THREE LITTLE FISHIES ~ The Smoothies (1939)
THREE LITTLE FISHIES ~ The Smoothies ~ Hal Kemp & his Orchestra~ recorded on March 28,1939- released in May 1939~ Victor Records. The group originated as Babs & Her Brothers in the early 1930's and became The Smoothies in approx. 1938. As The Smoothies, they were the featured vocal group with Hal Kemp & his Orchestra and it was while with Kemp's orchestra that the song THREE LITTLE FISHIES was first introduced. The trio at this time consisted of Arlene "Babs" Johnson, Charlie Ryan and Little Ryan. Interestingly , when the trio was using the name Babs & Her Brothers, the "Babs" part was, at different times, being handled by Blanche Redwine, Rosalind Stuart, or a number of other female vocalists.
The up beat , THREE LITTLE FISHIES, was also recorded by Kay Kyser & his Orchestra on the Columbia Records label, also in 1939 and is probably the better known version of the song. However, The Smoothies version is still excellent.
THREE LITTLE FISHIES was composed by tenor saxophonist / vocalist / composer / lyricist, Saxie Dowell, who was a member of Hal Kemp's orchestra before forming his own orchestra around the end of 1939. He was also the composer of the well known novelty tune PLAYMATES. Band leader, Hal Kemp, was born on March 27, 1904 and passed away on December 21, 1940. While driving from The Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles to the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco on December 19th, Kemp was caught up in some heavy fog and was involved in a head-on collision. He died from his injuries two days later.
The Kemp Orchestra , vocalists, including The Smoothies, were now apart of the Art Jerrett Orchestra, as the Hal Kemp Orchestra was soon to be led by Jerrett , just a few months after Kemp's passing.