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WA2K Radio is now on the air

 
 
bobsmythhawk
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 12:08 pm
A young farm lad from North Iowa goes off to college, but about 1/3 of the way through the semester,
he has foolishly squandered away all of the money his parents gave him.
Then he gets an idea. He calls his daddy. "Dad," he says, "you won't believe the wonders that modern
education is coming up with! Why, they actually have a program here at Iowa State that will teach our dog Ole Blue how to talk!"
"That's absolutely amazing," his father says. "How do I get him in that program?"
"Just send him down here with $1,000" the boy says. "I'll get him into the course.So, his father sends the dog
and the $1,000. About 2/3 way through the semester, the money runs out. The boy calls his father again.
"So how's Ole Blue doing, son," his father asks.
"Awesome, Dad, he's talking up a storm," he says, "but you just won't believe this - they've had such
good results with this program that they've implemented a new one to teach the animals how to READ!"
"READ," says his father, "No kidding! What do I have to do to get him in that program?"
Just send $2,500, I'll get him in the class.His father sends the money.
The boy now has a problem. At the end of the year, his father will find out that the dog can neither talk, nor read. So he shoots the dog.
When he gets home at the end of the semester, his father is all excited. "Where's Ole Blue? I just can't wait to see him talk and read something!"
"Dad," the boy says, "I have some grim news. Yesterday morning, just before we left to drive home,
Ole Blue was in the living room kicked back in the recliner, reading the Wall Street Journal, like he usually does.
Then he turned to me and asked, 'So, is your daddy still messin' around with that little redhead who lives in town?'
The father says, "I hope you SHOT that s.o.b. before he talks to your Mother!"
"I sure did, Dad!"
"That's my boy!"
(The kid went on to be a successful lawyer...... )
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 12:24 pm
Well, hawkman, that little story proves that all dogs aren't man's best friend, nor are all college kids stupid. Loved the end of the story, Boston. Hmmm. Wonder if that lawyer is too expensive to retain.

Hey, turtle. go ahead and do your picture thing, honey. If our Raggedy is other wise preoccupied, she is marvelous at identifying movie info, and oh, boy does she know Boy.

Until then, folks. Here are two songs that have absolutely no rhyme nor reason nor theme. I was simply interested in the background and the colors.

HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHTS
Don Raye / Freddie Slack


House of Blue Lights (Raye/Slack)
Lace up your boots and we'll broom on down
To a knocked out shack on the edge of town
There's an eight beat combo that just won't quit
Keep walkin' 'til you see a blue light lit
Fall in there and we'll see some sights
At the house of blue lights
There's fryers and broilers and Detroit barbeque ribs
But the treat of the treats is when they serve you all those fine
eight beats
You'll want to spend the rest of your nights
Down at the house, The house of blue lights

We'll have a time and we'll cut some rug
While we dig those tunes like they should be dug
It's a real home comin' for all the cats
Just trilly down a path of welcome mats
Fall in there and we'll see some sights
At the house of blue lights

Green Door


Midnight, one more night without sleepin',
Watchin' till the mornin' comes creepin'.
Green door, what's that secret you're keepin'?

{Bridge 1:}
There's an old piano
And they play it hot behind the green door;
Don't know what they're doin'
But they laugh a lot behind the green door.
Wish they'd let me in
So I could find out what's behind the green door.

Knocked once, tried to tell them I'd been there;
Door slammed, hospitalty's thin there.
Wonder just what's goin' on in there.

{Bridge 2:}
Saw an eyeball peepin'
Through a smoky cloud behind the green door;
When I said "Joe sent me"
Someone laughed out loud behind the green door.
All I want to do
Is join the happy crowd behind the green door.

Midnight, one more night without sleepin',
Watchin' till the mornin' comes creepin'.
Green door, what's that secret you're keepin'?

{Coda:}
Green door what's that secret you're keepin'?

Green door!

You'd be surprised, listeners, at the meaning behind that green door.
0 Replies
 
Raggedyaggie
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 01:13 pm
BOY! Yippee!

http://www.classicmoviekids.com/images/s/sheffieldjohnny/sheffield001.jpg
and Bomba in a matching outfit.
http://www.thecolumnists.com/sheffield.jpg

and that guy from Cabaret:

http://static.last.fm/proposedimages/sidebar/6/1032578/40326.jpghttp://www.artnet.com/Magazine/people/smith/Images/smith8-29-2s.jpg
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 01:28 pm
Hooray for Rag-ge-dy. She shows the pictures that we like to see. (to the tune of Hooray for Hollywood) Laughing

Great, PA. There's that boy AKA Bomba, and Joel Grey who is the father of Jennifer. Certainly did not know that, folks. Didn't know that Cassini had a thing going with Grace Kelley, either. Don't recall Grace ever wearing a pillbox hat.

Now a question for our movie specialist. Raggedy. Wasn't there a movie in which someone pretended to be Jackie waving to the crowd and part of the charade was to see Jack Kennedy assassinated? It was really weird, as I recall.

Until then, let's hear this one from Cabaret, definitely hedonistic.

Cabaret

What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.

Put down the knitting,
The book and the broom.
Time for a holiday.
Life is Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.

