Happy Birthday, Basil Rathbone!

Wednesday, June 13, will mark the 120th anniversary of the birth of the great English actor Basil Rathbone (1892-1967), and, to celebrate, here is a recording that might surprise those who know his portrayal of the villainous Sir Guy of Gisborne, opposite Errol Flynn's title role in the 1938 Warner Brothers feature The Adventures of Robin Hood.  Here Rathbone himself is Robin Hood, and a very convincing one, too:

Robin Hood (dramatic adaptation by Ralph Rose)
Basil Rathbone with supporting cast, male chorus and brass ensemble
Recorded February 13, 1945
Columbia Masterworks set MM-583, four 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC file, 87.26 MB)
Link (MP3 file, 41.74 MB)

The supporting cast includes Raymond Lawrence as a delightfully wicked Sheriff of Nottingham; Jay Novello as Will Stutley; Ramsay Hill as Friar Tuck; Tom Collins as Allan-A-Dale; John Goldsworthy as Much; Marvin Miller (perhaps the best-remembered of this group of players) as Little John; Joy Harrington as Maid Marian, the only female voice heard on this recording; and Harry Bartell (a regular on "Gunsmoke" - both on radio and TV) as the Herald.

A bonus on this recording is the delightful musical accompaniment, never intrusive but woven into the story.  The chorus, which offers songs ranging from "Greensleeves" to extracts from Sullivan's "Ivanhoe" and German's "Merrie England," is led by Tudor Williams (1896-1971), who appeared on-screen, usually as a singer, in 25 films, most notably Citizen Kane and Mrs. Miniver.   The brass choir is led by James Stagliano (1912-1976), who played French horn in the Los Angeles Philharmonic and in the Hollywood studio orchestras (his film credits include Gone With the Wind), then went on to become the Boston Symphony's principal horn from 1950-1973.

Basil Rathbone became quite an asset to Columbia Records during the years of the Petrillo recording ban (1942-44), since, as an actor rather than a musician, he was not affected by the ban!  During this period he made several recordings of poetry and dramatic presentations, including "Treasure Island" and "The Murder of Lidice" which were accompanied only by a capella choruses - which also were not subject to the ban.  In the LP era he made numerous recordings for Caedmon, including his famous Sherlock Holmes portrayals.

Robin Hood on Young Peoples Records

Well, this is a little bit of a change of pace.  I present today a pair of records that I had and loved as a kid, Young Peoples Records' 1950 presentation of the Robin Hood story.  Admittedly, the tale is a bit sugar-coated in this version, with the Sheriff of Nottingham presented as a cowardly buffoon (one can hardly imagine the real Sheriff submitting as meekly to his eventual fate as this one does) - but how well-characterized he is, by the Metropolitan Opera tenor George Rasely (1889-1965).  And how wonderful are the tunes!  I really repsonded, as a youngster (and still do), to the maddeningly memorable, ersatz-Elizabethan songs, and the Sportsman's Song on side 3 owes quite a bit to Gilbert & Sullivan with its choral repetitions of the soloist's words.  The music was written by Herbert Haufrecht (1909-1998), about whom I can find out little other than that contained in his New York Times obituary here.  The narration is by Alexander Scourby (1913-1985), best-known as the first person to record the entire Bible, on talking books for the blind in the early 1940s - click here to see the American Federation of the Blind's page about Scourby.  And the script and lyrics are by Raymond Abrashkin (1911-1960), a frequent collaborator on Young Peoples Records, as was the conductor, Max Goberman.

Abrashkin-Haufrecht: Robin Hood
Soloists, chorus and orchestra conducted by Max Goberman
Recorded c. 1950
Young Peoples Records 1010-11, two 10-inch vinyl 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC file, 39.16 MB)
Link (MP3 file, 22.31 MB)

As I said, I had these records as a child, but I re-acquired the set about five years ago from an online dealer, and therefore obtained what I didn't have previously, namely, the original double sleeve (the front of which is pictured above).  The lyrics and text of the story are reproduced inside, and they are provided as JPG files with this download.

I had several dozen Young Peoples Records (and records on its affiliated label, Children's Record Guild), which, even in the early 1970s, were still available as 78s in specialized outlets.  Therefore I was fascinated by David Bonner's book about them which appeared in 2008.  (David's blog, named after his book, "Revolutionizing Children's Records," is among my blog links at right.  His first post of 2009 contains a bit written by yours truly.)  In the wake of the book's appearance, I transferred four Young Peoples Records on classical music subjects, all dating from the late 1940s, and posted them to the RMCR newsgroup.  These are still available, along with a new FLAC version; here are the details:

The Wonderful Violin (script and narration by Douglas Moore)
Mischa Mischakoff, violin
Young Peoples Records 311, one 10-inch vinyl 78-rpm record

Said the Piano to the Harpsichord (script by Douglas Moore)
David Allen, Gilbert Mack, Sylvia Marlowe
Young Peoples Records 411, one 10-inch vinyl 78-rpm record

Round and Round - Fun and Facts on the Fugue
David Allen, Gene Lowell Chorus, Horace Grenell (piano)
Young Peoples Records 431, one 10-inch vinyl 78-rpm record

Weber: Rondo for Bassoon and Orchestra
Eli Carmen (bassoon) with orchestra conducted by Max Goberman
Young Peoples Records 1009, one 10-inch vinyl 78-rpm record

All four records in one ZIP file with JPGs of the covers.
Link (FLAC files, 63.66 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 31.51 MB)

At the same time I uploaded a ridiculously abridged recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," from a Cricket 78 that has been in my possession since I was seven years old (and, I'm afraid, sounds like it!):

Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf (abridged)
"Reginald Carol" (narrator), with orchestra
Cricket C-11, one 7-inch vinyl 78-rpm record
Link (FLAC file, 15.36 MB)
Link (MP3 file, 6.39 MB)

UPDATE (Aug. 25, 2015): I have just learned the actual provenance of the abridged "Peter and the Wolf" - it derives from a Royale LP, No. 1246, where the narration is credited to Bob Danvers-Walker (1906-1990), best known for his narration on British Pathé newsreels.  The anonymous orchestra is conducted by Reginald Leopold (1907-2003). Royale, of course, was an Eli Oberstein label, and "Obie" was known to license a bunch of children's material to Cy Leslie, founder of Pickwick Records, to jumpstart his Cricket Records line. This recording was one of those. The Royale issue was a full-length recording of "Peter and the Wolf" - which Cricket hacked down to a six-minute length, while cloaking Mr. Danvers-Walker in pseudonymity by borrowing the first name of his conductor!