Betty Hutton

Betty Hutton   1952

Source: Wikipedia

Born Elizabeth Thornburg on 26 February 1921 in Battle Creek, Michigan, actress Betty Hutton was fifteen when she left Michigan for New York City with $200 and designs on a career in show business. She had begun singing at age three with her mother (a bootlegger) and sister, Marion (then five), in their family's speakeasy. She made her film debut in 'Queens of the Air', a Vitaphone short, in 1938. 'Queens of the Air' concerns Lillian Leitzel, a trapeze artist who traveled with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circuses. The next year Betty released her debut recordings singing with the Vincent Lopez Suave Swing Orchestra per 'Igloo' (Bluebird 10300), 'Concert in the Park' (Bluebird 10300) and 'The Jitterbug' (Bluebird 10367).

'The Dipsy Doodle'  Betty Hutton w the Vincent Lopez Orchestra

From the film 'Queens of the Air'   Released 6 July 1938

Composition: Larry Clinton

'Igloo'   Betty Hutton w the Vincent Lopez Suave Swing Orchestra

8 May 1939 in Chicago   Matrix BS-034657   Bluebird 10300

Trumpet: Red Dolan / Ralph Naser / Mike Renzulli

Trombone: Jack Andrews / Jerry Fruiterman

Sax: Wes Fogel / Arthur Friedman / Lester Merkin / Don Watt

Piano: Paul Rickenbach   Guitar: Cappy Kaplan   Violin: Nick Pisani

Bass: Dick Neuman   Drums: Bob Spangler

Composition: Irving Taylor / Vic Mizzy

'Concert in the Park'   Betty Hutton w Sonny Schuyler and the Vincent Lopez Orchestra

25 May 1939 in Chicago   Matrix BS-034904   Bluebird 10300

Trumpet: Mike Renzulli / Red Dolan / Ralph Naser

Trombone: Jerry Fruiterman / Jack Andrews

Sax: Arthur Friedman / Don Watt / Lester Merkin / Wes Fogel

Piano: Paul Rickenbach   Guitar: Cappy Kaplan   Violin: Nick Pisani

Bass: Dick Neuman   Drums: Bob Spangler

Composition: Cliff Friend / Dave Franklin

'The Jitterbug'   Betty Hutton w the Vincent Lopez Suave Swing Orchestra

5 July 1939 in Chicago   Matrix BS-040247   Bluebird 10367

Trumpet: Mike Renzulli / Ralph Naser / Red Dolan

Trombone: Jerry Fruiterman / Jack Andrews

Sax: Wes Fogel / Arthur Friedman/ Don Watt / Lester Merkin

Piano: Paul Rickenbach   Guitar: Cappy Kaplan   Violin: Nick Pisani

Bass: Dick Neuman   Drums: Bob Spangler

Composition: Cab Calloway / Edwin Swayzee

About the time of her first recordings Betty sang 'Old Man Mose' in the Vitaphone film short, 'Vincent Lopez and His Orchestra'. 'Old Man Mose' had been a highly successful release for Louis Armstrong in 1935 when he composed it with Zilner Randolph. It reached #2 again when Patricia Norman recorded it with the Eddie Duchin Orchestra on 10 March 1938 toward Brunswick 8155, this time because it was scandalous, people believing that they heard Norman substituting "bucket" with "f*ck it" which, to me, it does actually sound like. Norman's release was banned in Great Britain. As for "f*ck" in literature, that had first bristled hairs upon 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' by D.H. Lawrence. Lawrence privately published Lady Chatterley's Lover' in Italy in 1928. It was commercially published in Paris in 1929, whence it began bristling hairs for the use of profanity. The book was banned from sea to sea unless edited until Penguin Books published the original unexpurgated version in 1960, thereat to face prosecution per the 1959 Obscene Publications Act. Penguin won the case.

