Category: Music

Jo Stafford, Right Tonight For Temptation

Let’s hear some more Jo Stafford, in recognition of her 90th birthday, a couple of days ago. Here are two songs by Jo that were on the radio at the same time, in 1947, the year this picture was taken with Tommy Dorsey and somebody who I assume you recognize.

Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford - 1947

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/NOV07/ImSoRightTonight.mp3,http://www.dograt.com/Audio/NOV07/Temptation.mp3]

Let the first one play through, then for contrast the second song will come in to give you an idea of her versatility.

Happy Birthday Jo Stafford

In three days Petula Clark turns 75 (Shhhhh! I don’t think we’re supposed to talk about Pet’s age), but today the singer Jo Stafford turned 90! Jo was a favorite of Charles M. Schulz, and a song by her is featured at this link. In December 1955, when TV was overtaking radio and Rock and Roll was taking over radio (please note the distinction), Jo had a song in the top 10 called ‘It’s Almost Tomorrow’.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/NOV07/ItsAlmostTomorrow.mp3]

Jo joined the television revolution, and later appeared on the Steve Allen Show. How many other faces do you recognize in this video?

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/NOV07/JoStafford.flv 400 300]

Bill Mumy Musings

Angela CartwrightHey, it’s been a whole week since we saw Bill Mumy in Springfield, MA. Yesterday he did an online one-hour audio interview that you can hear by clicking here. I agree 100% with Bill’s politics.

Once again I highly recommend listening to the Mumy Jukebox. I’m enjoying his new CD, The Landlord or the Guest, a lot. Mumy’s Lost In Space co-star Angela Cartwright, for whom I had a major crush, designed the art for the CD.

Bill Mumy - The Landlord or the Guest

Chopin’s Étude No. 3 in E, Op. 10

Once again I am grateful to Monte Schulz for his input. In my previous post he correctly identifies the music to Jo Stafford’s song ‘No Other Love’ as being by Frédéric Chopin. It is Chopin’s Étude No. 3 in E Major, Op. 10. Here is a recording of the complete piece.

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2011/Nov/Chopin.mp3|titles=Chopin’s Étude No. 3 in E Major, Op. 10]

Coffee Lane and Moon River

Charles M. Schulz Charles M. Schulz

The American Masters documentary Good Ol’ Charles Schulz was a surprise to me in a number of ways. I had expected the early years to be of greatest interest, but I feel the core of the program is actually the 10-minute segment about Coffee Lane. Monte Schulz characterizes his family’s time there as “those dear, dead days.”

Thirty seconds of Coffee Lane are on the video player. I took the picture in the preview frame from later in the segment. That’s a great shot, isn’t it?

[flv:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Video/Schulz/Schulz.flv 400 300]

Thanks again to Monte for contributing a comment to this blog. The audio player has the music that reminds him so much of Coffee Lane in Sebastopol, CA — Henry Mancini’s ‘Moon River’. For myself, the equivalent would be Peter, Paul & Mary records on Adams Lane in Norwalk, CT.

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2011/Nov/MR1.mp3|titles=Moon River by Henry Mancini]

Back in St. Paul, one of Charles Schulz’s favorite recording artists was Jo Stafford. I have found no reference to her in the Michaelis book, and I think that’s a serious omission. Below is a song sung by Jo, called ‘No Other Love’.

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2011/Nov/NoOtherLove.mp3|titles=No Other Love by Jo Stafford]

This record was popular on the radio in September, 1950 — after Sparky had lost Donna, and before he married Joyce. Keep that in mind, play it again, and listen carefully to the lyrics.