Gene Austin the first original crooner in a Hit Song from Ziegfeld Follies

Austin made his ultimate hit recording "My Blue Heaven" in 1927 which remained the number one hit single until Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" became the all time best selling recording in 1942.

Gene Austin was one of the popular crooners of the 1920s and early 1930s. He started recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1924. His easy going vocal style clicked with the record buyers very quickly and director of light music at Victor, Nat Shilkret, was perpetually looking for Austin to cut more records to satisfy the demand. 

My Blue Heaven" is a popular song written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by George A. Whiting. The song was used in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. It has become part of various fake book collections. 
In 1928, "My Blue Heaven" became a huge hit on Victor 20964-A for crooner Gene Austin, accompanied by the Victor Orchestra as directed by Nat Shilkret; it charted for 26 weeks, stayed at number one for 13, and sold over five million copies becoming one of the best selling singles of all time.

Gene Austin – My Blue Heaven / Are You Thinking Of Me To-night?
Label: Victor – 20964
Released: Nov 4, 1927

A  My Blue Heaven
Composed By – Walter Donaldson
Lyrics By – George Whiting
B  Are You Thinking Of Me To-night?
Composed By – Akst*
Lyrics By – Davis*, Gilbert*
Record Company – Victor Talking Machine Co.
Directed By [Uncredited] – Nathaniel Shilkret
Tenor Vocals – Gene Austin
Male vocal solo, with instrumental quartet.

Side A =   was recorded 9/14/1927 (New York, New York).

Side B =   was recorded 9/16/1927 (New York, New York).


Orig Issue Victor Scroll 10" 78 rpm record 
Condition:
EXCELLEN T MINUS unworn light rubs rare,  plays  quiet  with light crackle


 Victor 20964-A was recorded on September 14, 1927 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978; the recording was reissued as Victor 24573 and has been reissued on several commercially available. 
The music for "My Blue Heaven" was written in 1924: "Donaldson wrote it one afternoon at the Friars Club in New York while waiting for his turn at the billiard table." The song was written while Donaldson was under contract to Irving Berlin, working for Berlin's publishing company, Irving Berlin Inc. 
George A. Whiting wrote lyrics adapted for Donaldson's music, and for a while, performed it in his vaudeville act; three years later, Tommy Lyman started singing it on the radio as his theme song.
Austin, unhappy with the Victor Company and "convinced that the best material which he brought to the company’s attention was going to other artists", "gave Nat Shilkret an ultimatum that he wouldn’t do another session unless his interpretation [of "My Blue Heaven"] was commercially released. According to Austin, an agreement was reached for "My Blue Heaven" to be coupled with "Are You Thinking of Me Tonight?", the most highly regarded song among those he was planning to record at that time. 
On the day "My Blue Heaven" was to be recorded, after takes of the other songs had been completed, to Austin's surprise the musicians packed up and left the studio; Shilkret told Austin they had a conflict, but in a scene documented by H. Allen Smith in his A Short History of Fingers, Austin "grabbed an old guy with a cello and talked him into standing by. Then [he] grabbed a song plugger who could play pretty fair piano. And the third fellow [he] got was an agent who could whistle – bird calls and that sort of thing. 
Austin recorded "My Blue Heaven" with that hastily assembled trio.  

Gene Austin (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972) was an American singer and songwriter, one of the first "crooners". His recording of "My Blue Heaven" sold over five million copies and was the largest selling record of all time. His 1920s compositions "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" and "The Lonesome Road" became pop and jazz standards. 
Austin was born as Lemeul Eugene Lucas in Gainesville, Texas. 
Austin joined the U.S. Army at the age of 15 in hopes of being dispatched to Europe to fight in World War I. He was first stationed in New Orleans, where he played the piano at night in the city's notorious vice district. His familiarity with horses from helping his stepfather in his blacksmithing business also prompted the Army to assign Austin to the cavalry and send him to Mexico with General John Pershing's Pancho Villa Expedition, for which he was awarded the Mexican Service Medal. Thereafter, he served in France in World War I. 
Gene Austin was an important pioneer crooner whose records in their day enjoyed record sales and the highest circulation. The Genial Texan ex-vaudevillian and would-be screen idol, Austin constitutes an underrated landmark in popular music history. 
Austin retired to Palm Springs in the late 1950s and was active in civic boards there until 1970. Income from his record sales allowed him to live comfortably the rest of his life. 
He died in Palm Springs of lung cancer and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. 

Lyrics: 
Day is ending, birds are wending
Back to the shelter of each little nest they love
Night shades falling, love birds calling
What makes the world go round? Nothing but love 
When whippoorwill calls
And evening is nigh
I hurry to my blue heaven
I turn to the right
A little white light
Will lead you to my blue heaven 
A smiling face, a fireplace, a cozy room
A little nest that's nestled where the roses bloom
Just Molly and me
And baby makes three
We're happy in my blue heaven 
A smiling face, a fireplace, a cozy room
A little nest that's nestled where the roses bloom
Just Molly and me
And baby makes three
We're happy in my blue heaven 
Fly birdie back home 
I turn to the right
Honey, at night
That little road to
My blue heaven 
A smiling face, a fireplace, a cozy room
A little nest that's nestled where the roses bloom
Just Molly and me
And baby makes three
We're hurry to my blue heaven