WA2K Radio is now on the air

I'm On The Outside
Little Anthony & The Imperials

[Written by Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein]

(Wee-ooh-ooh)
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

I'm on the outside looking in
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
An' I wanna be, an' I wanna be back
On the inside wi-ith you
You are with somebody new and I don't know what to do
'Cause I'm still in love with you
(In love with you)

I'm on the outside looking in
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
I don' wanna be
I don' wanna be left on the outside all alone
Well, I guess I've had my day and you left me go my way
Now it's me who has to pay-ay-ay

I never should have gone away
I never should have gone away a-and left you like I did
(Hoop-woo-ooh)
With tears in your ey-e-e-e-e-e-e-s
(Hoop-woo-ooh)
I thought you'd take me back
But now, to my surprise (to my surprise)

On the outside looking in
(ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
Gotta find a way
Gotta find a way back
To your heart, dear, once again
Won't you take me back again
I'll be waiting here till then
On the outside looking in (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)

Won't you take me back again
I'll be waiting here till then
On the outside looking in (ooh, ooh, ooh)
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
On the outside looking in
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, ----looking in
(ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
I don' wanna be
I don' wanna be
I don' wanna be looking in

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.

edgar, your song of last evening was a surprise to me as well. Thanks, Texas, for the adaptation by Bob and Little Anthony's "I'm on The Outside" rather depicts the weather here. CHILLY.

RJB, we do learn something here in our little cyber station, right?

Well, there's our Mr. Turtle back. Thanks, M.D. for the four hundred years. Incidentally, what is the life expectancy of a turtle?

The following song by Sting is from the album Dreams of a Sea Turtle. Can you believe that ,folks?

If you need somebody, call my name
If you want someone, you can do the same
If you want to keep something precious
You got to lock it up and throw away the key
If you want to hold onto your possession
Don't even think about me

If you love somebody, set them free

If it's a mirror you want, just look into my eyes
Or a whipping boy, someone to despise
Or a prisoner in the dark
Tied up in chains you just can't see
Or a beast in a gilded cage
That's all some people ever want to be

If you love somebody, set them free

You can't control an independent heart
Can't tear the one you love apart
Forever conditioned to believe that we can't live
We can't live here and be happy with less
So many riches, so many souls
Everything we see we want to possess

If you need somebody, call my name
If you want someone, you can do the same
If you want to keep something precious
You got to lock it up and throw away the key
If you want to hold onto your possession
Don't even think about me

If you love somebody, set them free

I'm happy to report, folks, that our Raggedy is fine, she just has had a wee bit of trouble getting in to our studio. Hey, PA, we'll get up and "unbar the door." Don't know about our hawkman as yet.

Now for news from the home front:


N.Y. lawmaker want weight standard for models
POSTED: 9:38 a.m. EST, January 31, 2007
Story Highlights
• New York state lawmaker proposed weight standards for young fashion models
• Bronx Assemblyman Jose Rivera is concerned that models are too skinny
• He wants the standards to apply to models and entertainers under age 18
• Death of 88-pound Brazilian model heightened criticism of fashion industry

Next, Sidney Sheldon died today.
Here's the important part of his story:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=249742&GT1=7701&mpc=2

Finally, folks, a poem by Letty
Her name is Uma, lady of light
East Indian with a smile so bright
She put the white of gentle surf
To shame
And now you know her name.

Once again, government is trying to make decisions for the private sector, and there is a mistake in Sidney Sheldon's bio, can you find it?

Eddie Cantor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Eddie Cantor (January 31, 1892 - October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, singer, actor, songwriter. Known to Broadway, radio and early television audiences as Banjo Eyes, this "Apostle of Pep" was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing antics about his wife Ida and five children.



Early life

Cantor was born as Israel Iskowitz [1] in New York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Meta and Mechel Iskowitz. His mother died of lung cancer two years after his birth, and he was abandoned by his father, left to be raised by his grandmother, Esther Kantrowitz. A misunderstanding when signing her grandson for school gave him her last name of Kantrowitz (later Americanized to "Cantor") instead of Iskowitz. He adopted the first name Eddie when he met his future wife, Ida Tobias, in 1903, because she liked the idea of having a boyfriend named Eddie. The two married in 1914 and remained together until Ida died in 1962.

By his early teens. Cantor began winning talent contests at local theaters and started appearing on stage. One of his earliest paying jobs was doubling as a waiter and performer, singing for tips at Carey Walsh's Coney Island saloon where a young Jimmy Durante accompanied him on piano.

