The National
pastime has contributed quite a bit of history to life on the West
Coast. We had teams long before the Dodgers came west. But when they
came - how it changed 1950’s LA. Many people thought of Los Angeles as
‘sun baked and half-baked’ until major league baseball arrived at the
coliseum. It was exciting - the southland’s distractions of today did
not exist to compete for attention and it was in all the papers and on
everyone’s lips - “the Dodgers are coming”…. How does that tie to
music? Baseball is Entertainment. When major entertainment or cultural
events occurred in ‘period LA’, Jimmie Maddin got himself a piece of
the action, and baseball was no different.
“It all started
when I met Danny Goodman at a Hollywood Stars game at Gilmore Field.
He was a marketing genius - the first guy to sell collectibles at a
ballgame. There was a cross-town rivalry between the LA Angels – a
farm team for the Chicago Cubs and the Hollywood Stars. The Angels
worked out at Wrigley Field down near 48th and something.”
(Both in the Pacific Coast League). “I was a big Cubs fan back in
Wisconsin.” Says Maddin. The Hollywood Stars claimed Gilmour Field as
their own. Hollywood ‘Stars’ – as in acting luminaries. Maddin
recalls: “Instead of Bat night – they had ‘Hollywood Star Night’ so
you could rubber neck while you watched the baseball game. This was on
Beverly boulevard – you know Fairfax? Near the Farmers Market.” “Danny
Goodman was the concessionaire. We became friends. Marv Fisher
introduced me to him and I got interested in Baseball promoting. “I’ve
loved baseball my whole life – we had a guy in my hometown Joe Hauser
still holds the American Association home run record...”
Maddin has a
nose for change. Before the Dodgers actually arrived at the Coliseum
he was thinking about leveraging the excitement of the diamond. The
first baseball tune Maddin wrote was ‘Play Ball’, working with his
mentor Bennie Carter. Bob Ferris – sports broadcasting wig from CBS-
and other sports announcers and insider fans were hanging around the Sanbah. Sydney Omar, George Putnam, Gerry Dunphy, they all came
around to Maddin’s club. Thus, Maddin got the idea to use Ferris on
the record as an announcer. The tune narrates the excitement of a
final inning. At the bridge, sportscaster Bob Ferris ‘calls’ the
imaginary game’s final at-bat: “Aaaalright, it’s bottom of the 9th
with two men out…” After the game-winning home run, the alto
honking begins in earnest. The tight trumpet harmony/refrain is Sweets
Edison and Bennie Carter doing what made them famous.
“Bennie Carter
used to come to my club and hang around all the time – he liked to
hear me play. I was one of the only guys playing blues on the West
Coast. So, when I got the idea for the song I approached him.” “We got
some financial backing – Bennie Came up with it. I don’t know how - It
was the first work that I did with him. I came up with the title –
“Play Ball”. We had (Harry) Sweets Edison, Ray Qualey was on drums.
We recorded @ RCA Victor. I played the alto solos.” “I think it was
Gerald Wiggins on piano – Renee Hall probably on Guitar. We wrote it
with Paul Vandervoordt”. How did he find Gerald Wiggins? “See,
Wiggins was working at the Tiki Room at Western Avenue and 38th,
Across the street from the Oasis. Oh, that was a beautiful club – the
Tiki. The guy who owned it was nice and he had the club rigged
with a button he pushed and the fountains and such that came to life
were beautiful. It was down the street from me –he had the Nat King
Cole trio with him there, so I went and got him.
I really didn’t
want to play a solo on the record because I was nervous. I was 24 or
so, we were in this important studio with all of these big hitters - I
was doing the singing too and it was my first time in that studio. I
‘m in there with all these heavyweights and I told Bennie about being
nervous. He said “Just blow man. Go ahead, you can do it”. Today I’m
glad I did. “After I recorded the tune, it got a lot of airplay. The
Dodgers were here by then and they liked it, everyone liked it. Johnny
Grant at KMPC played it a lot. He called me Razor Blades because of
my rough voice. He had me on live – KMPC was a top LA station.”
“Variety, the Reporter, the Times liked it…”
“I love
Baseball, so next, I wrote a tune called we love the Braves. I
recorded it and took the records back to Milwaulkee. The World Series
was on and I went into Chicago to the Disc Jockey shows and promoted
it. Everyone liked it – it good publicity in
1957. In 1959
the Dodgers won the Series in the Coliseum. I decided to do "We Love
the Dodgers" based upon ‘the Braves’ tune. Bennie Carter built the
sessions. My guitar player – George Collier- was the brother–in-law
to Ernie Freeman. So I used Ernie for the arrangements. We had
strings on that – Freeman conducted the orchestra. We recorded it at VOX Studios on Melrose near Vermont. Then I got an idea to promote
it…”
“I walked into
Sears Robuck cold and convinced them to invest in 10,000 copies. I
organized 6 or 8 Ballplayers to show up in stores and autograph
pictures and the records. There were lines around the stores all over
Los Angeles. I had the best players do the autographs:
Ron Perenofsky, Wally Moon,
Frank Howard, they were a great team.” Johnny Grant was playing the
record, so Bob Ferris got me in to do a broadcast from Walter
O’Malley’s booth at Dodger Stadium for KNX radio. We went and had
lunch with Walter and Peter O’Malley, Vin Scully was there – O’malley
kept bringing me beer and food – he was a hell of a guy”. Bob Ferris
was doing an interview and Walter O’Malley was serving me lunch. Danny
Goodman ran the consessIons, so Marv Fischer and I sold the records in
the stands of the Dodger Stadium”.
“They loved it!
Then I got the idea to record a more focused tune about Frank Howard.
I called it “Big Frank, Paul Bunion at the Bat”... Since these
baseball records don’t sell tremendously Maddin had to ‘get paid’ via
publicity. Novelty records build a lot of that. “So I used Ray Qualey
for some comedy. Ray Qualey was not only a reliable drummer - but a
very funny comedian as well.” “He always worked in my clubs with me
and he would do gags while I played the straight-man. I had him
impersonating Nikita Kruschev on the record with that shoe pounding
nonsense Kruschev did, complaining about America’s secret weapon ‘Big
Frank.” After each chorus, another comedy bit goes off where ‘Big
Frank’ saves the day, etc. The parts are played pure radio style. Were
it today, Garison Keilor would be jealous. The chorus itself is
simple, so you can sing it to the radio. ‘Big Fraaank, Big Fraaank,
Big Frank - Paul Bunion at the Bat!’ “I’ve done a lot Man.” Says
Maddin. We have to agree.
TO BE CONTINUED.... read Volume #6