'Old Man Mose'   Betty Hutton w the Vincent Lopez Orchestra   Film

From the film 'Vincent Lopez Orchestra'   Vitaphone reel #B228   Released 30 Sep 1939

Trumpet: Mike Renzulli / Ralph Naser / Red Dolan

Trombone: Jerry Fruiterman / Jack Andrews

Sax: Wes Fogel / Arthur Friedman/ Don Watt / Lester Merkin

Piano: Paul Rickenbach   Guitar: Cappy Kaplan   Violin: Nick Pisani

Bass: Dick Neuman   Drums: Bob Spangler

Composition: Louis Armstrong / Zilner Randolph

Fandom   IMDb

Early 1940 found Betty on the East Coast performing in 'Two for the Show' on Broadway. Hutton's films were made largely for Paramount Pictures, beginning in 1942 with 'The Fleet's In'. 'It Had To Be You' climbed the Billboard charts to #5 in 1944. 'His Rocking Horse Ran Away' reached #7. 'Stuff Like That There' reached #4 in 1945, the same year that her appearance in 'The Stork Club' saw to her highly popular issue of 'Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief' backed by the Paul Weston Orchestra. This was her best-selling title overall, topping Billboard's charts at #1. 'I Wish I Didn't Love You So' was also greatly popular, reaching #5 in 1947. Another of Betty's favored recordings was her duet with Perry Como in 1950 on 'A Bushel and a Peck'.

Betty Hutton with Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra   Film

'If You Build a Better Mousetrap'   :52

'Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry'   6:56

From the film 'The Fleet's In'   Directed by Victor Schertzinger   Released 24 Jan 1942

Compositions: Victor Schertzinger / Johnny Mercer

Jeremy Arnold   IMDb   Letterboxd   Vintage Cameo

'Murder, He Says'   Betty Hutton

Nov 1943   Episode 92 of 'Command Performance' for the Armed Forces Radio Service

Music: Jimmy McHugh   Lyrics: Frank Loesser

Internet Archive   Jim Ramsburg

'It Had To Be You'   Betty Hutton w the Paul Weston Orchestra

11 March 1944   Matrix 235-2A   Brunswick 155

Composition: Isham Jones / Gus Kahn

'His Rocking Horse Ran Away'   Betty Hutton w the Paul Weston Orchestra

11 March 1944   Matrix 236-2A   Brunswick 155

Composition: Jimmy Van Heusen / Johnny Burke

'Stuff Like That There'   Betty Hutton w the Paul Weston Orchestra

15 Dec 1944   Capitol 188

Composition: Jay Livingston / Ray Evans

'Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief'   Betty Hutton w the Paul Weston Orchestra

29 June 1945   Matrix 714-3A   Capitol 220

Composition: Hoagy Carmichael / Paul Francis Webster

'I Wish I Didn't Love You So'   Betty Hutton w the Joe Lilley Orchestra

1947   Capitol 409

Composition: Frank Loesser

'You Can't Get a Man With a Gun'   Betty Hutton w the Joe Lilley Orchestra

From the film 'Annie Get Your Gun'   Directed by George Sidney / Busby Berkeley

Released 17 May 1950

Composition: Irving Berlin

IMDb   Serendipitous Anachronisms   Wikipedia

'A Bushel and a Peck'   Betty Hutton w Perry Como and the Mitchell Ayres Orchestra

12 Sep 1950 in NYC   Matrix E0VB-5576   RCA Victor 20-3930

Composition: Frank Loesser

Upon leaving Paramount in 1952 (after nineteen films) Hutton began working radio and touring nightclubs including Las Vegas. Betty made her last film, 'Spring Reunion', in 1957 before hosting 'The Betty Hutton Show' in 1959-60.

'The Little Rock Roll'   Betty Hutton   Television

15 Nov 1955   'Bob Hope Show'

Also earlier performed on the 'Satins and Spurs' television special of 12 Sep 1954

Composition: Jay Livingston / Ray Evans

'The School Bully'   Betty Hutton   Television

1960   'The Betty Hutton Show'   CBS

Things began falling apart for Hutton in 1967, declaring bankruptcy that year with debts of $150,000. Alcohol, pills, a suicide attempt and nervous breakdown followed, she also losing her singing voice in 1970. Becoming Catholic, she began working as a cook and housekeeper at St. Anthony's rectory in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1974. After a stay of several years Hutton later earned an MA from Salve Regina University in Rhode Island in 1988. (Her sister, Marion, had also earned a Master's in psychology, though a couple decades earlier.) Betty had given her last performance in 1983 on 'Jukebox Saturday Night' aired by PBS. Also in the eighties Hutton worked as a hostess for a sports center in Connecticut and taught acting at Emerson College in Boston.

Medley at 2:26   Betty Hutton   Television   'Jukebox Saturday Night'   PBS

Recorded 13 Jan 1983 in NYC   Aired 19 March 1983

Hutton left New England for Palm Springs in 1999, where she died on 12 March 2007 (obit).