CLARAMAE TURNER I Left My Heart in San Francisco

CLARAMAE TURNER I Left My Heart in San Francisco (George Cory/Douglass Cross). This recording is presented as heard on a broadcast with voice over towards the end of the song. It was written specifically for Claramae Turner, whose long, heralded operatic career in both San Francisco and New York was just beginning. The friendship between Turner and Cory and Cross went back to their salad days. Turner and Cory were both members of a Gilbert and Sullivan repertory company in San Francisco. Turner and Cross sang in the chorus of the San Francisco Opera Company. Turner began singing the San Francisco song immediately after Cory and Cross showed it to her in 1953, and she frequently used it as an encore for her performances over the years. She did a demo record with Cory playing the piano, but a widespread recording of the song never happened. After she sang the song for the last time, in San Francisco in 1972, Turner expressed regret that she hadn’t gone to a record label and recorded it. Claramae Turner is particularly well-known for her appearance as Cousin Nettie in the film CAROUSEL in which she sang You’ll Never Walk Alone, June is Bustin’ Out All Over and This is a Nice Clambake.