William N. Law Blog: Complete "Audition at RCA'

A few years ago, I stumbled across a 15-minute black-and-white film called Audition at RCA directed in 1964 by D.A. "Penny" Pennebaker. Also known as Lambert & Co., the film features singer Dave Lambert and four young singers he assembled for an audition at RCA studios in New York with hopes of recording a bunch of singles. Known as Lambert & Co., the group—Mary Vonnie, Sarah Boatner, David Lucas and Leslie Dorsey—was formed shortly after the disbanding of Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan in early 1964.

Over the past few years, I've featured posts on the film as I've gathered more information from different sources. A few weeks ago, I interviewed Penny (pictured) for my "House Call" column in The Wall Street Journal. While I had Penny, I asked him about the making of Audition at RCA.

Rather than post his comments as a sole entry, I've decided to unite all of the information from earlier posts into a single post so it will be a one-stop read. Interestingly, Penny filmed Audition at RCA just before embarking on Dont Look Back, his Bob Dylan documentary in 1965.

First, let's begin by looking at the film so readers new to my long-term obsession are up to speed...

Here's the story behind the film, featuring my interviews with director D.A. Pennebaker, producer George Avakian, singer Mary Vonnie and Dave Lamber's daughter, Dee Lambert...

D.A. Pennebaker: In the summer of 1964, I knew Dave Lambert and I knew George Avakian. I was a fan of Dave ever since I arrived in New York from Chicago in the 1940s. I knew George because I had and still have a substantial collection of 78s that he knew about.

In 1959, I co-founded Drew Associates with Richard Leacock and former Life magazine editor and correspondent Robert Drew. At some point in the early '60s, we decided to build a film production studio in New York's diamond district at 56 W. 45th St.

Jewelers had been in the space but were robbed. They decided to move out. After we got the 9th floor, it was just a empty floor. As with any place you move into, you think you’ll be there forever so we had big plans.

While we worked on the rooms, Bob Van Dyke, our audio genius, introduced me to Dave (above). I told Dave what we were doing and Dave said he was a carpenter and would happy to help us finish it. Dave turned out to be first-rate. We built little editing rooms and a place for a mixing studio.
Another friend, Mario, who also did carpentry, helped, too. We finished the place in a month.

At some point in ‘64, Dave told me he had assembled a new vocal group and that they were going down to RCA to see about a record deal. I know Dave was keen on recording his material as a series of singles because it would make him more immediate money.

He said the group, Lambert & Co., were going to record a demo of the songs they had rehearsed to see what RCA thought. I told Dave I’d go down and film them. He liked the idea.

George Avakian (above): From the film, it looks as if I had asked Dave to meet me outside the studio and that I was championing the session. In truth, I found out about the session only an hour or so before and had agreed to tag along in case I could be of help.

Pennebaker: What intrigued me about the film project was this combination of the “wild rabbits” and the “hutch rabbits.” The hutch rabbits were the studio musicians who lived in “cages,” got fed every day and were told when they’d be playing. The wild rabbits, by contrast, were the ones who came in with new ideas for a record. They faced more risk and higher stakes. I thought it would be interesting to film the two groups of "rabbits" working together.

Avakian: From the film, it looks like RCA Studios at 155 East 24th St., between Lexington and Third avenues. The guy in front of the dials is Ernie Oelrich [pictured above], a superb engineer. The musicians were terrific. George Duvivier was an absolute rock in the studio—he knew exactly what to do the first time, perfectly. The same was true of pianist Moe Wechsler and drummer Gary Chester.

Pennebaker: There were three of us operating cameras—me, Nicholas Proferes and Jim Desmond. Several years earlier, Albert Maysles and I had created a compact 16mm camera that could be mounted on your shoulder. The portable camera eliminated the need for a bulky tripod and made the film more immediate, fluid and journalistic.

Nick was in the control room with his camera and Jim and I were in the studio shooting Dave and his singers. There was no real direction from me, which is how I did Monterey Pop. Everyone had a free spirit to go with his gut. Then we’d edit the results later.

We never told anyone to do anything for the camera nor did we say a word to them. Sarah took off her shoes on her own, and they moved around in a circle without coaching so Dave could see the musicians. [Pictured above: Sarah Boatner and David Lucas]

Avakian: The guy on the left in the picture above is Steve Sholes, the director of RCA's pop music department. The guy I'm talking to without a jacket is Ben Rosner, an RCA promotion man. He's probably the one who got Dave the audition, and Steve probably set up the session.

