstract humor, and not unlike modern stand-up.  And I just discovered that Tilley died one year after this recording--he was only 36.  Damn.

Meanwhile, Joe Haymes' Little Nell sort of anticipates Spike Jones' 1945 send-up of Chloe.  Also Jones-style are the sound effects on the Columbia Orchestra's 1918 A Cat-Astrophe.  In the realm of corny humor, nothing is new, I guess.  And I should note that Eduard Holst, the composer of the awesome two-piano Dance of the Demon, is no relation to Gustav (The Planets) Holst.  The duo-piano team on the Demon disc, Victor Arden and Phil Ohmen, were one of the best of the 1920s.  Appropriately, our slaylist ends with the famous funeral march from Chopin's B-flat minor piano sonata.  One of the all-time "Where did that come from?" themes, of which we usually only hear two bars when it's quoted in cartoons and movies.  MY(P)WHAE is giving you the whole thing, and from a cracked 1908 78 (which I repaired with audio splices).

To the slaylist: The Haunted Victrola

THE HAUNTED VICTROLA--SLAYLIST

Vamp Me (And I'll Vamp You)--Rega Dance Orch., 1922
Mummy Mine--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., 1919
Ghost of the Violin (Two-Step; Snyder-Kalmar)--Prince's Orch., 1913
Little Nell--Eliot Everett (Joe Haymes) and His Orch., 1932
Variations on Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?--Jacques Fray-Mario Braggiotti, piano duet, 1934
Fire Dance (De Falla)--Hollywood Bowl Orch., Eugene Goossens, 1928
Dance of the Demon (E. Holst)--Victor Arden-Phil Ohmen, piano duet, 1922
Spooky Spooks (Edward B. Claypoole)--Prince's Band, 1916
A Cat-Astrophe (Daniel-Kopp)--Columbia Orch., Dir. Charles A. Prince, 1919
Greenwich Witch (Confrey)--Zez Confrey, piano, 1922
The Loch Ness Monster--Pts. 1 and 2--John Tilley, 1934.
Graveyard Blues (Woods-Caldwell)--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., 1918
Chopin's Funeral March--Arthur Pryor's Band, 1908


Lee

The Frankenstein Brothers Present... Halloween Instrumentals, Part One!

I heard a rumor that Halloween is coming.  So did the Frankenstein Brothers (pictured above).  Don't they look like they're out to avenge someone or something?  They have that going-to-the-showdown look.  Well, except for the guy in the bib (a finger puppet, for people with raccoon-sized digits).

Maybe we can send them over to Windstream headquarters to get some action going on this on/off, off/on connection thing.  No, no, just kidding.  Never threaten your ISP, even in jest.  Of course, should these guys decide to march on over there, it's not within my power to prevent them.  First, they'd have to find out where Windstream headquarters are.  That would help.

Frankie 1: Must find Windstream headquarters.  By the way, where is it?  Frankie 3:  I was wondering that, myself.  Frankie 2: Shut up and keep hulking.

For this slaylist, I've resurrected Sammy Kaye's extremely space-age-pop recording of the theme from William Castle's The Night Walker (1964), plus Mantovani's marvelous 1955 recording of Morton Gould's Deserted Ballroom--the best-ever version, imo.  The Sundowners are back, in a new rip, with Charles R. Grean's The Thing.

New, much better rips on Earl Fuller's Graveyard Blues (1918) and Mummy Mine (1919), and an improved Greenwich Witch, with composer Zez Confrey on the piano.  Hal Herzon's rendering of Morton Gould's Robot comes from a genuinely weird LP, one which gives the buyer zero idea what to expect, unless multiple poses of an attractive bikinied model with too much makeup shouts "concert jazz by Morton Gould."   It's not the same bandleader's 1948 MGM recording, as far as I know.  Just to clear that up.

Ferde Grofe's Rip Van Winkle is from the composer's Hudson River Suite, and this is an edited-down version of Andre Kostelanetz' 1955 recording.  Grofe's 1963 Trick or Treat is Kostelanetz again, from the two-record Spirit of '76 set.  Recorded in 1976, of course.

What can I say about John Arthur Meale's The Storm (recorded by the composer in 1926)?  Well, first off, it may have originated as an organ improvisation, and it doesn't appear to have been published.  It existed as early as 1905, and appears to have originally been called Storm at Sea (which would explain the stanza of Eternal Father, Strong to Save).  The sections (quoted from a 1906 recital announcement) are:

Calm at Sea--Distant Thunder--Rising Wind--Hooting of Sirens in the distance--Hymn, "Eternal Father, strong to save"--Tempestuous Sea (theme on the Pedal Organ during the storm)--Thunder rolls away--Thanksgiving Hymn, "O God, our help in ages past," etc.

To my ears, perfect Lon Chaney, Sr. silent film background music.  Gramophone magazine called The Storm "a ludicrous piece of theatricalism," and "a demonstration of the worst excesses of which the organ is capable."  Hm.  But did they like it, otherwise?

To the sounds:  Halloween Instrumentals, Part One!


SLAYLIST

Prelude  (Rachmaninoff, Arr. C. Morena)--Marek Weber, 1928
In the Hall of the Mountain King--Bill Bell, Tuba, 1958
The Storm (Meale)--1926 (from 1928 Victor pressing)
The Thing--The Sundowners Band, 1951
Greenwich Witch (Confrey)--Zez Confrey, piano solo, 1922
Rip Van Winkle (Grofe)--Andre Kostelanetz, 1955 (edited 45-rpm version)
Deserted Ballroom (Gould)--Mantovani, 1955
Graveyard Blues--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch.,, 1918
Mummy Mine--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., 1919
Robot (Gould)--Hal Herzon and His Orch.
Theme from the Night Walker (V. Mizzy)
Trick or Treat (Grofe)--Andre Kostelanetz


Lee

The Return of Halloween 2023, Part 3: Monster-Size Monster tracks! Or, look out for "Lookout Mountain"!

 

I think we all prefer our monsters monster-sized.  So long as they obey.  And so long as they aren't mutant insects...

With Jeane Dixon, break-ins, and seasonal soundalikes out of the way, it's time (just barely) for more of my favorite pieces of tongue-in-cheek terror.  And, for some reason, it was only last nght that I found the recording dates for Haunted House Polka and He's Going to Eat Me Up (thanks, 45cat).  I'd searched for them in the past, but you know how that goes: Locating data is often a matter of using the exact correct phrase or phrase combination, or you're up a haunted creek without a crucifix.  I'm probably showing my age, but I can remember when Google searches were pretty straightforward.  You put in a search phrase, and up popped the object of your search.  That was, what?  1888 or so?

And, save for the creepy Lookout Mountain, the rest of the slaylist is classic October 31 absurdity: Haunted House Polka (1955), The Screemin' Meemies From Planet "X" (Merv's finest novelty, and he made a number of them), Close the Door (a lighthearted take on The Thing), Rip Van Winkle, Munster Creep, In the Hall of the Cha-Cha King (the least dread-invoking title, after Planet "X"), Which Witch Doctor, Funny Farm, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (nothing to do with Robert Louis Stevenson's brilliant novella).  My worn Jekyll copy sounded best with my 1 mil mono stylus, so that's the rip you'll hear.  Also, Spooky Movies, which seems to me a Halloween variation on the "I took my girl to the movies, hoping for romance, but she just wanted to moon over Troy Donahue/Guy Madison" genre, only with monsters the target of her ardor.  (No, not a love for big-screen pirates.)

