A New Year's Eve Rendezvous 2025

I'm pleased to once again cede the floor to Dave Federman, whose imaginative compilations themed to the holidays have become a welcome tradition around here. Today, Dave has put together his usual mix of unusual items, totaling 40 selections. Here's the man himself to tell you more:

Age is no barrier to romance or rendezvous. And no night is greater for romance and renewal than New Year’s Eve. Indeed, no night gives so much hope about the future — whether for revival of old, or discovery of new, promise. For me, it is a holiday about prospects — good, even grand, ones.

When given this importance, the night takes on a mystique that heightens the revelry associated with it. Maybe it’s my age or our Age itself. But I feel it necessary to hold such sentiments. There is a safety and solace in them. In light of these beliefs, I’m inviting the listener to accompany me for what used to be called a “night on the town.” Think, if you share my romanticism, of each song in this mix as a midnight madrigal that contributes to what I freely admit is a highly idealized New Year's Eve.

The opening songs prepare the listener for a night of nights. Once the music locks the listener in idealistic anticipation and expectation, the dancing and singing begins, conducted with confident cheer. So raise glasses to better times ahead. Yes, some retrospect will occur. It has to as we review the tumultuous year we are leaving behind. But whether looking backwards or forwards, tonight our cups will never run dry or our mugs be empty. The mix is filled with toasts to a brighter future. And even if that future is not bestowed on us, we can bestow it on each other.

In short, shared intimacy makes the karma good tonight. So there’s plenty of songs about close dancing in a wide variety of genres. Mindful that there will be those who take to terrace or rooftop, you will find star-studded skies waiting for you. And no matter what its phase, a shining moon will provide ample outdoor lighting.

So grab your coats and hats and drive or catch an Uber to Dave’s Download Ballroom. There the drinks are on me and the toasts are to lives worth living. Book your reservation now.

Have a happy, brave and wise New Year.

David from Ardmore

LINK

A 'Winter Sequence' from Burns and Feather

Composer-arranger Ralph Burns Summer Sequence is well known. Less known is its sequel, Winter Sequence - A Seasonal Suite for Rhythmic Reindeer from 1954.

Burns wrote the first three parts of Summer Sequence in 1945 for the Woody Herman band. A fourth part was added in 1947 as a feature for tenor saxophonist Stan Getz. With Johnny Mercer's lyrics added, this became "Early Autumn," a vocal jazz standard.

Ralph Burns

The 1954 work was actually not written by Burns but by songwriter-impresario Leonard Feather, although Burns handled the arrangements for the 11-piece band.

Leonard Feather

This is by no means a pretentious work; it is a showcase for the members of the band, who are assigned reindeer names for this particular reindeer game.

The eight pieces on this 10-inch LP - and their reindeer soloists - are as follows:

• "Dasher" - Herbie Mann, flute

• "Dancer" - Danny Bank, baritone sax

• "Prancer" - Ralph Burns, piano

• "Vixen" - Kai Winding, trombone

• "Comet" - Oscar Pettiford, bass and cello

• "Cupid" - Billy Bauer, guitar

• "Donner" - Osie Johnson, drums

• "Blitzen" - Joe Wilder, trumpet

The music is highly enjoyable, boppish fun played by some of the best jazz musicians of the day - and in very good sound.

LINK

A V-Disc Christmas

This post gathers all the Christmas V-Disc releases I could find - with the exception of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra's material, which is available elsewhere.

V-Discs were produced by the US government for distribution to its troops during World War II. Their contents were taken from commercial recordings, radio transcriptions and even special V-Disc recording dates - all of which are represented below.

The artists we hear include Richard Crooks, Marian Anderson, Claude Thornhill, Andre Kostelanetz, Charlie Spivak, Dick Haymes, Eileen Farrell, Jan Peerce, Nelson Eddy and Dinah Shore.

Christmas V-Discs for the most part used the red and green color motif seen above, although the early issues came out with the standard red and blue regalia.

This set contains 25 cuts, presented in order of their release on V-Disc, except for the final number.

The first Christmas V-Disc came out in 1941, and was a reprint of a commercial recording that the tenor John McCormack had made fifteen years earlier. That recording of "Adeste Fideles" can be found in a McCormack Christmas compendium I put together a few years ago.

