Well, folks, there's our Sarah. It has been a while, dear. How are things going in Manchester? So glad that you had a nice time in Paris.
Yes, everyone needs somebody, honey.
From Petrarch:
His Lyre is now Attuned only to Woe
The eyes, the face, the limbs of heavenly mold,
So long the theme of my impassioned lay,
Charms which so stole me from myself away,
That strange to other men the course I hold;
The crisped locks of pure and lucid gold,
The lightning of the angelic smile, whose ray
To earth could all of paradise convey,
A little dust are now ?-to feeling cold.
And yet I live?-but that I live bewail,
Sunk the loved light that through the tempest led
My shattered bark, bereft of mast and sail:
Hushed be for aye the song that breathed love's fire!
Lost is the theme on which my fancy fed,
And turned to mourning my once tuneful lyre.
Lovely, even though it is sad.
Ah, dear Sarah. Then this is for you from some Frenchman. <smile>
Artist: Sarah
Song: Deep down
Never mind what you hear
My heart is beating just for you
So let the stories be told
And let me whisper in your ear
You never need to be afraid my love
There is no me without us
Deep down in my heart
I feel whole in your eyes
And through them I see the truth
Deep down in my heart
Wish you love for life and
I wanna spend mine with you
If I write a book on love
Every word will be your name
Oh and when we're alone
It just gets better every day
I never need to be afraid my love
With you I always feel safe as one
Deep down in my heart
I feel whole in your eyes
And through them I see the truth
Deep down in my heart
Wish you for love for life and
I wanna spend mine with you
Just want to wrap my soul
Around your world
And make you smile when all else fails
And when it's hard to believe in this life
Baby dream your dreams and trust in me
You never need to be afraid my love
There is no me without us
That was a phone in request.
Renaissance Fair
The Byrds
I think that maybe I´m dreaming
I smell cinnamon and spices
I hear music everywhere
All around kaleidoscope of color
I think that maybe I´m dreaming
Maids pass gracefully in laughter
Wine coloured flowers in their hair
Last call from lands I´ve never been to
I think that maybe I´m dreaming
Some flash on a soda of prism
Bright jewels on the ladies flashing
Eyes catch on a shiny prism
Hear ye the crying of the vendors
Fruit for sale wax candles for to burn
Fires flare soon it will be night fall
I think that maybe I´m dreaming
Lovely lyrics, Try. I especially tune in to the lines:
I think that maybe I'm dreaming
Some flash on a soda of prism
Bright jewels on the ladies flashing
Eyes catch on a shiny prism.
Somehow, listeners, I am thinking tonight about rainbows evanescing amid the storm:
Red and yellow and blue and green,
Purple and orange and pink,
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow too!
Listen to your heart,
Listen to your heart,
And sing everything you feel,
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow too
I was thinking
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Beach Boys Lyrics
Wouldn't it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldn't have to wait so long
And wouldn't it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong
You know it's gonna make it that much better
When we can say goodnight and stay together
Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up
In the morning when the day is new
And after having spent the day together
Hold each other close the whole night through
Happy times together we've been spending
I wish that every kiss was never ending
Wouldn't it be nice
Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray
It might come true
Baby then there wouldn't be a single thing we couldn't do
We could be married
And then we'd be happy
Wouldn't it be nice
You know it seems the more we talk about it
It only makes it worse to live without it
But let's talk about it
Wouldn't it be nice
Good night baby
Sleep tight baby
Good night baby
Sleep tight baby
Well, Try, we have discussed this before, but The Beach Boys learned from The Four Freshmen, dear.
This song was originally theirs, but done by those boys.<smile> I have never heard their version, but the Freshmen did it all a capella.
There's a story told of a very gentle boy
And the girl who wore his ring
Through the wintry snow
The world they knew was warm
For their hearts were full of spring
As the days grew old
And the nights passed into time
And the weeks and years took wing
Gentle boy, tender girl
Their love remained still young
For their hearts were full of spring
Then one day they died
And their graves were side by side
On a hill where robins sing
And they say violets
Grow there the whole year round
For their hearts were full of spring.
What a wonderful memory for me.
Good evening to yall. I don't hang out on this thread; I know nothing about music and song lyrics.
