Note from Kurtis: I was unable to get my hands on a full version of this song in time for this post. Please listen to this sample clip and check back for updates. If you have this track, please email me at the email address to the right.
Hello Covering the Mouse readers! I'm Tony your guest blogger and I'll be taking you through today's installment. I recently discovered Covering the Mouse while performing my daily "Disney web wanderings." I instantly liked the site because it was unique and involved two of my favorite topics - Disney and music (especially cover versions).
I've chosen this version of When You Wish Upon a Star (as you may know originally used in Disney's Pinocchio) for today February 24, because it was on this day in 1940 that Frances Langford recorded her version of it.
Langford (born April 4, 1913) was an American singer, actress and entertainer known for her performances on radio, the big screen, and television. Her early days on radio (in her home state of Florida) led to singer-bandleader Rudy Vallee asking her to be a part of his enormously popular national radio show. Appearances on Vallee's show led to her first major film - the 1935 Every Night at Eight. It was in that feature she introduced what became her signature song – I'm in the Mood for Love. (She went on to make more than 30 pictures over the next 20 years.)
During World War II Langford became wildly popular when she joined Bob Hope, Jerry Colonna, and other celebrities on countless U.S.O. tours throughout Europe, North Africa, and the South Pacific to boost wartime morale. (Ironically Hope and Colonna would have a "Disney connection" as well. Hope helped host Disney World's TV debut and comedian Colonna provided the voice of the March Hare in Alice in Wonderland.)
Langford was also one of the first artists to sign with Decca Records (a British record label which first established a U.S. counterpart in 1934). Among her many recordings was When You Wish Upon a Star, performed with the Harry Sosnik Orchestra. She literally recorded the song (on this day in Los Angeles) just weeks after the debut of Disney's Pinocchio, possibly making it the very first non-Disney version and the first version to be sung by a female. Written by Ned Washington and Leigh Harline, the tune was first sung by Cliff Edwards (the voice of Jiminy Cricket) in the animated Pinocchio. What's interesting to note is that Langford's rendition features the short 6-bar introduction (not always included in later versions by other artists). The track's old-fashioned warm arrangement and intimate performance make it sound as if it could have been used in an early Disney production. (Since 1940, When You Wish Upon a Star has become an icon of The Walt Disney Company and as your know from reading Covering the Mouse – has been re-recorded dozens of times.)
Langford's career later included Disney's 1948 animated feature Melody Time. Made up of several sequences set to popular music, she sang the title tune to the Once Upon a Wintertime segment.
A lover of boating and fishing, she and her husband built a Polynesian-themed restaurant and marina in Florida called Outrigger Resort (today operated as the Dolphin Bar & Shrimp House). Frances Langford passed in 2005 at the age of 92, but her rendition of When You Wish Upon a Star will live on at Covering the Mouse.
A big thank you to Kurt for letting me sit in! When you get a chance, please visit my site This Day in Disney History.
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