Janet Blair was barely an adult when she gave up a career as a big band singer and signed a contract with Columbia Studios. Her career started promisingly, with big roles the 1942 films "Broadway" and "My Sister Eileen," in which she played Eileen Sherwood to Rosalind Russell's Ruth Sherwood. But the quality of her roles dipped by the middle of the decade. In 1950 she left Hollywood and joined a touring production of South Pacific, playing lead Nellie Forbush. It was highly successful, running more than 1,200 performances over three years. She also starred in a national tour of Mame (with Elaine Stritch supporting as Vera Charles), and starred in productions of Bells Are Ringing and Follies. She headlined a single Broadway play, a 1953 comedy called You Never Can Tell.Read more

One of the more diverse American lyricists of the 20th century, Sammy Cahn wrote his first hit by the age of 21 and followed it with over five decades of successful and award-winning compositions. Working most frequently with Jule Styne during the '40s and Jimmy Van Heusen during the '50s (though he also composed with Axel Stordahl and Paul Weston), Cahn had a way with lovesick ballads ("I'll Walk Alone," "Only the Lonely") as well as bouncy uptempo songs ("Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," "Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night of the Week").Read more

Julie London recorded 32 albums during her career. Forced to give up band singing when her true age was discovered, she was primarily a torch singer. Her vocal range was described by "sultry" and "low-keyed". Her own favorite singers were Barbra Streisand and Roberta Flack. She was known in some circles as "The Liberty Girl" for helping establish Liberty Records, where she began singing in 1955, as a successful label. Her many hit albums on that label include "Julie Is Her Name", "Calendar Girl" with some borderline erotic (for the time) cover photography by Gene Lester, "About the Blues", "Your Number, Please", "Send For Me", "Love Letters", "The End of the World", "In Person at the Americana", "The Wonderful World of Julie London" and the provocatively titled "Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast".Read more