Sunny Skylar

[Mr Maltby]

Ladies and Gentlemen -

Heres a test of your vintage music knowledge! A challenge! Im looking for music by one Sunny Skylar. If you look him up, youll find a ton of songs he composed, but im looking for actual audio recordings by the man himself. I have a set of 78's by him. The album is called Nursery Rhymes, but NOT FOR CHILDREN. Risque old tunes along the lines of Ruth Wallis. The cover is great, it features a wolf(literally) eyeing a pinup putting on her stockings. im guessing mid fourties perhaps. Anyway, im looking for more of his stuff that features these kinds of tunes. Also, does anyone know any other Artists like this from back then? funny, pushes the envelope, good music, but doesnt have to curse to get labeled risque. So i guess its two questions. can anyone find this man, and does anyone know anything like it, and not spike jones, or his city slickers Thank you, fellow loungers. you have yet to let me down with your superior knowledge.

[Mr Maltby]

*sigh* anybody?

[Cousin Hepcat]

*sigh* anybody?

Never liked the genre except for a few by one guy - ebay search string "(larry vincent,pearl trio)" (from within "records") - a Cary Grant impersonator in voice and timing (most just dumb, but a few hilarious without being overly crude, look for "I Used To Work In Chicago", you can almost hear Katherine Hepburn giggling & smacking him at the end of each verse)

[drafttek]

Hi Mr. Maltby,
I found two listings for 45's on this site. Click on "S artists" then scroll down to page 44. Hope this might be what you're looking for.
http://www.recordfinders.com/45cata.html

[Mr Maltby]

see what im saying? you guys are THE best. Any further suggestions/ideas are of course still appreciated.

[Mr Maltby]

oh! i just remembered! I used to work in chicago....in a department store, i used to work in chicago, ill never work there any more! thats a funny one. I believe I know spike jones doing that one. Any possibility were diggin on the same tune? Cheers, Kevin

[Guiduce]

Sunny Skylar is alive and well at 93. He lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Jackie. I met Sunny 35 years ago when we were neighbors there and we have been good friends since. I have a cassette tape of 4 recordings he made with Vincet Lopez and one he made with a recording studio band ( Don't Wait To Long- which we both agree is the best thing he has done).
He's never mentioned the album you refer to - I'll call him later and ask him about it.
He is indeed a prolific songwriter and was nominated many times to the songwriters hall of fame, but alas, because of disparaging remarks by another well known writer (I won't say who) was never awarded that signature award. But he really doesn't need it because Besame Mucho alone has been recorded by more artists and played more often than everything that was done by his vicious critic.
Let me know if there is anything you need to know.

Guido

[Mr Maltby]

this is some of the most incredible information ive recieved in quite some time!! There is virtually no information to be found on this man on the internet. Please share any stories or information that you would be willing to. Im chomping at the bit to know what you know. Cheers.

[Fletch]

I believe he was known as Sonny Schuyler early in his career, and sang with the George Hall band over CBS and on Bluebird records.

He had something of a hit in 1938 with "Laughing Boy Blues", which Woody Herman made for Decca with Sonny doing the laughing. Another one he did was "Fifteen Minute Intermission" for Cab Calloway in '41.

[Guiduce]

Ok, I just spoke with Sunny. He only vaguely recalls the album Nursery Rhymes (his memory isn‚Äôt what it used to be- whose is?), and he was surprised to hear that the record was risqu?©. Anyway‚Ķa short bio: Sunny‚Äôs real name is Selig Shaftel. He changed it to Sunny Skylar at Vincent Lopez‚Äôs suggestion. Lopez was a confirmed metaphysician and really into numerology. ( I have a book or two of his, available at Amazon.) He told Sunny if he wanted to make it big in music he needed to change his name as the numerical values in his given name didn‚Äôt vibe for success. He suggested Sunny, because it suited his disposition. Skylar is his mother‚Äôs maiden name. Guess he was right , huh?
Incidentally, Vincent Lopez himself is a remarkable entity. According to a life reading given by Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet, Lopez was Leonardo Da Vinci in another life. Heavy, man, heavy.
Sunny was born in Brooklyn, NY. He has five kids, including twins, He is also a twin or was; his sister died about ten years ago. He knew just about everybody in the big band era and can tell you quite a bit about them. The New York times ran a feature article in their Sunday supplement sometime in the forties comparing him with Irving Berlin and George Gershwin. Very impressive.
You can listen to any radio station that plays the oldies and I’ll bet you anything that you’ll hear at least one of his songs within an hour or two. Your Breaking My Heart - Vic Damone’s, his theme song- gets a lot of play. How that came about is also an interesting tale. Maybe later.
I made a DVD recently of video footage ( very primitive) that Sunny and I made years ago horsing around playing a ukulele. I’ll be happy to send a copy to anyone who would care to have one.