Fred and Ginger (and Harriet) Follow the Fleet

Here is one more in the series devoted to the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, with the commercial recordings of both artists. Today's subject is Follow the Fleet, a 1936 vessel for their singing and dancing talents. The film also introduced vocalist Harriet Hilliard, who recorded the two Irving Berlin numbers she sang in the film - and which are added to today's playlist.

Astaire and Rogers both recorded two of the score's best and most famous numbers - "Let Yourself Go" and "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket" - Fred for Brunswick and Ginger for English Decca (even though her songs were backed by the American bandleader Jimmy Dorsey).

Astaire had the film's best number - "Let's Face the Music and Dance" - to himself, also the lesser "I'm Building Up to an Awful Let-Down," "We Saw the Sea" and "I'd Rather Lead the Band." Fred is accompanied by Johnny Green and orchestra, who are perfect for the assignment.

Astaire's singing is, as always, wonderful, and three of the songs were hits. Rogers is in better form here than in some of her other outings in this series, aided by the excellent Dorsey band. She's far from a good singer, but it's wonderful to have these souvenirs.

It's also nice to have the Harriet Hillard recordings, made for Brunswick with her bandleader husband, Ozzie Nelson. This was years before Ozzie, Harriet and sons became popular on radio and then television. (That's Harriet in the corner of the poster above, looking innocent with co-star Randolph Scott.)

On these records, Ozzie manages to feature himself over Harriet, confining her to the "vocal chorus by" duties, well after the extended band intros. Hilliard was a better singer than Rogers, certainly, but she had a thin voice and could be inexpressive. She was in tune, though. Nelson's band was typical of the time, proficient but stylistically behind the times, sounding stodgy next to Jimmy Dorsey's troupe and unsophisticated compared to Johnny Green's.

Hilliard's songs are both good Berlin efforts. "But Where Are You?" is a simple tune and it needs more than the On. The. Beat. treatment that the Nelsons provide. Harriet is much better in "Get Thee Behind Me, Satan."

The download, as usual, includes a large number of restored posters, lobby cards and stills. The transfers are cleaned up from raw materials found on Internet Archive.

Fred and Ginger's Commercial Recordings for 'Top Hat'

I thought I might follow up my recent post of the Carefree commercial recordings with the singles from Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' most famous film, 1935's Top Hat. 

As with Carefree, Fred and Ginger's records were done for two different companies, Brunswick (Fred) and Decca (Ginger). And as before, Astaire recorded more songs than Rogers - five to four.

Fred was, of course, a far more accomplished singer than Ginger, who could barely carry a tune. I will say that she seems more at ease here than she did three years later, at the Carefree sessions. Even so, her discs can be considered more souvenirs than masterworks of recording.

But who wouldn't want to have a chance to sing these glorious Irving Berlin tunes, written for the film. Both Astaire and Rogers have a go at the famous "Cheek to Cheek" and "The Piccolino," a novelty number that despite being set in Italy has a Latin beat. Ginger liberally rewrites the melodic line of "Cheek to Cheek."

There also are separate recordings of "No Strings," which in the film marks the nadir of the two's relationship. Both also do "Isn't This a Lovely Day," which accompanies their reconciliation. It's one of Berlin's best songs and Astaire's best vocals - also a good effort by Rogers.

The only song recorded by Fred but not by Ginger was, logically, "Top Hat," another iconic Astaire number. Both this number and "No Strings" include the sound of his remarkably rhythmic dancing.

For "Isn't This a Lovely Day" and "Top Hat" Fred is accompanied by Johnny Green, who in his mid-20s was already a well-known songwriter and a popular bandleader who backed Astaire both on records and the radio.

"Isn't This a Lovely Day?"

Astaire's other songs were conducted by Leo Reisman, who made a great many records in the 1920s and 30s. (FYI - the flip side of Astaire's "The Piccolino" is a Reisman instrumental, not from the film and not included here.)

Rogers' backings were by Decca bandleader Victor Young, who would soon relocate to Hollywood and find greater fame in the movies.

According to the Discography of American Historical Recordings, the Rogers 78s were issued only in England. I had to work from lossy originals for her recordings of "Isn't This a Lovely Day" and "No Strings." All other items were cleaned up from lossless originals found on Internet Archive. The sound is in general quite good.

The download includes many posters, lobby cards and stills from the film. 

The great Top Hat ensemble - Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore, Ginger and Fred, Erik Rhodes

Astaire and Rogers in Songs from 'Carefree'

This post is a companion to a Fred Astaire extravaganza I've posted on my main blog, involving the three Chrysler Corporation LPs issued to promote Astaire's 1959-61 television specials sponsored by Chrysler.

For this piece, we will step back 20 years to the heyday of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and one of the terrific musicals they made together. Carefree, from 1938, was graced by the songs of Irving Berlin, and while it's not his best score, it does introduce one of the finest melodies ever written for Astaire - "Change Partners."

Fred's commercial recordings are well known to those with an interest in his career. Today's post gives me the opportunity to collect the four sides he made for Brunswick, adding a single that Ginger did for Victor. It also allows me to feature a picture label with Fred's smiling face floating just to the left of the spindle hole.

Astaire was a wonderful singer, and "Change Partners" is one of the best things he ever did. Rogers was not such a wonderful vocalist, and her versions of "I Used to Be Color Blind" and "The Yam" are strained. They are, of course, worth hearing, not least because of the very 30s arrangements played by Hal Borne's band. Ginger adopts a husky tone reminiscent of Libby Holman, yet with a touch of Mildred Bailey's phrasing.

Ray Noble

Astaire also does "Color Blind" and "The Yam," far more convincingly, and includes the verse to the first item. His accompanist is the distinguished English bandleader Ray Noble, whose troupe is, as always, immaculate. Noble was an actor as well - appearing with Astaire and Rogers in 1937's A Damsel in Distress. That film was based on a story by P. G. Wodehouse, and Noble made his screen persona here and elsewhere into a Bertie Wooster-type character. He was good at it, too, as you will hear in "The Yam Explained," where Fred attempts to give Ray a dancing lesson. Noble also was a songwriter, with credits for "Love Is the Sweetest Thing," "Goodnight, Sweetheart" and "The Very Thought of You," his signature song.

The download includes many lobby cards and stills from the film. The 78s were cleaned up from versions found on Internet Archive. The sound is excellent.

The Barkleys of Broadway

Soundtrack recordings from The Barkleys of Broadway are not unusual, but I thought you might be interested in seeing how the relatively new M-G-M record company issued the music from its storied productions way back when.

Barkleys was a spring 1949 release (as was I, come to think of it), and at that time the 78 was still the dominant format. M-G-M took four songs from the score and issued them in a gatefold package for this release, with a colorful cover and the interior devoted to a spectacular Fred-and-Ginger montage (see below). As always, restored high-res scans are in the download.

The plug song from this production was the (to me) almost unlistenable "My One and Only Highland Fling," with the performers adopting broader accents than would be heard in your local high school's presentation of Brigadoon, and the added detraction of Rogers' wavering intonation. But things improve thereafter, and Astaire is terrific in the other numbers - although "Shoes with Wings On" isn't much of a song.

To me, one of the great pleasures of this package is the work of Conrad Salinger (and perhaps other studio hands) on the arrangements, which are simply glorious, and extremely well played by the orchestra led by Lennie Hayton. The sound on these original 78s is very vivid.

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