The Happy Prince (album)
The Happy Prince is a studio album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby and Orson Welles of the Oscar Wilde short story The Happy Prince.
The story had been adapted for radio by Orson Welles in 1944, featuring a musical score by Bernard Herrmann. It was aired on the Philco Radio Hall of Fame broadcast on December 24, 1944[1] featuring Bing Crosby alongside Orson Welles, with Herrmann's music conducted by Victor Young. Lureen Tuttle played The Swallow.
Decca Records soon signed up the participants to make a commercial recording.
Reception
Down Beat magazine liked the album saying: "If you’ve been getting smothered lately in record stores with scads of children’s’ albums by everybody from Artie Shaw through Ronald Colman by way of Gene Kelly, try this one on your small son. It’s the Oscar Wilde fairy tale with a Bernard Herrmann score, and in very much better taste than anything else being turned out for the Christmas rush."[2]
Track listing
These newly issued songs were featured on a 2-disc, 78 rpm album set, Decca Album No. A-420.[3]
Disc 1: (40007)
- “The Happy Prince (Part 1)", recorded August 21, 1945 with Victor Young and His Orchestra.[4]
Disc 2: (40008)
- “The Happy Prince (Part 2)", recorded August 21, 1945 with Victor Young and His Orchestra.[4]
Other releases
Decca released a dual 10” LP of The Happy Prince and The Small One on Decca DL6000 in 1949.[5]
References
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| | | | Albums |
- Music of Hawaii (1939)
- Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. One (1939)
- Patriotic Songs for Children (1939)
- Cowboy Songs (1939)
- Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. Two (1939)
- George Gershwin Songs, Vol. One (1939)
- Ballad for Americans (1940)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs (1940)
- Christmas Music (1940)
- Star Dust (1940)
- Hawaii Calls (1941)
- Small Fry (1941)
- Crosbyana (1941)
- Under Western Skies (1941)
- Song Hits from Holiday Inn (w/ Fred Astaire) (1942)
- Merry Christmas (1945)
- Selections from Going My Way (1945)
- Selections from The Bells of St. Mary's (1946)
- Don't Fence Me In (1946)
- The Happy Prince (1946)
- Selections from Road to Utopia (1946)
- Stephen Foster Songs (1946)
- What We So Proudly Hail (1946)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. One (1946)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. Two (1946)
- Blue Skies (w/ Fred Astaire) (1946)
- Jerome Kern Songs (1946)
- St. Patrick's Day (1947)
- Victor Herbert Songs (1947)
- Cowboy Songs, Vol. One (1947)
- Selections from Welcome Stranger (1947)
- Our Common Heritage (1947)
- El Bingo (1947)
- The Small One (1947)
- The Man Without a Country (1947)
- Drifting and Dreaming (1947)
- Blue of the Night (1948)
- Selections from Showboat (1948)
- The Emperor Waltz (1948)
- St. Valentine's Day (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Al Jolson, Bob Hope, Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters (1948)
- Selections from Road to Rio (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Judy Garland, Mary Martin, Johnny Mercer (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Lionel Hampton, Eddie Heywood, Louis Jordan (1948)
- Cowboy Songs, Vol. Two (1948)
- Auld Lang Syne (1948)
- A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court (1949)
- Bing Crosby Sings Songs By George Gershwin (1949)
- South Pacific (1949)
- Christmas Greetings (1949)
- Ichabod - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)
- Top o' the Morning / Emperor Waltz (1949)
- Songs from Mr. Music (1950)
- Go West Young Man (1950)
- Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris (1953)
- Some Fine Old Chestnuts (1954)
- Selections from White Christmas (1954)
- Bing: A Musical Autobiography (1954)
- High Tor (1956)
- A Christmas Sing with Bing around the World (1956)
- High Society (w/ Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, and Louis Armstrong) (1956)
- Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (1956)
- Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (1956)
- Bing with a Beat (1957)
- A Christmas Story (1957)
- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1957)
- Never Be Afraid (1957)
- Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy (1957)
- New Tricks (1957)
- Fancy Meeting You Here ( w/ Rosemary Clooney) (1958)
- How the West Was Won (1959)
- Bing & Satchmo (w/ Louis Armstrong) (1960)
- 101 Gang Songs (1960)
- Holiday in Europe (1960)
- The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
- On the Happy Side (1962)
- On the Sentimental Side (1962)
- I Wish You a Merry Christmas (1962)
- Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre (1963)
- Return to Paradise Islands (1963)
- Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits (1963)
- America, I Hear You Singing (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring) (1964)
- 12 Songs of Christmas (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring) (1964)
- That Travelin' Two-Beat (w/ Rosemary Clooney) (1965)
- Bing 'n' Basie (w/ Count Basie) (1972)
- A Couple of Song and Dance Men (w/ Fred Astaire) (1975)
- Seasons (1977)
- Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas (1998)
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