Alfred Newman and Harry James-I had the Craziest

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In A Walkthrough Shows, Songs and More
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We have been enjoying the musical direction of Alfred and Emil Newman, two talented members of the Newman musical family, in our postings of “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo” from Orchestra Wives (Alfred) and “Chattanooga Choo Choo” from Sun Valley Serenade (Emil). By the way, in 2017, there is no train service from New York to Baltimore to North Carolina to Tennessee; we imagine the Tennessee Excursion died along with many other dreams of convenient rail travel.

Now, we would like to shift from Alfred’s collaboration with Glenn Miller to Alfred’s collaboration with Harry James. Harry at one time played with Benny Goodman, before going out on his own. One of the first big hits for Harry was “All or Nothing at All,” recorded with an up-and-coming crooner named Frank Sinatra. In 1942, Twentieth Century Fox requested Harry James to provide the music for a few numbers in a 1942 movie, called Springtime in the Rockies. Harry James and His Music Makers included a female vocalist named Helen Forrest, who also recorded a number of hits with Benny Goodman.

Harry Warren and Mack Gordon provided the music and words for the song we have chosen to watch: “I Had the Craziest Dream Last Night.” The movie provides light entertainment that contrasted with a dark period in our nation’s history, as WWII was being fought on either side of us, in Europe and in the Pacific. Springtime in the Rockies was released on November 6, 1942, with a stellar cast of Betty Grable, John Payne, Carmen Miranda, Cesar Romero, Charlotte Greenwood, Edward Everett Horton and Jackie Gleason.

At the same time, the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was raging; we needed to hold onto our access on sea in order to keep supplying our troops on land. One week after the movie opened, on November 13, 1942 the light cruiser USS Juneau was sunk during this naval engagement. There were about 100 initial survivors left in the shark infested waters. The crew included five brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, who had enlisted on the condition that they be allowed to serve together on the same ship. Three brothers went down with the ship (Frank, Joe and Matt Sullivan); the fourth brother, Al, died the next day; and the final brother, George, according to an eyewitness, lost his mind in the next few days and jumped into the water to swim for shore. Three sharks circled him immediately.

After this disaster, the Navy enforced its policy on not permitting siblings to serve on the same ship.

In 1944, the story of The Fighting Sullivan’s was made into a movie, with Alfred Newman as music director. Wikipedia acknowledges the accuracy of the end of the movie in one key regard: When the Father asks the question of the Lt. Commander, “Which one,” he is answered “I’m sorry; all five.”