Please Don't Laugh

 

 

 

Carrie Smith & The Midnight Ramblers
Please Don't Laugh

 Here is a nice unlisted bopper from Texas on the Jamaka label. 

Not listed in discogs  (36 singles and one LP listed on Jamaka)
Not listed in 45cat (19 singles on Jamaka)

The number of good records that remain to be discovered, especially from the Lone Star State, is astonishing, 

The Jamaka songs were usually published by Cherie Music, but curiously enough not that one  : Sturdevantunes is a publisher unfrequently seen (Sturbevantunes on the label is certainly a typo, composers are Carrie L. Smith and Jo Cyrer.

Carrie Smith composed at least two songs, but they were probably some more : 
one was recorded by Orville Couch some 10 years before this one : Five Cent Candy (on Starday) 
and the other by Johnny Dollar which remained unissued : Car Coat Baby.

 

Miriam (and Clu Gulager incidentally)

 

Miriam

Catwalk

"In 1967"

Both wr. (created by) Clu Gulager, Excalibur Music, BMI
Prod. by B. Williams, R. Woods

    Tanqueray 20101
9808 Wilshire blvd. , Beverly Hills

1966

 

Cash Box, review, November 19, 1966

Miriam [Gulager]  also recorded previously with her husband Clu Gulager on DeVille Records in 1964, she can be (furtively) heard on one side only "Tennessee Waltz" (DeVille 116).

In 1971, there was "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh" with the Benny Carter's Orchestra recorded for Decca which was featured on the  "Red Sky At Morning" soundtrack (Decca DL7-9180). And that was the end of her recording career. 

She copyrighted several songs in 1972 : Child  Of  My  Own;, Don't  Know  Where  I  Am  Anymore ; Goin'  Home; and Windin'  Me  Down, all published by Denim Music, a publisher just as obscure as Excalibur Music, the publisher of the Tanqueray 45.

Clu, Miriam and son John (1962)

From Office Naps (article no longer available) :

“Catwalk” is the handiwork of the Hollywood actress Miriam Byrd-Nethery and her husband Clu Gulager, an actor, too, and later an aspiring filmmaker.

Miriam Byrd-Nethery (born 1929 in Arkansas) and Clu Gulager (born a year earlier in Oklahoma) met in the theater department at Baylor University, married and found their first professional theater and television work in New York City. Relocating to Hollywood in the late ‘50s, Gulager would go on to distinguish himself as a prolific genre actor in both movies and television, including deputy sheriff Emmett Ryker in TV’s The Virginian, rig-hand-and-ladies-man Abilene in The Last Picture Show and contract killer Lee in The Killers. Starting with 1985’s Return of the Living Dead, Gulager’s work as horror movie stock character revived an acting career that continues today, albeit at a subdued pace.

Miriam, too, managed her own small-time acting career in Hollywood, but if it was Gulager who enjoyed the spotlight, theirs would first be a marriage, then family, energized above all by a spirit of collaboration and the noblest of artistic endeavors: filmmaking. Their obsession with producing films - including the family’s eight years in Tulsa trying unsuccessfully to realize their grisly serial killer horror noir Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (its saga detailed in an engrossing 1997 LA Weekly article) - put them on the brink of starvation.

None of this does anything but increase the charm of this maverick and quintessentially American couple, whose lust for creative, budget-minded expression reached early fruition on “Catwalk,” a slice of pure Sunset Strip eccentricity from 1967 [1966 actually]. Ever wonder what really goes inside the actors studio? This is it.

Miriam Byrd-Nethery passed away in 2003. 

 

Miriam (directed by her husband in his unfinished masterpiece)

Regarding the movie Clu Gullager tried to realize [I quote from Beautiful Dreamers, the LA Weekly article linked above  :

At its end, a young serial killer named Jake, played by Tom Gulager, enters an old lady's home at night. He falls asleep watching TV while she slumbers in her room. When she awakens the next morning, a now naked Jake orders her to strip and shoots her in the stomach, then in the face. As she lies on the floor gurgling blood, the killer urinates along her nude body and into her mouth.

and 

Addressing complaints about the scene in which Tom urinates on Miriam, Clu says, "To be perfectly candid, I think penises are pretty good to put on film. An artist's compulsion is [what's] really pornographic - not the penis pissing on the old lady, or forcing the child into sexual abuse. What's pornographic is the artist's nature to gamble everything - everything - to destroy everything to get the art. The work is the important thing."

