Female Singers of the 1950s Largely Lost To Time

[JOv2]

So it all started back in the late '90s with the Stan Kenton - June Christy Duet album [1955]. Although It took 20 years (or more like 50) to appreciate, June’s vocal stylings eventually made an important musical impact. Fast forward to about 2019 and on a whim I decided to pick up Christy’s Something Cool, and from there, more Christy — which led to three other strong jazz-influenced singers: Helen Merrill, Anita O’Day, and Chris Connor. Then to 2021-23, when I started reviewing more obscure singers many of whom exhibit vocal chops more akin to pop than jazz — albeit with the "jazz stylings" of the day…

Here is my list to date of some of the more notable singers of the period, 1955-1960. All are recommended. (As predicted, most of the CDs came from Japanese issues. Hats off to the Japanese for continuously embracing and exhibiting far more more sincere appreciation for American 1950s/60s music than 99.9% of contemporary America.)

Lola Albright
Laura Allyn
Francis Bergen
Betty Blake

Janet Brace
Joy Bryan
Marlene Cord
Marge Dodson
Doris Drew

Ethyl Ennis
Jane Fielding
Donna Fuller
Pam Garner
Toni Harper

Pat Healy
Beverly Kenney
Linda Lawson
Ella Mae Morse
Anne Phillips

Lucy Ann Polk
Sue Raney
Carole Simpson
Jennie Smith

Dakota Staton
Diana Trask
Margaret Whiting

 

[Michael Hagerty]

You had me at Linda Lawson.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

And I'll toss in Roy Kral (Jackie & Roy)'s little sister Irene:

 

[JOv2]

You had me at Linda Lawson.

Apparently she was an actress. Lola Albright was, too. (Albright's 2nd and final LP ('59) was arranged by Mancini.)

 

[Rudy]

Lola Albright co-starred as Craig Stevens' girlfriend in the Peter Gunn TV series, so I can see the connection between her album and Mancini.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I

Apparently she was an actress.

Yeah, tons of TV in the late 50s/early 60s (married to a film producer), and working occasionally after that---the last credit, a 2005 episode of E.R.:

Linda Lawson | Actress, Soundtrack

Known for: Night Tide, Ben Casey, Alfred Hitchcock Presents

www.imdb.com

One of her daughters is the actress Amanda Foreman, who apparently is best known as a regular cast member in "Felicity". First credit in 1989, most recent in 1986.

Amanda Foreman | Actress, Additional Crew

Known for: Star Trek, Forever Young, Inland Empire

www.imdb.com

I remember her from Jennifer Garner's series "Alias"---and would never have guessed Linda Lawson was her mom.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

Better known for her Martin Denny album covers. I would have been interested in what she could have done with better jazz material and a producer other than Steve Allen:

 

[JOv2]

and a producer other than Steve Allen

I run mostly cold and cold with Steverino as a producer.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I run mostly cold and cold with Steverino as a producer.

I once explained Steve as a musician this way:

"He's written 8,500 songs. Two of which you may have heard."

The thing about Steve Allen is that he was very good at what he did---which was talking to people on talk shows that he hosted. Because it forced him to focus on the other person.

Even then, though, especially in formats that allowed him to do comedy like his early 70s syndicated show, he could be painfully self-indulgent.

Best line I ever heard, from that time, was Robert W. Morgan on KHJ in Los Angeles, doing a live commercial for Thrifty Drug and describing a product as "odorless, colorless and Steve Alle.....er...tasteless."

 

[Harry]

My favorite Steve Allen record:

 

[Moritat]

Great list by JOv2.... some great names there! To his list, I'll add.... Dori Howard, Carol Ventura, Pinky Winters, Claire Austin, Gloria Lynne, Lorez Alexandria, Kay Starr, Mavis Rivers, Lurlean Hunter, Teddi King, Ruth Price, Jeri Southern, Paula Castle, Jane Harvey and Lucy Reed. (I'd love to add Honi Gordon as well, but she came a few years later.)

