From the Back Room: Anita Ellis in the 40s, Vol. 2

This is the second in a three-part series devoted to vocalist Anita Ellis' recordings in the 1940s. (The first installment is here.)

Today in this "From the Back Room" post, we have Anita's 10 sides for Mercury Records and her dubbing assignments for Rita Hayworth in Gilda and for Vera-Ellen in Three Little Words, plus one item with Eddy Duchin. There are 21 cuts altogether.

Ellis had become popular on the radio and via AFRS recordings by the time these songs were recorded. She was already a polished artist when her first commercial disc was made.

Mercury Recordings

I have found 10 recordings that Ellis made for Mercury in 1946 and 1947. Most of these dates were conducted by Harry Geller, a former big band trumpeter who later led his own ensemble and worked in films.

Harry Geller

Anita's first number is "Either It's Love or It Isn't," a Doris Fisher-Allan Roberts song used in the Bogie noir Dead Reckoning. There it was mouthed by Lizabeth Scott, dubbed by Trudy Richards - interesting because Scott later came out with an LP of her own. It's a good tune, little remembered these days.

Like its discmate above, "The Old Lamplighter" was recorded by any number of artists at the time. Several artists did well with the Charles Tobias-Nat Simon song, Ellis not among them, although her version is entirely sympathetic. The Browns had a big hit with the number in 1960.

The Romanian composer Iosif Ivanovici wrote "Waves of the Danube" in 1880, and Al Jolson and Saul Chaplin adapted it into "The Anniversary Song" for The Jolson Story in 1946. Anita's version is heartfelt.

Johnny Green and Yip Harburg wrote the semi-standard "I'm Yours" in 1930. Ellis and Geller revived it as the flip side of "The Anniversary Song."

Burke and Van Heusen wrote "As Long as I'm Dreaming" for Bing to warble in 1947's Welcome Stranger. A nice song that's no longer heard in a sincere reading and an overly complex arrangement from Geller. The flip is another current song, "Ask Anyone Who Knows." I believe the hit was by the Ink Spots.

Eddie Kassen and Desmond O'Connor wrote "How Lucky You Are" in 1947. Now forgotten, this lovely postwar song is done well by Ellis. Several other artists recorded it back then. The flip side was a revival of "They Can't Take that Away from Me," which the Gershwins penned for Fred Astaire 10 years earlier. Dick Maltby's arrangements for this coupling are just as fussy as some of Geller's. Anita's warmth shines through, though.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold wrote the excellent song "Love for Love" for the film Escape Me Never, with lyrics by Aldo Franchetti and Ted Koehler. Peg La Centra dubbed Ida Lupino in the film.

"Golden Earrings" is from the film of the same name; music by Victor Young, words by Livingston and Evans. The biggest hit version was by Peggy Lee, but Anita's is a worthy contender.

Dubbing Hayworth

Rita Hayworth as Gilda

It may not be apparent in her earlier work, but one of Ellis' most enduring characteristics was her ability to sound sultry. This made her a perfect match for Rita Hayworth in the latter's defining role as Gilda, a very dark film noir with a happy ending. (Don't tell anyone I told you.)

Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher wrote two fine songs for the film - "Amado Mio" and, most famously, "Put the Blame on Mame." Anita's vocal performances are justly almost as famous as Hayworth's visuals. The singer's recordings of the two numbers for Standard Transcriptions will appear in Vol. 3 of this series.

One with Eddie Duchin

The US Navy sponsored The Eddy Duchin Show, a public service program sent out to radio stations on transcription discs. We have one song from this series that featured Duchin, a popular pianist - "What Is This Thing Called Love." It's a Cole Porter song from 1929 that Ellis does in her best alluring Gilda manner. I've also included the spoken intro - contrived, as those things usually were. The song, however, is one of the best things in this set.

Three Little Words

Three Little Words lobby card

When M-G-M put their biopic of songwriters Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby into production in 1949, the producers engaged Ellis to dub Vera-Ellen, who was playing Jessie Brown Kalmar, partner and wife of Fred Astaire's Bert.

Anita had three songs. The first was the charming duet with Astaire, "Where Did You Get That Girl?" This is presented in two versions - the first as heard on the soundtrack, the second as presented on a single. The former has a more extended instrumental close; the latter has an extra vocal chorus, which I believe may be a clone of the first chorus. Note that Ellis received label credit for her singing, unusual at the time.

Next, Anita has a solo with "Come On, Papa," adopting a thick quasi-French accent.

"Nevertheless (I'm in Love with You)" one of the most enduring Kalmar-Ruby songs, is an Astaire-Ellis duet. Again, this is presented in two versions, the first from the soundtrack, the second with a additional (cloned) chorus at the end, as it appeared on the Three Little Words LP.

Finally, the song that turned me into an Anita Ellis fan several decades ago - her version of "Thinking of You," a matchless combination of warmth, tenderness and just fine singing. One again, two versions: from the single, which clones an earlier phrase at its conclusion, and the soundtrack, which continues with Latin dance music for another 30 seconds or so.

The music director and conductor on the film was the 20-year-old André Previn. The listed orchestrator was Leo Arnaud, assisted by the uncredited Robert Franklyn, Wally Heglin and Conrad Salinger.

The third and final volume of Anita Ellis' 1940s recordings will include 24 songs recorded for Standard Transcriptions.

LINK to Anita Ellis in the 1940s, Vol. 2 

From the Back Room: Anita Ellis in the 40s, Vol. 1

One of the surprises in my recent post of "Buster's Back Room" of unrealized projects was the interest in vocalist Anita Ellis. So today we start a three-part series covering her work in the 1940s, with almost all of the material derived from non-commercial releases.

