June 2007

June 28
 
 

 
Note - I am very please to welcome back guest contributor Matt From College Station  as he shares some more recordings from his excellent collection of 1920s and 1930s jazz and dance band 78 rpm records. 

All recordings and commentary in this update, both the regular and the "Extra" sections, are from Matt.  My only contribution was to transfer and digitalize the recordings. 

You can learn more about Matt and find his contact information by clicking here. 
 
 
 
 

Night
Jack Denny And His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra
Frank Luther, vocal                                                         1932
(Victor 22995 A)

We Will Always Be Sweethearts
Jack Denny And His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra
June Pursell, vocal                                                           1932
(Victor 22995 B)
 
 

Jack Denny led dance bands throughout the 1920s and 1930s. He had a conventionally styled dance band during the 1920's and played at, among other places, the Mount Royal Hotel in Montreal, Canada. In 1931 he moved to New York City and by 1932 was playing at New York's then new Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The Waldorf-Astoria catered to the cream of "society" and hosted many a posh gathering. Denny, detecting the high hat nature of his clientele, developed a sweet (yet marvelous) sound with no brass section. The band did, however, have three pianos, clarinets, saxophones, strings, and possibly a french horn or oboe. His arrangements were unusually complex and even sometimes fast (for a sweet band).

Here I will feature two recordings he made for Victor in 1932. He made quite a few of Victor in 1931-1933 and these are among his best.

"Night" is a exudes an air of sophistication and class and, for a sweet society band, is even somewhat on the peppy side. It is a very complex arrangement and a very beautiful one as well. Frank Luther sings the vocal.

"We Will Always Be Sweethearts" is a tune written by Oscar Strauss for the Ernst Lubitsch
picture One Hour With You. It is an exceptionally well done waltz with plenty of harmony between the instruments. The vocalist on this one is June Pursell, a popular radio songbird of the day. 
 
 

 - Matt From College Station
 

 
 
 

EXTRA

This section will  present 78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop and jazz  fare that I usually  present.  Here I will feature recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities as well as occasional spoken word recordings.
 
 

Selections From The Cat And The Fiddle
Leo Reisman And His Orchestra
Frank Munn, Frances Maddux vocal                                circa 1931
(Victor L 16005)
 
 

This is a selection of tunes from the Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach musical The Cat And The Fiddle, on a rare RCA Victor Program Transcription disc. RCA Victor  Program Transcriptions have been discussed at length on previous Hit Of The Week entries. However, I will briefly mention that they were a commercially unsuccessful attempt by the RCA to introduce a 33 rpm long playing format.

The Cat And The Fiddle opened on October 15 1931 at the Globe Theatre (now the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre). It ran for 395 performances, which was impressive for Depression era Broadway shows. I think what really put this show over in 1931-1932 was the music, as it is some of Kern's best. 

In 1934  MGM turned the show into a movie musical with a cast headed by Jeanette MacDonald, Ramon Novarro and Frank Morgan. Although the plot was changed for the movie, all songs from the Broadway show were performed.  It was also one of the first films to make use of three color Technicolor which was used in the finale.  It is an excellent example of operetta on film, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes this genre or films from the early 30s in general.
 

- Matt From College Station
 

June 21
 
 

 
Turn On The Heat
Earl Burtnett And His Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel Orchestra      1929
(Brunswick 4573)

I’m A Dreamer
Earl Burtnett And His Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel Orchestra      1929
(Brunswick 4573)

The Wedding Of The Painted Doll
Earl Burtnett And His Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel Orchestra      1929
(Brunswick 4232)
 
 
 

Earl Burtnett's was one of the more famous West Coast bands during the early 1930s.  Burtnett started his career in 1918 as a member of the Art Hickman Orchestra which was one of the very early West Coast dance bands. 

Much of Burtnett's early bandleading career was spent in Los Angeles at the Biltmore Hotel where it also enjoyed radio exposure.  In 1933 the band had a lengthy engagement at Houston's Rice Hotel.  The band then relocated to Chicago and to high profile engagements in several of that city's venues.

Burtnett died in early 1936 from complications of an appendectomy. 

The selections featured in this update are from successful 1929 movie musicals.  "Turn On The Heat" and "I'm A Dreamer" come from the Fox film Sunny Side Up which starred Janet Gaynor.  "The Wedding Of The Painted Doll" comes from MGM's Broadway Melody of 1929. 

 - Dismuke
 

 
 
 

EXTRA

This section will  present 78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop and jazz  fare that I usually  present.  Here I will feature recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities as well as occasional spoken word recordings.
 