And I am probably in Letty's doghouse for not responding to her email of, um, quite awhile ago.
A public service announcement here on WA2K: I play on-line scrabble and have run into a lady from, I believe, Western Canada who uses the screen name "charmae" and she would benefit a lot from joining A2K. She has a lot of time on her hands. She. despite some extra help from jespah, is having a problem. I am an idiot and therefore can't help her. She claims she is signed in as a member but doesn't know what to do next. I have told her that this is the first site she should visit in order to meet some gentle folks.
I do have her e-mail address and she has authorized me to give it to someeone else here who could help. Thank you.
Back to the muaic.
Welcome back, RJB. No, you are not in the dog house, Virginia.I was just wondering about the "why" of it all.
What a kind thing for you to do, dear. Well, you tell Charmae that here is a song especially her, and as synchronicity would have it, it is by The Freshman:
Perhaps we can make her Charmaine just for tonight.<smile>
(Waiting just for you, Charmaine)
I wonder why you keep me waiting
Charmaine (My Charmaine)
Cries in vain (Cries in vain)
I wonder when bluebirds are mating
Will you come back again
And I wonder if I keep on praying
Will our dreams be the same (Be the same)
I wonder if ever you think of me too
I'm waiting, my Charmaine, for you
I wonder why you keep me waiting
Charmaine (My Charmaine)
My Charmaine (My Charmaine)
I wonder when bluebirds are mating
Will you come back again
And I wonder if I keep on praying
Will our dreams be the same (Be the same)
I wonder if ever you think of me too
I'm waiting, my Charmaine, for you
Just for you
I'm waiting, my Charmaine, for you
(Just for you)
hi letty !
last night mrs h and i had a great evening listening to "cuban jazz" .
...JANE BUNNETT... (one of canada's greatest jazz artists) , gave a performance in a nearby town - about half-an-hour from here .
she brought along four young cuban musicians and it didn't take us long to clap our hands , shout , and wiggle our hips .
jane bunnett is not only a great musician - she plays sax and flute - but also has started some great music programs in cuba .
she and her team have started to record some of the old cuban music that has never captured before - there's a great dvd of that . she also visits schools and colleges in cuba to bring instruments to the students , so they'll be able to continue the great tradition of cuban music . finally , she brings young (and old !) cuban musicians to canada for some wonderful performances .
the young cuban piano player she brought along yesterday recently won the 'grand prix' at the montreal international jazz festival - i'm sure , you can imagine we were tretaed to some great jazz !
yours in jazz !
hbg
Fabulous, hamburger. What a great looking gal and what a wonderful experience it must have been for you and the Mrs.
Cuban jazz? Love it, Canada.
Well, listeners, Letty must say goodnight. Let's hope that John of Virginia will provide us with the Canadian lady's e-mail address and we will go from there.
Blowing you all a kiss.
From Letty with love
Good morning, radio fans, I was just wondering what happened to
Roxanne
Artist: Sting & Police Lyrics
Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
Those days are over
You don't have to sell your body to the night
Roxanne, you don't have to wear that dress tonight
Walk the streets for money
You don't care if it's wrong or if it's right
Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
Put on the red light, put on the red light
Put on the red light, put on the red light
Put on the red light, oh
I loved you since I knew ya
I wouldn't talk down to ya
I have to tell you just how I feel
I won't share you with another boy
I know my mind is made up
So put away your make up
Told you once I won't tell you again it's a bad way
Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
You don't have to put on the red light
Put on the red light, put on the red light
Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.
There's our Try searching for Roxanne. Well, buddy, if the lyrics to your song indicate her profession, then I can see why Sting and the Police may be looking for her. <smile> Thanks for the song.
Letty feels a little pale this morning as sleep was evasive for me, so let's play a whiter shade of pale, folks:
Artist: Procol Harum Lyrics
Song: A Whiter Shade Of Pale Lyrics
We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
But the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
The waiter brought a tray
And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale
She said: "There is no reason
And the truth is plain to see."
