KEN CURTIS SINGS “I’ll Take You Home Again…”

[PLEASE READ] Video dedicated to Miss Maureen O’Hara--wherever "Herself" may be. Almost five years before director John Ford’s RIO GRANDE (1950), there was director Ray Nazarro’s THROW A SADDLE ON A STAR (1946). Actor/singer Ken Curtis appeared in both motion pictures singing lyrics from the song “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen” by Thomas P. Westendorf. But note the contrasts between the two appearances. In the former (and more famous) film, Ken, playing a regimental singer, leads his fellow Sons of the Pioneers in an evening outdoor serenade of—appropriately—“Mrs. KATHLEEN Yorke” (Maureen O’Hara), who is accompanied by her husband “Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke” (John Wayne). However, in the latter film, the context is completely different. Ken, playing a hotshot rodeo star, is alone currying his grateful horse in its stall after a daytime competition. It is in this environment that he sings the wistful lyrics, daydreaming of his love interest, “Barbara Allen” (Adele Roberts). Perhaps because HER name isn’t “Kathleen,” Ken agreed to sing the first line of the chorus thus: “Oh! I will take you back AGAIN” As opposed to the original’s “Oh! I will take you back, KATHLEEN.” Er, get it? Both song renditions—however literally incomplete or unfaithful to the original—are superbly interpreted by Ken with his pearly pipes.

“Lest we forget”: Ken Curtis’s long and legendary association with the unkempt “hick” role of “Festus Haggen” in TV’s “GUNSMOKE” unfortunately obscures his earlier work as a heroic, crooning leading man. With his warm, intelligent demeanor and pearly voice raised eloquently in song, he made more than half a dozen Columbia Westerns in this more distinguished or “clean-cut” vein, often teamed with Guinn “Big Boy” Williams and the ingenious, novelty musical troupe The Hoosier Hotshots.

Did you know: Colorado native Ken Curtis joined the Sons of the Pioneers singing group in the late 1940s and recorded several sides with them through the early 1950s. For the most complete studio sessions of the Sons featuring Ken Curtis, please explore the following Bear Family CD box set:

http://www.bear-family.com/en/bear-fa...

Another relevant website:
http://www.sonsofthepioneers.org/

Video dedicatee Maureen O'Hara, "Herself," can be heard to wonderful advantage as a singer in the song collection entitled "The Best of Maureen O'Hara." Available on iTunes or on Google Play here: https://play.google.com/store/music/a...

IMPORTANT: This is a video sampler of goodwill and great admiration. If you are a professional and want credit I've neglected to give OR prefer that I delete this video, please let me know. Thank you.