20,000 vinyl LPs 369: Vincent Edwards Sings

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Vincent Edwards  ~ Vince Edwards Sings

vinyl LP front cover 

 cover photographer unknown

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Today is the birthday of Vincent Edward Zoino, better known as Vincent Edwards, who was born on July 9, 1928, in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York City, New York. His best claim to fame was as TV's Dr. Ben Casey; he also appeared in many films.        

 

 

Vincent Edwards as Dr. Ben Casey - 1963
 

 

He was originally an athlete, a swimmer and a bodybuilder in the late 1940s and early 1950s and won a scholarship to Ohio State University.

 

 

Vincent Edwards - 40's or 50's 

photographer unknown
 

 

He was discovered by Bing Crosby and his first acting role was the low-budget United Artists comedy Mr. Universe (1951; with Jack Carson and Bert Lahr), with Edwards portraying Tommy Tomkins, an honest wrestler who runs afoul of gangsters.       

 

 

 

 

Harry Landers also was in Mr. Universe and would later appear in the Dr. Ben Casey series with Edwards.    

Harry Landers - 1965

Dr. Ben Casey

 

During his acting career Edwards ventured occasionally into the recording studios and there were a number of singles released in his name. The most important one was never issued, and in 1959 Ray Peterson was credited with the first version of The Wonder of You which became an international hit for him and for Elvis Presley - however, the very first recording was made by Edwards.      

 

Edwards recorded five albums in total but Vince Edwards Sings was the only one which charted and it spent several weeks on the top-20 Billboard LP charts in early 1962.    

 

He was an excellent singer. with a great range and a powerful tenor voice that rang out clear and beautiful.     

 

Vincent Edwards married actress Kathy Kersh in June 1965, but they split soon after the wedding. Their daughter was born following the divorce, and Kersh later married actor Burt Ward, 'Robin' on the ABC TV series Batman.

 

Vincent Edwards  ~ Vince Edwards Sings

vinyl LP back cover 

photo by Styrous®

 

   

Tracklist:
       
Side 1:

        

A1 - I'll Walk Alone, written by Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn

A2 - Don't Worry 'Bout Me, written by Rube Bloom, Ted Koehler

A3 - When I Fall In Love, written by Edward Heyman, Victor Young

A4 - I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good), written by Duke Ellington, Paul Francis Webster

A5 - Try A Little Tenderness, written by Harry Woods (2), Jimmy Campbell*, Reg Connelly*

A6 - How Deep Is The Ocean (How High Is The Sky), written by Irving Berlin

       
Side 2:
       
B1 - Lonesome Road, written by Gene Austin, Nathaniel Shilkret

B2 - Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All The Time), written by Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler

B3 - As Time Goes By, written by Herman Hupfeld

B4 - And Now, written by George Weiss*, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore

B5 - Unchained Melody, written by Alex North, Hy Zaret

B6 - Everybody's Got A Home But Me, written by Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers
       
Companies, etc.
       
    Pressed By – Decca Records Pressing Plant, Gloversville
       
Credits:
       
    Conductor – Charles "Bud" Dant, Dick Jacobs
    Producer – Abby Greshler
       
Notes:
       

       
Barcode and Other Identifiers
        

    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A (stamped), Variant 1): MG 8514 T1
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B (stamped), Variant 1): MG 8515 T2
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A (stamped), Variant 2): MG 8514 T5 V 2
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B (stamped), Variant 2): MG 8515 T5 V 3

Vincent Edwards* – Vincent Edwards Sings
Label:    Decca – DL 4311
Format:    Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1962
Genre: Pop
Style: Vocal

         

Viewfinder links:        

         

Jack Carson                

Bing Crosby        

Vince Edwards         

Bert Lahr           

Elvis Presley        

Burt Ward        

        

Net links:        

        

Brian's Drive-In Theater ~ Vince Edwards         

IMDB Trivia ~ Vince Edwards        

        

YouTube links:        

        

Ben Casey Opening Credits - including Primal metaphysics        

I'll Walk Alone        

        

         

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Tuesday, July 9, 2024    
       

 

 

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Bert Lahr articles/mentions

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Waiting for Godot ~ Samuel Beckett   
The Wizard of Oz   
     
      
        
mentions:     
Vincent Edwards Sings    
      
      
      
     

Bert Lahr - 1936 

photographer unknown 

      
     

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1,001 LaserDiscs 5: The Wizard of Oz

           

On August 15, 1939, The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.            

Grauman's Chinese Theatre 

photo by Carol Highsmith

The film made Judy Garland a megastar when she sang the movie's song, Over the Rainbow, and as they say, the rest is history. 

I first saw Oz on the 1949 re-release of the film. I was a little kid and had seen the ads about the "Glorious" color of the film. I remember being incredibly excited about going to see the film then watching the film start and being bitterly disappointed and mad that it was not in color. I felt cheated; that's what had been promised!!!!! (link below)             

"Metro-Goldwyn Mayer's TECHNICOLOR TRIUMPH!"

The Wizard of Oz movie poster

Then Dorothy opens the door and this flood of color overwhelmed me like a tsunami and I remember the feeling of the hackles on my neck rising. It WAS Glorious and I've been hooked ever since!

