Archiefit wrote:

Hello Victor.   I forgot to check back here with you.   Just wanted to know if you were able to hear Episode 18 of my podcast where I played "You're Dangerous".   I purposely didn't talk over the song in case you wanted to record it.  It was the version heard on Jonzo 29 as you wanted.   It's on Episode 18.  Since then I've posted many other good shows too, to hear go to:
https://soundslikeradio.podomatic.com/
 

Dear Archiefit,  Thank you very much for your message,  I played the Episode 18 and was rewarded by the violins and Bing singing "You're Dangerous" that you kindly included for me at the end of your programme. Best wishes and thanks again, Good Health, Victor.  London 17 June 2020.

Dorothy Lamour sings "Moonlight Becomes You", "Paradise", "You'll Never Know", "Perfidia" & other songs (several live) 

“MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU” (1949 - singing live)
https://youtu.be/y7WJyXJc1y0

“PARADISE” (1939)
https://youtu.be/iJEDTpb0Lco

“YOU’LL NEVER KNOW” (singing live)
https://youtu.be/hF66TYlLVIk

“PERFIDIA” (1945)
https://youtu.be/9q3KXAh4ihg

“I’LL REMEMBER” (singing live - 1939)
https://youtu.be/KnDvTbtKvpI

“I’M IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE” (1943 - singing live)
https://youtu.be/pYLv4nD2WZM

“IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU” (1944 movie song)
https://youtu.be/S4vhXwQXrtk

“P.S. I LOVE YOU” (1948 - singing live)
https://youtu.be/S4vhXwQXrtk

“PANAMANIA” (1937)
https://youtu.be/5Jm2ZWShMqQ

“LOVELIGHT IN THE STARLIGHT” (1938)
https://youtu.be/hD51LjIqGnU

“I WISH I DIDN’T LOVE YOU SO” (1947 - singing live)
https://youtu.be/EsYzgjrkw7A

and below a photo tribute to lovely Dorothy Lamour:
https://youtu.be/hXc2w-7X4qs
 

STARDUST

In this section of Bing's Forum, David has explored dozens of cover versions of some of Bing's songs principally associated with him including early '30s gems such as "I'm Thru With Love", "Please", "Temptation" "Dinah", "Where The Blue of The Night", "A Ghost of a Chance", "I Surrender Dear" etc.

However one of Bing's famous 1931 recordings was where he was not the first artist to introduce or record the music, is "Stardust" composed in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Mitchell Parish only added two years later in 1929. The song's original title was "Star Dust" i.e. two words. The original sheet music was published under the title "Star Dust" by Mills Music with a copyright date of 1929.

Bing Crosby made the definitive recording on 19th August 1931 with the Victor Young Orchestra.

Here it is (note that the title is written as STAR DUST on the Brunswick record label:



This is the powerful voice (complete with a short whistle at the end) that the future young Frank Sinatra had to try to follow at the start of his career.

This song does not seem to have been recorded in any of Bing's films but there was a film made with the song and music used. This film was in 1940 starring the young and very attractive Linda Darnell (who that same year also appeared in "Chad Hanna" with Henry Fonda and Dorothy Lamour) with co-star John Payne.

In the film, Linda in her role as a very young aspiring actress (which she herself was!) refers to a sarong style cape she is wearing as being like the one Dorothy Lamour wore in "Pagan Love" and she also walks around outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre and notices the footprints of "Tyrone Power" in the pavement tribute paving slabs (of course Linda co-starred with Tyrone Power the year before in "Day-Time Wife" when she was only 16 years of age and also was with him in the exciting "Mark of Zorro" in 1940 recently colourised by 20th Century Fox). After her eventual succe

Dear Graham,

If you listen to Ruth Etting singing Bing's great hit "Out of Nowhere", at about 1min - 56secs suddenly the song gets livelier and faster!

On the Web, it mentions that Ruth Etting was known for this:

"While she enjoyed singing at school and in church, Etting never took voice lessons. She said that she had patterned her song styling after Marion Harris, but created her own unique style by alternating tempos and by varying some notes and phrases."

I believe that one of Ruth Etting's most famous songs was "Ten Cents a Dance" (1930).  Ruth does the same thing with the tempo change at about 1min - 38secs as you can hear from the song below:




The recording seems very clear and free from crackle, etc.

Doris Day gave a very good performance portraying Ruth Etting's tough life in the film "Love Me or Leave Me" co-starring James Cagney released in 1955.

On the Web, it says that James Cagney had suggested to producer Joe Pasternak that Doris Day be cast in the Etting role. The role had been sought by Ava Gardner and Jane Russell, but Cagney persuaded MGM to cast Doris Day, who was excited to play opposite Cagney.   If course, Doris Day would have had her splendid singing voice advantage over Ava and Jane.

 

 

Another good performance by Dixie Lee "Until The Real Thing Comes Along". Thank you David - well found!

