[78-L] Kay Armen

David Lennick dlennick at sympatico.ca
Wed Oct 5 19:16:04 PDT 2011


I was going to say she introduced it..and I thought she'd recorded it, on some 
obscure label.

dl

On 10/5/2011 9:33 PM, David Lewis wrote:
>
> Cary,
>
> Definitely a very strong connection; Kay Armen first rolled out "Come On-a My House" as part of a
> short-lived, local L.A. revue in 1945. This was Bagdasarian's first song, written in 1939 on a
> drunken spree with his cousin William Saroyan -- the author. I would have loved to hear Kay sing
> the song, but as far as I know she never recorded it. Rosemary Clooney, who did, sang it well, but
> hated it.
>
> Uncle Dave Lewis
> uncledavelewis at hotmail.com
>
> There is a tune written by Ross Bagdasarian (aka David Seville) called "Armen's Theme." I have it on a British London 78, but below is an image of the U.S. Liberty version. I never made the connection between Bagdasarian and Armen, but they both had Armenian roots (Armen's real name was Armenuhi Manoogian), so that probably indicates some sort of friendship between them.
> The charming melody sounds more Italian than Armenian. I always liked Bagdasarian's non-Chipmunks instrumentals.
>
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/78-DAVID-SEVILLE-chipmunks-ARMENS-THEME-1956-VG-/270733839394?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item3f08fe8c22
>
> Cary Ginell
>



More information about the 78-L mailing list