In 1907, Cantor became a billed name in vaudeville. In 1912 he was the only performer over the age of 20 to appear in Gus Edwards' Kid Kabaret, where he created his first blackface character, Jefferson. Critical praise from that show got the attention of Broadway's top producer, Florenz Ziegfeld, who gave Cantor a spot in the Ziegfeld rooftop post-show, Midnight Frolic (1916).


Broadway and recordings

A year later, Cantor made his Broadway debut in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1917. He continued in the Ziegfeld Follies until 1927, a period considered the best years of the long-standing revue. For several years Cantor co-starred in an act with pioneer African-American comedian Bert Williams, both appearing in blackface; Cantor played Williams's son. Other co-stars with Cantor during his time in the Follies included Will Rogers, Marilyn Miller and W.C. Fields. He moved on to stardom in book musicals, starting with Kid Boots (1923), Whoopee! (1928) and Banjo Eyes (1940).

Cantor began making phonograph records in 1917, recording both comedy songs and routines and popular songs of the day, first for Victor, then for Aeoleon-Vocalion, Pathé and Emerson. From 1921 through 1925 he had an exclusive contract with Columbia Records, returning to Victor for the remainder of the decade.

Cantor was one of the era's most successful entertainers, but the 1929 stock market crash took away his multi-millionaire status and left him deeply in debt. However, Cantor's relentless attention to his own earnings in order to avoid the poverty he knew growing up caused him to search quickly for more work, quickly building a new bank account with his highly popular, bestselling book of humor and cartoons about his experience, Caught Short! A Saga of Wailing Wall Street in "1929 A.C. (After Crash)".


Films

Cantor also bounced back in movies and on radio. Cantor had previously appeared in a number of short films and two features (Special Delivery and Kid Boots) in the 1920s, but he became a leading Hollywood star in 1930 with the film version of Whoopee!. Over the next two decades, he continued making films until 1948, including Roman Scandals (1933), Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937) and If You Knew Susie (1948).


Radio

Cantor's initial radio appearance was with Rudy Vallee's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on February 5, 1931, and it led to a four-week tryout with NBC's The Chase and Sanborn Hour. Replacing Maurice Chevalier, who was returning to Paris, Cantor joined The Chase and Sanborn Hour on September 13, 1931. This hour-long Sunday evening variety series teamed Cantor with announcer Jimmy Wallingford and violinist Dave Rubinoff. The show established Cantor as a leading comedian, and his scriptwriter, David Freedman, as "the Captain of Comedy." Soon, Cantor became the world's highest paid radio star. His shows began with a crowd chanting, "We want Cantor - We want Cantor," a phrase said to have originated when a vaudeville audience chanted to chase off an opening act on the bill before Cantor. Cantor's theme song was the 1903 pop tune "Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider," dedicated to his wife.

Indicative of his impact on the mass audience, he agreed in November 1934 to introduce a new song by the songwriters J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie that other well-known artists had rejected as being "silly" and "childish." The song, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", immediately had orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music the next day. It sold 400,000 copies by Christmas of that year.

In the 1940s his NBC national radio show was Time To Smile. In addition to film and radio, Cantor recorded for Hit of the Week Records, then again for Columbia, for Banner and Decca and various small labels.

He was a founder of the March of Dimes, and did much to publicize the battle against polio. Cantor also served as first president of the Screen Actors Guild. His heavy political involvement began early in his career, including his quick rush to strike with Actors Equity in 1919, against the advisement of father figure and producer, Florenz Ziegfeld.

Cantor's career declined somewhat in the late 1930s due to his public denunciations of Adolf Hitler and Fascism. Wishing to distance themselves from any political controversy, many sponsors dropped Cantor's shows. However, it soon bounced back with the United States' entry into World War II.


Television

In the 1950s he was one of the alternating hosts of the television show The Colgate Comedy Hour. However, the show landed him in an unlikely controversy when a young Sammy Davis Jr. appeared as a guest performer. Cantor embraced and mopped the brow of Davis with his handkerchief after his performance. Worried sponsors led NBC to threaten cancellation of the show, though Cantor's response to the controversy was to book Davis for the rest of the season. Other sources [attribution needed] claims that NBC threatened to cancel the show when Davis was booked for two weeks straight. After a 1952 heart attack, Cantor left the show in 1954, due to failing health.

Books

In addition to Caught Short!, Cantor wrote or co-wrote at least seven other books, including booklets released by the then-fledgling firm of Simon & Schuster, with Cantor's name on the cover. Some were "as told to" or written with David Freedman). Customers paid a dollar and received the booklet with a penny embedded in the hardcover. They sold well, and H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) asserted that these books did more to pull America out of the Great Depression than all government measures combined.


