Showing posts with label Angela Lansbury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Angela Lansbury. Show all posts

November 14, 2023

20,000 vinyl LPs 339: Elvis Presley ~ Blue Hawaii

 ~  
vinyl LP front cover 
photo of album cover by Styrous®


On November 14, in 1961, the musical romantic comedy-drama film, Blue Hawaii, starring Elvis Presley premiered and started the Hawaii themed series of his movies. The film was announced in the fall of 1960 as Hawaii Beach Boy. At the time, film producer Walter Mirisch had a film titled Hawaii in production and he was upset that Hal B. Wallis had chosen such a similar name.      
 
 
Elvis Presley ~ Blue Hawaii
vinyl LP back cover 
photo of album cover by Styrous®
 
 
The screenplay by Hal Kanter was nominated by the Writers Guild of America in 1962 in the category of Best Written American Musical. The film opened at number two in box-office receipts for that week and, despite mixed reviews from critics, finished as the 10th top-grossing film of 1961 and 14th for 1962 in the Variety national box office survey, earning $5 million. The film won a fourth place prize Laurel Award in the category of Top Musical of 1961.         
 
For me the highlight of this album is Can't Help Falling in Love which was written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss and published by Gladys Music, Inc. The melody is based on Plaisir d'amour, a popular French love song composed in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini. The song was initially written from the perspective of a woman as "Can't Help Falling in Love with Him", which explains the first and third line ending on "in" and "sin" rather than words rhyming with "you".   
 
Angela Lansbury played the mother of Presley's character (Chadwick "Chad" Gates), Howard McNear was Mr. Chapman; ten years earlier McNear was in the Lucille Ball - Desi Arnaz film, The Long, Long Trailer and appeared again with Presley in 1963 in Fun in Acapulco.         


 
Elvis Presley ~ Blue Hawaii
vinyl LP record labels 1 & 2
photos by Styrous®



   
Tracklist:
       
Side 1:
        
A1 - Blue Hawaii, Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires, written by Leo Robin, Ralph Rainger - 2:35

A2 - Almost Always True, written by Ben Weisman (2), Fred Wise - 2:24

A3 - Aloha Oe, Adapted By, Arranged By Elvis Presley, Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires - 1:54

A4 - No More, Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires, written by Don Robertson (2), Hal Blair - 2:22

A5 - Can't Help Falling In Love, Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires, written by Fuller*, Peretti*, Creatore* - 2:59

A6 - Rock-A-Hula Baby, Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires, written by Weisman*, Fuller*, Wise* - 1:58

A7 - Moonlight Swim, written by Weisman*, Sylvia Dee - 2:18
       
Side 2:
       
B1 - Ku-u-i-po (Hawaiian Sweetheart), Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires, written by Weiss*, Peretti*, Creatore* - 2:22

B2 - Ito Eats, Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires, written by Tepper-Bennett - 1:25

B3 - Slicin' Sand, Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires, written by Tepper-Bennett - 1:34

B4 - Hawaiian Sunset, Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires, written by Tepper-Bennett - 2:30

B5 - Beach Boys Blue, Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires, written by Tepper-Bennett - 2:00

B6 - Island Of Love (Kauai), written by Tepper-Bennett - 2:40

B7 - Hawaiian Wedding Song, Backing Vocals – The Jordanaires, written by Hoffman*, King*, Manning* - 2:48
       
Companies, etc.
       
    Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Indianapolis
       
Credits:
       
    Backing Vocals – The Surfers (4)
       
Notes:
       
"LIVING STEREO" on cover,
"STEREO" on labels.
       
Barcode and Other Identifiers
 
1st Catalog Number as it appears on Cover
2nd Catalog Number as it appears on Labels

    Matrix / Runout (Side A Label): M2PY-2998
    Matrix / Runout (Side B Label): M2PY-2999
    Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Stamped): M2PY-2998-14S I ^1
    Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Stamped): M2PY-2999-14S I ^2
 
Elvis Presley – Blue Hawaii
Label:    RCA Victor – LSP-2426, RCA Victor – LSP 2426
Series:    Living Stereo
Format:    Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, Indianapolis Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1961
Genre: Rock, Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack, Rock & Roll      


         
Viewfinder links:        
         
Desi Arnaz        
Lucille Ball        
The Jordanaires                 
Elvis Presley        
        
Net links:        
        
Brutally Honest Rock ~ Elvis Presley – Blue Hawaii       
Elvis Presley site              

        
YouTube links:        
        
Blue Hawaii          
Aloha Oe          
No More        
Rock-A-Hula Baby        
Moonlight Swim      
Ito Eats          
Slicin' Sand        
Hawaiian Sunset                  
Beach Boys Blue         
Hawaiian Wedding Song         
        
         
         
 

 
        
        
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, November 14, 2023       
       
 
 














Angela Lansbury articles/mentions

  ~       
     
     
     
mentions:     
The Man In the Moon is a Lady     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
Angela Lansbury - ca 1950
publicity photo
     
     
     
      
     















December 2, 2019

The Man In the Moon is a Lady









photo by Styrous®









As I experiment with abstract photographic images I see various subjects in them and quite often there are musical connections I make; that's the fun of visual and especially musical abstraction, experimentation and chance operation

After studying this image for some time, the expression, The Man In the Moon, entered my mind; it refers to any of several pareidolic images of a human face, head or body that certain traditions recognize in the disc of the full moon. The images are composed of the dark areas of the lunar maria, or "seas" and the lighter highlands of the lunar surface.   
       
Then the song, The Man In the Moon is a Lady (link below), sung by Beatrice Arthur in the 1966 Broadway musical, Mame, started running around my mind.      


Beatrice Arthur as Vera Charles in Mame


It's a totally wacky little tune but it's the kind that tends to stick in the mind and the lyrics (link below) are silly but I've been fond of it for decades. 

In 2013, Australian director, Brenda Clarke, did a short film using a faster tempo on piano version of the song with Leon Clarke and Annalisa Lucca dancing; it can be seen on the Australian Maid Productions site (link below). It's a lot of fun to watch.            

As I studied this image I decided to research the song title to see if it had any prior instances; lo and behold I found one. In 1960 Floyd Robinson recorded a song titled, The Man In The Moon Is A Lady (link below). It's a bouncy little tune that is a blend of early rock 'n' roll, country and comedy. I have no idea if the writers of Mame heard it and were influenced by it.       

Robinson was an American country singer, born in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1959 he also wrote, The Little Space Girl, for Jesse Lee Turner (link below). It is in the same vein as Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley (link below) with the feeling of  I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash. The common thread of all the songs is they are silly with squeaky voices representing the aliens in question and it's great fun to listen to them.
     
      
     
        
Viewfinder links:       
     
Exquisite Little Things 2         
The Man in the Moon Is a Lady lyrics      
     
Net links:       
   
Curious Myths of the Middle Ages/The Man in the Moon       
       
YouTube links:       
       
   
A view of the moon taken Dec. 7, 1992, by NASA's Galileo spacecraft as it traveled to explore the Jupiter system. The distinct bright ray crater at the bottom of the image is the Tycho impact basin.         
         

       
       
       Ya gotta have a sense of humor!

     
        
Styrous® ~ Monday, December 2, 2019