A shorter installment than usual this week, as many titles I’ve been reviewing through, while containing the usual lively potpourri of tunes, have been duplicating numbers from Tin Pan Alley or the classics which we’ve previously encountered in prior articles on the works of other studios. This was inevitable to occur in many cases, due to Columbia owning no music publishing house, nor being particularly known for the production of original musicals.
To fill some of the space, we’ll take a brief detour into work that Mintz was doing on the side. The Toby the Pup series was produced by Charles Mintz and released through Radio Pictures. These cartoons, upon inspection, are very similar to the Krazy Kats, although some of them display a vestige of a plot. This kept Mintz studio busy at a time when economic clouds were looming. Not all of them have been found by collectors, so we have to work with what few have been located to date. No doubt there may have been further musical interludes in these films currently lost to the sands of time, such as perhaps in “Toby the Showman”, a musicale gor which no soundtrack appears on currently circulating print. Was there any Vitaphone disc?
The Krazy Kats meanwhile continued in the manner that had become usual, and the Scrappy series was also going along apace. Even Scrappy’s supporting character Oopie was receiving a degree of recognition, this week noted in an episode in which he is the solo star, although Scrappy still takes title billing.
Down South (4/15/31) – A showboat is going down the river, making a stop to play a show. Toby is the captain, with Tessie as his main performer, who sings one of the latest up to date songs, “Mississippi Mud”. The showboat somehow gets set adrift, heading for a waterfall. Toby disconnects the paddlewheel boxes from the sides of the ship, and places them on the front, having the effect of powering the ship like a twin-engine plane, safely off the falls into the air, for an aerial iris out. Songs: “Steamboat Bill”, a 1911 song very much inspired by “Casey Jones”. Disney fans will instantly recognize the number as initially performed by Mickey Mouse in the iconic “Steamboat Willie”. Arthur Collins performed it for Victor in 1911, and also on Columbia large note. In 1917, Columbia issued a version by Irving Kaufman, later reissued for Harmony, et al. Okeh issued it in the 1920’s by Fiddlin’ John Carson. George Riley Puckett issued a Columbia during its bronze flag-design label series. Ernest Rogers, an Atlanta based entertainer from WSB, got Victor’s scroll version for electrical recording. Paul Tremaine got a Columbia version in 1930. A Regal Zonophone from 1934 credits the “International Novelty Orchestra”, but does not appear to have any relation to the group which recorded under the same name on American Victor. A “Steamboat Bill Boogie” appeared in the ‘40’s by the Delmore Brothers on King.
“Mississippi Mud” was introduced in 1927 by Paul Whiteman’s Rhythm Boys which included Al Rinker, Bing Crosby, and the composer Harry Barris. The Rhythm Boys first issued their own version without Whiteman’s Orchestra in a two-song medley on Victor, paired with “I Left My Sugar Standing in the Rain”. The full Whiteman orchestra would later issue and orchestral version with the Boys on Victor, with an alternate take turning up for release in the 1960’s on an RCA Victor vintage series LP. The Charleston Chasers had a dance record on Columbia. Frankie Trumbauer recorded it for Okeh, also featuring Crosby and Bix Beiderbecke. Brunswick had it by Harry Reser’s Six Jumping Jacks. Columbia also had a vocal record by Lee Morse. The “Louisiana Rhythm Kings” issued a side on Vocalion – which was actually Guy Lombardo cheating on his contract, performing a hot side! Meyer Davis’s Orchestra, though in New York, recorded it for English Duophone. Tommy Dorsey issued a swing version on Victor. The Fontaine Sisters revived it for RCA Victor, by then no doubt altering the lyric’s reference to “darkies”. Bing Crosby would re-record a brief version with Buddy Cole for his “Bing” LP set on Decca. Connie Haines performed another revival on Coral. Graeme Bell’s Australian Jazz Band performed a dixieland version on Swaggie.
Hallowe’en (5/1/31) – A Halloween party has Toby making a fool of himself at Tessie’s party, kissing all the girls, and Tessie too. Tessie sternly reprimands him in song, making Toby literally feel small. Toby attempts to redeem himself by entertaining on piano. The witching hour approaches, and everyone becomes nervous as a squadron of spooks, including witches and gnomes, rises to fly through the air. The lights go out, and Tessie’s home is overrun with ghosts. Toby finally realizes the best way to rid the place of specters – impersonate a rooster crowing in the dawn, making all the spirits beat a hasty exit in search of their graves. Song: “Smarty” seems to have originated circa 1908, and was recorded then by Billy Murray and Ada Jones for Victor. Ada recorded it solo for Edison Gould Moulded Cylinder. Beatrice Kay, a performer on the Gay Nineties Review on NBC Red, recorded it in 1940 for Columbia as part of am album set of old time revivals.
Birth of Jazz (4/13/32) – The Earth is sleeping, and currently mired in the classics – being played in an attic by the ghost of Ludwig Von Beethoven. But everybody wakes up, as Krazy Kat is delivered by stork as the spirit of jazz, to rev up a classical-conditioned planet. Krazy serenades on clarinet a la Ted Lewis with “St. Louis Blues” (Krazy manages to avoid using the phrase “Is Everybody Happy” during his impersonation), and also performs “Down Home Rag”. At one point during the “Blues” presentation, the soundtrack plays an adaptation of Larry Shields’ clarinet solo from the 1921 recording of “St Louis Blues” by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band – widely thought of as the first real jazz solo on records. Not much of a plot, but peppy music and the spirit behind it keep this cartoon interesting.
