“Never Steal Anything Wet” by Mary Wells???

[kenneth]

The other night I was watching this weird flick on Turner Classic Movies called “The Catalina Caper“, which starred, of all people, former Mousketeer Tommy Kirk. Listening to the theme song over the opening credits, I kept thinking wow that singer sounds a lot like Mary Wells but how could it possibly be her? Still, I was wondering what kind of influence Mary Wells might’ve had on the singer and anxious to find out who it was. Well I missed the singer's name in the opening credits, although Little Richard amongst others makes an appearance in this beach party/spy caper film, but I later learned from Wikipedia it actually is Mary Wells singing the theme song. I’ve never seen this song mentioned anywhere or found it on any of her compilations. I believe the film was produced by 20 Century Fox which makes sense because that’s who she was likely under contract to at the time.

Apparently the name of the film was originally "Never Steal Anything Wet," which doesn't exactly create any so-called buzz, so I guess then they changed it to "The Catalina Caper." Unfortunately it didn't help the film, which I could only manage to watch for about 30 minutes!

Was anyone aware of this weird Wells vocal? Did she record any other film themes?

[Motown Eddie]

Very Interesting! This is the first time I've heard Mary Wells' "Never Steal Anthing Wet" [and the first time I've heard of the film Catalina Caper ]. According to Wikipedia, the movie was produced by Executive Pictures Corp. in May 1967, distributed by Crown International Pictures and had nothing to with 20th Century Fox. Anyway, the song itself is very nice with just a hint of the sound that Mary Wells developed when she was at Motown [and the first time I've heard Mary doing a theme song for any film]. Thanks Kenneth for posting this!

[BayouMotownMan]

As part of the deal to lure her away from Motown, 20th Century promised Mary movie roles. This was about as close to that happening as they got. I think she made another cameo in another movie, or it might be the same one, where she plays a lounge singer.

I have to say I love her 20th Century output. But whether it was Berry Gordy who bribed DJs not to play her records, or that 20th Century didn't know how to promote a soul singer [[as some have said), the move was disastrous for her.

Then again, one has to wonder, and many have speculated, how the rise of the Supremes might have affected her Motown product. Would there have been a rise of the Supremes at all had she not left?

We'll never know.

[motony]

I just remember the movie being titled "Catalina Caper" but NEVER remember it being at a theater in my area.It was a pretty bad movie. Mary was long gone from 20th when this came out. She was on Atlantic & soon to be at Jubilee.Mary was NOT in the movie.The only movie she was in was "My Boy Friends Back" which was a TV movie in early 80's and she was herself.

[motony]

Barney Ales was the one at Motown that was "in big" with Record Distributors and major radio stations.He was the one that told Billboard Magazine "No, Mary Wells is no longer with us...but we will have a Number One record with "WDOLG" by the Supremes." Decades ago members of the Miracles, Contours,Vandellas & Marvelettes told me that when Mary Wells left Motown that they all had to go in & sign new recording and management contracts. If Mary had been successful other artists would have jumped ship, so you can't really blame Motown as they were a business.

[Graham Jarvis]

Brilliant, never heard it before, and this one is a lot clearer !

[Boogiedown]

this is good stuff!

I wonder if Mary was encouraged to go a little "Dionne". That's what I hear in this delivery.

[Boogiedown]

I think she's singing, "Never steal anything RED"

[Roger Polhill]

It as the same opening as "You`re Good Enough For Me" by the Versatiles [[Fifth Dimension) [[M. Gordon/R. Jimenez) produced by Marc Gordon.

[kenneth]

I forgot to mention the weirdest thing about this film! It was filmed in something they called Duovision and had two different sequences filmed side-by-side through the whole movie kind of like they did in the original version of “The Thomas Crown Affair” though in that one they did it with more sequences filmed simultaneously and with a lot more skill. The most distracting thing was that whenever they highlighted dialogue going on the left side of the screen you could hardly hear it as the sound was so bad, while on the right side it sounded more or less normal. I guess it was the era that also gave birth to Smell-o-Vision!

