Painted Smiles Records

Painted Smiles Records was a small independent record label based in New York City and associated principally with producer, impresario, and revue creator Ben Bagley. Founded in 1971, the label operated from the 1970s into the 1990s and concentrated on musical-theatre and cabaret material rather than contemporary pop repertoire. Its central cultural contribution was the preservation and circulation of songs that had been written by major Broadway composers and lyricists but had received little exposure in their original shows or had subsequently fallen out of common performance. The label grew out of Bagley’s personal interest in neglected theatre songs. While recovering from tuberculosis during a long hospital stay, Bagley received tapes from his friend Arthur Siegel containing obscure material by leading Broadway writers. The experience encouraged Bagley to produce recordings of such songs, initially through existing labels and eventually through his own imprint. Painted Smiles became the vehicle for this project, as well as for recordings of Bagley’s own revues and cast albums connected with historical or contemporary Broadway productions. Most of the label’s best-known releases belonged to the Revisited series. These albums surveyed lesser-known songs associated with writers including Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Noël Coward, Vernon Duke, George and Ira Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein II, Yip Harburg, Jerome Kern, Alan Jay Lerner, Frank Loesser, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Arthur Schwartz, Kurt Weill, and Vincent Youmans. The recordings brought together established Broadway performers, cabaret singers, jazz artists, actors, comedians, and personalities whose singing was often unconventional. Among the participants were Barbara Cook, Kaye Ballard, Blossom Dearie, Tammy Grimes, Dorothy Loudon, Elaine Stritch, Anthony Perkins, Chita Rivera, Katharine Hepburn, Joan Rivers, Gloria Swanson, Bobby Short, and others. Painted Smiles releases developed a distinctive identity through their packaging and editorial presentation. Harvey Schmidt, better known as a composer, created brightly colored watercolor covers depicting showgirls in stylized, surreal, and sometimes provocative costumes. The LP labels used an early lips-themed logo designed by Jerome Hill, while later compact discs used a serpentine female figure forming a capital P. Bagley’s densely written liner notes were humorous, personal, gossipy, and occasionally ribald rather than conventionally academic. This approach made the albums idiosyncratic archival objects as well as music releases. The label initially issued its catalogue on vinyl. During the 1980s it moved into compact discs and reissued a substantial portion of its earlier output through its Battery Records division. A large number of the recordings were later remastered or re-released by Kritzerland Records and, in some cases, other specialist labels. Although the performances and arrangements could be uneven, the catalogue retained importance for listeners and researchers interested in rarely heard Broadway repertoire. Painted Smiles is therefore best understood as a specialist theatrical-recording imprint whose historical value lies in documentation, rediscovery, and presentation of neglected American musical-theatre songs.