 

[JOv2]

I once explained Steve as a musician this way:

"He's written 8,500 songs. Two of which you may have heard."

The thing about Steve Allen is that he was very good at what he did---which was talking to people on talk shows that he hosted. Because it forced him to focus on the other person.

Even then, though, especially in formats that allowed him to do comedy like his early 70s syndicated show, he could be painfully self-indulgent.

Best line I ever heard, from that time, was Robert W. Morgan on KHJ in Los Angeles, doing a live commercial for Thrifty Drug and describing a product as "odorless, colorless and Steve Alle.....er...tasteless."

Well, an order of self-indulgence is a necessary momentum the propels most entertainers...from Sammy Davis to Paul McCartney to Frank Zappa to Andy Williams. (I heard an interview with Jonathan Winters where -- I'm paraphrasing here -- he essentially said Bob Hope was a salesman who sold himself to the public...) I liked Allen as a kid; but as an adult, not so much. The fact that he easily has more than a dozen "Steve Allen Presents..." LPs during 1955-68 strongly suggests he was ardently into self-promotion (and padding his bank account as I'm sure all those LPs came with the same proviso: a minimum of 9 of the 12 selections had to come from Steverino's 8,500 songs)...

Then again, that is what people do who stand on stage holding a microphone for 90 minutes in front of 7,000 people...

I remember on that syndicated show in the early '70s (KTLA, I think) -- he had that bit where people would come on stage and hit various notes on the piano and he'd compose a song on-the-spot. (I quickly picked up on that bit...and still do it to this day...it's great at cocktail parties!)

I think he was a high-IQ guy who quickly assimilated and processed information and who chose the entertainment field to exhibit his abilities.

 

[bob knack]

My favorite Steve Allen record:

People might make the mistake that Steverino wrote the whole tune. Ray Brown wrote the melody which everyone remembers. Allen wrote the lyrics...

Pretty mamma's in the kitchen this glorious day
Smell the gravy simmerin' nearly half a mile away
Lady morning glory, I say good morning to you
Chirpy little chickadee told me that my baby was true
Well, she really ran to get her frying pan
When she saw me coming
Gonna get a taste before it goes to waste
This honeybee's humming
Mister Weeping Willow, I'm through with all of my faults
'Cause my baby's ready to do the ever new gravy waltz
Well, she really ran to get her frying pan
When she saw me coming
I'm gonna get a taste before it goes to waste
This honeybee's humming
Mister Weeping Willow, I'm through with all of my faults
'Cause my baby's ready to do the ever new gravy waltz
Mr Weeping Willow, I'm through with all of my faults
'Cause my baby is ready to do the ever new gravy waltz.

Not so memorable.

 

[Rudy]

"I'll take Songs with food in the titles for $600 Alex..."

 

[Michael Hagerty]

My favorite Steve Allen record:

Yeah, mine too.

People might make the mistake that Steverino wrote the whole tune. Ray Brown wrote the melody which everyone remembers. Allen wrote the lyrics...

Pretty mamma's in the kitchen this glorious day
Smell the gravy simmerin' nearly half a mile away
Lady morning glory, I say good morning to you
Chirpy little chickadee told me that my baby was true
Well, she really ran to get her frying pan
When she saw me coming
Gonna get a taste before it goes to waste
This honeybee's humming
Mister Weeping Willow, I'm through with all of my faults
'Cause my baby's ready to do the ever new gravy waltz
Well, she really ran to get her frying pan
When she saw me coming
I'm gonna get a taste before it goes to waste
This honeybee's humming
Mister Weeping Willow, I'm through with all of my faults
'Cause my baby's ready to do the ever new gravy waltz
Mr Weeping Willow, I'm through with all of my faults
'Cause my baby is ready to do the ever new gravy waltz.

Not so memorable.

Yeah.

This morning, I was looking up what Steve wrote and I saw a credit for the theme from the movie "Picnic". Great melody, I thought---and then I found he wrote the lyrics for that, too.

