Marie McDonald "The Body" Sings Vintage LP Sexy Hot Classic Cheesecake Cover

$

30

"The Body" Sings!
Marie McDonald With Hal Borne And His Orchestra

Marie McDonald was born Cora Marie Frye in 1923 in Burgin, Kentucky. She was the daughter Evertt Frye and Marie Taboni (née McDonald) who performed in the Ziegfeld Follies. After her parents divorced, she eventually moved with her mother and stepfather to Yonkers, New York. At the age of 15, began competing in numerous beauty pageants and was named "The Queen of Coney Island", "Miss Yonkers" and "Miss Lowe's Paradise". At the age of 15, she dropped out of school and began modeling. In 1939, McDonald was named "Miss New York State". Later that same year, she debuted in George White's Scandals of 1939. The following year, at age 17, she landed a showgirl role in the Broadway production at the Earl Carroll Theatre called Earl Carroll's Vanities. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Hollywood hoping to develop a career in show business. She continued modeling and continued to work for the owner of the Broadway theatre as a showgirl at his Sunset Boulevard nightclub.. She worked as a model in her teens and movies seemed like the logical next step, she made her movie debut at age 17 with a small role in It Started With Eve (1941), and spent the war years as one of Hollywood's more memorable pieces of "eye candy," her curvaceous figure decorating everything from Abbott & Costello comedies to biographical films such as Our Hearts Were Young and Gay. She was sort of a next-generation second-string sex symbol in the manner of Ann Sheridan (known as "the Oomph Girl"), with the nickname "the Body," which stuck for obvious reasons. Her movie career slowed down considerably after World War II, and it was while taking a break from pictures that she ended up pursuing music, even singing for a time with one of Tommy Dorsey's latter-day big bands. Her only record grew out of that gig and the activity that followed, it's possible that someone at RCA Victor saw a chance to parlay her picture on the cover of the LP to success as Liberty Records had with Julie London. In any case, her album The Body Sings! appeared on RCA Victor in 1957, with Hal Borne as her musical director. And smirky suggestions to the contrary, McDonald could, indeed, sing. This album seems to be some kind of joke, because of its titles and packaging, but as it turns out Marie McDonald, known in Hollywood as "The Body", can sing. She was apparently good enough to get hired by Tommy Dorsey to sing with his band in one of its last engagements, and RCA Victor seems to have followed his lead. Her voice isn't powerful or notable stylistically, but McDonald does hit all the right notes and, in the context of her quiet delivery, kind of like a distaff Nat King Cole, does delivery a fine album of standards. "I Got It Bad (Ain't That Ain't Good)" is probably the highlight here, as an almost bluesy showcase for her work.
McDonald's six marriages and various romances kept her in the media throughout her career. McDonald's first marriage was to sportswriter Richard Allord in 1940. In January 1943, McDonald married her agent, Victor Orsatti, in Reno, Nevada. While awaiting her divorce from Orsatti, McDonald had an affair with mobster Bugsy Siegel. Siegel reportedly dumped McDonald because of her chronic tardiness. McDonald's third and fourth marriages were to millionaire shoe manufacturer Harry Karl. During her final separation from Karl, McDonald began dating George Capri. Capri was one of the owners of the Flamingo Las Vegas.They broke up in September 1958. In 1959, McDonald married television executive Louis Bass in Las Vegas. She filed for divorced after ten months charging Bass with "mental cruelty". In 1961, she married banker and attorney Edward Callahan in Las Vegas. In 1962, Callahan filed suit in Los Angeles asking for a divorce from McDonald for mental cruelty or that the marriage be annulled due to fraud. On October 21, 1965, McDonald's sixth husband, Donald F. Taylor, found McDonald's body slumped over her dressing table in their Hidden Hills, California home. On October 30, the coroner announced that McDonald's death was caused by "active drug intoxication due to multiple drugs" and was determined to be an accident or a suicide. (web bio)

Tracklist:
Embraceable You
How Deep Is The Ocean
You'll Never Know
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
Bill
Paradise
These Foolish Things
Don't Blame Me
It Had To Be You
He Took Me By Storm
I Don't Know Why
Falling In Love With Love

Album Description: Fabulous classic cheesecake cover. This is the first issue. The vinyl record is in clean very good condition, has a few light scratches, plays okay, no skips. The record is in the original RCA Victor inner sleeve. The cover has some edge wear with clear tape repair, some general surface wear, a bit of sticker wear near top right corner and some back cover discoloration; but the main attraction, Marie, looks great. Please see photos. The pictures in this listing are of the actual record album you will receive. Check out our other listings for a wide variety of vinyl records, CD's, cassettes & more, everything priced to sell. All reasonable 'Best Offers' considered. Combined shipping available worldwide. Only $.50 shipping for each additional record album mailed within the USA; only $3.00 shipping for each additional record album mailed outside the USA. Gatefold double albums count as two. We ship worldwide in secure, padded packaging. Please let us know if you have any questions for a prompt reply.

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