Bob Hudson's 1966 I'm Normal, and The Napoleon XV Revue's 1975 He's Going to Eat Me Up are our two axe-cellent copycat answers to They're Coming to Take Me Away, though there are other thump-a, thump-a, thump-a, thump-a knockoffs lurking around.  Any number of them, actually, and I have--or used to have--a CD-R of same, though one would have to be strapped down (or in) to take them away in one session.  I mean, to take them in.  Note that the latter contains a phrase not suggested for family listening.

And this is just from my boo-point, but I seriously believe Merv Griffin made the best, most campy novelties of all time, and of course I've included his two moss-terpieces for the season: the above-mentioned Screamin' Meemies and House of Horrors, both penned/co-penned by Doris Roberts.  Another Merv novelty accomplice was the famous Charles Randolph Grean (Quentin's Theme), who produced Merv's RCA hits (during Merv's brief period of chart success) and, far as I know, all of his later special productions, including the immortal Have a Nice Trip (1968), co-written by Charles.

1961's Rip Van Winkle is not so much Halloween in theme but feel, with sound effects fit for the season, and a sufficiently supernatural theme.  And a Halloween without Steve Allen is, well, a Halloween without Steve Allen.  Allen's "rockin'" ghost rocks in the fashion of cool jazz, as we'd expect from Steverino, who was (hardly) one of rock and roll's early champions.

I cited Lookout Mountain as the single credibly creepy title in the mess--er, mix.  That's because there's no lightness in the handling, and, really, it would be a chillingly challenging task to add levity to a narrative about a vengeful ghost coming to kill his widow and her new man.  But, a couple questions, at least: Were the Voodoo (?) hexes love spells which backfired?  And, if they knew the ghost would find them on Lookout Mountain, wouldn't the simplest solution have been to not go there?

And we get a soul version of Buck Owens' It's a Monster's Holiday.  Had I been able to find Owens' own recording (I failed to exhume my copy of same), I'd have made coffin space for it, but...  Oh, and there's an incredible story (thanks, Charlie Christ!) behind The Incredible Shrinking Man, on which Ray Anthony is credited as "Ray Anothony."  This title music, not surprisingly, started as an acetate not related to the film to the tiniest degree.

And the theme from William Castle's The Night Walker (1964) by (who else?) Sammy Kaye, the fondly remembered (by me, anyway) King Kong cartoon theme, and SPC doing some PD-graverobbing (in this case, from Charles Gounod) with The Alfred Hitchcock TV Show (aka, Funeral March of a Marionette).

A demon's dozen today: Thirteen titles!  Well, actually, that was true last post, but I neck-glected to depart that fact.  But, today we have a double demon's-dozen today: 26 grisly groaners!!  So, be careful!  Times two.  

DOWNLOAD: Halloween 2023, Part 3

SLAYLIST

Lookout Mountain--Chuck Miller, 1956

Haunted House Polka--The Cavaliers, 1955

The Screamin' Meemies From Planet "X"--Merv Griffin, 1961

Spooky Movies--Roy Clark, 1963

Thirteen Men--Dinah Shore With Harry Zimmerman's Orch. and Cho., 1958

Close the Door--Jim Lowe With Norman Leyden Orch., 1955

Big Bad Wolf--Don Cherry With Ray Conniff and His Orch., 1958

The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Danse Macabre--Dick Jacobs and His Orch., 1958

Rip Van Winkle--The Devotions, 1961

Munster Creep--The Munsters, 1964

House of Horrors--Merv Griffin, Orch, conducted by Charles Grean, 1962

The Naughty Ghost--Jan August With Vocal Group, 1955

I'm Normal--The Emperor (Bob Hudson), 1966

The Rockin' Ghost--Archie Bleyer Orch. and Chorus, 1956

He's Going to Eat Me Up--Napoleon XV Revue, 1975

In the Hall of the Cha-Cha King--Belmonte and His Afro-American Music, 1955

Tennessee Hill-Billy Ghost-Red Foley With the Anita Kerr Singers, 1951

It's a Monster's Holiday--Chick Willis, 1975

Murder, He Says--Betty Hutton With Pete Rugolo and His Orch., 1951

Which Witch Doctor--The Vogues With Al Kavelin's Music, 1958

The Alfred Hitchcock TV Show--Unkown (Diplomat, 1962)

The Incredible Shrinking Man--Ray Anothony (Anthony) and His Orch., 1957

The Thing--Danny Kaye, Orch. and Cho. Dir. by Ken Darby, 1950

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--The Emersons, 1959

The Night Walker--Sammy Kaye and His Orch., 1965

King Kong--Wade Denning and His Port Wawshingtons, 1966

Lee

Halloween 2023, Part 3: Monster-Size Monster tracks! Or, look out for "Lookout Mountain"!

 

I think we all prefer our monsters monster-sized.  So long as they obey.  And so long as they aren't mutant insects...

With Jeane Dixon, break-ins, and seasonal soundalikes out of the way, it's time (just barely) for more of my favorite pieces of tongue-in-cheek terror.  And, for some reason, it was only last nght that I found the recording dates for Haunted House Polka and He's Going to Eat Me Up (thanks, 45cat).  I'd searched for them in the past, but you know how that goes: Locating data is often a matter of using the exact correct phrase or phrase combination, or you're up a haunted creek without a crucifix.  I'm probably showing my age, but I can remember when Google searches were pretty straightforward.  You put in a search phrase, and up popped the object of your search.  That was, what?  1888 or so?

And, save for the creepy Lookout Mountain, the rest of the slaylist is classic October 31 absurdity: Haunted House Polka (1955), The Screemin' Meemies From Planet "X" (Merv's finest novelty, and he made a number of them), Close the Door (a lighthearted take on The Thing), Rip Van Winkle, Munster Creep, In the Hall of the Cha-Cha King (the least dread-invoking title, after Planet "X"), Which Witch Doctor, Funny Farm, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (nothing to do with Robert Louis Stevenson's brilliant novella).  My worn Jekyll copy sounded best with my 1 mil mono stylus, so that's the rip you'll hear.  Also, Spooky Movies, which seems to me a Halloween variation on the "I took my girl to the movies, hoping for romance, but she just wanted to moon over Troy Donahue/Guy Madison" genre, only with monsters the target of her ardor.  (No, not a love for big-screen pirates.)

Bob Hudson's 1966 I'm Normal, and The Napoleon XV Revue's 1975 He's Going to Eat Me Up are our two axe-cellent copycat answers to They're Coming to Take Me Away, though there are other thump-a, thump-a, thump-a, thump-a knockoffs lurking around.  Any number of them, actually, and I have--or used to have--a CD-R of same, though one would have to be strapped down (or in) to take them away in one session.  I mean, to take them in.  Note that the latter contains a phrase not suggested for family listening.

And this is just from my boo-point, but I seriously believe Merv Griffin made the best, most campy novelties of all time, and of course I've included his two moss-terpieces for the season: the above-mentioned Screamin' Meemies and House of Horrors, both penned/co-penned by Doris Roberts.  Another Merv novelty accomplice was the famous Charles Randolph Grean (Quentin's Theme), who produced Merv's RCA hits (during Merv's brief period of chart success) and, far as I know, all of his later special productions, including the immortal Have a Nice Trip (1968), co-written by Charles.

