45 RPMs 103: Bill Doggett ~ Honky Tonk Pt. 1 & 2

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Today is the birthday of one of my favorite 50's composers, Bill Doggett. Born on Wednesday, February 16, 1916, in Philadelphia, he was an American pianist and organist. 

 

Doggett and Shep Shepard wrote one of my favorite songs to dance to, Honky Tonk, when I was in my mid-teens in junior high school (that's what it was called back then). It is a moderately paced tune that, depending on your mood and who you're dancing with, can be slow or fast danced to. And of course, Clifford Scott sends me out of this world with his incredible sax work.      

 

The year previously Doggett did an instrumental version of What A Diff'rence A Day Made that he completely knocked out of the park. While he played keyboard he is accompanied by a terrific sax (don't know if it was Scott). Where Dinah Washington sings it slow and dreamy, Doggett rocks it out. And rock hadn´t even been invented yet!          

 

Bill Doggett began his career playing swing music then went into rhythm and blues; he was a pioneer of rock and roll and is known for his instrumental compositions Honky Tonk and Hippy Dippy, He worked with some of the great musicians of the period: the Ink Spots, Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Jordan were some of them.              

 

He continued to play and arrange until he died when he was 80 from cancer on November 13, 1996, in New York City.       

 

 

 

Bill Doggett - Honky Tonk 

45 RPM record 

photo by Styrous® 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Doggett - Honky Tonk. parts 1 & 2 

45 RPM record 

photo by Styrous® 

 

 

 

        

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A - Honky Tonk (Part 1) - 2:40

Side 2:

B - Honky Tonk (Part 2) - 2:32

Companies, etc.

    Published By – Billace

 Credits:

 

      Written-By – Doggett*, Butler*, Scott*, Shepherd*

 

Notes:

Label variant "High" not italicized
Slightly shorter writers credit line
Runouts are etched

(Billace-BMI)

Instrumental

High Fidelity

Barcode and Other Identifiers        

         

    Rights Society: BMI
    Matrix / Runout (A-side - label): 45—K8767
    Matrix / Runout (B-side - label): 45—K8768
    Matrix / Runout (A-side runout, variant 1): K-45-8767-1
    Matrix / Runout (B-side runout, variant 1): K-45-8768-2
    Matrix / Runout (A-side runout, variant 2): K-45-8767-1
    Matrix / Runout (B-side runout, variant 2): K-45-8768-1
    Matrix / Runout (A-side runout, variant 3): K-45-8767-2
    Matrix / Runout (B-side runout, variant 3): K-45-8768-2

Bill Doggett – Honky Tonk
Label: King Records (3) – 45-4950
Format: Vinyl, 7", Single, 45 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1956
Genre: Funk / Soul, Blues
Style: Rhythm & Blues, Instrumental

        

        

        

        

Viewfinder links:       

        

Billy Butler        

Bill Doggett        

Ella Fitzgerald         

Wynonie Harris               

The Ink Spots        

Louis Jordan         

Johnny Otis       

Clifford Scott         

Shep Shepard       

Dinah Washington            

 

 

        
         

     
Net links:       

         

         

         

        
     
YouTube links:      
        
        

Bill Doggett ~ Honky Tonk Pt. 1 & 2         

      
        
         

        

        

Styrous® ~ Monday, February 16, 2026 

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20,000 vinyl LPs 400: Michael Gambon ~ The Singing Detective

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Dennis Potter  ~ The Singing Detective

film still 

 

Today is the birthday of Irish-English actor, Michael Gambon who was born in 1940, in the Cabra suburb of Dublin. He performed with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. He received four BAFTA Awards for the British film The Singing Detective.        

The Singing Detective - vinyl LP front cover 

 photo of album cover by Styrous®

The Singing Detective is a six-part BBC television serial drama, written by Dennis Potter, starring Michael Gambon and directed by Jon Amiel. Its six episodes are "Skin", "Heat", "Lovely Days", "Clues", "Pitter Patter" and "Who Done It". The serial was broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1986 on Sunday nights from 16 November to 21 December, with later PBS and cable television showings in the United States.  It won a Peabody Award in 1989 and ranks 20th on the British Film Institute list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, as voted by industry professionals in 2000. It was included in the 1992 Dennis Potter retrospective at the Museum of Television & Radio and became a permanent addition to the museum's collections in New York and Los Angeles.

