History of deliciously askew but charming world of Mr Copp's Kid's songs

December 23, 2018 9:08 PM

Jim Copp lived an interesting life, from being invited, at fourteen, to play a Mozart concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, to performing around New York City in the 1940s as "James Copp III and His Things." Drafted into World War II, where "during the liberation of Paris, he and another officer took command of the Eiffel Tower, which provided a conveniently tall base for their radio antenna." Back stateside, he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote a society column for the L.A. Times entitled “Skylarking with James Copp” (PDF, sample), before finding his way back to music. With all that history, this is all just a preamble to his now-faded peak: Jim Copp, the Forgotten Virtuoso of Children’s Storytelling (David Owen for The New Yorker, December 12, 2018)

Before Jim made fantastic records for the kiddies, he played more risque music in New York City. From that era, he released an album, James Copp 3 (Archive.org; also available, somewhat inappropriately, from the outstanding Kiddie Records digitized archive [previously, twice and thrice]).

But upon returning to the United States from his stint in the war, James found that the New York scene had changed. After moving to Los Angeles and writing a society column, he turned to children's music, reworking his night club material for a different audience, while also experimenting with audio recording techniques. How They Dood It, by Jim Copp:

Working at home far into the night with three Ampex tape machines, a piano, a kazoo, to say nothing of a celeste, a pump – organ, bongo drums (and don’t forget the ratchet, the Autoharp, the tambourine, tin whistle, castanets, teacher’s desk-bell ) plus myriad reels of tape and editing gear, Jim Copp conjured a lunatic land that stretched all the way from Thimble Corner to Flumdiddle. And as the residents of this daft world were coming slowly to life, a half mile away at his home, Ed Brown – a recent retiree from his father’s steel business – sat at a drawing board designing a new album cover, or rehearsing his lines for the next day. Aborning were such Copp-Brown stars as “The Dog that Went to Yale”, Miss Goggins (a shrieking fourth-grade school teacher), the terminally provincial Glup family (“I thought all planes fly to Maine”), Feeble Phoebe, Mr. Hippity… Little Claude… Copp began as a night club piano-comic in New York (immediately following sojourns at Stanford and Harvard), splitting bills with the likes of Lena Horne, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson and Billie Holiday. After a World War II hitch, commanding an intelligence unit in Germany, he returned to his native Los Angeles, and for several years wrote and illustrated a breezy society column for the L.A. Times entitled “Skylarking with James Copp.” Finally, with friend Ed Brown, who was a recent U.S.C. grad, linguist, world traveler – and as it soon developed – near genius at design, he began to assemble the LP’s that would occupy the two of them for more than a decade.

The duo made nine records between 1958 and 1971, and some of the songs have been re-purposed in one way or another since then. For example, Jim Copp Tales (1958) included "Martha Mathilda O'Toole," which Copp turned into a book (Kirkus summary and review). That same album also includes "Miss Goggins and The Gorilla," presented there with still illustrated frames, to accompany 24 copies of Jim's voice as a classroom of children, per a New York Times obituary for Copp (who passed away in 1999 at the age of 85), that noted "on another occasion, he dubbed his voice 90 times to create the roar of a crowd."

"The Dog with the Longest Name" was designed and animated by students, aged 6-12 years old, in the LineStorm Animation class at the Creative Arts at Park School summer program in Brookline, Massachusetts as "a lively animated response" to Jim Copp's and Ed Brown's classic song, "The Dog that went to Yale," from Thimble Corner (1960).

East Of Flumdiddle (1961) earned Copp the title "The Mayor of Flumdidle" in an L.A. Times article in 1996.

A Fidgety Frolic (1962) includes the somewhat ghastly tale of "Little Claude," but don't worry, it ends well enough. Schoolmates (1968) contains the story of "Mary McGurky McGinty Maguire," a stubborn little girl.

In the documentary film Skylarking: The Life & Times of Jim Copp, produced and directed by Ted Leyhe (who also convinced Copp to re-issue the albums, first on cassette, and then on CD), Jim Copp performs "Agnes Mouthwash & Friends," the first track on his James Copp 3 record.

Thanks to people who have copies of those original records that were hand-sold to upscale stores like Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and FAO Schwartz, home-made tapes, or official re-releases made possible by Ted and his wife, Laura, who revived and continue to run Copp and Brown's old label, Playhouse Records, the work of Jim Copp and Ed Brown have not faded away completely, with fond memories shared by many.

posted by filthy light thief (3 comments total)

Jim Copp's Children's Albums, previously.

Bonus bits: Jerry Lewis recorded "The Noisy Eater," written by Jim Copp, and released it as a single in 1952.

You can get the music of Jim Copp and Ed Brown through various channels now, including CDs from the aforementioned Playhouse Records, digitally via CD Baby, and a digital compilation of 31 tracks on Amazon.co.uk (MeFi affil link, via Prime Day support MetaFilter MeTa thread) and streaming on platforms, including YouTube (though it's region-blocked in the U.S., at least on YT).

Speaking of YouTube audio, The Bridge Game is included in a semi-random comp titled Vintage Children's Easter Music, but I'm not quite sure the source of this track, as it doesn't seem to be on the 9 albums.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:17 PM on December 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Through Jim Copp, Edward Gorey, Stan Freberg and Vaughn Meader, my parents gave me an interesting childhood...
posted by TDIpod at 11:37 AM on December 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

We used to listen to Flibertygibbets on parade at the machine shop. The Frogman was a fave. "Now everybody dance".
posted by boilermonster at 5:32 PM on December 25, 2018