Wow, whereismikeyfl, thanks! I'd never seen that original "Pennies From Heaven" British TV version before. I didn't even know they used the same song in both the British TV and movie versions.
For the Hollywood version, Danny Daniels once told me they didn't feel the old recording (or any old recording they could find, if there were more) had enough "pow" or "zing" for the big screen – so they actually created an all-new version arranged and orchestrated by Billy May, found a singer who could do the Thirties style, and put the vocal part of the new recording through a filter for the 30s record sound – taking off the filter for the full big-band sound for the terrific dance break. |