Family

Eddie and Ida Cantor had five children: Marilyn, Marjorie, Natalie, Edna and Janet. Cantor's daughter, Janet Gari is a songwriter who has collaborated with Toby Garson, the daughter of composer Harry Ruby, on children's shows and off-Broadway revues. Cantor's autobiographies, My Life is in Your Hands (with David Freedman) and Take My Life (with Jane Kesner Ardmore) were re-published in 2000, thanks to the dedicated efforts of Cantor's grandson, musician Brian Gari.

On October 10, 1964 in Beverly Hills, California, Eddie Cantor suffered another heart attack and died. He is buried in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery. Cantor was awarded an honorary Academy Award the year of his death.

John Agar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


John G. Agar (January 31, 1921 - April 7, 2002) was a successful Hollywood actor born in Chicago, Illinois who ascended to celebrity shortly after World War II. He is perhaps best remembered for starring in the Sands of Iwo Jima and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon alongside John Wayne; however, aficionados of B-movies regard him as a cult icon for the films he produced in that class, such as Tarantula, The Mole People, The Brain from Planet Arous and Hand of Death.

Agar was educated at Harvard School for Boys and Lake Forest Academy in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Pawling Prep in Pawling, New York, but did not attend college. He and his family moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1942 following his father's death. During World War II he served in the Army Air Corps, and he was a sergeant at the time he left the army in 1946.

He was Shirley Temple's first husband (1945-1950). His marriage to Temple lasted five years and they had one daughter together, Linda Susan Agar who was later known as Susan Black, taking the surname of her stepfather Charles Alden Black. Following his divorce from Temple, Agar was married in 1951 to model Loretta Barnett Combs (1922-2000). They remained married until her death in 2000. They had two sons: Martin Agar and John G. Agar III.

Agar died on April 7, 2002 at Burbank, California of complications from Emphysema. He was buried beside his wife at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.

Carol Channing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Carol Elaine Channing (born on January 31, 1921 in Seattle, Washington) is an American actress whose career was built largely on two roles, Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (musical) and Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly!. She is easily recognized by her distinctive voice and wide eyes. Carol Channing has been the beloved stage and screen star of many films and productions, and her unusual mannerisms and personality are frequently parodied.




Childhood and Education

Channing was born, an only child on January 31, 1921 in Seattle, Washington. Her father's newspaper career took the family to San Francisco when Channing was only two weeks old. She went to school at Aptos Junior High School, where she met an Armenian-American man named Harry Kullijian with whom she fell in love with. They lost touch when she went to Lowell High School in San Francisco. At Lowell, Channing was a member of its famed Lowell Forensic Society, the nation's oldest high school debate team.

When she left home to attend Bennington College in Vermont, her mother informed her that her father, a journalist who she had believed was born in Rhode Island, was actually a light-skinned man of half German American and half African American descent, born in Augusta, Georgia, who had passed for white, saying that the only reason she was telling her was so she wouldn't be surprised "if she had a black baby". She kept her heritage secret so she would not be typecast on Broadway and in Hollywood, ultimately revealing it only in her autobiography, Just Lucky I Guess, which was published in 2002, when she was more than 80 years old.


Career

Channing was introduced to the stage while doing church work for her mother. In a 2005 interview with the Austin Chronicle, Channing recounted this experience:

"My mother said, 'Carol, would you like to help me distribute Christian Science Monitors backstage at the live theatres in San Francisco?' And I said, 'All right, I'll help you.' I don't know how old I was. I must have been little. We went through the stage door alley [for the Curran Theatre], and I couldn't get the stage door open. My mother came and opened it very easily. Anyway, my mother went to put the Monitors where they were supposed to go for the actors and the crew and the musicians, and she left me alone. And I stood there and realized - I'll never forget it because it came over me so strongly - that this is a temple. This is a cathedral. It's a mosque. It's a mother church. This is for people who have gotten a glimpse of creation and all they do is recreate it. I stood there and wanted to kiss the floorboards." [1]
Channing was also introduced to the stage as a debater and monologue performer in high school as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society, the nation's longest running high school debate program.

Channing's first job on stage in New York was in Marc Blitzstein's No For an Answer, which was given two special Sunday performances starting January 5, 1941 at the Mecca Temple (later New York's City Center). Channing then moved to Broadway for Let's Face It, in which she was an understudy for Eve Arden. She had a featured role in a revue, Lend an Ear, where she was spotted by Anita Loos and cast in the role of Lorelei Lee, which was to bring her to prominence. (Her signature song from the production was "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.") Channing's persona and that of the character were strikingly alike: simultaneously smart yet scattered, naïve but worldly.

