{"id":57618,"date":"2020-04-07T00:01:43","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T07:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=57618"},"modified":"2020-04-08T13:13:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-08T20:13:00","slug":"mary-martin-legend-of-disney-broadway-and-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/mary-martin-legend-of-disney-broadway-and-television\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Martin: Legend of Disney, Broadway and Television"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was magic in the air after Mary Martin said, \u201cI\u2019d like to sing some Disney songs,\u201d and Walt Disney said, \u201cI can\u2019t think of anyone I would rather hear sing them.\u201d <\/p>\n\"\"\n

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HI-HO \u2013 MARY MARTIN<\/strong>
\nMary Sings and Mary Swings Walt Disney Favorites<\/strong>
\nWith Tutti Camarata, His Trumpets and Orchestra
\nDisneyland Records WDL-3038 (Mono) STER-3038 (Stereo)(12\u201d 33 1\/3 RPM)<\/p>\n

1959 LP Reissue<\/strong> (Same Cover): WDL-4016 (Mono) STER-4016 (Stereo) 1959
\nCD Reissues:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Walt Disney Records Japan
\n\u2022 2015 Walt Disney Records Wonderland Music Store, Disneyland & Walt Disney World (2015)
\n\u2022 2016 Stage Door Records (unofficial release)
\n\u2022 Currently on iTunes and amazon<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

MARY MARTIN SINGS WALT DISNEY FAVORITES<\/strong> (1966 Reissue of Hi-Ho)
\nDisneyland Records Storyteller Series (12\u201d 33 1\/3 RPM with Book) ST-3943
\n (Mono) STER-3943 (Stereo) August 1966<\/p>\n

Originally Released in March 1958.<\/strong> Executive Producer\/Liner Notes: Jimmy Johnson. Producer: Camarata. Conductor: John Lesko. Running Time: 31 minutes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Films and Songs<\/strong>:
\nSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs: \u201cHi-Ho,\u201d \u201cOne Song,\u201d \u201cWhistle While You Work,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m Wishing,\u201d \u201cWith a Smile and A Song,\u201d \u201cSome Day My Prince Will Come\u201d by Larry Morey, Frank Churchill.
\nSo Dear to My Heart: \u201cLavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)\u201d by Elliot Daniel, Larry Morey.
\nBambi: \u201cI Bring You a Song\u201d by Larry Morey, Frank Churchill.
\nCinderella: \u201cThe Magic Song (Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo)\u201d by Al Hoffman, Jerry Livingston, Mack David.
\nPinocchio: \u201cWhen You Wish Upon a Star\u201d by Ned Washington, Leigh Harline.
\nAlice in Wonderland: \u201cI\u2019m Late\u201d by Bob Hilliard, Sammy Fain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Mary Martin was the first superstar to perform on records produced, marketed and distributed by the Walt Disney Studios. Disney had no in-house record company before the spring of 1956, so every established star connected with Disney-related recordings was heard on Columbia, Decca, RCA and various other labels. <\/p>\n

Few stars today have the impact that Mary Martin had at the time. She became the toast of Broadway in 1938 when she brought down the house with Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cMy Heart Belongs to Daddy\u201d in Leave It to Me<\/em> and reached legendary status in 1949 with the landmark musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s South Pacific<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Her energetic personality was ideal for the stage and was a magnetic presence in early TV households. In 1954, only sixteen days after the limited Broadway engagement of Peter Pan<\/em> the sets and cast moved to the NBC TV studios intact, making the small screen version a virtual duplicate of what audiences saw on stage. It caused a sensation, attracting the largest viewership up to that time. <\/p>\n

This is a promo for NBC\u2019s 1955 broadcast<\/a>, which was also done live (this was before videotape).<\/p>\n

One more live performance of Peter Pan<\/em> was staged on NBC in 1956. Between Pan<\/em> and Mary Martin\u2019s many other television appearances in this era, the release of the Hi-Ho<\/em> album in 1958 was a major achievement on behalf of the fledgling Disneyland label. The coup of signing her was one of the many benefits of having Tutti Camarata as the creative force upon which the entire Disney Group owes its foundation. <\/p>\n