That's it. I think it's enough to give you a good idea of the Clu Gulager's artistry. If not, you can also watch this interview which includes "new found footage".  A legend, they say.

Further reading :

Into The Night With Clu Gulager

From Shakespeare to Shoot-em-Ups: The Remarkable 70-Year Career of Clu Gulager

Miriam Byrd-Nethery: Meet Clu Gulager’s Wife And Kids 

 

The Swamp Women

Colonel Jubilation B. Johnston and his Mystic Knights Band
and Street Singers Attack The Hits
Columbia, 1966

"enigmatic" credits from the back cover

Nashville, 1966.  After so many recording sessions for the Bob Dylan’s album "Blonde On Blonde » Bob Johnston, the producer and the musicians led by Charlie McCoy needed some relaxation, and also perhaps some kind of revenge.  That’s understantable. That’s why they recorded in the process Moldy Goodies as by Colonel Jubilation B. Johnston and his Mystic Knights Band and Street Singers Attack The Hits. 

It’s not easy to know exactly who's playing and singing what on the record, there is no detailed credits for each songs.

 

 I've selected from that album three tracks sung by The Swamp Women, Norma Jean Owen's Bang Bang &  How Does That Grab You, Darlin'  and  Arlene Harden (as The Incomparable R. Lean) (Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35)

Ava "Arlene" Harden (born March 1, 1945) is a country music singer. Between 1966 and 1968, she was one-third of The Harden Trio, which comprised her brother, Bobby and sister, Robbie. Arlene recorded for Columbia Records as a solo artist between 1967 and 1973, charting fifteen times on the Hot Country Songs charts. Her most successful release was a cover of Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman", titled "Lovin' Man (Oh Pretty Woman)". She later recorded for Capitol and Elektra as Arleen Harden. [Wikipedia] 

 

Norma Jean Owen (Luscious Norma Jean Owen) was receptionist at the Columbia Records Studios in Nashville. That was the first job right after her graduation in 1965. Later promoted director of A&R Administration at Capitol Records, Nashville, she didn't record anything else (I think)

 

I Like It Like That

 

For a good overview of Dora Hall musical career, see The World's Worst Records.  Not all her records are bad, as Darryl Bullock readily admits : 

The difference between Dora and other similar artists is that Dora could actually sing. When she sings kid-friendly songs such as Tony the Pony she’s actually quite charming. Her failings, if you will, become most apparent when she tries to sing pop songs; her vaudeville-trained voice just isn’t right for contemporary music and it’s here she starts to sound ridiculous.

For a Dora Hall enthusiast's point of view, it is better to go to hallofdora blogspot :

Dora created a body of work that is diverse, entertaining, and sometimes questionable [...] The work of Dora Hall is flawed, but it's very entertaining.  The fact that she was shooting to become a pop star when she was well past the average age for such pursuits is questionable, but it's made all the more fascinating because her husband (the founder of the Solo Cup company) freely gave her the financial backing to make her dreams come true.  Her singing abilities have been widely criticized and dismissed, and yet she's often backed by amazing session musicians.  For many people, the draw of Dora Hall is that her song choices and abilities are often just plain bad.  If they can get beyond that, however, they'll find a body of work that is charming, enthusiastic, and entertaining in ways that they might never have expected.

Another opinion is expressed by the Left and to the back blog :

There appear to be two popular views on Hall's output. The first is that the woman was dire, couldn't sing or perform very well, and wasted her life pursuing a ridiculous fantasy. The second is that actually some of her output is pretty good with superb production values and some of the best session musicians available (The Wrecking Crew were known to be involved with some Dora Hall sessions). 

