I've posted the following photographs before--the first in January of 2012, and the second in December of 2010.
Both photos are from the Hit Parade television show, on NBC, which came to TV in 1950, after having been heard on radio since 1935; the pictures are of rehearsals of the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."
The song was written by Johnny Marks (who also wrote "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" in the late 1950s, and "A Holly Jolly Christmas" in the 1960s). "Rudolph" first became a hit during the Christmas season of 1949, sung by Gene Autry, accompanied by the vocal group The Pinafores.
Additional versions of "Rudolph" were released in 1950 and 1951 by several other performers, including Bing Crosby, Spike Jones, Sammy Kaye, and Sugar Chile Robinson. The song became a hit, again, during the 1950, 1951, and 1952 Christmas seasons.
The song appeared on the the Hit Parade's survey of top-seven songs twice in December of 1951, and once in January of 1952.
In the January 5, 1952 performance of the song--seventy-three years ago yesterday--my mother, singer Sue Bennett, was accompanied by the Hit Paraders choral/vocal group--though two of the three performers seen in front of her, at the left, and the right, look like they might be Hit Parade dancers Virginia Conwell and Bobby Trelease--both of whom regularly appeared (in addition to their significant dancing roles on the show) in non-speaking, non-dancing acting roles. Perhaps the Hit Paraders vocal group was singing off-screen, during this number.
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| Sue Bennett singing on Your Hit Parade, January 5, 1952 |
For one of the show's December 1951 performances of "Rudolph," my mother sang the song with Snooky Lanson, one of the Hit Parade's primary stars.
In the rehearsal photograph, below, my mother and Mr. Lanson are seated together. Members of the Hit Parade Dancers are seated or stretched out on the floor of the stage in front of them--including Dusty McCaffrey (far left), and Carmina Cansino (wearing hat, second from right). The two dancers at the center of the picture, closest to the camera but facing away from it, are likely Virginia Conwell (left) and Bobby Trelease (right).
A section of the December 29, 1951 script, for the telecast (also seen below), shows announcer Andre Baruch's introduction to the song, which also featured the Hit Paraders choral group. The group may, as indicated previously, have sung off-camera during this particular number (although the Hit Paraders, during the life of the program, were routinely featured on-camera, in both singing, and acting roles).
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Snooky Lanson and Sue Bennett singing on December 29, 1951 telecast of Your Hit Parade, accompanied by the Hit Parade Dancers. (Copyright for both photos, above, held by Lost Gold Entertainment, Inc.) |