Channing came to national prominence as the star of Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! She never missed a performance during her run, attributing her good health to her Christian Science faith. Her performance won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, in a year when her chief competition was Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl. She was deeply disappointed when Streisand, who many believed to be far too young for the role, successfully campaigned to play the role of Dolly Levi in the film, which also starred Walter Matthau and Michael Crawford.

She reprised the role of Lorelei Lee in the musical Lorelei, and appeared in two New York revivals of Hello, Dolly!, in addition to touring with it extensively throughout the United States. She also appeared in a number of movies, including the cult film Skidoo and Thoroughly Modern Millie, opposite Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore. For Millie she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1966 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.

William Goldman, in his book The Season, refers to Channing as a classic example of a "critic's darling" -- an actress who is always praised by critics no matter the caliber of her work, chiefly because she is simply so unusual and bizarre (other actresses he places in this category include Sandy Dennis and Beatrice Lillie.)


Family Life

She married four times. Her first husband, Theodore Naidish, was a writer; her second, Alexander Carson, was center for the Ottawa Rough Riders Canadian football team (they had one son, Channing Lowe, who is a cartoonist and who took his step-father's surname). In 1956 she married her manager and publicist Charles Lowe. They remained married for 42 years, but she abruptly filed for divorce in 1998, alleging that she and Lowe had not had marital relations in many years and only twice in that timespan; she also alleged that Lowe was gay, but he denied her allegations. He died before the divorce was finalized.

On May 10, 2003, she married Harry Kullijian, her fourth husband and junior high school sweetheart, who reunited with her after she mentioned him fondly in her memoir. The two performed at their old junior high school, which had become Aptos Middle School, in a benefit for the school. At Lowell High School, they renamed the school's auditorium "The Carol Channing Theatre" in honor of her. The City of San Francisco, California proclaimed On February 25, 2002 to be Carol Channing Day for her advocacy of gay rights and her appearance as the celebrity host of the Gay Pride Day festivities in Hollywood.

Her autobiography entitled "Just Lucky I Guess" was released on October 8, 2002. In her memoirs, Channing reveals her "long kept secret" that she has African American ancestry, through her father, George Channing, who she claims was a light-skinned African-American who kept his racial identity a secret. In a 2002 interview with CNN's Larry King, when asked about her parents' faith, she said that they were Christian Scientists and that she herself "believed in it," although she did not always practice it.

Channing has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard.

The New York Times reported on June 27, 1973, that Channing had been included on Nixon's Enemies List.

Her voice and mannerisms have been parodied a number of times on the improv comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, especially by Ryan Stiles, and on Family Guy, where she is portrayed boxing Mike Tyson and eventually defeating him (she provided her own voice). New York actor Richard Skipper is one of Channing's best known and most established impersonators.

Channing was parodied by the cast of the Off-Broadway cast Forbidden Broadway on repeated occasions and appeared on the cast's third album, Forbidden Broadway, Vol. 3, asking the cast for instructions on how to properly do a Channing impression.

Mario Lanza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Background information

Birth name Alfredo Arnold Cocozza
Born January 31, 1921
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died October 7, 1959
Rome, Italy

Mario Lanza (31 January 1921 - 7 October 1959) was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star who enjoyed success in the late 1940s and 1950s. His voice was considered by many to rival that of Enrico Caruso, whom Lanza portrayed in the 1951 film The Great Caruso. Lanza was able to sing all types of music. While his highly emotional style was not universally praised by critics, he was immensely popular and his many recordings are still prized today.




Operatic career
Born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was exposed to opera and singing at a young age, and by the age of 16 his vocal talent became apparent. Starting out in local operatic productions in Philadelphia, he later came to the attention of conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who provided young Cocozza with a full student scholarship to the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood in Massachusetts. Koussevitzky would later tell Lanza that, "Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years."

His operatic debut, as Fenton in Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor, was at Tanglewood on August 7, 1942, after just six weeks of study with conductors Boris Goldovsky and Leonard Bernstein. It was here that Cocozza adopted his stage name from his mother Maria's maiden name of Lanza. His performances at Tanglewood won him critical acclaim, with Noel Straus of The New York Times hailing the 21-year-old tenor as having "few equals among tenors of the day in terms of quality, warmth, and power."

His operatic career was interrupted by World War II, when he was assigned to Special Services in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He appeared on the wartime shows On the Beam and Winged Victory while in the Air Corps.

