The Unsinkable Mary Frances

Artist: Debbie Reynolds

Song: I Can't Love You Anymore (a-side) (b-side is Love Is A Simple Thing)

Label: Dot 45-15937

Number: MW-12224

Songwriter: Allie Wrubel - Herbert Magidson

Time: 2:14

Released: 1960

Everyone knows Debbie Reynolds from such movies as Singin' In The Rain, Tammy And The Bachelor, Bundle Of Joy, The Singing Nun and The Mating Game, among some of her most popular roles. But Debbie, who was born Mary Frances Reynolds, enjoyed a sporadic recording career which saw her achieving some lofty chart positions through the years. Her first hit record was Aba Daba Honeymoon, top 3 in 1951. Her smash recording of the theme song Tammy went straight to the top of the charts and held the number one position for a total of five weeks. Other hits for her were A Very Special Love and Am I That Easy To Forget, from 1958 and 1960 respectively.

Today's song is one that was released in 1960 on the album Am I That Easy To Forget. I Can't Love You Anymore, with the subtitle of (Any More Than I Do), features an arrangement by Jerry Fielding, who also conducts the orchestra. The flipside was released the previous year on the album entitled simply Debbie. She was still riding the crest of popularity from her hit Tammy, so her recordings of both these songs are from that same period of time. What a great voice she had and still haves! She still performs regularly to packed houses and keeps making appearances on the big and little screens - she is one of America's treasures. Just ask any fan of hers. If you haven't heard her singing lately, be sure to get Debbie Reynolds performing I Can't Love You Anymore (Any More Than I Do) and reintroduce yourself to a voice that is oh so enchanting! You'll be glad you did.

The Opposite Sex

Artist: Julie London
Song: Now, Baby Now (a-side) (b-side is Tall Boy)
Label: Liberty F55032

Number: 45-FB-2087 (45-LB-630)
Songwriter: Sammy Cahn - Nicholas Brodsky
Time: 2:05
Released: 1956

As promised, here is another great song from Julie London, one of the all-time great female singers. You know how I adore her and that voice of hers! This particular track is from a 1956 motion picture that was a musical remake of The Women, entitled The Opposite Sex. The movie starred another past featured vocalist here on Music For Every Mood, Dolores Gray. Julie had quite a career up on the silver screen, but was not part of the cast of this movie.

Something I do remember her being in, because I watched it on television every week, was Emergency! I'm going to have to break down and get some of those season sets of that show, just so I can see her again. The group backing her up on this recording is Pete King and his Orchestra. Don't hesitate, you have to have this track of Julie London singing Now, Baby Now! Go get it - now, baby now!

The Art Of Record Labels

In this short post, I just want to speak about something that comes as an added benefit from going through all my old records. And that is the records themselves - or at least the artwork of the label designs. They come in all manners of beauty. Some subdued, some extravagant, some plain or some overtly fancy. And in each and every one of them, I find something to marvel at. But I just have to say that my two favorite labels are the Sun Records label from the 1950's and the Beatles Apple label, starting in 1968. You can take one look at either of them and you know immediately what you're getting. With the Sun label, it seems to say "there's a bright, new day dawning and it's going to be filled with Rock and Roll!" The Beatles' Apple label just seems so stately and dignified, you know it's going to be classy if it's on Apple. (With only a few exceptions, everything was important on the Apple label. Despite such meanderings as pictured below.)

Since this blog feeds off comments from my readers, I welcome anyone to tell me their favorite record labels, and why. I have pictured two of my prized possessions of vinyl above and below for example. The only reason I used an album label for Apple was because it shows much more of the Apple itself. Due to the theme of this blog, however, I probably won't be posting anything from either label, I just wanted to show them to illustrate my point. But, please don't hesitate to tell me about your favorite label. Or even if you have something to say about one of the artists I've posted or to request something. I welcome any and all comments. You know you're just dying to say something about your favorites!

The World's Oldest Virgin

Artist: Doris Day

Song: Meditation (b-side) (a-side is How Insensitive)

Label: Columbia 4-43278 (White Label Not For Sale - Radio Station Copy)

Number: JRZSP 72152

Songwriter: N. Gimble - N. Mendonca - A. C. Jobim

Time: 2:55

Released: 1965

Doris Day is the consummate star. She had a really great voice and was a highly underrated actress. Pillow Talk, from 1959, is one of my most favorite movies she made and I seem to watch it at least once a year. As the 1960's unfolded, however, her popularity on the silver screen started to wane. Mainly because of the roles she was given, she became somewhat typecast playing characters that were naive and of purest virtue. This led to her getting the tag of "the world's oldest virgin."

Which brings us to today's post. The single featuring the song Meditation was from an album released in 1965 called Latin For Lovers, and was recorded on November 2nd, 1964, in a period of declining popularity. Not that her voice had lost any of it's abilities, far from it. If anything, with maturity, her singing was the best it had ever been. Her recording career was concluded by 1967 and the world lost another great voice. But, here you can hear her at a point before she had decided to stop making records. Download Meditation, by Doris Day, and see for yourself what a great talent she was to all her adoring fans.