[pj1]

It appears that Jerry Long is Jerry [Buddy] Long, Sr.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/270802-Jerry-Long

His son, rap artist, Kokane , said this on Instagram ':
"MY FATHER JERRY B LONG SR , WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST , WRITERS , PRODUCERS , ORCHESTRATOR , ARRANGERs AT MOTOWN! His works include , “JUST MY IMAGINATION” BY THE TEMPTATIONS , “STILL WATERS” BY FOUR TOPS , worked on a gang of songs for MARVIN GAYE , THE SUPREMES , SMOKEY ROBINSON , UNDISPUTED TRUTH , EDDIE KENDRICK & over 500 composition and movie scores! HE WAS APART OF THE ORIGINAL FUNK BROTHERS! HE PUT THE STRINGS PROGRESSION IN THE MOTOWN SOUND! JUST ASK SMOKEY ROBISON HOW MUCH IMPACT MY FATHER HAD ON SOUL , FUNK & JAZZ MUSIC! EVEN WORKED WITH FRANK SINATRA ....
I WILL BE PERSONALLY RELEASING MY FATHER FULL CATALOG IN COUPLE OF WEEKS with DOCUMENTED CREDIT! #facts
IF YOU ARE A LOVER OF MUSIC , MY FATHER CATALOG WILL BLOW YOUR MIND! SOME of today’s ARTIST AND PRODUCERS OUT THERE , DONT HAVE A CLUE , THAT MY FATHER JERRY LONG MUSICIAN , IS RESPONSIBLE FOR INSPIRING & INFLUENCING TODAYS PRODUCERS! I CAN HEAR MY FATHERS FLAVOR IN TODAYS PRODUCTION! I JUST SIT BACK AND LAUGH , AND KEEP QUITE! Lol. And watch THE side show! My dad story will be in my upcoming book “The making of a Legend” along with my humble origins! 2019
.
SOUL MUSIC & FUNK WAS HANDED DOWN TO ME FROM MY FATHER AND MOTHER , HONESTLY!
GOOGLE JERRY LONG SR & YOU’ll understand where I got it from!
.
SALUTE TO MY FATHER JERRY BUDDY LONG SR & MOMS #musicroyal




Of course, though well intentioned, it looks as if Kokane was never able to deliver on his attempt to promote his father's catalogue or story as his Instagram post was from 2018.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Wow! That's quite a find, Kenny! I wasn't aware of any such movie, nor, more importantly, this "Never Steal Anything Wet" song. I can easily imagine the movie sucking big-time, but I really like the theme song and Mary's delivery. I also like several of Mary's 20th Century recordings -- some of which sound very Motown-ish to me -- like "Why Don't You Let Yourself Go", "Never Never Leave Me", "Use Your Head", and "Everlovin' Boy" -- despite what some critics felt.

With any luck, "Never Steal Anything Wet" will be freed from the vaults and find its way onto a CD compilation of some kind. In the meantime, thanks for this excellent share!

[kenneth]

With any luck, "Never Steal Anything Wet" will be freed from the vaults and find its way onto a CD compilation of some kind. In the meantime, thanks for this excellent share!

Yeah, where’s Ben when we need him??? ��

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Yeah, where’s Ben when we need him??? ��

Yeah, for sure! I miss him. He would have come through for us -- and beautifully, too!

[carlo]

Lol now you guys have gone and done it. You mentioned the name "Ben"! You have been reported to Universal's gate keepers, who will be at your door to repossess your Motown collection, your computer and your phone in the next 24 hours!

I remember hearing this track once before. Was it mentioned in Peter Benjaminson's book? [Will check this shortly].

[carlo]

Confirmed that this track is mentioned on pg 139 of Peter's book. There is a short write-up about the movie and that Mary found the movie to be 'embarrassing'.

[Starguard4]

Confirmed that this track is mentioned on pg 139 of Peter's book. There is a short write-up about the movie and that Mary found the movie to be 'embarrassing'.

Thank you Carlo, for all the information.

And I, for one, will promise never, never to mention the name "Ben" !!

[kenneth]

Thanks Carlo! Ben shall remain nameless!

[carlo]

My pleasure.

I believe the only Ben's that Universal will allow us to discuss are Michael Jackson's Ben and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas' Benjamin. Hehe.

[robb_k]

It as the same opening as "You`re Good Enough For Me" by the Versatiles [[Fifth Dimension) [[M. Gordon/R. Jimenez) produced by Marc Gordon.

Those L.A. Versatiles were just The Fifth Dimension's three men. They changed their group name to "The Fifth Dimension", when they added the two women. All their venue gig posters showed only the 3 men. And I never heard any women on the two cuts on their Bronco record.

[robb_k]

Wow! That's quite a find, Kenny! I wasn't aware of any such movie, nor, more importantly, this "Never Steal Anything Wet" song. I can easily imagine the movie sucking big-time, but I really like the theme song and Mary's delivery. I also like several of Mary's 20th Century recordings -- some of which sound very Motown-ish to me -- like "Why Don't You Let Yourself Go", "Never Never Leave Me", "Use Your Head", and "Everlovin' Boy" -- despite what some critics felt.

With any luck, "Never Steal Anything Wet" will be freed from the vaults and find its way onto a CD compilation of some kind. In the meantime, thanks for this excellent share!

