An Earlier Hot Rod

Entirely unmentioned by the LP or CD issues is the fact that Courage had also composed and conducted the score for an entirely different film titled Hot Rod Girl, released in 1956. This earlier score employs nearly identical orchestration and the soundtrack recording was made using some of the same personnel. Given the two films’ similar plots and themes, it might make sense that similar musical scoring was used — perhaps even reused — in the later film. However, despite these similarities, the films in fact have two distinct scores, with each featuring its own unique musical cues.

The original Liberty Records album combined both soundtrack recordings into a single release. This combining would result in an LP record of appropriate duration (approximately thirty-seven minutes split across two sides). However, this album incorrectly attributed all the music to Hot Rod Rumble and made no mention of Hot Rod Girl anywhere in the liner notes. The track titles suggest that each track comes from Hot Rod Rumble, and the liner notes even assigned plot synopses from Hot Rod Rumble to tracks that had appeared exclusively in Hot Rod Girl. [3] It may well be that this was all part of an intentional marketing strategy planned by Liberty Records. Nevertheless, these decisions have resulted in confusion about the origins of the music and its association with the respective films. Personnel credits from the two sessions were merged, resulting in an inflated composite listing of musicians that is not accurate for either of the two recordings. Perhaps continuing the assumption that this was a single project, the CD issue claims that all tracks were recorded in Hollywood in 1957, when the Hot Rod Girl recording session in fact occurred on May 8, 1956.

A detailed analysis comparing the films and the tracks on the soundtrack album was conducted to address these inaccuracies. The personnel for the orchestra are listed in the end credits of both films. By cross-referencing this information with research into American Federation of Musicians contracts, the session date for Hot Rod Girl was confirmed. [4] The following additional conclusions were drawn:

• Six of the fourteen tracks on the original Liberty Records LP that were labeled as being from Hot Rod Rumble actually originated from Hot Rod Girl. These were not recorded in 1957 but on May 8, 1956, using a similar but not identical instrumentation and personnel.
• In addition to having no mention of the earlier film, the Liberty Records issue attaches titles and plot references to these tracks in support of the false narrative that all fourteen tracks come from the later film. [5]
• The incorrect attributions likely arose from either a misunderstanding or a deliberate marketing decision by Liberty Records to consolidate the two soundtracks into a single product.
• The 2013 CD reissue perpetuated the errors from the original LP release, continuing to mislead listeners about the provenance of the Hot Rod Girl tracks.

This analysis not only restores the correct attribution of the music but also highlights the distinct contributions of Alexander Courage to both films. By separating the soundtracks, we can better appreciate the nuanced differences in Courage’s scoring choices for Hot Rod Girl and Hot Rod Rumble. Future reissues of the album should include revised liner notes to accurately reflect the origins of the music for these two soundtracks.

Bibliography

• Hot Rod Girl, directed by Leslie H. Martinson (1956; American International) https://archive.org/details/hot-rod-girl-1956-lori-nelson
• Hot Rod Rumble, directed by Leslie H. Martinon (1957; Allied Artists Pictures Corporation) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcOAucU1RnM The British title for this film was Road Devils, as can be seen on this trailer https://archive.org/details/road-devils
• Hot Rod Rumble, Liberty Records LRP 3048, 1957.
• Hot Rod Rumble + Murder, Inc. Jazz in the Movies CD JM 1003, 2013.
• Meeker, David. Jazz on the Screen Filmography. Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/item/jots.200016730/

References

[1] Issued in monaural sound as Liberty LRP 3048.

[2] Stereo versions of the fourteen tracks from Liberty LRP 3048 alongside twelve tracks from the soundtrack of the 1960 film Murder, Inc. (originally issued as Canadian American CALP 1003) were issued in 2013 as Jazz in the Movies JM 1003.

[3] As one example, Arny Crawford is a character who appears only in Hot Rod Rumble, but the track that was assigned the title of “Big Arny” comes from the Hot Rod Girl film. As another, the plot reference accompanying the track “Jazz Dirge” reads “Hank is dead.” However, the music itself is from Hot Rod Girl, following the death scene of the character named Steve Northrup. The incongruities of the titles themselves is an indication that they must have been created for the LP issue.

[4] American Federation of Musicians recording session contract data for Maynard Ferguson supplied to the author in spreadsheet form by Rose Doylemason of AFM Local 47.

[5] The name is “American” spelled backwards.

[6] For whatever reason, two of the six Hot Rod Girl titles (“Big Arny” and “Racy Drag”) have no plot references at all.

[7] Misspelled as “Schoneberg” in the on-screen credits.

[8] Misspelled as “Hynie” in the on-screen credits.