Coming Attractions For 2008

I'm only getting started here at Music For Every Mood. If you like what I've posted so far, just wait! I have plenty more good stuff to work my way through. Just to mention a few of the artists I will be spotlighting in 2008 are Doris Day, The Four Lads, Billy Ward And His Dominoes, Patti Page, Debbie Reynolds, Kitty La Nier, Billy Eckstine, Johnny Mathis, Kitty Kallen, Dolores Gray, The Paulette Sisters, Betty Johnson, Connie Francis, Dodie Stevens, Ella Mae Morse, Ruth Brown, Jill Corey, Mamie Van Doren, (who, by the way, is still hotter than ever!), Chico Holiday and many more!

And, as always, if you have any requests, please just let me know. I might have the artist you're looking for and will try to post them specially for their fans. Or if you would just like to hear more of an artist I've already covered, be sure to ask for that, too. As a devoted fan myself of Julie London, I will be posting more from her soon, so have no worries on that account!

The Hyperpolyglot Girl

Artist: Caterina Valente

Song: Secret Love (b-side) (a-side is Oho-Aha)
Label: Decca 9-30778 (Pink Label Sample Copy - Not For Sale)
Number: DU-1579
Songwriter: Sammy Fain - Paul Francis Webster
Time: 2:23
Released: 1959

Caterina Valente was born in Paris, France on January 14th, 1931, into an Italian circus family. Being as her parents were both talented, this is probably why she inherited so much musical ability. Not only can she sing and play the guitar fluently, she can speak and sing in twelve different languages, too. The term for this is where the title of the blog comes from. Caterina is considered a true world citizen and a hyperpolyglot. She became an internationally known vocalist in 1953 when she joined Kurt Edelhagen's orchestra in Germany. She soon signed to Polydor and made her recording debut the same year. Her first big hit was Malaguena, followed by Analucia.

In 1959, she switched to Decca Records and that was when today's track was recorded. Secret Love had been a hit for Doris Day, but when Caterina Valente did it, it seemed like a whole new song - vibrant and alive. The arrangement, with backing provided by Kurt Edelhagen's band, has her talking to herself, urging her on with the song. Beginning with the cryptic "5 seconds from Wolf," she bursts into the song with her voice doubled, echoing some major passages at the beginning. It is a joyous proclamation to the world that her secret love will remain a secret no longer.

I fell in love with her voice from the moment I first heard this track. I'm sure you will, too, so be certain not to miss the original single version of Secret Love by Caterina Valente. It will have your fingers snapping and your toes tapping, I guarantee.

They Call Me MISS Toni Fisher

Artist: Miss Toni Fisher

Song: The Red Sea Of Mars (b-side) (a-side is Everlasting Love)

Label: Signet 3-279 (White/Red Label)

Number: E-5878

Songwriter: Wayne Shanklin

Time: 2:58

Released: 1960

She was always known as "Miss Toni Fisher" and her big hit was The Big Hurt, in 1959. What was most noteworthy about this first hit of hers was that it was the first record ever released which used a phasing effect. It was written by her husband, Wayne Shanklin, as was this record The Red Sea Of Mars. She had one other Top 40 hit in 1962, entitled West Of The Wall, about lovers caught on either side of the newly-erected Berlin Wall. But, today's post was released in between these two records, 1960, and was not a hit.

She was born in Los Angeles, California in 1931, and died of a heart attack on February 12th, 1999 in Hyrum, Utah. At the age of 18, she played a small, uncredited part in the musical Make Believe Ballroom, in 1949. In 1959, she signed a recording contract with a small independent company called Signet Records, located in Hollywood. On November 16th, her first record debuted on the charts entitled The Big Hurt. Because it went up to #3 on the pop charts, she had the opportunity to appear on the shows of Dick Clark and Ed Sullivan. In 1960, her second record How Deep Is The Ocean peaked at #93. Later that year, Signet released the single Everlasting Love b/w The Red Sea Of Mars, although it failed to chart. They also gathered her recordings together and released an album named after her big hit The Big Hurt. This, too failed to chart and she was dropped from her contract with Signet. Her one record deal with Columbia Records featuring If I Loved You b/w Love Bug also failed to chart and then she moved to Big Top Records in 1962. Her final hit, West Of The Wall, for that label, came on May 26th, 1962. She had several other singles released on the Smash label and then a short return to her original label, Signet, but had no further chart action.
This is a shame, really, as she had such a nice, strong voice and delivered her performances in a confident matter. Now, people always try to analyze why things happen, so permit me to do the same here. I think perhaps the reason she didn't have a bigger chart presence than she did was due to two primary factors. One, it seems like her husband wrote all of her material. Usually artists like her are given songs to choose from written by a wide variety of songwriters. The most strongest tracks are chosen to record and this may have been a factor in her case. However good of a songwriter her husband Wayne was, he was no Lerner and Lowe. The Red Sea Of Mars is a good song, but perhaps there could have been better ones found for her to record. Even though this track has grown on me, that's just my opinion. The second factor I find that may have inhibited her career is the fact that of the two pictures I could locate of her on the internet, one being below, Miss Fisher didn't come across as a particulary stunning-looking woman. In the music business, looks can sometimes make or break an artist.

But don't let any of that deter you from hearing her voice. It is quite pleasant to listen to. Here is Miss Toni Fisher singing The Red Sea Of Mars. Enjoy!

One other small item of interest. I find many times that the length of the song as reported on the record label does not match up with it's actual length when played. This record was a case in point. Listed at two seconds under 3 minutes long on the label, it actually only lasts for 2:44. And it's not because my turntable has a speed problem, either. I suppose sometimes that the music business is not a very precise science.