In this 1966 cover of  "I Like It Like That" (Chris Kenner, 1961) Dora Hall, in my opinion, sounds good and absolutely charming.

 download link

 

 

No Particular Place To Go

 

Carrol Bateman & The Untouchables
(Carrol on labels, Carroll on cover)

No Particular Place To Go

From the album "Songs from Last Night"

Smigar Records, 1966

Carroll Bateman, lead singer & guitarist and The Untouchables (Ted LeMire, sax, Tom Vanyo, bass & singer, Richie Pommer, drums).

Carroll Bateman recorded previously (in 1964) as Evans Carroll And The Tempos ("The  Monster", Bangar Records) and, with The Untouchables, had a single on Twin Town (1967)

David Carroll, nee Carroll Bernard Bateman, was born in East Grand Forks, Minnesota in 1938.  Bateman saw Elvis’s 1956 show, and started playing rock ‘n’ roll in 1962 with local bands such as the Wanderers and the Untouchables.  He developed his Elvis Presley stage act in 1970 and had maintained the same band since 1971.  

Elvis Presley stage act filmed in Las Vegas 

 

Hanky Panky

 

The Walflower Complextion (on cover)
The Wall Flower Complexion (on labels)

Hanky Panky 

From their first album (of two) on Daro International issued in late 1966.

The members of The Walflower Complextion were American teenagers, children of US Government staff, attending high school in Bogotá, Colombia. The record was distributed in Columbia only, though there were rumors that the album was seen in Panamanian record stores.

Their two albums are re-issued on CD by Shadoks Music. Boooklet with photos and detailed info available at Discogs

 

The Conner Family

 

The Conner Family : the four brothers and a sister recorded their first single in 1963. They were at that time : Jimmy 20, Otis Jr. 16, Larry 14 , Alan 9, and  Becky 15.

It was a cold September day in 1960 in Houston, Texas when Otis L. Conner, Sr. walked through the front door of the Conner home carrying an arm full of packages. His four sons, Jimmy, Otis Jr., Larry, Alan and his only daughter Becky came scrambling into the living room at his call. One by one the packages were opened. The first held an electric guitar, the second : an electric bass guitar, the third revealed a mandolin, the fourth: a snare drum and sticks, and the fifth : a tambourine, microphone and amplifier.

Within two weeks the Conner children had learned their first song - a rendition of "Milk Cow blues". Within a year the family had put together 30 minutes of material and the Conner Family hit the road. . .

the singles (all issued in Oklahoma)

1963 - The Swingin’ Conners (Boyd 122)
    Walkin' The Chalk / Milk Cow Blues

1966 - The Conner Family (Conner 001)
    Little Johnny Rhythm / A Lesson In Love

196? - The Conner Family (Captain 1005/1006)
    Talkin’ About You / The Pickup (both wr. Conway Twitty)

Note : missing from this compilation is "The Pickup"

Beti Webb

Beti Webb in 1955

Beti Webb (born in 1935) was a graduate of the University of Kentucky with a B.A. in english and drama with an emphasis on media production, advertising , marketing and journalism. She has acted in or directed over 180 plays. In 1959, she was the featured vocalist with Warren Covington and the Tommy Dorsey orchestra. Her first record, produced by Stan Kesler, was on the XL label out of Memphis and was also issued nationally by MGM with a different flipside.

Beti Webb discohraphy

A: My Marine
B: I Know (You Can Be Happy)
    XL 359    1966

A: I Have, I Have
B: I Know (You Could Be Happy)
    MGM K 13715    Apr 1967

A: Tic Toc
B: It's Not Me
    MGM K 13847    Nov 1967

Stranded

 

Jo Ellen

Stranded
wr. Pete Skelton

PJ Records
1966

Out of Macon, Georgia. This is possibly Jo Ellen Skelton, 13-y old, daughter of Pete Skelton, owner of the label ?

Little Willie, The Malibus and Phil Gandy had a release on this tiny label.

