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| Mary Healy |
The versatile performer Mary Healy became very well known in America for her appearances with her husband, the comic Peter Lind Hayes. But before joining that act, she was in films and made a number of fine records as a vocalist. Today I am happy to present those recordings to you through the kindness of vocal aficionado Bryan Cooper.
The 17-year-old Healy was crowned Miss New Orleans in 1935, and began singing soon thereafter. By 1938 she was in Hollywood, and in short order had a small part in the Don Ameche-Simone Simon comedy
Josette. It wasn't long before she had a featured part in
Second Fiddle, an Irving Berlin musical which starred Tyrone Power opposite Sonja Henie, a Norwegian skater who was then having an inexplicable vogue as a film star. (The soundtrack to another of Henie's movies appeared here several years ago - Glenn Miller's
Sun Valley Serenade.)
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| Healy sings and even Edna May Oliver seems to approve |
Healy immediately began making records for Brunswick, starting with four songs from
Second Fiddle. These start off our set of 14 numbers, and all display a rich alto voice, somewhat reminiscent of Connie Boswell, although her phrasing was much more like that of Helen Forrest.
The film studio must have had plans for her, because these and the subsequent records all bill her as a "20th Century-Fox Featured Player."
Healy sang two songs in
Second Fiddle - "I'm Sorry for Myself" and "Back to Back," but only the former was taken down by Brunswick. Luckily, Bryan has included her lively soundtrack renditions of those two songs. The film version of "I'm Sorry for Myself" is superior to the one found on 78. The latter is too lachrymose, which I doubt was Berlin's intention.
Otherwise, Healy takes on "I Poured My Heart into a Song" (sung in the film by Tyrone Power), "The Song of the Metronome" (done by a children's chorus) and "When Winter Comes" (a Rudy Vallee specialty).
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Cy Feuer (at the piano)
and Ernest H. Martin |
Cy Feuer leads the band on these 78s. If the name sounds familiar, it may be because he later became a Broadway producer, teaming up with Ernest H. Martin to stage several well-known musicals, starting with
Where's Charley? But 10 years earlier, he was making his living as a staff composer and musical director at Republic Pictures.
The orchestrations for the two soundtrack recordings were probably by one or both of the well-regarded studio craftsmen Walter Scharf and
Herbert W. Spencer.
Later in 1939, Columbia bought Brunswick, and Healy began recording for the revived Columbia label, starting with a January 1940 date, again with Feuer at the podium. This time, the four songs were from
Broadway Melody of 1940, the Fred Astaire-Eleanor Powell musical with songs by Cole Porter. Healy did not appear in the film, but nonetheless recorded "I Concentrate on You,""I Happen to Be in Love,""I've Got My Eyes on You" and "Between You and Me."
It was during this period that Healy became acquainted with Hayes. He was appearing locally with his mother, the vaudevillian Grace Hayes, who had opened a club in Los Angeles. Healy and Hayes were to marry in 1940, a union that lasted until Hayes died in 1998. Healy only passed away recently, in 2015.
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| OKeh catalog listing |
Also in 1940, Healy had a featured role in
Star Dust, a John Payne-Linda Darnell starrer, and even got to sing Hoagy Carmichael's famous tune, but no records resulted. However, Columbia did bring her into the studio in October 1941 to take down four songs: "I Hear a Rhapsody,""I'll See You Again,""What Is There to Say" and "Down Argentina Way." This time, the conductor was Perry Botkin, a durable studio musician who was Bing Crosby's music director for a time. (His son Perry Botkin, Jr. also became a well-known musician.) Columbia issued the four songs on its subsidiary OKeh.
As far as I can tell, these were the sum total of Mary Healy's solo recordings, but she soon was to achieve lasting success in her act with Peter Lind Hayes, via their radio, television, nightclub and film appearances. Thanks again to Bryan for making these recordings available to us!
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Mary Healy with Peter Lind Hayes, perhaps
from a lost musical version of Dr. Cyclops. |