He resumed his singing career in October 1945 on the CBS radio program Great Moments in Music, where he made six appearances singing various operatic selections. He later studied under Enrico Rosati for fifteen months, then embarked on an 86-concert tour of the United States, Canada and Mexico between July 1947 and May 1948 with George London and Frances Yeend. In April 1948, he sang Pinkerton in the New Orleans Opera's Madama Butterfly. A concert at the Hollywood Bowl brought Lanza to the attention of MGM's Louis B. Mayer, who signed Lanza to a seven-year film contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer. This would prove to be a turning point in the young singer's career.


Film career

MGM's contract with Lanza required him to commit to the studio for six months, and at first Lanza was able to combine his film career with his operatic one, singing two acclaimed performances as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for the New Orleans Opera Association in April 1948. He also continued to perform in concert, both in solo appearances and as part of the Bel Canto Trio with George London and Frances Yeend. In May 1949, he made his first commercial recordings with RCA Victor. However, his first two films, That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans, were very successful, as was his recording career, and Lanza's fame increased dramatically.

In 1951, Lanza portrayed Enrico Caruso in The Great Caruso, which proved to be an astonishing success. At the same time, his popularity exposed Lanza to intense criticism by music critics, including those who had praised his work years earlier.

In 1954, Lanza was dismissed by MGM after he had pre-recorded the songs for The Student Prince. The film was subsequently made with actor Edmund Purdom miming to Lanza's vocals. During this period Lanza came very close to bankruptcy as a result of poor investment decisions made by his former manager. Owing about $250,000 in back taxes to the IRS, Lanza withdrew from the public eye for a time.


He returned to an active film career in 1956 in Serenade; despite its strong musical content, it was not as successful as his previous films. Lanza then moved to Rome, Italy in May 1957, where he worked on the film Seven Hills of Rome and returned to live performing in a series of acclaimed concerts throughout Britain, Ireland and the European Continent. In early 1958, he auditioned for the management of La Scala in Milan, and was immediately offered a minimum two-year contract to sing at that theatre. The opera initially discussed was Puccini's Tosca. Later that year, Lanza also agreed to open the 1960/61 season at the Rome Opera as Canio in Pagliacci. At the same time, however, his health began to decline, with the tenor suffering from a variety of ailments, including phlebitis and acute high blood pressure. The following year, in April 1959, Lanza suffered a minor heart attack, followed by double pneumonia in August. He died in Rome in October of that year at the age of 38 from a pulmonary embolism. His widow moved back to Hollywood with their four children and died of a drug overdose five months later; the younger of their two sons died of a heart attack at the age of 37. When Lanza died rumors spread that the notorious mob boss Lucky Luciano (Salvatore Luciano) had had him killed after he refused to perform for him but those rumors quickly died down because they simply were not true. Soprano Maria Callas would later say of him, "My biggest regret is not to have had the opportunity to sing with the greatest tenor voice I've ever heard."

Lanza's short career covered opera, radio, concerts, recordings, and motion pictures. He was the first artist for RCA Victor Red Seal to receive a gold disc. He was also the first artist to sell two and half million albums. A highly influential artist, Lanza has been credited with inspiring the careers of successive generations of opera singers, including Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci and Jose Carreras, as well as those of singers with seemingly different backgrounds, and influences, his RCA Victor label-mate Elvis Presley being the most notable example. In 1994, tenor José Carreras paid tribute to Lanza in a worldwide concert tour, saying of him, "If I'm an opera singer, it's thanks to Mario Lanza."


Trivia

When Philips invented the compact disc, they chose Mario Lanza's voice recordings as the first recording in history to be transferred to a CD.

When Frank Sinatra described the first time he heard Mario Lanza he said: "talking about people swooning when I sing, the tables were turned the other day when a young chap came on my set and started to sing. There's no exaggeration in stating that for once in my life I really swooned."

Actor Billy Zane has confirmed that he will participate in a movie about Lanza's life. [1]

Joanne Dru
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Joanne Dru (January 31, 1922 - September 10, 1996) was an American film actress. She also was the elder sister of Peter Marshall, best known for being the host of Hollywood Squares.

Born Joanne Letitia LaCock in Logan, West Virginia, Dru came to New York City in 1940, aged 18, and after finding employment as a model, was chosen by Al Jolson to appear in the cast of his Broadway show Hold Onto Your Hats. During this time Dru met and married the popular singer, Dick Haymes, and when they moved to Hollywood she found work in theater. Dru was spotted by a talent scout and made her first film appearance in Abie's Irish Rose (1946).

