Putting Her Stamp on Show Business

The US Postal Service has just released a Carmen Miranda 

postage stamp.

In 1940 the outrageous Ms Miranda, dubbed the Brazilian Bombshell exploded onto movie screens starring alongside  Don Ameche and Betty Grable in Down Argentine Way.

The film’s centerpiece is the South American Way production number, performed by Carmen and written by that famed Latin American composer, Jimmy McHugh. 

The Carmen Miranda stamp is one in a series of five commemorative issues saluting Latin American music. The other honorees are Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Carlos Gardel and Selena.

Here’s a clip of South American Way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDwQN4UeF8E

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=13147071

Speedy Haworth Plays Jimmy McHugh

"When You and I Were Young Maggie Blues" was written in 1922 by Jimmy McHugh and Jack Frost.

We just unearthed some very rare footage of legendary guitarist Speedy Haworth performing ‘Maggie Blues’ on Ozark Jubilee, the first network television program to feature Country Music’s top stars.

Speedy Haworth is recognized as one of the finest country guitarists of the 40's and 50's.

The clip is from 1955 and introduced by Red Foley, who was, at that time, was the biggest name in country music.

(Trivia fans: Several years later, Red became Pat Boone’s father-in-law when the singer married daughter, Shirley!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozark_Jubilee

SATCHMO THE GREAT

SATCHMO The Great 1957

"Louis Armstrong is to music what Einstein is to physics and the Wright Brothers are to travel." -Ken Burns

The outstanding 1957 documentary, Satchmo The Great follows Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong on his first world tour as ‘America’s Official Goodwill Ambassador’.

Leonard Bernstein also appears in the film, written and narrated by legendary newsman, Edward R Murrow.

Jimmy McHugh and Louis were lifelong friends. They met while they working at Harlem’s Cotton Club in the 1920s.

We’ve included a clip from the documentary, featuring Satchmo performing McHugh’s iconic ‘On The Sunny Side Of The Street’.

To quote Jimmy, ‘Louis put the Beat on the Sunny Side of the Street!’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECYuEEzRWdE

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0135642/

Jazz Corner: Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Band @ Vibrato Grill

Clayton Hamilton Jazz Band knocked out the SRO audience at Herb Alpert's Vibrato Grill (Tues. Jan. 18) with their rousing  "Dorsey-esque" arrangement of "Sunny Side of the Street" to a standing ovation!

Italian Superstar MINA Sings McHugh

Like Judy & Liza, she only needs one name

Pop Music Icon, Mina, has scored 77 hit albums and 71 Top Ten singles since exploding onto Italy’s music scene in 1960.

She became a household name thanks to her incredible three-octave vocal range and her image as an emancipated woman, who rebelled against traditional Italian conventions.

Famed Spanish filmmaker, Pedro Almodovar, has just announced he  is set to direct a film on the singer’s life.

Throughout her career, Mina has combined her contemporary music style with standards like Jimmy’s classic, ‘I’m In The Mood For Love’.

Click here to see the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI-3jVlH1gc

More on Mina:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/pedro_almodavar_to_next_tackle_biopic_of_controversial_italian_singer_mina

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mina

EDDIE FISHER: Teen Idol

A pre-rock and roll sensation, Eddie Fisher's strong tenor made him a teen idol and one of the most popular singers of the early 1950s. He had seventeen songs in the Top 10 on the music charts between 1950 and 1956 and thirty-five in the Top 40.


In the Forties, when Fisher was still a ‘boy singer’ with the big bands of Buddy Morrow and Charlie Ventura, he came to the attention of both Jimmy McHugh and the legendary Eddie Cantor. Each had developed an infallible reputation for spotting and guiding new, ‘undiscovered’ talent.
McHugh and Cantor were to become very instrumental in the singer’s meteoric rise of to fame.


Eddie Fisher passed away September 22, 2010.


Eddie’s album, I’m In The Mood For Love, was released in 1952. To Jimmy McHugh’s delight, it was re-released, by popular demand, in 1955.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0279472/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Fisher

Dear Liza, We Couldn't Agree More!

‘Reality Is Something You Rise Above’ -Liza Minnelli, answering the Vanity Fair ‘Proust Questionnaire’ - Nov 2010

Liza Minnelli’s long awaited new album, Confessions features a real Jimmy McHugh rarity, 

‘I Must Have That Man’ -Start to finish, this disc is a guaranteed treat for her fans.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/09/21/ 

www.officiallizaminnelli.com