A newcomer for song is “Moonlight Sonata”, played by the ghost of Beethoven. There were at least two recordings by Ignace Jan Paderewski on Victor. English Columbia had a version by Ignaz Friedman. Wilhelm Kempff performed a 1932 version for Polydor and possibly an earlier version in the late 1920’s. The Victor Concert Orchestra conducted by Nat Shilkret issued a scroll Victor. Mark Hambourg issued a version for Victor internationally, which I am not sure is of American or British origin. Glenn Miller had a popular arrangement on Bluebird. Oscar Levant performed it for Columbia. Joe Reichman got a version on Victor. Eric Silver recorded on Varsity. The New Light Symphony Orchestra directed by Malcolm Sergent did it for HMV.
Fare Play (7/2/32) – A Scrappy cartoon without Scrappy. Oopie tries to sell lemonade at a county fair, with the assistance of a fish swimming within the lemonade, who spits out the requisite amount of the drink into the consumer’s mouth for each coin received. While Oopie goes for more water to replenish the supply, the fish strikes up a friendship with a drunkard, who shares several flasks of hooch with the fish. The bootleg brew gets thoroughly mixed within the lemonade, and Oopie receives a marked spike in his customer base – and a run0in with the local sheriff, whom Oopie subdues by taking a few licks of the miracle brew himself to muster up courage to do battle. Sort of a reworking of the general theme of Krazy Kat’s “Farm Relief”, and a definite template for the rival Van Beuren Tom and Jerry, “Doughnuts” of the following season. Like its Krazy Kat predecessor, this film was not included in television packages due to its rampant use of alcohol. Song: “Vive La Compagnie”, a drinking song written in 1844. The melody will be familiar to Fleischer fans (and was overlooked by me in a past article series), as the anthem of the Fraternity of “Do It Or Die” in the opening credits of “Bimbo’s Initiation”. It was recorded by Harold Williams and the BBC Men’s Chorus on Columbia. Reginald Dixon included it on an organ medley for Sterno. Burl Ives performed am LP version for Decca, while the Brothers Four included it on their Columbia LP, “The Brothers Four Song Book.”
The Minstrel Show (11/21/32) – Krazy is putting on a minstrel show, complete with Bones, Tambo, and an Interlocutor. With all the bad jokes that you would expect in such a show, including “why did the chicken cross the street?” Song: “At a Georgia Camp Meeting”, written in 1898 by Kerry Mills. A recording dating from the song’s origin appeared by Messers. Cullen (a banjoist) and [Arthur] Collins on Berliner Gramophone. Sousa’s Band later performed it for Victor. The Carolina Mandolin Orchestra issued a Columbia in 1927. Ernest and Nellie Johnson (possibly pseudonyms for Ernest Thompson and Connie Sydes from an earlier Columbia flag label date) appeared on Harmony. McLaughlin’s Old-Tyme Melody Makers, a Mississippi string band for the hillbilly market, appeared on Victor in 1928. Johnny Messner’s orchestra got a side on Decca. Joe Daniels (Harry Roy’s drummer) issued an English version on Parlophone, which may have made its way into the American Decca catalog. Sid Phillips also issued a British version for HMV. Sidney Bechet’s New Orleans Feetwarmers covered it for Commodore. Kid Ory issued a late 40’s Columbia. Lu Watters performed a revival on Jazz Man. The Firehouse Five Plus Two issued a version on Good Time Jazz on their LP, “Goes South”.
NEXT TIME: More from the mid-30’s.
James Parten has overcome a congenital visual disability to be acknowledged as an expert on the early history of recorded sound. He has a Broadcasting Certificate (Radio Option) from Los Angeles Valley College, class of 1999. He has also been a fan of animated cartoons since childhood.
Although Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata is played for atmosphere in the opening scene of “Birth of Jazz”, I’m sure that the ghost at the piano is not that of Beethoven, but of Franz Liszt. The ghost does not play the Moonlight Sonata, but rather the introduction to Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 — which, coincidentally, is also in the sonata’s key of C-sharp minor.
For the rest of his life Liszt would tell the story of when, as an eleven-year-old boy, he played the piano for Beethoven at the composer’s home in Vienna. Carl Czerny, Liszt’s piano teacher and a former pupil of Beethoven, arranged the meeting. Liszt played a few short pieces, including a Bach fugue; Beethoven asked Liszt to transpose the fugue to a different key, which the boy duly did. Liszt then played a movement from Beethoven’s first piano sonata. At the conclusion of the performance, Beethoven kissed Liszt on the forehead and told the boy that he was destined to become a great musician and bring happiness to untold multitudes. Beethoven’s enjoyment of Liszt’s piano playing would have been severely hampered by the fact that by 1823, when this meeting supposedly took place, he was already as deaf as a stone.
I don’t care much for Genial Joe Reichman’s arrangement of the Moonlight Sonata. His shtick of playing an obbligato of parallel octaves in both hands gets rather tiresome and, in my opinion at least, doesn’t really suit Beethoven’s music. I will, however, give him credit for incorporating the main theme of the sonata’s lesser known second movement into his arrangement.
Right, it’s definitely Liszt himself playing his second Hungarian Rhapsody in Birth of Jazz. Interestingly there’s also a snatch of another much-used classic quoted as the storks fly, Suppe’s Poet and Peasant overture. In fact, I’d be willing to bet Suppe’s piece beats Liszt’s in the cartoon ubiquity sweepstakes.
I’d take that bet, but it would be a close call either way.