NRR Project: 'Body and Soul' (1939)

 

NRR Project: ‘Body and Soul’

Composed by Johnny Green, lyrics by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton

Performed by Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra

Recorded Oct. 11, 1939

3:02

 

First of all, I could not do better than the fantastic essay written by Stephen Rush for the National Recording Registry. Here it is, and it explicates the importance of this recording quite wonderfully.

Hawkins (1904-1969), originally from Missouri, gravitated to New York in the early 1920s. He is credited as one of the great jazz soloists, in league with Louis Armstrong and Lester Young. Here he improvises from the chord structure of the piece, largely ignoring the melody – a trend in music that would eventually develop into the bebop approach. By taking apart the song and riffing on its chord changes, he elevated the solo jazz instrument as an interpretive outlet for musicians who wanted to move past the more conservative playing of the 1920s and 1930s.

In other words, the piece is beautiful and deserves thoughtful listening.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: the Inkspots do ‘If I Didn’t Care’.

NRR Project: Casals plays the Bach Cello Suites

 

NRR Project: The Six Cello Suites

Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

Performed by Pablo Casals

Recorded 1936, 1938, 1939

2 hr. 10 min.

This recording is unprecedented. The Bach Cello Suites are six pieces, each consisting of six movements, starting with a theme and then developing into movements based on various dance styles of his day. Like all of Bach’s work, the Suites are both mathematically precise and deeply emotional, raging from deep sadness to pure joy.

Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was born in Spain to a musical father. A child prodigy, Casals had mastered many instruments before choosing to devote himself to the cello. When he was 13, he found the music for the Suites in a second-hand music shop in Barcelona. For he next 13 years, he practiced the Suites daily. Finally, he began to perform the Suites in public.

Soon his reputation grew. He won awards; he played for Queen Victoria; he amassed an international reputation. However, it wasn’t until the Spanish Civil War and World War II uprooted him and sent him to travel in the Western countries that he felt ready to record the suites. Over several sessions in different cities, he accumulated a complete recording of all six pieces.

There is a lack of indication of emphasis in Bach’s manuscript, which leaves the interpretation up to the individual performer. Casals adopts a romantic approach to the music, bowing aggressively and passionately. The result is a revelatory experience, one that combines supreme technical competence with deep feeling. To sit down and really listen to the music is an experience that transports the listener to a higher plane. Casals took a bravura piece for solo instrument and made it into a personal statement that still resounds today. Even after countless subsequent recordings, his original take on the Cello Suites stands monumentally above them.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Coleman Hawkins plays Body and Soul.

NRR Project: Kate Smith sings 'God Bless America' (Nov. 11, 1938)

 

NRR Project: ‘God Bless America’

Composed by Irving Berlin

Sung by Kate Smith

Broadcast Nov. 11, 1938

4:13

Kate Smith (1907-1986) was one of the 20^th Century’s first entertainment stars, who hosted a radio variety show, from the beginning of network radio in the late ‘20s, for many decades. She was not only a beloved singer in her own right; she broke new acts onto the scene, like Abbott and Costello, Henny Youngman, and what would become The Aldrich Family.

She endured much negative attention for her weight, initially; she describes herself as weeping after particular performances in which she felt humiliated. However, through sheer talent and application, she won everyone over with some sweet and a few hot jazz numbers. Her signature song: “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain.”

She was searching for a patriotic song to premiere over the air. She turned to America’s greatest songsmith, Irving Berlin, for a tune. Berlin reached into his pile of unused tunes and resurrected one from a 1918 military-themed review – “God Bless America.” Smith premiered it on Nov. 11 – what used to be referred to as Armistice Day – 1940.

In her excellent explanatory essay, which you can read here, Sheryl Kaskowitz analyzes the evolution of the song, especially in the fact of the usual removal of the opening verse, which is a bit dark and rueful, and refers to relief at being far from European conflicts. Smith dropped the opening and gave us the memorable chorus, an optimistic, marching beat that carries listeners along, that convinces them to sing along. It’s a very powerful song. But then again, Berlin was a genius.

