Tammy Grimes - the Early Recordings

Critics strained to invent colorful descriptions of her singing: "pliable frog voice,""afflicted with a permanent case of laryngitis,""rusty-coated," etc.

The landmarks of her career were a Tony for the title character in The Unsinkable Molly Brown and another for a revival of Coward's Private Lives, the leading role in Coward's musical version of Blithe Spirit (High Spirits), two Columbia LPs, and her own, brief television series.

But in my estimation some of her best work was done before the 1960s, particularly in the remarkably good cabaret act she mounted in 1958-59, and before that in her songs in 1956's The Littlest Revue. In this article we'll explore those recordings. A second post will present her 1962-63 Columbia LPs.

Grimes (1934-2016) was from the Boston area, but moved to New York as a young adult. Her earliest real success was in 1956's The Littlest Revue, with songs primarily by Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash. We'll get to her numbers from that show below.

Cabaret producer Julius Monk saw her in a non-singing role and somehow decided she would make a good chanteuse, or so it is said. I think it's more likely that he saw The Littlest Revue and knew she had a strong voice, powerful personality and off-kilter charm.

Whatever the background, Monk and Grimes developed a superb cabaret act, and deployed it at his Downstairs at the Upstairs nightspot in December 1958. It soon became a popular success - so much so that it merited a page of photos in Life magazine, one of the principal chronicles of the time. (The article is in the download.)

Monk quickly produced an LP of the act, which came out on the small Off-Broadway label. I like the reaction by the High Fidelity reviewer: "Miss Grimes is a singer of remarkable range: she can be subdued and touching in a song like 'Molly Malone' or strident and brash in Cole Porter’s 'From Alpha to Omega'; she relishes the point of 'Take Him' from Pal Joey, yet can also toss off the inconsequentialities of 'Doodle Doo Doo' with unbounded good nature."

Her choice of material is strikingly good. Cabaret expert James Gavin insists that Monk selected the repertoire: "Grimes had never heard these songs, so the experience was like learning a new role - or a dozen - on short notice," he wrote in his book Intimate Nights.

The record begins with Monk himself announcing Grimes in his affected manner, backed by Stan Keen and Carl Norman at the pianos, playing Bart Howard's "Upstairs at the Downstairs Waltz." Keen and Norman were among Monk's house pianists; they also appear on his own revue LPs.

Night club acts often begin with an up-tempo number, and Grimes tears through "Fit as a Fiddle," a 1932 song that had been revived in 1952 by Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in Singin' in the Rain.

Next, the singer launches into a wonderfully affecting version of one of the best but little-remembered  songs by Rodgers and Hart, "We'll Be the Same," which is memorable both in words and music. It comes from 1930's America's Sweetheart.

A Sammy Fain-Yip Harburg faux-madrigal, "The Springtime Cometh," is next, followed by her knowing reading of "Take Him." The Arlen-Harburg-Gershwin "Let's Take a Walk Around the Block" (from 1934's Life Begins at 8:20) could hardly be bettered. As with all relevant numbers, she sings the verse, handling it in a delightfully extroverted manner.

I am no fan of the maudlin "Molly Malone" - although Grimes does it sensitively - but I do love "Limehouse Blues," written for a West End revue, made famous by Gertrude Lawrence and later a jazz standard. 

Next, three Cole Porter songs  - "From Alpha to Omega," "What Shall I Do" and "I Loved Him But He Didn't Love Me" (an exceptional performance). The first two are from You Never Know; the latter from Wake Up and Dream.

Arlen, Harburg and Gershwin (and the score of Life Begins at 8:40) return with "Shoein' the Mare," followed by Oscar Levant's greatest hit, "Blame It on My Youth," which benefits from including the verse. Eddie Heyman was the lyricist.

Harburg appears again with the delightful "Something Sort of Grandish," which he wrote with Burton Lane for Finian's Rainbow. Its wordplay is perfect for Grimes. The jazz age "Doodle Dee Ooo" (called "Doodle Doo Doo" here) must have appealed to the singer - she included it on her first Columbia LP as well. Here she presents it as a torch song.

The principal issue with this terrific LP is its sound. This could be understandable if it had been recorded in situ, but this appears to be a studio recreation - there is no audience present. The music as reproduced had almost no bass, a strident upper mid range and shrieking highs. I've rebalanced it, added a small amount of room tone and processed the mono-only recording in ambient stereo. It sounds good now, and hopefully does justice to this remarkable singer.

The young producer Ben Bagley had some success with the Shoestring Revue in 1955, and even managed to get it recorded. He returned the next year with The Littlest Revue, and Epic was there to record it as well, even though it ran for only a month.

Grimes was one of the eight cast members, who also included Joel Grey and two of the wackiest comic actors of the time, Charlotte Rae and Larry Storch.

The revue's main songwriters were Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash, with additional contributions from John Latouche, Sheldon Harnick, Strouse and Adams, Michael Brown and others.

Both of Grimes' songs were by Duke and Nash, and can be best described as mildly amusing, although strongly presented by the vocalist. The first, "Madly in Love" is a take-off on "The Boy Next Door" and similar songs. Perhaps the "boy next door" in this case was Larry Storch?

"I'm Glad I'm Not a Man" is predictable in its implications and reflective of the time, but Grimes is again commanding. Epic's sound is very good.

Next time, we'll look into how the singer changed her approach for a major label, Columbia. Thanks to my friend jake for inspiring this brief series!