Richard Crooks

Our first entry in this collection comes from another tenor, Richard Crooks, who is not as well remembered as McCormack. Crooks come from a time when a popular Metropolitan Opera star - which he was - could also be a favorite on the radio. His performance of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" was taken from a 1941 commercial recording. Here is an article on this fine artist.

Marian Anderson, 1946

Another singer who achieved great popular and artistic success was the distinguished contralto Marian Anderson. Her recording of the "Ave Maria" setting associated with Schubert was done at a special V-Disc session in late 1941. Anderson's first Christmas LP - less well known than her later album - is available here, newly remastered.

Claude Thornhill

I believe bandleader Claude Thornhill recorded his lovely theme "Snowfall" a number of times, starting in 1941. The version on V-Disc comes from a Lang-Worth transcription recorded that same year.

Andre Kostelanetz

The "Christmas Medley" from maestro Andre Kostelanetz is derived from a 1943 broadcast of The Pause That Refreshes on the Air, a title that was taken from Pepsi-Cola's slogan of the time. Baritone Leonard Warren of the Met soloed in "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear."

The other side of Kostelanetz' V-Disc presented the Army Air Force Training Command Band with another "Christmas Medley," featuring the sonorous soloist Bob Carroll, then an Army corporal. He has appeared on my other blog a few times, including a recording of "White Christmas" with Gordon Jenkins. This side has a brief introduction by Shirley Temple. These recordings came from a special 1944 Christmas broadcast of For the Record that was later excerpted for V-Discs.

Charlie Spivak

The popular band of trumpeter Charlie Spivak made a set of World Transcriptions that included "White Christmas," later issued on V-Disc. The vocal is by Garry Stevens.

Dick Haymes

Dick Haymes makes his first of two appearances, in company with the Travis Johnson Singers and organist Jesse Crawford. Dick sings "O Little Town of Bethlehem," the Singers take over for "Deck the Hall," and Haymes returns for "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." These are also from World Transcriptions.

Eileen Farrell

The other side of Haymes' V-Disc has greetings to the troops from Brig. Gen. Joseph Byron, the Ben Yost Choir with "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" and the marvelous young soprano Eileen Farrell with "O Come, All Ye Faithful." She was then on radio; later she would become an opera star. These were taken from the same For the Record broadcast noted above.

Jan Peerce

Also from that session, but issued on a separate V-Disc, Farrell was heard in the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria" and "O Holy Night." They were coupled with the Met's Jan Peerce presenting a Bizet setting of "Agnus Dei."

Nelson Eddy

A December 1945 edition of radio's Electric Hour yielded several songs with Nelson Eddy, a choral group and Robert Armbruster's orchestra. First we have the inescapable and interminable "Twelve Days of Christmas," a greeting from Eddy himself, "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" from the choir, "Gathering Clouds" from Eddy, "Silent Night" from the choir, and the "Hallelujah Chorus" from one and all.

Dick Haymes then returns with a spoken greeting, "Silent Night" and "O Come, All Ye Faithful," backed by Gordon Jenkins' orchestra.

Dinah Shore

To complete the package, I've added a song that is really more suggestive of the season that truly a part of it, simply because I like both the tune and the singer. This is Dinah Shore's 1944 version of "Sleigh Ride in July" with Al Sack's orchestra. It's a Burke and Van Heusen song that V-Disc took from Dinah's commercial recording.

LINK

A Merry Mancini Christmas and More

This post presents Henry Mancini's well-known holiday LP A Merry Mancini Christmas, along with other seasonal favorites by the great composer and arranger. This is a joint post with Christmas music maestro Ernie.

To the LP we've added five songs from the Mancini catalog along with three voice tracks from the man himself (Hank, not Ernie).

Note that Mancini made a great many recordings, so I may have missed some seasonal items. Let me know if anything comes to mind. Also note that there are a few deliberate omissions, which are explained at the end of the post.

A Merry Mancini Christmas

Despite what the cover photo may suggest, this is not a familial enterprise a la The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas, even though both Henry's wife Ginny O'Connor Mancini and his daughter Monica (at right) were singers. No, it's the usual orchestral and choral effort you might expect from Hank.

Most of the LP is standard fare - "The Little Drummer Boy," "The Christmas Song," "White Christmas" and a medley of "Jingle Bells" and "Sleigh Ride" on side one, and three carol medleys on the other side. 

