If these were audition tapes I would probably hire Tatia and tell Kelly to keep his day job. (I'll try and make it up to you B-L by bringing some new/old examples of Robert Culp's speaking voice to the Forum soon, starting with his very cool performance on "long-playing records" in Dr. Faustus.)
Laura Devon had a background singing in nightclubs. When I learned that she had recorded two Henry Mancini songs from the film "Gunn" I knew that I would eventually have to score a copy of the 45 RPM record. I was curious to hear her. We got a little taste in "Tatia" when she sings a bit of "God Bless the Child".
Thanks to the long arm of the Internet there are few cultural artifacts that can't be turned up. I found the Laura Devon single in the stock of one of the online old record dealers in his "oddball" category. And I suppose from a modern perspective the record is pretty odd. The copy I got is labeled "not for sale", looking exactly like the images Tatia posted, and was intended for radio air play. It was probably discarded by some radio station long ago. One wonders if it ever got any air play. The poor record suffered abuse over the years as you can hear, particularly at the beginning of "I Like the Look".
When I first listened to the record I wasn't impressed with either the singing or the songs. Both have since grown on me as I heard them a number of times in the process of converting the recordings to digital files, particularly "I Like the Look". I think Laura Devon brings it off rather well. As far as I can determine, this was her only commercial recording. And "Gunn" was her last screen credit. As Tatia said, she married composer Maurice Jarre and pretty much dropped from sight. I was happy to let our Tatia Loring introduce the songs since she does it so well. It's oddly satisfying to bring this obscure record to light, even if only for the handful of people that will download it from this Forum.
Her son Kevin Jarre is a screen writer and, I just discovered, has a couple of acting credits on IMDB: "Gotham" from 1988 and a 2009 film called "She Found Them on the Train Tracks" which I don't think will be playing at your neighborhood multiplex. But at least someday we will be able to check him out on screen.