Come taste the wine,
Come hear the band.
Come blow your horn,
Start celebrating;
Right this way,
Your table's waiting

No use permitting
soem prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away.
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret!

I used to have a girlfriend
known as Elsie
With whom I shared
Four sordid rooms in Chelsea

She wasn't what you'd call
A blushing flower...
As a matter of fact
She rented by the hour.

The day she died the neighbors
came to snicker:
"Well, thats what comes
from to much pills and liquor."

But when I saw her laid out like a Queen
She was the happiest...corpse...
I'd ever seen.

I think of Elsie to this very day.
I'd remember how'd she turn to me and say:
"What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret."

And as for me,
I made up my mind back in Chelsea,
When I go, I'm going like Elsie.

Start by admitting
From cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Only a Cabaret, old chum,
And I love a Cabaret!
0 Replies
 
Raggedyaggie
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 01:52 pm
I don't remember seeing that movie, Letty. Sad I think I'd remember that one.
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 03:02 pm
Darn, Raggedy. Well, perhaps someone else will recall it or phone in the answer.

You know, folks, it's odd how certain things pop up in the news, and suddenly you find yourself wondering about celeb's you never heard of. One, for me anyway, was Anna Nicole Smith. Now a joyful young man claims he is the father of her child and he looks soooooo happy. Don't suppose it has to do with the money, do you? Nah. Another is Imus.(not to be confused with our Irish friend, Imur) Razz Now suddenly there's a an explosion of the media because he made a serious racial slur. Ah, well. As I have often observed, there is no such thing as negative publicity.

Another question for our speckled pup. I bet you do recall some movie in which Michael York starred, that involved the idea of a society where no one was over thirty. Then he and his young female companion found an aging Peter Ustinov.

As we wait, we wonder about our edgar, dj, and others but let's listen to a nice and easy Eagle song.

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay,
against your skin, it's so brown
and I wanna sleep with you
in the desert tonight
with a billion stars all around
'cause I gotta peaceful easy feeling
and I know you won't let me down
'cause I'm already standing on the
ground
And I found out a long time ago
what a woman can do to your soul
Ah, but she can't take you anyway
You don't already know how to go
and I gotta peaceful, easy feeling
and I know you won't let me down
'cause I'm already standing on the ground
I get this feeling I may know you
as a lover and a friend
but this voice keeps whispering
in my other ear, tells me
I may never see you again
'cause I get a peaceful, easy feeling
and I know you won't let me down
'cause I'm already standing on the ground
'cause I'm already standing...
on the ground
oooo, oooo
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 04:56 pm
Sylvia's Mother
Fr Hook

Sylvia's mother says, Sylvia's busy
Too busy to come to the phone
Sylvia's mother says, Sylvia's tryin'
To start a new life of her own
Sylvia's mother says, Sylvia's happy
So why don't you leave her alone

And the operator says, 40 cents more
For the next 3 minutes
Ple-ease Mrs Avery, I just gotta talk to her
I'll only keep her a while
Please Mrs Avery, I just wanna tell 'er goodbye

Sylvia's mother says, Sylvia's packin'
She's gonna be leavin' today
Sylvia's mother says, Sylvia's marryin'
A fella down Galveston way
Sylvia's mother says, please don't say nothin'
To make her start cryin' and stay

And the operator says, 40 cents more
For the next 3 minutes
Ple-ease Mrs Avery, I just gotta talk to her
I'll only keep her a while
Please Mrs Avery, I just wanna tell 'er goodbye

Sylvia's mother says, Sylvia's hurryin'
She's catchin' the nine o'clock train
Sylvia's mother says, take your umbrella
'Cause Sylvia, it's startin' to rain
And Sylvia's mother says, thank you for callin'
And, sir, won't you call back again

And the operator says, 40 cents more
For the next 3 minutes
Ple-ease Mrs Avery, I just gotta talk to her
I'll only keep her a while
Please Mrs Avery, I just wanna tell 'er goodbye

Tell her goodbye
Please
Tell her goodbye


Note from edgarblythe: My internet service was spotty yesterday. I was offline, mostly.
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 05:16 pm
Clyde Mcphatter & Drifters - Thirty Days

I'm gonna give you thirty days to get back home
I done talked to the gypsey woman on the telephone
She gonna send out a world wide hoodoo
that'll be the very thing that'll suit ya
I'm gonna see that you be back home in thirty days
Oh thirty days (thirty days!)
Oh thirty days (thirty days!)
I'm gonna see that you be back home in thirty days
Gonna send out a world wide hoodoo
that'll be the very thing that'll suit ya
I'm gonna see that you be back home in thirty days.

