WA2K Radio is now on the air

Good morning, WA2K folks.

edgar, anything that Johnny Mercer wrote has to be good, right?

A morning song:

What a lovely motion of the tranquil waves of the sea!
How beautiful they look as they slide onto the gentle beach!
Their pleasant murmur forms a song of magical sound
And their color is the emblem of the hope of love.
But with the horrible sound
Of the terrible, fierce storm,
Blows the violent North wind.
Majesty appears in its waves.
They rise in wild arrogance
In a mountain of foam and crystal,
And with a great noise afterwards
They return to the beach to die.

In the immensity of the floating waves, I saw you,
And when I went to save you, for your life, I lost mine.
The sweet vision in my soul carved indelibly
The tender passion that robbed me of fortune and peace.
If the echo of my sorrow
Should come to disturb your refuge,
Love will follow you.
Do not refuse to listen to its pain,
For the wind will bring you
The plaints of my heart
And will always repeat
The strains of my song.

by Thomas Keyes

some more lyrics by Mr. Mercer: (between your song & this one, we have the whole day covered )

Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice
Warmer than the summer night
The clouds were like an alabaster palace
Rising to a snowy height
Each star its own Aurora Borealis
Suddenly you held me tight
I could see the midnight sun

I can't explain
The silver rain that found me
Or was that a moonlit veil
The music of the Universe
Around me
Or was that a nightingale
And then your arms miraculously found me
Suddenly the sky turned pale
and I saw the midnight sun

Was there ever such a night
It's a thrill
I still don't quite believe
But after you were gone
There was still some
Stardust on my sleeve

The flame of it may dwindle
To an ember
And the stars forget to shine
And we may see the meadow in December
Icy white and crystaline
But oh my darling always I'll remember
When your lips were close to mine
And we saw the Midnight Sun
The Midnight Sun

A. A. Milne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born: January 18, 1882
Scotland
Died: January 31, 1956
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Occupation(s): Novelist, Playwright, Poet

Alan Alexander Milne (January 18, 1882 - January 31, 1956), also known as A. A. Milne, was a British author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.




Biography

Milne (pronounced mĭln) was born in Scotland but raised in London at Henley House School, a small independent school run by his father, John V. Milne. One of his teachers was H. G. Wells. He attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge where he studied on a mathematics scholarship. While there, he edited and wrote for Granta, a student magazine. He collaborated with his brother Kenneth and their articles appeared over the initials AKM. Milne's work came to the attention of the leading British humour magazine Punch, where Milne was to become a contributor and later an assistant editor.

Milne joined the British Army in World War I and served as an officer in the Signal Corps. After the war, he wrote a denunciation of war titled Peace with Honour (1934), which he retracted somewhat with 1940's War with Honour. During World War II, Milne was one of the most prominent critics of English comic writer P.G. Wodehouse, who was captured at his country home in France by the Nazis and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse made radio broadcasts about his internment, which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the lighthearted broadcasts made fun of the Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of committing an act of near treason by cooperating with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some revenge by creating fatuous parodies of the Christopher Robin poems in some of his later stories.

During World War II, he was Captain of the Homeguard in Hartfield & Forrest Row, insisting on being plain 'Mr Milne' to the members of his platoon.

Also during World War II, his home was destroyed in an air raid.

Milne married Dorothy De Selincourt in 1913, and their only son, Christopher Robin Milne, was born in 1920. In 1925, A. A. Milne bought a country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex. He retired to the farm after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him an invalid.


Literary career

Milne is most famous for his Pooh books about a boy named Christopher Robin, after his son, and various characters inspired by his son's stuffed animals, most notably the bear named Winnie-the-Pooh. The source of the name is reputedly a Canadian black bear named Winnie (after Winnipeg), that was used as a military mascot by the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, a Canadian Infantry Regiment in World War I, and left to London Zoo after the war. After its heroics in September 1915, the bear was named 'Winnie the Pooh', years before Milne adopted it. E. H. Shepard illustrated the original Pooh books, using his own son's teddy, Growler ("a magnificent bear"), as the model. Christopher Robin Milne's own toys are now under glass in New York.

Milne also wrote a number of poems, including Vespers, They're Changing Guard at Buckingham Palace, and King John's Christmas, which were published in the books When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. Several of Milnes's childrens' poems were set to music by the composer Harold Fraser-Simson. His poems have been parodied many times, including with the books When We Were Rather Older and Now We Are Sixty.