1961's Rip Van Winkle is not so much Halloween in theme but feel, with sound effects fit for the season, and a sufficiently supernatural theme.  And a Halloween without Steve Allen is, well, a Halloween without Steve Allen.  Allen's "rockin'" ghost rocks in the fashion of cool jazz, as we'd expect from Steverino, who was (hardly) one of rock and roll's early champions.

I cited Lookout Mountain as the single credibly creepy title in the mess--er, mix.  That's because there's no lightness in the handling, and, really, it would be a chillingly challenging task to add levity to a narrative about a vengeful ghost coming to kill his widow and her new man.  But, a couple questions, at least: Were the Voodoo (?) hexes love spells which backfired?  And, if they knew the ghost would find them on Lookout Mountain, wouldn't the simplest solution have been to not go there?

And we get a soul version of Buck Owens' It's a Monster's Holiday.  Had I been able to find Owens' own recording (I failed to exhume my copy of same), I'd have made coffin space for it, but...  Oh, and there's an incredible story (thanks, Charlie Christ!) behind The Incredible Shrinking Man, on which Ray Anthony is credited as "Ray Anothony."  This title music, not surprisingly, started as an acetate not related to the film to the tiniest degree.

And the theme from William Castle's The Night Walker (1964) by (who else?) Sammy Kaye, the fondly remembered (by me, anyway) King Kong cartoon theme, and SPC doing some PD-graverobbing (in this case, from Charles Gounod) with The Alfred Hitchcock TV Show (aka, Funeral March of a Marionette).

A demon's dozen today: Thirteen titles!  Well, actually, that was true last post, but I neck-glected to depart that fact.  But, today we have a double demon's-dozen today: 26 grisly groaners!!  So, be careful!  Times two.  

DOWNLOAD: Halloween 2023, Part 3

SLAYLIST

Lookout Mountain--Chuck Miller, 1956

Haunted House Polka--The Cavaliers, 1955

The Screamin' Meemies From Planet "X"--Merv Griffin, 1961

Spooky Movies--Roy Clark, 1963

Thirteen Men--Dinah Shore With Harry Zimmerman's Orch. and Cho., 1958

Close the Door--Jim Lowe With Norman Leyden Orch., 1955

Big Bad Wolf--Don Cherry With Ray Conniff and His Orch., 1958

The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Danse Macabre--Dick Jacobs and His Orch., 1958

Rip Van Winkle--The Devotions, 1961

Munster Creep--The Munsters, 1964

House of Horrors--Merv Griffin, Orch, conducted by Charles Grean, 1962

The Naughty Ghost--Jan August With Vocal Group, 1955

I'm Normal--The Emperor (Bob Hudson), 1966

The Rockin' Ghost--Archie Bleyer Orch. and Chorus, 1956

He's Going to Eat Me Up--Napoleon XV Revue, 1975

In the Hall of the Cha-Cha King--Belmonte and His Afro-American Music, 1955

Tennessee Hill-Billy Ghost-Red Foley With the Anita Kerr Singers, 1951

It's a Monster's Holiday--Chick Willis, 1975

Murder, He Says--Betty Hutton With Pete Rugolo and His Orch., 1951

Which Witch Doctor--The Vogues With Al Kavelin's Music, 1958

The Alfred Hitchcock TV Show--Unkown (Diplomat, 1962)

The Incredible Shrinking Man--Ray Anothony (Anthony) and His Orch., 1957

The Thing--Danny Kaye, Orch. and Cho. Dir. by Ken Darby, 1950

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--The Emersons, 1959

The Night Walker--Sammy Kaye and His Orch., 1965

King Kong--Wade Denning and His Port Wawshingtons, 1966

Lee

Halloween 2024, Part 1: Stanley Holloway, Paul Frees, Elsa Lanchester, David Rose, Gene Moss, The Merriettes

 

A number of technical glitches when preparing this slaylist--evil forces working to ruin my Halloween-blogging plans, no doubt  But I chanted some magic words over my ceramic Frankenstein-monster-and-pumpkin planter (? shown above), and I seem to have expelled the demons (or anti-demons?) at play.  But not before having my first MAGIX "project" (of 20-plus tracks) vanish on me.  Crud.  

Elsa Lanchester for Halloween?  If only for her portrayal of the Frankenstein monster's bride, yes.  But we'll hear two 1957 numbers from her act at Hollywood's Turnabout Theatre, shortly after the closing of that establishment.  Forman Brown's Never Go Walking Out Without Your Hat Pin may or may not be a period song adapted by the songwriter--it certainly sounds "period."  It's all about a hat pin as a defense against unrequested sexual attention--and there's also the implication that the pin can function as a reminder to young lower-class British women of the virtue of protecting their "you know what."  At the close, we discover that, had her mother remembered to carry a hat pin, the singer wouldn't have been born.  Yikes.  Those reserved Brits sure have a talent for bold, frank (not to mention dark) humor.  The Ratcatchers Daughter (which I incorrectly tagged as The Ratchcatchers Song--sorry!) is described as a "London Street Song," and a rough one, too.  Even though the fidelity is adequate for both numbers, I suggest headphone listening--if you want to make out all the lyrics, that is.  The numbers are introduced in a dry, ready-to-burst-out-laughing fashion by Elsa's husband, Charles Laughton (whose sole directing job, 1955's Night of the Hunter, is a perfect Halloween flick.  Which is probably why it's not on TCM's October schedule).

Sterling Holloway's Sweeney Todd the Barber is more typical music-hall material, though with the same level of dark humor.  Recorded in 1957, far as I can determine, though released in the U.S. (on Columbia Masterworks) in 1958.  And the Village Stompers' Haunted House Blues is a spooky-in-title-only number, but still fun.  Of course, I was hoping for something more traditionally Halloween.  A few screams, or at least a low-pitched "Buwa-ha-haaaa!"

The Dramatic Cue and Mood Music "suite" was edited by me from the above Elektra LP.  I assembled a number of season-appropriate cues into a single file, and it flows amazingly well (I was expecting lesser results).  The LP has seen better plays, but VinylStudio's declicker filter did an amazing job, as usual.

Two Funeral March of a Marionette (aka Alfred Hitchcock Presents) offerings: An excellent and just-right 1956 pipe organ performance by Ray Bohr, and a fine, swinging 1959 interpretation by Ralph Marterie and the Marlboro Men.  (What Halloween is complete without Ralph and the Marlboro Men?)  And, courtesy of the famous voice actor Paul Frees (Solomon Hersh Frees), we have "Boris Karloff" crooning the Bacharach-David The Look of Love, and "Bela Lugosi" with Games People Play.  And some moody--if marginally-Halloween--1961 titles on Enoch Light's Command label (Grand Award Record Co.): Strange Interlude and Witching Hour.  I was hoping the latter would have a more foreboding sound, but it's effective enough, and the highly precise Command-style stereo is fun.  

In addition, my favorite Douglas Byng track of all: 1963's I'm a Mummy.  A brilliant cabaret performer, known for appearing in drag, and of course at a time when it was very not safe to come out of the closet.  A situation to which we never want to return.  Douglas was a comic genius, which is all that matters.

