Dismuke's 78 RPM Blog

“Don’t Say Goodbye”
Jack Hylton And His Orchestra; Pat O’Malley, vocal
1932 ( Decca F 3213 mx GB 5022)
Jack Hylton And His Orchestra – Don’t Say Goodbye]

“You Just You”
Jack Hylton And His Orchestra; Olive Groves, vocal
1932 ( Decca F 3213 mx GB 5019)
Jack Hylton And His Orchestra – You Just You]

“Your Eyes”
Jay Wilbur And His Band; Les Allen, vocal
1931 ( Imperial 2457 mx 5675)
Jay Wilbur And His Band – Your Eyes]

“It Would Be Wonderful”
Jay Wilbur And His Band; Les Allen, vocal
1931 ( Imperial 2457 mx 5676)
Jay Wilbur And His Band – It Would Be Wonderful]

Unlike today when most big time musical acts tend to write and perform their own music, during the 1920s through 1940s decades most of the popular dance bands played from a similar repertoire of songs.   Popular tunes at the time tended to originate from either the large Tin Pan Alley type music publishing houses or from works written for the musical theatre or motion pictures.

Yesterday’s update featured a light opera company performing selections from the 1931 British version of the operetta The White Horse Inn.    This update is a follow up featuring popular versions of  songs from the same production performed by two prominent British dance bands.   Two of the songs presented here “Don’t Say Goodbye” and “You And You” were not featured on yesterday’s medley recording.

Unfortunately, I do not have as much access to discographical information about British recordings as I do American ones and, as a result, I have been able to locate the vocal credit for only one of the recordings, “Don’t Say Goodbye.”   If anyone reading this has access to vocal information for the rest of the recordings, please feel free to share it by posting a comment.  I am especially curious as to the name of the singer on “You Just You.”

Update:  Added missing vocal credits on all “You And You” plus the two Jay Wilbur sides.   Thank you to Harold A for the comment providing the relevant Brian Rust discographical information.

“From Erik Charell’s White Horse Inn  Part 1″
Light Opera Company’
1931 (HMV C.2229 mx 32-2159)
Light Opera Company – From Erik Charell’s White Horse Inn Part 1]

“From Erik Charell’s White Horse Inn Part 2″
Light Opera Company
1931 (HMV C.2229 mx 32-2360)
Light Opera Company – From Erik Charell’s White Horse Inn Part 2]

Here is a medley recording of vocal selections from the highly successful operetta The White Horse Inn.  The operetta is best remembered for its musical score by Ralph Benatzky and Robert Stolz.

The original German production was produced and directed by Erik Charell and premiered as Im weißen Rößl at Berlin’s Großes Schauspielhaus on November 8, 1930.  Charell also produced and directed the London production which opened at the London Coliseum on April 8, 1931.   You can view a program from the London production complete with interesting period advertisements at this link.    When the National Socialists came to power in Germany in 1933, Charell fled to the United States where he later directed the operetta’s Broadway run which opened at the Center Theatre on October 1, 1936.

The performers on this recording are credited only as “Light Opera Company.”  My strong guess is that this ensemble consisted of HMV in-house studio artists.

If you are a regular listener to Radio Dismuke many of the tunes in the medley might sound familiar to you.  That’s because a number of dance bands in both Germany and Britain recorded popular versions of the production’s songs.  In a future update, I will feature some of these dance band versions.