The overwhelming success of his children's books was to become a source of considerable annoyance to Milne, whose self-avowed aim was to write whatever he pleased, and who had, until then, found a ready audience for each change of direction: he had freed pre-war Punch from its ponderous facetiousness; he had made a considerable reputation as a playwright (like his idol J. M. Barrie) on both sides of the Atlantic; he had produced a witty piece of detective writing in The Red House Mystery (although this was severely criticised by Raymond Chandler for the the implausibility of its plot). Indeed, Milne's publisher was displeased when he announced his intention to write poems for children, and he had never lacked an audience.

But once Milne had, in his own words, "said Goodbye to all that in 70,000 words" (the approximate length of the four children's books), he had no intention of producing a copy of a copy, given that one of the sources of inspiration, his son, was growing older.

His reception remained warmer in America than Britain, and he continued to publish novels and short stories, but by the late 1930s the audience for Milne's grown-up writing had largely vanished: he observed bitterly in his autobiography that a critic had said that the hero of his latest play ("God help it") was simply "Christopher Robin grown up ... what an obsession with me children are become!"

Even his old literary home, Punch, where the When We Were Very Young verses had first appeared, was ultimately to reject him, as Christopher Milne details in his autobiography The Enchanted Places, although Methuen continued to publish whatever Milne wrote, including the long poem 'The Norman Church' and an assembly of articles entitled Year In, Year Out (which Milne likened to a benefit night for the author).

He also adapted Kenneth Grahame's novel The Wind in the Willows for the stage as Toad of Toad Hall. The title was an implicit admission that such chapters as The Piper at the Gates of Dawn could not survive translation to the theater. A special introduction written by Milne is included in some editions of Grahame's novel.

After Milne's death, the rights to the Pooh characters were sold by his widow, Daphne, to the Walt Disney Company, which has made a number of Pooh cartoon movies, as well as a large amount of Pooh-related merchandise. She also destroyed his papers.

Royalties from the Pooh characters paid by Disney to the Royal Literary Fund, part-owner of the Pooh copyright, provide the income used to run the Fund's Fellowship Scheme, placing professional writers in UK universities.

Oliver Hardy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born January 18, 1892
Harlem, Georgia
Died August 7, 1957
North Hollywood, California

Oliver Hardy (born Norvell Hardy January 18, 1892-August 7, 1957) was an American actor, most remembered for his role in one of the world's most famous double acts, Laurel and Hardy, with his friend Stan Laurel. He did not adopt the name "Oliver" until 1914. He did so as a tribute to his father, who died when Hardy was an infant.




Childhood

Hardy's parents were of English and Scottish descent. His father, Oliver, was a Confederate veteran wounded at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. After the war he worked as a foreman for the Georgia Southern Railroad, supervising the building of a rail line between Augusta and Madison. Their marriage took place on March 12, 1890; it was the second marriage for the widow, Emily, and the third for Oliver, who died less than a year after Norvell's birth. By the time Hardy was born, the family had moved to Harlem, Georgia. Hardy was sometimes a difficult child. He was not interested in education, although he acquired an early interest in music and theater, possibly from his mother's tenants. He ran away from home to join a theatrical group, and later ran away from a boarding school near Atlanta. His mother recognized his talent for singing, and sent him to Atlanta to study music and voice with a prominent musician, but Hardy skipped his lessons to sing in a vaudeville house. He was sent to a military college, but ran away from there, also. After toying with college and the idea of studying law, he decided to follow his dream of a singing career.


Early career

In 1910, a movie theater opened in the future Hardy's home town of Milledgeville, and he became the projectionist, ticket taker, janitor and manager. He soon became obsessed with the new motion picture industry, and became convinced that he could do a better job than the actors he saw on the screen. A friend suggested that he move to Jacksonville where some films were being made. In 1913 he did just that, where he worked as a cabaret and vaudeville singer at night, and at the Lubin Studios during the day. It was at this time that he met and married his first wife, pianist Madelyn Saloshin.

The next year he made his first movie, Outwitting Dad, for the Lubin studio. He was billed as O. N. Hardy, taking his father's name as a memorial. In his personal life, he was known as "Babe" Hardy, a nickname that he was given by an Italian barber, who would apply talcum powder to Oliver's cheeks and say, "nice-a-bab-y". In many of his later films at Lubin he was billed as "Babe Hardy." Hardy was a big man at six feet one inch tall and weighed up to 300 pounds. His size placed limitations on the roles he could play. He was most often cast as "the heavy" or the villain. He also frequently had roles in comedy shorts, his size complementing the character.