Tino & The Revlons - By Request At The Sway-Zee

 

Tino & The Revlons - By Request At The Sway-Zee

01   Louie Louie   
02   Wooly Booly   
03   This Could Be The Last Time   
04   Honky Tonk Angels   
05   Little GTO   
06   House Of The Rising Sun   
07   Ask Me   
08   Because   
09   Rumble   
10   I Can't Get No Satisfaction   
11   One Time Break Time

Tino & The Revlons had their roots in Michigan, playing on the Northeast club circuit. They amassed a following in and about Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY. They were local lounge stars.

Ray De Martino (Tino), real name Raymond Joseph de Martino, was murdered in Jamaica in January 1983. Some local thugs were mugging his wife, Tino stepped in to defend her but was then stabbed to death.

Tino (w or w/o The Revlons) had singles on Mark, May, Pip, Dearborn, Palino & Etc..(Etc… is the name of the label) and two albums (one on Dearborn, another on Vibra-Sound).

Hoot Gibson, drummer for the Revlons :

This was at the time the most popular club band in Detroit at the time there were lines around the building for hours to get in and rightfully so, their energy in the rooms they played was amazing they were playing everyones cover music and some originals 6 nights a week. This album was put out with the intention to sell only at the club (Sway Lounge) due to the feverish request of the patrons, it was not supposed to have any air play. There were only 500 copies made and it sold out in three days. Funny thing everyone who bought it loved the album .

The group was asked to be the first white recording group by the executives at Motown but they did not sign with them due to other contract commitments, instead another group the Sunliners signed recorded and became the group Rare Earth

Twistin' Postman

 Jeff And The Atlantics Featuring Cathe   

Twistin' Postman   

Sound Patterns 103
1966

From Inkster, Michigan, Jeff And The Atlantics were formed in high school in 1962. Here is their cover of The Marvelettes hit from 1961. The lead vocalist is Cathe Garcia.

 

Cathe Garcia

Jeff and The Atlantics

Big Fat Mama

Barbara Lee Mac

 
Big Fat Mama

 
Cuca J-6635 (1966)

Barbara Lee McKenzie (1938-2003)

Previously with Ardis Wells & the Rhythm Ranch Girls.  She also had 45s on Golden Wing & Bangar.

Little Miss Heartbreaker

 

Veskants

Vocal : Ronnie Byrd

Little Miss Heartbreaker

W.M.C. Records #101
1421 Southgate Center,  Waco, Texas
1966

Some info from garangehangover  :

Jack Benner, drummer with the Veskants and the Silvertones wrote to me about his career:
I worked part-time at Waco Music Center in Southgate for a short time. Later we formed a band called Veskants with Larry Nichols (keyboard/sax), Ted Richardson (guitar), Richard Travis (bass), me [Jack Benner] on drums and Ronnie Byrd as vocalist. We recorded “Little Miss Heartbreaker” and “More Than Love” at Goodson McKee’s recording studio. Songs were written in part by Byrd. “More Than Love” was supposed to be the “A” side of the record but for some reason “Heartbreaker” got the most request/play, go figure. Pressed a few hundred records on W.M.C. label. Sold a few – gave away most. I still have a couple. Larry Nichols made up the name Veskants … who knows what goes through that mind of his!

Goodson Mckee Recording Service was one the three major recording studios in Waco in the 60's which gave the bands plenty of options to record and release their music.

Modrel Goodson McKee passed away in 2013.

Johnny B. Goode

 

The Mudd Family

Johnny B. Goode

Scepter 12151
1966

"A highly unusual reading of the while back Chuck Berry hit" (Cash Box, June 4, 1966). Surely enough, like you never heard before.

Oh Mona

Wayne Pav & the Orphuns



Oh Mona

Pav Records 650
1966

Voo Doo Doll

Voo Doo Doll

From the album J Ann C Trio At Tan-Tar-A (Burdland Records 3300, 1966).
The trio : Carl Russell, guitar; Jerry Dugan, drums, Ann Delrene, vocal.

The J Ann C Trio holds forth in the elegant Cliff Room six nights a week. On Saturday evenings the trio usually moves up to the spacious ball room for an evening of pleasurable dining and dancing before hundrers of Tan-Tar-A guests.

