"Carolina in the Morning"
Gus Kahn & Walter Donaldson
The singer I chose for this week’s Sometimes a Song isn’t someone who immediately leaps to mind as one of the greats of American musical theater .. but a lot of us who grew up in the crazy 1960’s and following might never have heard of Vaudeville had it not been for him. In the reruns of fifties television shows that networks used to fill out their daily schedules, younger generations were introduced quite unconsciously to all sorts of music and folk songs and even classical music— which many of us will ever and always associate with the Looney Tunes cartoons we watched on television as children.
If you have ever seen a single episode of what is arguably the most loved and best-known situation comedy ever, I Love Lucy, you know this week’s performer. You‘ve heard me say here that I attribute my enduring love of songs from the great American songbook to my mother, who filled our home with that music every day of my childhood. And you have also heard me say that when I was a child, great music was just “in the air” everywhere. But I will add that I love Lucy alone introduced me to more great music than most people now will learn in a lifetime.
By now, you may be thinking that I’m about to introduce a song by Desi Arnaz, or perhaps by Lucille Ball, who really couldn’t carry a tune in that proverbial bucket! But no. From Desi Arnaz I did learn a number of great Latin numbers, among them the beloved Mexican folk song “Cielito Lindo.” But the show featured one REAL veteran of the Vaudeville stage, a character actor we all knew and loved as the Ricardos’ crusty landlord, Fred Mertz. And the actor who played that part, William Frawley, is this week’s Sometimes a Song singer.
Because our Word of the Week is dawn, I spent much of the last few days listening to “dawn songs.” But somehow I kept circling back to “Carolina in the Morning,” a song I first heard sung by William Frawley on I Love Lucy. That Fred Mertz had been a Vaudeville entertainer was a regular feature of the series, with Fred & Ethel Mertz often (with Lucy) wheedling their way “into the act” at the Tropicana nightclub. What gave this feature of the show its humorous authenticity, however, was the fact that William Frawley really had done Vaudeville and could seemlessly step back into that role a the drop of a straw hat and the tap of a bamboo cane. From time to time whole episodes of I Love Lucy were built around the performance of a Vaudeville-style musical review. These episodes gave us a comic look backward at something modern audiences might consider just too corny to regard as art — and yet not-so-secretly would love to revisit.
And recall that Vaudeville was Broadway in the early part of the 20th century. It paved the way for — was a training ground for — most of the great America composers who transformed Broadway and American music into the high art it became in the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s, and beyond. Though William Frawley wasn’t the actor who premiered this song in the musical review that Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson wrote it for (The Passing Show of 1922), he did perform “Carolina in the Morning” early on and throughout his career, and it was generally acknowledged as his signature song.
Be sure to click on the image above to see Bill Frawley singing “Carolina in the Morning” in the first film version of Damon Runyan’s story, “The Lemon Drop Kid” (1934). This clip is a treasure. And for a further treat, check out his duet with Tennessee Ernie Ford below. If you would like to watch the entire 1934 film, “The Lemon Drop Kid,” you can find it on Turner (with subscription) or view it for free by clicking the link below.
Word & Song by Anthony Esolen is an online magazine devoted to reclaiming the good, the beautiful, and the true. We publish six essays each week, on words, classic hymn, poems, films, and popular songs, as well a weekly podcast, alternately Poetry Aloud or Anthony Esolen Speaks. To support this project, please join us as a free or paid subscriber. Learn more about our subscription tiers by clicking the button below.
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Knowing that you folks are interested in history and culture I recommend to you a radio station for which I volunteer here in northeast Ohio. WKHR 91.5, found on the web at www.wkhr.org, is a listener supported station dedicated to playing music from the 30's up to the 60's but no rock, country or classical. Big Band, the Great American Songbook, jazz, swing, Broadway and movie musicals...Duke Ellington, Sinatra, Glenn Miller,...very eclectic and unique. All volunteer DJs and utilizing local high school students too. Give it a listen and I don't think you will be disappointed.
My gr-gr-aunt, and her husband/partner, James McIntyre, (McIntyre & Heath), were in vaudeville and I would love to find clips of them performing. I have many still shots of McIntyre & Heath, but not much of Emma Maude. Anyway, this was a treat to watch as I had forgotten all the great Lucy shows with them performing..