KITTY KALLEN – "Little Things Mean A Lot"

Kitty’s smooth & accomplished vocal and a sympathetic orchestration mask a fairly ordinary song with some dodgy couplets – ‘to show me you haven’t forgot…..little things mean a lot’ indeed ! Otherwise – some good advice.

“honestly honey, they just cost money”… interesting flip side to the more mercenary sentiment of Eartha Kitt’s Santa Baby, which feels to me like it should be held up side by side with this…probably because of the rrrrrrrrrrrs.

Here’s Kitty, who intriguingly wants you to kiss her “like a sweet potat-ah”. Her voice has Alma Cogan’s playfulness but can carry off a ballad like Little Things while sounding less mature than your Rosie Clooney and your Jo Stafford. One for fans of daffy 50s Pre Rock is Chew’n Gum from 1950.

In 1955 she starred in a movie called The Second Greatest Sex; it’s a shame the slightly discomforting theme, a duet, wasn’t sung with famous philanderer and ingrate Eddie Fisher.

Odd that Kitty never had another hit of any stripe as her profile remained reasonably high through the 50s and she’d been a name since the late 40s. Apparently she now divides her time between her homes in New Jersey and Mexico, where she wisely spends the winter months.

Well you wouldn’t be wrong, Swedo. So I’ll be all gallantry about your feelings for 64-year old Clodagh.

Hmm yes, a cute kitty indeed. You could interpret those lyrics as being absolutely filthy if you wanted to (“kiss me underneath the awning”!) and the little underage boy she’s singing to seems to be taking a few large gulps, and no wonder he’s standing so close to the piano to hide the effect she’s having on him. Then she walks away and leaves him to it, the little tease.

Julie Newmar had a similar effect on the Monkees. She drives them all doolally in The Monkees Get More Dirt Out (second season). According to The Internet “in polls, questions at conventions, and weight of fan mail, the episode has been voted the most popular and favorite of the series”.

It can’t be long before people say “Batman! … no, not THAT one, not the boring Goth. This one was all pop art, the theme was great, and it had jokes in it…”

Mink Schmink? Isn’t it great?

“Cars schmars, princes schminces
With caviar and chicken blintzes
Don’t mean a lot if you haven’t got love”

Eartha’s early/mid 50s singles are incredibly saucy compared to the cuddly likes of Little Things Mean A Lot. I really wish I’d gone to see her at the Albert Hall (I think) four or five years back.

Amazing! I bet she was mates with Queenie Watts.

Didn’t Eartha get blacklisted in the US for a controversial Black Panther-ish stance? (prefers to let memory believe this to be true rather than fact check)

I think you’re right about Kitty being a bit less “sophisticated” than Jo or Rosie, though she also had a big band schooling. Love the way Kitty sounds sooooo Amerrrrican on her records!

Kitty’s doing it to you again, Wichita!

Kitty had been a band singer for years, but this record brought her much greater success.

The latest victim of the ukelele advert soundtrack – this one’s for AXA.

She had quite the career in the US – this was her fourth #1 single, her thirteenth top ten placing, and Billboard’s number one song for 1954 – though things did tail off soon after – she’d only have one more #4 hit, a few minor encounters with the lower end of the charts, and nothing at all after 1963. Would she have a better showing in the UK if we had pre-1952 charts?

Someone did a cover version of this for an advert recently… Can’t recall who it was or what it was for… (Helpful, I know) Sounded OK if you like that husky-female-voice-with-an-acoustic-guitar kind of thing. As for this original, the word that springs to mind is ‘classy’. The lyrics are also nicely down-to-earth – references to touching her hair, and saying she looks nice when she’s not – compared to some of the more operatic, grandstanding early number ones.