Pennebaker: As I was filming, I found myself most interested in Sarah, the African-American singers. There was something about her that was intriguing. My camera tended to be on her. Desmond’s camera wound up on Mary Vonnie.

Mary Vonnie (above): Back in 1964, I had just graduated from high school in New York when a friend who knew Dave told me he was looking for singers to start a vocalese quintet. My friend thought of me because he had heard me fooling around singing Annie Ross' solos in school.

I was very familiar with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. I said I'd love to do it, so my friend arranged a meeting. I auditioned at Dave's apartment, where I was hired and met the other singers. Dave didn't say much when we rehearsed. He taught us to sing like an instrument. I was a trumpet. He was a sax. He taught us syncopation and how to sing just before or just after the beat.

We did some gigs in and out of town to get started. Some of them were at clubs in upstate New York, near Niagara Falls. I remember we went out in a boat to see the falls.

Then came the audition at RCA. As we all drove over that day, Dave was cheerful as usual and not noticeably anxious. We recorded 10 songs—Individualist Waltz, Think of Me, Leaving, Old Folks, Comfy Cozy Blow the Man Down, Old Folks and Comfy Cozy. All except Old Folks were written by Dave.

Standing around the microphone, each of us sang our parts and kept it tight with the other singers. It's kind of an inside-outside focus of attention. You have to be very intent on precision but at the same time blending with the others while riding the music.

I don't know what happened with the audition and why we didn’t get a chance to make a record. Dave never explained. I guess I assumed we'd just do another one, but we never did. I do know that the group didn't have any official breakup. I think we were on hold for a while. I'm sure Dave would have followed up with other record companies if he could, but he might have been sick or out of commission at some point. I know he really wanted to do an album featuring his own compositions.

Avakian: I'm not sure why the audition didn't result in an album. I think the reason was that Dave didn’t have enough new original material for a full 12-inch LP. At any rate, the decision to do the album would have been Steve's. I was in charge of the overall department but Steve was in charge of pop. I wouldn't have overruled him or stood in the way of what he thought was best.

Pennebaker: I have no idea why it didn’t happen. They may have disagreed over whether it should be a series of singles or an album. Or perhaps RCA didn’t see the commercial value. Either way, it was sad.

Vonnie (above with Lambert): Dave was such a pleasure to work with, always funny and laid back and amazingly gifted. He was an inspiration to all of us, not only for his outstanding musicianship but the way he was able to make magic happen while teaching us his songs. It seemed like the sound he wanted was effortlessly transmitted direct from his head into our voices. To this day I remember the songs and I sing them or parts of them from time to time.

Pennbaker: Dave was killed in October 1966 helping a guy change a flat on a Connecticut highway. After Dave died, Art D'Lugoff, who owned New York’s Village Gate nightclub, held a benefit there. I couldn’t go. Someone knew we had shot the film and asked if they could show it. We never had edited the film after Dave was turned down by RCA.

Nick and I edited all the film and got it to the lab for a print the next morning. Later a guy came to me, a reporter form Germany, and said he’d seen the film and liked it and wanted to take it back to Europe. So we gave him the print.

Vonnie: The last time I saw Audition at RCA was at a memorial for Dave in 1966 at the Village Gate. I will never forget the great time we had together.

Pennebaker: At the end, when we saw them off, they all went home and we went home. People in the studio stayed in the studio.

Vonnie: In the years that followed, I was in a theatre company in Los Angeles called The Colony that staged performances at the Studio Theatre Playhouse. Then I was in a completely different field, working with people to enhance their lives. Today, when I listen to music, I like the Klazz Brothers, and I love Latin and salsa, which I learned to dance to at the Palladium in New York.

Dee Lambert: Though I lost dad’s manuscripts for the original songs you hear in the film in a fire in 1979, I did have transcriptions made from the originals and filed copyrights for them. I have lead sheets of the songs as arranged as well as take-downs done by a Los Angeles service (from the soundtrack of the film).

Pennebaker: Our cameras loved the group because they loved what they did so much. Each of the singers was so different. Sarah and Mary loved Dave, and each of the singers had their own spirit. They were the wild rabbits and they didn’t give a shit about anything.

JazzWax flicks: If you want to buy a DVD of Audition at RCA (Lambert & Co.), they are available through D.A. Pennebaker's site here.

JazzWax note: Mary Vonnie and David Lucas are still with us. Dave Lambert died in 1966. Leslie Dorsey became a cab driver in Boston and was killed in a robbery in 1988 (go here). I can't find the status of Sarah Boatner.

JazzWax clips: Here are five of the audio clips recorded that day, including Old Folks which was cut from the film...

Here's Individualist Waltz...