Frankie and Johnny

[MikeFromHolland]

.

frankie and johnny.JPG

Frankie Baker.jpg

"By Christmas of that year (1899), Frankie had already started to hear "her" ballad sung on the streets. Ballad sellers would pick up on the most lurid news stories of the time, turn them quickly into verse and sell the resulting single-sheet copies at 10c a time on street corners. Often, they would stir up interest by singing the songs themselves to attract a crowd. Frankie Killed Allen, the first song to tell this particular story, was composed by Bill Dooley, one of St Louis' most prolific balladeers. By the evening after the shooting, it was already being performed and sold(3).
The first sheet music version was published in 1904 by Hughie Cannon, a black-face comedian who turned the song into a sequel to his earlier hit Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home. Cannon kept Dooley's tune and refrain "He done me wrong", but threw out everything else. By 1909, when the song collector John Lomax found a Texas version, Allen (or Al) Britt had become Albert. He was rechristened again in Frank & Bert Leighton's 1912 sheet music for their vaudeville song Frankie & Johnny, a name which has stuck ever since. A similar process turned Alice into "Nellie Bly", a name which singers may have found easier to remember and pronounce.


First known recorded and released version (May 1921) by Al Bernard with Carl Fenton's Orchestra, as B-side to "Memphis Blues".

Label 1.jpg

..

Al Bernard was one of the first white singers to sing the blues. Besides "Memphis Blues" (1921), he also sang tunes like "Beale Street Blues" (1919), "The St. Louis Blues" (1920), "25 years from now" (1923) and even "Shake, Rattle and Roll"(1919), no not the rock'n'roll song.

Some other early versions of the song:

June 10, 1921
..

March 12, 1929
..

September 1955
..

July 9, 1961
..


Elvis recorded his versions (for movie and record) on May 14/15, 1965
..

..

F&J single - Elvis - German pressing.jpg

The single was released in 1966 (backed with "Please, Don't Stop Loving Me").

It reached #3 on US Billboards Adult Contemporary Chart, #4 in the Top 40 single chart in Canada and #25 in US Billboards Hot 100.



Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_and_Johnny_song
https://books.google.nl/books?id=10rEGSIItjgC&pg=PA542&redir_esc=y&hl=nl#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://www.discogs.com/Al-Bernard-With-Carl-Fentons-Orchestra-Memphis-Blues-Frankie-And-Johnnie/release/11700106
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=al+bernard
https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/63445/versions
http://www.planetslade.com/frankie-and-johnny2.html
https://www.keithflynn.com/recording-sessions/60_index_02.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley_singles_discography
https://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Frankie-And-Johnny/release/1787101

[fn2drive]

Thanks for the hard work pulling this together. By the time i saw F and J for the first time on TV it was woefully dated. I listened to the various artists posted above. This seems like a song that was one that could be appreciated in the period written. I never understood the appeal of this song or indeed the back story. The news clip you posted is great.

[rlj4ep]

Thanks very much MikeFromHolland for your work and post on Frankie and Johnny. I will admit that I didn't really know the true story along with the detail as you posted.

As far as Elvis' movie and performances, I actually enjoy it. I think the acting is well done and the music, while not Grammy worthy (and it's not meant to be), is fitting for the movie and works for me. The interaction between Elvis, Harry Morgan, Donna Douglas, and Nancy Kovack is convincing enough. A very enjoyable film.

Thanks again for all of your effort with this post!

rlj

[MikeFromHolland]

.

Thanks for all contributions!

On set Frankie and Johnny 01.jpg

Elvis and Frank.jpg

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[MikeFromHolland]

(..) and Stanwyck certainly looked pleased to be spending some time with him. And vice versa.

She sure did!

Stanwyck Elvis 01.jpg

Stanwyck Elvis 02.jpg

Stanwyck Elvis 03.jpg

Stanwyck Elvis 04.jpg

Stanwyck Elvis 05.jpg

Stanwyck Elvis 06.jpg

Stanwyck Elvis 07.jpg

Stanwyck Elvis 08.jpg

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[egilj]

Thanks very much MikeFromHolland for your work and post on Frankie and Johnny. I will admit that I didn't really know the true story along with the detail as you posted.

As far as Elvis' movie and performances, I actually enjoy it. I think the acting is well done and the music, while not Grammy worthy (and it's not meant to be), is fitting for the movie and works for me. The interaction between Elvis, Harry Morgan, Donna Douglas, and Nancy Kovack is convincing enough. A very enjoyable film.