Andrea Arnold, a former majorette at Fabens High School (Texas), a vocalist and guitarist of the J and C Trio, has used the stage name of Ann Delrene. The trio has been performing at Tan Tar-A Lodge at Osage Beach resort in Missouri for over three years before recording a LP issued on Burdland Records (Jefferson City, Missouri).

I'll Meet You By The River

The Sheppard Singers

I'll Meet You By The River

Show-Me 1158

Unlisted Starday Custom release out of Potosi, Missouri. From 1966.  Members included Marjorie Sheppard (1925-1999) and her father Orvil Sheppard.  The Sheppard Singers sang gospel on KYRO Radio Station and also at many churches in the Potosi area.

Candy Kisses

Leishia Brodie




Candy Kisses

Dale Records DA-101
Texas, 1966

Scatterbrain

Louise Tobin

with Orchestra conducted by Peanuts Hucko

Avant Garde #104

1965/1966



Scatterbrain

Louise Tobin has previously recorded this song in 1939 with Benny Goodman and his orchestra in September 1939.  You can listen to the 1939 version here

After a long hiatus spent raising her two boys, Tobin accepted an invitation from jazz critic and publisher George Simon to sing at the 1962 Newport Jazz Festival, where she met her future husband, clarinetist Peanuts Hucko.  They both recorded for the Vanguard Music's subsidiary Avant Garde Records, one of the "great unsung Christian psych" labels active between the years 1966 and 1972.

 

Mary Louise Tobin (born November 11, 1918) appeared with Benny Goodman, Bobby Hackett, Will Bradley, and Jack Jenney. Tobin introduced I Didn't Know What Time It Was with Benny Goodman’s band in 1939. Her biggest hit with Goodman was There'll Be Some Changes Made, which was number two on the Hit Parade in 1941 for 15 weeks. Tobin was the first wife of trumpeter and bandleader Harry James.

Swing-era singer Louise Tobin celebrated her 100th birthday party early, in Octobre 2018.

My Father The Pop Singer

Sam Chalpin

Sam Chalpin had mostly sung at lodge meetings and was a cantor at his synagogue. Ed Chalpin, his son and head of the PPX Record Production Company, decided that if Mrs. Miller gained some fame for her series of shrill and off-key renditions of popular songs, then why not make a similar record with his father -" and Ed would make sure that his father worked for nothing. Existing tracks, a studio he owned and a free singer - investment zero!" 

After Sam Chalpin had finished recording the ten tunes of this Atco disc, Ed Chalpin had contacted Ahmet Ertegun [head of Atlantic Records], to whom he stated that his father, who was sixty-five years of age, had made his first recordings.  The tunes were issued on the Atlantic Records' Atco subsidiary in 1966.

Sam Chalpin died in 1969.

Satisfaction

Mike Rashkow, the recording engineer, has told the story of these recordings at Spectropop.com :

Excerpts:

Sam could not read English very well, maybe not at all. If he could read, then he couldn't see. If he was taught the lyrics, he'd forget them. The melody and meter? He had two chances of getting in the vicinity of either one - slim and none. Slim done took the train. Supposedly, he'd learn the song, then Ed would bring him in and we put the head phones on him. I think we actually had to tie them on him - he didn't like it. We'd start trying to overdub him by a): feeding him the old vocal in the cans; b): not feeding him the old vocal in the cans; c): letting him listen over and over again to the line or two he was going to yelp at, and d): Ed standing next to him waving his arms and threatening him with violence.

I swear on my children's lives that Ed made his father cry at least once, maybe more, during these sessions. It was terrible for me to watch, and possibly criminal to be involved in. Today, Ed would be arrested for Elder Abuse, and I would be the one who dropped the dime on him.

If we did one punch-in on a song we did 100. I did so many punch-ins, trying to get a single chorus done, that when the record was complete I was punch drunk. This is not exaggerated. The poor old man couldn't sing, couldn't read, couldn't remember and, most of the time, didn't have a clue what was going on. I may make it sound funny, but truly it was an awful thing for one person to put another person through, let alone a son to his father.

My Father The Pop Singer

Acknowledgements : nuggets from the moon (YT channel)