By 1915, he had made fifty short one-reeler films at the Lubin studio. He later moved to New York and made films for the Pathé, Casino and Edison Studios. He then returned to Jacksonville and made films for the Vim and King Bee studios. He worked with Charlie Chaplin imitator Billy West and comedic actress Ethel Burton Palmer during this time. (Hardy continued playing the "heavy" for West well into the early 1920s, often imitating Eric Campbell to West's Chaplin.) In 1917, Oliver Hardy moved to Los Angeles, working freelance for several Hollywood studios. The next year, he appeared in the movie The Lucky Dog, produced by G.M. ("Broncho Billy") Anderson and starring a young British comedian named Stan Laurel.[1] Oliver Hardy played the part of a robber, trying to stick up Stan's character. They did not work together again for several years, yet eventually formed the famous team of Laurel and Hardy.

Between 1918 and 1923 Oliver Hardy made more than forty films for Vitagraph, playing the "heavy" for Larry Semon. In 1919, he separated from his wife, ending with a divorce in 1920, due to Babe's infidelity. The very next year, on November 24th, 1921, Babe married again, to actress Myrtle Reeves. This marriage was also unhappy, with Myrtle eventually becoming an alcoholic.

In 1924, Hardy began working at Hal Roach Studios working with the Our Gang films and Charley Chase. In 1925, he was in a film "Yes, Yes, Nanette!" starring James Finlayson, who in later years was a recurring character in the Laurel and Hardy film series. The film was directed by Stan Laurel. He also continued playing supporting roles in films featuring Clyde Cooke and Bobby Ray.

In 1926, a hot leg of lamb changed the future of both Laurel and Hardy. Hardy was scheduled to appear in Get 'Em Young but was unexpectedly hospitalized after being burned by a hot leg of lamb. Laurel, who had been working as a gag man and director at Roach Studios, was recruited to fill in. Laurel kept appearing in front of the camera rather than behind it, and later that year appeared in the same movie as Hardy, 45 Minutes from Hollywood, although they didn't share any scenes together.


Career with Stan Laurel

In 1927, Laurel and Hardy began sharing screen time together in Slipping Wives, Duck Soup (no relation to the Marx Brothers film of the same name) and With Love and Hisses. Roach Studios' supervising director Leo McCarey had realized the audience reaction to the two, and had begun intentionally teaming them together, leading to the start of the Laurel and Hardy series late that year. With Laurel and Hardy, he had created one of the most famous comedy teams of all time. They began producing a huge body of short movies, including The Battle of the Century (1927) (with one of the largest pie fights ever filmed), Should Married Men Go Home? (1928), Two Tars (1928), Unaccustomed As We Are (1929, marking their transition to talking pictures) Berth Marks (1929), Blotto (1930), Brats (1930) (with Stan and Ollie portraying themselves, as well as their own sons, using oversized furniture to sets for the 'young' Laurel and Hardy), Another Fine Mess (1930), Be Big! (1931), and many others. In 1929, they appeared in their first feature, in one of the revue sequences of Hollywood Revue of 1929 and the following year they appeared as the comic relief in a lavish all-color (in Technicolor) musical feature entitled: The Rogue Song. This film marked their first appearance in color. In 1931 they made their first full length movie (in which they were the actual stars), Pardon Us although they continued to make features and shorts until 1935. Perhaps their greatest achievement, however, was The Music Box (1932), which won them an Academy Award for best short film - their only such award.

In 1936, Hardy's personal life suffered a blow as he and Myrtle divorced. Whilst waiting for a contractual issue between Laurel and Hal Roach to be resolved, Hardy made Zenobia with Harry Langdon. Eventually, however, new contracts were agreed and the team was loaned out to General Services Studio to make The Flying Deuces. While on the lot, Hardy fell in love with Virginia Lucille Jones, a script girl, whom he married the next year. They enjoyed a happy marriage until his death.

Laurel and Hardy also began performing for the USO, supporting the Allied troops during World War II. They also made A Chump at Oxford (1940) (which features a moment of role reversal, with Oliver becoming a temporarily concussed Stan's subordinate) and Saps at Sea (1940).

Beginning in 1941, Laurel and Hardy's films began to decline in quality. They left Roach Studios and began making films for 20th Century Fox, and later MGM. Although they were financially better off, they had very little artistic control at the large studios, and hence the films lack the very qualities that had made Laurel and Hardy worldwide names.