There's a good reason why a lot of Mary's 20th Century Fox recordings sounded like her Motown recordings - Several of them were produced by ex-Motowners, Robert Bateman and Andre Williams, and recorded in Detroit, using moonlighting Motown musicians, and some of those songs were written by songwriters who had just finished working with Motown's Jobete Music's New York office [[like Sidney Barnes and a couple others) and songwriters who would later work for Motown, because their songs sounded very much like Motown's style.

[robb_k]

As part of the deal to lure her away from Motown, 20th Century promised Mary movie roles. This was about as close to that happening as they got. I think she made another cameo in another movie, or it might be the same one, where she plays a lounge singer.

I have to say I love her 20th Century output. But [[1) whether it was Berry Gordy who bribed DJs not to play her records, or [[2) that 20th Century didn't know how to promote a soul singer [[as some have said), the move was disastrous for her.

Then again, one has to wonder, and many have speculated, how the rise of the Supremes might have affected her Motown product. Would there have been a rise of the Supremes at all had she not left?

We'll never know.

[[1) I think that the rumour that Berry bribed DJs to not play Mary's records is just an "urban legend". I think that was conflated with the other rumour going around in late 1964 through 1966, that Berry threatened his labels' distributors that he'd leave them for their competitors IF they would distribute Mary's records. Bribing DJs is illegal, and if found out by the public, could not only ruin Gordy's image and hurt his businesses, but might also bring about a prison term. It also wouldn't have been practical to accomplish much, in any case. I doubt that he could have bribed enough of hundreds of DJs on the largest market radio stations all over USA and Canada to cripple her sales. I think the second method would certainly have been possible, and it was certainly legal to withdraw one's products from their distributors. And it wouldn't have involved a paper trail, as it would only have been a vocal threat, and there would be no way of proving that the movement of his entire group of labels from their current distributors was made to "ruin" an individual singer's career.

[[2) But, the fact that 20th Century Fox was completely impotent at marketing their R&B/Soul music records was absolutely true. They didn't have the sales marketing people who had the connections on the ground. And their marketing executives never figured out how to find those people. Clearly, they really didn't care enough to put the proper energy into doing better in those areas of the overall record market.

However, I CAN believe that the 2nd rumour about Gordy's alleged threat to remove his business from his distributors COULD have been true, based on the fact that Mary's ATCO productions by Chicago Sound genius, Carl Davis, using former Motowners, Sonny Sanders and Barrett Strong, and some of the Curtis Mayfield-style Chicago songwriters and arrangers, were TOP-NOTCH; and I believed they should have sold a LOT more than they did, and propelled her back towards the level she reached at Motown.

[carlo]

Those L.A. Versatiles were just The Fifth Dimension's three men. They changed their group name to "The Fifth Dimension", when they added the two women. All their venue gig posters showed only the 3 men. And I never heard any women on the two cuts on their Bronco record.

Interesting info in regards to the concert poster, robb_k. When I listen to "You're Good Enough For Me", I hear the ladies throughout the song, and especially toward the end, at the 2:08 mark and onward [Marilyn's voice sounds prominent]...

https://youtu.be/zST3dbkFFAg?si=Y6fcvVK9TnPw5qz9



You can also hear Marilyn singing lead with Billy on "Bye Bye Baby", starting at the 0:33 mark...

https://youtu.be/8KfvmRzh9gI?si=9F8rzAUHVTObOeQV

[robb_k]

Of course, you are correct, Carlo. I stand corrected. My memory of over 55 years ago is faulty. I bought "You're Good Enough For Me"/"Bye Bye Baby" when it was released, and sure enough I hear both girls on it. So, I must remember a poster from one of their earliest appearances before the girls joined, and before the group recorded. And, of course it wasn't a "concert", but a dive nightclub gig in South L.A. I hadn't listened to "Bye Bye Baby" since 1966. But, I must have played "You're Good Enough For Me" over 1,000 times.

[carlo]

No worries, robb_k Happy New Year to you!

[Philles/Motown Gary]

There's a good reason why a lot of Mary's 20th Century Fox recordings sounded like her Motown recordings - Several of them were produced by ex-Motowners, Robert Bateman and Andre Williams, and recorded in Detroit, using moonlighting Motown musicians, and some of those songs were written by songwriters who had just finished working with Motown's Jobete Music's New York office [[like Sidney Barnes and a couple others) and songwriters who would later work for Motown, because their songs sounded very much like Motown's style.

Yeah, that was pretty obvious, Robb -- especially when the back-up girls on several tracks were clearly The Andantes! Makes ya wonder how many punishment "fines" Berry doled out for betrayal during those 20th Century Fox sessions!

[Boogiedown]

Brilliant, never heard it before, and this one is a lot clearer !

listening again, file under: "bizarre"

yes, Mary is clearly singing "RED".... not "wet"