A single which merits its own post, and with a three-paragraph backstory

 

DOWNLOAD: Bob Ellis 1955.zip--Santa Claus (Bob Ellis) and Bob Ellis Jr., Elector Records MC-1000-45; 1955.

And, wow!  Blogger is now allowing the post-search function.  There's hope for us all.

Regarding the backstory for 1955's Santa's Sleigh, by Santa Claus (aka Bob Ellis) and Bob Ellis Jr., all  can say is... hoo, boy.  Maybe grab a stiff drink before continuing.

Bob Ellis was the stage name of Raymond Asserson, Jr., the great-grandson of Rear Admiral Peter Christian Asserson. Raymond was the fourth husband of Christine "Cee Cee" Cromwell, daughter of American diplomat James H.R. Cromwell and Dodge Motor Company heiress Delphine Ione Dodge. Christine got none of the Dodge fortune when her mother Delphine died in 1943, whereupon it was discovered Delphine had disinherited James H.R. Cromwell (after their divorce, I'm guessing) and anyone related to him, which meant "Cee Cee" and her half-sister Anna Ray "Yvonne" (Baker) Ranger. But it doesn't sound like Christine was without dough....

And, in 1970, Christine survived a plane crash--get the whole story here.

Back to the backstory, this record was made during Bob's (Raymond's) marriage to Christine. when he was co-managing her night club in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. You never know what kind of history is going to pop up behind a thrift and/or eBay acquisition.  And, 

Now, I hate to describe as awful any recording by someone who might be reading this post, however low that probability may be.  In which case, it can come across as a personal attack.  But since Bob Ellis Jr. didn't pen this thing, I'll go ahead and pronounce the melody uninspired and the words terrible.  At this point in his development, Bob Jr. could not sing.  We don't expect expert vocalizing from children, but...

I want to question whether Santa might have changed his mind, after hearing this record, about letting Bob Jr. drive the sleigh.  And an inexperienced magic-sleigh driver?  Sorry, doesn't wash.

Anyway, Bob Ellis makes one terrible Santa.  Any successful SC imitation requires more than a mock-bass voice and echo-enhanced "Ho Ho Ho!'s.  Santa has to sound boundlessly generous.  A less than sincere Santa is a logical contradiction.  A successful Santa is all about giving, not posturing.  Despite the red suit, the fancy sleigh, and so on, Santa is a refreshingly humble icon.  His flashiness speaks to the many legends randomly combined into his person: Norse sky god Thor (bearing gifts at Christmas and entering homes via their chimneys, plus his chariot and goats which fly the night sky), the Christkind or Christkindl (the gift-bearing Christ Child, aka Kris Kringle), Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, and who knows who (or what) else? 

This is one of the perfect holiday novelties.  How can I be sure?  Because I don't know whether I'm doing a service or disservice to the celebration.  Probably both.  Thus, the ideal novelty!

And why is Santa's Sleigh placed in quotes on the B side?  I have no idea.  For that matter, why isn't the name of the label (Elector) on the label?  Which is where we'd logically expect to find it.  These are the questions which haunt us as we hike through life, tripping over fallen branches and random rocks.

Lee

Parade Christmas Sampler

 

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Well, if I have to check online to see my comments, no problem.  Meanwhile, in addition to sending me that weird message (that I had somehow, in some neighboring multiverse, disabled comment moderation) and the accountably revised Comments Setting page, the post search feature isn't even working!  When Blogger goes belly up, it sets new standards.

By/on request, Parade's Christmas Sampler, a collection which ironically (and vividly) offers, more than anything else, a sampling of SPC's policy of ineptitude.  I mean, what can we say about a sampler that doesn't even identify the performers, beyond showing some album jackets on the front?  Is the goal to promote SPC's stable of artists by not naming them?  All told, this promo item is a splendid example of standard rack-jobber inattention to detail.  Worker #3: "This isn't ready for release."  SPC supervisor: "Don't worry about it.  Just get this to the racks."

I didn't go to the trouble of guessing the artists, save for Perry Como-soundalike Johnny Kay, who was re-re-re-re-released for something close to eternity across both SPC and other budget lines (in any word-association exercise, "Johnny Kay" would have to be answered with, "Shameless recycling."  If Johnny's contract called for a check every time his material was reused (and fake-stereo-ized, retitled, reattributed, etc.), he'd have been one wealthy person.  But, somehow, I doubt this...

So, cute concept.  With an artist listing, this might have more closely resembled an actual LP.  "Come, check out these tracks.  But we're not about to disclose the artists behind them.  Just buy anything with 'Parade' stamped on it."

Of course, I'm simply assuming that this post will actually post.  At the moment, I can't be certain of anything, Blogger-wise. As for Microbrain's Support person's suggestion (re my OneDrive cloud service), I don't see how I can possibly be utilizing "any company's main office network" (VPN?) by signing onto MY OneDrive account and linking to MY files.  I'm living in a 19th-century farmhouse in the middle of rural central Ohio.  It's not as if I'm anywhere close to downtown Columbus.

 

DOWNLOAD: Parade Christmas Sampler.zip

O Come All Ye Faithful
The Night Before Christmas
White Christmas
I Heard the Bells (Longfellow-Marks)
Jingle Bells
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Away in the Manger
When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter
Hallelujah
Every Valley Shall Be Exalted
As With Gladness
Joy to the World
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
The Twelve Days of Christmas

Parade Christmas Sampler (Parade XSP-419)

Lee

Beyond human belief

 Along with Microsoft Support providing incomprehensible instructions re OneDrive (the techs seem to think I'm using an improper VPN, a concept I barely understand), I've suddenly been alerted by Blogger that I have shut off comment notifications.  I DID NOT SHUT OFF this feature.  But, just off the bat, suddenly a "You have shut off this feature" notification.  What the heck?  Did I do this during a shot period of lost time?

