Discogs has one of the discs of this 3 record set: Charles Wolcott And His Orchestra - Make Mine Music / Blue Bayou With this text: There is a set of three promo discs — three 10-inch 78 rpm records — of songs from MAKE MINE MUSIC, distributed by Disney to radio stations in 1946 to promote the film. The six songs on the set are: “Without You” (Charles Wolcott and His Orchestra; Anita Boyer, vocal) “Two Silhouettes” (Charles Wolcott and His Orchestra; Peggy Lee, vocal) “Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet” (Charles Wolcott and His Orchestra; Peggy Lee, vocal) “All the Cats Join In” (Charles Wolcott and His Orchestra) “Blue Bayou” (Charles Wolcott and His Orchestra; Hal Derwin, vocal) “Make Mine Music” (Charles Wolcott and His Orchestra; Hal Derwin, vocal) Not released to the public, the records are quite rare. They are believed to have been recorded for Disney by Capitol Records in late 1945 and early 1946, and distributed in early 1946. The records are discussed in an article in the February 16, 1946 issue of “Billboard Magazine.” From Walt Disney's "Make Mine Music" The Billboard February 16, 1946 10 RADIO Disney Using Disk Jockey Route for New Pic Promotion HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 9.-Walt Disney will use radio promotion via the disk jockey to build b. -o. for his new pie,Make Mine Music. Idea is to send free of charge four sides of music used in film to platter -spinners thruout the country, hoping wax whirls will plug the film.Gimmick was masterminded by Don Otis, KMPC disk jockey, who believes his co-workers will give records plenty of plays and therefore pic will get plenty of plugs. Reason is that disks were not taken off film sound track as is the usual procedure, but were cut anew with different instrumental group and vocalists than those used in the pic. This is the first time gimmick has been tried. There are no spoken plugs for the film in the platter, but Disney banks on getting plenty of free exploitation out of it just the same. Because platter boys always welcome something to talk about, Disney feels certain novelty of the disks would fit the bill. Platters were pressed especially for disk jockeys and will not be available commercially. They are being sent out to top spinners thruout United States with explanatory material so that jockeys will have info on pic just in case they feel like talking. To make It easier on the spinners, platters are pressed on vynilite. Peggy Lee, Anita Boyer and a specially selected 11 -man orch fronted by Charles Woolcott do the disks. Tunes include Two Silhouettes, Without You, All the Cats Join In. Love that Billboard write-up!
"Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet" is on this Canadian compilation: Various - Hold On To Your Hat!
When you discover that you have a rare release, there is a great feeling. But, as often seems to be the case, that can be quickly followed by that classic feeling of anxiety...that you are missing something else. In this case, I am missing the companion record that features Peggy singing "Two Silhouettes" Is there another source for this one? Wow. $131 plus tax for just one of the three records, and that is a less desired one, as there is no legend of music performing, like Peggy.
That CD also appears to be a non-commercial release. CBC Radio (Canada) circulated non-commercial discs, in both the LP era and CD era, to various radio stations including USA radio stations (mostly university and public radio) as part of a funded effort to promote all things Canadian. Copies are scarce in the marketplace of most of these discs, but they did send them out all over the place. In this case, the source music may not have been Canadian, but it was a Canadian radio hosts selection.
"Two Silhouettes" seems to be on this compilation: Peggy Lee, Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, Dave Barbour's Orchestra, Charles Wolcott's Orchestra, Benny Goodman & His Sextet - It's Lovin' Time And of course, the Peggy Lee Discography has all the background information: Peggy Lee - Speculation About The Disney Session
That is very detailed, thanks. I do not remember where I got this. It may have been given to me by a friend years ago before his passing. My copy is a vinyl 78. As the disc was intended to create a buzz for the movie, it was likely circulated to radio in January or February 1946, before the film release.
My guess is that the high price of the record reflects the collector's market demand for Disney-related items. I suppose the relatively few copies of Peggy's two records reside mostly in Disney collections and not in Peggy Lee collections.
