Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mister Moon » Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:10 pm

Mojo Filter wrote:The picture looks pre MGM, a very early portrait. Sterling publicity shot?


I agree. This could date from the Sterling days. "Move It On Over" was of course his first M-G-M single, so they could well have been using an older shot for that sheet music. I will look into that when I have the time.



Mojo Filter wrote:Yes, I did notice the crediting on "Lovesick Blues", but for some reason didn't say anything about it myself. The song itself is Hank's biggest seller, i think, and he didn't write it - though he wrote a lot better songs than that but none of them matched the "Lovesick Blues" sales. That is until "Your Cheatin' Heart" came out, but Hank never lived to see it's success.


Yes, it's ironic that such a prolific and high-quality writer as Hank should have his signature song written by somebody else. He was "the ol' Lovesick Blues boy" until the day he died. And beyond.

Here's one of the first versions of "Lovesick Blues", as recorded by Emmett Miller and his Georgia Crackers for OKeh in 1925. This early version (Miller would re-record the tune a few years later) features the work of, among others, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey :



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70nPDSmrH6E






Hank was more directly inspired by this version done by Rex Griffin in 1939 for Decca. The whole performance and the structure of the song are nearly identical to Hank's M-G-M cut, although a few lyrical variations suggest Williams must also have known Miller's recording. This one was done over nine years before Hank's - the label read "The Lovesick Blues" :



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3hStzw4oH8


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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mojo Filter » Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:18 pm

Mister Moon wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:The picture looks pre MGM, a very early portrait. Sterling publicity shot?


I agree. This could date from the Sterling days. "Move It On Over" was of course his first M-G-M single, so they could well have been using an older shot for that sheet music. I will look into that when I have the time.



Mojo Filter wrote:Yes, I did notice the crediting on "Lovesick Blues", but for some reason didn't say anything about it myself. The song itself is Hank's biggest seller, i think, and he didn't write it - though he wrote a lot better songs than that but none of them matched the "Lovesick Blues" sales. That is until "Your Cheatin' Heart" came out, but Hank never lived to see it's success.


Yes, it's ironic that such a prolific and high-quality writer as Hank should have his signature song written by somebody else. He was "the ol' Lovesick Blues boy" until the day he died. And beyond.

Here's one of the first versions of "Lovesick Blues", as recorded by Emmett Miller and his Georgia Crackers for OKeh in 1925. This early version (Miller would re-record the tune a few years later) features the work of, among others, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey :



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70nPDSmrH6E






Hank was more directly inspired by this version done by Rex Griffin in 1939 for Decca. The whole performance and the structure of the song are nearly identical to Hank's M-G-M cut, although a few lyrical variations suggest Williams must also have known Miller's recording. This one was done over nine years before Hank's - the label read "The Lovesick Blues" :



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3hStzw4oH8

I'd not heard the Emmett Miller version before. But I have heard the Rex Griffin one. The Miller one is quite nice and there's definitely some influence there.

According to Wikipedia, and I didn't know this, the song first appeared in a Tin Pan Alley showtune musical called "Oh, Ernest" in 1922 sang by Anna Chandler under the title of "I've Got The Lovesick Blues" (see previous page for sheet music) but i assumed, without checking, that Anna Chandler (whom I've never heard of) was just an early version i'd never heard of. All interesting stuff.

Regarding the publicity shot we're talking about it reminds me of some of Elvis' early sheet music, when RCA would constantly use a Sun publicity photo to save money. Perhaps MGM were doing the same thing by using an earlier portrait to save expenses.
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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Matt Helm » Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:36 pm

...Woww; i think this is one for my Hank Williams Collection https://www.amazon.de/Pictures-Lifes-Ot ... 194&sr=1-1 Matt


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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mojo Filter » Thu Feb 13, 2020 4:42 am

Thought i'd post these two super cool images:

With Milton Berle:

9842ba3eb152112e7ba705c95f614841.jpg


And......

Roly Poly! Not seen this one:

ff4dfba005c86924b3aaa24a99857675--country-artists-country-singers.jpg


What a cool shot!

"She's changed the lock on my front door"......
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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mister Moon » Thu Feb 13, 2020 10:27 am

Mojo Filter wrote:Thought i'd post these two super cool images:

With Milton Berle:

Hank Hadacol.jpg


I saw this image when doing the small initial research for this topic, but I discarded it because it doesn't look like Milton Berle to me. I know it's labelled like that around the www, but there must have been some confusion somewhere, as in the background we can see a car carrying the "Hadacol" sign. If we look for images of Berle from the early 1950s, we see he looked pretty much the same as he did in 1956.

Many thanks for the photos, anyway. The second one was totally new to me.
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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mojo Filter » Thu Feb 13, 2020 11:27 am

Mister Moon wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:Thought i'd post these two super cool images:

With Milton Berle:

Hank Hadacol.jpg


I saw this image when doing the small initial research for this topic, but I discarded it because it doesn't look like Milton Berle to me. I know it's labelled like that around the www, but there must have been some confusion somewhere, as in the background we can see a car carrying the "Hadacol" sign. If we look for images of Berle from the early 1950s, we see he looked pretty much the same as he did in 1956.

Many thanks for the photos, anyway. The second one was totally new to me.

That was my first thought. It doesn't look like Berle to me either. Thought I'd post it and see what you thought.