I see that this song was later recorded by many well-known singers over the years including The Ink Spots, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Frankie Laine & Buck Clayton, Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra.

Thank you very much to Ron, Tom, John for joining in.  Actually, I knew next to nothing about Dixie Lee until I joined your Forum and started reading up on the subject.   

On the Web there is more information re. the song's composers at: https://secondhandsongs.com/work/10909

Perhaps Dixie Lee liked Ruth Etting's style - she was the original "Torch Singer" and recorded "Out of Nowhere" on Columbia Records in 1931. The fine song was composed by Johnny Green & Edward Hayman.






In 1931, "Out of Nowhere" was the first recording under Bing Crosby's record contract with Brunswick. Bing recorded the song on 30th March 1931. It was his first No.1 hit record as a solo artist. Bing also sang it in his film "Confessions of a Co-Ed" (1931) and in the short film "I Surrender Dear" (1931).

Bing's magnificent recording can be heard at the following link. What a voice!

A tribute to lovely Dixie Lee, Actress & Singer, who was born Wilma Winifred Wyatt in Harriman, Tennessee on 4th November 1909 to Evan Wyatt and the former Nora Scarboroughmet. Dixie met Bing Crosby at the age of 20 and married him on 29th September 1930 and she was the mother of his four sons [Gary Crosby born in 1933, twins Phillip & Dennis Crosby in 1934 and Lindsay Crosby in 1938]. 
 
         (with Gary in 1933)

Dixie Lee had won a singing contest in Chicago under the name Dixie Carroll which included a part in a Broadway play and she was soon on her way to Hollywood and at the age of eighteen, she was signed to a contract with Fox Film. In 1930, Dixie Lee was better known than Bing Crosby - as demonstrated by the incorrect press release published by the Associated Press that reported that Dixie Lee had married "Murray Crosey"!

The last two songs commercially recorded by Dixie Lee and Bing Crosby with the Victor Young Orchestra in August 1936 on Decca/Brunswick were from the the movie "Swing Time" (1936) amusingly performed by the stars of the movie Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers. These songs "The Way You Look Tonight" and "A Fine Romance" were both composed by Jerome Kern & Dorothy Fields.   The former song winning an Academy Award for the "Best Original Song" and it became Fred Astaire's most successful hit record, topping the U.S. charts in 1936. Below are Bing and Dixie Lee singing together - showcasing Dixie Lee's cha

Dear Ron,

NOW YOU HAS JAZZ etc

Thank you very much for the corrected title for the last film song link.  After 50 hours selecting and checking all the film clips for my last three main postings, I was a little tired at 5am and got the wrong title from what is written on the actual picture file of the working link.  I previously spent 20 hours on Dorothy Lamour's topic in "Others of Note" - https://crosbyfanworld.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=1604. 

I have now corrected the song title. Thanks Tom and David for joining in the topic.

There is some interesting background information on Cole Porter and "Now You Has Jazz" at the following link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_You_Has_Jazz

Given over 37,000 deaths of mainly elderly persons with underlying health issues (like myself) in the UK, and until very recently almost 900 people dying every day, I thought I'd better get my postings submitted whilst I'm still alive!

NB. When I read up about Dorothy Lamour, someone had written when she died as her being "long forgotten". I am pleased to find that this is not so on your Website. I ordered her autobiography "Dorothy Lamour - My Side of the Road" published in 1980 and also a rare CD collection from the USA.
 

Bing Crosby sings on film in the '30s

A selection of film clips of the younger Bing Crosby - the "crooner of the century". As Bing sang in "Takes Two to Make a Bargain": "I would like a junior, I'd bring him up to be a croon(y)er".

The film clips are from various shorts and movies dated between 1930 - 1938 with the fine voice evident that the young Frank Sinatra later had to try to follow though not quite so strong in 1938.

Bing indicated in a British TV programme many years ago after a film clip was played back to him (to much applause from the studio audience) that his voice in "Down by the River" (from "Mississippi" 1935) was one that he was pleased with. A couple of years earlier, Bing's voice was even more powerful i.e. singing Ray Noble's "Goodnight Sweetheart" in 1931 - although, as has been noted by TV SciFi fans, a famous award-winning episode of "Star Trek" with a young Joan Collins and William Shatner (as Captain Kirk) time-shifted it back by one year to 1930!  Note Marion Davies (who is said to have been Orson Welles's real "Rosebud" for "Citizen Kane"!) in the eleventh film clip.