But I wandered through my playing cards
And would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open
They might have just as well've been closed
T. E. Lawrence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO, Legion of Honour (August 16, 1888 - May 19, 1935), professionally known as T.E. Lawrence and, later, T.E. Shaw, but most famously known as Lawrence of Arabia, gained international renown for his role as a British liaison officer during the Arab Revolt of 1916 to 1918. His very public image was in some part the result of U.S. traveller and journalist Lowell Thomas's sensationalised reportage of the Revolt, as well as Lawrence's autobiographical account, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Many Arabs consider him a folk hero[citation needed] for joining in their fight for freedom from both Ottoman and European rule; many Britons count him among their country's greatest war heroes.
Early years
Lawrence was born in Tremadog, Caernarfonshire, North Wales, of mixed English and Scottish ancestry. His father, Sir Thomas Chapman, seventh Baronet of Westmeath in Ireland, had escaped a reportedly tyrannical wife to live with his daughters' governess, Sarah Junner, with whom he had five sons. The couple lived at 2 Polstead Road (now with a blue plaque) in Oxford, under the names of Mr and Mrs Lawrence. Their son Thomas Edward attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys, where one of the four houses is now named "Lawrence" in his honour. In about 1905, Lawrence ran away from home and served for a few weeks as a boy soldier with the Royal Garrison Artillery at St Mawes Castle in Cornwall; he was bought out.[1]
From 1907, Lawrence was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, graduating with First Class Honours after submitting a highly-acclaimed thesis entitled The influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture - to the end of the 12th century, for which he did archaeological field research in France and the Middle East.
On completing his degree in 1910, he commenced postgraduate research in medieval pottery with a Senior Demy at Magdalen College, Oxford, which he abandoned after he was offered the opportunity to become a practising archaeologist in the Middle East. In December 1910 he sailed for Beirut, and on arrival went to Jbail (Byblos) where he studied Arabic. He then went to work on the excavations at Carchemish near to Jerablus in the northern part of Syria, where he worked under D.G. Hogarth and R. Campbell-Thompson of the British Museum. It was while he was excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites that he met Gertrude Bell, who had an influence on him for much of his time in the Middle East.
In the late summer of 1911 he returned to England for a brief sojourn and, by November, he was back en route to Beirut for a second season at Carchemish. Prior to returning to work he worked briefly with William Flinders Petrie at Kafr Ammar in Egypt. At Carchemish he was to work with Leonard Woolley. He continued making trips to the Middle East as a field archaeologist until the outbreak of World War I. His extensive travels through Arabia, his excursions, often on foot, living with the Arabs, wearing their clothes, learning their culture, language and local dialects, were to prove invaluable during the conflict.
In January 1914 Woolley and Lawrence were co-opted by the British military as an archaeological smokescreen for a British military survey of the Sinai peninsula. At this time Lawrence visited Aqaba and Petra. From March to May, Lawrence worked again at Carchemish. Following the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, on advice from S.F. Newcombe, Lawrence did not enlist immediately, but held back until October.
The Arab Revolt
Main article Arab Revolt
Some of Faisal's irregulars in Palestine, 1918Once enlisted he was posted to Cairo, where he worked for British Military Intelligence. Lawrence's intimate knowledge of the Arab people made him the ideal liaison between British and Arab forces and in October 1916 he was sent into the desert to report on the Arab nationalist movements. During the war, he fought with Arab irregular troops under the command of Emir Faisal, a son of Sherif Hussein of Mecca, in extended guerrilla operations against the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence's major contribution to World War I was convincing Arab leaders to co-ordinate their revolt to aid British interests. He persuaded the Arabs not to drive the Ottomans out of Medina, thus forcing the Turks to tie up troops in the city garrison. The Arabs were then able to direct most of their attention to the Hejaz railway that supplied the garrison. This tied up more Ottoman troops, who were forced to protect the railway and repair the constant damage. In 1917 Lawrence arranged a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces under Auda Abu Tayi (until then in the employ of the Ottomans) against the strategically located port city of Aqaba. He was promoted to major in the same year. On July 6, after a daring overland attack, Aqaba fell to Arab forces. Some 12 months later, Lawrence was involved in the capture of Damascus in the final weeks of the war, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1918.
As he did before the war, during the time he spent with the Arab irregulars, Lawrence adopted many local customs and traditions as his own, and soon became a close friend of Prince Faisal. He became especially known for wearing white Arabian garb (given to him by Prince Faisal, originally wedding robes given to Faisal as a hint) and riding camels in the desert. Lawrence gained extraordinary respect from the Arab populace.