Thanks again for all of your effort with this post!

rlj

Agreed. I think it's without a doubt his best movie between Girl Happy and Speedway. I know that doesn't say much, but to me it's a fairly good movie.

[MikeFromHolland]

.

The full sessions were unofficially released in 2015 on this 3cd boxset:

3cd set Come Along With Frankie And Johnny.jpg

Tracklist

The Stereo Album
1-1 Frankie And Johnny
1-2 Come Along
1-3 Petunia, The Gardener’s Daughter
1-4 Chesay
1-5 What Every Woman Lives For
1-6 Look Out, Broadway
1-7 Beginner’s Luck
1-8 Down By The Riverside - When The Saints Go Marching In
1-9 Shout It Out
1-10 Hard Luck
1-11 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me
1-12 Everybody Come Aboard

The Outtakes
1-13 Beginner’s Luck / Take 2 (extra Intro)
1-14 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Take 1-3
1-15 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Take 4-5
1-16 please don’t stop loving me / take 6
1-17 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Take 7
1-18 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Take 8
1-19 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Take 9
1-20 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Take 10
1-21 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Take 11-14
1-22 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Take 15-16
1-23 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Take 17
1-24 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Take 18-19
1-25 Shout It Out / Take 1
1-26 Shout It Out / Take 2-3
1-27 Shout It Out / Take 4-5
1-28 Shout It Out / Take 6-7
1-29 Frankie And Johnny / Movie Version

The Mono Album
2-1 Frankie And Johnny
2-2 Come Along
2-3 Petunia, The Gardener’s Daughter
2-4 Chesay
2-5 What Every Woman Lives For
2-6 Look Out, Broadway
2-7 Beginner’s Luck
2-8 Down By The Riverside - When The Saints Go Marching In
2-9 Shout It Out
2-10 Hard Luck
2-11 Please Don’t Stop Loving Me
2-12 Everybody Come Aboard

The Outtakes
2-13 Petunia. The Gardener’s Daughter / Take 1
2-14 Petunia. The Gardener’s Daughter / Take 2
2-15 Petunia. The Gardener’s Daughter / Take 3
2-16 Petunia. The Gardener’s Daughter / Take 4
2-17 Petunia. The Gardener’s Daughter / Insert Take 1-3
2-18 Petunia. The Gardener’s Daughter / Take 5-6
2-19 Look Out, Broadway / Take 1-2
2-20 Look Out, Broadway / Take 3-5
2-21 Look Out, Broadway / Take 6-8
2-22 Look Out, Broadway / Take 9
2-23 Look Out, Broadway / Take 10-12
2-24 Everybody Come Aboard / Take 1-2
2-25 Everybody Come Aboard / Take 3-
2-26 Everybody Come Aboard / Take 4-5
2-27 Everybody Come Aboard / Take 6
2-28 Everybody Come Aboard / Take 7-8
2-29 Everybody Come Aboard / Take 9-10
2-30 Everybody Come Aboard / Take 11
2-31 Everybody Come Aboard (takes 12-13)
2-32 Everybody Come Aboard (take 14)
2-33 Everybody Come Aboard (takes 15-16*)

The Outtakes
3-1 Chesay (take 1)
3-2 Chesay (takes 2-3)
3-3 Chesay (take 4)
3-4 Chesay (take 5)
3-5 Chesay (takes 6-7*)
3-6 Frankie And Johnny (take 1)
3-7 Frankie And Johnny (takes 2-6*)
3-8 Frankie And Johnny (mv part 1, take 1)
3-9 Frankie And Johnny (mv Part 1, Takes 2-3)
3-10 Frankie And Johnny (mv Part 2, Section 7)

Movie Versions
3-11 Come Along
3-12 Petunia. The Gardener’s Daughter
3-13 Chesay
3-14 Frankie And Johnny (version 1)
3-15 Beginner’s Luck
3-16 Down By The Riverside/When The Saints Go Marching In
3-17 Shout It Out
3-18 Hard Luck
3-19 Frankie And Johnny (version 2)
3-20 Everybody Come Aboard

Bonus tracks
3-21 Theatrical Trailer
3-22 Theatrical Trailer
3-23 Radio Spot
3-24 Harry Morgan Interview Quote

Rejected songs written by Dolores Fuller
3-25 Mississippi Sue (acetate Source, Artist Unknown)
3-26 Better Believe It Baby (acetate Source, Artist Unknown)
3-27 My Gypsy Heart (acetate Source, Artist Unknown)
3-28 My Bittersweet (acetate Source, Artist Unknown)


Source
https://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Presley-Come-Along-With-Frankie-Johnny/release/7933079

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[colonel snow]

Frankie and Johnny

I found an older recording>>
22 september 1916: The Leighton Brothers did a trial but this is lost; on 20 december 1916 they recorded a version for Victor but the recording is destroyed or lost.