The plot: Mystery writer Philip E. Marlow is suffering writer's block and is hospitalized because his psoriatic arthropathy, a chronic skin and joint disease, is at an acute stage, forming lesions and sores over his entire body and partially crippling his hands and feet. Dennis Potter suffered from this disease and he wrote with a pen tied to his fist in much the same fashion Marlow does in the last episode. (Although severe, Marlow's condition was intentionally understated compared to Potter's, whose skin would sometimes crack and bleed.) Being a sufferer of this condition, it is one of my favorite films of all time.                As a result of constant pain, a fever caused by the condition and his refusal to take medication, Marlow falls into a fantasy world involving his Chandleresque novel The Singing Detective, an escapist and noir adventure about a detective (also named "Philip Marlow") who sings at a dance hall and takes the jobs refused by "the guys who don't sing". Marlow is "plot-dreaming", trying out various solutions to a working plot in his head, deciding as he goes what plot element works best with what character or situation, interspersed with bits of ideas that occur to him off the top of his head and discarding (with some afterthoughts) parts of his story that no longer work when other changes have been made.     

 

Some members of the cast play several roles. Marlow and his alter ego, the singing detective, are played by Michael Gambon. Patrick Malahide plays three characters—the contemporary Finney, who Marlow thinks is having an affair with his ex-wife Nicola, played by Janet Suzman; the imaginary Binney, a central character in the murder plot; and Raymond, a friend of Marlow's father who has an affair with his mother (Alison Steadman). Steadman plays Marlow's mother and the mysterious "Lili", one of the murder victims. At the end of the serial, Marlow and Nicola appear to have repaired their relationship.         

Dennis Potter  ~ The Singing Detective

vinyl LP back cover 

photo of album cover by Styrous®

In Potter's original script, the hospital scenes were to be shot with television (video), the noir scenes with film cameras, and the period material (Marlow's childhood) filmed in black-and-white. All scenes were shot on film, over Potter's objections.         

 

Potter added autobiographical aspects (or, as he put it, deeply "personal" aspects), along with 1940s popular music and the noir style. The result is regarded by some as one of the peaks of 20th-century drama.         

 

 

Dennis Potter  ~ The Singing Detective

vinyl LP back cover details 

photos by Styrous®

 

 

 

  

The Singing Detective - vinyl LP side 1 

 photos by Styrous®

The Singing Detective - vinyl LP side 2 

 photos by Styrous®

   

Tracklist:
       
Side 1:

        

A1 - Max Harris & His Novelty Trio – Peg O' My Heart, written by Bryan*, Fisher*
A2 - Ambrose & His Orchestra – Limehouse Blues, written by Furber*, Braham*
A3 - Anne Shelton – Blues In The Night, written by Arlen, Mercer*
A4 - Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians – Dry Bones, written by Livingston Gearhart
A5 - Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra* – Rockin' In Rhythm, written by Ellington*, Carney*, Mills*
A6 - Lou Preager & His Orchestra – Cruising Down The River, Vocals – Paul Rich, written by Beadle*, Tollerton*
A7 - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Don't Fence Me In, written by Cole Porter
A8 - Dick Haymes – It Might As Well Be Spring, written by Rodgers, Hammerstein*
A9 - The Mills Brothers – Paper Doll, written by J. Black*
A10 - Lale Anderson* – Lili Marlene, written by Leip*, Schultze*, Connor*

       
Side 2:
       
