I've been thinking about "My Buddy". I had an album of 78s in which Buddy Clark performed what I thought were World War I songs. "My Buddy" was one of the songs, but I just read -and was surprised - that it was written in 1922. I just assumed that it was written with a soldier in mind. I heard an Irish tenor sing it last year on a TV Veteran's Day special, but, now that I think about it, I don't recall that it ever was popular during the Second World War.
Well, that's strange. My father was a World War I veteran, and I remember my mother saying that he always teared up whenever he heard the song "My Buddy". Because of that connection, I always assumed (as you did) that the song was written about a WWI soldier.
I have to check into that. I got the year from my Music Encyclopedia. In that same album Buddy Clark sang "Just a Baby's Prayer At Twilight" (praying that her father will return home safely from the war) and "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag" and some that I can't recall, with the exception of "When Day Is Done". However, I just read that "When Day Is Done" (originally a German Song) was written in 1926.
I'll think about that and about a new question in the A.M. And remember:
When there's too much to do
Don't let it bother you, forget your troubles,
Try to be just like a cheerful chick-a-dee
And whistle while you work, whistle while you work
Come on get smart, tune up and start
To whistle while you work
Raggedyaggie wrote:Oh, and speaking of cleanup, do NOT clean your keyboard with Soft Scrub - unless you are the only person who is ever going to use that keyboard and don't mind that six of the letters are missing.
I'll have you know that when I learned to type 30 years ago in 10th grade, it was on a typewriter with blank keys. I had worn most of the letters off my old laptop, and didn't care at all. It was hard when others tried to use it though.
But not to worry, I don't clean my keyboard with anything except compressed air anyway. (Soft Scrub? How dirty was it?
)
Mac: No, it was not dirty. (lol) It was a fairly new computer that I rarely used -and since I was already resentful about having to stash everything away - I had no intentions of scrubbing the desk, etc. But there was a cleanliness fanatic in the office who scurried around with her Soft Scrub bottle - one of those folks who like to impress .She not only impressed, she depressed. (lol) She also cleaned the small fridge we had, causing much rancor among the employees - she threw away the bananas and cheese that was aging most admirably.
Bree: To continue our discussion about "My Buddy", I just found this on the net:
"Walter Donaldson
During the First World War, Donaldson performed as an entertainer at Camp Upton New York and he wrote a number of war related songs including Don't Cry Frenchy (Scorch format) and How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm (Scorch format). After the war Donaldson joined Irving Berlin's firm and stayed with them for a decade. It was this period that Donaldson wrote his biggest and most lasting hits. His Jolson song, My Mammy set the stage for his rise and then his collaboration with Gus Kahn beginning in 1922 established him (and their team) as one of America's greatest songwriters. Some of the hits they generated during this period were; Carolina In The Morning, My Buddy, Yes Sir, That's My Baby, Makin' Whoopee and My Baby Just Cares For Me. Like many songwriters of the period, as soon as movies began incorporating sound, Donaldson went to Hollywood to produce music for the movies and he contributed a number of songs to movies including, Follow The Boys and The Great Ziegfeld.
Donaldson also collaborated with a number of other lyricists, a list of which reads like a who's who of American popular music; Billy Rose, Lew Brown, Howard Johnson, Ballard MacDonald and George Whiting with whom he wrote My Blue Heaven. "
(That's a shocker)
Working on a question.
I don't mean to sneak in ahead of you, but I do owe you a question, and -- thanks to an article in today's New York Times -- I thought of one. (I'll post the article after you've guessed the answers, which should take you no time at all.) So if you don't mind holding your question for the next round, here we go with the same theme:
Ewan McGregor (title)
Judy Garland (title)
Deanna Durbin (title)
Vincent Price (as narrator) (three words from a title) + Madeline Kahn (title)
Rudolf Valentino (title) + Sylvia Sidney (two words from a title)
oooh. I didn't see Bree's question until just now. Goodie. (I was recording Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Barkleys of Broadway and enjoying They Can't Take That Away From Me (their second time around for that one).
I'll be back.
