On the Sunny Side of the Storm

The particular virtue of this rendition by Gale Storm is that it includes the musical/lyrical introduction that many popular songs had, but that are most often omitted.  "On The Sunny Side of the Street" was composed in 1930 by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields.  It was pretty much McHugh's most famous song (together with "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," also with lyrics by Fields) but Dorothy Fields was one of the greatest lyricists of the golden age of the pop song, right up there with Cole Porter.

Boomers will remember Gale Storm as a comic actress from her 1950s TV shows "My Little Margie" and "Oh! Susanna."   She was so intensely high energy she could have been an advertisement for amphetamines.  Like a lot of 50s TV stars she had an earlier career in the movies and as a singer.  Here she's pretty mellow, in a scene from the film Swing Parade of 1946.  Despite the title it was a modest little movie, of which she was the star.  It's notable for guest numbers by Louis Jordan.  And yes, those are the Three Stooges in the background.  In addition to their own short films they appeared in regular movies, often as hapless henchmen, or "stooges" of a more important character.