Music: New Pop Records, Jan. 4, 1954

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U.S. songwriters are just as convinced as visiting European anthropologists that the U.S. vibrates to the theme of "Mom," so songwriters waste little time exploring the sentimental possibilities of Dad.* Last month, nonetheless, Victor picked up a sugary little number called Oh! My Papa, which had been written for a Swiss musical comedy, and gave it to Crooner Eddie Fisher. For good measure it threw in a lush accompaniment, including a gaudy trumpet obbligato. Sample lyric:

Oh, my Papa, to me he was so wonderful,

Oh, my Papa, to me he was so good.

No one could be so gentle and so lovable,

Oh, my Papa, he always understood.

By last week, confounding European sociologists and U.S. songwriters, Oh! My Papa was one of the hottest sellers in the record stores; Victor had shipped close to 1,000,000 copies in six weeks.

Other new pop records:

Django Reinhardt (Clef LP). French jazz in the modern manner, played by Paris' late guitar favorite and his combo. Softer in texture and drive than U.S. jazz, the selections still have authentic jazz feeling. Included: a frothy little number called Blues for Ike.

Kismet (Alfred Drake, Doretta Morrow and other members of the original cast; Columbia LP). A musical précis of the current Broadway idea of an Arabian night, featuring such popular songs as Baubles, Bangles and Beads, Stranger in Paradise and a couple of deft patter numbers. The music was culled from the work of Alexander Borodin, the 19th century Russian composer, by Robert Wright and George Forrest.

Shades of Bix (Jimmy McPartland and his band; Brunswick LP). Trumpeter McPartland undertakes the touchy task of recapturing the style and feeling of the cornettist Bix Beiderbecke, in the process socks out some fine Dixieland jazz. The combo, a duplication of Bix's own Gang (including a hoarse-voiced baritone sax), gets a lift from the inspired drumming of George Wettling.

Show Biz (Victor LP). An audible history of the entertainment world for the past half-century. A fast-moving, name-dropping kaleidoscope, narrated by George Jessel, it is illustrated by selections of everybody who was anybody from Will Rogers to Dinah Shore.

Music to Make You Misty (Jackie Gleason's Orchestra; Capitol, 2 EPs). The third album of mood music conducted and produced by TV-Funnyman Gleason. Seductive strings are highlighted by the artful trumpet of Bobby Hackett and saxophone of Toots Mondello.

Bobby Short (Trend EP). A young West Coast singer who manages—with the help of an excitable tremolo and an occasional uninhibited growl—to work a good bit of enthusiasm into the grooves. Gustiest number: Taking a Chance on Love.

Man-Woman (Rosemary Clooney Ferrer and José Ferrer; Columbia). Semi-philosophical maunderings about the nature of each. (Sample: "A woman, a woman, / Oh what can she be? / Whatever she is, she's necessaree.") It has a catchy tune, but is too hoked up to be funny.