A Hundred Years From Today: Maxine Sullivan

I remember my grandparents having a serving tray that said "Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think..." I didn't understand that saying then but I do now. Mr. New Year's Eve, Guy Lombardo, had a song with the same name telling about how people don't enjoy life. They think they will later, working and saving for a retirement that may not ever happen.

As we start a new year, my melancholy personality (melancholy folks are great friends and workers but not always optimists....) recalls another song.

Back when I worked in radio, for a time our station used the wildly successful radio format "The Music Of Your Life." (I wrote a blog about this in the past about the genius Al Ham who invented it). Among the Bing Crosbys, Jo Staffords, and Artie Shaws of the day (superstars), there were several recordings by folks I never heard of. One was Maxine Sullivan. I never gave it much thought until the other day, when I once again heard her rendition of "A Hundred Years From Today."

"A Hundred Years From Today" is a song much like "Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You Think." It's simply lovely. I never knew who Maxine Sullivan was or even what she looked like. I don't know where Al Ham got the recording Maxine made of the song or when it was recorded. I do want you to be able to enjoy it, so click here for a lost gem of music history. The Maxine Sullivan story is told quite well here. Interesting that she is hardly known in pop music history today in comparison to Ella, Rosemary Clooney, et al.

But then "A Hundred Years From Today..." no one will remember us either!

Writers: J.Young/Washington/V.Young
Hey don't save your kisses - just pass 'em around
You'll find my reason - is logically sound
Who's gonna know that you past them around
A hundred years from today
And why crave a penthouse - that's fit for a queen
You're nearer heaven - on mamma Earth's green
If you had millions - what would they all mean
One hundred years from today

So laugh and sing - make love the thing
Be happy while you may
('Cause) There's always one - beneath the sun
Who's bound to make you feel that way
The moon is shining - and that's a good sign
Cling to me closer - say you'll be mine
Remember baby we won't see it shine
A hundred years from today


Happy New Year everyone and Enjoy Yourself, it's later than you think.....

PS: From the random acts of kindness dept, I'd like to thank Mr. Wheeler who out of the blue sent me a fun Guy Lombardo New Year's Eve show. Thank you kind sir!

Merry Christmas from Lucille Ball & Jimmy Stewart

Merry CHRISTmas from Lucille Ball and Jimmy Stewart......no, this isn't a clip from a zany "I Love Lucy" show or from the beloved movie "It's A Wonderful Life"......

Enjoy the real true story of CHRISTmas. Click here and enjoy this rare clip!

Get out those CHRISTmas records!

"It's CHRISTmas time in the city..." to quote the line from the song Silver Bells....

That also means it's time to get out all of the CHRISTmas lps and start playing them. Through the years I have collected quite a few records, but especially at CHRISTmas I long to hear the same old recordings that I grew up with. Somehow hearing those familiar songs brings me back to the simpler days of childhood and memories of lots of folks who aren't with us anymore.

I always have thought it was interesting how society casts off the music and singers of the past, as if no one is interested anymore. Oddly enough this time of year they are all resurrected for a short time, be it Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Percy Faith, and the rest of the greats. They are heard throughout the radio airwaves once again and in stores. My wife and I were in Walmart and heard the friendly sounds of Mitch Miller and the Gang singing "Santa Claus is Comin to Town." It was 1963 all over again! I think I heard several people singing right along as they gleefully shopped for their treasures.

Why is this music brought out of the archives? It is comfortable and familiar and just like my old CHRISTmas albums sends those warm fuzzies out. I only wish that people would realize what they are missing the rest of the year!

Enjoy the pics of some of my favorite albums here along with a pic of yours truly from "several" years ago. No, this isn't a photograph, but as proclaimed in the picture insert it's a "Santa-Graf!"

Merry CHRISTmas....

Here Comes Suzie Snowflake!

When television was in its infancy, stations had a lot of time to fill between shows. Around Christmas some special programming was aired to fill in this time and today we present one of those classics, Suzy Snowflake.

Featuring the beautiful voice of Norma Zimmer along with the Norman Luboff Choir, this simple black and white stop action holiday film was so popular it is still shown on several stations to this day. This short movie can be described in one word: charming.

I always hoped to meet Norma Zimmer but alas she passed away earlier this year. Her voice is just as enchanting as this old film is. I hope you enjoy it.

Click on the link here to watch this television classic from 1951. The song also made it onto a record around that time. Click here to listen to it by Rosemary Clooney.

Captain Kangaroo and the JL Hudson Thanksgiving Day Parade

Although I haven't lived in the city of Detroit since the late 1960s, I was born there and grew up in the suburbs. No one seems to be too proud they are from Detroit....except when we remember Detroit's heyday when they cranked out the cars everyone drove, the downtown area was alive and vibrant, and the city was bustling with holiday spirit at Thanksgiving when JL Hudson's put on their annual Thanksgiving Day Parade seen around the country on tv.