Gene Moss, the voice of Smokey Bear from 1992–2002, provides two song parodies as "Dracula": I Want to Bite Your Hand and Frankenstein (Clementine), both from the 1964 RCA LP, Dracula's Greatest Hits.  And I confess to a love for Mantovani's music--including this dreamy 1969 arrangement of Robert Colbert's famous Quentin's Theme (from the 1960s Gothic soap, Dark Shadows).  Just part of my high regard for expertly arranged and performed mood/background/"EZ" fare.  The collectable value of most mood music, of course, is slim to none.

My rip of David Rose's Forbidden Planet comes from the 1957 MGM Music From Motion Pictures LP (speaking of superior mood music), but I cheated by swiping the Discogs image of the picture sleeve that came with the single.  Rose was hired to compose that film's soundtrack, but his music was ditched for the very cool (I think so; not everyone does) electronic background.  So, is this the actual title music Rose composed?  Or an original recording thereof?  I do not know.  But it's excellent stuff.

Look Out for the Batman, courtesy of (who else?) Synthetic Plastics Co., is a mess of a knockoff rushed to market during the 1966 Adam West/Batman craze, but I love it to death.  I even love the recorded-in-another-room quality of the drums.  And Batman is a permanent part of my Halloween memory, if only because I went to school as Batman that year--complete with cape and mask.  Even at 9, I recognized the set as non-brand, but it was cool, anyway.

DOWNLOAD: Halloween 2024, Part 1

SLAYLIST

Sweeney Todd the Barber--Stanley Holloway, 1957

Dramatic Cue and Mood Music-suite, 1964

Quentin's Theme--Mantovani, 1969

I Want to Bite Your Hand--Dracula (Gene Moss), 1964

Alfred Hitchcock Presents--Ralph Marterie and the Marlboro Men, 1959

Frankenstein (Clementine)--Dracula (Gene Moss), 1964

Blue Ghost--Tommy Roe, Jordanaires, 1962

Trick or Treat (Ferde Grofe)--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., 1976

Ghost Town--Don Cherry With Ray Conniff Orch. and Chorus, 1956

March of the Marionettes--Ray Bohr, pipe organ, 1956

Haunted House Blues--The Village Stompers, 1964

I'm a Mummy--Douglas Byng, piano: Alan Leigh, 1963

Strange Interlude--Lew Davies and His Orch., 1961

The Witching Hour--Same, 1961

Never Go Walking Out Without Your Hat Pin--Elsa Lanchester, intro: Charles Laughton, 1957

The Ratcatcher's Daughter--Same

Forbidden Planet (Rose)--David Rose and His Orchestra, 1957?

The Look of Love--Paul Frees as Boris Karloff, 1970.

Games People Play--Paul Frees as Bela Lugosi, 1970.

Look Out for the Batman--The Merriettes, 1966

Lee

Halloween, Part 3: Buwa-ha-haaaaa!!!

Seven 78s from my collection, all of which fall into a category I call, Buwa-ha-haaaaa!!!

The ultimate Buwa-ha-haaaa!!! novelty, Paul Whiteman's recording of AH-HA! (1925) is a Halloween near-perennial at this blog, and this time I've added two more AH-HA!s, including Freddie "Schnickelfritz" Fisher's 1940 Decca version.  Fisher really dials up the novelty, except that the novelty was already dialed up to ten, so.... Not sure how he managed it.

And the lyrics make nearly no sense, at least in their printed form--I know, because I finally hauled out my copy and studied them.  All I can conclude for sure is that "AH-HA!" is what you say when you catch your guy or gal cheating on you.  (Not the worst thing you could utter under the circumstances.)  In fact, "AH-HA!"ing is also something you do; you don't simply say it.  As in, "Now I'm gonna AH-HA! you."

Of course, if you're caught cheating, you immediately cease to be the "AH-HA!"er and become the "AH-HA!"ee.  That's the lesson of the song, apparently.

Those words at the start of the Whiteman version?  Turns out they go, "Once a hero, now a villain," said John Applesauce.  "I have changed because of a gal."  John Applesauce??

I should note that, by the second verse, the two-timing gal has become Mrs. Applesauce, but, despite her promise to love and obey, she's double-crossed him, and "now she has things all her way."  So she's doing the "AH-HA!"ing now.   That's what it says; seriously.

And the next to last line--You said that I meant nothing and I never had a cent, but I've got forty dollars in the bank at four percent, AH-HA!--is hers, not his.

I hope that clears up any and all confusion.

Click here to hear:  Buwa-ha-haaaaa!!!

SLAYLIST

AH-HA!--Paul Whiteman Orch., 1925
AH-HA!--Oriole Orch., vocal: Mark Fisher, 1925
AH-HA!--Freddie "Schnickelfritz" Fisher and His Orch., 1940
Murder (Byron Gay)--Plantation Jazz Orch., 1920
Mystery!--Paul Biese and His Novelty Orch., 1919
Little Nell--Eliot Everett (Joe Haymes) Orch., 1932



Lee

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Turn the lights down low, huddle closely together on this chilly Halloween night, and quiver with terror as you listen to these MY(P)WHAE classics!  Or giggle with amusement (whichever works).  These are the Halloween tracks that never die at this blog.  Maybe that's because I keep featuring them.  Yeah, that would explain it.

David Rose's wonderful Satan and the Polar Bear (Satan and the polar bear??), from 1954, is a thousand times more effective, to my ears, than the cliched dreck that functions as scary background music nowadays.  There, I said it.  It anticipates the manic, in-your-face spook-music tradition of our time, but, as originals often manage to be, it's way better than the stuff it inspired.

The two Addams Family renditions are adorable, with the vivid stereo of the De Vol version a treat for the ears.  (I think I ripped it off of my old Dual 1000-series turntable.)  And, after umpteen plays, Sinner's Train remains an astonishingly well crafted, well performed, and well recorded track--and it's from the guy (Art Mooney) who gave us the 1947 smash hit version of I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover!  That may be the scariest thing about it....

Cross-dressing British comic Douglas Byng's 1963 re-recording of I'm a Mummy is a masterpiece--not of horror, but of sophisticated wit.  Sophisticated wit doesn't happen very often at Halloween, so be grateful.  King Kong and It's About Time are two TV themes of the sixties, and the latter--a comedy about astronauts who end up back in the Stone Age--was a big hit with me and my brother when it first aired.  (Not enough to keep it on, unfortunately.)  They're Coming to Tow Me Away is a wonderful BP ad that aired during the winter of 1997.  It almost, but not quite, makes up for the BP ads to come.

John Logan's Dinner with Drac is a cheap knock-off of the 1958 John Zacherle hit, and just about as unfunny.  The late 1950s, by the way, seems to have been the period when the monsters of Universal Studios emerged as Halloween icons, and no doubt TV reruns of Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. were the reason.  Hence, horror host Zacherle scoring a hit record (and John Logan copying it, and pretty well).

Relatively recent history.  And you was there!

Lookout Mountain, with its lyrics about voodoo and corpses rising from the swampland,  remains one of the weirdest records of its type (whatever that may be).  Is this a cover of an original, I wonder?  Also, did the husband, in fact, rise from the swampland and find the hopeless lovers on Lookout Mountain?  And if they knew he was coming to Lookout Mountain, why didn't they arrange to be somewhere else?