“So The Bluebirds and The Blackbirds Got Together” (King of Jazz - 1930)



“Just One More Chance” (short: One More Chance - 1931)



“Out of Nowhere” (Confessions of a Coed - 1931)



“For You” (Billboard Girl - 1932)



“Here Lies Love” (The Big Broadcast - 1932)



“Dinah” and “Please” (The Big Broadcast - 1932)



"Please" (short: Please - 1933)



“You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me” (short: Please - 1933)



“Snuggled on your Shoulder” (short: Sing Bing Sing - 1933)



“[

A selection of Bing Crosby film clips singing and dancing with Bob Hope, Fred Astaire, The Andrews Sisters, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin during 1939 - 1964.  I could not locate the actual film scene on the Web for "Put It There Pal" from the "Road To Utopia" (filmed in 1943/44 but only released in 1946) but instead there is a compilation of extracts from various Bing films to the words of the record version of the song.  "Holiday Inn" (1942) has since been officially colourised in 2010 and sold in the EU by Universal Pictures (UK) Limited. The last link is for the earliest film recording of "Captain Custard" from the "Road To Singapore" (1939) - but the sound is over loud and sharp, please note). 

“The Waiter  and The Porter and The Upstairs Maid” (Birth of the Blues - 1941)



“I’ll Capture Your Heart” (Holiday Inn - 1942)



“Put It There Pal” (Road To Utopia - 1943/44 released 1946)



“A Couple of Song and Dance Men” (Blue Skies - 1946)



"Apalachicola F-L-A" (Road To Rio - 1947)



"You Don't Have To Know The Language" (Road To Rio - 1947)



"Zing a Little Zong" (Just for You - 1952)



“I’ll Si-Si Ya in Bahia” (Just for You - 1952)



"Chicago Style" (Road To Bali - 1952)



“Hoot Mon!” (Road To Bali - 1952)



"Gee I Wish I Was Back In The Army" (White Christmas - 1954)



 
“Well, Did You Evah?” (High Society - 1956)
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQoszMqQ7mw&list=RDKQoszMqQ7mw&start_radio=1][youtube]KQo

Bing Crosby said, inter alia, to his biographer Pete Martin in 1957 when asked about Elvis Presley: “….He's gonna be a very big star, I mean, in a lot of fields ... he sings in tune, and he's got good rhythm, he just hasn't developed enough voice just yet to handle the ballads but that'll come…”

14 years later, on 28th August 1971, Elvis received the "Bing Crosby Award" from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).  Previous winners include: Bing Crosby (for whom it was later renamed), Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and composer Irving Berlin. The photo below, NARAS representatives and Bing's nephew, Chris with Elvis Presley (in glasses!).



Elvis did sing ballads very well and in fact quite early on in his recording career plus in personal appearances on USA TV during 1956 - 1958.  I am thinking of ballads such as “Love Me Tender”, “Is It So Strange”, “Don’t”, “Loving You”, “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” , “Love Me”, “As Long As I Have You” (the closing song to “King Creole”). After his return from the US Army (1958 - 1960), Elvis sang “Blue Hawaii” in his 1961 film of the same name, which was originally Bing Crosby’s song from “Waikiki Wedding” (1937) as performed by Bing via the link below:




Here is Elvis's ballad singing which opened the film of the same name "Blue Hawaii" (1961). Hopefully, Bing approved.



 

Thank you very much Archiefit.  I see that you live in America.  My grandmother was born in Memphis, Tennessee (but I didn't know her).  A cousin (who I once met in London about 40 years ago when my mother was alive) was a District Attorney in California and his father (my uncle) who moved to California when he was quite young was the editor of a newspaper (San Fernando?).

I currently have a Sony DVD Player that accepts NTSC discs and I think a video box that converts NTSC tapes to PAL somewhere stored away, but I've forgotten how that works!

Maybe one day, we will have an official DVD release as with Bing Crosby & Fred Astaire's "Holiday Inn". As I recall, "Blue Skies" was made in colour.

Even if someone clever colourised just the songs from Bing, Bob & Dorothy's "Road" films prior to "Road To Bali" (1952), this would be nice.  Bing's scene in "Road To Morocco" (1942) singing "Moonlight Becomes You" to Dorothy also the opening song.  Of course, I'd love to see Dorothy Lamour singing "Constantly", "You're Dangerous", "The Moon and the Willow", "Personality" and so on in colour.  See how nice "Moonflowers" is which was filmed in colour with all the colourful costumes and background.  It's also a shame that Peggy Lee (as good as she is) was apparently used in some commercial recordings replacing Dorothy Lamour, in my opinion rather spoiling the artistic integrity of the originally assembled filmstars.  As Ron noted in an earlier posting, perhaps Dorothy was not always treated quite as well as she deserved for commercial reasons.

Dear Archiefit,

Thank you very much for your detailed reply and information.

When I got Elvis's "Jailhouse Rock" colourised version of the 1957 film on VHS and by MGM/UA Home Video - that was 28 years ago in 1992, but I have never seen a Dvd colourised version of the film.  The film I really would love to see of Elvis's in colour is "King Creole" (1958).  Elvis's second film "Loving You" (1957) was in glorious colour as originally released.

I am going to check again what Dvd versions of "Casablanca" in colour are available to purchase and read again what people have said in their reviews though sometimes the reviews get bundled together for different versions! 

Your videotape version has a lovely cover. I presume that it is in PAL (not NTSC).

Thanks again.