The one exception is a Mancini instrumental called "Carol for Another Christmas," whose ambiguous title is perhaps appropriate to a diffident melody that never achieves Mancini levels of memorability. The melody comes from a 1964 Rod Serling-scripted television film of that name, which was an updating of Dickens' A Christmas Carol for the age of nuclear weapons. Mancini wrote the score.

All in all, the LP makes for pleasant listening, but does not entirely fulfill the high expectations of the Mancini fan who happens to be writing these words. That said, it's a favorite of many people.

More Songs and Voice Tracks

The extra items start with a short Christmas greeting from Mancini, courtesy Ernie, followed by Hank's excellent version of Claude Thornhill's "Snowfall," which he makes sound new, partially by taking the ostinato away from the piano and giving it to Bob Bain's guitar. This selection comes from the terrific 1959 LP The Mancini Touch.

The composer returned to the winter theme in his fantastic score for the 1963 film Charade. This is in the form of his "Latin Snowfall," which is unrelated to Thornhill's tune.

"Latin Snowfall" is an Ernie contribution, as are all the following items. First we have the old favorite "Baby, It's Cold Outside." It always sounds strange to me sung by a group as it is here, but Mancini makes it work. This is from his 1966 set The Academy Award Songs. (Frank Loesser won an Oscar for the song's use in 1949's Neptune's Daughter, even though he wrote the song five years earlier.)

At right is the Army Reserve promo cover

Next we have a minute-long holiday greeting that Hank taped for the US Army Reserve in 1976. Mancini was a polished presenter, particularly considering that this was likely a cold reading.

The two final songs come from one of the Goodyear's final promotional Christmas LPs - Henry Mancini Selects Great Songs of Christmas by Great Artists of Our Time, from 1975. Hank anointed himself as one of the great artists and who can blame him?

The Goodyear promo

Mancini's numbers lead off the LP and close it. They are "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? / Auld Lang Syne." You can tell these arrangements are from that era because of the prominent electric bass line throughout. The album also include a Mancini recording of "White Christmas," but this is taken from A Merry Mancini Christmas.

To end the set, we have New Year's greetings from Hank. This comes from the same circa 1965 promo record that also contained the Christmas greetings mentioned above.

Omissions

Ernie reminded me that Mancini's score for the film Gaily, Gaily includes a number called "Christmas Eve on Skid Row," which is in the form of a wrenching soliloquy by Melina Mercouri that ends in death. We left it out.

Also, he notes that Mancini wrote the score for Santa Claus: the Movie in 1985, with songs by Leslie Bricusse. It's so much later than these other materials that it's not included here.

Thanks again to Ernie for his sterling contributions and good cheer, and be sure to join him on his blog for his traditional onslaught of Christmas audio goodies. Also, if you are interested in collecting the Goodyear Christmas LPs, Ernie has a checklist available on Discogs.

LINK

Christmas with Glenn Miller's AAF Band, 1943

The AAF Band led by Miller; Bobby Nichols on trumpet

Here from a long-ago bootleg is the 1943 Christmas Show presented by Capt. Glenn Miller and his Band of the Army Air Force Training Command. It's from the band's I Sustain the Wings radio program broadcast on NBC December 18, 82 years ago today.

Surprisingly, the show was not given over to Christmas material - although some did appear later in the program. Instead, the first song was Miller's instrumental "I Hear You Screaming," which won't make many Christmas playlists. Still, it's a vigorous start to the proceedings in an impressive performance by Miller's powerhouse crew.

Glenn Miller

Miller used a "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" gimmick for constructing medleys. For this program, the old number is "In the Gloaming" [not the later song "By the Fireside (In the Gloaming)" but the 19th century tune by Annie Fortescue Harrison]. 

Johnny Desmond

The new song is "For the First Time," sung by PFC Johnny Desmond, at the beginning of his career.

The "borrowed" item is "Stompin' at the Savoy," which was courtesy of Benny Goodman, who himself had borrowed it from Edgar Sampson. And the "blue" item is Peter De Rose's "Deep Purple."

Next, the band takes a break and there is a short playlet called "Johnny the Kid Next Door." It concerns the anxiety that Johnny, an Air Force mechanic, feels when the bombers he attends to take off on a run over continental Europe.

Desmond returns for "Along the Santa Fe Trail," written by Hugh Williams, Al Dubin and Edwina Coolidge for the 1941 film Santa Fe Trail. Miller's civilian band had recorded it with a Ray Eberle vocal.

