Mosaic Records will soon be releasing a 10-CD box of over 200 classic recordings by big swing bands from 1943-49 that were recorded by the War Department for the worldwide V-Disc program. The intention was to record and deliver the cream of American (and some world) music directly to service people stationed around the country and overseas as a patriotic morale booster during those difficult years.
At first, Army brass were wary of too much popular music being recorded by the new V-Disc program. Many of the early releases were of marches and other patriotic selections, often with the slogan, “Music for Marching Men,” emblazoned on the labels.
It was soon realized that marches were not heavily desired by servicemen and women for spare time listening and relaxing. Marches were fine for the parade grounds, but not in the barracks. Classical, country and ethnic performers soon began to appear on these 12-inch platters. Most wanted was current popular and swing music.
V-Disc producers George T Simon, Tony Janak, Steve Sholes, Morty Palitz and others had spent years working for record companies and music publications. They had many contacts in the music world and were cued in on what listeners wanted to hear. And the big bands were always at the top of the request list!
Ironically, the World War II years were a glorious time for the big bands and show business in general. The thousands of men and women working in the armed services and war production had lots of money to spend, finally ending the decade-long Depression. During those years, the bands rose to tremendous heights of popularity with many groups adding string sections, additional instruments and vocal groups, since the money was rolling in. Though it was difficult for the bands to travel regularly due to gas restrictions, aging buses and worn car tires, most still managed to visit radio stations and service bases all over the country to provide a warm and welcome taste of home.
Because the 1942 to 1944 Petrillo recording ban kept musicians out of the commercial studios, it was a bonus for them to record V-Discs for service personnel, providing a chance to get their latest arrangements and newest songs out to a welcoming listening audience. As long as musicians, singers and bandleaders were willing to record for free, the V-Discers welcomed them with open arms. And they responded with some of their best, most exciting music, before the bubble finally burst after the war ended.
Soldiers, sailors and airmen (and women) now wanted to take their saved-up money and settle down, get a job, get married, buy a house and have kids. Going out to the movies, nightclubs and dance halls didn’t seem so important anymore and venues began to close all over the country. Television was about to catch on and it had little space for the big bands. But what a ride it was while it lasted!
Benny Goodman made his first film appearances with his orchestra in 1936 and 1937 in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1937 and HOLLYWOOD HOTEL. After these well-received features, he made no others for five long years, the period of his greatest popularity.
THE GANG’S ALL HERE remains the best-remembered Goodman film of the era, mostly for reasons that have little to do with Benny. 20th Century Fox pulled out all the stops for this one – who cared about wartime austerity? The film starred Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda and was acclaimed film choreographer-director Busby Berkeley’s first color assignment. Not just any color – Fox specialized in super-saturated Technicolor photography, which made Alice and Carmen look as luscious as cherry-topped ice-cream sundaes.
After writing the wonderful scores for the two Glenn Miller films and Harry James’ SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES, Fox once again hired composer Harry Warren to write THE GANG’S ALL HERE score, but not with his usual lyricist Mack Gordon. Leo Robin was equally as adept as Gordon and crafted two lovely ballads, “No Love, No Nothin’” and “A Journey to a Star.” Alice Faye delivered both of them, memorably.
In addition to the opening number, the Latin classic “Brazil,” Carmen Miranda made the most of her two feature novelties, “You Discover You’re in New York,” “The Lady with the Tutti-Frutti Hat” Director Busby Berkeley made the most of Fox Technicolor, with spectacular, surrealistic effects and over-the-top set pieces, like Carmen Miranda’s dancing bananas and huge fruit hat. The “Polka-Dot Polka” finale tops them all, with neon hoops, wild color shifts and a kaleidoscopic windup, with all the cast members singing a line of “A Journey to a Star” with their heads poked through a shimmering silver curtain. “Buy Your War Bonds at the Theater!”
The film was so stuffed with songs by the principals, comedy from Carmen, Charlotte Greenwood, Eugene Pallette and Edward Everett Horton, dance routines by Tony DeMarco and Berkeley’s lengthy production numbers that very little time was left for the mundane girl-falls-for-soldier plot, which was just as well. Berkeley was never a great dialogue director and Alice Faye pretty much sleepwalks her way though her on again-off again romance with the less than scintillating James Ellison. With all the male stars off at war, Faye had to make do with the leftovers here.
Getting back to Benny and the boys, this was a band in transition. The draft had decimated his great 1941-42 band and a lot of newcomers were present here, as the personnel on the heading shows. Youngsters Lee Castle, Louis Bellson and Jon Walton play alongside oldsters Miff Mole, Jess Stacy and Hymie Schertzer.
THE GANG’S ALL HERE was one of the last Fox musicals that had special 78rpm pressings done of the songs as souvenir albums for the cast and production people. As with the Glenn Miller films, these albums are pretty rare. With the war going strong, niceties like these discs fell by the wayside and Fox stopped doing them in 1944. Little surprises do pop up on these discs. The “Paducah” record, for example, has several extra band choruses before Carmen Miranda’s vocal that were cut by the time the film was released. Only the Goodman numbers are mentioned above, but there were numerous additional ones as well.
As one of the most ephemeral of World War II era musicals, THE GANG’S ALL HERE has had a surprising afterlife. In 1974, the film was reissued to theaters in an eye-popping new print and it instantly became a camp classic, primarily for the Busby Berkeley and Carmen Miranda contributions. Reviewers like Rex Reed fell all over themselves to praise Berkeley and the candy-colored backgrounds. Other theatrical revivals followed and the film eventually turned up on the AMC cable network in the 1990s. It took awhile for a home video release, apparently due to problems with the film negative elements.
COMMUNITY SWING 