[78-L] Dale Evans

[David Lennick]

Dale Evans is on a whole whack of MacGregor Transcriptions. Okay, 10 (per 
Charles Garrod's listings), made between 1944 and 1948. She also recorded solo 
for Majestic.

dl

Geoffrey Wheeler wrote:
> Singer Dale Evens and Husband, Roy Rogers. Born Frances Octavia Smith 
> in Uvalde, Texas in 1913, she got her first steady singing job in radio 
> in Memphis using her then married name of Frances Fox. She had eloped 
> with her high-school sweetheart in what would be a short-lived 
> marriage. She later worked for radio stations in Dallas, Louisville, 
> and Chicago, and sang with several big bands, including that of Anson 
> Weeks, before getting her first weekly network program, “News and 
> Rhythm,” on CBS in 1940. Soon after, she went to Hollywood and began 
> appearing in pictures, including “Orchestra Wives” and “Swing Your 
> Partner.” On occasion, she guested on various network shows, including 
> that of The Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show. On the September 
> 26, 1943 program, which also featured Hedy Lamarr, she sang “Put Your 
> Arms Around Me Honey, Hold Me Tight,” backed by Ray Noble and His 
> Orchestra. The Orchestra kicks off the program in fine form. Neither 
> the tune nor Ms. Evans’ confident big-band-style of singing is what we 
> would associate with her later religiosity and focus on devotional 
> themes. Evans recorded for Victor and Majestic under her own name; Bell 
> with husband Roy Rogers; and Bluebird with Abe Lyman & his 
> Californians. She also recorded with Eddie Skrivanck and His Orchestra 
> for C. P. MacGregor transcriptions in Hollywood. The label on the 
> 16-inch plastic disc does not give a session date for BMI 66 but the 
> tunes and their playing times are:
> 
> Sagebrush Serenade (2:45)
> What’s a Girl Supposed to Do (2:56)
> I Wish I Never Met Sunshine (2:39)
> Going Back Home (2:00)
> Shy Ann from Cheyenne (1:18)
> 
> The personnel is interesting because it includes several jazz players 
> but no drummer. Eddie Skrivanck, guitar; Charles La Vere, piano; Blake 
> Reynolds, clarinet; and Rafael Mendez, trumpet. Mendez would record a 
> series of sides for the Pan American label showcasing his virtuosic 
> playing and elegant sound. A dark-haired, pretty woman of medium 
> height, Dale Evans had a refreshing smile. She met her future husband 
> Roy Rogers, “King of the Cowboys,” at a USO event, and in 1944, made 
> her first B western movie with the singing cowboy star in The Cowboy 
> and the Senorita. They married in 1947, following the death of Rogers’ 
> wife Arline shortly after giving birth to son Roy Jr. in 1946. During 
> her career, Evans made 28 movies and recorded more than 400 songs with 
> Rogers, wrote more than 20 books, had her own television show, “A Date 
> With Dale,” and was known as “Queen of the West.” Active in Christian 
> evangelism, in 1955 she wrote the gospel standard “The Bible Tells Me 
> So.” It’s easy to remember mantra repeats: “How do I know? The Bible 
> tells me so.” The closing line for the popular Roy Rogers-Dale Evans 
> radio show was “May the Good Lord take a likin’ to you.” The couple’s 
> radio and TV theme song was “Happy Trails,” which she co-wrote in 1951. 
> Evans died February 7, 2001 of congestive heart failure at age 88 at 
> her high-desert ranch in Victorville, California. Nearby is the 
> 30,000-square-foot Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum that houses their 
> memorabilia. Her husband Roy Rogers pre-deceased her in 1998.
> Geoffrey Wheeler
> _______________________________________________