Dark Monday • Betty Hutton Sings "Can't Stop Talking About Him"

When Paramount Pictures decided to go ahead with the musical 'Let's Dance',they put their top talent behind it. Their #1 box office female star was the wonderful Betty Hutton, and they paired her with Fred Astaire, a man who starred in countless hits before. They also had Frank Loesser to write the music, as he had with so many hits. That would include the toungue-twisting song "Can't Stop Talking About Him", a great number for Hutton to bring to the screen. It featured her comedic talents, as well as her unique singing style. And the dancing is pretty amazing, too. Well, check out "Can't Stop Talking About Him" for yourself.

'Let's Dance' did fine at the box office, but not close the the expectations of the studio. Instead, it was always in the shadow of 'Annie Get Your Gun', the MGM musical that was to star Judy Garland. That was not meant to be, and shortly after filming began, Judy was released from the picture. MGM made a deal with Paramount to 'borrow' their star, Betty Hutton, to play Annie Oakley. MGM ended up with the huge hit of 1950, while 'Let's Dance' remained a footnote for the year.

Dark Monday • Begin The Beguine

Poster for the Broadway musical and the MGM musical.

In 1935, a brand new musical with a book by Moss Hart and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. 'Jubilee' was greeted with outstanding reviews, and some still consider it the best show of the 1930s. However, opening on Broadway during the Great Depression made nothing a sure bet, and the show ran only 169 performances, less than 6 months. The show had a song introduced by June Knight that certainly had a great impact. "Begin The Beguine" is a beautiful and romantic song, talking about love unfolding. 'The Beguine' is a dance where the couple dances very close, and the song examines the time when the dance is just beginning, and you feel a chemistry that cannot be denied. The song was also used in 'Broadway Melody of 1940', used as an instrumental as Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell tap danced an amazing routine. Enjoy as Fred and Eleanor dance to "Begin The Beguine".

But I must remind you that the song definitely has lyrics, and they are beautiful. Truthfully, everything about the song is amazing, from lyrics to music. At the base of the song there is this wonderful hope, an inherent belief that something wonderful was about to happen. In 1939, the song was recorded by singer Tony Martin, and released by Decca Records. I think his vocals are just about perfect, and so I gladly will share them with you now.

You can purchase a recording of Cole Porter himself singing "Begin The Beguine" from iTunes and Amazon. You can also purchase a version by Tony Martin on both iTunes and Amazon. Either are wonderful, a fantastic addiction to any collection.

And The Winnner Was...

Clockwise: Posters from The Gay Divorcee; Gold Diggers of 1935; Swing Time; Waikiki Wedding; and The Big Broadcast of 1938.

To mark the occasion o the Academy Awards tonight, I thought I would take a look back at the first five winners of the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The Academy Awards began in 1929, a small brunch of industry bigwigs patting themselves on the back. There was no surprise that first year, as the winners were announced a few months prior. That was changed for the second ceremony, where the winners were announced from the podium. The early ceremonies mostly recognized the actors, directors and producers. Once again, things changed in 1934, the first year the music was recognized. In fact, two awards were given, for 'Best Original Song' and for 'Best Score'. For the purposes of this celebration, we will just be looking at the 'Best Original Song' winners. The very first winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Song was "The Continental" from 'The Gay Divorcee'. The movie featured Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and several beautiful dance numbers. The biggest dance was for this song, with music by Con Conrad and lyrics by Herb Magidson, although it was heard as an instrumental on screen. "The Continental" was both a song and a swing dance, but more of an exhibition dance than a dance craze. Watch and enjoy "The Continental" from 'The Gay Divorcee'.

The next year, the Academy Award went to a song that was a classic in the making. Not only did it charm in this original version, it went on to be sung by many through the years, it also went on the have live afterwards on the Broadway stage. The 1935 Academy Award for Best Original Song went to "Lullaby of Broadway", the huge musical number from 'Gold Diggers of 1935'. With music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin, the song was perfect for production values of Busby Berkeley, whose imaginative choreography and direction made magic. Forty-five years later, Gower Champion brought '42nd Street' to the Broadway stage, featuring the music of Warren and Dubin. One of the big numbers from the show was "Lullaby of Broadway", first sung by the late Jerry Orbach. But it was Wini Shaw who had the honors in the original film, so please enjoy "Lullaby of Broadway".