Oklahoma! was a giant hit on Broadway in 1943, and Miller pays homage via Sgt. Jerry Gray's rocking version of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," with a Crew Chiefs vocal - the lead, I believe, is Artie Malvin.

Glenn Miller and Jerry Gray

We now move into the holiday portion of the show, with the band playing "Silent Night," "Jingle Bells," "White Christmas" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas." The latter is not the song familiar to us, but a different, touching wartime ballad with a Desmond vocal.

The program closes with one of Miller's great hits - F.W. Meacham's 1885 march "American Patrol" in Jerry Gray's famous arrangement.

All in all, a fine program in very good sound, sourced from a long-ago bootleg.

FYI - there's more Christmas radio from World War II new on the singles blog: a set of the 1944 Christmas Seal radio spots.

LINK to Glenn Miller's AAF Band Christmas Show

A Christmas Restored 2025

A holiday tradition around here is a wonderful, imaginative mix of Christmas music graced with a thoughtful essay, both contributed by our valued longtime friend and contributor, Dave Federman. Here are Dave's reflections, followed by a link to his generous Christmas mix. 

I grew up in a world where Christmases were white, or realistically expected to be so. Most houses were strung with lights outside and had highly ornamented trees inside. Holiday iconography—sacred and secular—was on display everywhere. Christ babes in cribs with magi gifts beside them and Santas with bulging gift bags slung over their shoulders shared one-world adjacency. The world was blended in a unity of symbolism. This gave Christmas a credible non-denominational sentimentality.

I’m pretty sure this credibility stemmed from the fact that the Christmases of my youth occurred in wartimes—World War II, the Cold War and Korea. So being home for Christmas fostered deep concern and yearning in families nationwide. The day was meant and needed as much for reassurance and comfort as the exchange of presents. Gift-giving was kid’s stiff. Of course, we kids didn’t feel these longings unless an actual family member would be absent on Christmas Day. But since every member of my family and those of my relatives were, pardon the pun, present and accounted for, kids like me could be exclusively gift-conscious. I can still remember hearing the crinkly sound of paper in the downstairs living room as my parents wrapped gifts for their children. Although they tried to do so as quietly as possible, and spoke in whispers about gift placement, we listened for the soft sonics of gift preparation and arrangement.

However, now in my early 80s, another childhood Christmas sound returns—as strong as the rustle of gift-wrapping. I hear the bells that rang everywhere that day. Their tolling was so omnipresent that it seemed as if their sound was the main resonance of the world. It is that bell-resonant world this Christmas mix remembers and celebrates. It is not a gift-list or shopping-cart world. It is beyond the reach of heartbreak-blue or money-green. It is a world of rapt attention paid to the outdoor sounds of Christmas and the indoor intimacy that ensued. It was an attention even kids like me paid once gifts were opened and went outdoors.

That is why I’ve asked Claude Debussy to be my Ghost of Christmas Past this year, bringing sounds of bells and snow to our ears. Indeed, the mix begins with “La cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral),” the 10th piece in his First Book of Preludes, written between 1909 and 1910. I see this piece as one of restoration not just remembrance. To my ears, Debussy compels this edifice to rise again. And once it is risen, and his music has served as harkening overture, I begin what I call “A Christmas Restored.”

As a result, this is a Christmas with fewer carols and pop music standards than usual. Debussy contributes two more piano works to this mix and England’s Alfred Ketelbey is tapped for two compositions—both conducted by the composer himself in tail-end 1920s recordings. Even Sergei Rachmaninov makes a musical donation. Sure, a few venerable songs are here—but always in imaginative, tasteful orchestrations that feed a synergy of sentiment. I won’t tell you what they are. But some have been aching for inclusion in my Christmas medleys for years. Now they have a chance to be heard, some in duplicate.

So Buon Natale, friends, and I hope this somewhat elephantine mix of 40 selections provides a soundtrack for a Christmas that leaves no trail of credit card debt or drained checking accounts. This is an all-ears Christmas where all you need to spend is your time. No one is poor this Christmas. Everybody is rich in dreams.

LINK

Walter Schumann's Two Christmas LPs and More

Walter Schumann (1913-58) was a talented arranger-conductor who unfortunately died young, but not before he contributed many well-regarded LPs, film scores and even the Dragnet theme.

His recorded specialty was choral music with the Voices of Walter Schumann, who issued two Christmas LPs and a few singles, which are gathered together for this post. There also is a substantial bonus at the end of the discussion. And please see the link to a Tony Martin Christmas collection that is new on the singles blog.

