Dark Monday • Stagedoor Canteen

To continue with my special look at Veteran's Day, I thought we might all enjoy the 1943 movie music, 'Stage Door Canteen.' The movie was really an effort to capture some of the sentiment of the real Stage Door Canteen, with locations in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles (the Hollywood Canteen). The clubs were a place where American soldiers and their Ally counterparts could go to be entertained and be safe while on leave. Often, the stars of stage and screen would stop by and volunteer time, as the Canteen was run by The American Theater Wing, who also handle the Antoinette Perry Awards, better known as the Tony Awards.

The film offers a scripted look at life at the Canteen, with plenty of cameo appearances by movie stars, as well as performances by some of the best music had to offer. In a note, since the 'real' Stage Door Canteen in New York City was busy entertaining the servicemen, a replica was built in Culver City, California, which had the added bonus of being more convenient for the stars. One of the many stars to appear in the movie is the amazing Miss Peggy Lee, who graces us all with a beautiful performance of "Why Don't You Do Right?" with the Benny Goodman Orchestra.

While Ray Bolger might have been best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow in 'The Wizard of Oz;' he was also known as a great song & dance man, both on screen and on Broadway. For the movie, he came on to sing "The Girl I Love To Leave Behind."

Ethel Waters is joined on stage by the Count Basie Orchestra ti perform "Quicksand." Of course, I do have to stop to think about whether or not the great Ethel Waters or Count Basie had to use the servants entrance to get in, it still being the early 1940s. But they shared this wonderful song.

American-born singer Lina Romay performed with Cuban bandleader Xavier Cugat and his orchestra on "A Bombshell from Brooklyn." Cugat was perhaps best known in later years as the husband of Latin bombshell Charo. But in the 1920s through the 1980s, he could be heard playing with the band, with his own very special Latin flavors.

You can purchase the original soundtrack album for 'Stage Door Canteen' from iTunes and Amazon.

The Sounds of 1937

Clockwise: Fred Astaire; Robert Johnson; Bing Crosby; Count Basie; and Benny Goodman.

You know, I was just in a random mood when I was writing this post, and so I randomly picked a year, and researched what were the top five songs. The year was 1937, and I was a bit surprised by what I discovered. I thought it would be the combination of swing music and some of the great ladies from the big band era. Well, I was close on one call, and could not be more wrong with the other. There was a bit of swing in the music, but not as much as I would have guessed. And I didn't realize that one of the top songs of the years would be a blues classic from one of the great blues guitarists of all time, Robert Johnson. Johnson, often thought of as the king of the Mississippi Delta Blues, made amazing music in 1936 and 1937, and died in August of 1938. His death is shrouded in mystery, for legend said he was poisoned with a bottle of whiskey, although the story doesn't truly match up with the events. Johnson was 27 when he died. This is the 5th most popular song of the year, Hellhound On My Trail, also known as the Hellhound Blues.



I hadn't even thought of how movies would be influencing the music of the time, yet is most certainly did. Take, for example, the #4 song on the list, by the one and only Mr. Fred Astaire. In 1937, he had a movie in the theaters costarring the wonderful Ginger Rogers, Swing Time. The musical featured a song written by the great George and Ira Gershwin, They Can't Take That Away From Me. The song was an instant hit, and continues to be a part of the Great American Songbook. Here is Astaire singing They Can't Take That Away From Me.



Th #3 song on the list was from another film, one I am afraid to say I don't think I ever really saw. That surprises me, since I still love catching old movies on the television, and just eating them up like jellybeans. The song was featured in the 1937 film, Waikiki Wedding. The movie starred Bing Crosby, Shirley Ross, Bob Burns, and Martha Raye, a formidable cast indeed. Sweet Leilani was written by Harry Owens, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was also a huge hit for Crosby. Here he is, singing Sweet Leilani.



I knew it would be impossible to go through this list of the top songs and not to have a bit of swing on it. Now, it seems almost insane for me to think there is anyone who cares for music who doesn't know Benny Goodman, but just in case that might be true, Goodman was a bandleader and clarinet player who not only played great Big Band songs, but also grabbed hold of Jazz, and in particular Swing music, and brought it to the forefront. To put that in some perspective, you could say that Swing was the Disco of the 1930s. It was joyful, energetic, just an explosion of emotion. Check it out when Benny Goodman plays with music greats Gene Krupa, Harry James, and Lionel Hampton on Louis Prima's popular Sing, Sing, Sing.



The #1 song of 1937 was the elegant Count Basie with his orchestra playing One O'Clock Jump. Basie wrote and recorded the song in New York City in 1937, utilizing the saxophone work of Herschel Evans and Lester Young, trumpet by Buck Clayton, Walter Page on bass. Count Basie himself on piano, and with that, a jazz classic was born. Enjoy One O'Clock Jump.



All the music on this post can be found on iTunes and Amazon.