Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1950s – Nat King Cole, Big Joe Turner, Mel Blanc, Vera Lynn

Welcome to our show and whilst there have been some great songs since 2005, we felt that hits from the 40s and 50s deserved a showcase from now to the end of the year… we hope you will enjoy our music memories and some of the news events of the decade.

Here is my first selection of top 1950s chart hits which I hope you will enjoy.

Nat King Cole – Mona Lisa

“Mona Lisa” was composed by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston for the 1950 Paramount Pictures film “Captain Carey, U.S.A”. and won the Oscar Award for Best Original Song. Mona Lisa spent five weeks at #1 on the Billboard’s singles chart in 1950 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1992.

December 30th 1950 “Tennessee Waltz” sung by Patti Page hits #1 on the Billboard Pop Chart (stays for 9 weeks) 

Big Joe Turner – Shake, Rattle & Roll

“Shake, Rattle & Roll” was composed in 1954 by Jesse Stone for Big Joe Turner, a blues shouter whose career had begun in Kansas City before WWII. The song was recorded in New York City for Atlantic Records where Stone, record-label executives Jerry Wexler, and Ahmet Ertegun improvised the shouting chorus in the background. The tune peaked at #1 on Billboard’s R&B chart and # 22 on Billboard’s singles chart. Big Joe Turner’s recording of this song is ranked #127 on Rolling Stone magazine list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

March 29th 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “The King and I”, based on the novel “Anna and the King of Siam”, opens at St James Theater, NYC; runs for1 246 performances, winning 5 Tony Awards; Star Yul Brynner would lead the cast of the 1956 film version, and play the role over 4,200 times 

Now time for my next picks from the 1950s all tunes that I remember from my childhood from cartoons, films and my parents records.

Tweety Pie :::: I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat …( Mel Blanc).

“I Taut I Taw A Puddy-Tat” is a novelty song composed and written by Alan Livingston, Billy May and Warren Foster. It was sung by Mel Blanc, who provided the voice of the bird, Tweety and of his nemesis Sylvester. The lyrics depict the basic formula of the Tweety-Sylvester cartoons released by Warner Bros. throughout the late 1940s into the early 1960s: “I Taut I Taw A Puddy-Tat” reached No. 9 on the Billboard pop chart during a seven-week chart run in February and March 1951, and sold more than two million records

March 27th 1952 “Singin’ in the Rain”, musical comedy directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in NYC 

Vera Lynn “Auf Wiedersehen”,

“Auf Wiederseh’n, Sweetheart”, is a song written by German composer Eberhard Storch around 1950. Storch wrote the song in the hospital for his wife Maria as he was ill for a long time. The English language lyrics were written by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons. The best-known version of the song was recorded by English singer Vera Lynn. The story goes that Vera was on holiday in Switzerland and heard people singing the song in beer parlours, and when she got back she felt she had to record it, so found the music and had lyrics written.

April 12th 1954 Bill Haley and the Comets record “Rock Around Clock” 

Additional sources: On This Day – Music – Hits of the 1940s and 1950s: Playback FM – Wikipedia

Your Hosts for The Breakfast Show

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

Sally Cronin is an author, blogger and broadcaster who enjoyed four years as part of the team on Onda Cero International’s English speaking morning show in Marbella and then for two years as a presenter on Expressfm the local radio station in Portsmouth. She co-presented two ‘Drive Time’ shows a week with Adrian Knight, hosted the live Thursday Afternoon Show and The Sunday Morning Show guests including musicians and authors. Following this she became Station Director for a local internet television station for two years, producing and presenting the daily news segment, outside broadcasts and co-presenting the Adrian and Sally chat show live on Friday evenings.

She and her husband David have now returned to Ireland where they live on the Wexford Coast where she blogs and continues to write books.

Books :Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – More reviews: Goodreads – blog: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine Twitter: @sgc58 – Facebook: Sally Cronin – LinkedIn: Sally Cronin

Thanks for tuning in and as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.