Last week I asked you to cast your vote for your favorite artist in my Blueberry Hill BOTB Showdown. My battle got a rocky start when Tom noticed contender #2 vocalist didn’t match up with the video I found on YouTube. The post had been sitting in drafts for a long time and I didn’t think to double check the videos. Honestly, I don’t know what went through my head when I originally picked it, unless the video title crediting Connee Boswell as the artist sparked my interest. I do recall having been introduced to the singer prior to creating this battle and I thought it would be cool to use her. Instead of risking this video getting forgotten, I stuck it in my post with the intention to listen to it later. This sounds like a reasonable explanation for my mess up.
I appreciate Tom saving my bacon in that showdown. Thanks, my friend! What happened next surprised me. This battle pitched heavily to one side. If you followed along with the tally then it won’t come as a shock. I have to wonder had I used the recording Tom found of Connee if the voting process would’ve been different. What do you think?
The winner of the Blueberry Hill BOTB Showdown is GLENN MILLER FEATURING RAY EBERLY!
To refresh your memory on how you voted. Lee, Brian, and Mimi liked Sammy Kaye best. Tom, Birgit, Ellen, Nicole, Eugenia, John, Mary, Debbie, Binky, and Stephen decided RAY EBERLY is the berries in this showdown. Giving Glenn Miller with Ray a smacking 10 to 3 victory!
How about another music sample of our winner? Here’s Ray Eberly and Lynn Bari with the Glenn Miller Orchestra singing “At Last” apparently from the film ORCHESTRA WIVES.
Special thanks to each of you for doing your civic duty by making your voices heard in this Battle of the Bands in picking the winner. 👏 It certainly makes putting these posts together tons more fun to have y’all participate. I hope you join me on February 1st for my next BOTB showdown.
This is CAAC signing off, don’t forget to catch this morning’s edition of Saturday Songsuasion!
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Very funny ❤
That really was a fun battle and I can never get enough of Glenn Miller.
Fun results and an even funnier cartoon!
That was a fun battle, Cathy, and thanks for the funny at the end. I got a laugh out of that one. 😘
Thanks for the battles, they’re fun and it’s always a joy to listen in.
Hi, Cathy!
Happy Saturday, dear friend!
Thanks for reporting the outcome of your “Blueberry Hill” band battle. Early on day one, I could see how the vote was going, and therefore the final tally doesn’t surprise me. I doubt that the version by Connee Boswell could have overtaken the one by Glenn Miller and Ray Eberly. Ray had the advantage of fronting a full orchestra, one of the best of the Swing Era, on his recording, while Connee’s version is a subdued, stripped down affair with only a piano and a few other instruments accompanying her.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the clip from the 1942 film Orchestra Wives. I loved Ann Rutherford in the Andy Hardy series, and it was nice to see her face in the audience as Ray Eberly and Lynn Bari performed “A Last,” a song later popularized by R&B queen Etta James. It’s interesting to note that “At Last” was actually introduced the year before in the 1941 musical film Sun Valley Serenade. In that picture, Glenn Miller’s band also played the tune and the song was sung by John Payne and Lynn Bari, but Lynn’s singing part was dubbed – replaced by the vocals of Pat Friday – a singer who worked with Glenn Miller on his early 1940s films. Pat Friday’s voice was again dubbed over Lynn Bari’s singing performance in Orchestra Wives, the clip you posted here.
I need more Saturday Songsuasion, and I know where to find it — CAAC. I’ll see you there shortly, dear friend Cathy!