Painted Smiles Records emerged from Ben Bagley’s interest in the less familiar corners of American musical theatre. During a prolonged hospitalization for tuberculosis, Bagley listened to tapes supplied by Arthur Siegel containing obscure songs by celebrated Broadway composers and lyricists. The material suggested a recording project devoted not to the canonical hits already available in numerous versions, but to songs that had been omitted, cut, commercially overlooked, or simply forgotten. Bagley first pursued the idea through existing record companies and then founded Painted Smiles Records in New York in 1971. The imprint served several related purposes. It recorded Bagley’s own revues, documented historical and contemporary Broadway productions, and created themed collections centered on major theatre songwriters. Its signature Revisited albums explored writers active principally from the 1920s through the 1940s. Subjects included Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Noël Coward, Vernon Duke, the Gershwins, Oscar Hammerstein II, Yip Harburg, Jerome Kern, Frank Loesser, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Arthur Schwartz, Kurt Weill, and Vincent Youmans. The catalogue also included projects such as The Grass Harp, Too Many Girls, The Littlest Revue, Shoestring Revue, Make Mine Manhattan, and other revue or cast recordings. The series was notable for its unusual combination of archival ambition and deliberately personal presentation. Recordings assembled performers from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, film, and comedy. Some singers were celebrated specialists, while others were actors or public figures not primarily known as vocalists. The resulting performances did not always aim for polished studio uniformity. Bagley’s editorial concept favored character, rarity, and theatrical personality, and his liner notes supplied extensive commentary that could be witty, anecdotal, irreverent, or provocative. Visual design reinforced the label’s individuality. Harvey Schmidt produced bright watercolor covers, often showing stylized showgirls in improbable or surreal costumes against white backgrounds. Jerome Hill designed the early LP label logo, a pair of lips arranged around the record spindle, and later the compact-disc logo depicting a nude figure with a snake forming a capital P. These elements gave Painted Smiles releases a recognizable identity within the specialist musical-theatre market. The company’s first decades were primarily a vinyl era. In the 1980s, it began converting its catalogue to compact disc and issued new digital editions through Battery Records. Compact-disc releases during the late 1980s and early 1990s covered songbook anthologies, cast recordings, and compilations of earlier LP projects. The label’s documented CD catalogue includes projects devoted to George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Kurt Weill, Jerome Kern, Frank Loesser, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, and other writers. Painted Smiles operated into the 1990s and is now best regarded as a historical specialist imprint rather than an active mainstream label. Later reissues, including improved-sound editions from Kritzerland Records, have kept portions of the catalogue available. Its legacy rests on preserving performances and songs that might otherwise have remained inaccessible, while offering an unconventional snapshot of Broadway, cabaret, and revue culture in the late twentieth century.

• 1992

  Later Revisited compilations issued

  [1]Painted Smiles Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  The compact-disc programme continued with releases devoted to Jerome Kern, Ira Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein, Arthur Schwartz, and other writers.

• 1989

  Compact-disc catalogue begins

  [1]Painted Smiles Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Painted Smiles began issuing compact discs and converting selected LP material to the new format.

• 1980

  Vinyl catalogue develops

  [1]Painted Smiles Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  The label’s principal format during its early decades was the long-playing vinyl record, including the developing Revisited series.

• 1971

  Label founded

  [1]Painted Smiles Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Ben Bagley founded Painted Smiles Records in New York to record overlooked songs and theatre material.

A specialist archival and theatrical label focused on overlooked Broadway songs, revue material, cast recordings, and performances by notable theatre and cabaret artists.

• Archival musical-theatre anthology · 1971

  The Revisited series

  Painted Smiles’ defining product line consisted of themed collections of lesser-known songs by major Broadway composers and lyricists. Individual volumes focused on writers such as Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Kurt Weill, and Oscar Hammerstein. The recordings combined theatre performers, cabaret artists, jazz singers, actors, comedians, and other personalities, creating a documentary and performance archive rather than a standardized commercial-pop catalogue.

• Cast recording · 1971

  Broadway and off-Broadway cast recordings

  The label recorded and issued cast albums and studio-cast projects connected with revues, Broadway works, and off-Broadway productions. Documented examples include The Littlest Revue, Shoestring Revue, Shoestring '57, Too Many Girls, Hold On to Your Hats, The Decline and Fall of the Entire World as Seen Through the Eyes of Cole Porter, and Catch Me If I Fall.

• Catalogue reissue · 1989

  Painted Smiles compact-disc reissues

  Beginning in the 1980s and expanding in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Painted Smiles and its Battery Records division issued compact discs that re-presented earlier LP material and introduced additional theatre projects. Later specialist reissues from Kritzerland Records supplied improved sound for parts of the archive.

• 1980

  Transition from vinyl to compact discOther

  Background

  As compact discs became an important new format, the label faced the challenge of preserving a catalogue originally created for vinyl.

  Action taken

  Painted Smiles began issuing CDs and re-releasing selected LP recordings through its Battery Records division.

  Aftermath

  The strategy extended the availability of the label’s theatre archive and enabled later specialist remastering and reissue activity.

  Source

1. 1Painted Smiles Recordsen.wikipedia.org