The lyrics don't stand up to logical analysis.

The H Man is a one-sided 1958 "Theatre Lobby Spot" 78 with two bands, both identical.  I combined the best audio from both for this rip.  The narration is beyond hilarious.  The synthesizer effects in the background, on the other hand, are awesome.

Torero is Julius La Rosa's cover of an Italian novelty mega-hit by Renato Carosone, and though not nearly as quirky, it's well sung and accompanied with spirit, and it's a great addition to the Men in White genre.

Just click on the slaylist titles...

SLAYLISTS

HALLOWEEN CLASSICS, Part 1

Satan and the Polar Bear (Rose)--David Rose and His Orchestra, 1954
The Addams Family (Mizzy)--Frank De Vol, 1965
Sinner's Train--Art Mooney, His Orchestra and Chorus, 1956
I'm a Mummy--Douglas Byng, 1963
King Kong--Wade Denning and the Port Washingtons, 1966
It's About Time--Wade Denning and the Port Washingtons
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane--Music By De Vol, 1962
Elemtary, My Dear Watson (Indelli)--William Indelli and His Orch., 1960
Lookout Mountain--Chuck Miller
Sittin' By Sittin' Bull (Driftwood)--Eddy Arnold, 1959
Haunted House Polka--The Cavaliers, date unknown
The H Man (Theater Lobby Spot, 1958)
They're Coming to Tow Me Away (1997 BP commercial)
Sweeney Todd the Barber--Stanley Holloway, 1956
Journey Into Space--Frank Weir and His Saxophone, w. His Chorus and Orch., 1955
The Horror Show--Sharkey Todd and His Monsters, 1959

HALLOWEEN CLASSICS, Part 2

Hooray, Hooray, I'm Goin' Away (S. Skylar)--Beatrice Kay, w. Mitchell Ayres O., 1947
I Love Him So Much (I Could Scream)--Peggy Lloyd w. Nick and His Gang, 1950
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte--Lawrence Welk
Mr. Ghost Goes to Town--Five Jones Boys (1936)
Addams Family--Lawrence Welk and His Orch., 1965
Torero--Julius La Rosa, 1958
The Merry Ghost from Chatham Square--Henry Rene Musette Orch., w. vocal, 1942
Dinner with Drac--John Logan (Promenade 34)
The Cool Gool--Sharkey Todd and His Monsters, 1959
I Died All Over You--Bud Messner and His Sky Line Boys, v: Bill Franklin, 1950
Robot Man--Jamie Horton (Gayla Peevey), 1960
Little Monster--The Baker Sisters w. Hugo Peretti O.
Hypnotized--Ted Fio Rito and His Orch, v: Fuzzy Marcellino, 1936
It's Witchery (Tobias)--Charles Spivak and His Orch., v: Tommy Mercer, 1947
Big Bad Wolf (Bartel)--Don Cherry w. Ray Conniff Orch., 1958

Good-byyyyyyyyye!!!

Lee

The Haunted Victrola is back!! Shivery shellac offerings from 1909-1949!

It occurred to me that all my of my Halloween shellac postings were pre-Vinyl Studio, which means none of them had the proper response curves.  So, working like a demon, I pulled twenty-two 78s from the racks and pyres--er, stacks and piles--and ripped them for you.  And isn't "ripped" the perfect verb for the holiday (sober or no)?  Anyway, here are 22 previously ghosted--er, posted--tracks, all zipped up in a handy slaylist.  And I wish these were streaming tracks, because then I could use the pun "screaming." Oh, well.

A couple "new" offerings--Carl Fenton's Spike Jones-esque recordings of Animal Fair and Go 'Long, Mule, neither of which are classic Halloween titles, but their treatments are so delightfully crazy, they had to be included.  Edward MacDowell's wonderful 1884 piano piece Witches' Dance (Hexentanz) starts the hearse rolling, and Leopold Godowsky could sure play the piano.  From a Brunswick 78 made in either 1921 or 1922.  Eduard Holst's (no relation to Gustav, far as I know) Dance of the Demon is also superbly performed, though it took two guys to manage it--Victor Arden and Phil Ohman, piano partners who became bandleaders.  For some reason, I gave the Polydor label Brownies' Parade a probable recording date of 1928 the last time I posted it, and I must have had a reason, though I can't remember it now.   Maybe clues from a vintage publication that's no longer on line.  It's driving me mad, trying to remember.  (Buwa-ha-haaaaa!!!!)  Cool electrical-era sound quality, anyway.  Chopin's Funeral March, played by Prince's Band in 1909, is by Chopin.  I know this, because the label actually lists "Chopin" under Chopin's Funeral March.  In case we thought Beethoven wrote it, maybe.  Stunningly effective piece, and, if you didn't know it was Chopin, well, now you do.  Murder is a very clever Byron (The Vamp) Gay number about the way jazz bands were murdering "wonderful" songs--totally destroying them, but in an irresistible way.  Sophisticated concept, excellent melody--why is poor Byron forgotten by song scholars?  Big Movie Show in the Sky has lyrics by an anything-but-forgotten lyricist--Johnny Mercer.  Not his best work, and there's something that really creeps me out about the song and this performance.  Which only means that it works as a Halloween track.  Normally, these would be bad things....

Halloween is a rite of reversal.  Good is bad, bad is good.  Kids chow down on stuff that's bad for them--sugary stuff packed in rip-off "snack" sizes.  Using a holiday as an excuse to charge more--that's totally American!  I mean, un-American.

Which Hazel is a clever, if slightly oversold (by Al Herman) comic number composed by Abner Silver (real name, Silberman), with lyrics that include, "The guy who wrote Witch Hazel is in a padded cell," and here's that theme, 45 years before Napoleon XIV hit the charts.  It also places the song in a song-which-refers-to-itself category, a tradition which goes beyond the mere use of the title as part of the lyrics--this is the song referring to... itself.  Which is usually only okay if you're singing about a dance (Charleston, Locomotion, Monster Mash, etc.).  Strange--and very Halloween.  And how to describe John Tilley's The Loch Ness Monster, from 1934?  Or John Tilley?  There's a strong Monty Python edge to this satirical piece, recorded in England--I suppose it's the cheery but cynical tone, the sophisticated references, and the mild misogyny--that, and more.  The evidence is all there--the monster claim was known all along to be a hoax (and a tourist lure), and note how Tilley makes fun of the Nessie believers' habit of searching for clues--any clues--of pre-modern Nessie sightings.  And the Nessie nonsense continues to this day.  And will continue, until the cable networks get tired of promoting the same paranormal junk hour after hour.  (It's gotten to where the "documentary" makers are combining themes--was Nessie and Lizzie Borden one and the same?  Etc.)

Delirium is a sophisticated instrumental by Red Nichols pianist Arthur Schutt, and speaking of delirium, I originally labeled the track Derilium.  Which sounds like a substance H.G. Wells would have made up to get his characters to Mars.  The magnificent novelty Ah-Ha! (Sidney Clare-James V. Monaco) shows up three times in our list, though I didn't have time to rip the best version of all--the 1925 Grofe arrangement for Paul Whiteman,  But it's very possible that's up someplace at the blog.  We close with 1916's Spooky Spooks (great sound effects), and Zez Confrey's Greenwich Witch, played by Confrey himself, and brilliantly.