Over the next decade Dru appeared frequently in films, most often cast in westerns such as the John Wayne films Red River (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949). She also gave a well received performance in the dramatic film All the King's Men (1949).

She later lamented that she had been typecast in western films, commenting that once an actress became typecast, that was the end, and adding that she had never liked horses. She also appeared in the Martin and Lewis film 3 Ring Circus. Her film career began to fade by the end of the 1950s but she continued working frequently in television, and played the female lead in the 1960 ABC sitcom Guestward, Ho!.

Although regarded as a capable and popular film actress, it was for her contributions to television that Dru was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Dru died in Los Angeles, California at the age of 74 from lymphedema, a disease "which is especially common after surgery or radiation therapy were used in combination to treat cancer", which indicates that she probably had undergone these treatments for cancer (likely breast cancer) prior to her death.

Jean Simmons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia





Birth name Jean Merilyn Simmons
Born January 31, 1929
Crouch Hill, London, England, United Kingdom

Spouse(s) Stewart Granger (1950-1960)
Richard Brooks (1960-1977)



Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE (born January 31, 1929) is an Oscar-nominated English actress.

She was born in Crouch Hill, London, England, United Kingdom, and was named an Officer in the Order of the British Empire. She was married twice; in 1950 to Stewart Granger, divorcing in 1960, and again in 1960 to Richard Brooks divorcing him in 1977. Simmons has two daughters, Tracy Granger and Kate Brooks, one from each marriage.


Career

Simmons began acting while still in her teens. Her first major film was Great Expectations, in which she played the young Estella. In 1948, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Ophelia in Hamlet, opposite Laurence Olivier.

In 1950, she married the British actor Stewart Granger, with whom she appeared in several films, successfully making the transition to Hollywood. Among her best-known leading roles are Guys and Dolls (1955), Elmer Gantry (directed by her second husband, Richard Brooks) and Spartacus, and The Happy Ending, again directed by Brooks and for which she received her second Oscar nomination.

By the 1970s, her screen career had tapered off and Simmons turned to stage and television acting. She toured the U.S. in the well-reviewed A Little Night Music, then took the show to London. For her appearance in the mini-series The Thorn Birds, she won an Emmy Award. In 1989, she again starred in a miniseries version of Great Expectations, where she performed the role of Miss Havisham, Estella's adoptive mother, as well as in 1985 and 1986 in North & South.

Jean Simmons would make a late career apperance in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Drumhead" where she portrays a witch hunt inspiring investigator named Admiral Satie.

FOOD SPOILAGE TESTS

EGGS: Probably past their prime when something starts pecking its way out of the shell.

MAYONNAISE: If it makes you violently ill after you eat it, the mayonnaise is spoiled.

FROZEN FOODS: If they've become an integral part of the defrosting problem in your freezer, they're probably spoiled.

MEAT: If opening your refrigerator door causes stray animals from a three block radius to gather outside your house, the meat is spoiled.

BREAD: Sesame seeds and poppy seeds are the only officially acceptable
"spots" that should be seen on the surface of any loaf of bread. Fuzzy,
hairy-looking white or green growth areas are a good indication your bread has turned into a pharmaceutical lab experiment.

FLOUR: Flour is spoiled when it wiggles.

SALT: Salt never spoils. Trust us on this.

LETTUCE: Iceberg lettuce is spoiled when you can't scrape it off the bottom of the vegetable crisper without a household cleaner. Romaine lettuce is spoiled when you can pour it into a glass.

CANNED GOODS: Any canned good that has become the size or shape of a softball should be disposed of ... carefully. Very carefully!

RAISINS: Raisins should not be any harder than your teeth.

POTATOES: Fresh potatoes do not have roots, branches, or dense, leafy
undergrowth.

CHIP DIP: If you can take it out of the container and bounce it on the
floor, it has gone bad.

UNMARKED ITEMS: When you're tempted to throw the container as well as the food inside of it away, it is well beyond its prime.

EXPIRATION DATE RULE: Expiration dates are NOT marketing ploys so you'll spend more on groceries. Perhaps you'd benefit by having a calendar in your kitchen. Failing that, follow the general rule of thumb.

GENERAL RULE OF THUMB: Most food cannot be kept longer than the average life span of a goldfish. Keep a goldfish near your refrigerator to gauge this.

Bob, I love those funnies, especially since I recently had my cleaning lady sanitize my fridge.(I won't EVEN try to explain) Thank you for making me smile, hawkman, and thanks for the great bio's. Amazing about Mario Lanza as we have discussed his attempt to do The Great Caruso, who in your PD's opinion, has never been matched.

