In Search of Andy Williams' Sweater

The Nostalgic Rambler is always in fashion wearing Perry Como-esque cardigan sweaters.  Although recently they have been easier to find, they were almost non existent in the stores until I set the fashion trend once again. 

Recently I've been watching the 1960s series "The Andy Williams Show." Andy wore these great V pattern sweaters, which I found out were made by a company called Parker of Vienna. They are the ultimate in cool! 

Donnie Osmond even had one

He wore all different colors on various shows, from yellow to blue to red, all with the similar V pattern design. This was probably to showcase the brand new NBC shows "in living color."

I wanted one of those sweaters to augment my Perry Como type cardigans. Now the problem. Since this was about 50 years ago, there is no more Parker of Vienna. Everyone that had those sweaters probably had them eaten by moths long ago. I can't ask Andy for one as he isn't around anymore. My wife to the rescue........she got out her knitting needles and made me one. Thanks Sweetie! 

And..........Here it is! Moon River anyone?

                    (From the show featuring guest star Henry Mancini --see him on the left?!)

Great American Songbook: Mitch Miller

 

Recently I read the biography of Tony Bennett called "Life is a Gift: The Zen Of Bennett." It was an interesting read but frustrating at times. Like many other singers of the 1950s, Tony didn't like working under Columbia Records A&R genius Mitch Miller. I use the word "genius" on purpose as Miller sure had the pulse of the public right as far as music in the 1950s is concerned. He shaped the careers of Johnny Mathis, Doris Day, Guy Mitchell and Rosemary Clooney to name a few. He picked a lot of the songs they recorded, including novelty tunes the public ate up as fast as he could release them.

 Even though this meant best selling records for many artists, many of the singers didn't like recording what they thought was drivel. Tony Bennett wanted to record jazz, not songs like "In the Middle of an Island".  It was one of 1957's top sellers. Tony made a lot of people happy with his recordings of that era, but after reading his book it seems like he forgot what Columbia and Mitch did for his career. Would he have been as popular without those songs?

Other Columbia artists like Rosemary Clooney also complained bitterly for years about having to record those songs. She wanted to do jazz as well and later did so very successfully. That's great, but why always put down the popular music they sang earlier?

Jo Stafford (my favorite singer) was teamed with Frankie Laine by Mitch Miller. They recorded a lot of fun songs and some stinkers like Chow Willy.  Well, it is catchy but as Jo herself once said "Chow Willy?!"

 

The Mitch Miller legend went on for years, reaching its height in the 1960s with his very TV show "Sing Along With Mitch."  On that show the music was mostly of the early Tin Pan Alley or folk song days.

 

Tony Bennett wants to sing "The Great American Songbook." But what exactly is that? Everyone seems to have their own opinion and the collective amnesia about what popular music was in the 1940s and 50s seems to be brushed aside. I sometimes think I'm fighting a losing battle about all of this. In my mind "The Great American Songbook" includes popular music of the 1920s through 1950s and includes songs the public loved during those years.  Despite what Tony thinks, the public never embraced jazz as popular music. "In The Middle Of An Island" isn't jazz and Tony might not want to sing it anymore, but it IS a part of that great musical heritage of American Popular Music and The Nostalgic Rambler's version of the Great American Songbook (hey if everyone else seems to define it, so can I!).....

I have the first Johnny Mathis album before he was molded by Mitch and the Columbia folks. It isn't noteworthy.  Under Mitch Johnny Mathis recorded some great albums for Columbia...his best in my opinion.  After those successes he decided to pick his own stuff.  His success never matched those iconic years.

Doris Day had that great sound of the the happy 1950s. Mitch Miller once again.  

The first Nostalgic Rambler blog several years back was on Mitch Miller. I'm revisiting him today as I induct him into the Nostalgic Rambler Great American Songbook Hall Of Fame, despite what Rosemary, Tony, Jo and Johnny might have said about him.  Congrats Mitch! And we forgive you for Chow Willy....

Vic Damone: Singing Was The Easy Part

 As you probably know by now I'm a sucker for biographies on famous singers and just when I thought I probably read them all, here comes another one! Vic Damone is a pretty underrated singer today. In his heyday he was starring in his own television show and guesting on everyone else's. It looks like he has long since retired, although he does have a web presence. I think he even lives in Florida, like me --and his old buddy Perry Como did. (Can I come over for a visit Mr. Damone?!)

 The company he hung out with makes for a very fascinating read in his bio entitled "Singing Was The Easy Part." He stopped on elevator and auditioned for Perry Como (he named his son Perry after Como) . Frank Sinatra saved his life. He dated Jack Benny's daughter Joan. From his many marriages to his embracing of the Baha'i religion, the book is full of twists and turns and interesting anecdotes. The famed interviewer Larry King calls Vic a National Treasure. Larry says he wishes he could be Vic Damone...and as a crooner wannabe myself, I wish I could belt it out like he does!

 The Nostalgic Rambler recommends this book as well as the above CD for a good representation of his work.

Here are a few great Vic Damone clips for you. "On The Street Where You Live" and "Gigi" are signature tunes. Here are a few tv appearances: with Andy Williams and Bobby Darin (can you watch it without a smile on your face? Wow!) or here with Judy Garland and songs from West Side Story.

Harry Belafonte: More Than Calypso

February is Black History Month...or is it African American History Month? I dunno which is politically correct and since the Nostalgic Rambler is as white as a sheet, we probably just don't get it. Maybe we should? My record collection is filled with the likes of famed black artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Mahalia Jackson, and Harry Belafonte. Over the years I have heard about and winced at the terrible things these people had to endure during their lifetimes due to their skin color. I'm hoping that's all over with now but it did happen.