To the treats!  All ripped from shellac housed in the cluttered Media Room....






DOWNLOAD: The Haunted Victrola is Back!









Witches' Dance (Hexentanz) (MacDowell)--Leopold Godowsky, Piano (1921 or 1922)
Dance of the Demon (Eduard Holst)--Victor Arden-Phil Ohman, Piano Duet (1922)
Animal Fair--Carl Fenton's Orch. w. vocal chorus, 1924
Go 'Long, Mule--Same
Chopin's Funeral March--Prince's Band, 1909
Brownies' Parade (K. Noack)--Polydor Brass Band Orch., c. Joseph Snaga, c. 1928?
Me-ow--One-step (Mel B. Kaufmann)--Joseph C. Smith's Orch., 1918
Magic Eyes (Brown-Fiorito)--Oriole Orchestra, 1923
Murder (Byron Gay)--Plantation Jazz Orchestra, 1920
Mystery!--Medley--Paul Biese and His Novelty Orch., 1919
Jabberwocky--Joseph Samuels' Jazz Band, 1921
Ah-Ha!--Freddie "Schnickelfritz" Fisher and His Orch. w. vocal chorus, 1940
Which Hazel (Abner Silver)--Al Herman, 1921
Eccentric Rag (J. Russell Robinson)--Oriole Orchestra, 1924
Big Movie Show in the Sky (Dolan-Mercer)--Blue Barron and His Orch., v: Bobby Beers and the Choir, 1949
Ah-Ha!--Hollywood Dance Orch., v: John Ryan, 1925
Ah-Ha!--Oriole Orchestra, v: Mark Fisher, 1925
Midnight Fire Alarm (Lincoln)--Prince's Orchestra, 1920
The Loch Ness Monster (Tilley)--John Tilley, 1934
Delirium (Schutt)--Carl Fenton's Orch., 1927
Spooky Spooks (Claypoole)--Prince's Band, 1916
Greenwich Witch (Confrey)--Zez Confrey, Piano Solo, 1922



Lee

Shivery shellac for Halloween at MY(P)WHAE! (1909-1954), Part One

 

Above: Your hosts for "Shivery Shellac"--two Frankies and a demonic-looking pumpkin head, with the first Frankie's brains evidently not yet in place (yuck!).  I didn't notice that until I snapped the shot.  The first Frankie must have posed for the tumbler before he was fully assembled.

"What's the pink lid on your monster cup?"  "Oh, those are his brains."  "Gross."

I was going to bow out of Halloween posting this year, seeing as how I have little to no new material (Halloween sides are much harder to come by than Xmas stuff), but a couple days ago I was listening to last year's "Haunted Victrola" posts, and I wasn't happy with the rips.  For some reason, over the past few years I had taken to eliminating the low end (such as it is) on my acoustical 78 rips, and that naturally leaves things sounding tinny (which is fine if you want a gramophone-type sound, but...).  This present series of rips is hopefully much better, with more bodies.  Er, I mean, with more body.  To the sound, that is.  More body, more gloom.  I mean, boom.  Plus, I think my rips--of big band-era tracks, especially--have better-chosen response curves, my having had (by now) a few years or more practicing with my VinylStudio.  My VS program has a good number of preset curves, but I find myself doing a lot of modifying (and even working from scratch, at times--no pun intended).  It's gotten easier over the many months.

Tomb--er, tomorrow, I hope to have another group of Halloween 78s ripped'n'ready, because no group of revised October 31st rips are complete without The Ghost of the Violin or Spooky Spooks (if I'm able to clear the way to my crate of 12-inchers).  And, ironically, one 78 that seems to be hiding out on me: The Sneak.  I guess it takes its title seriously.

Of the twenty-two tracks in our slaylist, some titles are full-Halloween: Greenwich Witch (two versions, including Zez Confrey's own outstanding piano solo), Witches' Dance, The Hoodoo Man, The Merry Ghost from Chatham Square, for example.  Other titles suggest Halloween, even if they're not full-Halloween:  I refer to The Vamp, Which Hazel, Love Him So Much (I Could Scream), and a few more.  And there are yet others which might be called a session on the rack--a stretch, in other words.  These include Murder, Animal Fair (great, surreal sound effects), Danger, and Magic Eyes.  To this blogger, these are all Halloween titles, even if not, in every instance, full-Halloween.  And I believe I made up that term, though I haven't Googled it to be sure.  "Full-Halloween" doesn't have the sound of a commonly used phrase.  "Shall we go full-Halloween this year?"  I don't think people say that when discussing costumes or decorations.  But, then, I don't know.

All ripped and restored by me from 78s in my collection.  Not ripped in the 1970s/1980s gore-movie sense, of course.  Speaking of which, I have one of those 50-movies-on-twelve-DVD sets which includes 1981's The House by the Cemetery, an Italian flick set in the U.S. which is very creatively done and well photographed but 1) pointlessly gory, 2) badly and/or incoherently plotted, 3) on top of all that, choppily edited, 4) poorly dubbed, and 5) pretty stupid, however genuinely spooky some of the scenes.  There are movie fans who love that type of disconnected and illogical Italian horror, and (at least on line) they treat it like great art, but I'll take Ed Wood, Jr. and Larry Buchanan.  And I won't even pretend their stuff has any artistic significance.  But, back to topic--enjoy today's shivery shellac!  Have a boo-delicious time!  Stay tombed for (possibly) more shivery shellac.

DOWNLOAD: Shivery Shellac, Part 1 (1909-1954)

Murder--Plantation Jazz Orch, V: Unknown, 1920
Greenwich Witch (Confrey)--Frank Westphal and His Orch., 1922
Animal Fair--Carl Fenton's Orch., V: Billy Jones, Ernest Hare, 1924
Witches' Dance (Hexentanz)--Leopold Godowsky, 1921-1922
Eccentric Rag (J. Russell Robinson)--Oriole Orchestra, 1924
Jabberwocky--Joseph Samuels' Jazz Band, 1921
Dance of the Demon (Eduard Holst)--Victor Arden-Phil Ohman, 1922
Greenwich Witch (Confrey)--Zez Confrey, Piano Solo (1922)
Chopin's Funeral March--Prince's Band, 1909
Vamping Rose (Violinsky-Schuster)--All Star Trio and Their Orch., 1921
Which Hazel--Al Herman, 1921
The Hoodoo Man (Arr: Grofe)--Paul Whiteman and His Orch., 1924
Danger--Isham Jones Orchestra, 1925
The Vamp--Joseph C. Smith's Orch., V: Harry Macdonough, Billy Murray
Magic Eyes--Oriole Orchestra, 1923
The Merry Ghost From Chatham Square--Henri Rene Musette Orch. With Vocal, 1943
It's Witchery--Charlie Spivak and His Orch., V: Tommy Mercer, 1947
Inner Sanctum--Charlie Spivak and His Orch., V: Irene Daye, 1948
The Thing (Grean)--The Sundowners Band, 1951
The Haunted Ballroom (Geoffrey Toye)--The Kingsway Symphony Orch., c. by Camarata
Love Him So Much (I Could Scream)--Peggy Lloyd With Nick and His Gang, 1954
The Thing (Grean)--Cliff Holland With the Les Morgan Orch. (c. 1951)

Lee

Frankie presents... Horrifying Halloween instrumentals!