The next winner is another classic, sung by many, from Bing Crosby to Billie Holiday to The Jaguars to The Letterman to Tony Bennett and so many more. But the song, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, began as a sweet love song in the movie 'Swing Time'. I would say it was a simple beginning, but anytime a song is introduced by Fred Astaire in a film with Ginger Rogers, simple doesn't seem to apply. Such is the case with "The Way You Look Tonight", a song even lyricist Fields said "The first time Jerry played that melody for me I went out and started to cry. The release absolutely killed me. I couldn't stop, it was so beautiful." Watch and listen as Astaire delivered "The Way You Look Tonight".

I have to say, this next winner owes a great deal to finding the perfect performer as it does anything else. 'Waikiki Wedding' was a tropical musical, set on beautiful Hawaii. It starred Bing Crosby and the dashing male lead, opposite Shirley Ross. The cast also included Martha Raye and Bob Burns as the second leads, and comic relief. It was Crosby who delivered the 1937 winner of the Academy Aware for Best Original Song, "Sweet Leilani". It was written by Harry Owens, a composer born in Nebraska. He was a bandleader, and in 1926 took up residence at the Lafayette Cafe in Los Angeles. It was there he auditioned and first started working with a young singer named Bing Crosby. A few years before the film, Owens had moved to Hawaii, and was named music director of The Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki. On vacation before shooting 'Waikiki Wedding', Crosby visited his friend, and heard the orchestra play a song Owens had written for his daughter, Leilani. Bing loved it, and wanted to use it in his upcoming film. And it went on to win the Oscar. Enjoy the scene from the movie 'Waikiki Wedding'.

The fifth winner of the award is another song that went on to become a classic. Although 'The Big Broadcast of 1938 starred W.C. Fields, Martha Raye and Dorothy Lamour, the song was not sung by one of these big stars. Instead, "Thanks for the Memory" was sung by one of the comics, a young Bob Hope. The song, with music by Ralph Rainger and lyrics by Leo Robin, went on to be the signature song for the comedian, which he performed at the end of his shows. I hear it, and I instantly think of Hope, whose television specials and work with the USO I remember so well. In fact, I am not sure I have ever seen the original movie, even though this song is such a strong memory. In the clip from the movie, see Hope sing the song with costar Shirley Ross in 'The Big Broadcast of 1938'.

Enjoy the 2013 Oscars!

Happy Columbus Day from the Gershwins

I could not resist celebrating Columbus Day with the George & Ira Gershwin tune, "They All Laughed", with the great line "They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round", so where to better capture it that in the 1937 movie featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, 'Shall We Dance?" Enjoy as Ginger sings, and is joined by Fred to do some terrific dancing!

Have a great Columbus Day!

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.

Easter with Fred & Judy

Easter Parade - just a classic. Starring Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Ann Miller and Peter Lawford, and directed by Charlie Walters and released in 1948. Of course, it also had some by the incomparable Irving Berlin, including the title track, sung by Judy and Fred. Enjoy, and Happy Easter everyone!



A short movie was made about the making of the movie. I thought it might be nice to post that here. It was posted in three different clips, and I will post them all here, the first one first. Enjoy.



Part 2


Part 3


Have a great holiday weekend!

Easter Parade - Judy Garland & Fred Astaire

Easter Parade - just a classic. Starring Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Ann Miller and Peter Lawford, and directed by Charlie Walters and released in 1948. Of course, it also had some by the incomparable Irving Berlin, including the title track, sung by Judy and Fred. Enjoy, and Happy Easter everyone!

3 Artists, 3 Decades, 1 Song

It is not often one can show a song off quite like this. Puttin' On The Ritz was written by Irving Berlin in 1929, but managed to have three very memorable versions, two for film, and one for pop culture. In 1946, Fred Astaire appeared in the film Blue Skies opposite crooner Bing Crosby. While no one could move quite like Astaire, his singing voice was serviceable, but coupled with his moving and his style, he was still tough to top. Like he was wont to do, Astaire took the song and made the scene truly memorable.



28 years later, you could catch Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle in the hilarious Mel Brooks movie, Young Frankenstein. In it young Dr. Frankenstein, played by Wilder, introduces his monster, played by Boyle, to the world at large with a delightful song and dance.



Some 8 years later, Taco scored #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the song, using a synth-pop style that could be heard on the radio throughout the world. It also played in the clubs, becoming a dance favorite.



There you have it, one song done by three different artists in three separate decades, stylistically remarkably similar, yet far from the same in intent. One was a classic movie song and dance number from the 40s, another the classic spoof of that genre in the 70s, and the other a dance hit in the 80s complete with synthesizers that took the clubs by storm. 36 years apart, all three artists made the song stand out.