REVIEW POTPOURRI – Actors: Roy Rogers and Bob Nolan

Bob Nolan

by Peter Cates

Roy Rogers
Bob Nolan

Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers (1911-1998) and Bob Nolan (1908-1980) were the two most recognizable founding members of the Sons of the Pio­neers, a vocal group that would have immense success through radio, TV, film, records and live appearances.

They cut their first disc for the newly-formed Decca label on August 8, 1934, the very same day Bing Crosby began his own very long association with that label. In 1935, the group was signed by Columbia Pictures to appear as singing cowboys in the very successful westerns of Charles Starrett (who came to China Lake often during his childhood to visit cousins in the area).

To this day, Nolan’s Cool Water may be their most famous original hit and one they recorded for both Decca and RCA Victor, whom they signed with during World War II. A 1949 RCA ten-inch 78 (20-2076) features that and Chant of the Wanderer. Their very moving blend of voices may have been what distinguished them from so many other singing cowboy groups that inevitably sprung up like dandelions once the Sons hit paydirt.

A 1956 record, released as a ten-inch 78 and seven-inch 45 and selling for 79 cents, featured so-called “famous artists” performing three current hit songs on each side (Variety V-6022). They were Goodnight My Love, Pleasant Dreams; Since I Met You Baby; Slow Walk; I Dreamed; A Thousand Miles Away; and I Feel Good.

The singers and instrumentalists, whoever they were, delivered very nicely done covers; the ladies singing Goodnight My Love could easily have been mistaken. And the record was good value for the money, each side clocking in at five to six minutes.

Three woman vocalists each recorded a shellac 78 of some renown. Prague-born contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink recorded a one-sided acoustic of a long forgotten, very pleasant song If I Forget in 1921 (Victrola Red Seal 87337).

Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore

On October 25, 1948, Dinah Shore, accompanied by two pianists, deployed her own quite pleasant pipes on two superb Great American Songbook numbers, Far Away Places, and Say It Every Day. Unlike her 1950 Victors when she squandered her talents on a lot of Tin Pan Alley garbage, her 1940s red label Columbia 78s featured much first class material and arrangements.

Vera Lynn

Vera Lynn

A 1953 ten-inch 78 from Decca/London (1350) presented English singer Vera Lynn (1917-2020), who was also gifted with a very long life, as were fellow singers Licia Albanese, Magda Olivero and George Beverly Shea. The two selections were the Lambeth Waltz, a gung ho, bombastic pep rally number accompanied by an obnoxiously cheery sounding men’s chorus, and a trite period piece entitled Queen of Everyone’s Heart to commemorate the 1953 Coronation of King Charles the III’s very wonderful mother, Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022).

She did much concertizing during World War II to boost the morale of service men and women and her fellow citizens with such classics as The White Cliffs of Dover, and We’ll Meet Again and she did have a vibrantly expressive singing voice.