During the closing years of the war he sought to convince his superiors in the British government that Arab independence was in their interests, with mixed success.
In 1918 he co-operated with war-correspondent Lowell Thomas for a short period. During this time Thomas and his cameraman Harry Chase shot much film and many photographs, which Thomas used in a highly lucrative show that toured the world after the war.
Lawrence was made a Commander in the Order of the Bath and awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the French Legion of Honour, though in October 1918 he refused to be made a Knight Commander. In the words of King George V, "He left me there with the box in my hand."
Postwar years
Immediately after the war Lawrence worked for the Foreign Office, attending the Paris Peace Conference between January and May as a member of Faisal's delegation.
Lowell Thomas's show (seen by 4 million people in the post-war years) gave Lawrence great publicity. Until then Lawrence had little influence but newspapers began to report his opinions. Consequently he served for much of 1921 as an advisor to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office.
Lawrence was ambivalent about Thomas's publicity (calling him a "vulgar man"), though he saw Thomas's show several times. Starting in 1922 Lawrence attempted to join the Royal Air Force under the name "Ross". His cover was soon blown, however, and he was forced out of the RAF, changed his name to "Shaw", and in 1923 joined the Royal Tank Corps. He was unhappy there and repeatedly petitioned to rejoin the RAF, which finally admitted him in August 1925. A fresh burst of publicity after the publication of Revolt in the Desert (see below) resulted in his assignment to a remote base in British India in late 1926, where he remained until the end of 1928, forced to return to the UK after rumours began to circulate that he was involved in espionage activities.
T. E. Lawrence on a Brough Superior motorcycle at Cranwell, c1925/6.He purchased several small plots of land in Chingford, built a hut and swimming pool there, and visited frequently. This was demolished in 1930 when the Corporation of London acquired the land.
He continued serving in the RAF, specialising in high-speed boats and professing happiness, and it was with considerable regret that he left the service at the end of his enlistment in March 1935.
Death
A few weeks later he was mortally injured in a Brough Superior motorcycle accident in Dorset, at the age of 46, close to his cottage, Clouds Hill near Wareham (now run by the National Trust and open to the public). He died six days later.
Although some sources mistakenly claim that Lawrence was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, only a bust of him was placed there, in the Crypt. His final resting place is the Dorset village of Moreton; even in death, Lawrence tried to remain anonymous. Moreton Estate, which borders Bovington Camp, was owned by family cousins the Frampton family. Lawrence rented and subsequently purchased Clouds Hill from the Framptons. He was a frequent visitor to their home at Okers Wood House, and he corresponded with Louisa Frampton for many years.
On his death, his mother wrote to the Framptons, and due to time constraints asked if there was space in their family plot at Moreton Church. Attendees included Sir Winston and Lady Churchill, and his coffin was transported on the Frampton estate bier.
Writings
Lawrence was a prolific writer throughout his life. A large proportion of his writing was epistolary; he often sent several letters a day. There are several collections of his letters in print, the editors' expurgations in places obtrusive. His correspondents included many notable figures of the time, including George Bernard Shaw, Edward Elgar, Winston Churchill, Robert Graves, and E.M. Forster. The many letters he sent to G.B. Shaw's wife, Charlotte, offer a very revealing side of his character.
During his lifetime, he published four major texts. Two were translations, the first being Homer's Odyssey, and the second The Forest Giant, an otherwise forgotten work of French fiction. He received a flat fee for the second, and negotiated a generous fee plus royalties on the first.
Seven Pillars
Seven Pillars of Wisdom is Lawrence's masterpiece. In 1919, he was elected to a seven-year research fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, and this provided him with support while he worked on the book. As a whole, the book is a memoir of his experiences during the war, but parts of it also serve as essays on military strategy, Arabian culture and geography, and other topics. Seven Pillars is an immense work, extremely dense with complicated syntax, but Lawrence clearly communicates through his prose and the book is stunningly beautiful, poignant, and at times even comic.
Lawrence re-wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom three times; once "blind" after he lost the manuscript while changing trains. As to the truth of his narrative, with Lawrence it is always difficult to untangle reality from mythology, and the man himself seemed to enjoy mingling fact and fiction; his complex relationship with himself results in passages which alternately belittle his accomplishments and influence and expand on his role in the revolt. Seven Pillars is a fascinating work as an autobiography, a study of history, or psychology.