E. Y. Harburg
Ewan McGregor - Down With Love
Judy Garland - I Could Go On Singing
Deanna Durbin - Can't Help Singing
Vincent Price - Don't scream, It's Only a Movie + Sylvia Sidney - Paper Moon
Rudolf Valentino - The Eagle + Sylvia Sidney - You and Me
Yes to all the Harburg songs. Here's the column from today's Times that made me think of him:
A Stamp, That's Where You'll Find Him
By CLYDE HABERMAN
Published: May 3, 2005
SONGS are the pulse of a nation's heart, a fever chart of its health," the lyricist E.Y. Harburg once said. "The lyricist, like any artist, cannot be neutral. He should be committed to the side of humanity." In other words, music should be about more than getting the girl - or losing her, which is usually the case in great love songs.
Yip Harburg, as he came to be known as a boy growing up on the Lower East Side, had no desire to be the Switzerland of songwriters. No neutrality for him.
His first success, written in 1932 at the depth of the Depression, was "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" It became the anthem of the bread line. His musicals, like "Bloomer Girl," "Finian's Rainbow," "Hooray for What!" and "The Eagle and Me," dealt with social justice themes: race, war, feminism.
Not that he ignored the heart. He could be romantic, as in "April in Paris," "It's Only a Paper Moon" and "Last Night When We Were Young." He could also be deliciously naughty, as in "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady," written for Groucho Marx in 1939. ("She has eyes that folks adore so/And a torso even more so.")
Most definitely, he could be hopeful, perhaps never more so than in "Over the Rainbow," written with Harold Arlen for "The Wizard of Oz." A year ago, the American Film Institute named it the greatest movie song ever. If you need to be reminded of the lyrics, you probably have no business reading this.
Not surprisingly, then, words from "Over the Rainbow" accompany a portrait of Yip Harburg on a new commemorative stamp issued by the United States Postal Service. It was unveiled a few nights ago at the 92nd Street Y.
One can only speculate what this fellow who asked about sparing a dime might have thought about having his face on a stamp costing 37 cents.
In any event, the postal honor brought several hundred people together at the Y for an evening of Harburg songs and satiric rhymes - a New York moment for a man (b. 1896, d. 1981) who described himself as "a New Yorker down to the last capillary."
He was, too, a man capable of wryly expressed outrage even in the winter of his years. Here's a verse that he wrote during the 1970's Nixon scandals: "This we learn from Watergate/That almost any creep'll/Be glad to help the government/Overthrow the people."
Mr. Harburg was no Communist, but he stood pretty far on the left. "Yip made Ramsey Clark look like a fascist," said the radio personality Jonathan Schwartz, who knew Mr. Harburg well. "His politics interfered with his life - he was so combative and political. But I remember him as the dearest man."
(Mr. Schwartz's father, the composer Arthur Schwartz, once collaborated with Mr. Harburg on a romantic number called "Then I'll Be Tired of You." It was the only stand-alone song, unconnected to a show, that his father ever wrote, Mr. Schwartz said. "Ella made a beautiful recording of it," he said. "Ella Fitzgerald," he added, just in case you weren't sure which Ella he meant.)
Because of his leftist politics, faint-of-heart Hollywood blacklisted Mr. Harburg in the 1950's McCarthy era. Now here he is, honored by a federal agency in an era as conservative as the country has known. Ah, the mellowing influence of time.
MEMBERS of an advisory committee that recommends such stamps were certainly aware of the politics, said David Failor, who is in charge of stamp services for the Postal Service. "But what they try to focus on is, this isn't a postage stamp about his political beliefs," Mr. Failor said. "This is a postage stamp that honors his career as a songwriter."
"I mean, gee, everybody knows 'Over the Rainbow,' " he said.
Politics aside, there is a family subtext. Mr. Harburg's son, Ernie, 78, began lobbying for a stamp several years ago. Given the potential for political complications, "we went under the radar" in contacts with the advisory committee, said Ernie Harburg, president of a family foundation.
