Friday, September 22, 2017

90 Yrs. For Wretched Old Bastard

Tommy Lasorda, genial ambassador of baseball:
In the spirit of the day, our fave Sinatra tune, w/ Harry James.
In a 1944 interview, Sinatra said of the delayed success of the song, "That was the song, a few days after Harry James and myself recorded it, that gave us our walking papers out of the old Victor Hugo Cafe (a major entertainment venue of the 1930s) on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. The manager came up and waved his hands for us to stop. He said Harry's trumpet playing was too loud for the joint and my singing was just plain lousy and fired Harry, me and the entire band on the spot. He said the two of us couldn't draw flies as an attraction, and I guess he was right - the room was as empty as a barn. It's a funny thing about that song. The recording we made of it 5 years ago is now one of the top spots among the best sellers. But it's the same old recording. It's also the song I auditioned with for Tommy Dorsey, who signed me on the strength of it. And now it's my first big record."

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