The accusation that Lawrence repeatedly exaggerated his feats has been a persistent theme among Lawrence biographers and other researchers. The list of his rumoured "embellishments" in Seven Pillars is very long, though many such allegations have been disproved with time. However, some exaggerations by him are certain: for example, his alleged crossing of the Sinai in two days, which actually took him three days, and his alleged number of battle wounds, which in reality were very few. Other exaggerations by him are therefore likely.
George Bernard Shaw helped Lawrence edit the book, aiding him especially with grammatical errors. In the preface to Seven Pillars, Lawrence offered his "...thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Shaw for countless suggestions of great value and diversity: and for all the present semicolons."
The first edition was to be published in 1926 as a high-priced private subscription edition. But afraid that the public would think he would make a substantial income from the book, and stating that it was written as a result of his War service, he vowed not to take any money from it?-and indeed he did not, as the sale price was one-third of the production costs! This left a substantial debt, which Lawrence needed to address immediately.
Revolt in the Desert
Revolt in the Desert was an abridged version of Seven Pillars. Also published in 1926, he undertook a needed but reluctant publicity exercise, which resulted in a best seller. Again he vowed not to take any fees from the publication, partly to appease the subscribers to Seven Pillars who had paid dearly for their editions, and by the fourth reprint in 1927 the debt from Seven Pillars was paid off. As Lawrence left for military service in India at the end of 1926, he set up the "Seven Pillars Trust" with his friend DG Hogarth as a trustee, in which he made over the copyright and any surplus income of Revolt in the Desert. He later told Hogarth that he had "made the Trust final, to save myself the temptation of reviewing it, if Revolt turned out a best seller."
The resultant trust paid off the debt, and Lawrence then invoked a clause in his publishing contract to halt publication of the abridgement in the UK. However, he allowed both American editions and translations, which resulted in a substantial flow of income. The trust paid income either into a very quietly run educational fund for RAF officers who lost their lives or were invalided as a result of service, or more substantially into the RAF Benevolent Fund set up by Air-Marshal Trenchard, founder of the RAF, in 1919.
After his death
He also authored The Mint, a memoir of his experiences as an enlisted man in the Royal Air Force. Working from a notebook kept while enlisted, Lawrence wrote of the daily lives of enlisted men and his desire to be a part of something larger than himself: the Royal Air Force. The book, with its sparse and sharp prose, is stylistically very different from Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It was published posthumously, edited by his brother Prof. A.W. Lawrence.
After Lawrence's death, as his sole beneficiary his brother inherited all Lawrence's estate and his copyrights. To pay death duties, he sold the US copyright of Seven Pillars of Wisdom (subscribers' text) outright to Doubleday Doran in 1935. Doubleday still control publication rights of this version of the text of Seven Pillars of Wisdom in the USA. He then in 1936 split the remaining assets of the estate, giving "Clouds Hill" house and many copies of less substantial or historical letters to the nation via the National Trust, and then set up two trusts to control interests in Lawrence's residual copyrights. To the original Seven Pillars Trust he assigned the copyright in the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as a result of which it was given its first general publication. To the Letters and Symposium Trust, he assigned the copyright in The Mint and all Lawrence's letters, which were subsequently edited and published in the book T. E. Lawrence by his Friends (ed. A.W. Lawrence, London, Cape, 1937).
A substantial amount of income went directly to the RAF Benevolent fund, or for archaeological, environmental or academic projects. The two trusts were amalgamated in 1986, and on the death of Prof. A.W. Lawrence, also acquired all the remaining rights to Lawrence's works it had not owned, plus rights to all of Prof A.W. Lawrence's works.
Sexual orientation
While his works include one notably homoerotic passage, the details of his sexual orientation and experience are contested. The field is divided between scholars working to restore the history of same-sex erotic relationships, who identify a strong homoerotic element in Lawrence's life, and those, including his official biographer, who are seen as "attempt[ing] to defend Lawrence against 'charges' of homosexuality". [2]
Seven Pillars of Wisdom is dedicated to "S.A.", with a poem that begins:
"I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands
and wrote my will across the sky in stars
To gain you Freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house,
that your eyes might be shining for me
When I came."