In addition to his eclectic skills as a musician, arranger and conductor for countless types of music, Camarata was one of those people who seemed to \u201cknow everyone.\u201d One of his colleagues recalled that it was not uncommon for one of these friends to drop by a session to say hello, followed by Camarata introducing them: \u201cThis is Mantovani,\u201d or \u201cSay hello to Bing Crosby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in the mid-forties, when Mary Martin was trying to transition from stage to movies, her succession of setbacks earned her the nickname of \u201cAudition Mary.\u201d But a triumphant live performance at Ciro\u2019s nightclub in Hollywood made industry insiders take notice. In her autobiography, Martin recounted a pivotal moment that occurred when she did a piece of music first in operatic style, then as a swing number. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tutti Camarata created the pop music tempo change for the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, in which Bob Eberle would sing a ballad, the orchestra would kick into a swing and Helen O\u2019Connell would pick it up and bring it to a snappy close. (He would do the same for Disney on \u201c\u2019Twas Brillig,\u201d a song from The Greatest Record Ever Made<\/a>.) Though Martin does not state it specifically in her book, it is verifiable that she and Camarata worked together during that period when she and he were at Decca Records\u2014and they remained lifelong friends. [Even decades later, when Martin was making a comeback of sorts, Camarata was in his office at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, working on arrangements for her musical performance while Prince was recording in Studio C.]<\/p>\n

Hi-Ho<\/em> employs the talents of Martin and Camarata and Martin to full advantage. Camarata in his intricate, often idiosyncratic arrangements and Martin for her singing and acting range. It\u2019s essentially an album for adult listening\u2014particularly the torrid \u201cI Bring You a Song\u201d and the sultry \u201cBibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,\u201d but always in the context of listening as a family. It\u2019s also worth noting that almost every song includes verses not usually heard in connection with the songs, even the ones so often performed and recorded. It\u2019s great fun to play guessing games to see if folks can figure out what familiar Disney favorite begins with such lyrics as \u201cIf your mind is in a dither and your heart is in a haze\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1959, shortly after the stereo Hi-Ho<\/em> LP was issued, NBC presented the 1960 videotaped production of Peter Pan<\/em>, (this would be the version repeated throughout the sixties, revived in the eighties on NBC, released on home video and presented on the Disney Channel.)<\/p>\n

Collectors may want to note that two songs have slight differences on the mono and stereo versions of Hi-Ho<\/em>, though the vocal tracks are identical. The ending of \u201cWhistle While You Work\u201d has a slightly different ending. And the backing track of the title tune sounds as if it has either been completely rerecorded or is an alternate. When \u201cTutti\u2019s Trumpets\u201d make their signature progressive descent after the first chorus, it sounds more rushed in the mono version, along with other minute differences. Perhaps Camarata chose to use another take or made an entirely new instrumental track in 1959, just as he did with the title song to Alice in Wonderland<\/em> when he remade it in stereo and included it on Walt Disney\u2019s Music Cavalcade, which we explored in this Animation Spin<\/a>. <\/p>\n\"\"\n

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In 1966, Peter Pan<\/em> was rebroadcast on NBC and Hi-Ho<\/em> was reissued as Mary Martin Sings Walt Disney Favorites<\/em>. It was completely revamped as a Disneyland Storyteller book and record set. The order of the songs was changed, perhaps to make it more kid-friendly. All the Snow White songs are placed on side one, with the more sedate \u201cI’m Wishing\u201d opening the album instead of the boisterous big band \u201cHi-Ho.\u201d<\/p>\n

The biggest change is in the picture book. It features a Disney-illustrated version of Mary Martin herself (and as our own Jerry Beck noticed, wearing a smart Peter Pan-green dress), featured within the context of classic Disney animated films. This may be the only time, at least in print, that this was done with a celebrity. Martin might take an observational role (watching Alice follow the White Rabbit); take in the animated settings (reclining on Snow White\u2019s wishing well, the Dwarfs\u2019 mine car or Granny Kincaid\u2019s fence); or taking a more active role (making Doc\u2019s bed, greeting Jiminy Cricket and a newly-living Pinocchio, feeding a squirrel in Bambi\u2019s forest and getting the first seat in Cinderella\u2019s pumpkin coach).<\/p>\n

Collectors note: the mono version of this album does not differ from the stereo as the earlier releases do, but contains the same tracks originating from the stereo selections. <\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

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The results were such that Camarata and Johnson must have taken great pride in the Hi-Ho album. Every opportunity was taken to include selections on singles and compilations. It was, naturally, good for business–Martin was very much a \u201cname\u201d to adult record buyers at the time–but the recordings spoke for themselves.<\/p>\n

Hi-Ho<\/em> is actually the second Disneyland Records release featuring Mary Martin and Camarata. A two-disc 45 RPM set called The Little Lame Lamb<\/em>, based on a story by Disney artists that appeared in Family Circle<\/em> magazine, was released a few months earlier for Christmas 1957.<\/p>\n

GIVE A LITTLE LISTEN<\/strong>
\n\u201cHi-Ho\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Decades of experience in arranging for big bands, intimate knowledge of the trumpet and skill in the matching of artist to orchestra meets the razor-sharp dynamic range and kinetic energy of a powerful entertainer. What comes true most, though, are two sincere friends who want to do well for each other on a project they truly believe in.<\/p>\n