Alvin Morris (December 25, 1913 – July 27, 2012), known
professionally as Tony Martin, was an American actor and popular singer.
Tony Martin was born Alvin Morris Jr on Christmas Day
1913 in San Francisco, and educated at Oakland High School and St Mary’s
College. From childhood he sang for family and friends, and as a teenager
proficient on clarinet and saxophone he formed a quartet backing small-time
acts in vaudeville halls.
Having failed his Law finals at college — prompting a
lifelong jibe about him never having passed a bar since — Martin began touring
nightclubs playing saxophone and singing. He worked for the bandleaders Anson
Weeks and Tom Gerun and played alongside a young Woody Herman. Aiming to
emulate Bing Crosby as a leading all-rounder, Martin wound down his
instrumental work in favour of his voice. The singer Frances Langford then
recommended that he try Hollywood on the strength of his good looks and fine
physique.
Screen tests landed Martin a minor role in Follow the
Fleet (1935), and shortly thereafter he was spotted in a nightclub by Darryl F
Zanuck, who cast him in several films for Twentieth Century Fox, including
Shirley Temple’s Poor Little Rich Girl and Sing, Baby, Sing (both 1936). In the
latter he sang When Did You Leave Heaven? and starred alongside the Ritz
Brothers and Alice Faye. Between 1936 and 1938 Martin made a dozen films for
Fox, four of them with the sultry-voiced Alice Faye, whom he married in 1937.
Meanwhile his vocal powers as a theatre and club artist
continued to grow. On radio he became Gracie Allen’s boyfriend in The Burns and
Allen Show and he recorded eight times with the Ray Noble Orchestra for the
Brunswick label. In March 1939 he had his first multi million seller with Begin
the Beguine, coupled with September Song.
In 1941 he moved to MGM, where film moguls had promised
to build him into another Clark Gable. Offered Ziegfeld Girl, Martin insisted
on top billing over Jimmy Stewart, Judy Garland, Lana Turner and Hedy Lamarr.
This was the film that featured You Stepped Out of a Dream, which became a standard and a tune with which Martin would be forever associated. Martin worked next with the Marx Brothers, playing the song demonstrator in The Big Store. The film featured the Tenement Symphony which, with its themes of peace and racial goodwill, became a favourite wartime morale-booster, especially with British audiences.
A promotional still for 'Ziegfeld Girl' (1941). (From Left) Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr, director Robert Z. Leonard, Judy Garland and Tony Martin. |
This was the film that featured You Stepped Out of a Dream, which became a standard and a tune with which Martin would be forever associated. Martin worked next with the Marx Brothers, playing the song demonstrator in The Big Store. The film featured the Tenement Symphony which, with its themes of peace and racial goodwill, became a favourite wartime morale-booster, especially with British audiences.
The war caught Martin’s career on the crest of a wave,
and following Pearl Harbour he joined the US Army Air Force. Eventually he was
seconded to the Glenn Miller Orchestra as a vocalist, achieving the distinction
of being liked not just by Miller but by the band members too, defying the
traditional enmity between musicians and the singers they accompany. On
demobilisation Martin returned to Hollywood and in 1946 he sang in Till The
Clouds Roll By, the biopic about the songwriter Jerome Kern. In the same year
his recording of To Each His Own reached number four in the record charts.
The early post-war years took him to London, where he
appeared at the Palladium to great acclaim. He revived his film career in Bob
Hope’s Here Come The Girls in 1952 and the following year he achieved his
ambition to work with Esther Williams in Easy to Love (1953). Martin’s last two
significant film roles featured him
singing Lover Come Back To Me in the
Sigmund Romberg biopic Deep In My Heart and a forgettable comedy, Let’s Be
Happy (1957), filmed in Scotland. In 1982 he had a cameo role in Joe Pesci’s
film Dear Mr Wonderful.
ESTHER WILLIAMS VAN JOHNSON TONY MARTIN 1953 |
From the 1960s Martin concentrated on his work as a
nightclub vocalist and his own television show, on which he developed a
distinctive style of deadpan humour. He continued to release records, having
particular success in Britain with Stranger in Paradise and Walk Hand In Hand,
which reached numbers seven and four respectively in the charts. In an unlikely
pairing, Martin recorded
for the Motown Records label in the mid-1960s, scoring a minor hit with the record "Talkin' To Your Picture." He was one of a number of more traditional vocalists signed to the label during this period.
In 1984 he appeared in his final British tour, still delighting fans with numbers such as Feelings; I Write the Songs; and What I Did For Love.
for the Motown Records label in the mid-1960s, scoring a minor hit with the record "Talkin' To Your Picture." He was one of a number of more traditional vocalists signed to the label during this period.
In 1984 he appeared in his final British tour, still delighting fans with numbers such as Feelings; I Write the Songs; and What I Did For Love.
Tony Martin’s marriage to Alice Faye ended in divorce in
1941. He married Cyd Charisse in 1948 and their notably happy marriage of 60
years was one of the longest in Hollywood. She died in 2008, and he is survived
by a stepson from his second wife’s first marriage. His son, Tony Martin Jr,
predeceased him in April 2011.
Martin died on the evening of July 27, 2012, of natural
causes. He was 98 years old. Martin was buried at the Hillside Memorial Park
Cemetery in Culver City, California. (Edited mainly from The Telegraph.)
3 comments:
For “Tony Martin - I Get Ideas His 52 Finest (1936-1956)” go here:
https://www115.zippyshare.com/v/5FR3BmI0/file.html
Disc: 1
1. I Get Ideas
2. When Did You Leave Heaven?
3. The Moon Of Manakoora
4. You Couldn t Be Cuter
5. I Hadn t Anyone Till You
6. Now It Can Be Told
7. This May Be The Night
8. September Song
9. South Of The Border
10. It's A Blue World
11. Hear My Song, Violetta
12. Tonight Perfidia
13. Fools Rush In
14. The Donkey Serenade
15. The Last Time I Saw Paris
16. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
17. Taboo
18. Flamingo
19. Cuban Love Song
20. Tonight We Love
21. Why Do I Love You? (With Frances Langford)
22. Make Believe
23. A Gal In Calico
24. To Each His Own
25. Rumours Are Flying
26. Tenement Symphony
Disc: 2
1. I'll See You In My Dreams
2. Years And Years Ago
3. All The Things You Are
4. Begin The Beguine
5. For Every Man There's A Woman
6. It's Magic
7. Night And Day
8. There's No Tomorrow
9. Marta, Rambling Rose Of The Wildwood
10. I Said My Pyjamas And Put On My Prayers (With Fran Warren)
11. Valencia
12. La Vie En Rose
13. Singin' In The Rain
14. Would I Love You, Love You, Love You?
15. Domino
16. At Last! At Last!
17. I Could Write A Book
18. Kiss Of Fire
19. For The Very First Time
20. Dance Of Destiny
21. Sorta On The Border
22. Stranger In Paradise
23. Here
24. One Alone
25. Walk Hand In Hand
26. As Time Goes By
A BIG THANK YOU TO Xena Dress @ ACM2 for original post
AND TO ALL YOU MUSIC LOVERS HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!
Bob,
Please re-up this album. Thank you
Hello HP here's the new link
https://www.mediafire.com/file/mtkqasd7w2s3da8/Tony_Martin.rar/file
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