Any thoughts on what Yip might have thought of all this? "Oh, I've never dared say what Yip would like or not like," he said.
Their relations were not always, shall we say, smooth. "The only way we could work together was with him not being there," the son said. But over time, that changed. "He and I became really deep companions after McCarthy," he said. "McCarthy kind of softened him a little."
Sounds like the sort of relationship that exists between many a father and son.
"No kidding," he said. "No kidding."
Interesting article Bree. I had forgotten about Harburg during the McCarthy era. But, I wonder how many people associate Harburg with "Over the Rainbow". (It's always Arlen's name that we hear. ) For that matter, I wonder how many people will know who the guy on the stamp is. And, I wonder if Harburg would give one damn.
Different format, same theme. If you don't like the format, just say the word and I'll ask a new question. Just thought you might like a change.
1. This song was first heard in an Alan Ladd movie (50s), and although it was never heard in its entirety in the movie (just fragments sung in Italian), it won the Oscar in the Best Song of the Year category. A 1986 movie bears the same title as the song, as does a 2003 movie with the addition of one word.
2. This song was introduced in a Bob Hope movie (40s) co-starring a Howard Hughes discovery.
3. This Christmas song was introduced by Bob Hope in a 50s movie.
4. Although this song was written to publicize a movie (40s) with the same title, it was never heard in the movie. However, it was one of the biggest hits of the year. The leading lady won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance as the unwed mother in this movie.
5. The songwriting team in question wrote the lyrics, but not the music, for this song, which was featured in a movie (60s) that deals with a couple meeting during a convention in New York .The movie's title is also the song's title.
6. This song was introduced in a movie (60s) suggested by a Tennessee Williams one-act play. My encyclopedia says Mary Badham introduced it in the movie , but the internet says Natalie Wood recorded it. Anyway, one of them introduced it. Astrid Gilberta recorded it on CD)
I like the format, but these are toughies: it may take me a while to find them all.
No problem. It's taking forever to post today. Something to think about while you're sprucing up your office.
I think my answer to #4 is probably wrong, but if it is, I'm going to have to settle for getting 5 out of 6 right. All of the other songs were written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, but the only song I could find that's associated with Kitty Foyle (in which Ginger Rogers gave her Oscar-winning performance) is Three Little Words, which was written by Harry Ruby.
1. Mona Lisa, from Captain Carey, U.S.A. (The 2003 movie was, of course, Mona Lisa Smile.)
2. Buttons and Bows, from The Paleface (starring Bob Hope and Jane Russell).
3. Silver Bells, from The Lemon Drop Kid.
4. Three Little Words, written for Kitty Foyle.
5. Dear Heart.
6. Wish Me a Rainbow, from This Property is Condemned (which I still haven't watched, nor am I familiar with the song!)
Good job, Bree. Five are correct.
Would Olivia de Havilland help for No. 4? I said "40s" instead of the exact year to make it more challenging.
And, if you are curious - Wish Me A Rainbow :
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005A7WY/ref=pm_dp_ln_m_2/102-9157814-5847300?v=glance&s=music&vi=samples
Wish me a rainbow and wish me the stars
All this you can give me wherever you are
And dreams for my pillow and stars for my eyes
And the masquerade ball where our love wins first prize
Wish me red roses and yellow balloons
And caresses while whirling to gay dancing tunes
I want all these treasures the most you can give
So wish me a rainbow as long as I live
All my tomorrows depend on your love
So wish me a rainbow above
Ah, then No. 4 would be "To Each His Own".
I should have thought of Olivia de Havilland, because last night I saw a musical version of The Light in the Piazza, which is based on the same novel that was the source of the 1962 movie in which she appeared. Victoria Clark, an actress who was hitherto unknown to me, was superb as the young girl's mother (the role de Havilland played in the movie).
Oh, that's great. And the music - were there any songs you particularly liked?
The music was written by Adam Guettel, who is Richard Rodgers's grandson, and I have to say, I prefer his grandfather's music. It wasn't painful to listen to, but there was nothing especially memorable about it.
And now to start heaving the contents of my office into a dumpster --
