THIS IS THE S’s (PART II)
Believe it or not, I have standards — which I have made the standard for S (Part II). One of the all-time great standards of America’s Golden Age of popular music is STELLA BY STARLIGHT, composed by Victor Young for the 1944 film THE UNINVITED. I invite you to be my guest for this good-as-it-gets rendition by the man known as “Mr. B”….
By most standards, the obscure tune which follows isn’t considered a standard….but when it’s by Cole Porter, almost any song (in my considered opinion) qualifies:
Our next S song has had more lives than a cat named Susie. It was first recorded by Eddie Cantor on 4/6/1925 and became a bestseller. It was subsequently sung by an actor who played Cantor in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936), by two guys named Gene & Frank in ANCHORS AWEIGH (1945), and again by Cantor in the films IF YOU KNEW SUSIE (1948) and THE EDDIE CANTOR STORY (1953)….not to mention other vintage recordings and performances. The clip below is from (guess which) one of the above:
We close with a song which may be too highbrow for some of you, but a little taste of class is surely worth the risk of a black eye to your reputation (such as it is — ha ha):
Madame Vintage, 
The Observation Post 
arekhill1 2:44 am on November 28, 2017 Permalink |
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mistermuse 8:47 am on November 28, 2017 Permalink |
Ah, yes, Ricardo — life was a beach with Sandy. Where have all the good times gone?
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Don Frankel 8:22 am on November 28, 2017 Permalink |
Am I old enough to remember Billy Eckstine singing on TV? Yes, and quite vividly too. And you’re right even some drunks singing in a bar, can’t ruin Cole Porter. You know there is an intricacy and a depth to his music and Gershwin too, that I don’t think exist in too many places.
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mistermuse 8:52 am on November 28, 2017 Permalink |
Don, in preparing this post, I listened to those first two songs multiple times. To repeat words from my first paragraph, they’re as good as it gets.
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Madame Vintage 3:07 pm on November 28, 2017 Permalink |
Some wonderful song choices here. I type this as my heart agrees to the sound of Stella by Starlight. It does something magical when I hear them in movies so it’s a wonderful feeling to be had.
Sincerely Sonea
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mistermuse 5:09 pm on November 28, 2017 Permalink |
When Stella By Starlight first appeared in the 1944 film THE UNINVITED, it was only an instrumental. In 1946 lyricist Ned Washington added words to the melody composed by Victor Young, and (as the old saying goes) the rest is history.
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Madame Vintage 6:55 pm on November 28, 2017 Permalink
Ah I see. Thank you for letting me know. It works wonders in both ways.
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