Abe Burrows Sings?

The pop-eyed fellow on the cover appears astonished at the thought of Abe Burrows as a vocalist. "Abe Burrows Sings?" he asks.

The younger members of the audience may be asking a different question - who is Abe Burrows?

Not that well remembered today (except for those of us of a certain age), Burrows was one of the best-known Broadway craftsmen for many years, as writer, director and famously as "script doctor." He wrote or co-wrote the books of Guys and Dolls, Three Wishes for Jamie, Can-Can, Silk Stockings, Say Darling, First Impressions, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Forty Carats and Cactus Flower, and directed nearly as many famous shows.

Burrows in 1951

This 10-inch record predates all that. It came out in 1950, when Burrows had his own television show (thus the TV tube on the cover), right before Guys and Dolls opened on Broadway, which was in November of that year. The liner notes make no mention of the theatre, instead discussing his popularity at Hollywood parties, and his stint as radio writer and performer.

This was actually Burrows' second album, the first having come out on Decca in 1947, when he was on radio. His stock-in-trade was of pop music parody, and on the Columbia LP he works over cowboy songs, ballads, gypsy melodies, college songs, and sea chanteys. The record also includes a mock travelogue - a trip to Boulder Dam with side trip to Hollywood.

The humor here is verbal - Milton DeLugg's music is played almost completely straight.The liner notes say the effect is "sharply satiric, cheerfully melodic and immensely funny." Well - "clever and amusing" might be more accurate. Burrows went on to better things.

This was transferred at the request of Will Friedwald. The download includes four Burrows radio shows from 1947, through the courtesy of Internet Archive.