(Some editions of Seven Pillars give the last line of this stanza as "When we came"; the 1922 Oxford text, however, has "When I came". This poem was heavily edited by Robert Graves.)
On the subject of the war, Lawrence said: "I liked a particular Arab, and thought that freedom for the race would be an acceptable present."
Though it has been argued that these initials identify a man, a woman, a nation, or some combination of the above, the explanation that has gained currency at the present time is that S.A. is "Selim Ahmed", nicknamed Dahoum, a fourteen-year-old Arab with whom Lawrence is known to have been close. The two met while working at a pre-war archaeological dig. Lawrence had the boy move in with him, carved a nude sculpture of him which he placed on the roof of the house, and brought Ahmed on holiday to England. The two were separated in 1914, and were never to see each other again as Dahoum died of typhus in 1918. Boston University professor Matthew Parfitt maintains that "In Seven Pillars, and more explicitly in his correspondence, Lawrence suggests that his distaste for the entire exploit in its last triumphant days was largely owing to news of his friend's death."
Others maintain that Dahoum was merely a close friend of the type common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which often involved non-sexual physical contact. Lawrence himself maintained that "S.A." was a composite character.
In Seven Pillars, Lawrence claims that while reconnoitering Deraa in Arab disguise he was captured and tortured. Many critics have read this account as describing homosexual rape, and have used this to suggest that Lawrence was homosexual. The facts of the event, beyond reported accounts that Lawrence did bear the scars of whippings from some period, are unrecoverable. Lawrence's own statements and actions concerning the "incident" were ambiguous, contributing to the confusion. For example, he removed from his war diary the page containing the daily entries for the November 1917 week in question, so that no one ever saw that page and whatever words it may have contained about Deraa.
Reports from a man whom Lawrence hired to give him beatings make it clear that he had unconventional tastes, notably masochism. Years after the Deraa incident, Lawrence embarked on a masochistic programme of physical rehabilitation, including diet, exercise and swimming nude in the North Sea. He recruited younger men from the service and told them an elaborate story about a fictitious uncle who, because Lawrence had stolen money from him, demanded that he enlist in the service and that he be beaten. Lawrence wrote letters purporting to be from the uncle ("R." or "The Old Man") instructing the men in how he was to be beaten, yet also asking them to persuade him to stop this. This treatment continued until his death (Mack, 1976). The authenticity of some of these claims and reports is disputed, but others are certain.
Lawrence's vision of the Middle East
Vision of the LevantA long-lost map of the Middle East belonging to Lawrence has been put on exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London. It was drafted by Lawrence and presented to the British Cabinet in 1918.
The map provides an alternative to present-day borders in the region, based on sensibilities shown by the local population. He includes a separate state for the Armenians and groups the people of present-day Syria, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia in another state based on tribal patterns and commercial routes.
Trivia
'Lawrence of Arabia film posterAccording to Lawrence's RAF enlistment medical file of March 12, 1923, he was 5 ft 5.5 in (1.66 m) tall, weighed 130 lb (59 kg), had "scars on his buttocks", "three superficial scars on lower part of his back" and "four superficial scars left side." He was also circumcised.
Oxford legend holds that, while an undergraduate at Jesus College, Lawrence crept into the deer park of Magdalen at night and stole a deer; by the morning, he had managed to transfer the deer to the front quad of All Soul's, the college which is normally off limits for undergraduates.
A road in the Mount Batten area of Plymouth, where Lawrence was stationed, has been named Lawrence Road in his honour.
The character of Private Napoleon Meek in George Bernard Shaw's Too True to Be Good is inspired by Lawrence. Private Meek is depicted as being thoroughly conversant with the language and lifestyle of tribals. He repeatedly enlists with the army, quitting whenever he is offered a promotion.
Portrayed twice on film, by Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia and in a made-for-TV movie, A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1990), by Ralph Fiennes, both of whom are much taller than the real Lawrence: O'Toole stands 6'2" (1.88 metres) while Fiennes stands 6'1" (1.85 m).
