Ann Blyth and Friends Sing The Oceana Roll

Ann Blyth sings "The Oceana Roll" in Jack Carson's waterfront dive tonight as Turner Classic Movies gives us another chance to visit Mildred Pierce (1945).

From my book, Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. --

Much later on in the movie we will see that when Joan Crawford kicks Veda out of the house and Veda has to find work, she ends up in Jack Carson’s waterfront dive singing the ragtime saloon song “The Oceana Roll” and we may wonder if she got her training for that unlikely career by playing with Kay in the living room singing a song like “South American Way.”  She has a little of Kay’s flamboyance if not her unselfconscious joy, as she is leered at by sailors in the dismal dive.

Joan Crawford’s sickened expression in the saloon watching her daughter is priceless.

Ann's chum Jane Powell also got a turn to sing the old ragtime tune in Two Weeks with Love (1950), a much more family-friendly performance here from YouTube:

Vaudevillian Beatrice Kay also revived the number, probably for television, in 1956 here:

Both charming performances with a turn-of-the-20th century flare.  For a little ragtime raciness, however, tune in tonight for Ann's come-hither vamp of the old piano roll favorite.  Catch Mildred Pierce tonight on TCM at 10 p.m. ET.