[78-L] Listen, all you New Yorkers .....

[David Lennick]

Two different suites..I think Jenkins wrote a CALIFORNIA to go on the back of 
the Manhattan Tower LP (my copy of which is pressed by Columbia). I have 
Torme's California Suite on 12-inch Capitol 78s. Never played it.

Then there's HAPPY ANNIVERSARY and its equally sappy sequel HAPPY HOLIDAYS, 
with Elliott Lewis (of Manhattan Tower narration) and his lovely wife Cathy and 
the Ray Noble Orchestra..

What hath Gord wrought?

dl

Randy Watts wrote:
> Forgot about SEVEN DREAMS. Haven't heard that in ages. Didn't Jenkins write a song cycle, or whatever you want to call them, about California, too? Or am I thinking of Mel Torme's CALIFORNIA SUITE?
> 
> Randy 
> 
> --- On Mon, 2/8/10, David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> 
>> What, no lacerating opinions of SEVEN
>> DREAMS? I can't stomach that one myself 
>> but we always had requests for it.
>>
>> dl
>>
>> Randy Watts wrote:
>>> Capitol's MANHATTAN TOWER was released a couple of
>> years ago by both DRG and Sepia. DRG's CD is a licensed
>> reissue from Capitol and sounds fine. I haven't heard
>> Sepia's version and can't comment on that one.
>>> If the Decca reissue of MANHATTAN TOWER you mention
>> was on the Razor & Tie GORDON JENKINS COLLECTION disc
>> from Universal Special Products, then yeah, it was poorly
>> done. I've got another Razor & Tie/Universal Special
>> Products collection of some of Ethel Merman's Decca sides,
>> released around the same time, and it's equally slipshod.
>> Some of the material--the ANNIE GET YOUR GUN sides, as I
>> recall--was apparently transferred from Decca's 'simulated
>> stereo' LP masters. Which is useful, I suppose, in case
>> you've forgotten what an awful thing fake stereo was.
>>> Will Friedwald wrote the liner notes for the Razor
>> & Tie Jenkins collection and he's no fan of MANHATTAN
>> TOWER or other Jenkins compositions that were in the same
>> vein. He had similar harsh opinions of Jenkins' THE LETTER
>> and WHAT IT WAS, WAS LOVE.
>>> Randy
>>>
>>>   
>>>
>>> --- On Mon, 2/8/10, DAVID BURNHAM <burnhamd at rogers.com>
>> wrote:
>>>> This year, on May 12, it will be
>>>> Gordon Jenkins' 100th birthday.  I'm
>> wondering if
>>>> "Manhattan Tower" still has a life.  (I
>> realize many people
>>>> would answer, "Did it ever have a life?") 
>> Recently, I was
>>>> watching an episode of CSI NY, and during the
>> opening
>>>> montage music, which is always pretty dense, there
>> was this
>>>> snippet from Manhattan Tower - nothing more or
>> less than
>>>> "Listen, all you New Yorkers".  Strangely
>> that line was
>>>> sung by a man, although in the work it is sung by
>> the woman,
>>>> (Julie).  I was curious how anyone young
>> enough to work on
>>>> that show would be old enough to even know
>> Manhattan
>>>> Tower.  I only have two recordings of it: the
>> two record
>>>> set by Decca and the much longer version which
>> came out
>>>> about 10 years later on Capitol using the same
>> cast,
>>>> (Elliott Lewis and Beverly Mahr).  I think an
>> ideal length
>>>> for the piece would be somewhere between these
>> two.  The
>>>> first omits the love story completely while the
>> second has
>>>> some, (IMO),
>>>>   tedious songs - "Happiness Cocktail",
>> "Repeat After Me"
>>>> and "Once Upon a Dream", which puts words to the
>> theme tune
>>>> of the piece, including such meaningless metaphors
>> as "a
>>>> dawn without a sunrise", (hello Mr. Jenkins, a
>> dawn IS a
>>>> sunrise).  But let me not ridicule the
>> piece.  I do enjoy
>>>> it and I found a pristine copy of the Capitol LP
>> in a used
>>>> record store in Ann Arbor which I have mastered
>> onto a CD,
>>>> since no commercial CD exists, and occasionally
>> play in the
>>>> car.  Some, (I think), excellent songs added
>> in this
>>>> version are "learnin' my Latin" and "Married I can
>> always
>>>> get".
>>>>
>>>> According to the notes on the LP, the piece has
>> enjoyed a
>>>> huge success, (at least up to 1956), being played
>> annually
>>>> in Atlanta (?!) as well as many other venues
>> around the
>>>> country.  I don't know if the original Decca
>> version was
>>>> abridged at the time or if that is all there was
>> to the
>>>> piece then.  That version has been issued by
>> Decca on a CD
>>>> but the booklet belittles the piece, "...the
>> written
>>>> narration is so hokey it's hysterical." 
>> Also, surprisingly
>>>> for Decca, the remastering is very
>> slip-shod.  The sound
>>>> quality isn't great and each side of the 78s is
>> left hanging
>>>> for several seconds before it carries on. 
>> Anyone who knows
>>>> the work and the recording knows that side 1 ends
>> with a
>>>> musical phrase which is repeated at the beginning
>> of side
>>>> two, an easy edit and side two ends on the same
>> note as
>>>> starts side three, once again, child's play to put
>> together,
>>>> (sides three to four can just be joined).  In
>> the booklet
>>>> for this version it calls Manhattan
>>>>   Tower one of the "signature works of the LP
>> era" and
>>>> mentions that Patty Page and Robert Goulet also
>> recorded
>>>> full length versions of it.  These are
>> recordings I have
>>>> never seen.
>>>>
>>>> (Later the same day)
>>>>
>>>> I have just gone to e-bay and discovered that the
>> Capitol
>>>> version has just come out on CD, but no label is
>> mentioned
>>>> so it might just be the product of a free-lancer
>> like
>>>> myself who has copied the LP.  I wish a label
>> like "Oldies"
>>>> would issue it from the master tape.  The
>> Robert Goulet
>>>> version was issued on a stereo Columbia LP, but I
>> can't find
>>>> anyone selling a copy of it, and I just purchased
>> the Patti
>>>> Page version on a Mercury LP.
>>>>
>>>> db
> 
> 
>