The fact that he was a TV personality it's doubtful that he would have been part of a small package tour promoting ""Hadocol".
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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mojo Filter » Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:05 pm

hank_williams_7.jpg
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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mojo Filter » Thu Feb 13, 2020 3:04 pm

Here's a page from an old Grand Ole Opry promotion booklet from 1949. Looks like they have printed the image the correct way round the way you thought, Mister Moon:

hank-williams-1949-first-year-grand_1_b8fcd1ffd04917005c1969bb4eb8c044.jpg
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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mister Moon » Thu Feb 13, 2020 9:23 pm

Mojo Filter wrote:
Mister Moon wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:Thought i'd post these two super cool images:

With Milton Berle:

Hank Hadacol.jpg


I saw this image when doing the small initial research for this topic, but I discarded it because it doesn't look like Milton Berle to me. I know it's labelled like that around the www, but there must have been some confusion somewhere, as in the background we can see a car carrying the "Hadacol" sign. If we look for images of Berle from the early 1950s, we see he looked pretty much the same as he did in 1956.

Many thanks for the photos, anyway. The second one was totally new to me.

That was my first thought. It doesn't look like Berle to me either. Thought I'd post it and see what you thought.

The fact that he was a TV personality it's doubtful that he would have been part of a small package tour promoting ""Hadocol".


Berle was indeed part of the Hadacol package tour in 1951, as explained in page 1 of this thread. That's where the confusion regarding the miscaptioned photo may have originated.

Here's a handbill for those 1951 shows. Note the gruelling schedule - not a single day of rest for over a month and a half. Also note that the St. Louis date, originally scheduled for September 8, was finally held on September 11 (see page 1 of this thread) :



1951 Hadacol handbill a.jpg



1951 Hadacol handbill b.jpg
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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mister Moon » Thu Feb 13, 2020 9:28 pm

Matt Helm wrote:...Woww; i think this is one for my Hank Williams Collection https://www.amazon.de/Pictures-Lifes-Ot ... 194&sr=1-1 Matt


Many thanks. This looks like a nice set, but we have already had the "Mother's Best" stuff several times over - hence the "remastered" tag. How much can you "remaster" recordings that are seventy (70) years old ?

Just yesterday, I was listening to an early Hank Williams CD, full of clicks, hiss and all kinds of artifacts. But that wonderful music makes you forget about such matters.


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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mister Moon » Thu Feb 13, 2020 10:41 pm

Captain Hadacol 1949.jpg
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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mojo Filter » Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:57 am

Mister Moon wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:
Mister Moon wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:Thought i'd post these two super cool images:

With Milton Berle:

Hank Hadacol.jpg


I saw this image when doing the small initial research for this topic, but I discarded it because it doesn't look like Milton Berle to me. I know it's labelled like that around the www, but there must have been some confusion somewhere, as in the background we can see a car carrying the "Hadacol" sign. If we look for images of Berle from the early 1950s, we see he looked pretty much the same as he did in 1956.

Many thanks for the photos, anyway. The second one was totally new to me.

That was my first thought. It doesn't look like Berle to me either. Thought I'd post it and see what you thought.

The fact that he was a TV personality it's doubtful that he would have been part of a small package tour promoting ""Hadocol".


Berle was indeed part of the Hadacol package tour in 1951, as explained in page 1 of this thread. That's where the confusion regarding the miscaptioned photo may have originated.

Here's a handbill for those 1951 shows. Note the gruelling schedule - not a single day of rest for over a month and a half. Also note that the St. Louis date, originally scheduled for September 8, was finally held on September 11 (see page 1 of this thread) :



1951 Hadacol handbill a.jpg


1951 Hadacol handbill b.jpg

Oops! My bad.

Apologies. :oops:
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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mister Moon » Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:09 am

Mojo Filter wrote:
Mister Moon wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:
Mister Moon wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:Thought i'd post these two super cool images:

With Milton Berle:

Hank Hadacol.jpg


I saw this image when doing the small initial research for this topic, but I discarded it because it doesn't look like Milton Berle to me. I know it's labelled like that around the www, but there must have been some confusion somewhere, as in the background we can see a car carrying the "Hadacol" sign. If we look for images of Berle from the early 1950s, we see he looked pretty much the same as he did in 1956.

Many thanks for the photos, anyway. The second one was totally new to me.

That was my first thought. It doesn't look like Berle to me either. Thought I'd post it and see what you thought.

The fact that he was a TV personality it's doubtful that he would have been part of a small package tour promoting ""Hadocol".


Berle was indeed part of the Hadacol package tour in 1951, as explained in page 1 of this thread. That's where the confusion regarding the miscaptioned photo may have originated.

Here's a handbill for those 1951 shows. Note the gruelling schedule - not a single day of rest for over a month and a half. Also note that the St. Louis date, originally scheduled for September 8, was finally held on September 11 (see page 1 of this thread) :



1951 Hadacol handbill a.jpg


1951 Hadacol handbill b.jpg

Oops! My bad.

Apologies. :oops:


Gimme the good ol' Rudy Vallée days ! :)

Hey, he was a Hadacol man, too !


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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mojo Filter » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:10 pm

Not new but thought I'd add this wonderful photo: Hank's ex wife Audrey Williams, Elvis and Dewey Phillips at Russwood Park, Memphis, July 4th, 1956.

2046f3c1cec391d3e6f650dee6f4416e.jpg
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Re: Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

Postby Mojo Filter » Sun Apr 19, 2020 8:45 am

Hank Williams Night:

FB_IMG_1587279974926.jpg
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