B1 - Sam Browne With The Lew Stone Band* – I Get Along Without You Very Well, written by Carmichael*
B2 - The Ink Spots – Do I Worry?, written by Worth*, Cowan*
B3 - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive, written by Arlen, Mercer*
B4 - The Mills Brothers – You Always Hurt The One You Love, written by Roberts*, Fisher*
B5 - Al Jolson With Matty Malneck's Orchestra* And The Four Hits And A Miss* – After You've Gone, written by Creamer*, Layton*
B6 - Jack Payne & His Orchestra* – It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow, written by Berlin*
B7 - Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots – Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall, written by Roberts*, Fisher*
B8 - Al Bowlly With The Ray Noble Orchestra* – The Very Thought Of You, written by Noble*
B9 - Henry Hall & His Orchestra – The Teddy Bears' Picnic, written by Kennedy*, Bratton*
B10 - Vera Lynn With Arthur Young (2) – We'll Meet Again, Organ [Novachord] – Arthur Young (2), written by Charles*, Parker*
        
Companies, etc.
       
    Phonographic Copyright ℗ – BBC Enterprises Ltd.
    Copyright © – BBC Enterprises Ltd.
    Manufactured By – EMI Records
    Distributed By – EMI Records
        
Credits:
       
    Liner Notes – Dennis Potter, Kenith Trodd
    Producer [Album Production] – Bruce Talbot
    Remastered By [Re-mastering Engineer] – Paul Gilham
        
Notes:
       
Track A5: Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra are also credited as "The Jungle Band". Recorded 14th January 1931.
Track B10: credited as "Vera Lynn with Arthur Young at the Novachord".

       
Barcode and Other Identifiers
       
    Barcode: 5011755130213
    Rights Society: MCPS
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side A, variant 1): REN 608 A-4C-1-1- D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side B, variant 1): REN 608 B-1U-1-
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side A, variant 2): REN 608 A-4C-1-1- D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side B, variant 2): REN 608 B-3C-1-1- 11 D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side A, variant 3): REN 608 A-3C-1-1-1 D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side B, variant 3): REN 608 B-1U-1-2-
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side A, (?=unreadable char) variant 4): REN 608 A-3C-1-1-? D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side B, (?=unreadable char) variant 4): REN 608 B-3C-1-1-? D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side A, variant 5): REN 608 A-2C-1-1 D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side B, variant 5): REN 608 B-1U-1-3 (Unreadable)

 

Various – The Singing Detective (Music From The BBC-TV Serial)
Label: BBC Records And Tapes – REN 608
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Compilation, Mono
Country: UK
Released: 1986
Genre: Jazz, Pop, Stage & Screen
Style: Music Hall, Big Band, Vocal, Easy Listening 

         

Viewfinder links:        

         

Andrews Sisters          

Bing Crosby         

Duke Ellington        

Ella Fitzgerald            

Michael Gambon         

Dick Haymes         

The Ink Spots           

Al Jolson        

Vera Lynn          

The Mills Brothers        

Fred Waring         

        

Net links:        

        

         

        

        

         

        

        

YouTube links:        

        

Max Harris & His Novelty Trio – Peg O' My Heart         

Ambrose & His Orchestra – Limehouse Blues   

Anne Shelton – Blues In The Night        

Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians – Dry Bones       

Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra – Rockin' In Rhythm         

Lou Preager & His Orchestra – Cruising Down The River        

Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Don't Fence Me In       

Dick Haymes – It Might As Well Be Spring         

The Mills Brothers – Paper Doll          

Lale Anderson – Lili Marlene        

Sam Browne With The Lew Stone Band – I Get Along Without You Very Well         

The Ink Spots – Do I Worry?       

Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive        

The Mills Brothers – You Always Hurt The One You Love           

Al Jolson With Matty Malneck's Orchestra & The Four Hits And A Miss – After You've Gone    

Jack Payne & His Orchestra – It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow         

Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots – Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall         

Al Bowlly With The Ray Noble Orchestra – The Very Thought Of You         

Henry Hall & His Orchestra – The Teddy Bears' Picnic        

Vera Lynn With Arthur Young – We'll Meet Again            

         

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Sunday, October 19, 2025        
       

 

 

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78 RPMs 13: Thanks for the Memory & Bob Hope

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On Tuesday, September 27, 1938, Thanks for the Memory, composed by Ralph Rainger, was heard for the first time on the The Bob Hope Show. That was years before I was born but the tune was a big part of my life because it was Hope's signature song which he employed his entire professional life. And I was a fan of his most of mine.      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the Memory - sheet music

 

 

Other songs Rainger wrote are I Wished on the Moon sung by both Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, Holiday's version is slightly faster & bouncier. Love in Bloom (comedian Jack Benny's theme song) was introduced in the film She Loves Me Not by Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle, Faithful Forever Easy Living, June in January, Blue Hawaii. And with Leo Robin on the 1938 Oscar-winning song, Thanks for the Memory, sung by Bob Hope in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938.       

 

 

The Big Broadcast of 1938. lobby card  

 

 

    

 

          

         

          

 

Thanks for the Memory - "B" side 

 

 

 

 

Two Sleepy People - "A" side 

 

   

    

   

   

Tracklist:

Side 1:

Two Sleepy People (from film "Thanks For The Memory")

Side 2:

Thanks For The Memory (from film "The Big Broadcast of 1938")

Credits:

Accompanied By – Harry Sosnik & His Orchestra*

Notes:

Barcode and Other Identifiers
        
Bob Hope And Shirley Ross – Two Sleepy People / Thanks For The Memory
Label: Decca – 2219
Format: Shellac, 10", 78 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1938
Genre: Pop, Stage & Screen
Style: Vocal         

        

        

        

        

        

Viewfinder links:       

        

Jack Benny            

Kitty Carlisle         

Ella Fitzgerald        

Billie Holiday 

Bob Hope        

Ralph Rainger        

Shirley Ross        

        

        

Net links:        

        

        

        

        

        

        

        

       

YouTube links:        

       

Jack Benny ~ Love in Bloom         

Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle ~ Love in Bloom        

Ella Fitzgerald ~ I Wished on the Moon         

Billie Holiday ~ I Wished on the Moon 

Bob Hope & Shirley Ross ~           

        Two Sleepy People        

        Thanks for the Memory        

        

        

        

        

       

        

        

        

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Wednesday, February 17, 2021       

       

 

 

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Barney Kessell, articles/mentions

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mentions:           

Janis Joplin / Full Tilt Boogie Band ~ Pearl     

Julie London ~ Cry Me a River          

      

      

     

     

Barney Kessel

date & photographer unknown

        

       

       

       

        

       

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Books/Authors

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45 RPMs 57: The Marcels ~ Blue Moon & John Dillinger

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The Marcels - 1961

photographer unknown

 

Sixty years ago today, The Marcels recorded one of my very favorite doo-wop songs, Blue Moon. I will never forget the first time I heard the introduction to it with Fred Johnson belting out, "bomp-baba-bomp-ba-bomp-ba-bomp-bomp... vedanga-dang-dang-vadinga-dong-ding...".   

          

I thought to myself, "This is interesting!" Then it went into the tune which I had been familiar with for decades and thought, "WOW!"   

 

The original version is a beautiful, slow ballad for solo female with orchestral backup and the one I was hearing was totally different. It was fast, syncopated, had great harmony sung by a male group with Ron Mundy singing "moon,  moon,  moon,  moon,  moon," in the background; it was just fantastic!       

 

The Marcels - Blue Moon

45 RPM record, side 1

photo by Styrous®

The introduction to Blue Moon was from an original song that The Marcels had in its act, a cover of Zoom by the Cadillacs. Colpix A&R director Stu Phillips transferred the introduction to Blue Moon to give the song additional flair. The Marcels recorded the song in two takes.       

 

Blue Moon was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the 1934 American pre-Code crime film, Manhattan Melodrama, produced by MGM and directed by W. S. Van Dyke.     

 

 

Manhattan Melodrama poster
 

It featured a very young and very handsome Clark Gable, a devastatingly beautiful Myrna Loy and made both of them major stars.    

