Melody Magic - Johnny Green & His Orchestra, 1935
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- čas přidán 14. 12. 2013
- Here is Johnny Green conducting his lush dance orchestra in a medley of four of his own popular compositions. His band singer Marjory Logan and The Tune Twisters (male trio) sing two more Green songs (both with lyrics by James Dyrenforth): "What Now" and "Not Bad." Green chastises his second pianist (and arranger), Dave Terry, for infringing on Green's musical territory. With the aid of trick photography, Green, with a wave of his baton, reduces the orchestra to miniature size, then Dave Terry does the same to Green. The film closes with an intricate version of "Sweet Sue-Just You"(Victor Young-Will Harris), featuring Green's saxophone section. Directed by Fred Waller.
The songs: John W. Green Medley - I Cover The Waterfront; I'm Yours (Tune Twisters); Body And Soul; I Wanna Be Loved (Orchestra). What Now? (Logan and Tune Twisters), Not Bad (Tune Twisters, Marjory Logan, Johnny Green), Sweet Sue-Just You (Orchestra) - Hudba
Audio quality unexpectedly good for this era.
I have a later 16mm print-down duplicate of this, and it sounds nowhere as good. Sibilence on THIS copy is really obvious in voices (especially Logan's). Sounds a fair bit better than most 35mm optical soundtracks from the mid-30s. Just really good work, I guess. The light valve they used to prepare the film track must have been really good.
I've run across some 1932-1934 work done by RCA-Victor for Paramount (on disc), and they had a very refined adaptation of the WE Model 1 cutter for cutting those sides. Exceptional clarity. When Victor stopped issuing commercial records using that hardware in '34 to cut costs, supposedly they transferred the remaindered equipment from New York and Camden to LA primarily for mastering motion picture soundtracks. Not sure it was done on disc (since I think it would have been too difficult to sync), but I suspect RCA was involved in this. It's too crisp.
1936's "Born to Dance" (MGM) was originally prepared using a multi-track optical soundtrack. There's a recent CD issue taken from that directly, containing a complex mix. Audio is of comparable crispness. Apparently "best quality" 1st generation optical is a lot better than one might think - it's the successive mixing and re-recording to prepare the theatrical print that can quash some of the bandwidth.
Paramount was always so elegant. Even in featurettes!
1930s....great songs.
Thanks for posting...
What fun and enjoyable entertainment
Boy howdy, Marjory Logan sure sings "What Now" pretty and looks it, too. Even shows some "feet" on the next number, "Not Bad."
The Tune Twisters trio were Andy Love, Bob Wacker, and guitarist Jack Lathrop. Formerly with Ray Noble as The Freshmen, they were a popular radio feature thru the 30s. Jack sang with Glenn Miller as well around 1940.
Marjory Logan is fantastic!
Thank you, Ned for posting this Melody Magic clip. This is the first time I ever saw this! My Dad, Jack Lathrop, was the lead singer and guitarist for The Tune Twisters. He was 22 when this was recorded. 10/26/17
It is wonderful that you commented. If you have Tune Twister scrapbooks and photos to share, please contact me! Seriously!
Wonderful! And just to confirm, was this the same group as The Freshmen, featured on those great sides Ray Noble cut for Victor in the mid-1930s in NYC? Wondering which was the primary name of the group, and which was adopted for the particular gig. (Umpteen years ago, a sparkling 35mm master of this short was held at the UCLA Film Archive. Wonder if it's still there. As we used to say, "Nitrate Won't Wait!")
By the way, the Freshmen / Tune Twisters here show their real talents on the screen. Hope to discover more about them in the future !
I'VE ALWAYS LOVED YOUR DAD'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA. HIS VOCAL ON CROSSTOWN WAS THE FIRST TIME I ENCOUNTERED HIS TALENT! MISTER MEADOWLARK WAS THE OTHER VOCAL WITH THE BAND IF I'M RECALLING CORRECTLY. GLENN HAD 1 OTHER GREAT VOCALIST THAT RECORDED ONLY 2 SIDES (KAY STARR). I NEVER LIKED RAY EBERLE, TEX & MARION WERE VERY GOOD. THERE ARE HIDDEN GEMS ON THE RADIO BROADCASTS ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS OF THE RECORDINGS AND SONGS THAT NEVER WERE RECORDED!!!
MICHAEL GERARD KIRSLING CHICAGO
@@howardhays8044 but it sure will deteriorate, and its been known to incinerate.
One of my favourite films is "An American in Paris". Johnny Green and his orchestra provided the musical soundtrack which for me, made the film all the more enjoyable. I first watched this film in 1951 when I was 17. I am 80 now but the magic of Johnny's music has never waned. Thank you Johnny for so much pleasure. Jean Morrell.
Perfect !
What a treat!
Green's band here included guitarist Perry Botkin, visible to the left of the piano.
Beautiful music, and with Style!
Thanks for this great clip.
Amazing!
wonderful voices
Timestamps
Featuring Marjory Logan (1), The Tune Twisters (2), Dave Terry (3)
0:03 Green Medley-I Cover the Waterfront / I'm Yours (2) / Body and Soul / I Wanna Be Loved
2:44 What Now? (1,2)
4:17 Not Bad (1,2)
5:51 Not Bad-Mutiny Sequence (3)
8:36 Sweet Sue
Dave Terry became a fine arranger...
Good "awkestrayshuns" eh?
Was the song "You came to me out of nowhere" by Johnny Green ?
Music by Johnny Green and lyrics by Edward Heyman
@@TWELS20 Wow thanks !!
i like busse.jo atlanta
alex mendham pick up this style!jo atlanta
Mr Green was not much of a conductor!
He used the baton to add showmanship, more than to mark time. Paul Whiteman was guilty of that too, but Green at least kept the beat.
If you want conducting as it's taught, watch Isham Jones in his short subjects. He conducted in 4 in a completely nonsense-free style. (Its said he pulled out a complete score for every number on the job. Probably to put the fear of god into his musicians as much as anything.)
Do do realize that you are talking about the man who also wrote most of these brilliant popular songs that are still widely played today by jazz musicians and singers? This was 1935, when just about everything about life in the US was bleak, as the country was slowly clawing it's way out of the Great Depression, and just as the country was waking up to the dawn of what would be called the "swing era" by the end of 1935. Motion pictures of any kind, with sound had only been around for about six years, any recording technology was still in its infancy, let alone finding ways to popularize the entire genre when Hollywood was just starting to become a center for creating popular music. Within a couple years of this, Johnny Green - the young Songwriter, Arranger and Conductor would became the backbone and chief of the entire music department at MGM studios, and he was the head Music Director there from then on, who distributed the work and all of the other Conductors, Arrangers and Orchestrators and 75+ musicians at MGM worked for.
It's why Green is the Conductor of the only MGM Studio Orchestra video that I know of that was made right in the MGM recording studio for studio's 30th anniversary that's here on YT at this page: czcams.com/video/H21Y0xUsfDo/video.html.