On a picnic morning without a warning
I looked at you and somehow I knew
On a day for singing,
My heart went winging
A picnic grove was our rendezvous
You and I in the sunshine
We strolled the fields amd farms
At the last light of evening,
I held you in my arms
So when days grow stormy
And lonely for me
I just recall picnic time and you.


I'm reminded of Martin Short's character, Irving Cohen, who "wrote more than two thousand songs" and could make up a lyric if you'd just give him "a C! a bouncy C!".


He'd then do a hopelessly lame rhyming stanza and a half and then peter out with "....and whatever the hell else you wanna put in there."

 

[Harry]

And just to bring this thread back to female singers of the 50s, I'll add the song "Picnic" by The McGuire Sisters, though they're not exactly lost to time.

 

[JOv2]

People might make the mistake that Steverino wrote the whole tune. Ray Brown wrote the melody which everyone remembers. Allen wrote the lyrics...

Pretty mamma's in the kitchen this glorious day
Smell the gravy simmerin' nearly half a mile away
Lady morning glory, I say good morning to you
Chirpy little chickadee told me that my baby was true
Well, she really ran to get her frying pan
When she saw me coming
Gonna get a taste before it goes to waste
This honeybee's humming
Mister Weeping Willow, I'm through with all of my faults
'Cause my baby's ready to do the ever new gravy waltz
Well, she really ran to get her frying pan
When she saw me coming
I'm gonna get a taste before it goes to waste
This honeybee's humming
Mister Weeping Willow, I'm through with all of my faults
'Cause my baby's ready to do the ever new gravy waltz
Mr Weeping Willow, I'm through with all of my faults
'Cause my baby is ready to do the ever new gravy waltz.

Not so memorable.

Did anyone ever actually release a vocal of that song? ...I suppose those lyrics are best described as "light hearted". Reminds me of the downright awful lyrics to Tijuana Taxi:

Music by Bud Coleman (c) 1965 Irving Music, Inc.
Lyrics by Johnny Flamingo (c) 1966 Irving Music, Inc.

Down in old Tijuana town
There's this happy honkin' sound.
Something you just can't put down --
It's the world renown Tijuana Taxicab.

So you're not impressed, you say
With a beat-up Chevrolet.
But that driver man, Jose`
Knows his way around Tijuana town.

Hey, ya wanna swing. (You just tell Jose`!)
Have yourself a fling. (What-cha wanna play?)
Meet some pretty thing? (Any time you say)
Livin' like a king! (Long as you can pay.)

Picture postcards 'n' hot tequila.
French perfume, man, from Venezuela.
When you're on a Tijuana Taxi ride.

Give those bulls a great, big hand.
Love that maricahi band.
But the best thing in the land
Is that hand-me-down Tijuana Taxi cab.

Hey, ya wanna swing...
...
When you're on a Tijuana Taxi ride.
So ya swing and go for broke.
Not a penny in your poke.
Got no cigarettes to smoke.
But ya had your fling.
The pretty thing
And ev'rything
Is ring-a-ding.

O le`!

 

[JOv2]

I'll add.... Dori Howard, Carol Ventura, Pinky Winters, Claire Austin, Gloria Lynne, Lorez Alexandria, Kay Starr, Mavis Rivers, Lurlean Hunter, Teddi King, Ruth Price, Jeri Southern, Paula Castle, Jane Harvey and Lucy Reed. (I'd love to add Honi Gordon as well, but she came a few years later.)

Excellent! More musicians to track down. Thank you. (If we put out a '60s list, Gordon will be on it. She's very good.)

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I'm reminded of Martin Short's character, Irving Cohen, who "wrote more than two thousand songs" and could make up a lyric if you'd just give him "a C! a bouncy C!".


He'd then do a hopelessly lame rhyming stanza and a half and then peter out with "....and whatever the hell else you wanna put in there."

And son of a gun, look what turns up: