Category: Jo Stafford

A V-J Record

I missed noting V-J Day back on August 14, but I’ll do it now. It’s hard to believe I was born only ten years after the end of the war.

The famous photo taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in Times Square wasn’t the only view of the sailor grabbing the girl and kissing her. From a different angle, Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen also caught the moment.

A song that’s strongly reminiscent of World War II is “I’ll Be Seeing You.” Don’t confuse it with “We’ll Meet Again,” that’s heard at the end of Dr. Strangelove. Liberace renewed the popularity of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and stressless songstress Jo Stafford recorded it in ’58.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/AUG/IllBeSeeingYou.mp3]

Jo Stafford Was A Lady

Fool that I am, I missed Jo Stafford in the 1943 movie “Dubarry Was A Lady,” shown recently on Turner Classic Movies. Somebody has posted a clip from it, but the quality is only so-so, especially the sound synch. Now that YouTube has blessed us with working playlists again, you’ll find Dubarry after Jo’s appearance on “What’s My Line” from October 14, 1956.

The Buzz on Mitch Miller

An audio magazine I used to get, back when audio magazines existed, had a memorably succinct review of a CD release of a Mitch Miller Christmas Album — “Welcome to Hell.” Jonathan and Darlene Edwards paid tribute to the unforgettable music of Mitch Miller, as only they could, in “Baby Bumble Bee.”

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/AUG/BabyBumbleBee.mp3]

Darlene’s friend, the late Jo Stafford, can be seen with Frank Sinatra in this old film clip, performing “I’ll Never Smile Again,” a song I featured at this link.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/AUG/PiedPipers.flv 400 300]

Jonathan and Darlene Edwards

Jo Stafford and Paul Weston

Considering Jo Stafford’s stellar career and her versatile singing talent, it’s somewhat ironic that she won her only Grammy for a comedy record. Jonathan and Darlene Edwards were the alter egos of Jo and her husband Paul Weston. They were a dreadfully earnest — or earnestly dreadful — lounge act, with Jo’s perfect pitch helping Darlene with her tin ear utterly destroy songs with stunning off-key precision.

You’ll find a wonderfully awful collection of Jonathan and Darlene here on MySpace. The link to Jo’s label, Corinthian Records, is wrong. Use this one instead.

“GI Jo” Stafford

\"GI\" Jo Stafford

With Jo Stafford gone, World War II and the Big Band era slip further away from living memory. But Jo’s recordings remain. Thanks go to D.F. Rogers for helping me compile this collection.

This Jo Stafford record is from Christmas ’42, a year after Pearl Harbor…

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/ManhattanSerenade.mp3]

The year 1944 was a big one for Jo Stafford. She started it with the Pied Pipers, who recorded one version of the popular novelty tune “Mairzy Doats.”

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/MairzyDoats.mp3]

Jo left the Pied Pipers to join Johnny Mercer, one of the principals behind Capitol Records, and she sang “Candy” with him.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/Candy.mp3]

Hey, I’m getting better at this. I can tell this is Mercer and not Tex Beneke. Mercer didn’t have the control that Tex, let alone Jo, had.

On D-Day Jo had a song on the charts from the movie “Cover Girl,” called “Long Ago (And Far Away)”…

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/LongAgoAndFarAway.mp3]

In September she could be heard on the radio singing “It Could Happen To You”…

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/ItCouldHappenToYou.mp3]

After the war, Christmas ’45, when the Baby Boom started, there was “Symphony”…

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/Symphony.mp3]

And in September ’46, while those babies were being born, Jo sang “There Is Always”.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/ThisIsAlways.mp3]