Stay Tuned By Stan Cornyn: Warner Bros. TV Stars Try to Sing. Some Can, Some Can’t.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, former Warner Bros. Records executive and industry insider Stan Cornyn ruminates on the past, present, and future of the music business.

Warner Bros. TV Stars Try to Sing. Some Can, Some Can’t.

1959

With Tab Hunter leading the way for Year One, Warner Bros. Records turned, in part, to offer music from its long list of “Picture Company Stars.” Under contract, these showed up when “asked to” by the studio. Example: Joining Troy Donahue for a pineapple shot was under-contracted Connie Stevens.
 

Actress Connie Stevens was the most musical of all these acting youths. She sang her light yet earthy way through three albums for Warner Bros. Records (it was unusual for her colleagues to survive even one first album chance). Her three started with “Conchetta” (her birth name).

The next year, Miss Stevens became a TV star, playing Cricket in Warners’ new TV series for ABC, “Hawaiian Eye.” And as TV seasons came, so did singles for Connie, most memorably her “Sixteen Reasons.”

Other Warner stars were tapped to perform for microphone. Usually for these, once album turned out to be enough. Instance: Clint Walker, a cowboy hunk in the “Cheyenne” series. Both his deep voice and bare-chested charisma starred in “Inspiration,” an album devoted to sincere songs, like “America the Beautiful,” “I Believe,” and even “Blue Bird of Happiness.”

Roger Smith (of “77 Sunset Strip”) also waded in to the Records business via Warner. His album sank. 1959 also found many of the Warner lot’s other stars were “persuaded” to record an all-star album: “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

Here’s that list of those stars:
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. ( “77 Sunset Strip”); Edward Byrnes ( “77 Sunset Strip”); Connie Stevens (“Hawaiian Eye”); Peter Brown (“Lawman”); Ray Danton (“The Alaskans”); Poncie Ponce (“Hawaiian Eye”); Eddie Cole (“Bourbon Street Beat”; he was Nat Cole’s elder brother); Bob Conrad (“Hawaiian Eye”); Dorothy Provine (“The Alaskans”); Roger Moore (“The Alaskans”); Ty Hardin (“Bronco”).

Through all these sessions with Warner’s TV stars, the marketing crew at Warner Bros. Records did its best to find buyers. But for Warner Bros. in these years, TV and “the lot” was only one focus.

Still came out those hot stereo albums. Jack was watching it all.

Christmas of 1959 found Warners with three other Christmas albums coming out:
• George Greeley’s “22 Best Loved Christmas Piano Concertos”
• The Guitars, Inc.’s “Guitars at Christmas”
• “Ira Ironstrings Orchestra Plays Santa Claus”

Warners executives, many of them veterans assembled by Jim Conkling to “get this label up and running, spent most of their energies on ”concept albums,” in stereo. Not market-wise, though.

These record business vets ignored one emerging rage: rock and roll. Instead, they followed what they had learned: 1950s pop, swing jazz, romantic classical, folk, gospel, even spoken word. Anything that pleased their ears. Turned out they were, most often, good hitters, just playing in the wrong ballparks.

Fortunately, across the street, Jack Warner came up with one more hit. It was a new hour-TV series called “77 Sunset Strip,” and it had at least two hits going for it: its theme song and its teen attraction, Edd Byrnes.

Where Are They Now:

Clint Walker – Retired in his mid-80s. In his prime, he measured 6’6” tall with a 48” chest and a 32” waist. Married three times, the latest in 1997, when he was 70 years old. His sidewalk star is at 1505 Vine Street.

Roger Smith – Retired early due to poor health. His wife, Ann-Margret, has her star at 6501 Hollywood Blvd.

Bob Conrad – No star on Hollywood Blvd. Kept acting til 2002.

Ty Hardin – Married eight times. No Hollywood Blvd.star. Became far right evangelist.