This first volume comes from three sources: Lang-Worth Transcriptions, a V-Disc and several Personal Albums from the Armed Forces Radio Service. There are 21 songs in all.

For these "From the Back Room" items, the transfers, etc., are prepared with the usual care, but my seemingly endless commentary may be mercifully abbreviated.

About Anita Ellis

Ellis (1920-2015) was born in Montreal but moved to Hollywood at a relatively early age. Her parents both sang (her father was a cantor), instilling a love for vocalizing in both her and her brother, Larry Kert.

Anita was singing on local radio before age 16, went to study at the Cincinnati Conservatory, and before long began singing there on a local station. She discovered her crippling stage fright during a brief period as a dance band vocalist. Thereafter the radio studio was her haven. She did quite well there, a regular both on the Personal Album programs and on the Red Skelton show, while making the transcriptions also heard in this collection.

Eventually she would work as a vocal double for the movies. That aspect of her art will be sampled in the next volume.

There's more about Ellis on James Gavin's site.

Lang-Worth Transcriptions

Anita made at least two sets of Lang-Worth Transcriptions with Mitchell Ayres' orchestra in 1945. These were all well chosen songs from the period - "Stardust," "My Heart Sings," "Stormy Weather," "You Always Hurt the One You Love," "More and More" and "Strange Music."

This collection also includes two of my own favorites: "Invitation to the Blues," by Allan Roberts, Arthur Gershwin and Doris Fisher, and "Sleigh Ride in July," by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen. Both are rueful songs of misbegotten romance, the type of material that Ellis with her simplicity and sincerity did so well.

Mitchell Ayres

Her Only V-Disc

Although Anita did several Personal Albums for the AFRS, she recorded only one V-Disc. The V-Disc Discography speculates that this material was taken from 1945 appearances on New York's WNEW with the Merle Pitt ensemble.

The two numbers were both popular at the time - "He's Home for a Little While" by Kermit Goell and the irredeemable "Good Good Good" by Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher. (I liked their work above but not this time.)

Songs from Personal Albums

We also have 11 songs derived from various iterations of the AFRS Personal Album programs that sometimes featured Ellis.

Dennis Morgan and Anita Ellis
recording for AFRS (Morgan is not heard here)

Based on the material, my sense is that these programs date from 1944-46. I don't have any details on the accompanists.

1945 ad

The lesser-known songs are "Tonight I Shall Sleep with a Smile on My Face" by Duke Ellington, Irving Gordon and Mercer Ellington, and Alec Wilder's "I'll Be Around" - and the latter is not all that unknown.

Otherwise we have "I'm in the Mood for Love," "Shoo Shoo Baby," "I Never Mention Your Name," "I'll Be Seeing You," "Blue Skies," "Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine," "More Than You Know" and "Summertime."

Anita is in excellent voice throughout these programs, and sings all numbers with a high degree of artistry. 

After some tinkering, the sound through this set is quite good, regardless of source. That said, the pitch from the transcriptions and Personal Albums was often questionable; I've adjusted it.

LINK

Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, Plus a Related Reup

There is nothing Hollywood likes more than a sequel (unless it is a remake), so when Gentlemen Prefer Blondes became a big hit musical in 1953, what better to try to repeat the magic with a sequel called Gentlemen Marry Brunettes in 1955?

Jeanne Crain and Jane Russell

Trouble was, the Blondes film was based on a successful book by Anita Loos and a successful Broadway musical, with a very good score. And while the Brunettes sequel took on the title of Loos's follow-up novel (most of it, anyway - dropping "But" from the front-end), it changed the characters, tossed out the plot, and, since there was no existing musical, it cobbled together a bunch of old tunes with a new title song. Oh, and since Marilyn Monroe was not available for the new film, the producers slotted in the non-singing Jeanne Crain alongside holdover Jane Russell, adding the strange melange of Rudy Vallee, Alan Young and tough-guy Scott Brady as the male leads.

Perhaps predictably, it did not work so well, and the movie house patrons were indifferent. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy it on records, though, eh?

Anita Ellis

The principal attractions are once again the female leads, with Russell in excellent voice paired with the great Anita Ellis, who dubbed Crain's singing. They appear together or separately in most numbers, perhaps best in Bobby Troup's 1941 corker, "Daddy," which is perfect for two females on the make. Russell is terrific in the 1931 Rodgers-Hart song "I've Got Five Dollars," in spite of a clumsy dialog set up involving Russell and Brady, whose hard-bitten manner would be better suited to film noir.

Ellis's big feature is another Rodgers and Hart standard, "My Funny Valentine." She stays just this side of over-emoting, which in my estimation was always the danger with her singing - more so in her albums than in her many dubbing assignments. Alan Young comes in at the end, doing his own vocals, not particularly well, unfortunately. He is only marginally worse, though, than the person chosen to provide Brady's singing voice - arranger-conductor Robert Farnon. Apparently all the male vocal doubles were busy.

The title song was new, composed by the team of Herbert Spencer and Earle Hagen, both of whom had long careers in Hollywood, and Richard Sale, the screenwriter-producer-director of the opus. It's not a bad song, although in debt to "Always True to You in My Fashion" and especially the Guys and Dolls title song. The normally reliable Johnny Desmond presents it in overbearing fashion.

It's not entirely clear who did what in the music department. Farnon apparently conducted and did the underscoring, but Hagen was the orchestrator and music supervisor, both with uncredited help from Angela Morley and Bill McGuffie, per IMDb.

The sound, as usual from the Decca family, is adequate. I love the cover, though - particularly the spray-tanned Johnny Desmond.

The related reup is the excellent soundtrack to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which you can find here.