One of his favourite weapons was a Colt Peacemaker revolver. As recounted in Thomas's With Lawrence In Arabia, Lawrence, while on a pre-war archaeological trip to Mesopotamia, was attacked by an Arab bandit intent on stealing his gun. However, the Arab did not understand the revolver's firing mechanism, and was forced to leave Lawrence unconscious but alive. After this incident, Lawrence's weapon of choice was the Peacemaker, and he almost always carried one for good luck. Lawrence was also known to carry a Mauser Broomhandle, and later, a Colt M1911 semi-automatic.
His SMLE Mk III rifle, given to him by Emir Feisal, is on display in the Imperial War Museum, London.
Hey, Raggedy. Had a critical error problem, PA, but once again we appreciate your pictures of the celebs.
We will wait for our hawkman to finish his bio's before continuing
Fess Parker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. (born August 16, 1924) is an American film and television actor. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas. Parker is best known for his role playing frontiersmen Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone as well as starting a fad of wearing coonskin caps. He served as a radioman in the Marine Corps at the end of World War II after being rejected as an aviator for being too tall (He is six feet, five inches).
After being discharged, he was stabbed in the neck by a drunken driver during a post-collision argument. Parker required many months of rehabilitation, but he was unable afterwards to participate in collegiate sports as much as he wanted.
At the University of Texas he was initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity in 1948. Parker graduated from the University in 1950 with a history degree. He studied at the University of Southern California, earning a graduate degree in drama. He began his show business career in the play, Mister Roberts, in 1951 and was subsequently hired by the Walt Disney Studios in 1954 to play historic figure Crockett. He also made guest appearances on television programs and composed and sang music.
He married Marcella Rinehart in 1960, and the couple has two children, Ashley and Eli. From 1964-1970 he starred in the NBC TV series, Daniel Boone. Fess Parker retired from the film industry in the early 1970s, after the end of the television series about Boone.
Parker currently owns and operates a family winery, Fess Parker Winery and Vineyard, near Santa Barbara, California along with two hotels, the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort (part owner, operated by the Hilton Hotels Corporation) in Santa Barbara and the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn and Spa in nearby Los Olivos.
Ann Blyth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ann Marie Blyth (born August 16, 1928) is an Oscar-nominated American actress and singer, most often cast in Hollywood musicals, but who also succeeded in the dramatic roles she was given.
Early life
Blyth was born in Mount Kisco, New York to parents who divorced shortly after her birth. She was raised a devout churchgoing Roman Catholic by her mother.
Career
Blyth began her acting career initially as "Anne Blyth", changing the spelling of her name back to the original (Ann) at the beginning of her film career. Her first acting role was on Broadway in Watch on the Rhine (from 1941 until 1942). She was signed to a contract with Universal Studios, and made her film debut in Chip Off the Old Block (1944). In musical films such as Babes on Swing Street and Bowery to Broadway (both 1944), she played the part of the sweet, and demure teenager. Her next film, on loan to Warner Brothers cast her against type, as Veda Pierce, the scheming, ungrateful daughter of Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945). Her dramatic portrayal won her outstanding reviews, and she received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Blyth injured her back after this film, and was not able to capitalize on its success completely although she was still able to make a few films. She played the part of Regina Hubbard in Another Part of the Forest (a 1948 prequel to The Little Foxes), and achieved success playing a mermaid in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948). Her other films include : Our Very Own (with Farley Granger, 1950), The Great Caruso (1951), One Minute to Zero (with Robert Mitchum, 1952), Rose Marie (1954), The Student Prince (1954), Kismet (1955), The Buster Keaton Story (1957) and The Helen Morgan Story.
Blyth raised eyebrows in 1954 at the Academy Awards show when she sang Doris Day's song Secret Love from Calamity Jane while seven months pregnant.
From the 1960s she worked in musical theater, summer stock and television. She also became the spokesperson for Hostess Cupcakes. Her most recent television appearances have been in episodes of Quincy (1983) and Murder, She Wrote (1985).
Blyth has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures, at 6733 Hollywood Boulevard. She was featured in a comic book story with Superman in Action Comics No. 130, March 1949: "Superman and the Mermaid!".
Private life
Blyth with costar Farley Granger - Our Very Own (1950)Blyth married Dr. James McNulty, brother of Dennis Day, in 1953. The couple has five children and remain together after 52 years of marriage.
