CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

Popeye

2012-01-14T16:46:00.000-08:00

Adapted from the most famous comics, the movie "Popeye" featured Shelley Duvall as Olive singing!

Here is the song:

Mary Poppins

2012-01-11T14:50:00.000-08:00

Songs from the fabulous film "Mary Poppins" (1964) with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.

Here is the theatrical trailer.

And here is Chim Chim Cheree by the petulant Annette Funicello.

Annie

2012-01-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

Here are 2 great songs from the famous musical "Annie" (1982).

Maybe performed by Aileen Quinn in the film...

Tomorrow performed by Barbra Streisand.

Oliver!

2011-11-29T08:09:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the songs from the famous and hugely successful musical Oliver! by Lionel Bart, first released on stage (in London, in 1960, and in Broadway, in 1962, with several revivals) then on screen (in 1968).
Those songs were performed by many great artists.

As Long as He Needs Me
by Georgia Brown (on stage), Shani Wallis (on screen), Shirley Bassey, Alma Cogan (the part of Nancy was originally written for her), Sammy Davis Jr., Doris Day, Judy Garland, Eydie Gormé, Buddy Greco, Ed Ames, Sergio Franchi, Anita Kerr, Kay Stevens, Ann-Margret (see here), Matt Monro, Sarah Vaughan, Della Reese or Nancy Wilson.
Where Is Love?
by Shirley Bassey, Sammy Davis Jr., Jack Jones, Ketty Lester, Irene Kral or Vikki Carr.
Who Will Buy
by Nancy Sinatra, Barbra Streisand or Ed Ames.

Here is a selection. We'll add more. Enjoy!

As Long as He Needs Me

Georgia Brown

Shani Wallis

Shirley Bassey

Sammy Davis Jr. (part of a tribute to Lionel Bart)

Judy Garland (1964)

Eydie Gormé

Where Is Love?

Joey Luft (Judy Garland's son, from The Judy Garland Christmas Show)

Vikki Carr (medley with Where Is The Love)

Mark Lester, from the movie

Who Will Buy

Nancy Sinatra (1967)

Mark Lester, from the movie

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And here is the trailer of the movie!

Charles Trénet: Les Vacances de Poly

2007-05-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a lovely (and rarely heard) song from an famous French TV series of 1963 entitled "Les vacances de Poly" ("Poly's holidays") - a charming story about a boy and his pony - performed by France's greatest singer, the legendary Charles Trénet.
Charles Trénet (1913-2001) was a singer and songwriter, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930's through the mid-1950's, though his career continued through the 1990's. In an era in which it was exceptional for a singer to write his or her own material, Trénet wrote prolifically and declined to record any but his own songs. His catalogue of songs is enormous, numbering close to a thousand. While many of his songs tackled classical topics such as love, Paris, and nostalgia for his younger days, what set Trenet's songs apart were their personal, poetic, sometimes quite eccentric qualities, often infused with a warm wit. Some of his songs had unconventional subject matter, with whimsical imagery bordering on the surreal. But here is another kind of song, full of nostalgy for childhood, friendship and nature. Enjoy!

The Nutty Squirrels: Salt Peanuts

2007-05-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a funny song by the extravagant jazz band The Nutty Squirrels.
The story of the Nutty Squirrels began when jazzman Don Elliott and TV composer Alexander "Sascha" Burland (who wrote the original theme for TV's "What's My Line?"), amused by the Chipmunks concept (the success of the musical "Alvin and the Chipmunks" in the late 1950's spawned numerous imitation recording groups, including the Grasshoppers and the Nutty Squirrels), joined together to record an album in the guise of a hip group of Chipmunk sound-alike rodents. Like Ross Bagdasarian (aka David Seville), they recorded their normal singing voices at 16 RPM, then played them back at 33-1/3 RPM -- giving that unique Chipmunk-sound to the hip scat-singing style that Elliott had perfected during his solo work in the early 1950's. Backing Elliott and Burland's altered vocals were some of the best New York session men of the late 1950s, including Cannonball Adderley on sax, Bobby Jaspar on flute, and Sam Most on clarinet. The Nutty Squirrels were quickly signed by the new Hanover-Signature label, owned in part by comedian Steve Allen and producer Bob Thiele. Unfortunately the masters to the album were lost in transit when Allen moved to Los Angeles in the 1960's. A cut from that first album, "Uh-Oh Part 2", made it to number 14 in the Hit Parade for the week of December 28, 1959, almost exactly one year after "The Chipmunk Song" made the same list.
The Nutty Squirrels are enjoying a renewed interest of late, thanks to the inclusion of their "Salt Peanuts" song in the soundtrack of the animated feature, "The Iron Giant", and of another song in the soundtrack of a 1998 John Waters movie.
Enjoy the frenesy of those Chip'n Dale!

Little Mehdi

2007-05-05T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a lovely song from the third of the French TV series "Sébastien" performed by its little hero, Mehdi.
Mehdi El Mazouari El Glaoui was born in 1956 in Choisy-le-Roi, near Paris, France. He is the son of actress/director Cécile Aubry and Si Brahim El Glaoui, a Moroccan prince, the son of the pasha of Marrakech. He began acting at the age of 5 in the series "Poly", written and directed by her mother, and continued acting until he was 14. The Heidi-like television series "Belle et Sébastien" ("Belle and Sebastian"), from 1965, about a little boy in the Alps with an enormous white dog, had so much success that the name 'Sébastien', which had gone out of fashion, became popular again. In 1968 a second series was broadcast, "Sébastien parmi les hommes" ("Sebastian among the people"), and in 1970 a third, "Sébastien et la Mary-Morgane" (about a ship). Polished, professional and heart-warmingly wholesome while deftly avoiding the curse of being overtly anodyne, "Belle et Sébastien" is a bone fide children's classic with a decided touch of Gallic charm.
Enjoy Mehdi's fine and sensible voice!

Mandrake the magician

2007-05-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

For all the nostalgic of this wonderful character!

Dr. Dolittle

2007-05-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a song from the wonderful movie "Doctor Dolittle" performed by the "little giant" Sammy Davis, Jr.
Anthony Newley mentioned that Sammy was the first person he actually played the Dolittle score for while he was staying at the home of Sam during one of his visits to the States in 1966. Upon hearing it, Sammy told him he liked it so much he promised to record it. Sammy's New York hometown protégé Bobby Darin must have also been quite impressed, because he later recorded his own version of Dolittle with the help of arranger Roger Kellaway. Darin's is a very nice set too, but this one by Sammy is definitive! Enjoy!

And another song from the same movie (part of a tribute to Lionel Bart)!

Still another song by the glamorous Vanda King (a Canadian singer, on "Wayne & Schuster Show")!