Kidiscography, 1960

Trade once followed the flag; nowadays it trails the cradle. One result: more children's records every year. Among the relatively few good ones on the market:

Mother Goose (Cyril Ritchard, Celeste Holm, Boris Karloff; Caedmon). Arch without being cute, this trio skips through the old rhymes like verbal jump ropes. In gleeful self-amazement, Actor Ritchard triple-tongues Peter Piper's pickled peppers ("I didn't break down, you see"). Hershy Kay's musical punctuation is pert and pertinent, unfailingly delights, never intrudes.

Richard Wagner: His Story and His Music (Vox). This is a handsome way for a musically receptive child to meet a master. The dissonances of Wagner's life are scanted, but the sonic sensuousness of his work is served boldly, briefly and well.

A Christmas Carol (Sir Ralph Richardson; Caedmon). Dickens conceivably wrote the first Christmas sermon against the commercial spirit. As Scrooge, the "man of worldly mind," Sir Ralph is delectably mean and deliciously remorseful. He almost banishes that spirit of Christmas past, Lionel Barrymore.

Peter and the Wolf (Beatrice Lillie; London Symphony Orchestra; London). The ineffable Bea seems to take Prokofiev's fable with what Max Beerbohm called "a stalactite of salt." Her impish spoofery is just what this staid and somewhat self-conscious classic now needs.

Hoorah for the Red, White and Blue! (Golden). A masculine. 14-song choral salute to flag and country (The Caissons Go Rolling Along, The Halls of Montezuma) that goes off with a rousing, old-fashioned Fourth of July bang.

Let's Play a Musical Game (Tom Glazer, William Keene, Sally Sweetland, Arthur Malvin; Columbia). This crew, especially the infectiously good-natured Tom Glazer, commands something no parent does--instant obedience. In this superior participation record, children are invited to put their fingers "in the air, in the air," pretend to lead orchestras, and "do a little square dance two by two."

The Story of Jazz (narrated by Langston Hughes; Folkways). A neatly telescoped chronicle of the U.S.'s greatest native art form from Basin Street to Birdland. Using segments of historic recordings, Narrator Hughes gets thumping, jumping assistance from Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, Bunk Johnson et al. Folkways also offers a vast additional library of musical lore from West Indies calypso to Ghana folk tales.

Burl Ives Sings "Little White Duck" and Other Children's Favorites (Columbia). Big Daddy thrums his guitar and sings Mr. Froggie Went A-Courtin', The Grey Goose, and the rest, with a voice that is clear as a mountain stream and cozy as sitting by the fire. In the path of Burl's music, the weather of a child's mind seems to turn sunny, rapt, calm.

Song and Play Time with Pete Seeger (Folkways). Only a tossed coin could choose between Burl Ives and Pete Seeger in folk-song appeal. Purists may find Seeger's numbers a shade more authentic or the twang of his guitar a trifle more personable.

Stories of Mark Twain (Walter Brennan, Brandon de Wilde; Caedmon). Richly furrowed and pecan-sweet, Actor Brennan's voice is perfectly flavored for Twain's famed saga of a betting man, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Ex-Child Actor de Wilde, 18, does equally well by a boy's excitement, awe and terror at the shooting of Boggs as seen and told by Huck Finn.

Captain Kangaroo (Columbia). If Gibbon were alive, he would probably blame the Decline of the West on Captain Kangaroo. Culture snobs notwithstanding, the fact is that the gentle captain makes small fry happy, and these two bouncy collections of songs, capers and "riddle-a-diddles" are calculated to make them happier still.

Tall Fireman Paul and Busy Policeman Joe (Victor). In the mythology of the city child, the policeman and firefighter are noble Hector and great Achilles. It is a brave myth, and this record, enriched by the street noises of everyday reality, does nothing to tarnish it.

Hear the Animals Sing (Columbia). There was this little boy and he had a magic stick and when he rubbed cows, cats, dogs and lambs with his stick, these animals (real sound effects) began to sing (real tape technician) songs like The Farmer in the Dell and all like that. Three to-sixes go positively daft over it, but Papa and Mama need magical first aid while the cowcophony is on.

More Selections from Alice in Wonderland (Cyril Ritchard; Riverside). Actor Ritchard has style, a quality increasingly confined to British actors and aristocrats. He is quipsy, quirkish, quibblesome and wopsical, as Alice's high-styled brand of insane logic and sane illogic demands. Children who teethe well on The Mock Turtle's Story and Advice from a Caterpillar may be treated to Riverside's full-length Alice.

Through the Looking-Glass (Joan Greenwood, Stanley Holloway; Caedmon). Actress Greenwood's voice suggests that she may have eaten the looking glass on the way through. In this impeccable recording, she makes a piquant Alice ably seconded by Narrator Holloway and a neatly meshed cast. No fear of Tweedle-doldrums.

Songs and Fun with the Baby Sitters (Vanguard). This winning semipro quartet gives one the sensation of visiting with rather than listening to. Giving off an air of artless improvisation, they intertwine pretend games, traditional ballads and "activity songs." Low on actorish gloss, the Baby Sitters are as soft sell as a lullaby and just about perfect for the just-out-of-the-nursery set.

Thimble Corner (Jim Copp and Ed Brown; Playhouse). Copp and Brown are to Kidiscs what the early U.P.A. was to film cartooning. While they have confected nothing on the order of Gerald McBoing-Boing or Mr. Magoo, The Dog That Went to Yale is certainly close, and this entire record is fresh, clever and inventive. Strictly for the U-child.

A Christmas Memory (Truman Capote; United Artists). A U.S. Southland equivalent of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales that is every whit as good, indeed a minor modern masterpiece. Cousinly confederates, a woman in her 60s and a boy of seven celebrate the season in the preaffluent society of three decades ago. The woman is slightly daft and wholly generous. The boy is a boy. Their life is a touching mixture of the funny, the poignant and the evocative. With his reedy voice, Author Capote is a doubtful choice to perform his own work; yet he breathes regional life into it, and the region is the human heart.

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