Robert Culp
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Culp (born August 16, 1930 in Oakland, California), and a 1947 graduate of Berkeley High School, is an American actor, best known for his work on television.
Culp came to national attention with his first role on film as the lead in the 1957 western television series Trackdown; Steve McQueen's western TV show Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958-1961) was a spin-off of Culp's first series. Culp remains most famous for his role on the espionage series I Spy, opposite Bill Cosby, but in fact, he had had a film career after Trackdown and prior to that 1965 program, most notably in PT 109 and as Wild Bill Hickok in The Raiders (1963). He went on to star in the movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969; probably the height of his career).
He played the murderer in three Columbo television movies, portraying several different characters. In 1971, he, Peter Falk, Robert Wagner, and Darren McGavin all stepped in to take turns with Anthony Franciosa's rotation of The Name of the Game after Franciosa was fired, rotating the lead of the lavish 90-minute show about the magazine business with Gene Barry and Robert Stack. His next starring stint on television was as FBI agent Bill Maxwell in The Greatest American Hero (1981).
When Larry Hagman entered into contract negotiations over his character of J. R. Ewing in Dallas, Culp was ready to step into the role with an explanation that his face had been rebuilt following an accident. Culp also played the U.S. President in Alan J. Pakula's The Pelican Brief (1991). One of his most recent roles was a recurring part on Everybody Loves Raymond as Warren, Ray's father-in-law. Altogether, Culp has made dozens of appearances in TV shows and movies, with 86 roles to his credit between 1957 and 2005. One of his most memorable films roles was as Thomas Luther Price in Hannie Caulder. Culp lent his voice to the digital character Doctor Breen, the prime antagonist in the 2004 computer game Half-Life 2.
From 1967 to 1970, he was married to Eurasian actress France Nuyen.
Eydie Gormé
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eydie Gormé (August 16, 1931) is a bilingual (English and Spanish) American singer who, with her husband Steve Lawrence, is credited heavily with helping to keep the classic American pop repertoire alive and well.
The couple's striking union of broad ballads and breezy swing has combined with the endurance of their marriage and their comic facility to make them American institutions---even though neither of the couple, as separate performers or together, has put a single into the American Top 40 since 1963.
Early years
Gormé was born Edith Gormezano in Bronx, New York, and raised by her immigrant Sephardic Jewish parents. She graduated from William Howard Taft high school in 1946 (legendary film director Stanley Kubrick attended the school at the same time), and worked for the United Nations as a translator, using her fluency in the Spanish language.
She also hired out as a singer, working in the big bands of former Glenn Miller singer Tex Beneke as well as the lesser-known Tommy Tucker, before going on her own in 1952.
Tonight Show Start
She caught both her big break and her life partner when she and singer Steve Lawrence were booked to the original The Tonight Show, then hosted by Steve Allen. When they sang together, the legend goes, the industry buzzed about them from the morning after forward; indeed, Steve & Eydie (as they are usually referenced) became two of the only legitimate music stars to break out from 1950s television. (Rick Nelson, who strutted his stuff on his parents' hit situation comedy, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, was the other.)
Marriage
The couple were married in Las Vegas on December 29, 1957. They had two sons, one of whom predeceased them. They became famous on stage for their banter, which usually involved tart yet affectionate and sometimes bawdy references to their married life, which remains a feature of their stage style even now. (A typical exchange: Lawrence---"Baby, you're the only thing I've invested in that's doubled." Gorme---"Now you have to figure out how to make me split.")
Solo/Duo
Gorme enjoyed a few hit singles on her own, none selling bigger than 1963's "Blame It On The Bossa Nova," which was also her final foray into the Top 40 pop charts. Still, she won a Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance in 1967, for her version of "If He Walked Into My Life", from the stage musical Mame. Like her husband, Gorme has appeared on numerous television shows over the years.
Since the 1970s, the couple has focused strictly on the American pop repertoire, recording several albums themed around individual American pop composers. As the 21st Century arrived, the normally indefatigable couple announced their plans to cut back on their touring, launching a "One More For The Road" tour in 2002.
Parenthood
Gorme and Lawrence had two sons, David -- who is a composer, and Michael, who died at age 23 in 1986.