Myrna Loy & Clark Gable

film still

 

Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Butler and Leo Carrillo (of The Cisco Kid fame) were also in Manhattan Melodrama.     

Mickey Rooney & Jimmy Butler

 

Notorious criminal John Dillinger attended a showing of the film at the Chicago Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934. After leaving the theater, he was shot to death by federal agents.     

 

 

 Biograph Theater - July 22, 1934 

just after John Dillinger was shot

photographer unknown

Myrna Loy was one of many who expressed distaste at the studio's willingness to exploit this event for the financial benefit of the film. Scenes from Manhattan Melodrama, in addition to Dillinger's death, are depicted in the 2009 film Public Enemies. 

The Marcels - Blue Moon

45 RPM label, side 1

photo by Styrous®

The Marcels formed in 1959 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and signed to Colpix Records with lead Cornelius Harp, bass Fred Johnson, Gene Bricker, Ron Mundy, and Richard Knauss. The group was named after a popular hair style of the day, the marcel wave.               

 

 

Edna Fearon - Marcel Wave, circa 1930

photographer unknown 

 

 

Blue Moon sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It is featured in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The disc went to number one in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and the UK Singles Chart.      

 

The Marcels were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002.    

 

      

 

 The Marcels - Goodbye To Love

45 RPM record, side 2

photo by Styrous®

 

 

Over the years, Blue Moon has been covered by various artists, including versions by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, The Platters, The Mavericks, Dean Martin, The Supremes, Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart. Cyndi Lauper sings an off-key version of it. Even Yvonne De Carlo, of the Munsters, took s shot at it in 1957 and does a pretty good job of it. Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album On the Happy Side (1962). The Cowboy Junkies recorded a slow, c/w flavored version of the song on their album The Trinity Sessions; it's really beautiful.         

 

 

 

 The Marcels - Goodbye To Love

45 RPM label, side 2

photo by Styrous®

 

The 'B' side has Goodbye To Love, a slow dance song that is really quite wonderful. I remember dancing to this type of song in the mid-fifties with a dance we called the Richmond; however, I couldn't find any reference to it on the Net, so, it might have been called another name or it's what our crowd call it.    

 

 

   

        

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A - Blue Moon, written by Rodgers-Hart* - 2:15

Side 2:

B - Goodbye To Love, written by Mann*, Shapiro* - 2:30

Companies, etc.

    Published By – Robbins Music
    Published By – Gil Music
    Record Company – Columbia Pictures Corporation
    Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Rockaway

Credits:

    Producer – Danny*, Stu*

Barcode and Other Identifiers        

      

    Rights Society (Side A): ASCAP
    Rights Society (Side B): BMI
    Matrix / Runout (A-side label): M8OW-4136
    Matrix / Runout (B-side label): M8OW-4137
    Matrix / Runout (A-Side Runout Etching): M8 0W4136--1 A1 R
    Matrix / Runout (B-Side Runout Etching): M8 0W4137--1 A2 R       

 

The Marcels – Blue Moon / Goodbye To Love
Label:  Colpix Records – CP 186
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Rockaway Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1961
Genre: Rock
Style: Doo Wop

      

  

Viewfinder links:       

         

Jimmy Butler          

Cowboy Junkies       

Bing Crosby         

Yvonne De Carlo      

Bob Dylan       
Clark Gable         

Lorenz Hart        

Billie Holiday         

Fred Johnson       

Cyndi Lauper           

Myrna Loy     

Dean Martin        

Music & Mayhem       

The Platters       

Richard Rodgers        

Mickey Rooney        

Frank Sinatra        

The Supremes       
     
Net links:       

         

Manhattan Melodrama plot        

The Marcels ~ Discography   

     

YouTube links:      

         

Cowboy Junies ~ Blue Moon        

Yvonne De Carlo ~ Blue Moon       

Ella Fitzgerald ~ Blue Moon       

Cyndi Lauper ~ Blue Moon        

The Marcels ~   

      Blue Moon        

      Goodbye to Love         

        

        

        

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Monday, February 15, 2021    

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