 

I found this fine Frankenstein monster collectible at (where else?) Goodwill, and I had a pair to choose from.  Tough choice, as both were in nearly dead perfect shape.  But I grabbed this guy, and he grabbed back, and so I knew I had the right one.

He's not all that happy with the design--he thinks it makes him look like Fred Flintstone at Halloween. And heads are for storing brains, not cookies, he insists.  Frankly (get it?), I think the real problem is that I keep calling him "Frank-Tin-Stein," which must get get his stiches in a knot, but my needling is purely affectionate.  He needn't get hairy about it.  That's my job:

.

But enough seriousness.  Today's slaylist features mostly resurrected sections--er, selections--with only three numbers new to the blog, but you get mostly new rips and a higher bitrate, so it's a good deal, I think.  (Well, of course I'd think so.)  We get three versions of Morton Gould's The Deserted Ballroom, including Gould's own solo piano recording from 1940; the Lawrence Welk orchestra playing Hush... Hush Sweet Charlotte; Ferde Grofe's Cloudburst in the original 1931-or-so orchestration (in which version it makes ideal spook music); a second dose of Grofe, courtesy of his 1924 arrangement of The Hoodoo Man; Wayne King performing the theme from 1957's Man of a Thousand Faces, which is Chopin's famous E-minor Prelude, as ruined by Frank Skinner; three Dark Shadows selections; a third helping of Grofe with Trick or Treat; a second Gould piece--a wonky number called Robot; Vic (The Addams Family theme) Mizzy with his theme for William Castle's The Night Walker, as performed by Sammy Kaye's orchestra; and the Ferrante and Teicher composition Try Again, which was used as the music for Rod Serling's 1973-74 radio program, Zero Hour (aka, Hollywood Radio Theatre), on which Mission: Impossible's Peter Lupus got five days of starring roles.  Among many, many other TV actors famous at the time.

Speaking of spooks, I served as one in the Navy.  I don't know if that term is still used for those of us who did spy work.  

Since the holiday is a classic rite of reversal, I think it's fitting that I wish you all a !ИƎƎWO⅃⅃AH YꟼꟼAH

Mummy back, if not totally chilled.

DOWNLOAD: Horrifying Halloween Instrumentals, 2020

The Deserted Ballroom (Morton Gould)--Montovani and His Orch., 1956
Satan and the Polar Bear (Rose)--David Rose and His Orch., 1957
Deserted Ballroom (Gould)--Elliot Everett and His Orch. (Varsity VLP6041)
I Want to Dance with You (Robert Cobert)--The Charles Randolph Grean Sounde, 1970
Quentin's Theme (Cobert)--Mantovani, 1969
Try Again (Theme from Hollywood Radio Theatre)--Ferrante and Teicher, 1973
Robot (Morton Gould)--Hal Herzon and His Orch.  (No idea on the date)
The Night Walker (Vic Mizzy)--Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra, 1965
Trick or Treat (Ferde Grofe)--Andre Kostelanetz, 1976
Theme from Man of a Thousand Faces (Chopin, Adapted by Frank Skinner)--Wayne King Orch., 1958
Cloudburst (Grand Canyon--Suite; Grofe)--Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orch., 1932
Fire Dance (Manuel de Falla)--Hollywood Bowl Orch., c. Eugene Goossens, 1928
Funeral March (Chopin, Op. 35)--Mark Andrews, pipe organ solo, 1928
The Hoodoo Man (Nacio Herb Brown, Arr. Grofe)--Paul Whiteman and His Orch., 1924
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Grieg)--Victor Symphony Orch., 1926
Hush... Hush Sweet Charlotte (Frank De Vol-Mack David)--Lawrence Welk, 1965
March of the Marionettes (Gounod)--Ray Bohr, pipe organ, 1956
Deserted Ballroom (Gould)--Moron Gould, piano, 1940.
Haunted House Polka--The Cavaliers (RCA Victor 53-9327)

Lee

The Haunted Victrola returns!!--Isham Jones, Oriole Orch., Red Nichols, more!

What do you call a record thief?  A groove robber!  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!

Sorry.  Anyway, the Haunted Victrola is wound up and ready to grind out the grim grooves of thirteen more terrifying titles from the cobwebbed corners of my 78 collection, or something like that.  I did some Googling to determine whether or not "witch hazel" (or, in this case, "Which Hazel"--ha, ha!) has a Halloween association in our pop culture, and, yes, it does.  So, we'll be hearing Al Herman's Which Hazel, whose lyrics include the phrase "padded cell."  My kind of lyrics.  Edward MacDowell's Witches' Dance was composed in 1883, and it contains many of the standard melodic and harmonic musical cliches of this season.  Which is to say, those cliches were around that early (and probably earlier), proving that nothing is new under the moon.  George L. Cobb's Peter Gink uses themes from Grieg's music for Peer Gynt (the source of the Halloween standard, In the Hall of the Mountain King), so that's why it's here.  Last time, we heard Zez Confrey's solo piano version of his Greenwich Witch--now we get to hear Frank Westphal's slower but just as jazzy band version.

And there are nine other jazzily jarring, creakily quirky, and disturbingly delightful dance doings and concert concoctions sure to keep the Halloween crowd crashing your crypt to join your Spook Age Boo-chelor Pad party.  Just don't send them over here--they're your worry!

Click here to hear: The Haunted Victrola, Part 2

SLAYLIST

Ah-Ha! (Clare-Monaco)--Paul Whiteman and His Orch., 1925
Jabberwocky--Joseph Samuels' Jazz Band, 1921
Peter Gink--Columbia Band, Dir. Charles A. Prince, 1918
Greenwich Witch (Confrey)--Frank Westphal and His Orch., 1922
The Sneak! (Nacio Herb Brown)--Club Royal Orch., 1922
Which Hazel (Abner Silver)--Al Herman, 1921
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Grieg)--Victor Symphony Orch., 1926
Eccentric--Red Nichols and His Five Pennies, 1927
Prelude in C Sharp minor (Rachmaninoff)--Victor Concert Orch., Dir. Rosario Bourdon, 1928
Dangerous Blues (Brown-Brown)--Bernie Krueger's Orch., Voc: Al Bernard, 1921
Eccentric Rag (J. Russel Robinson)--Oriole Orch., 1924
Danger (Kahn-Jones)--Isham Jones Orch., 1925
Witches' Dance (MacDowell)--Leopold Godowsky, 1921 or 1922


Lee

Dancetime--Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra (Decca DL 4655; 1965)

 

Sammy Kaye, of course, was one of the most popular "sweet" bands of the swing era, along with Guy Lombardo and Freddy Martin.  And I personally have nothing against such outfits, but rest assured that Kaye's 1960s style had nothing to do with his "roots."  For some of these tracks are fit for a Henry Mancini LP, while a couple others practically rock (in the "and roll" sense).  And we get a Latin sound for Red Roses and Willow Weep for Me (maybe my favorite track of the bunch).  I'm anything but an authority on Latin and/or Afro-Cuban beats (there are too many!), but I would describe Roses as a cha-cha without the "cha-cha-cha."  And Willow as bordering on a Bo Diddley groove (in eighth notes, 123-456-78, with an accent on 1, 4, and 7).  Maybe we'll just go with "Latin."

