DESCRIPTION:
The High Hatters cond. by Leonard Joy - Sing You Sinners, Fox Trot from Paramount picture “Honey” (Coslow – Harling), Vocal refrain by Frank Luther, Victor 1930 (USA)

NOTE: The High Hatters were a Victor studio orchestra directed by Leonard Joy, an employee of Victor. Joy directed a great number of bands for the company, including the Southerners, his All String Orchestra, and many uncredited bands yet his most notable orchestra was The High Hatters – considered as one of the finest American dance bands of the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Leonard Joy’s High Hatters were contracted with Victor Records exclusively, on the contrary to a number of other bands that also used the name “High Hatters”, such as Webster Moore’s High Hatters on the Columbia budget labels or Phil Hughes’ High Hatters on Perfect.

According to the Paramount film “Honey” in which this song was first released, the slideshow is devoted to Americam film star Nancy CARROLL (1903-1964) who played a title character in that movie. Nancy and her sister were winners in a local dance contest in New York, which led to Nancy's stage career and then on to screen stardom. She became a successful actress in "talkies" because her musical background enabled her to play in movie musicals of the 1930s. Her film debut was in Ladies Must Dress in 1927, which was followed by significant roles she partnered with such film stars as Gary Cooper, Cary Grant or Randolph Scott. However, in 1933 she was released from the contract by the Paramount studio – in spite of her enormous popularity (Nancy Carroll received the most fan mail of any star in the early 1930), her nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930 for The Devil's Holiday (1930) as well as her ability to perform successfully in light comedies, in musicals, or in tearful dramas. She had a reputation as ill-tempered and unmanageable actress which led her to only a 4-movie contract with Columbia in the mid-1930s. The films had not been a success and Nancy Carroll was no longer an A-class actress. She retired from films in 1938 and returned to the stage. In 1950s she starred in the early tv series. In 1965 she died in her home in age of 61 (the cause of her death was an aneurysm).