Search - Marion Harris :: Look for the Silver Lining

Popular in America from 1916-28

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 06/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It seems that Marion Harris (real name Mary Ellen Harrison) rose quickly from obscurity to the top of her profession, was enormously popular for many years, but then faded back to obscurity just as quickly. In the end, she fell asleep while smoking in bed and burned to death, aged 48. Two marriages during the height of her popularity produced three children but both ended in divorce. The second divorce roughly coincided with the end of her period of popularity, but the real reasons for her sudden fall from grace are unclear. A third marriage later in life proved more successful. All of Marion's problems cannot take away from her undoubted talent. Marion's voice may not have been exceptional, but it was very warm, pleasant and extremely effective. whether singing ballads or up-tempo material. Thus you are likely to be able to find covers of songs popularized by Marion that improve on the original, but it's easy to see why Marion's records were so popular in their day. Except for the title track, which has been moved to the front of this CD, everything is in chronological order.



Marion's first recording contract was with Victor. Based on Joel Whitburn's charts for the period, Marion had eleven hits with Victor. Five of them made the top three and those five have all been included here, the biggest among them being the number one hit, After you've gone. Twenty tracks represent Marion's music with Columbia including three number one hits (St Louis blues, Look for the silver lining, Tea for two) and sixteen other hits, all of them top 7 or better. The final Columbia track here (My canary has circles under his eyes) failed to chart, as did the final track here (Oo-oo-ooh honey what you do to me), recorded for Decca in 1934. My one disappointment with the track selection is the omission of Who's sorry now? Marion had a top 5 hit with this song and it was the most popular vocal version of the song in its day, though an instrumental version by Isham Jones charted higher. Many people make the understandable mistake of thinking that Connie Francis was the original singer of this song. No she wasn't; Marion Harris was (since nobody sang on Isham's version). But Marion's version, not included here, remains elusive. In its absence, the most familiar songs here (albeit you're more likely to have heard them via covers rather than Marion's originals) include It had to be you, I'm just wild about Harry, I'll see you in my dreams, The man I love, St Louis blues, Look for the silver lining and Tea for two, but not necessarily in that order. You may recognize a few others too.



It would take a double CD to do Marion's music justice, but in the meantime this is the only career-spanning compilation of Marion's music so far released. It is now out of print because the ASV label shut down in September 2007. As I write this, stocks of ASV titles are still available but obviously won't last. Marion's Victor recordings are still available on The Complete Victor Releases. In the long term, perhaps another label (Jasmine, perhaps) will fill the gap by releasing a different compilation of Marion's Columbia and Decca music.



Finally, anybody buying Marion's music must allow for the age of the recordings. The sound quality is very good for music this old."