Overall, Kaye swings in a gentle fashion, which by itself is a departure from his trademark non-swing style.  Meanwhile, the truly fine Eight Days a Week almost rocks, and the album's brilliant arranger, Charles Albertine, has Blue Prelude sounding like a Peter Gunn-style detective show theme.  And the triplet-ballad sound of If I Loved You would seem to be from the Peter and Gordon recording of the same year, though the George and Ira Gershwin Sophia sounds nothing like Dean Martin's version, as used in Kiss Me, Stupid.   As for the inclusion of Cry, keep in mind that this number has remained popular to this day, especially in Spain around the time of this LP.

Dear Heart, from one of my favorite films, is given a Henry Busse-style shuffle beat, while Goldfinger receives an as-played-by-Glenn-Miller atmosphere, with a brief foray into dance-club r&r.  (These descriptions are sounding sillier by the track!)  The number gets the big sound it requires, and Vic Mizzy's The Night Walker is first-rate Halloween background.  It slinks along in perfect "Look out!" fashion.  Which might explain its inclusion in my Oct. 31 slaylist.

I suppose this LP ultimately falls into a category whose moniker I dislike--MOR (Middle of the Road).  And MOR has a "don't bother" vibe to it, as if medium-tempo instrumental fare can't be any good.  But this outstanding LP is nothing less than superbly musical, whether used for dancing or for pleasant relaxation.


DOWNLOAD: Dancetime--Sammy Kaye and His Orch. (Decca DL 4655; 1965)

Red Roses for a Blue Lady

Dear Heart

Goldfinger

If I Loved You

Sophia

Eight Days a Week

You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You

Cry

Blue Prelude

My Love Forgive Me (Amore, Scusami)

Willow Weep for Me

The Night Walker

Lee

More Halloween sounds: "Telegram from Pluto," "Hauntovani Waltz No.1," and "The Deserted Launch Pad"

For our Halloween, three Lee originals, two of them new to the blog.  Wind-up Pumpkin Man commands you to download without delay:

More Halloween Sounds--Lee Hartsfeld

SLAYLIST

Telegram from Pluto (Hartsfeld, 2015)
Hauntovani Waltz No. 1 (Hartsfeld, 2000-something)
The Deserted Launch Pad (Hartsfeld, 2012)


Lee

Halloween 2023, Part 2--Break-ins, Jeane Dixon, and fakes--oh my!

Break-ins!  Get it?  (Frankie says, Hi!)  "Break-ins," as many of us know, are a genre invented by Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman with The Flying Saucer (1956). Of course, counting any given example as the "first" can be perilous, in the event someone manages to scare up any earlier instances.

After all, once magnetic tape became the chief audio medium for recording studios and radio stations, it was inevitable that folks would insert "sampled" sound effects into their records.  As Spike Jones did on his 1953 Dragnet, and Carl Weismann, pre-B&G, with his Singing Dogs.  But the use of snippets from current hits and oldies to accompany a silly storyline?  Maybe Bill and Dickie were the pre-cursers.  I mean, precursors.

"Break-ins, Jeane Dixon, and Fakes," I call the zip.  And is the "and" redundant, since we're talking a psychic famous for predicting an event she didn't predict?  Well, Jeane was--let's say--not a total truth teller, but she was providing a service for superstitious folks like my maternal grandmother, who cherished the $15 lucky leprechaun pendant and handwritten Jeane Dixon letter she ordered from Fate.  And I wouldn't be surprised if the note was in Jeane's own hand.  Compared to the big-time fraudsters in the ESP, telekinesis, and "past life" rackets, Jeane did no harm, in my opinion.  Nor did her 1966 single A Gift of Prophecy.  In fact, it's a camp classic.

But... neither did she actually predict JFK's assassination.  It's even stretching things to suggest that she made a lucky guess in that direction.  What happened was, back in 1956, Jeane predicted a Dem would win the 1960 election and would die during either his first or second term (if he was to have a second term--she didn't know).  As in, from natural causes or from assassination.  Between 1956 and the 1960 election, Jeane changed gears and decided the winner would surely be... Richard Nixon.  She held to that prognostication until, I guess, Nixon didn't win.  But, given that Jeane had made a none too specific guess in 1956, only to take it back, well... I'm not convinced that some people have a "gift of prophecy."  Including her.  And, not to be too critical, but what kind of "gift" did it prove to be in this case?  Was the 1963 tragedy averted?  Ummmm... no.

I'm no fun at Halloween, I guess.

In other noose--er, news--Elementary, My Dear Watson! is a don't-hear-ever-day novelty by William Indelli, whom I once devoted a post to--and ought to, again.  In a 2020 comment, I described Indelli: "(Bill) was a member of the Tommy Dorsey Orch. and had some songs recorded on legit Chicago labels, and then ended up in the song poem circuit."  A talented guy, if not the luckiest.  With a gift more useful than, say, Jeane Dixon's.

As for the budget Halloween sound-alikes, it seemed like epically good luck to locate John Logan's Promenade EP Dinner With Drac fake in my not-in-order 45 rpm boxes.  But not such good luck to discover the fatal needle gouge which ruins the final few grooves.  So, I ended up swapping the last several seconds of the Peter Pan LP (Monster Mash) reissue of the track, taking care to reduce PP's fake stereo to something like monaural, plus painstakingly match the two EQs.  Which I did so well, I doubt anyone will notice.  Well, unless I tell them.

Other seasonal fakes: Little Blue Man, Witch Doctor (both SPC) and Purple People Eater (Gilmar and maybe Broadway?).  I guess they could be classified as "Budget Boos!"

And the Buchanan and Goodman, Dickie Goodman, and Buchanan and Ancel "break-ins"?  Masterpieces of the art of so-stupid-it's-funny humor.  I mean that as praise--I love these things.  And, lest you think that just anyone can put out a halfway decent "break-in," I have a number of dreadful Buchanan and Goodman imitations which prove there was an art to that weird genre.

Time to enter "Halloween 2013, Part 2."  Nary a thing to dread.  And I can (possibly) assure you that your visit will be unlived.  I mean, short-lived...  (And thanks to Ernie for the year correction.  I'd originally traveled back a decade...)

DOWNLOAD: Halloween 2023, Part 2: Break-ins, Jeane Dixon, and Fakes, Oh My!

SLAYLIST

A Gift of Prophecy, Pts. I and II--Jeane Dixon, Arr, and Cond. by Joe Sherman, 1966

Ben Crazy--Dickie Goodman and Dr. I.M. Ill, 1962

The Mystery (In Slow Motion)--Buchanan and Goodman, 1957

Batman and His Grandmother--Dickie Goodman, 1966

The Creature (From a Science Fiction Movie)--(Bill) Buchanan and (Bob) Ancell, 1957

Buchanan and Ancel Meet the Creature (From a Science Fiction Movie), 1957

Frankenstein of '59/Frankenstein Returns--Buchanan and Goodman, 1959

Elementary, My Dear Watson!--William Indelli and His Orch., 1960

Purple People Eater--Stevens Mark (Thanks, musicman!) (Gilmar GH-92, 33 and 1/3 EP)

Witch Doctor--John Logan (Promenade, 1958)

Little Blue Man--Melody Jane (Promenade, 1958)

Dinner With Drac--John Logan (Promenade, 1958)

Transfusion--"Scat Man" Crothers With Lew Raymond Trio (Tops, 1956)

Lee