Carol Channing was a Christian Scientist.

Hey, John of Virginia-I didn't know that.

Let's hope that our Raggedy can make it today, listeners. We need that face to name thing.

Here's a song from Carol:

I said hello, Dolly,......well, hello, Dolly
It's so nice to have you back where you belong
You're lookin' swell, Dolly.......I can tell, Dolly
You're still glowin'...you're still crowin'...you're still goin' strong
I feel that room swayin'......while the band's playin'
One of your old favourite songs from way back when
So..... take her wrap, fellas.......find her an empty lap, fellas
Dolly'll never go away again

(instrumental break)

I said hello, Dolly,.....well, hello, Dolly
It's so nice to have you back where you belong
You're lookin' swell, Dolly.....I can tell, Dolly
You're still glowin'...you're still crowin'...you're still goin' strong
I feel the room swayin'...while that ole band keeps on playin'
One of your old favourite songs from way back when
So...golly, gee, fellas....find her an empty knee, fellas
Dolly'll never go away....I said she'll never go away
Dolly'll never go away again

I just had another "Aha" moment, folks, so just in case our Raggedy is still having some problems:



I do recall spidergal rushing into our studio telling me to "go back to bed" and then playing "Luck Be a Lady Tonight." Rather reminded me of "The Courtship of Miles Standish" when Priscilla told John Alden.

"Why don't you speak for yourself, John."

Anyway, here is a lovely song from Guys and Dolls:



Musical: Guys and Dolls
Song: I've Never Been in Love Before

I've never been in love before
Now all at once it's you
It's you forever more.

I've never been in love before
I thought my heart was safe
I thought I knew the score
But this is wine that's all too strange and strong
I'm full of foolish song
And out my song must pour
So please forgive this helpless haze I'm in
I've really never been
In love before.

I've never been in love before
Now all at once it's you
It's you forever more.
I've never been in love before
I thought my heart was safe
I thought I knew the score
But this is wine that's all too strange and strong
I'm full of foolish song
And out my song must pour

So please forgive this helpless haze I'm in
I've really never been
In love before.

Well I've took enough pills for big Memphis town

Ol' Jerry Lee's dranked enough whiskey to lift any ship off the ground

I'll be the first to admit

Sure do wish these people would quit it

You know its tough enough

To straightin' up when these idiots won't leave you alone.

Jerry Lee Lewis's life would make a damn good country song

I've always done my best

I've tried to walk tall

Walk on Killer

But when the evening was over I was drunk stumbling into walls

Well I know I've earned my reputation

Can't they see I've found my salvation?

I guess they'd rather prove me wrong

My life would make a damn good country song

Lets get it now!

I've had my share of women

But they always seem to leave

Gonna put me another quarter

In the ol' pinball machine

Well I know the ol' Killers been wrong

That ol' change came over me took too long

My life would make a damn good country song

Jerry Lee Lewis's life would make a damn good country song!

don't know why, but edgars song made me think of this tune by the man in black

The Night Hank Williams Came To Town
Johnny Cash

Harry Truman was our president
A coke an burger cost you thirty cents
I was still in love with Mavis Brown
On the night Hank Williams came to town.

"I Love Lucy" debuted on TV
That was one big event we didn't see
'Cause no one stayed at home for miles around
It was the night Hank Williams came to town.

Mama ironed my shirt and daddy let me take the truck
I drove on out to Grapevine and picked old Mavis up
We hit that county line for one quick round
On the night Hank Williams came to town.

A thousand people sweltered in the gym
Then I heard someone whisper; "Hey, that's him"
That's when the crowd let out this deafening sound
It was the night Hank Williams came to town.

On and on he sang into the night
'Jambalaya', 'Cheatin' heart', 'I saw the light'
How'd they get Miss Audrey in that gown
On the night Hank Williams came to town.

Mavis had her picture made with Hank outside his car
She said; "He sure is humble for a Grand Ole Opry Star."
Mavis said: "Why don't we hang around
It ain't often that Hank Williams comes to town."

While Hank signed his autograph on Beaulah Rice's fan
Mavis got acquainted with the Driftin' Cowboys Band
The effect on all our lives was quite profound
On the night Hank Williams came to town.

Your life and my life and everyone's life would make a damn good country song, edgar. Thanks, Texas. Love it!