All of the Oz sequences were filmed in Three-strip Technicolor. The opening and closing credits, as well as the Kansas sequences, were filmed in black and white and colored in a sepia-tone process. Sepia-toned film was also used in the scene where Aunt Em appears in the Wicked Witch's crystal ball.   

     

The Wizard of Oz 

LaserDisc front cover 

photo of cover by Styrous®

Originally a book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, was named by him from a library shelf labled "O to Z". The film is one of the towering film greats of Hollywood. It was released near the end of the Great Depression and may have helped people survive it.

The original producers thought that a 1939 audience was too sophisticated to accept Oz as a straight-ahead fantasy; therefore, it was re-conceived as a lengthy, elaborate dream sequence.   

The Wizard of Oz 

LaserDisc back cover 

photo of cover by Styrous®

The Wizard of Oz is legendary for its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters (link below), it has become an icon of American popular culture. This edition of the film is a gatefold album so there are more images from the film.         

The Wizard of Oz 

LaserDisc gatefold album

photo of cover by Styrous®

The songs were written by Edgar "Yip" Harburg (lyrics) and Harold Arlen (music). The musical score and incidental music were composed by Herbert Stothart.

Because of a perceived need to attract a youthful audience through appealing to modern fads and styles, the score had featured a song called The Jitterbug (link below). The tune was sung by Dorothy, together with the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion; it was a jazzy development of the plot and a nod to the then-popular bobby-soxer dance craze. However, the segment was cut from the film.

The only film footage of the segment that exists is a grainy home movie shot by the film's composer Harold Arlen, taken during dress rehearsal from behind the scenes. The actual footage for the film was destroyed. The Arlen footage is included in this LaserDisc edition.      

 

The Wizard of Oz, The Jitterbug scene 

film still

    
The Wicked Witch of the West makes reference to this number in the finished film, telling the leader of the monkeys that she had sent "a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them", a line that is perhaps the most obvious continuity error in the film.     

A recording of the song was featured as the B-side of the original 78 RPM 1939 single, Over the Rainbow, released by Decca.

      

The Wizard of Oz 

LaserDisc gatefold album interior

photo by Styrous®

One of my favorite songs from the film, Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead, is joyously performed by the Munchkins, denizens of Munchkinland (link below) after her sister, the Wicked Witch of the East, has been squashed when the house, with Dorothy in it, lands on her. Klaus Nomi (link below) did a fantastic new wave/disco cover of the song (link below) in the early eighties.     

The Wicked Witch of the West receives her just rewards when Dorothy accidentally splashes water on her and she melts (link below). I remember hearing the kids in the audience whooping and cheering when it happens.    

 

 The Wizard of Oz LaserDisc

back cover detail

detail photo of cover by Styrous®

The songs by each of Dorothy's conpanions are a joy to watch. There is the Scarecrow, portrayed by Ray Bolger, who sings, If I Only Had a Brain (link below).           

Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow

 

There is Jack Haley in the role of the Tin Woodman who sings the same song except he desires to have a heart so he can feel emotions but especially love (link below).    

Jack Haley as the Tin Man

And, last but not least, the adorable, Bert Lahr, who is the Cowardly Lion and wishes more than anything to have courage, If I Only Had the Nerve. His version is my favorite of the three. Later he sings, If I Were King of the Forest and the ending is hysterical (link below).   

Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion

Of course, when they all finally get their wishes it turns out each of them had want they wanted in the first place.  

The double roles of Miss Almira Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West, are delightfully, wickedly portrayed by Margaret Hamilton, and is one of the stellar performances of the film. She and Darth Vader are two of the gods at the top of my Pantheon of villians.     

Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton)

The Wizard of Oz LaserDisc

LaserDisc album back cover detail

detail photo of back cover by Styrous®

 

 Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) - left

Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) - right

movie still

The film was considered a critical success when released in August 1939 but failed to make a profit for MGM until the 1949 re-release, earning only $3,017,000 on a $2,777,000 budget, not including promotional costs, which made it MGM's most expensive production to that time.      

The 1956 television broadcast premiere of the film on the CBS network reintroduced the film to the public; watching it became an annual tradition and, according to the Library of Congress, it is the most seen film in movie history. It was among the first 25 films that inaugurated the National Film Registry list in 1989. It is also one of the few films on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. The film is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.

Not that there is any connection nor resemblance to the movie, Oz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all 56 of the series episodes. It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by the premium cable network HBO. Oz premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons; the series finale aired February 23, 2003. The series catapulted Christopher Meloni to stardom and reenforced the already impressive career of Rita Moreno.    

Oz TV series logo

There have been two stage musical versions of the movie, The Wiz, released in 1974, and Wicked, released on May 28, 2003, at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco. I saw both; The Wiz was brilliant; I especially loved the Tornado Dance. A ballerina came out pirouetting on pointe in a black body suit that completely covered her from head to toe. Her headdress was an enormous black fabric that was anchord to the Fly system over the stage; as she pirouetted around the stage the fabric twisted and flared out at the top. It was extremely effective!     