Yeah, It’s Lovin’ Time was the first CD to include Peggy’s vocal. It can also be found in the Naxos CD pictured above, among several others. All of them Public Domain: there has never been an official release on CD or LP, or digitally. Only CD to ever include it, so far! ... These promotional Walt Disney discs were definitely played over the Canadian radio airwaves back in the day. CBC, which released this CD, appears to have transferred the Peggy vocal from their own library’s old disc. That 3rd disc on Discogs is definitely part of the whole promotional movie/radio campaign, but differs a little from the other two. It seems that the other two went out to stations at a must earlier date, and together, as a duo. (Notice that only the first two discs are mentioned in the Billboard write-up, which I too love.) This 3rd item showed up later, by itself. Among the several ways it differs from the other two: same artist on both sides (vocalist Hal Derwin). Neither of the Peggy vocals is on YouTube ... For Capitol, she also separately recorded the last above-shown tune, “All the Cats Join In.” That version is on YouTube, in a clip that happens to use visuals from another great Disney film:
Are those photos from the Peggy discography website? If they are not there, it would be nice if you could ask them to add them. Thanks for the info. Where is your info on the third record being later from? Publicity is often done in several stages, so that would not be unusual.
For anyone in LA, the GRAMMY Museum is having an event with Holly Foster Wells on May 3rd, alongside an opportunity to go on a guided tour of their 100 Years of Peggy Lee exhibit led by its Chief and Associate Curators. Tickets are available now (possibly only for AMEX-holders right now, with the general on-sale starting Saturday). Celebrating 100 Years of Peggy Lee In conjunction with the GRAMMY Museum’s new exhibit, 100 Years of Peggy Lee, the Museum is thrilled to welcome Peggy’s granddaughter, Holly Foster Wells, for an intimate discussion about Peggy’s remarkable life and career, the new exhibit, and the release of Miss Peggy Lee: An Autobiography. The conversation will be moderated by Chief Curator & VP of Curatorial Affairs, Jasen Emmons. After the program, attendees will have an opportunity to purchase a copy of the new book and have it signed by Holly. Attendees can also purchase tickets to join the curator-led guided tour of the new exhibit, 100 Years of Peggy Lee, which will take place before the program begins. More details below. One of the most important musical influences of the 20th century, Peggy Lee wrote over 270 songs, recorded over 1,100 masters, and had over 100 chart hits throughout her seven-decade career. As one of the world’s first female contemporary singer-songwriters, she co-wrote and sang many of her own hits, most notably “He’s A Tramp” for Disney’s Lady and the Tramp as well as “It’s A Good Day” and “Mañana.” She’s best known for hits “Why Don’t You Do Right?” “Fever,” “I’m A Woman,” and “Is That All There Is?,” for which she won the GRAMMY for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance. A 13-time GRAMMY nominee, she received Lifetime Achievement awards from NARAS, ASCAP, and The Society of Singers, was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Pete Kelly’s Blues. Want more Peggy Lee? Join our Chief Curator, Jasen Emmons, and Associate Curator, Kelsey Goelz, for a talk in our Peggy Lee exhibit prior to the Public Program. Hear about the artifacts and stories behind them! Add-on the Peggy Lee Curator Talk with your program ticket for $15 Non-member or $10 Member. Check-in for the Curator Talk is 5:30pm.
Making its YouTube debut this week, here is the 1960 performance that first made “Fly Me to the Moon” popular. The song had been recorded a fair number of times during the previous six years, but none of those fine earlier versions had fully lifted it from obscurity. It was only after watching this clip on TV that viewers started to clamor for the tune, eliciting more than twice as many recordings in the next three years as in the previous six. Those included the earliest nationwide hit version of the song, a bossa nova instrumental recorded by the man who had been recently serving as Peggy’s pianist, Joe Harnell. Count Basie, one of Peggy’s chief musical influences, also recorded it around this time, first on his own (1963), and then with Sinatra (1964), the latter as a swinger that today is perhaps the best remembered of all versions. Peggy’s contributions to popularizing the song included not only this romantic televised performance but also her suggestion to the composer, Bart Howard, to change the tune’s title from what he had originally and officially called it (“In Other Words”) to the far more memorable and evocative “Fly Me to the Moon.” Thanks to both of those contributions, the poetic number finally took off on its road to lasting popular and critical success.