Christmas in the Air

By mid-century, the US was becoming increasingly urbanized and diverse, but its self-image was of a homogenous small town, as depicted on the covers of the 1951 LP Christmas in the Air. A church steeple was often found in the commercial art of the day. It appears on both the front and back of this 10-inch Capitol LP.

The song "Christmas in the Air," written by Schumann and Sheldon Allman, leads off the LP and appears briefly several times thereafter as a connecting thread.

After "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night," Schumann included a brief recording of "The Carol of the Bells," a Ukrainian melody with English words by Peter Wilhousky. This is followed by "White Christmas" and the Burgundian carol "Patapan."

Side 2 contains a lively version of the spiritual "Wonderful Counselor," which has a solo by the magnetic Jester Hairston. Next is Britten's setting of the Welsh Carol "Wolcum Yule," followed by Hairston's "Mary, Mary." "Winter Wonderland" and "Adeste Fideles" complete the LP program.

As a bonus, I've included the choir's 1951 single of David Rose's "Holiday for Strings," which shows off their vocal virtuosity.

LINK to Christmas in the Air

The Voices of Christmas

By 1955, Schumann had joined RCA Victor records, which that year released a fine 12-inch LP called The Voices of Christmas.

Side 1 contains "Sleigh Ride," "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," "The Christmas Song," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "What Child Is This?", "Rise Up Shepherd and Follow," "The First Snowfall," "Fum, Fum, Fum" and "Christmas Tree."

"Fum, Fum, Fum" is a Catalan carol that exists in many versions. It's not clear which is heard here, although Schumann is credited as the arranger.

"The First Snowfall," a favorite of mine, was written by Sonny Burke and Paul Francis Webster. This was among its first recordings.

"Christmas Tree," with an highly effective solo by Bill Lee, is not "O Tannenbaum," but a version of "Ja, das ist ein Schnitzelbank." The same tune would appear again in Christmas garments for "Must Be Santa," which can be found on Holiday Sing Along with Mitch, although not on this blog.

Side 2 includes "Christmas in Killarney," "The First Noël," "Frosty the Snowman," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," "Lully, Lully, Lu," "Christmas Gift," "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S," "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and "Christmas Chopsticks (It Was the Night Before Christmas)."

"Lully, Lully, Lu" is not "Lully, Lullay," the Coventry Carol, but another tune of unknown (to me) origin.

Jester Hairston

Jester Hairston solos on his own, charming, R&B-flavored "Christmas Gift." 

"C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S" is a country tune by Jenny Lou Carson and Eddy Arnold that is best heard in Arnold's version, which is conveniently included in the bonus LP below.

"Christmas Chopsticks (It Was the Night Before Christmas)" is just as it portends, "The Night Before Christmas" set to chopsticks. It works better than you might expect.

There is a bonus cut as well - "The Sound of Christmas," which is an optimistic, declamatory piece somewhat reminiscent of "Christmas in the Air." The label says Schumann wrote it with Wells and Millar. Wells is possibly the songwriter Robert Wells. Victor issued it as a single in 1953, then included it on the LP below.

LINK to The Voices of Christmas

To Wish You a Merry Christmas

I transferred this 1954 RCA Victor LP many years ago, and have refurbished it for this occasion.

The artists are all well known. As mentioned above, the LP includes Eddy Arnold's "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S" along with Walter Schumann's "The Sound of Christmas."

From Life Magazine

The one unusual item is Dinah Shore's recording of "Happy Christmas Little Friend," which Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein wrote at the behest of Life Magazine. With such a distinguished lineage, expectations had to be high, but this was not the famed duo's best work and the song has been forgotten.

The biggest hit on the LP, particularly in retrospect, was Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby," written by Phil Springer and Joan Javits.

Otherwise, the LP includes:

• Perry Como - "White Christmas"

• The Three Suns - "Silver Skates"

• Vaughn Monroe - "Frosty the Snowman"

• Hugo Winterhalter - "Blue Christmas"

• Eddie Fisher - "O Come, All Ye Faithful"

• Tony Martin - "Silent Night"

• Henri René - "The Christmas Song"

• Ralph Flanagan - "Winter Wonderland"

LINK to To Wish You a Merry Christmas

The Tony Martin Christmas Collection

The Tony Martin version of "Silent Night" on the RCA Victor LP above is one of the seven titles in a Christmas collection by that singer newly available on Buster's Swinging Singles.