This would become known as Smith’s other signature songs, one she would sing thousands of times in her career. It was “her” song. Not too shabby.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Pablo Casals plays Bach’s six Cello Suites.

Toscanini conducts Barber's Adagio for Strings (Nov. 5, 1938)

  

NRR Project: ‘Adagio for Strings’

Composed by Samuel Barber

Performed by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony

Broadcast Nov. 5, 1938

7:36

I could not do better than Barbara Heyman’s excellent essay on the piece, which you can readhere.

I can only add that the piece, a gentle ethereal rising of chords in the string section, slow and solemn, has always identified itself in my mind with death. It began with the media around the killing of John F. Kennedy, then cropped up consistently in times of mourning. It is deeply moving the first few times you hear it, but it has become oppressive through repetition.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Kate Smith sings God Bless America.

NRR Project: 'The War of the Worlds' panic -- Oct 30, 1938

 

NRR Project: ‘The War of the Worlds’

The Mercury Theatre on the Air

Broadcast Oct. 30, 1938

60 min.

The power of radio on the human mind was never so definitively demonstrated than on the night of Oct. 30, 1938. On that night, millions of people across America became convinced that Martians were attacking Earth.

Let’s back up a bit. Orson Welles (1915-1985) was a young genius who, at the unlikely age of 16, became a respected player in theater. He moved into radio, becoming the original voice of The Shadow, a popular thriller series. He mounted numerous plays, which led to him being selected to join the Federal Theatre Project, a government-subsidized arts program meant to offer employment to thousands of underemployed actors and technicians during the Great Depression.

In 1936, Welles opened his “voodoo Macbeth” in New York, an adaptation of the play with an all-Black ensemble, which proved a huge success. Welles mounted more plays, growing in fame and reputation. In 1937, he staged a seven-part radio adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables on CBS, which proved to be a hit also. At this early stage in his career, everything he did was golden.

The success of his radio project led him to form, with producer John Houseman, the Mercury Theatre on the Air, a network-sustained hour-long program that adapted key works of literature and dramaturgy. Their first broadcast was Dracula, on July 11, 1938 on CBS.

Welles was a master of conveying meaning and feeling through sound alone. He and his hard-working crew of regulars – including Everett Sloane, Ray Collins, Joseph Cotton, and Agnes Moorehead – whipped up an engaging and ambitious broadcast, week after week. They were competing against the very popular Chase and Sanborn Hour, starring ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, which played on NBC at the same time. It was their decision to mount H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds on Halloween Eve, 1938, that made them famous – or rather, infamous – overnight.

The writer assigned to the script, Howard Koch, found the adaptation frustrating. How could he convincingly portray an invasion of Earth by the inhabitants of Mars in a realistic and frightening way? Koch, assistant Anne Froelich, Houseman, and associate producer Paul Stewart hammered away at the script desperately, up against a strict deadline. Finally, they hit on setting the invasion in America instead of England, as it was in Wells’ novel, and to make it sound like the invasion was unfolding in real time, with fake news bulletins and eyewitness accounts of the mayhem.

That night, many listeners, having heard Bergen and McCarthy do their opening comedy routine, twiddled the dial to CBS and tuned in to what sounded like a genuine invasion. People panicked. The CBS switchboard lit up with alarmed calls. Thousands hit the streets, or drove frantically away from the supposed origin of the attack – Grover’s Mill, New Jersey.

The first 40 minutes of the program, which had no advertising to interrupt it, continued to sketch scenes of horror as the Martians rapidly took over the planet. At the 40-minute mark, the show’s announcer reminded the audience that it was listening to an adaptation of The War of the Worlds. (A more conventionally narrated conclusion took place after the announcement.) By then it was too late. An incensed crowd of police and reporters jammed the halls of CBS, looking for Welles and company. A shocked and shamefaced Welles emerged from the broadcast studio and apologized for the convincing deception.

The panic was the top story in all the newspapers of the day. Commentators inveighed against Welles. He thought his career was over.