Attempting to adhere to the useless online instructions, I am unable to access options allegedly contained within my settings.  Those options are NOT THERE.

I'm utterly confused.  Is this just another Blogger We-forgot-how-to-keep-this-service-going software snafu?

What SHOULD I be seeing in the Settings section in regard to comments?  And why is at least one useless online tutorial referring to the Settings icon as Options?  Is Google not familiar with its own programs?  Frankly, this wouldn't surprise me.  (At this point, I'm confusing MS with Google.  A mind is a terrible thing to lose.)

Lee

Confusion reigns with my file-sharing service

 Greetings.  Please let me know if you're able to successfully download my two recent zips.  I have set them to "view only" for the OneDrive sharing link, but OneDrive is telling me that neither zip has yet been shared.  (????)

Still working out issues with OneDrive.  Microsoft Support wants me to share by email only, but that's ridiculous--I should be able to share with whomever, a la a blog link.  An option possible at my online OneDrive, and which thus should present no problems.  But there's that word: "should."

The online/VPN? file links are set by default to "edit" status, so that anyone with the link can edit the file.  However, this option is easily changed, as noted, to "view only."  Thus my links are view-only.  Which should avoid any security issues.

I get the distinct impression that Microsoft Support has failed to understand the circumstances at hand.  Namely, while I can share from the VPN (?), or the online version of the cloud, I cannot mass-share from my personal OneDrive.  This is what I conveyed to M., but so far their instructions aren't consistent with what I'm trying to accomplish.

And I'm not about to collect 200-plus email addresses for file sharing.  Excuse me, please, while I scream.  (AIEEEEEE!!!!!!)  Thanks.  I'm better now.  I mean, is the concept of sharing from a site/page/blog/etc. a new one to Microsoft??

Lee

The re-return of "Christmas Is for Children"--A Pickwick (Design) classic from 1957 (?)

This at least my second reposting of this terrific LP find of four years back.  And a re-re-posting is sort of apt, or even ironic, given that this delightful Pickwick collection contains material re-re-recycled for years by Pickwick on one or another of its kiddie labels. 

Such a tacky-cool cover photo, and if the copyright year shown on the back cover is the year of release, then this is from 1957 (Design's first year--and, in fact, mine). This is quite possible, since the label is in the earliest style, complete with the promise of "Stereo Sonic Sound," which this disc does not deliver--the tracks are all mono. Stereo didn't happen at Design until the early 1960s, apparently, but I guess Pickwick Sales Corp. figured no one would sue. Their reasoning was probably something like,  "Anyone who buys this junk isn't going to know what stereo is.  No risk of any legal action."

 That's not a cut on the material, which is not only fun but very nicely arranged and performed, but just an acknowledgment of this album's rack-jobber standing. "Junk" tracks, but jewels of that type.

The selections, all released as singles or EP tracks on Pickwick's Cricket and Playhour labels (and who knows where else--Happy Time, probably), date back to 1953 or earlier (I suspect A Christmas Carol is pre-1953). The super-condensed Carol is fun and nicely spooky (it's like a Classics Illustrated version of a Classics Illustrated version), and Ding Aling Dong, The Sleighbell Song (aka, Ding-A-Ling Dong, The Sleigh Bell Song) remains one of my favorite cheap kiddie holiday numbers.  Plus, we get the ad-jingle-sounding Tinker Town Santa Claus, which I first heard in its 1970s Playhour Records edition, and I've Got Eighteen Cents, an annoying number sung by Rosemary Jun (1928-2016), whose real name was Rose Marie Jun, and who can't be blamed, since she didn't pen the thing.  Rose Marie, aka Rosemary, is credited on the back jacket, along with the Cricketones, Toby Deane, Norman Rose, and Linnea Holm, and the label lists the Cricket Children's Playhouse (which doesn't seem to have existed) and one Brett Morrison, who was actually Bret Morrison (1912-1978), and who, among others, played The Shadow on the radio.  

Here's Brett (left).  Pickwick's children's labels had a weird habit of referring to singers as "casts," as in "Performed with full cast and orchestra."  And its "cast" credits weren't consistent, either--sometimes, they varied between sleeve and label, and (far as I can tell) from issue to issue.  But Pickwick wasn't trying for anything close to the orbit of perfection, so we can forgive them for screwing things up on a regular basis. Five of the Christmas Is for Children selections are traditional, if we include Jingle Bells (a pop song, really) under "traditional."  Four of the five are sung by the St. Margaret's All Boys Choir, who might be the group doubling as "Santa's Friends" on Jingle Bells, and these tracks are a nice break from some of the over-cuteness which precedes them, such as Little Christmas Stocking with the Hole in the Toe (aka Just Come up with a Title So We Can Get Out of Here), and the Eighteen Cents song, which, again, I'm sure was merely another gig for Rose Marie Jun, and not something we can pin on her in any way.  

In all, the perfect cheap collection.  If you don't believe me, ask Roy Freeman, Director of Artists and Repertoire (Pickwick had one of those??): "Here is as fine a group of gay holiday songs as you'll find under any musical Christmas tree...All of the favorites for Santa's little helpers."  And I can easily picture 1957 children yelling, "We want Tinker Town Santa Claus--and I've Got 18 Cents!"  

"Many, many happy Yuletide hours are the promise and offering of this gala Christmas package...and may we warn you in advance...BE SURE..OPEN BEFORE CHRISTMAS..."  Which means we're in time.  Unless, of course, they were referring to Christmas, 1957.

DOWNLOAD: Christmas Is for Children.zip

Lee