Mary Lou Wallace comes through with most of the answers to the Sandpipers matter…
I spoke with my friend Walt Mitchell, who collects old records, and he agrees that the Sandpipers were not the same people who recorded the "adult" records but he says that the Golden Records Sandpipers were consistently the same four singers — Mike Stewart, Ralph Nyland, Dick Byron and Bob Miller (as far as we know, no relation to Mitch). According to Walt, it seems highly doubtful that Mike Stewart was the same fellow who wrote the books for Broadway musicals. The Sportsmen Quartet recorded some tracks with Mel Blanc for Golden Records — these were Happy Birthday tracks recorded for each month.
Aside from Mike Stewart and Anne Lloyd, other semi-regular singers included Sally Sweetland, Mary Jane Sutherland and Peter Hanley. Aside from Mel Blanc, the Sportsmen and the baseball quartet I mentioned in my previous email, other "guest stars" who made Golden Records were Jimmy Durante, Bert Parks, Jack Mercer (as Popeye) and Mae Questel (as Olive Oyl and a one-shot as Little Audrey). We can't help you with the Man on the Moon soundtrack but I hope that we did provide some interesting info for you!
You did, you did. And Ed Golick writes that he has the original 78 recording of the Mighty Mouse theme and that the label says it's by "The Terrytooners, Mitch Miller and Orchestra." It was reissued many times in many formats and I suspect that there are some that credit it to the Sandpipers. In any case, I'm sure it's some or all of the same male voices on the Golden Records by the Sandpipers. (I'm a bit skeptical the Sandpipers were always the exact same four guys but odder things have happened, I suppose.)
One thing we can agree on is that the sixties musical group called The Sandpipers was another group altogether. Ed Coyote writes to tell me that that group was comprised of Michael Piano, Jim Brady, and Richard Shoff, so at least that's settled, though not everyone knows it. I checked for info in the ASCAP online database, and it has credits for both Sandpipers groups intermingled.
I have the Mel Blanc "Happy Birthday" records, though not where I can get to them right this minute. I could've sworn they said "The Sandpipers" on them but maybe not. In any case, there were a lot of New York actors and cartoon voice people on Golden Records. There was also some false advertising. The Bugs Bunny record at left says on it features "Mitch Miller and Orchestra," "The Sandpipers" and "Original Cartoon Voices." The last of these would presumably mean Mr. Blanc…but the guy doing Bugs and most of Mel's characters on this record is definitely not Mel. He didn't even fool me when I was seven years old.
I recall getting a couple records like this during my literal childhood and feeling enormously cheated…but I also felt sorry for the poor actor who was brought in to do twenty impressions. There were Golden Records of Hanna-Barbera's early shows that feature an actor named Gil Mack trying to almost single-handedly do all of Daws Butler's and Don Messick's roles. He's not bad at a couple of them but no one is that good…nor could anyone walk into a recording studio and in what was probably just one or two sessions, do all of Mel's key roles.
Now then: If we can only get to the bottom of this thing about the soundtrack for Man on the Moon, I'll be satisfied. Thanks to all who are helping solve this little baffler for me.