Surprisingly, after a few weeks of world-wide attention, The Mercury Theatre on the Air got a sponsor and became the well-regarded Campbell Playhouse, continuing to put out radio adaptations for another two years. Welles was picked up by Hollywood, and proceeded to make Citizen Kane.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Barber’s Adagio for Strings.

NRR Project: Abbott and Costello, "Who's on First?" routine -- Oct. 6, 1938

 

NRR Project: ‘Who’s on First?’ routine

Performers: Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

Broadcast Oct. 6, 1938

6 min.

From the late 1930s through the mid-‘50’s, the top comedy duo in America was Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Bud was the tall, thin straight man; Lou was the short, fat laugh-getter. Their lightning-fast routines used word confusion and misdirection to stun audiences into laughter.

They worked together first in vaudeville and burlesque houses; they got their big break on the radio show The Kate Smith Hour on Feb. 3, 1938. They first performed their “Who’s on First? bit on March 24, 1938. (The first surviving recording of this bit took place on Oct. 6, 1938.) Immensely and immediately popular, the duo got their own 30-minute summer replacement show for Fred Allen in 1940. After that, they joined The Chase and Sanborn Hour in 1941, and landed their own show again in 1942.

Meanwhile, they started making movies as well. From 1940 through 1956, they made no less than 35 films, approximately three a year. They were the top box-office draw for may of those years. When television came along, they did that too, from 1952 through 1954. They were finally dethroned as a comedy duo by up-and-comers Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

“Who’s on First?” is a classic sketch, definitely the best-known of their bits and one of the classic comedy bits of all time. It revolves around baseball players’ nicknames. Bud announces that on his team are Who, on first; What, on second, and I Don’t Know on third. “Who’s on first?” asks Lou. “Yes,” answers Bud. “Look, all I want to know is what’s the guy’s name on first,” says Lou. “What’s on second,” answers Bud. “I don’t know!” says Lou. “Third base,” answers Bud.

And things go haywire from there. Lou gets more and more worked up, at one point saying, “I’ll break your arm if you say who’s on first again!” he hollers. Eventually, Lou gives up. “I don’t care,” he proclaims. “Oh,” replies Bud, “that’s out shortstop!”

The routine itself is fairly old; so old, in fact, that it was held in the public domain until the boys copyrighted it in 1944. They did the routine hundreds, if not thousands, of times – live, on the radio, on film, and on TV. It became their signature routine.

The sketch is so well-known that it plays in perpetuity at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: The War of the Worlds.

NRR Project: Joe Louis-Max Schmeling prizefight -- June 22, 1938

 

NRR Project: The Joe Louis-Max Schmeling fight

Announcer: Clem McCarthy

Broadcast June 22, 1938

2:04

This recording is important not for its inherent memorability – it is after all just the record of a short boxing match. What makes it significant is the meaning placed onto the fight by virtue of its contestants – a Black American and a white German, on the eve of World War II.

Joe Louis, “the Brown Bomber,” was a contender for the heavyweight boxing crown when he faced Schmeling in 1936. Schmeling defeated him in 12 rounds. Louis wanted a rematch, and he became a prized opponent after winning the heavyweight championship against Jim Braddock. Schmeling wanted to defeat him and take the title.

The camps in opposition were fervid. The entire African American community, of course, supported Louis, as did defenders of democracy. The Nazis and the racists sided with Schmeling. The contest was to prove who was superior – the Black man or the white man.

The bout was held at a sold-out Yankee Stadium. It is estimated that 70 million Americans tuned in the to fight on the radio. Behind the mike was the veteran sports announcer Clem McCarthy. Louis was in fine shape, and battered the poor Schmeling incessantly from the word go. Finally, with only a couple of minutes gone in the first round, Schmeling surrendered. Louis was heavyweight champion of the world by technical knockout.

The country exploded with glee. Hitler’s theories of white racial superiority were disproved emphatically. Joe Louis successfully defended his title 25 times after that, remaining heavyweight champion until 1949, the longest reign in heavyweight history. Schemling got drafted into the German army.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Who’s on First?