The latest Peggy Lee video release in the ongoing Ed Sullivan Show series is a very rare performance of her upbeat top 30 hit “Show Me the Way Out of this World.” This has not shown up anywhere since its original airing in 1950. The lyric is a tongue-in-cheek reaction to the lingo that had become quite popular at the time -- specifically, the expressions “I’m gone, man, I’m gone” and “out of this world, man, out of this world.” The song’s composer was singing pianist Matt Dennis, whom Peggy would have as a guest on her radio show two years later. He’s best known for such bona fide standards as “Angel Eyes,” “Everything Happens to Me,” and “Violets for your Furs."
Agreed, but it's her facial expressions and smile that really get me! Is it just me or does Ed throw off her timing a little at the start when he seems to stop her moving forwards as they shake hands? She doesn't seem quite "in the pocket".
Oh yeah definitely love her facial expressions, that goes without saying that side ways look she does. She sings/swings with her whole body
Newly posted to YouTube, here is one of my favorite Peggy Lee performances. 1965. (There is another, older copy of this clip in YouTube, but that clip suffers from middling quality, both visually and aurally.)
OMG that was intense. The close camera had the hairs on my arms standing on end. Really great performance.
Peggy Lee’s guest TV performances would typically include one ballad and one uptempo. For her only 1965 appearance on Ed Sullivan’s variety show, she offered a romantic reading of “How Long Has This Been Going On” (posted in my previous message) and this uptempo interpretation of “Come Back to Me.” While the ballad was a long-established standard, dating back to the 1920s, this uptempo was totally fresh. “Come Back to Me” is a song from the 1965 Broadway show On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (later made into the film of the same title). The Broadway premiere happened on October 7; Peggy's performance aired on November 7. Hers might have thus been the earliest public outing of the song outside of its show. She also chose the song as the opener of the first of her 1966 albums. Totally agree. She turned this Gershwin classic into a sophisticated portrait of sensuality. As with several other TV performances of hers, I am left wishing that she had made a studio recording of this one. (There is one Peggy Lee recording of “How Long Has This Been Going On” but we might as well think of it as an entirely different number. That’s because it is an early 1940s recording from her young canary years with Benny Goodman, when her vocal delivery had to adjust itself to the expectations of her big boss and their big band audience.)
it’s a good example of how she really was in my mind the female equivalent of Sinatra with what she could do with a song and with her seemingly effortless vocal delivery and phrasing. Completely holding a room….and us years later.
it would seem it was intended to go on the Peggy Lee Sings the Blues 1988 album. Wonder why it never surfaced? Mind you I think a studio recording in the 60’s would have been best
While it is true that Peggy’s guest TV performances typically consist of one ballad and one uptempo, there are a fair number of guest performances for which she sang more than two numbers. This 1965 appearance on Sullivan’s show is a good example: she sang a total of four numbers. The clip right above contains the third of them. It is a version of the standard “Yes Indeed,” interpreted as a duet with the episode’s other main guest act, The Righteous Brothers. (As for the remaining number, it is not yet available on YouTube, alas.) Just wanted to correct a typo of mine: the Broadway musical premiere on October 17 -- not October 7. You are of course right, Paul: a new version of "How Long Has This Been Going On” was taped during her Sings the Blues sessions. Here is the reason why the song did not make on the album: it was essentially a request. She sang it only because someone at the date (the session’s producer, I believe) asked her to. Peggy complied, but not before stating in very clear terms that by no means was the number to be made part of the album’s track listing. Her point was that she wanted to include only blues and blues-oriented numbers in the prospective Peggy Sings the Blues. (While the song "How Long Has This Been Going On” was most certainly to her liking, Peggy considered it primarily a Classic American Songbook standard, as opposed to a bona fide blues.)
that makes a lot of sense. I was going to say that it surprised me that it was during those sessions given it not being a blues number. Thanks for background info. I really should read a book on Peggy’s life/career. Any suggestions on what book I should read first?
