The other day I posted a 12 inch 78rpm recording of Paul Whiteman’s orchestra playing an extended piece that contained within it a melody that later became ‘Stairway To The Stars’. Whiteman made a number of these mini-symphonette numbers and today I’ve posted one from 1934 called ‘Deep Purple’ which a few years later became–you guessed it– ‘Deep Purple’, a major big band hit of the 40s. Once again, Mitchell Parish was the man for the job of furnishing lyrics to the updated version of the melody. The composer was Peter De Rose, an interesting figure of the period who, along with his wife May Breen, performed songs he’d mostly written on an NBC radio show called ‘Sweethearts Of The Air’. Above is the extended Whiteman record. Below is the Larry Clinton monster hit with Bea Wayne’s vocal.