Radio-TV mirror (July-Dec 1954)

STEVE ALLEN'S TURNTABLE Well, here I am again with another record column for you. And many thanks for all the kind letters about my first one. I'm enjoying my new job very much and I hope you'll all join up for our platter parade every month. It's the hot time of the year right now, but there's lots of "cool" music to be had, so let's go. Kitty Kallen's record of "Little Things Mean a Lot" sold just about a million records, and her latest might very well be just as big a hit. Kitty has chosen two old songs, "In the Chapel in the Moonlight" and "Take Everything But You," with accompaniment by Jack Pleis and his orchestra. She does them up nicely for Decca. One of the newer entries into the singing group sweepstakes are four lads who call themselves "The Crew Cuts." They started together in a church choir in Toronto, Canada, and made their first record, "Crazy 'Bout Ya, Baby," just a few months ago. Their second try looks like it will do it for the boys. It's the ballad, "I Spoke Too Soon," backed up by a rhythm ditty, "ShBoom," with David Carroll and his orchestra (Mercury). Lionel Hampton fans, and I'm one of them, will go for his instrumental "Gabby's Gabbin'," sparked of course by Hamp's great vibe work. The flip side, with a vocal by Sonnie Parker, is called "Jumpin' with G.H." "G.H." is Gladys Hampton— Mrs. Lionel — who wrote it (M-G-M). Columbia has three interesting offerings in their Dance Party series. First there's "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye," an album of Sammy's best dance stuff of the Steve congratulates songstress Ella Fitzgerald on her 19th year in show business. past. Then there's a set called "Harry James at the Hollywood Palladium," actually recorded at that famous spot. Included are such good old tunes as "Moanin' Low," "Sugar Foot Stomp," "Flash," "Moonlight Bay," "Bye, Bye, Blues" and "Ain't She Sweet," with a Buddy Rich vocal. The third album in this series is "Dick Jurgens at the Aragon Ballroom," and should certainly appeal to toe-tappers. The Jurgens band, ensemble and vocalists revive numbers they've been doing for years, like "Sweet Georgia Brown," "Tenderly," "Two Loves Have I," and "You're My Thrill." "Hernando's Hideaway" is a catchy tune, you'll admit, but wait till you hear it done by those likable comedy characters, Homer and Jethro. The boys do a hilarious parody on it, and on the reverse side they perform "Wanted," but not the way Perry Como sings it. This record could well be the comedy smash of the season (Victor). Besides being just about the most successful orchestra leader in the business, a champion speedboat driver and a happy restaurant owner, Guy Lombardo turned producer this summer and presented a musical production, "Arabian Nights," at Jones Beach, New York. He and the Royal Canadians also took time out to record the complete score on an album for Decca, all done in dance tempos. Brother Carmen, by the way, wrote some of the songs for the show. "The One Who Broke My Heart Is Back in Town" and "El Relicario" comprise Gisele MacKenzie's newest on Capitol, and she sings them. both excellently. The latter tune is an old Latin standard, but wrapped up in new lyrics. The choral and orchestra backing is handled by Nelson Riddle. Remember "Manhattan Tower," the wonderful musical narrative released a few years ago? Well, here's another one, done in the same vein, called "The Broadway Story." It's an album, and most listenable, with chorus and orchestra conducted by Bernie Wayne. The artists: Danny Scholl, Chipper Nathan, Jan Magnes, Jim Hawthorne, and Audrey Marsh (Coral). Those pretty misses from Ohio, the McGuire Sisters, have a nice platter in "Heavenly Feeling" and "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight," musically supported by Neal Hefti's orchestra. "Heavenly Feeling," incidentally, has a cute story behind it. Bernie Wayne adapted the melody from the "Chock Full o' Nuts" singing commercial, which plugs that "heavenly coffee." The lyrics were written by the popular New York disc jockey, Bill Silbert, who rides records over Station WMGM (Coral). If you're a Judy Garland fan, you'll want to hear her do two of the big Harold Arlen-Ira Gershwin songs from her forthcoming picture, "A Star Is Born" — "The Man That Got Away" and "Here's What I'm Here For." This is taken right from the original soundtrack, with Ray Heindorf and The Warner Brothers Studio Orchestra handling the music. Judy is set to do a complete album from the picture as soon as the last numbers are finished filming, and that will be released in a month or so (Columbia). Sorry to learn that Victor is not going to release "The Caine Mutiny" album after all. It is a great thing, but they ran into some sort of legal difficulty on the rights or something, so we're out of luck — at least for the time being. Mercury Records bought some of the old masters owned by the National Company, including some fine stuff by Billy Eckstine. The first one they're bringing out couples two great standards, Cole Porter's "In the Still of the Night," and the Duke Ellington oldie, "Sentimental Mood." Billy originally recorded both of these back in 1948, but they sound just fine. "Sophie Tucker Golden Jubilee Album" is a super-special release by Mercury, done on one long-playing record which runs for an hour. It's actually Sophie's whole career and lots of her life story done in music, story and pictures. Only 5000 of these were pressed because they are fifteen dollars apiece. Many of the top personalities in show business are heard on the record, each singing individual songs in tribute to Sophie — the tunes she made famous through the years. Patti Page, Georgia Gibbs, Eddie Cantor, Vic Damone, Georgie Jessel and Jack Benny are a few who "do their piece." Richard Hayman arranged, conducted and scored the whole proceedings. This is a most interesting record, and certainly should appeal to the many Sophie Tucker fans of long standing. Eartha Kitt steps forth with a cute ditty called "Mink Schmink," the kind of thing she does so well. On the reverse she does a sultry vocal on "Easy Does It." Both of these should get many spins on the jukeboxes (Victor). That big, rugged movie guy, Jeff Chandler, would appear to be on his way to becoming a big, singing record guy. He croons "That's All She's Waiting to Hear," and the old tune, "Lamplight," which Skinnay Ennis originally made popular with the late Hal Kemp's band. Jeff does all right in the vocal department, and no one will have to dub his voice in pictures, that's for sure. Well, that does it for now. I'll be seeing you next month — same page, same magazine, new stuff.