In 1947, Laurel and Hardy went on a six week tour of Great Britain. Initially unsure of how they would be received, they were mobbed wherever they went. The tour was then lengthened to include engagements in Scandinavia, Belgium, France, as well as a Royal Command Performance for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

In 1949, Hardy's friend, John Wayne, asked him to play a supporting role in The Fighting Kentuckian. Hardy had previously worked with Wayne and John Ford in a charity production of the play What Price Glory? while Laurel began treatment for his diabetes a few years previously. Initially hesitant, Hardy accepted the role at the insistence of his comedy partner. Frank Capra later invited Hardy to play a cameo role in "Riding High" with Bing Crosby in 1950.

In 1951, Laurel and Hardy made their final film. "Atoll K" (also known as "Utopia") was a simple concept; Laurel inherits a boat, and the boys set out to sea, where they discover and claim a brand new island, rich in uranium, making them powerful and wealthy. However, it was produced by a consortium of European interests, with an international cast and crew that could not speak to each other. In addition, the script needed to be rewritten by Stan to make it fit the comedy team's style, and both suffered serious physical problems during the filming.

In 1955, the pair had contracted with Hal Roach Jr. to produce a series of TV shows based on the Mother Goose fables. However, this was never to be. Laurel suffered a stroke, which required a lengthy convalescence. Hardy had a heart attack and stroke later that year, from which he never physically recovered.


Death

During 1956, Hardy began looking after his health for the first time in his life. During his health watch, he lost more than 150 pounds in a few months. This weight loss completely changed his appearance. However, he suffered a major stroke on September 14, which left him confined to bed and unable to speak for several months. He remained at home, being cared for by his beloved Lucille. He suffered two more strokes in early August, 1957 and slipped into a coma from which he never recovered. Oliver Hardy died on August 7, 1957, aged 65 years old. His remains are located in the Masonic Garden of Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood.[1]

In 2006, BBC Four showed a drama based on Laurel meeting Hardy on his deathbed and reminiscing about their career called Stan

Laws For Women To Live By


(Ooo, men, watch out for this list. The women have had it....)

1. Don't imagine you can change a man - unless he's in diapers.

2. What do you do if your boyfriend walks-out? You shut the door.

3. If they put a man on the moon - they should be able to put them all up there.

4. Never let your man's mind wander - it's too little to be out alone.

5. Go for younger men. You might as well - they never mature anyway.

6. Men are all the same - they just have different faces, so that you can tell them apart.


7. Definition of a bachelor; a man who has missed the opportunity to make some woman miserable.

8. Women don't make fools of men - most of them are the do-it-yourself types.

9. Best way to get a man to do something, is to suggest he is too old for it.

10. Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.

11. If you want a committed man, look in a mental hospital.

12. The children of Israel wandered around the desert for 40 years. Even in biblical times, men wouldn't ask for directions.

13. If he asks what sort of books you're interested in, tell him checkbooks.

14. Remember a sense of humor does not mean that you tell him jokes, it means that you laugh at his.

15. Sadly, all men are created equal.

Well, folks, we know that our Bob has completed his bio's when we once again hear about the battle between the sexes. Fabulous, hawkman, and most of what you say is true, Boston, and NOT a joke.

Our Raggedy will be along in a little, I suspect, and once again will put the name to the face. Of course we know now that men all have different faces so that we may tell them apart.

Mr. Turtle, welcome back, and that "Midnight Sun" is a telling song, M.D. No wonder I love it, but I didn't know that Mercer wrote it.

Here's an interesting item, listeners:

Merit can be bought. Passion can't.

The only people who can change the world are people who want to. And not everybody does.
Human beings have this thing I call the "Pissed Off Gene". It's that bit of our psyche that makes us utterly dissatisfied with our lot, no matter how kindly fortune smiles upon us.

It's there for a reason. Back in our early caveman days being pissed off made us more likely to get off our butt, get out of the cave and into the tundra hunting wooly mammoth, so we'd have something to eat for supper. It's a survival mechanism. Damn useful then, damn useful now.

It's this same Pissed Off Gene that makes us want to create anything in the first place- drawings, violin sonatas, meat packing companies, websites. This same gene drove us to discover how to make a fire, the wheel, the bow and arrow, indoor plumbing, the personal computer, the list is endless.

and as we await that speckled pup from PA, here is that Danny Kaye song:

"Tchaikowsky and Other Russians"

VERSE (not sung in the original production)

Without the least excuse
Or the slightest provocation,
May I fondly introduce,
For your mental delectation,
The names that always give me a concussion,
The names of those composers known as Russian.

