Dismuke's 78 RPM Blog

“Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Paul Small, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12292)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea]

“Fate Introduced Me To You”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Paul Small, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12292)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – Fate Introduced Me To You]

“Come To Me”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Elmer Feldkamp, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12217)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – Come To Me]

“Within This Heart Of Mine”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Elmer Feldkamp, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12217)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – Within This Heart Of Mine]

“I’m With You”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Tony Sacco, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12236)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – I’m With You]

“I Don’t Know Why”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Russ Lyon, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12236)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – I Don’t Know Why]

“Dancing On The Ceiling”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegian; Tony Starr, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12311)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – Dancing On The Ceiling]

“The Wooden Soldier And The China Doll”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegian; Tony Starr, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12311)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – The Wooden Soldier And The China Doll]

“One Hour With You”
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians; Smith Ballew, vocal
1932 (Melotone  M 12331)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – One Hour With You]

“We Will Always Be Sweethearts”
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians; Andrea Marsh, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12331)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – We Will Always Be Sweethearts]

“Gosh Darn”
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians; Bill Coty, Harold van Emburgh, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12355)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – Gosh Darn]

“The Roses Are Red The Violets Are Blue”
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians; Harold van Emburgh, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12355)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – The Roses Are Red The Violets Are Blue]

“Sleepy Time Gal”
Sleepy Hall And His Orchestra; Sleepy Hall, vocal
1937 (Variety VA583 mx M485)
Sleepy Hall And His Orchestra – Sleepy Time Gal]

“That Old Oaken Bucket”
Sleepy Hall And His Orchestra; Paul Dillon, vocal
1937 (Variety VA583 mx M486)
Sleepy Hall And His Orchestra – That Old Oaken Bucket]

“Sleepy Hall And His Collegians” was a recording pseudonym for the in-house studio orchestra on Brunswick’s budget priced Melotone subsidiary label.   The use of recording pseudonyms was extremely common on bargain labels in the ’20s and early ’30s.  To buy a recording of a big name artist one had to pay full price of 75 cents verses 35 cents (or three for a dollar) for most bargain labels.

Sometimes recording pseudonyms were named after actual musicians who very often had little or even no participation in the recordings issued under their name. This seems to have been the case with Sleepy Hall And His Collegians.   There actually was a musician known as Sleepy Hall – he was a banjoist whose real name was John Nelson.  But any connection between the real life Sleepy Hall and these Melotone recordings is apparently either non-existent or unknown.

The last two recordings come from the late 1930s Variety label, a short-lived label founded by music publisher Irving Mills.   According to Brian Rust’s American Dance Band Discography, no details are known about the personnel involved in the recording session.   However, by 1937, the use of recording pseudonyms had largely faded away as a result of Decca’s 1934 entry into the American market offering recordings by name artists for 35 cents.  This makes me wonder if perhaps the real Sleepy Hall was the bandleader and vocalist credited on the label.

“Got A Date With An Angel”
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra
Skinnay Ennis, vocal
1937 ( Victor 25651-A)
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra – Got A Date With An Angel]

“Lamplight”
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra
Skinnay Ennis, vocal
1937 ( Victor 25651-B)
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra – Lamplight]

“You And Me”
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra
Judy Starr, vocal
1938 ( Victor 25869-A)
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra – You And Me]

“So Lovely”
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra
Bob Allen, vocal
1938 ( Victor 25869-B)
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra – So Lovely]

“I Never Knew Heaven Could Speak”
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra
Bob Allen, vocal
1939 ( Victor 26194-A)
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra – I Never Knew Heaven Could Speak]

“Have A Heart”
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra
Bob Allen, vocal
1939 ( Victor 26194-A)
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra – Have A Heart]

“Last Night”
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra
Bob Allen, vocal
1939 ( Victor 26397-A)
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra – Last Night]

“Many Dreams Ago”
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra
Nan Wynn, vocal
1939 ( Victor 26397-B)
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra – Many Dreams Ago]

“The Lady With Red Hair”
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra
Bob Allen, vocal
1940 ( Victor 27203-B)
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra – The Lady With Red Hair]

“The Moon Fell In The River”
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra
Bob Allen, vocal
1940 ( Victor 27203-A)
Hal Kemp And His Orchestra – The Moon Fell In The River]

A recent update featured several recordings by Hal Kemp and His Orchestra from 1931.   Here are some more by the same band but from later in the decade.

During the 1920s and 1930s trends in popular music evolved very rapidly – much more so than in recent decades.  In an era when there were far fewer radio stations (and very few that devoted their entire broadcast day to music) and records were expensive to remain commercially viable in either medium required most bands to keep up with and follow those trends.

This is why those who might enjoy a ’20s or ’30s recording by a particular band on Radio Dismuke and seek additional recordings by the band on CD reissue should exercise caution before spending too much money.   A number of ’20s and ’30s era artists remained active and even continued to record into the ’60s and ’70s.    A recording from the ’40s or ’50s by the same band whose 1920s recordings you enjoy is likely to have a very different sound – and, quite possibly, a sound you will not particularly enjoy.

In these recordings made after Kemp changed his recording affiliation to Victor in June, 1937 the band’s transformation from a predominantly “hot” Jazz Age band into a predominantly “sweet” band of the big band era is complete.

“Got A Date With An Angel” was Hal Kemp’s opening radio theme song.   It was also the theme song for vocalist Skinnay Ennis after he left the Kemp band and formed his own band in 1938.   This recording is a very close remake of a 1934 recording of the song that Kemp and Ennis made on Brunswick and is, therefore,  a bit different stylistically than the rest.

Sadly, Kemp was killed as a result of a car accident in December 1940 while driving in heavy fog from Los Angeles to an engagement in San Francisco.

9/17/11 Edit:  Added “The Lady With Red Hair” and “The Moon Fell In The River” both of which I had prepared for this posting but initially forgot to include.