Carl Grayson

It is hard to figure out who was the most hysterically absurd performer from the Spike Jones troupe of City Slickers, but many would cast a vote for this son of Swiss and German immigrants. Carl Grayson made his professional debut as a singer at the age of 19, and shortly thereafter joined the band of Henry Busse, where the young newcomer's vocal spots included the ditty "Two Seats in the Balcony." Grayson moved to Hollywood in 1936 and started his own fairly popular band. The studios tended to scout nightclubs for acting or more accurately personality talent in this era, and Grayson was offered a deal to become a contract player for Columbia. Chosen as a replacement for number one cowboy Roy Rogers, Grayson appeared in the oater Dodge City Trail, where he sang a number with Rogers' former cowboy group, the Sons of the Pioneers. Studios also had much more power over contracted talent in this era and actually forced Grayson to get a nose job, something he always regretted. His name was also changed to Donald Grayson, which was the name he was using when he first joined the Jones outfit. Grayson became violinist with the City Slickers when the group was in its very early stages in the early '40s. With leader Jones still practically chained to the percussion set up at the back of the stage, Grayson even became the nominal frontman of sorts during the group's three-year engagement as house band for the Jonathan Club. There was also something a bit subversive in this move. At that point, Grayson was the best-known musician of the bunch due to his own bandleading activities. He had established a reputation as a high-society bandleader and certainly was not known for the kind of insane musical hijinks that was part and parcel of the Jones experience. Putting Grayson out front was a way to appease the conservative clubowners. It made them feel safe about hiring this new, unproven band. The group called itself Donald Grayson and His Jonathan Club Dance Band and it is in fact a bit tricky figuring out how and when Jones actually took over as leader of the band. It seems like a kind of overlapping effect took place, with the group holding onto the club job by pretending to be a normal society dance band under the leadership of Grayson, while Jones was busy making audition records highlighting his more comic material with this group under the name of the Spike Jones Group. In 1942, the band's name was officially changed to Spike Jones and His City Slickers, and the club bumped the band up to the most desirable night of the week, Friday. Jones was quick to showcase Grayson's comic vocal talents and ability to make weird sound effects, one of which was known as the "glug." The best way to describe this sound is that it is the closest a human can come to swallowing his tongue without having to be hospitalized afterwards. The first use of this effect on record is on the tune "Siam," although this is considered only a mild glug. The glugmeister took over a great deal of the vocal duties from Del Porter, who had been singing most everything in the band's repertoire up until then. Of the six gold records earned by Spike Jones, two have vocals by Grayson, namely "Cocktails for Two" and "Der Fuehrer's Face." In the latter number, Grayson had the doubly daunting task of making a joke out of Adolph Hitler and trying to follow up Bugs Bunny, who did the vocal in a cartoon that featured the original version of this song, written by Oliver Wallace. On stage, Grayson would imitate the Nazi leader by holding a black plastic comb under his nose. A toy rubber razzer was used to create the important sound effect intended to describe the appropriate civilized reaction to Naziism. Of course it was not an immediate jump to gold records and popularity. In reality, the first year of the Jones band becoming a recording outfit for Victor was one of dire poverty and public indifference. Musicians fled the band as if someone was giving instruments away for free in another part of town. Grayson and Porter were the loyal stalwarts, sticking with Jones while all the other members of the band ran for the hills, which in Hollywood are actually within running distance. But within a few years, the band would be working more than anyone thought possible, including some of the members. The group's work schedule being incredibly hectic, once requiring the players to be on the road for 41 days and nights without a single chance for anyone involved to take a bath. There are those musicians who would collapse under such conditions alone, let alone keeping such a schedule while performing the demanding and manic Spike Jones repertoire every night. Perhaps with Grayson the answer was booze. Jones canned him for his drinking problem around 1946. "War Chant" is the last recording by the band that Grayson appeared on, and although his replacement in the band, the clarinetist Mickey Katz, was known as an expert glugger, Jones either didn't agree or out of a sheer sense of loyalty re-hired Grayson for that certain "glug" on guest appearances and recordings of "Morpheus" and "Carmen," some of the most ambitious productions that Jones undertook. Grayson was on the whole much too undependable for regular work with a group, unable to control the alcohol habit. There is a large amount of screen time devoted to Jones and his accomplices in the 1947 film Ladies' Man, starring Eddie Bracken, including a reprisal of "Cocktails for Two," featuring the original glugger. Grayson had only one gig after leaving Jones. It was with Eddie Brandt and the Hollywood Hicks, one of a number of Jones spin-off or copycat bands. But in the end he was reduced to panhandling. He died of cancer and liver disease and it is reported that only three people attended the funeral of a man who had made so many laugh. ~ Eugene Chadbourne