REFRAIN

There's Malichevsky, Rubinstein, Arensky, and Tschaikowsky,
Sapelnikoff, Dimitrieff, Tscherepnin, Kryjanowsky,
Godowsky, Arteiboucheff, Moniuszko, Akimenko,
Solovieff, Prokofieff, Tiomkin, Korestchenko.

There's Glinka, Winkler, Bortniansky, Rebikoff, Ilyinsky,
There's Medtner, Balakireff, Zolotareff, and Kvoschinsky.
And Sokoloff and Kopyloff, Dukelsky, and Klenowsky,
And Shostakovitsch, Borodine, Glière, and Nowakofski.

There's Liadoff and Karganoff, Markievitch, Pantschenko
And Dargomyzski, Stcherbatcheff, Scriabine, Vassilenko,
Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Mussorgsky, and Gretchaninoff
And Glazounoff and Caeser Cui, Kalinikoff, Rachmaninoff,

Stravinsky and Gretchnaninoff,
Rumshinsky and Rachmaninoff,
I really have to stop, the subject has been dwelt
Upon enough!

ENSEMBLE: Stravinsky!
RINGMASTER: Gretchaninoff!

Love it!

Oooh. Cary Grant and Danny Kaye and

Ah, There's our Raggedy with those marvelous faces from Hollywood and the world of children's stories. Great, PA.

We are looking at Winnie and Milne and Cary and Danny.

Raggedy and I both love the songs of Danny Kaye, be they tender or hilarious, and it seems to me, folks, that many people think Cary Grant and Vivien Leigh are the world's most beautiful people. Can't support that, however. Cary was at Barbara Hutton's side when she died, so the "cash and cary" tales of their marriage seem to be simply rumours.

One of Danny's gentler songs:

Anywhere I wander, anywhere I roam
Till I'm in the arms of my darling again
My heart will find no home
Anywhere I wander, anywhere I roam
Her arms were warm as they welcomed me
Her eyes were a fire bright
And then I knew that my path must be
Through the ever haunted night
Anywhere I wander, anywhere I roam
Till I'm in the arms of my darling again
My heart will find no home
Anywhere I wander, anywhere I roam
Her voice was oh such a soft caress
Of love it gently told
And in her smile was the tenderness
I may never more behold
Anywhere I wander, anywhere I roam
Till I'm in the arms of my darling again
My heart will find no home
Anywhere I wander, anywhere I roam

Good evening. NPR today reported the death of "Pookie" Hudson on Tuesday. Do yall remember him?
He wrote and sang tenor on a song by the Spanials that became the last record played at many, many high school dances: "Good Night, Sweetheart, Good Night."
Such innocent times.

Hey, John of Virginia, Welcome back. I am sorry to say that I don't know "Pookie" Hudson, but I certainly know Goodnight sweetheart. That was the signal that our band was packing up and going home.

Is this the song?

This version by Dean Martin


Goodnight sweetheart
Til we meet tomorrow
Goodnight sweetheart
Sleep will vanish sorrow
Tears and parting may make us forlorn
But with the dawn a new day is born
Goodnight sweetheart
Though I'm not beside you
Goodnight sweetheart
Still my love will guide you
Dreams will enfold you
In each one I'll hold you
Goodnight sweetheart
Dreams will enfold you
In each one I'll hold you
Goodnight sweetheart goodnight

Yes and no, Letty. The rhythm of the lyrics you posted above sounded right. But the lyrics did not.
So I did the Google thing, using... Good Night, Sweetheart, Good Night.
Spaniels.
Your version is by Guy Lombardo. The Spaniel's 1955 version uses a very similar melody but different words.
I don't know how to transfer stuff from Google to A2K. It might be amusing to show the two versions. One of the Google sites has audio that yall might be able to provide a link to.

Don't ask me why, Virginia John, but I know this version by the Spaniels as well.


