"The Best Sound in Town"

Paramount's "The Cocoanuts" was selected as the grand re-opening feature for the Metropolitan Theater in Circleville, Ohio --- a theater which clearly had some issues with disc based sound reproduction systems, as revealed in the delightful ad to the left. Although Irving Berlin's "When My Dreams Come True" was to emerge as the hit from the filmed version of the 1926 stage musical, it's ultimately dreary when compared to "The Monkey Doodle-Doo," which --- oddly, wasn't widely recorded at all.

A lush version of "When My Dreams Come True" that hails from Australia, featuring a female vocalist who does as well or better than Mary Eaton.

"When My Dreams Come True" (1929) - Australia

As hot a tune as Paul Whiteman's band ever approached, "The Monkey Doodle-Doo" was recorded under the house-band alias "Busse's Buzzards" for Columbia in the last days of 1925. To quote the movie ad, "to miss it is a regret."

"The Monkey Doodle Doo" (1925)


Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer spared no expense advertising and promoting "The Broadway Melody," a landmark film which well deserved whatever boasting rights the studio could muster up. Theaters that booked the film had access to a wide array of ad copy, including one clever bit of advertising showmanship in the form of what looked to be an honest to goodness Western Union telegram from MGM to the theater owner, granting them --- above all other theaters in the area --- the right to show the film based upon their individual sterling qualities as presenters of fine motion pictures. Although this gimmick probably fooled as many newspaper readers as it was supposed to, audiences would arrive in droves with or without it.

It's interesting to note in the ad at left that even the smallest of local theaters presented the film with a specially recorded Overture (by New York's Capitol Theater Orchestra), discs of which seem to have fallen by the wayside.

Commercial recordings of the film's tunes are as many and varied as they are familiar, so here's two lesser known renditions of the title tune.

The first, by incredibly prolific songster Irving Kaufman (was there a record label he didn't record for?) is surprisingly restrained for a vocalist with a voice that could rival a klaxon and burst from the grooves of even the cheapest of dime-store discs.

"The Broadway Melody" (1929)

Odd though the combination is, Hawaiian guitars don't seem especially out of place in the second version, by a group calling themselves "The Four Aces," on the bargain Velvet-Tone label.

"The Broadway Melody" (1929) - The Four Aces

Little more than a scant minute or so in length, a fragment of recently discovered Technicolor footage will eventually allow us a glimpse --- for the first time in over seventy-five years --- of what so captivated audiences and critics alike when the Warner Bros. all-Technicolor production "On With the Show!" first premiered.

The prognosis is somewhat more optimistic for Warners' other smash-hit all-Technicolor release of 1929, "The Gold Diggers of Broadway," a film that seems intent upon slowly putting itself back together after decades of assisted exile from the world of the living.

British dance orchestras seem to have had a remarkable knack for producing the best 78rpm medleys from early musicals, and what follows are three of the best.

The first is a selection of tunes from "On With the Show" recorded by the Broadcast Dance Orchestra in late 1929. Included: "Welcome Home," "Am I Blue?," "Birmingham Bertha," "Let Me Have My Dreams," and the unfortunate "Lift A Julep To Your Two Lips.

Selections from "On With the Show" (1929)

From "Gold Diggers of Broadway," a two-sided medley (joined into one file here) quite unique in that it covers just about every tune performed in the film (aside from incidental scoring), three of which were never commercially recorded in the United States to my knowledge. Although the sonic quality is a bit thin, it's a remarkable compilation of diverse melody and rhythm. Included is: "In a Kitchenette," "What Will I Do Without You?," "The Gold Digger's Song," "Tip Toe thru the Tulips," "Go To Bed," "Keeping the Wolf from the Door," "Painting the Clouds With Sunshine," and "Mechanical Man."

Medley - "The Gold Diggers of Broadway" (1929)

From Al Jolson's 1930 part-Technicolor film "Mammy," which has made a few furtive appearances on screens following its recent restoration before retiring to points unknown, our last British dance band medley --- this time featuring tunes by Irving Berlin.

Selections from the Talkie Success "Mammy" (1930)

To give fair due to elaborate recorded medleys from early musicals that were produced on these shores --- and there weren't that many --- a fine one by Ben Selvin and His Orchestra paying homage to Metro's "Hollywood Revue" recorded for Columbia in late August of 1929.

Included: "Your Mother and Mine," "Orange Blossom Time," "Nobody But You," "Singin' in the Rain," and "Low Down Rhythm."

Medley - "The Hollywood Revue" (1929)

Lastly, in response to a reader's request regarding the previous post (Melody Native), although Ramon Novarro did not record a commercial version of "The Pagan Love Song" at the time the film was in release, he did include it in a medley of tunes recorded in Great Britain in 1936. Despite the fact that Novarro's accent seems to have thickened considerably since 1929, whether in actuality or not, it's a lovely recording --- although there's an underlying strain of sadness that's as touching as it is difficult to quite define.