I ran across a few songs about Florida, and I was amazed what wonderful poetry they could be:

Tallahassee

Window facing an ill-kept front yard
Plums on the tree heavy with nectar
Prayers to summon the destroying angel
Moon stuttering in the sky like film stuck in a projector
And you
You

Twin prop airplanes passing loudly overhead
Road to the airport two lanes clear
Half the whole town gone for the summer
Terrible silence coming down here
And you
You

There is no deadline
There is no schedule
There is no plan we can fall back on
The road this far can't be retraced
There is no punch line anybody can tack on
There are loose ends by the score
What did I come down here for?
You
You

and here's the australian version

Morton (song For Tex)
Weddings, Parties, Anything

He stopped to change a tyre out near Warnambool,
His Chevy it was all over the road.
He pulled into town sometime in the early afternoon,
More than a normal travelling salesman, the guitar his only load.

And we were all there waitin', in the Colac hall,
Our little legs a-swinging 'neath the chairs,
But I just sucked a butter menthol and never once looked at the girls,
Would the 'Cat Come Back' like last time? I fell into despair.

But here's a go, let's catch the show and lay your money down,
Cause Morton's back in town.

And I still hear the way he played his old guitar,
And I still hear the way he sang those songs.
And I still hear his voice so crisp and clear above the crowd,
Do I remember? Am I joking? somehow it all just seems so strong.

And could he crack a whip?
You bet he could (don't you make me laugh!)
And could he tell a joke? He would make you cry.
And could he hypnotise and do a dance and spin a yarn?
You name it, he could do it with the winkin' of an eye!

But here's a go, let's catch the show and lay your money down,
Cause Morton's back in town.

Ain't it funny how time passes, how the years just slip away.
And the memories we have they play their games.
And now it's me who's strumming guitars,
Now it's me who's travelling round,
But somehow I get the feeling that it isn't quite the same...

For it was never quite this easy,
It was never quite this hard.
But it never made much sense to theorise,
When the show closed down you'd pack your things,
You'd soon be on your way.
First you see him, now you don't,
He'd be gone before your very eyes.

But here's a go, let's catch the show and lay your money down,
Cause Morton's back in town.

From the U.S.A. to Canada,
He played the roving clown,

Morton's back in town.

From Dunedin to Germany
and on to Darling Downs.

Hey, Morton,
The Great Morton,
Tex Morton!
Morton's back in town.

then there's this take on florida

Florida
Vic Chesnutt

Florida, Florida, the redneck riviera
Florida, Florida, there's no more pathetic place in America
yes a man must make unpopular decisions, surely from time to time
and a man can only stand what a man can stand
it's a wobbly volatile line

Florida, Florida, the water table is f**ked
Florida, Florida, there's no more perfect place to give it all up
a man must take his life in his own hands
hit those nails on the head
and i respect a man who goes to where he wants to be
even if he wants to be dead

Florida, Florida, its a tropical paradise
Florida, Florida, theres no more perfect place to retire from life

Wow!, dj. You snuck in here and I missed both of those great songs. Love the man in black, but I sure missed that one by him, Canada.

Don't know Tex Morton, buddy, but I should, I expect.

Hey, speaking of back in town, how about this one:

Here are the lyrics from Jerry Silverman:

They tell me Joe Turner's come and gone
They tell me Joe Turner's come and gone (Oh, Lordy)
Got my man and gone.

He come with forty links of chain
He come with forty links of chain (Oh, Lordy)
Got my man and gone.

They tell me Joe Turner's come and gone
They tell me Joe Turner's come and gone (Oh, Lordy)
Done left me here to sing this song.

Come like he never come before,
Come like he never come before (Oh, Lordy)
Got my man and gone.

Why do I know that song and the melody?

Red neck riviera? Why you recalcitrant Canuck. Hilarious, Canada, and all this time Walter has been talking about, "what price paradise."

Hey, folks. You want redneck? Here's redneck and I love it:

but, who are the Bellamy Brothers?

Redneck girl likes to cruise in Daddy's pickup truck
And a redneck girl plays her hard when she's down on her luck
Living for a friday afternoon
She's gonna show one ole boy that we can move

And I pray that someday I will find me a redneck girl

Redneck girl likes to stay out all night long
She makes sweet rock n' roll while she listens to the country songs
She's waitin' for that moment of surrender
Her hands are calloused but her heart is tender

And I pray that someday I will find me a redneck girl
Oh give me a give me a give me a redneck girl
Give me a give me a give me a redneck girl

Oh give me a give me a give me a redneck girl
Give me a give me a give me a redneck girl

A redneck girl got a name on the back of her belt
She's got a kiss on her lips for her man and no one else
A coyote's howling out on the prairie
First comes love then comes marriage

And I pray that someday I will find me a redneck girl
Yeah give me a give me a give me a redneck girl