''Manhattan Tower'' is a composition written by
Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Hill Jenkins (May 12, 1910 – May 1, 1984) was an American arranger, composer, and pianist who was influential in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s. Jenkins worked with The Andrews Sisters, Johnny Cash, The Weavers, Frank Sinatra, Loui ...
in the 1940s and first issued to the public in 1946 as a two-disc 78-rpm set on the Decca label, DA-438. It was considered quite innovative for its time and was quite warmly received by critics and the public alike. Jenkins also performed the suite in its entirety on the very time-conscious ''
Toast of the Town
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night ...
'', hosted by
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television personality, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the ''New York Daily News'' and the Chicago Tribune New York ...
, on February 26, 1950. An expanded 90-minute live musical dramatization, featuring
Peter Marshall Peter Marshall may refer to:
Entertainment
* Peter Marshall (entertainer) (born 1926), American game show host of ''The Hollywood Squares'', 1966–1981
* Peter Marshall (author, born 1939) (1939–1972), British novelist whose works include ''Th ...
and
Helen O'Connell
Helen O'Connell (May 23, 1920 – September 9, 1993) was an American singer, actress, and hostess, described as "the quintessential big band singer of the 1940s".
Early life
Born in Lima, Ohio, O'Connell grew up in Toledo, Ohio. By the time ...
, was presented as an
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
''Saturday Spectacular'' on October 27, 1956.
Production background
With the advent of 45-rpm and 33-rpm records in 1948 and 1949, the suite became one of the first recordings to be reissued by Decca in all formats then available, including 45-rpm set 9-2, 45-rpm Extended Play ED 462, and LP DL 8011, the LP issue being backed with Jenkins's later composition "California." The original monaural recording was "reprocessed for stereo" in the early 1960s, and that LP release remained in print into the 1970s as Decca DL 78011.
By the middle 1950s, "High Fidelity Sound," available on LP and 45 (as well as magnetic tape), had become the rage, and Jenkins rewrote major parts of the suite, expanding it to approximately three times its original length, and recorded it for
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
in
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
as ''The Complete Manhattan Tower'', catalog number T-766. This new version of the suite was again a monaural recording, and appeared with Capitol's turquoise LP label; the entire suite was also issued as a 45-rpm EP set, EDM-766. Later, the album was issued on Capitol's "High-Fidelity" rainbow label. Capitol also reprocessed the recording for stereo with their own "Duophonic" process, and issued that version as DT-766; it also remained in print into the 1970s.
The 1946 ''Manhattan Tower'' combined mood music, original songs, spoken narration/dialogue, and sound effects to tell the story of a young man who travels to New York City for a visit. The tower referred to in the title is the apartment building in which he resides. Although the original suite introduces the theme of love, it is more thoroughly developed in the expanded 1956 composition. In both recordings,
Elliott Lewis narrates the story and Beverly Mahr is the featured soloist; in the Capitol version, they are given the names "Stephen" and "Julie," Lewis' singing was dubbed by Bill Lee. Stephen and Julie's brief love affair forms the context of the expanded composition.
Other versions
The most popular song from ''Manhattan Tower'' seems to have been "Married I Can Always Get" from the 1956 incarnation of the suite. "Married I Can Always Get" was used as the name of an album recorded by
Micki Marlo
Micki Marlo (August 12, 1928 – September 20, 2016) was an American singer and model, best known in the 1950s, who received attention for both her singing and her beauty.
She was a member of WPEN Philadelphia's "950 Club", a radio precursor o ...
, whose version of that song was contained therein. Both
Teddi King
Teddi King (September 18, 1929 – November 18, 1977) was an American jazz and pop vocalist.
Born Theodora King in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, she won a singing competition hosted by Dinah Shore at Boston's Tributary Theatre, later beg ...
and
Jeri Southern
Jeri Southern (born Genevieve Lillian Hering, August 5, 1926 – August 4, 1991) was an American jazz singer and pianist.
Early years
Born Genevieve Lillian Hering in Royal, Nebraska, United States, Southern was the granddaughter of a German pig ...
issued 45-rpm singles of that song, on the RCA Victor and Decca labels respectively, while
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
, also on Decca, tried his hand at "New York's My Home."
Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), known professionally as Patti Page, was an American singer and actress. Primarily known for pop and country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female ar ...
also released a monaural recording of songs from the suite as ''
Manhattan Tower'' on
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
MG 20226 in 1956. In 1964, a new recording of songs from ''Manhattan Tower'' featuring vocalist
Robert Goulet
Robert Gérard Goulet (November 26, 1933 October 30, 2007) was an American and Canadian singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry. Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts until age 13, and then spent his formative years in Cana ...
was touted as the first recording of the Jenkins composition in stereo; it was issued by
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
in monaural OL 6050 and stereo OS 2450. While Jenkins had no involvement with the Patti Page album, he both conducted the orchestra for the Goulet recording and contributed yet another addition to the suite with the song "The Man Who Loves Manhattan."
The Decca album was issued on CD first by Collectors Choice Music (produced by the Razor and Tie label) in 1997 as part of ''The Gordon Jenkins Collection''; it was then issued by the Jasmine label in 2006 as part of "Gordon Jenkins: A Musical Prodigy," with
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desce ...
by Geoff Milne. The Capitol album was issued on
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...
, with bonus tracks from Jenkins's recordings for the Vik subsidiary of
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
records and the Decca instrumental version of "Theme from ''Seven Dreams''", by Sepia Records on March 19, 2007. The Sepia release contained a written endorsement from Gordon Jenkins's son Bruce Jenkins and liner notes by Johnny Owens, Jr.
Track listing
{{Authority control
Gordon Jenkins albums
Capitol Records albums
Decca Records albums
1946 albums
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
Concept albums