Those days are long gone, but here is a fun clip from the 1962 CBS coverage with your host Captain Kangaroo himself! Watch it here and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sing Along With Mitch!

This week I want to share with you a recent discovery....A collector on ebay was selling a set of "Sing Along with Mitch" dvds. Of course I had to have this show. I'm probably the only one in the USA watching these shows tonight and it is a very enjoyable experience.

If you've been following my blog from day one, you know that I did an earlier posting on Columbia Records genius Mitch Miller who guided lots of stars through their 1950s hits. By the 1960s Mitch was on TV himself after having a string of best seller LPs featuring his "gang"...a men's chorus, singing popular songs dating back to the days of the 1920s and earlier!

"Sing Along With Mitch" is a television series that I had heard a lot about but other than a rare Christmas episode on VHS had never seen before. It ran from 1961 to 1964 on NBC and was brought back in reruns until 1966 (I think I read somewhere that reruns of Mitch replaced Sammy Davis Junior!) . Just like Lawrence Welk, nobody loved him but the public. With these dvds I was able to transform my living room back the the 1960s for some fun TV viewing. Not only did the shows start out with the famous NBC peacock proclaiming the show was in "living color" but most of these shows presented actually ARE in color!

It's amazing how corny these programs are...even cornier than my much loved and much maligned "Lawrence Welk Show." Mitch Miller is hilarious as he conducts the chorus in his stiff way. The chorus itself will not win any beauty contests -- the men look like anyone's neighbors....except of course that here they are often wearing those cool Perry Como type cardigan sweaters of the day and can sing! The myth is that there is a bouncing ball at the bottom of the screen. This is wrong. There is no bouncing ball. There are words that appear from time to time at the bottom of the screen for everyone to sing along with....no ball though.

Mitch had enough sense to include some lovely ladies in these shows. Diana Trask and Leslie Uggams were two of the beauties that were on regularly (and are still around! Check out their websites -- Diana's here and Leslie's here). They both got a Columbia record album based on their show stardom as you can see from the pics above.

Several of the shows have big named stars such as George Burns, Milton Berle, and a delightful grownup Shirley Temple as guests. Others have unbilled cameos during the sing a long segments with such TV legends as Johnny Carson!

Sometimes I think Mitch Miller was copying Welk's formula. He had Bob McGrath on as a tenor much like Joe Feeney. McGrath later went on to Sesame Street. Mitch also added the kiddy factor from time to time with the inclusion of the Quinto Sisters, who are not anywhere as cute as Welk's Lennon sisters but are charming in their own way. They have their own website today, too! Visit here.

The sing along songs were very nostalgic for the 1960s, reaching back to the grandparents of those years, so unfortunately these songs are often forgotten today. This is probably the true "Great American Songbook", a term used all too loosely today.

We will never see a program like this on in prime time again. One of the shows in the collection I bought (unfortunately in black and white) is the actual network airing. Great fun to see the ads of the day for the movie Mary Poppins, Scripto pens, Opel cars, Libby's orange juice, and to hear the booming NBC announcer says "This portion of Sing Along with Mitch brought to you by...." Also included are some network promos for Flipper, I Dream of Jeannie, and Get Smart. Those were the days!

I would love to see this entire series appear somewhere on PBS or at least on dvd, but as times have changed, there probably isn't too much demand for this. Too bad. "Sing Along With Mitch" is a corny but wonderful piece of Americana and I love it!

If you do a google search for Sing Along With Mitch DVD you will hopefully find these gems. You can also see some segments on Youtube here and here and here for instance. Enjoy and sing loud and clear so we can hear you!

Happy Sounds of Bert Kaempfert

By the end of the 1950s the Big Band sound was about over. A few bandleaders found success though with an updated sound. One of those was Bert Kaempfert. He wrote such hits as "Strangers in the Night" and "Spanish Eyes."

Kaempfert has always been one of my favorite big bands. No, he doesn't sound like the typical 1940s orchestra. Somehow his music seems more current today than the sometimes too dusty sounding nostalgic Miller/Dorsey/Shaw types.

Bert was a German who oddly enough had a connection to hiring the Beatles to back up another artist on an album! His sound definitely wasn't rock n roll though. His 1961 hit "Wonderland By Night" is a trumpet wrapped in sheer beauty.

Lots of his songs used a "shuffle rhythm", a catchy beat which just made the music all the more happy sounding. Listen to "A Swingin Safari" and enjoy someone's very clever pics put to this snappy tune. Here's another cute song called "Afrikaan Beat"which is also a toe tapper.

Kaempfert was basically a studio band but once in a while he made some live appearances including this one here.

Kaempfert died at the young age of 56 back in 1980. Too many cigarettes. His legacy continues on at his website. Click here to visit.