Medley - Ramon Novarro (UK-1936)

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Happy Go Lucky Days

I can't say I'm entirely surprised that the earlier Duncan Sisters post ("The Curse of the Mean Cicero Blues") proved so popular, as the team is so entirely unique a joint personality and yet so little appears to have been written of them from a modern standpoint, aside from a beautifully detailed exploration of their "Topsy and Eva" characters developed for a stage production of "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

Despite their tangled, somewhat shadowy personal lives and involvements, The Duncan Sisters are all about music --- then as now. Extraordinarily prolific in the recording field, we're lucky enough to have a wide cross-section of extant material that stretches from the early acoustic 78rpm period to modern day 45rpm and LP recordings, although it's best to focus on output from their prime period of the 1920's and early 1930's.

From their 1926 musical stage production, "Topsy & Eva," here's one of the featured songs, "Happy Go Lucky Days," with the Duncans in character, an electrical recording from February of that year.

"Happy Go Lucky Days" (1926)

Moving ahead to September of 1927, comes the tune "Black and Blue Blues," and one that might raise more than a few eyebrows or furrow them today --- but it's all innocent fun when listened to in the context of it's day of origin. The Duncans are in character here too, but they'd often revert to their Topsy and Eva persona's long, long after the production ceased to be either topical or even remembered, for that matter.

"Black and Blue Blues" (1927)

Recorded during a successful tour of the United Kingdom in late 1928 and early 1929, the following two sentimental melodies are unusual for the Duncans in that they're performed absolutely straight and and have a sound unique among their recordings provided by a piano and Hawaiian guitar. Given the January 1st recording date for both, it's assumed their New Year's Eve festivities were minimal at best!

"Hula Hula Lullabye" (1929)

"Just Give the South Land To Me" (1929)

Lastly, two melodies that were featured in their 1929 starring vehicle, "It's A Great Life" (MGM) which were recorded in early January of 1930. The first, "It Must Be an Old Spanish Custom" is pure comic vaudeville --- and one of the brightest spots in the film, where it was performed almost identically to the version heard here --- although the comedic visuals (and Rosetta's wild mugging) are lacking of course, somewhat lessening the effect here.

"It Must Be an Old Spanish Custom" (1930)

The second tune, "I'm Following You," has long outlived both the Duncans and the film itself, to the point where a version was recorded in Germany in the late 1950's as a pseudo pop tune! The Duncans version however, is a timeless melodic ethereal beauty that transcends time and musical fashion.

"I'm Following You" (1930)

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A Woman Undisputed

At this late date, at least for me, one of the most memorable elements of director Cecil B. DeMille's first two talkies, "Dynamite" (1929) and "Madam Satan" (1930), is one that typically passes with scant mention --- that of the presence and memorable contribution of actress Kay Johnson (1904-1975.)

Placid, studied, intelligent, sensitive, delicate --- and so much at odds with the bizarre raucous world and those who populated it that were created within these two films, Johnson somehow managed to survive both epics critically unscathed and then simply moved on to smaller roles --- almost cameos in some cases, seemingly hand picked in others (the 1934 "Of Human Bondage," especially) that became fewer and fewer apart throughout the 1930's until she eventually retired from the screen in the mid 40's.

Johnson surely had one of the loveliest speaking voices to be heard on the early talking screen --- the type that when, once heard, is instantly identifiable thereafter. Depending upon how you look at it, it's either fortunate (or not) that Johnson's vocal abilities weren't called upon to warble either of the theme songs from her two DeMille films.

The first, "How Am I To Know?" from DYNAMITE (1929), managed to become a pop standard and ultimately freed itself entirely from it's film roots to the point where it could be heard, somewhat disconcertingly, in television banking commercials.

The second, "Live and Love Today" from MADAM SATAN (1930) was seemingly forgotten by the time the film's run ended, a fact helped along by the fact that it wasn't widely recorded --- and, while pleasant, painless and immediately familiar to anyone who's seen the film, the tune's pedigree is clearly second rate.

But, just to illustrate a point of just how awful an early talkie era theme song could be, and perhaps to elevate "Live and Love Today" a few pegs --- here's an excerpt from the theme song of the 1928 synchronized Norma Talmadge film, THE WOMAN DISPUTED that defies description.

Audio Addendum:

"How Am I To Know? from DYNAMITE (1929)

Vocal (Gene Austin) with Orchestra

Recorded on September 19th of 1929

"How Am I To Know?" (1929)
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"Live and Love Today" from MADAM SATAN (1930)

Sam Lanin & His Orchestra, Vocal by Irving Kaufman & Male Trio

"Live and Love Today" (1930)
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"Woman Disputed (I Love You)" from THE WOMAN DISPUTED (1928)

The Gennett Concert Orchestra, with Male Vocal

(Excerpt Only - Damaged Disc)

"Woman Disputed" (1928)

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