Saturday, February 10, 2018

All Grown Up


Darby Anne
And The Jay Jay Kay Trio


All Grown Up
Herbert Baker, Carrie Music Co. ASCAP

Darby 45-609
Ellettsville, Indiana
1957 or later



Presumably, "All Grown Up" is a cover of the song previously recorded by Debbie Reynolds MGM 12560 in 1957. Not much can be found on Darby Anne.  Only thing I known is she recorded another 45 on the same label, also a King custom pressing, backed by the Johnnie Wattles Orchestra  (Betwixt And Between , Darby 45-D3)




Thursday, February 8, 2018

Sky Rocket Love



(Paula Cloud)
The Cruisers
Vocal Paula Cloud
 
MacGillvray, Gentry, McKenzie)
(The Spacers Vocal Sid Mack

 Nike Records
1958


Mrs Hortense Cludius (aka Paula Cloud) was born around 1912 in Louisiana.  She resided in Ohio with her husband, Harold C. Cludius, in 1940 and the couple moved afterwards to Texas.  She copyrighted "Sky Rocket Love" in 1958.  As far as I know, this was the only song she wrote.

Even less is known about The Spacers featured on the top side.  One Sid Mack from Dallas posted some fifteen years ago various messages on alt.assassination.jfk, a forum dedicated to the President Kennedy assassination, he's possibly him, the vocalist on XR9?

Both sides were published by S & M Music launched by "Skippy" Settle at the same time as his Skippy Records label in March 1958.



Tuesday, February 6, 2018

After Five


De-Icers


After Five

Callin' My Love

De-Icer 45-100
1957
King custom press


Tulsa, Oklahoma band started by Joe Haskew.

Joe Haskew was born in Tulsa on June 2, 1926. He grew up in Tulsa and attended Central High School. The youngest of 4 children, Joe served in the U.S. Navy as a Chief Petty Officer during World War II. After the War he worked as a Mechanic and at one time formed a business that manufactured micro-cycles in Tulsa.   Joe was a musician and during the 1950s started a band named The De-Icers. They played live on the Curtis Lane Radio Show.  He played the guitar and sang lead. He appeared on Channel 6's Dance Party, and entertained at the Apache Drive-In, the Admiral Twin and some others, and he had a ongoing gig at the Moose Lodge. 

He also played in a country band in the the 1980s called Country Sunshine in clubs around Tulsa, and was the founder and President of the Tulsa Bluegrass Club or Society in the 1970s. 

He passed away in 1998.
.

Monday, February 5, 2018

The Pirate Parrot


Ray Heatherton, with Richard the Milton O. Ford's parrot
Cadence Records 1296 (1956)





DISK ARTIST DEBS STRICTLY FOR THE BIRDS

   NEW YORK — What RCA Victor did for the canine family
with its Singing Dogs, Cadence Records hopes to do for 
the birds with its new recording artist, Richard, 54-year old 
parrot.   Richard, booked by GAC and owned by deejay
Milton Q. Ford (WMAL, Washington),  will make his wax
debut this month on "The Pirate Parrot," with Ray "Merry
Mailman" Heatherton joining him on the vocal and backing 
by Archie Bleyer's orchestra.  The tune, a hit in Italy as 
"Curri, Curri, Sciccareddu!" ("Hurry, Hurry, Little Donkey")
is published here by Veronique Music, with English lyric by 
Al Stillman.

   Cadence prexy Bleyer put in six and half hours on tape 
sessions with Richard and a least 60 hours more on the
editing job, the parrot seemingly to talk his way continuously
thru the disk, a la Singing Dogs.  However, Richard has an
advantage over the European pooches, in that he can make
radio and TV appearances, and plug the record.

   His first network video show will be on Julius La Rosa's 
summer sub for Perry Como, CBS-TV show July 21, following 
which he will meet the dealers at the National Association of 
Music Merchants' convention here.  Then Ford is scheduled 
to take him on a deejay tour to plug the platter in other cities.

   The flip side of the disk ("Alfred, the Air Sick Eagle") is also 
a bird-entry, featuring Heatherton, a kid chorus, and authentic
eagle-crys recorded by the Bronx Zoo.

Billboard July 21, 1956

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Laya Raki, Waxmate Of The Month



Laya Raki (born Brunhilde Marie Alma Herta Jörns on July 27, 1927) is a former dancer and film actress popular in Germany in the 1950s and early 1960s.  She also became an international star for her roles in English films and TV productions.  She married Australian-born actor Ron Randell in a civil ceremony in London in 1957 until his death in 2005.

Her only commitment to music on wax was in 1962 when Dr. Gilbert Obermair reported "Carina Records signed film sex bomb Laya Raki to an exclusive contract. The gal has already waxed her first record in German and in English."   

"Oh, Johnny, hier nicht parken" was recorded during the dancer's stay in Munich in English as well as German.  Considered too pornographic and tasteless the song was banned on German radioSee Andreas Michalke's blog here for some details.  (All songs can be heard on YT)

IMDb lists some 26 movies and TV series in which she played and danced.  Some videos can be seen at Youtube but, by far her most suggestive dance, in my opinion, was in Beat Girl, a 1960 British film about late-fifties youth-rebellion, later released in the United States under the title Wild for Kicks. See here (the dance start at 6:45)



From an article published at the time of the shooting of Crane, a TV series starring Patrick Allen.

"So, OK, I am wearing this blouse for some new shots and I am walking past Patrick Allen, who is playing this great adventurer, Crane. I am walking past and suddenly he say with great shock: 'You cannot possibly wear that blouse! Your bust is showing!' I look at him and I say: "Really? Is perhaps why I am wearing the blouse.' Then he gets angry and he say: 'You are always showing too much the bust. My wife say that she is disgusted.'

"Oh ho, then he can see that I am angry, too, and he start to go back a little. He say: "But this programme, Crane, is not only seen by the adults. I seen by children as well.'

"Well, you know, I look at him then and I say: 'But children are more used to bosoms than anyone else, Patrick. They have grown up with them, you see.'

"Then he is quiet and I wear the blouse and I wear no bra and it all looks very nice, very natural because it is what Halima would wear.