Besides the original version it was recorded in the 20’s by:

10-06-21 - Frank Crumit & Paul Biese Trio (Columbia A 3459)
00-01-23 - Isham Jones & his Orchestra (Brunswick 2423) **
30-10-23 - Golden Gate Orchestra (Pathe 36095 / Perfect 14275) **
16-03-24 - Fate Marable's Society Syncopators (Okeh 40113) **
21-04-27 - Ted Lewis Band (Columbia 1017 D / Okeh 41582);
11-05-27 - Frank Crumit (Victor 20715);
08-08-27 - Levee Loungers (Pathe 36679 / Perfect 14860) **
21-10-27 - remake by Isham Jones & his Orchestra (Brunswick 3695); **
14-02-28 - John Hurt (Okeh 8560);
16-04-28 - Billy Jones (Edison cylinder BA 5520 / Edison Diamond disc 52284-L);
00-04-29 - Vel Veteran (= Arthur Fields / Vernon Dalhart) (Grey Gull 4261);
10-08-29 - Jimmy Rodgers (Victor 22143 / Bluebird 5223);
17-10-29 - The Arkansas Woodchopper (Champion 45058 / Gennett 7036 / Supertone 9569)
aka West Virginia Railsplitters (Champion 15852);
04-11-29 - Riley Puckett (Columbia 15505D);
02-12-29 - Gene Autry (Clarion 4026 / Diva 6037 / Velvet Tone 7063);
05-12-29 - Nick Nichols part 1 & part 2 (Columbia 2071D);
30-12-29 - King Oliver & his Orchestra (Victor LP V 529); **
15-01-30 - King Oliver & his Orchestra remake (Victor 38109) **

** = instrumental versions


colonel snow

[MikeFromHolland]

Frankie and Johnny

I found an older recording>>
22 september 1916: The Leighton Brothers did a trial but this is lost; on 20 december 1916 they recorded a version for Victor but the recording is destroyed or lost.


colonel snow

That's right, it's mentioned in one of my sources, but since it wasn't released I didn't do anything with it, except mentioning their sheetmusic from 1912.


Thanks for all the additional information! Very much appreciated.


.

[colonel snow]

Frankie and Johnny

I found an older recording>>
22 september 1916: The Leighton Brothers did a trial but this is lost; on 20 december 1916 they recorded a version for Victor but the recording is destroyed or lost.


colonel snow

That's right, it's mentioned in one of my sources, but since it wasn't released I didn't do anything with it, except mentioning their sheetmusic from 1912.


Thanks for all the additional information! Very much appreciated.


.

Perhaps I found it there a long time ago as I've this in my files for years. I've not checked your sources at all.


colonel snow

[colonel snow]

another movie version from 1934.


colonel snow

[mike edwards66]

Good effort, Mike. Thanks.

The movie is nothing special, but Elvis looks good in costume, and it is the closest he ever came to being in an actual musical. The recording sessions are something of a revelation, really. I don't know what happened in the mixing, but the raw sessions, on some tracks, have a lovely New Orleans brassy jazz feel. Oh well.

Still one of my favourites, albeit in remixed form. Did anyone ever sing the word 'darling' more beautifully:

..

.

frankie and johnny.JPG

Frankie Baker.jpg

"By Christmas of that year (1899), Frankie had already started to hear "her" ballad sung on the streets. Ballad sellers would pick up on the most lurid news stories of the time, turn them quickly into verse and sell the resulting single-sheet copies at 10c a time on street corners. Often, they would stir up interest by singing the songs themselves to attract a crowd. Frankie Killed Allen, the first song to tell this particular story, was composed by Bill Dooley, one of St Louis' most prolific balladeers. By the evening after the shooting, it was already being performed and sold(3).
The first sheet music version was published in 1904 by Hughie Cannon, a black-face comedian who turned the song into a sequel to his earlier hit Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home. Cannon kept Dooley's tune and refrain "He done me wrong", but threw out everything else. By 1909, when the song collector John Lomax found a Texas version, Allen (or Al) Britt had become Albert. He was rechristened again in Frank & Bert Leighton's 1912 sheet music for their vaudeville song Frankie & Johnny, a name which has stuck ever since. A similar process turned Alice into "Nellie Bly", a name which singers may have found easier to remember and pronounce.