I've been on another calypso kick lately and have been enjoying some Harry Belafonte. This is one of his great albums which sold hundreds of thousands of copies. It's listed as one of the 1950s top selling records and includes The Banana Boat Song and Jamaica Farewell.

 People sure are strange though. Despite his music being adored by blacks and whites, some people got in an unroar when Harry and Petula Clark sang on tv together and touched each other !

 Nat King Cole was one of the first blacks to have his own tv show and many stations in the south of the US wouldn't carry his show because of his race.

 The Nostalgic Rambler grew up in the 1960s and didn't realize all of this was going on until much later. It's a good thing to educate kids on what went on back then. A documentary I found called "Harry Belafonte Sing Your Song" is a good way to do this.
To me though shows like this just leave me wanting more music. Harry turned into quite a political activist. A few clips of his music and tv shows are shown on the documentary, but that wasn't enough for me. Apparently Revlon sponsored two award winning television shows he starred in.... I want to see them but alas there were only a few clips shown. He didn't do any more as people got in an uproar that blacks were appearing with whites and vice versa. Hard to believe. 

 Oh well, back to those old Calypso albums.

Nostalgic Rambler discovers Loretta Young!

 Thanks to a recent screening on "Me TV" (an over the air broadcaster presenting classic TV shows) I have discovered the 1950s classic program "The Loretta Young Show" aka "Letters To Loretta."

I didn't know much about Loretta.  I have a copy of her 1947 film "The Farmer's Daughter" which is quite charming. After her famed film career she turned to television to be able to tell stories with a moral. The series won three Emmys and ran from 1953 to 1961.

 Loretta was always very style conscious and would make her grand entrance on her show wearing very fashionable gowns.  Despite being black and white, the audience loved it. Loretta  apparently even sued when years later her show was re-broadcast. She didn't want them showing her in outdated fashions!

 Her tv show was an anthology series, meaning she played different characters in different storylines. Unlike the shows on television these days, these scripts had heart and were very riveting.

There is an official Loretta Young webpage you can visit here. Me TV also has episodes of her show on line here. Pretty cool. You can watch her show whenever you want.

I love programs like "I Love Lucy" but they are run ad nauseum! Actually Lucy is about the last hold out of 1950s TV still being broadcast. Too bad we can't get someone to wake up and run Loretta's show more often. True, her gowns are outdated, but then the fashion of today looks like trash compared to the elegance of the 1950s and early 60s.

The In Sound From Way Out!

Back in the 1970s my mom would take us to the library where we could check out "stuff." Of course with my early love for records, I combed through the LP albums and often checked out some records to take home.

One of these was a strange album called "The In Sound From Way Out!" (don't forget the exclamation point!).  It featured 12 songs that featured sounds from electronic sources as well as instruments. The liner notes say the music was "carefully synchronized with music played by live musicians as well as....oscillators, tone generators and feedback loops."  This was long before digital music or keyboards were the norm. I guess this was supposed to be music created by a computer...if I computer could create music!

 I liked the record and wanted a copy of it. In those days that meant saying "everyone be quiet" as I would play the album on my record player. The sound would pick up into the microphone on my Radio Shack cassette tape recorder. This of course would mean when the dog barked or someone slammed the door, it would also be on the tape. Maybe that added to the electronic effect?

Recently I wondered if anyone had ever heard of this album and lo and behold it is actually available on CD! The story goes that back in 1966 when it was released, it took 275 hours of work to hand splice the sounds together to make this very off the wall album. It was the brainchild of Jean Jacques Perrey from France and Gershon Kingsley, a veteran of Broadway and classical music.

It's hard to explain what the music sounds like, so listen to it here or here. It was quite crazy and thrilling to a young boy to listen to. Today it is just as crazy, although I'm not sure I would record it onto my cassette recorder again! 

New Year Ramblings Andy Williams, Guy Lombardo

 Happy New Year to all the Nostalgic Rambler followers...Are you out there? Sometimes I wonder if this is just a therapy for myself or if someone is actually reading this. 

This posting will be just a little hodgepodge as I've been under the weather recently. But I did want to finally check in with "you all."

The newspaper did a story about the heirs of Guy Lombardo. Sad to hear that the memorabilia of the man who millions looked forward to watching every New Year's Eve is now deteriorating in storage units here in Florida. Read the story here.  I wish I could help but I don't think my wife would let me bring more "stuff" into the house. Maybe Michael Feinstein could help.

As most look forward to the New Year 2013, I turned to clock back to January 3 fifty years ago and watched "The Andy Williams Show". My wife gave me a dvd collection for Christmas (she knows what I like!).

 

 Hard to believe that I watched a show that was 50 years old to the day. It was in "Living Color on NBC" so to me it looked brand new. Those shows are so great. Where else can you see Irene Ryan from the Beverly Hillbillies as a singer and dancer? Or Bobby Darin, Vic Damone, and Henry Mancini all on one show as Andy's guests? The Osmond Brothers are on some of the shows and their parents even made an appearance. As usual I am enjoying my time warp. Am looking forward to the next two shows which feature Bing Crosby, Tennessee Ernie Ford and Ella Fitzgerald.

Sad to read the another of the greats Patti Page has left us. Her Tennessee Waltz, How Much Is That Doggie In The Window? or Old Cape Cod were songs that charmed millions.

Here's a link or two to Patti's hits.

Take care my friends! May the new year bring you all the best.