Although Tony didn't record much holiday material, what he did record is very worthwhile. The material goes back to almost the beginning of his career and continues to 1956.

A Budget-Line Christmas

It's rare that I would feature budget recordings, but they are often interesting, giving you a chance to hear name-brand artists who were past their peak and others who were mainly professional studio singers.

Today we have two LPs on the Tops label that are good examples. The names on the two covers are Martha Tilton, famed from her work with Benny Goodman, and the Pied Pipers, who first became popular with the Tommy Dorsey band.

In true budget-label fashion, the name artists present a minority of the songs on these LPs. Most of the singing is by artists with lesser pedigrees - folks who made a living in vocal groups and in the studio setting; little-known but undeniably talented.

Before I give the details about the songs and singers, let me mention that this post is made possible through the generosity of frequent collaborator Ernie Haynes, whose Ernie (Not Bert) site is well into his annual foray into the wide world of holiday music. I told him I was looking for the Pied Pipers LP, and he not only came up with a transfer, it was the stereo version - and he sent along a stereo version of Christmas at Our House, the album that touts Martha Tilton on the cover. I had only the mono version of the latter.

Both The Pied Pipers Sing Christmas Carols and Christmas at Our House came out in 1958, at first in mono and a bit later in stereo.

The songs on these LPs are what you might expect - well-worn holiday classics, most of them in the public domain, and most repeated on both LPs, although not by the same vocalists. 

What follows are some notes about the artists involved, who were barely mentioned by Tops, except for Martha Tilton and the Pipers. The rest are only named on the labels - and even then not always accurately.

The Pied Pipers - Lee Gotch, Sue Allen, Allan Davies, Clark Yocum

Let's start off with the Pied Pipers, who as I mentioned became known with Tommy Dorsey's band - that is until one of the members made the bandleader mad and was fired. The entire group then quit the band in solidarity. The object of Tommy's ire was Clark Yocum, still in the group when this record was made.

The leading light of the Pipers back in the Dorsey era was Jo Stafford. By the time this record was made, the female lead was Sue Allen, a studio singer who had been in several well-known groups. The other members were Lee Gotch and Allan Davies. Their performances here are pleasing, and amusing when appropriate, such as their version of "Jingle Bells."

The Pipers sang on six of the 12 numbers on the LP named for them, but not at all on the other record.

Martha Tilton

The artist mentioned - in relatively small print - on the Christmas at Our House LP cover, Martha Tilton, was with Goodman's band in the 1930s, then had some hits as a recording artist for Capitol in the 1940s.

Although Martha is touted on the sleeve, she is heard only on two songs - but they are the high points of the LP. Like the Pied Pipers, she makes "Jingle Bells" fun again, even including the seldom-sung second verse. And she has a good time with "Rudolph" and his red nose as well. Tilton does not appear on the other album.

Marni Nixon

The singer with the most numbers on Our House LP is the well-regarded vocal double Marni Nixon, with three - "Silent Night," "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Away in a Manger." Her perfect technique is well in evidence throughout. She also does not show up on the other disc.

John Gustafson

Just as impressive is tenor John Gustafson, who was allotted two songs on Our House - "The First Noël" and "Deck the Hall." Gustafson recorded gospel music and was a choir director in the Los Angeles area. He too was not selected for the other album.

Thurl Ravenscroft

Thurl Ravenscroft's mighty bass was celebrated here recently, so it's good to hear him in holiday mode with "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," even though he is uncharacteristically subdued on that number. On the other disc - at least the stereo version - the label claims that he sings "Joy to the World," but the pleasant fellow who spreads holiday cheer is not Thurl, but a lighter-voiced singer who may be Bill Reeve, discussed below.

Thurl's version of "Joy to the World" actually does appear on the mono edition of Christmas at Our House, so I've added that track to the end of the transfer.

Doris Drew

Doris Drew had been a band singer, then recorded several singles followed by a well-regarded LP for the Mode label in 1957. She later became a voice artist. For these records she contributes charming versions of "White Christmas" and "The Christmas Song."

John Gabriel

Singer-actor John Gabriel, then in his 20s, was appearing as a guest star on television shows when he recorded "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" for these LPs. He later would have a long-running part on a TV soap opera, appear on Broadway in The Happy Time and become a producer.

