Show 51: Lead Belly

Lead Belly was not exactly the Raffi of the Roosevelt era. Convicted of murder and attempted murder, the man born Huddie Ledbetter on January 20, 1888 began his singing career in the 1930’s. Today’s program features Lead Belly playing 12-string guitar and singing the songs that made him the Pied Piper for children growing up during the 1940’s.

Lead Belly

Lead Belly

More Yet
Ivan Ulz

More Yet
Lead Belly

Boll Weevil
Lead Belly

Little Boy, How Old Are You?
Lead Belly

Skip to My Lou
Lead Belly

Sally Walker
Lead Belly

Ha Ha This A-Way
Lead Belly

Grey Goose
Lead Belly

Christmas Is A-Coming
Lead Belly

Blue Tailed Fly
Lead Belly

Pig Latin Song
Lead Belly

Rock Island Line
Lead Belly

Cotton Fields
Lead Belly

Old Man
Lead Belly

John Henry
Lead Belly

Julie Ann Johnson
Lead Belly

Whoa Back Buck
Lead Belly

You Can’t Lose Me, Cholly
Lead Belly

Midnight Special
Lead Belly

Pick a Bale of Cotton
Lead Belly

Take This Hammer
Lead Belly

We’re in the Same Boat, Brother
Lead Belly

Goodnight Irene
Van Morrison, Lonnie Donegan, & Chris Barber

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Show 50: Thanksgiving

Just in time for the post-Thanksgiving weekend, here’s a nice big heaping of goodies from the Treasure Ivan treasure chest.

Winter
Spike Jones & His City Slickers

Groucho Marx recorded his only children’s record in 1949. He said: “I have, in the past, always turned down offers to make phonograph records for children but I was glad to make this, my first, for two reasons. One is that I like children…The second is because I like what this record has to say.”

What resulted was a powerful indictment of bullying and verbal abuse, told in the inimitable style of Groucho Marx. Written by Raymond Abrashkin, it is a funny and touching reminder that courtesy and consideration for others were issues long before we were born.

The Funniest Song in the World
Groucho Marx

The Funniest Song in the World - Groucho Marx

The Funniest Song in the World – Groucho Marx

Mairzy Doats
The Merry Macs

Next up is a slice of United States history scripted by Jay Williams and narrated by Norman Rose, with songs performed by Tom Glazer. In the words of its producer, “it offers the child a sound picture of an event of prime importance in American history.”

Working on the Railroad
Norman Rose & Tom Glazer with the Gene Lowell Chorus

In the Middle of the House
Alma Cogan

It's Fun to Eat

It’s Fun to Eat

Our final story for this program was released in 1946. It contains more praise for gluttony than anything this side of a hundred Super-Size commercials. You’ll wonder what they were thinking when they came up with this frantic 3-record set about eating and more eating. “Happity Yappity, Crunch, crunch, crunch!/ Oh, what a wonderful meal is lunch/ Happity Yappity Appetite/ We eat everything that’s in our sight.” Stick around; it gets worse.

It’s Fun to Eat
Sylvia & Murray Winant

Roly Poly
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

Junk Food Junkie
Larry Groce

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Show 49: Pollyanna

Everyone has a favorite movie star and Treasure Ivan’s is definitely Hayley Mills.

Let’s Get Together
Hayley Mills

Hayley was a child star of the first magnitude from her first appearance at the age of 12 in “Tiger Bay.” She was contracted soon after that (1961) to play the lead in Walt Disney’s production of “Pollyanna.” This show features a Disney LP of the movie, featuring the original cast including Jane Wyman, Karl Malden, and Agnes Moorehead.

Pollyanna
Staring Hayley Mills

Next up, Treasure Ivan (aka Ivan Ulz) takes his listeners back to 1962 when a screening of Hayley in the British film “Whistle Down the Wind” turned his teenage life around. He vowed that some day, some how, he would meet Hayley. It took 40 years (and a 45 rpm record featuring Ivan himself, with Glen Campbell on guitar) to pull it off, but Ivan and Hayley finally got together long enough for a once-in-a-lifetime photo-op.

Ivan Ulz & Hayley Mills

Ivan Ulz & Hayley Mills (she’s holding the record)

A Letter to Hayley
Billy Kidd (aka Ivan Ulz)

But wait, there’s more. The Beatles also became involved in this platonic love story, and the Four Preps too. Though it’s rise up the charts was destined to be brief, cut short by a melodic mix-up, “A Letter to the Beatles” remains an important musical asterisk.

A Letter to the Beatles
The Four Preps

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Show 48: A. A. Milne

Treasure Ivan takes the week off, while a substitute host features poems and stories for children by A. A. Milne.

Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh, illustration by EH Shepard

Buckingham Palace
Sung by Frank Luther

Winnie-the-Pooh
Read by Maurice Evans

Hoppity
Sung by Frank Luther

Winnie-the-Pooh and the Heffalumps, Part 1
Narrated by Sterling Holloway

The King’s Breakfast
Sung by Frank Luther

Winnie-the-Pooh and the Heffalumps, Part 2
Narrated by Sterling Holloway

At the Zoo
Sung by Frank Luther

Halfway Down
Sung by Frank Luther

Vespers
Sung by Frank Luther

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Show 47: Assorted Stories

Teddy Bear Polka
Jack Arthur

Norman Rose

Norman Rose

Four Bears
Norman Rose

Teddy Bear Dance

The Trojan Horse

The Trojan Horse

The Trojan Horse
Art Gilmore

Cinderella
with music by Sergei Prokofiev, arranged by Richard Mohaupt

Castles in the Sand
Story by Delmar Molarsky, music by Carter Harman

Ebb Tide
Jerry Colonna

Jerry Colonna

Jerry Colonna

Dance Around
Woody Guthrie & Family

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Show 46: Hallowe’en

Spines are a-tingling as Bing Crosby, Betty Grable, Boris Karloff, Screaming Jay Hawkins and a host of other stars join forces for the special All Hallows Eve edition of the Treasure Ivan Show. From witches and goblins, to the bogey man and the headless horseman, there’s something for every spook. Despite the macabre theme, it’s all very lighthearted (and a bit silly), suitable for anyone capable of uttering “trick or treat!”

Betty Grable on Halloween

Betty Grable on Halloween

Haunted House
Betty Grable

Here Comes the Boogey Man
Henry Hall

Skeleton in the Closet
Putney Dandridge

Headless Horseman
Kay Starr

Halloween
Marcia Berman

Popcorn, by Frank Asche
read by Ivan Ulz

Wobblin’ Goblin
Rosemary Clooney

Mysterious Mose
Rube Bloom & His Bayou Boys

The Little Man Who Wasn’t There
Glen Miller Orchestra

Halloween Spooks
Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross

I’m a Ghost
From Scrappy Cartoons

Mr. Ghost is Going to Town
The Five Jones Boys

Little Demon
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

Graveyard Boogie
Buster Doss & the Arkansas Playboys

The Halloween Song
Bing Crosby & Boris Karloff

Ghost Dance
Velma Truett & Harry George

Teddy Bear’s Picnic
Ivan Ulz with John Messer on guitar

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Show 45: Fire Truck!

Just last week, a video of the “Fire Truck!” song by Ivan Ulz (alter ego of Treasure Ivan) topped 4 million hits on YouTube. This edition of the Treasure Ivan Radio Program celebrates “Fire Truck!” and the golden-age children’s record that helped to inspire it.

Why Is a Fire Engine Red?
Johnny Cash

Fire Truck

Fire Truck!
Ivan Ulz, with John Messer on guitar

The next selection, like its companion release “Let’s Be Policemen,” is a Children’s Record Guild Production with songs about various aspects of firefighting.

Let’s Be Firemen
Lee Sweetland

What makes this next record such a rarity is that Edmund Karlsrud, who delivers the vocal, was a professional bass-baritone who performed with the Metropolitan opera during their 1970 season.

Edmund Karlsrud

Edmund Karlsrud

Dan the Fireman
Edmund Karlsrud

One of the best parts about writing a hit song — “Fire Truck!” has been called a “preschool anthem” by The New York Times — is that other musicians record their own versions, including this one from a group based in Santa Cruz, CA.

Fire Truck!
Jerry and the Silly Monsters

That’s followed by the anthropomorphic tale of a little fire engine who is in a hurry to grow up and fight fires like mom and dad. The two stories told here are in the tradition of “Little Toot” and “The Little Engine that Could,” also featuring talking vehicles who are a just a bit too small.

Flick the Little Fire Engine

Flick the Little Fire Engine

Flick, the Little Fire Engine
Narrated by Robert Dann

Fire Truck!
“Mister” Bob Linsenmayer

Margaret Wise Brown, of “Goodnight Moon fame, wrote “The Little Fireman” in 1938. This recorded adaptation was made by Young Peoples Records in 1949. Tom Glazer, author of “On Top of Spaghetti,” wrote and sang all the songs.

The Little Fireman
Norman Rose & Tom Glazer

The final rendition of “Fire Truck” on this program is also my favorite cover. Frank Gallo and his group, Rolie Polie Guacamole retain the original unbridled enthusiasm of the song and create some wonderfully original additions of their own.