First known recorded and released version (May 1921) by Al Bernard with Carl Fenton's Orchestra, as B-side to "Memphis Blues".

Label 1.jpg

..

Al Bernard was one of the first white singers to sing the blues. Besides "Memphis Blues" (1921), he also sang tunes like "Beale Street Blues" (1919), "The St. Louis Blues" (1920), "25 years from now" (1923) and even "Shake, Rattle and Roll"(1919), no not the rock'n'roll song.

Some other early versions of the song:

June 10, 1921
..

March 12, 1929
..

September 1955
..

July 9, 1961
..


Elvis recorded his versions (for movie and record) on May 14/15, 1965
..

..

F&J single - Elvis - German pressing.jpg

The single was released in 1966 (backed with "Please, Don't Stop Loving Me").

It reached #3 on US Billboards Adult Contemporary Chart, #4 in the Top 40 single chart in Canada and #25 in US Billboards Hot 100.



Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_and_Johnny_song
https://books.google.nl/books?id=10rEGSIItjgC&pg=PA542&redir_esc=y&hl=nl#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://www.discogs.com/Al-Bernard-With-Carl-Fentons-Orchestra-Memphis-Blues-Frankie-And-Johnnie/release/11700106
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=al+bernard
https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/63445/versions
http://www.planetslade.com/frankie-and-johnny2.html
https://www.keithflynn.com/recording-sessions/60_index_02.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley_singles_discography
https://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Frankie-And-Johnny/release/1787101

[MikeFromHolland]

another movie version from 1934.


colonel snow

Thanks!

..

.

[Mike C]

It would seem as though the complete sessions would be ideal for the new three-disc FTD releases.

I must admit that this is one FTD release I would not be looking forward to. I barely play the original release form 2003.

[colonel snow]

Meanwhile we know the original version of Frankie & Johnny is recorded in december 1912 by Gene Greene (Pathe 5370).

colonel snow

[colonel snow]

Some history of the script:

21-03-63 – out line for writing script

12-09-63 – agreement with Robert Kent for writing script

20-03-64 – estimating screenplay written by Nat Ferrin.

23-03-64 – first draft screenplay written by Nat Ferrin (111 P)

12-06-64 – new screenplay written by Alex Gottlieb; based on the story by Nat Previn

A screenplay by John Huston & Anthony Veiller based on Frankie and Johnny but titled “St. Louis Object” (5 august 1963) has nothing to do with Elvis’ movie.

(letter 21 march 1963 with outline – 19 pages)
Mentioned here for the role of Johnny:
Frank Sinatra – Dean Martin – Tony Curtis – Warren Beaty

Mentioned here for the role of Frankie:
Ava Gardner – Ann Margret – Kim Novak



colonel snow

[colonel snow]

Internal memo dated 20 march 1964 about screenplay by Nat Ferrin.


colonel snow

[colonel snow]

Agreement with Robert Kent dated 12 september 1963 for writing a script for the movie Frankie and Johnny.


colonel snow

[colonel snow]

Frankie and Johnny - last page of movie contract


colonel snow

[colonel snow]

Frankie and Johnny - additional agreement for the movie


colonel snow

[colonel snow]

Letter dated 13 may 1965 from Filmways TV Productions to Edward Small (director of Frankie and Johnny) about the presence of co-star onna Douglas. She was shooting for TV Beverly Hillbillies around the same time.


colonel snow

[colonel snow]

Song selection based on draft screenplay 23 march 1964.


colonel snow

[colonel snow]

Frankie and Johnny - costume design drawings

1 – Frankie as Petunia – short pink and white dress with ruffled leggings;

scene 38 – Frankie dressing room scene;

scene 135 – Johnny with yellow vest over white shirt and gold pants;

colonel snow

[colonel snow]

21 may 1965 - payment Eileen Wilson


colonel snow

[colonel snow]

7 june 1965 letter about payment to Sue Ann Langdon for recording session on 13 may 1965

colonel snow