Wicked didn't make it for me!        

   

    

The Wizard of Oz LaserDisc

front cover detail

detail photo of cover by Styrous®

The American musical adventure fantasy film The Wiz, based on the stage play rather than  the  1939 movie. produced by Universal Pictures and Motown Productions, was released by Universal Pictures on October 24, 1978.    

It featured an entirely African-American cast which starred Diana Ross (Dorothy), Michael Jackson (Scarecrow), Nipsey Russell (Tin Man), Ted Ross (Cowardly Lion), Richard Pryor (The Wiz), Lena Horne (Glinda the Good Witch), and many more wonderful performers.          

The interpretatons of the songs were brilliant, such as, Follow the Yellow Brick Road became Ease On Down the Road (links below).      

    

  

Map of Oz

In January 1938, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights to the L. Frank Baum novel from Samuel Goldwyn, who had toyed with the idea of making the film as a vehicle for Eddie Cantor, who was under contract to the Goldwyn studios and whom Goldwyn wanted to cast as the Scarecrow.     

The Wizard of Oz LaserDisc

back cover detail

detail photo of cover by Styrous®

The novel by Baum was first made into a movie in the twenties, released on April 13, 1925. One of the actors in the film was Oliver Hardy, of Laurel and Hardy fame. It was filmed again in Canada and released in 1933.        

In the fifties, there was a half-hour television adaptation with puppets directed by Burr Tillstrom, famous for creating the TV show Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

An anime feature film version from Japan, directed by Fumihiko Takayama, was released on October 6, 1982. In the 1980s, a re-edited version of the Takayama film was released in Czechoslovakia. The film was dubbed into the Slovak language except for the songs, which were performed by Japanese singers (from the original Japanese music version). Some other foreign dubs, such as the Italian and Greek versions, had this premise edit as well. The complete Italian version is on YouTube (link below).   

In the ninties, there was a Wizard of Oz (TV series), which premiered on ABC, starting on September 8, 1990. The series also aired on YTV from 1990 to 1995 in Canada. Reruns aired on Toon Disney from 1998 to 2002.    

In 1993, a Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game which is loosely based on the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. It was developed by Manley & Associates and published by SETA Corporation on October 5, 1993. The object in the game is to defeat the Wicked Witch of the West that is trying to take Dorothy's ruby slippers so that Dorothy can return to Kansas.     

The Wizard of Oz LaserDisc

LaserDisc gatefold album interior detail

detail photo by Styrous®

One of my favorite scenes from the film is, "Who Rang That Bell?" uttered by the doorman at the gate of Oz (link below).
  

The Wizard of Oz LaserDisc

LaserDisc gatefold album interior detail

detail photo by Styrous®

The Wizard of Oz was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but lost to the other film great produced that year, Gone with the Wind. Oz won two categories, Best Original Song for Over the Rainbow and Best Original Score by Stothart.          

In the field of human–computer interaction, a Wizard of Oz experiment is a research experiment in which subjects interact with a computer system that subjects believe to be autonomous, but which is actually being operated or partially operated by an unseen human being. 

The phrase Wizard of Oz (originally OZ Paradigm) has come into common usage in the fields of experimental psychology, human factors, ergonomics, linguistics, and usability engineering to describe a testing or iterative design methodology wherein an experimenter (the “wizard”), in a laboratory setting, simulates the behavior of a theoretical intelligent computer application (often by going into another room and intercepting all communications between participant and system). Sometimes this is done with the participant’s a-priori knowledge and sometimes it is a low-level deceit employed to manage the participant’s expectations and encourage natural behaviors.    

The Wizard of Oz LaserDisc

LaserDisc gatefold album interior details

detail photos by Styrous®

The Wizard of Oz LaserDisc

LaserDisc sleeve

photos by Styrous®

     

             

             

               

Viewfinder links:         

             
Judy Garland            
Harold Arlen          

Darth Vader              

Lena Horne       

Michael Jackson           
Rita Moreno      
Klaus Nomi     
Richard Pryor        
         

Net links:         

             

The Wizard of Oz ~           

     Plot         

     Cast  
     Music
       
YouTube links:         

                  

The Wizard of Oz ~             

                    ~ Somewhere Over the Rainbow   
                    ~ Dorothy entering Technicolor

                    ~ Munchkin Welcome      
                    ~ The Jitterbug [outtake]     

                    ~ If I Only Had a Brain           
                    ~ If I Only Had a Heart           
                    ~ If I Were King of the Forest   
                    ~ Follow the Yellow Brick Road    

                    ~ I'm Melting!       
                    ~ Wizard of Oz Outtake     
                    ~ "Who Rang That Bell?"
Klaus Nomi ~ Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
The Wiz ~ Ease On Down the Road                
History of The Wizard of Oz                  
Bizarre Things That Happened On The Set Of The Wizard Of Oz   
Behind The Scenes       
Angelica e o Magico de Oz - (The Wizard of Oz) (1982)
                    
          

The Wizard of Oz LaserDisc

front cover detail

detail photo of cover by Styrous®

  

             

Styrous® ~ Wednesday, August 15, 2018       

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