Jack Smith - Baby Face (1926)

Jack Smith, the Whispering Baritone

"Baby Face" is a song by Benny Davis and Harry Akst

Victor 20229

September 22, 1926

Baby cheeks and turned up nose and curly hair--
I'm raving bout my baby now!
Pretty little dimples here and dimples there--
Don't want to live without her!
I love her goodness knows!
I wrote a song about her, and here's the way it goes

Baby Face, you've got the cutest little baby face--
There's not another one could take your place!

Baby face,
My poor heart is jumping--you sure have started something!
Baby Face, I'm up in heaven when I'm in your fond embrace.
I didn't need a shove because I just fell in love
With your pretty baby face.

When you were a baby--not so long ago--
You must have been the cutest thing
I can picture you at every baby show
Just winning every ribbon with your sweet baby way
Say, honest I ain't fibbing--you'd win em all today

Born with the name Jacob Schmidt (probably on May 30, 1896), the singer made a legal change to Jack Smith around the time anti-German sentiment ran high.

Radio was a source of regular work for Jack Smith for decades. He started on radio as a piano accompanist, but at a WMCA studio, his partner (a singer) failed to appear. Smith's solo career was launched on that day!

Smith was also a Tin Pan Alley "song plugger," giving private performances of new songs to vocalists who might want to adopt those songs (the way he entered show business after he left the military?). He was a song plugger for the Irving Berlin Music Company, and he recorded several Berlin songs--he was in his "comfort zone."

His discs were among the earliest made with an "electric" recording process, a microphone used. His first recording session was on August 28, 1925, but Victor issued nothing from this "test" date or trial session. "Cecilia" was soon afterwards cut. Recorded on September 21, 1925, this "A' side of his first disc was among his biggest hits.

Another song closely associated with Smith is "Gimmie a Little Kiss, Will Ya?" His delivery is unique--perfect for the song. He recorded many songs that would become standards.

Whispering Jack Smith's style was "fresh" to the industry in the mid-1920s although Columbia had the services of Art Gillham, the Whispering Pianist. These two artists--friendly rivals--would cover some of the same songs. Art Gillham later in life recalled that Jack Smith had the greater talent or at least made better records. Smith had the more flexible voice, able to cover a wider range of material. Gillham's range was very limited.

Jack Smith was exclusive to the Victor Talking Machine Company (and England's HMV) from 1925 to 1930. Hal Kemp's older brother, T. D. Kemp, Jr., became Jack Smith's business manager in 1926, arranging for Smith to perform in London that year and later.

Smith made wonderful recordings abroad in 1928--in England and in Berlin, Germany.