Goodnight, sweetheart
Well. it's time to go
Goodnight, sweetheart
Well, it's time to go
I hate to leave you, but I really must say
Goodnight, sweetheart, goodnight

Well it's three o'clock in the mornin'
Baby, I just can't do right
Well, I hate to leave you, baby
I don't mean maybe
Because I love you so

(chorus)

Mother, and, oh, your father
Won't like it if we stay out too late
Well, I hate to leave you, baby
Don't mean maybe
You know I hate to go

Venus
Frankie Avalon

[Written by Ed Marshall]

Hey, Venus
Oh, Venus

Venus, if you will
Please send a little girl for me to thrill
A girl who wants my kisses and my arms
A girl with all the charms of you

Venus, make her fair
A lovely girl with sunlight in her hair
And take the brightest stars up in the skies
And place them in her eyes for me

Venus, goddess of love that you are
Surely the things I ask
Can't be too great a task

Venus, if you do
I promise that I always will be true
I'll give her all the love I have to give
As long as we both shall live

Venus, goddess of love that you are
Surely the things I ask
Can't be too great a task

Venus if you do
I promise that I always will be true
I'll give her all the love I have to give
As long as we both shall live

Hey, Venus
Oh, Venus
Make my wish come true

Good early morning, WA2K folks.

edgar, I recall another Venus song, but thought that I would begin the day with this one:

Toto - Africa Lyrics

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She's coming in twelve-thirty flight
Her moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards
salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say: "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for
you"

[Chorus:]
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that
I've become

[Repeat chorus]

[Instrumental break]

Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you

[Repeat chorus]

John Raitt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Emmett Raitt (born on 19 January 1917 in Santa Ana, California, died 20 February 2005, Pacific Palisades, California) was a star of the musical theater stage.

He is best known for his stage roles in the musicals Carousel, Oklahoma!, The Pajama Game, and A Joyful Noise, in which he set the standard for virile, handsome, strong-voiced leading men during the golden age of the Broadway musical. His only leading film role was in the 1957 movie version of The Pajama Game opposite Doris Day.

On television, he was seen many times on the Bell Telephone Hour. A clip of a television performance of Raitt singing the final section of the song "Soliloquy" from Carousel is included in the documentary film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There. In 1957, also for television, he and Mary Martin re-created their starring roles in the national touring version of Annie Get Your Gun.

In 1945, John Raitt was one of the recipients of the first Theatre World Award for his debut performance in Carousel. In 1965, he starred in the twentieth-anniversary production of the show at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

He died on February 20, 2005, at his home in Pacific Palisades, California, from complications due to pneumonia, aged 88. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theatre.

He was the father of singer Bonnie Raitt, and former father-in-law of Michael O'Keefe. He was the grandfather of Bay Raitt, the creator of Gollum's face for the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Guy Madison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Guy Madison (January 19, 1922 - February 6, 1996) was an American film and television actor.




Early Life

He was born Robert Ozell Mosely in Bakersfield, California. He attended Bakersfield Junior College for two years and then worked briefly as a telephone lineman before joining the United States Coast Guard in 1942.


Acting career

In 1944, while visiting Hollywood on leave from the Coast Guard, his boyish good looks were spotted by a talent scout from David O. Selznick's office and he was immediately cast in a bit part in Selznick's Since You Went Away. Following the film's release in 1944, the studio received thousands of letters from fans wanting to know more about him.

He was signed by RKO Pictures in 1946 and began appearing in romantic comedies and dramas but his wooden acting style hurt his chances of advancing in films. In 1951, television came to the rescue of his fleeting career when he was cast in The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, which ran for six years.

Following his television series, he appeared in several more films, mostly westerns, before leaving for Europe, where he found greater success in spaghetti westerns.


Personal life

He was married to actresses Gail Russell (1949-1954) and Sheilia Connolly (1961-1963). Both marriages ended in divorce. He has four children - three daughters and one son.

There are some rumors that Madison may have had homosexual leanings. According to Hollywood biographer Lawrence J. Quirk, Mike Connolly, gay gossip columnist for the Hollywood Reporter from 1951 to 1966, "would put the make on the most prominent young actors, including Robert Francis, Guy Madison, Anthony Perkins, Nick Adams, and James Dean. Quirk said there was rampant gossip at gay parties regarding not only Connolly's escapades with these actors but also a noteworthy pornography collection he would display to those he favored."[1]

"Talent agent Henry Willson, ... serving for a while under David O. Selznick, had a singular knack for discovering and renaming young actors whose visual appeal transcended any lack of ability. Under his tutelage, Robert Mosely became Guy Madison, Arthur Gelien was changed to Tab Hunter, and Roy Fitzgerald turned into Rock Hudson. So successful was the beefcake aspect of this enterprise, and so widely recognized was Willson's sexuality, that it was often, and often inaccurately, assumed that all of his clients were gay."[2]

Guy Madison died from emphysema in 1996 and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City) near Palm Springs, California.