Norma Zimmer

Norma Zimmer was a well-regarded studio singer when she recorded of "Joy to the World," "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" and "The First Noël" for Tops. She would later become famous as the "Champagne Lady" on Lawrence Welk's television show.

Bill Reeve is the most obscure member of this cast. His credits include a vocal in Disney's Westward Ho The Wagons! and the pre-recordings for the Ice Follies of 1953 - where he worked with Norma Zimmer. He sings on both LPs - "Silent Night," "O Come! All Ye Faithful" and (I think) the stereo "Joy to the World."

Tops kept the musical background simple for these records - just "George Mather at the console," presumably handling the both electronic organ and chimes. (The latter do tend to get in the way, if truth be told.) The recording is typical of early stereo - mostly the vocalist and the chimes on the left and George and his organ on the right. It is otherwise pleasing, although too much reverb was added to the stereo vocals. Sorry, I haven't been able to find any information about the organist.

The mono artwork

Tops named its stereo line "Mayfair" and at least in these early days pressed the discs on yellow vinyl. The stereo LPs also had different covers. For record nerds like me (and Ernie), the much different mono covers are shown above.

LINK to Christmas at Our House

LINK to The Pied Pipers Sing Christmas Carols

Songs from the 'Junior Miss' Soundtrack

Soon after re-posting the EP of songs from the 1957 TV musical Junior Miss, my friend George from New York sent me a note letting me know that the elusive bootleg I mentioned is available on Internet Archive.

I immediately downloaded the file and started to work on fixing up its sonic limitations, which were considerable but not insurmountable. This involved removing high frequency noise, a heavy low-frequency rumble, addressing the wandering pitch of the various songs, raising the level of the vocals, and so on. The result sounds reasonably good.

Before I go into detail on the songs, let me first mention that the Internet Archive post also has a link to the complete TV production from the DuPont Archives at the Hagley Museum of Wilmington, Delaware.

The titles reveal that the show was broadcast in color, but that is of course lost. At the time, the only way to archive such programs was to point a film camera at a monitor and record it that way, with the result being a "kinescope," which is all that is available nowadays. Video tape recording was yet to come.

Returning to the songs, let me first mention that the show included two numbers not found on the Columbia EP - "A Man Is an Animal" and "Have Feet, Will Dance." Here are all the numbers and the original cast performers.

• "A Man Is an Animal" - Carol Lynley (the title character) and her best friend, played by Suzanne Sidney

• "Have Feet, Will Dance" - the chorus led by Norman Luboff

• "Let's Make It Christmas All Year 'Round" - Lynley, her parents (Don Ameche and Joan Bennett) and her sister, Jill St. John

• "I'll Buy It" - Diana Lynn and David Wayne (Lynley's uncle)

• "Happy Heart" - the chorus

• "Junior Miss" - Ameche

Thanks again to George!

[Note: I've now done some more processing on the files to ameliorate the heavy tape hiss, remove stage noises, minimize tape burbles, etc.]

LINK to Junior Miss soundtrack v2

A Musical Version of 'Junior Miss'

Fellow blogger Ernie Haynes inspired me to bring back this post from 16 years ago with songs from a Christmas production that has been forgotten. What follows is an updated version of my commentary from back then with a link to a newly remastered version of the original four-song EP.

The musical programming that was presented on US commercial television in the late 1950s was remarkable. It  included an original Cole Porter musical, Aladdin, that was sponsored by DuPont, which only a few months earlier had mounted yet another original musical from a famous composer, Burton Lane, and lyricist, Dorothy Fields.

Unlike the score for Aladdin, which is still remembered today, Lane's music for Junior Miss is largely forgotten, as is the program that evoked it. Perhaps even more surprising, the Junior Miss stories themselves are no longer remembered.

Those once-popular Sally Benson stories, originally published in the New Yorker, were collected into book form in 1941, and then became a play, film and radio show - and finally this televised musical. Set at Christmas in New York, the superb 1945 film once made occasional appearances on television but hasn't been seen lately (at least by me). Its disappearance is very strange - the film is both delightful and touching, with wonderful performances by Peggy Ann Garner in the title role and Allyn Joslyn as her father.

