[78-L] Hank Penny (was Cary question)

[Cary Ginell]

One thing I learned in observing Hank Penny during the 13 years that I knew him - he was extremely bitter about his not becoming a big star. He certainly had a lot of talent, both as a comedian as well as a musician, but I think he felt slighted by the people in his life who he had conflict with. Hank had a big ego and did not compromise easily. But he was an honest person and a loyal friend. But one insight into his character must come from his Artie Shaw-like marraige record - I believe he was married 5 or 6 times at least. He stabilized this with his last wife, who he was married to for the last 25 or 30 years of his life, but he sowed some wild oats in this time and must have been extremely difficult to live with.  It got to be a joke with him, and Sue Thompson became friends with Shari, Hank's last wife, calling her on the phone and saying, "Number 6? This is Number 5. How are you?"
 
Given all of this, it is not surprising that Hank may have exaggerated the results of his argument with Nathan and mutual expulsion from King Records in the early 1950s. I doubt that his disagreement with Nathan resulted in his losing his slot on the Opry. I think it may have had more to do with Hank's musical ambitions as opposed to his work as a comedian. When I knew him, Hank was not a comedian at all. He told jokes all right, but he was mainly interested in jazz. He loved jamming to Django Reinhardt tunes and after he died, his widow gave me a lot of the cassette tapes he used to listen to. Considering the restrictive musical atmosphere at the Opry (no drums, a grudging acceptance of the electric guitar, and absolutely stick to the melody), I'm convinced this may have had something to do with it. Hank used to rail against the Opry when he guested on my radio show - their narrow-mindedness, their refusal to move with the times, their backwards ways, and the rube acts that they cultivated. He got on the Opry only because of his abilities to tell a joke, but Hank was much more than that and he knew it. Guitarist Jimmy Bryant was the same way - bitter to the end because of perceived (or actual) snubs by the Opry, especially stalwarts like Roy Acuff.
 
Cary Ginell
 
> Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 13:51:01 -0500
> From: bmcclung78 at gmail.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] trivia question and Cary question
> 
> Do you think the part about the Opry is right?
> 
> On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 1:48 PM, Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com> wrote:
> 
> >
> > This seems consistent with what I remember Hank telling me. I remember him
> > doing a great impression of Nathan's gruff, scractchy voice in re-creating
> > their conversation.
> >
> > Cary
> >
> > > Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 13:38:24 -0500
> > > From: bmcclung78 at gmail.com
> > > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > > Subject: Re: [78-L] trivia question and Cary question
> > >
> > > The "Let Me Play With Your Poodle" material is from "Southwest Shuffle:
> > > Pioneers of Honky-Tonk, Western Swing, and Country Jazz" by Rich Kienzle
> > > published by Routledge in 2003.
> > >
> > > Interviews with Hank Penny 1976-1987.
> > >
> > > On page 41 there is a story of an altercation between Hank and Syd Nathan
> > > during a September 1946 California recording session. Nathan had issues
> > > with Ralph Miele and Hank told him to get back in the control room and
> > let
> > > Hank deal with his musicians.
> > >
> > > On page 42 Kienzle writes "the producer (Nathan) handed him 'The Freckle
> > > Song,' a 1946 double-entendre ditty written and recorded by 'party song'
> > > specialist Larry Vincent, and bluesman Tampa Red's explicit 'Let Me Play
> > > With Your Poodle.'"
> > >
> > > "I did not want to record these. Nathan insisted that I record 'em," he
> > > complained in 1980. "I felt they were too risque, and I recorded 'em
> > under
> > > the condition they would release 'em under the name The Freckled Faced
> > > Boys."
> > >
> > > They were released under Penny's name and Kienzle writes that this caused
> > > Penny to lose his slot on the Prince Albert segment of the Grand 'Ol Opry
> > > and that this ultimately caused Nathan and Penny to part ways.
> > >
> > > On page 43 it says, "Nathan later withdrew the disc." I'm betting he just
> > > didn't print any more instead of withdrawing it. I see it every so often
> > > but not nearly as often as his other King 78s.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 10:16 PM, David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca
> > >wrote:
> > >
> > > > Ooh! Ooh! Clifford Brown! (Yeah, I looked it up.)
> > > >
> > > > dl
> > > >
> > > > On 10/10/2010 8:52 PM, Bill McClung wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > And the other was "Ida Red" by Chris Powell and His Five Blue Flames
> > on
> > > > Okeh
> > > > > 6875.
> > > > >
> > > > > Trivia question--the trumpet solo on "Ida Red" was from this
> > performer's
> > > > > first commercial recording session. Who was this trumpet player?
> > > > >
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