jim henson

Here's a curious little novelty record; It's Spike Jones and his band performing under a pseudonym.

The theory is that the 'Davey Crackpot' name (employed at the height of the mania for Disney's 'Davy Crockett' TV shows) was used for this release on the Starlite record label because Jones was still under contract to RCA records at the time.

The instrumental A-side of this 1955 single pokes fun at
Pérez Prado's cha-cha tune that was #1 on the U.S. pop charts that year.

(On a brief tangent, I'm compelled to confess that I smile whenever I hear Prado's name pronounced 'Per-ez Per-ado'. It's a little thing, but it always gets me.)

Band member George Rock would on occasion be called upon to sing in a distinctive high-pitched toddler's voice for numbers like 'All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth', but it was his skills with a trumpet that made him an invaluable asset.

Rock played trumpet with the Spike Jones band from 1944 - 1960. He was a virtuoso player who could hit the wrong notes just right and milk his horn for sounds that many others could never achieve.

One of his long-standing showcases in the Jones stage revues was on the tune 'Minka'. If you've never heard the 1949 recording of it, well - - you simply must.

George Rock (left) on stage with
Spike Jones in 1946 ▶



Listen to:
Davey Crackpot & The Mexican
Jumping Beans
featuring
George Rock -
Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White
Starlite Records 45, 1955
(click for audio)

















Billy Barty was a recent inductee to Spike's gang when the B-side of this 45 was recorded.

As the Vaudevillesque Jones stage revue began to make the transition to television (and later back to stage), Barty was brought in to add to the comedic proceedings.
















(click on images to ENLARGE in a new window)▶


In what would be eight years performing with Spike, Barty immediately became best known for his impression of a diminutive Liberace.

His latin-accented vocals on this track refer to
above-ground nuclear tests that were conducted during that era at the
Nevada Proving Ground.

The sight of the mushroom clouds had become a tourist attraction in Las Vegas, roughly 65 miles to the southwest.


Listen to:
Davey Crackpot & The Mexican Jumping Beans
featuring
Billy Barty -
No Boom-Boom in Yucca Flats
Starlite Records 45, 1955
(click for audio)

Set to the tune of
Simon & Garfunkel's 1965 hit,
'I Am A Rock', this Star Trek novelty tune got some airplay on college radio stations and elsewhere, beginning in 1996.

Recorded in the SF bay area, the disc's insert notes identify Jeffries Tube as being Phil Brotherton and Todd Lookinland (former child actor - - and yes, brother of Mike 'Bobby Brady' Lookinland).

Some googling reveals that both of them have worked in film as model makers and visual effects artists.

It looks as though possibly they may have met when they were both working on Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'.

Listen to:
Jeffries Tube - I Am A Spock
(Frenchy The Record cd-single, 1996)
(click for audio)

See also: Filk music

Renowned cabaret singer Ruth Wallis passed away a few weeks back, on December 22nd, 2007, at age 87.

During the 1940's, '50's and '60's she was known for her risqué novelty songs and 'party' records.

As with so many other things in our jaded modern world, her music is awfully tame by today's standards - - even charmingly quaint, perhaps - - like about a half-step beyond Benny Hill, okay?

She caused a stir in her day, however.
The double entendres peppered throughout her songs were considered shocking to many, if not just plain lewd.

It was likely the fact that her records couldn't be played on most radio stations that eventually led her to found her own record label.

- Follow link to her
New York Times Obituary.









Listen to:
Ruth Wallis -
Psycho Mambo
(Wallis Original Records 78, circa 1954)

(click for audio)












Listen to:
Ruth Wallis -
This Old House
(Wallis Original Records 78, circa 1954)

(click for audio)

(This song ⬆ parodies 'This Ole House', a popular song from 1954. Rosemary Clooney's version reached #1 in the US charts.)








Listen to:
Ruth Wallis -
Stay Out of My Pantry
(Wallis Original Records 78, circa 1953)

(click for audio)












Listen to:
Ruth Wallis -
The New Yo-Yo Song
(Wallis Original Records 78, circa 1953)

(click for audio)




See also:
- Ruth Wallis Album cover scans and more at Queer Music Heritage

- Collected Works of Ruth Wallis - -
39 more songs from 78s available as streaming audio at Internet Archive

When Chicano music legend Lalo Guerrero passed away at age 88 in 2005, he had already been officially recognized as a US national treasure.

In the 1940's he was the first to bring Mexican-Spanish language and slang to American swing music and R&B.

But in fact, throughout his long and varied career, he always performed many different styles of music, from stirring Mexican folk to jump boogie woogie and rock & roll, and he was also very adept at pop music parodies.

Outside of those who are familiar with the full range of his work, he was most famous for his mid-1950's parody of 'The Ballad of Davy Crockett', which he turned into 'Pancho Lopez'.

Merle Travis first recorded his song, 'Sixteen Tons' in 1947, but it was the 1955 cover version by Tennessee Ernie Ford that became an insanely popular hit.

It would appear that
Gloria Becker's presence on this record may have occured only because Lalo Guerrero needed a woman's voice for this 'housewife's lament' parody version to work.
(Though he does give himself one spoken interjection)

The only clue I've found so far relating to background information on Ms. Becker is from a small anecdote appearing in Skip Heller's article,
'The Lalo Guerrero Story', originally printed in 'Cool And Strange' Magazine. (click link for article)

It makes reference to a story Lalo tells from 1972, in which he had made a phone call to 'his friend Gloria Becker', who was then a theatrical booking agent in Palm Springs, California.

As to the B-side of the record, Ms. Becker sings the schmaltzy 'Adios To Mexico City', a song Lalo had previously recorded himself. Let's call her performance unspectacular and leave it at that.

A couple of Lalo links: There's an interesting-looking documentary floating around film festivals and PBS - - 'Lalo Guerrero, the Original Chicano'.

Here's a link to a 'preview' clip over at YouTube.
- - And here's a link to the website for the film.


Listen to: Gloria Becker with Lalo Guerrero and the Don Ralke Quintet - Sixteen Pounds (Housewife's Lament) (Real label 45, circa 1956)

(click for audio)