Don Ameche and Joan Bennett

The TV musical featured 15-year-old Carol Lynley as Judy Graves (our protagonist), Don Ameche and Joan Bennett as her father and mother, and the 17-year-old Jill St. John as her sister. Also in the cast were Paul Ford, an unrecognizable (to me) Diana Lynn, and David Wayne. You can see the first part of the program via a kinescope on YouTube.

Carol Lynley and Suzanne Sydney

Unlike other more famous TV musicals, such as Aladdin and Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, there was no soundtrack recording to keep Junior Miss' memory alive - only this EP of performances by Columbia artists Vic Damone, Jo Stafford and Norman Luboff. I would have to assume this was issued in advance of the program, which aired on December 20, 1957. (This site says there is a poor quality bootleg of the performances by the TV cast, but I have never encountered it.)

The performances on the EP are as good as you would expect, and the recording as reverberant as you might expect if you are familiar with Columbia's 50s pop output. The songs themselves are quite enjoyable, even if the lyrics of "Junior Miss" are reminiscent of "Gigi" and if "I'll Buy It" brings to mind "I'll Buy That Dream." Also, "Let's Make It Christmas All Year 'Round" is not the most original concept.

It's fascinating to look through the listings for the DuPont Show of the Month in 1957-58. As I mentioned, Junior Miss came just two months before Aladdin. And two months after the latter show, DuPont and CBS mounted a version of The Red Mill with the following cast: Shirley Jones, Harpo Marx, Elaine May, Mike Nichols, Donald O'Connor, Elaine Stritch and Edward Andrews. It was a different time.

LINK to December 2025 remaster

Bach Chorale Preludes for Christmas

This fascinating record brings together the various chorale preludes written by Johann Sebastian Bach that are appropriate to the Christmas season.

These are excerpted from a set of the composer's organ works that Walter Kraft (1905-77) recorded for the Vox label from 1961-67. He selected North German organs that dated from Bach's time or soon thereafter, as described on the back cover of this LP. Kraft was the organist of the Marienkirche at Lübeck, in succession to the composer Dieterich Buxtehude among others.

Walter Kraft

Bach's chorale preludes were based on Lutheran hymns. It is thought that some were used to introduce the chorales themselves; others may have been free-standing, perhaps used to accompany Communion.

Bach wrote preludes appropriate to the Christmas season for 16 chorales, using some of the chorales repeatedly. Bach's Orgelbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach contains preludes for each of the chorales.

The titles of the chorales will give you some indication of why these are appropriate to the season. Here they are with translations and the source of the hymn:

• "Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland" ("Savior of the Nations, Come") [Martin Luther]

• "Gottes Sohn ist kommen" ("God's Son Has Come") [Johann Horn]

• "Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes-Sohn" ("Lord Christ, the Only Son of God') [Elisabeth Cruciger]

• "Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott" ("Praise Be to the Almighty God") [Gregorian hymn]

• "Puer natus in Bethlehem" ("A Child Is Born in Bethlehem") [medieval hymn]

• "Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ" ("Praise Be to You, Jesus Christ') [Martin Luther]

• "Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich" ("This Day, the One So Full of Joy") [15th century hymn]

• "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her" ("From Heaven Above to Earth I Come") [Martin Luther]

• "Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar" ("From Heaven Came the Angel Choir") [Martin Luther]

• "In dulci Jubilo" ("In Sweet Rejoicing") [medieval carol]

• "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich" ("Praise God, All Christians Equally") [Nikolaus Herman]

• "Jesu, meine Freude" ("Jesus, My Joy") [Johann Franck]

• "Christum, wir sollen loben schon" ("We Should Praise Christ Beautifully") [Martin Luther]

• "Wir Christenleut" ("We Christian People") [Kaspar Füger]

• "Helft mir Gottes Güte preisen" ("Help Me to Praise God's Goodness") [Paul Eber]

• "Das alte Jahr vergangen ist" ("The Old Year Now Hath Passed Away") [Johann Steuerlein]

As for the performances, Kraft was considered to be a workmanlike organist, but not inspired, although generally thought to be at his best in the chorale preludes. Clifford Gilmore wrote in High Fidelity: "Aided partly by the interesting and beautiful instruments and by less demanding technical challenges, Kraft does manage quite lovely readings of the chorale settings. For the most part, the various organs have been well recorded; the listener can almost imagine himself perched on the organ bench with all the exposed pipe work spread out before him."

To me, the recordings tended to be a bit too close; the worshiper does not normally "perch on the organ bench." I have tried to make the sound slightly more spacious.

LINK