Gigolette: Lucie Bigelow Rosen Rediscovered

The importance of Lucie Bigelow Rosen to the existence and history of the theremin cannot be underestimated. Soon after Lucie Bigelow Rosen became a student of Leon Theremin in 1930, she and her husband enabled his continued work by providing studio and workshop space as well as financial backing.

Lucie Rosen became a very active concert performer on the theremin and worked closely with Leon Theremin on customizations to the instruments he built for her. She toured internationally, commissioned new works for theremin, and spoke frequently promoting the it. And though very little of her legacy as a player has survived, she was Leon Theremin's greatest benefactor and a critical part of the instrument's early survival and evolution.

Until now very few in the contemporary theremin community had ever heard Lucie Bigelow Rosen play. Primarily a classical performer, it is surprising that such an atypical piece as Gigolette, a big band specialty number, should bring her back to eager ears.

This rare find comes to us from thereminist, Kip Rosser. In noticing the promotional blurb on the back of one of the photos of Rosen and Lawrence that were for sale on the internet, he realized that he’d found proof that a commercial recording of Lucie Rosen was made and actually existed, at least for a time. Mounting an extensive wild goose chase internet search over the course of a few days finally yielded the long-forgotten recording!


Promotional photo of Rosen and Lawrence at Gigolette session,
and on the back of this promotional photo:

This recording was made late in 1948 or early 1949.

Two recordings were located, one of which may be the rarest of all. It is a 78 RPM with a specialty label identifying it as a promotional recording sent exclusively to radio stations for airplay. Both were acquired because it was not uncommon for two recordings of the same name to contain different takes. However, in this case, it is the same take on both records.



Notice on the labels Lucie Rosen’s name does not appear on either recording. Still we can establish that it is indeed her as a result of the publicity pictures, plus the Columbia Records promotional copy that was attached to the back of one of the photos. This blurb specifically names her as the thereminist who made the recording.

A longstanding subject for speculation among thereminists and theremin enthusiasts is that Lucie Rosen’s estate must surely have recordings of Lucie playing the theremin. Visitors to Caramoor have reported being able to listen to a sample of her palying there, but nothing of the kind has ever surfaced for public review. Featured on http://www.thereminvox.com/ is a segment from a radio broadcast during which Lucie Rosen speaks about the instrument. This recording of Gigolette may well be the only example of Rosen’s playing that most of us ever get to hear.

Drew Techner, writing about Elliot Lawrence's career mentioned this record.
""
Columbia's deal also required Elliot to record two songs that he didn't want to do; "Gigolette" and "Every Night Is Saturday Night." The session's first cut was "Gigolette" a ballad using an electronic musical instrument called a "Theremin," named after a Russian scientist Leon Theremin. "This instrument is played by passing a wand through two beams of light, breaking the circuit of the two electric eyes. His is the only dance band in the country that has employed this instrument for the weird effects it creates." Dr. Samuel Hoffman, a chiropractor and former Meyer Davis violinist, played it during a Spellbound Hollywood score and won an Academy Award. However, this session had Lucie Bigelow Rosen operating the clumsy instrument and the results were less than satisfactory. It whimpered around the oboe and bassoon in the ballad background. Numerous takes were made but the final product was still out of tune.
""


Promotional Photo of Lucie Bigelow Rosen and Elliot Lawrence looking inside the theremin.

While it is pure speculation, it does seem likely that collaboration between Columbia, Lawrence and Rosen was initiated as an experiment – a prelude to future recordings. By the time this recording was made in 1949, Dr. Samuel Hoffman had already completed two of his now famous albums: Music Out of the Moon (Capitol, 1947) and Perfume Set to Music (RCA, 1948). Both were successful enough that the record companies re-issued them several times.

Elliot Lawrence’s contract demanded that he record the song, and with the lucrative response to Dr. Hoffman’s recordings well established, could the Columbia execs have had some dollar signs in their eyes? Were they hoping to create a pairing that would spawn more recordings and capitalize (pun intended) on Hoffman's successes? They'd have their own thereminist!

One can’t escape the incredible similarity of orchestral arrangement between Gigolette and the music on the Hoffman albums. It's precisely the same style. Lucie Rosen’s theremin appears, just as Hoffman’s does, only very occasionally – it is there to function as a little ethereal, moody seasoning to compliment the rest of the hilariously ostentatious arrangement. 90 to 95% of each song consists of male and female choruses with the distinctly fifties harmonies, and orchestral arrangements filled with sweeping, dramatic phrasing and sensuous rumba beats that have become the quintessential standard for what’s usually called “lounge music” or “bachelor pad music.”