Scrappy Lambert - Beggars Of Life
- 16 years ago
This superb recording is my absolute favorite of the many performances by Harold "Scrappy" Lambert (1901–1987). He was an American jazz band vocalist. He appeared on hundreds of recordings from the 1920s to the 1940s. He attended Rutgers University, where he was a cheerleader and played piano for a jazz group called the "Rutgers Jazz Bandits." He and fellow student Billy Hillpot formed a musical duo, which was discovered in 1926 by Ben Bernie, who signed them to perform with his orchestra. Lambert and Hillpot appeared on many recordings with the orchestra and remained under Bernie's employ until 1928. Other bandleaders who employed Lambert include Red Nichols, Frank Britton Wenzel, Fred Rich, and Sam Lanin. In the 1930s, Lambert and Hillpot took their comedy routine to the National Broadcasting Company, then a fledgling radio network. In 1943, MCA offered him a job, and he worked for them until 1948. It also was the end of his singing career. This lovely record, made in 1928, is a version the title song of the homonymous film directed by William Wellman, starring Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery and Richard Arlen (I am sorry for the erroneous subtitle appearing at some point in the video).