Fire Truck!
Rolie Polie Guacamole

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Show 44: Girls, Girls, Girls

This installment of Treasure Ivan begins with a series of Knock-Knock jokes set to music by Spike Jones & His City Slickers, then quickly moves into a story record with riddles that were popular in the early 1950’s.

Knock Knock
Spike Jones & His City Slickers

Riddle Me This

Riddle Me This

Riddle Me This
Lee Sweetland

A trio of songs concerning marriage and post-marriage follows, beginning with this gem, adapted for children from Broadway Melody of 1929:

The Wedding of the Painted Doll

The Wedding of the Painted Doll

The Wedding of the Painted Doll

It’s followed by the lament of a very unhappy housewife:

Sixteen Pounds
Patsy Montana

And finally a song from the sixties written by Ivan himself, about the monotony of suburban life:

San Fernando
Mary McCaslin

Most of the children’s records produced in the 1940’s and 1950’s contain stories that are centered around boys — and the girls who do come into play are rarely liberated women by today’s standards. “The Little Cowgirl” is a notable exception. The story is by Raymond Abrashkin, who penned “The Little Cowboy” as well as the Danny Dunn books, and the award winning film, The Little Fugitive.

The Little Cowgirl
Sue Bennett

Tina the Ballerina may not present the same challenges as those found in “The Little Cowgirl” but it is similar in that Tina overcomes her fears to the delight of all those around her.

Tina the Ballerina
Jack Arthur

Tina the Ballerina

Tina the Ballerina

Ballerina
Vaughn Monroe

We close the show with a tribute to Sheriff John Rovick, pioneer of children’s televison, who passed away earlier this month. His ground-breaking program aired five days a week for 20 years on KTTV, Los Angeles. He was a true gentleman and will be missed by everyone who was fortunate enough to have experienced him.

Sheriff John

Sheriff John

Laugh and Be Happy
Sheriff John Rovick

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Show 43: Take Me Out to the Ballgame

The 2012 Dodger baseball season has finally ended. Even though they didn’t make it to the World Series this year, we’re devoting this edition of the Treasure Ivan show to a celebration of baseball and the Dodgers, in both their Brooklyn and LA incarnations.

Take me Out to the Ballgame
Roy Campanella, Phil Rizzuto, Sandpiper Chorus

Brooklyn Dodgers, circa 1950

Brooklyn Dodgers, circa 1950

In the dramatic story record “Slugger at the Bat,” 1940s baseball greats Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson teach a group of sandlotters the importance of teamwork.

Slugger at the Bat
Featuring Pee Wee Reese & Jackie Robinson

Character actor Joe E. Brown simulates a baseball game and explains how it works in

How to Play Baseball
Joe E. Brown & Cornelius Peebles

Dodger Blue
Dave Frishberg

Finally, the great actor Lionel Barrymore gives the greatest recitation you will ever hear of the classic American poem, written by Ernest Thayer in 1888,

Casey at the Bat
Lionel Barrymore

Los Angeles Dodgers, circa 1958

Los Angeles Dodgers, circa 1958

The D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song
Danny Kaye

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Show 42: Tom Glazer

“He sang to children as saints speak to birds”

Tom Glazer

Tom Glazer wrote the children’s classic, “On Top of Spaghetti”, but that song is only a footnote to the many recordings he made for youngsters during the 1940’s and 1950’s. This edition of the Treasure Ivan program features songs carefully selected from the many concert recordings Glazer made with young people over the years.

Glazer was also a regular contributor to Young People’s Records/Children’s Record Guild productions, including “Let’s Go to the Rodeo,” also heard on this show. Listen for the part where he says “Indians, real Indians” — proof that not everyone in the 1950s subscribed to the reigning American legend of Cowboys vs Indians.

On Top of Spaghetti
Tom Glazer

Come Down the Aisle
Tom Glazer

The Wheels on the Bus
Tom Glazer

Three Crows
Tom Glazer

Big Rock Candy Mountain
Tom Glazer

Honk-Hiss-Tweet-GGGGGG
Tom Glazer

This Old Man
Tom Glazer

Let's Go to the Rodeo

Let’s Go to the Rodeo

Let’s Go to the Rodeo
Tom Glazer

A Robin Sat in a Cherry Tree
Tom Glazer

Haul Away Joe
Tom Glazer

I Know an Old Lady
Tom Glazer

Jimmy Cracked Corn
Tom Glazer

Jenny Jenkins
Tom Glazer

Put Your Finger In the Air
Tom Glazer

The Frog Went A-Courtin’
Tom Glazer

So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You
Tom Glazer

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