 
 
 
 

Pot Pouri De Vales De Waldteufe Part l
Marek Weber Orchestra                                 circa early 1930s
(Disque Gramophone L 1004 mx 2EA 1556)
 

Pot Pouri De Vales De Waldteufel Part 2
Marek Weber Orchestra                                 circa early 1930s
(Dique Gramophone L 1004 mx 2EA 1556)
 

Émile Waldteufel was a French pianist and composer of popular music and waltzes.   In 1874, the Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII) attended one of his performances and became an immediate and enthusiastic fan.  The prince's support led to contracts with major British music publishers and performances at Buckingham Palace for Queen Victoria.   As a result, Waldteufel became enormously successful in London and his fame spread back to his native France and to the rest of the world. 

His most famous composition is "Les Patineurs" or "The Skaters" which can be heard in this week's medley of  Waldteufel waltzes.   This recording is German but my particular copy is a French pressing for the Disque Gramophone label. 

Marek Weber led a very successful German band which played a wide variety of musical styles ranging from classical to jazz.    Because he was Jewish,  Weber was forced to flee Germany when the National Socialists came to power.  He was able to resume his career in the United States but not with the same level of fame or success. 
 
 

- Dismuke

---

 
Whippoorwill
Jack Denny And His Mount Royal Hotel Orchestra                       1930
(Brunswick 4794)

Congratulations
Jack Denny And His Mount Royal Hotel Orchestra                       1929
(Brunswick 4604)

The Sun Is At My Window
Jack Denny And His Orchestra
Dick Robertson, vocal                                                                  1928
(Brunswick 4170)

My Mother’s Eyes
Jack Denny And His Orchestra
Jack Parker,  vocal                                                                       1928
(Brunswick 4170)
 

Born in 1895,  Jack Denny started his bandleading career in Canada in 1920.  In the late 1920s he led a very nice sounding society band at Montreal's Mount Royal Hotel.  The band was known to audiences throughout the USA through its recordings for Victor.    By the early 1930s the band had moved south to New York City for an engagement at the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel.   In 1933 Denny made a cameo appearance in the Universal movie musical Moonlight And Pretzels.  He also starred in a couple of musical short features.   While the peak of his popularity was in the early 1930s, Denny remained active as a bandleader into the 1940s.  After he gave up the band he went to work as a salesman for the Baldwin Piano Company.

 - Dismuke
 

 
 
 

EXTRA

This section will  present 78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop and jazz  fare that I usually  present.  Here I will feature recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities as well as occasional spoken word recordings.
 
 

Pot Pouri o Airs populares tires films UFA Part 1
Marek Weber et son Orchestre de Jazz                       circa 1931
(Disque Gramphone L 933 mx 62970)
 

Pot Pouri o Airs populares tires films UFA Part 2
Marek Weber et son Orchestre de Jazz                      circa 1931
(Disque Gramphone L 933 mx 62971)
 

Here is a recording that I won in the recent Nauck's Vintage Records auction.  While the recording was made in Weimar era Germany, the titles and credits are listed in French as this copy was pressed for distribution in France.   Both sides feature a medley of songs from three films put out by the influential German movie studio UFA.   The most famous of the films to American audiences is Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel) which starred Marlene Dietrich.  The song she famously performed in the film "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt" can be heard in Part 2.  Her recording of the song in English as "Falling In Love Again" was successful both in the USA and the UK. 

Also included are songs from the 1930 film Die Drei von der Tankstelle which starred Lillian Harvey, Willy Fritsch, Oskar Karlweis and Heinz Rühmann.  The song "Liebling, mein Herz laesst Dich gruessen" can be heard in Part 1 as well as a very brief passage of "Ein Freund, ein guter Freund."   The other film featured is Der Kongreß tanzt from 1931 which also starred Lillian Harvey and Willy Fritsch.    The song "Das gibt's nur einmal, das kommt nie wieder" can be heard towards the end of Part 2. 

UFA was a highly innovative and influential film studio during the Weimar era and, for a while during the days of silent pictures, was considered to be a serious rival to Hollywood.  Once the National Socialists took power in 1933, however, the studio increasingly fell under the influence of Joseph Goebbels the Nazi propaganda minister.  And, of course, a great many artists, including Oscar Karlweis and Marek Weber, the bandleader on these recordings, had to flee Germany for their lives on account of Hitler's racial policies. 

I am very fond of German popular music from the 1920s and 1930s.  Even though I understand very little German, I find that the melodies are often very catchy and beautiful. 

- Dismuke