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The mid-1930s found Bing ,with Jimmy Dorsey perhaps in a parody of the old nursery rhyme 'THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.The fine piece of mid-tempo jazz ,also found Bing interested.A fab vocal!Was he refering to his mentor Jack Kapp?Speculation has it's limits? I ran across an old book by hollywood stuntman,Buster Wiles "My Days With Errol Flynn".While his only reference to Bing was his friendship with Wilma Wyatt (before) she was Dixie Lee,there is also a reference to a PLACE called THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT..He does NOT name Bing nor give a year, but this bar, near the Santa Anita Racetrack,did exist in the 1930s-1940s.Considering Bing's interests in racetracks, & in a bar 'watering-holes near them,it's good speculation that Bing could have paid a visit?Or a reason to record this song title ?
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The song "The House Jack Built for Jill" was written to be used in the Crosby film "Rhythm on the Range" but was deleted from the final version.
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Was this was due to running time constraints or other considerations?
Last edited by Ian Kerstein (13/6/2022 9:48 pm)
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Don't know why it was dropped. A recording of it with Frances Farmer exists and you can hear it on YouTube.
The House Jack Built for Jill - YouTube
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Thanks for posting that, Malcolm. The 'Going Hollywood' series of CDs are a great resource. Given the very twee nature of the scene and the slightly strained rhymes such as 'Grand food/canned food', it's maybe not surprising the number was cut! Bing sounds slightly uneasy in the upper reaches of the melody, and indeed the commercial recording with the Jimmy Dorsey band is in a lower key.
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Here is the Decca version of the song that Bing recorded on July 17, 1936...
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Lobosco wrote:
Here is the Decca version of the song that Bing recorded on July 17, 1936...
Thanks David. (I wouldn't have the first clue how to make a song appear on CFW..!)
Last edited by jeremyrose (15/6/2022 7:44 am)
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Hi Jeremy, I'll show you sometime!
Also, on that recording there was a nice Jimmy Dorsey backing that people forget about!