I done talked to the judge in private early this morning
And he took me to the sheriff's office to sign a warning(warrant?)
Gonna put a false charge again ya (against ya)
That'll be the very thing that'll send ya
I'm gonna see that you be back home in thirty days
Oh thirty days (thirty days)
Oh thirty days (thirty days)
Baby I'm gonna see that you be back home in thirty days
Gonna put a false charge again ya
that'll be the very thing that'll send ya
I'm gonna see that you be back home in thirty days

If I don't get no satisfaction from the judge
I'm gonna take it to the FBI and voice my grudge
If they don't give me no consolation
I'm gonna take it to the United Nations
I'm gonna see that you be back home in thirty days
Oh Thirty Days! (thirty days)
Oh Thirty Days! (thirty days)
Babe I'm gonna see that you be back home in thirty days
You don't give me no consolation
I'm gonna take it to the United Nations
I'm gonna see that you be back home in Thirty Days!
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 05:17 pm
Hey, Texas. Glad your ISP is unspotty this evening. Nice to see you back in our wee studio, edgar.

Note to Raggedy. The name of that movie with Michael York was "Logan's Run." Have an sos to Lightwizard to help with the other.

Okay, Here's another from Dr. Hook, folks.

THE COVER OF THE ROLLING STONE
Dr Hook & the Medicine Show

(talking...) Ha ha ha I don't believe it
Da, da, ah, ah don't touch it
Hey, Ray, Hey Sugar tell them who we are.....

Well, we're big rock singers
We got golden fingers
And we're loved everywhere we go..... (that sounds like us)
We sing about beauty and we sing about truth
At ten-thousand dollars a show..... (right)
We take all kinds of pills that give us all kind of thrills
But the thrill we've never known
Is the thrill that'll gitcha when you get your picture
On the cover of the rollin stone

(Rollin stone.....) Wanna see my picture on the cover
(Stone.....)Wanna buy five copies for my mother..... (yes)
(Stone.....)Wanna see my smilin face
On the cover of the rollin stone.... (that's a very very good idea)

I got a freaky ole lady name a cocaine Katy
Who embroideries on my jeans
I got my poor ole grey haired daddy
Drivin my limosine
Now it's all decided to blow our minds
But our minds won't really be blown
Like the blow that'll gitcha when you get your picture
On the cover of the rollin stone

(Rollin stone.....) Wanna see our pictures on the cover
(Stone.....) Wanna buy five copies for our mothers..... (yeah)
(Stone.....) Wanna see my smilin face
On the cover of the rollin stone
(talking) Hey, I know how
Rock and roll.....

Ah, that's beautiful

We got a lot of little teenage blue eyed groupies
Who do anything we say
We got a genu wine Indian Guru
Who's teaching us a better way
We got all the friends that money can buy
So we never have to be alone
And we keep getting richer but we can't get our picture
On the cover of the rollin stone

(Rollin stone.....)Wanna see my picture on the cover
(Stone.....) Wanna buy five copies for my mother..... (wa wa)
(Stone.....) Wanna see my smilin face
On the cover of the rollin stone
On the cover of the rollin.......
Stone.....) Wanna see my picture on the cover
(talking) I don't know why we ain't on the cover, Baby....
(Stone.....) Wanna buy five copies for my mother
(talking) We're beautiful subjects....
(Stone.....) Wanna see my smilin face
(talking) I ain't kiddin, we would make a beautiful cover....
On the cover of the rollin stone......
(talking) fresh shot, right up front, Man.....
I can see it now, we'll be up in the front....
Smilin, Man......
Ahh, beautiful.......
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 05:20 pm
Ade Olay E-E
Ade Olay E-E
E-E-E-E-E

A friend of mine bought an automobile
At a dollar down and a dollar a week.
Every time he turned the wheel,
It was a dollar down and a dollar a week.

He went riding down the road,
Pinched this girl upon her cheek.
Speed cop took him to the judge,
He got a dollar down and a dollar a week.

Sixty days he laid in jail,
At a dollar down and a dollar a week,
Another man was a lovin' his gal,
At a dollar down and a dollar a week.

When he got out he shot the man,
And laid him in the graveyard six feet deep.
And when he bought the graveyard spot,
it was a dollar down and a dollar a week.

Ade olay E-E
Ade olay E-E
Ade olay E-E
E-E-E-E-E (repeat)

Woody Guthrie
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 05:58 pm
ah, edgar, Woody and Arlo left us quite a legacy. Thanks for the reminder, Texas.

Good news from my kids tonight so I'm in a parody mood, folks.

Homer and Jethro do Hank Snow.

MOVING ON 2

The old hound dog was feelin' fine
Till he fell in a barrel of turpentine
He's A-Movin' On, He's A-Movin' On
He passed the gate, like an eight-eight, He's A-Movin' On.

There was a smart guy from the city
And he picked up a stripe'd kitty
He's A-Movin' On, He's A-Movin' On
We held our nose, as we burried his clothes, We're A-Movin' On.

I let a man work on my car
Then he grabbed a-hold of a spark plug wire
He's A-Movin' On, He's A-Movin' On
He turned it loose, when he felt the juice, He's A-Movin' On.

The old Tom cat was a-feelin' mean
When he caught his tail in the sewin' machine
He's A-Movin' On, He's A-Movin' On
He ripped a stitch, when he hit the ditch, He's A-Movin' On.

The old man's face got white as a sheet
When he slipped and fell in his cream of wheat
He's A-Movin' On, He's A-Movin' On
He flapped his ears, as he shifted gears, He's A-Movin' On.

Uncle John got awful clean
When he fell into the washing machine
He's A-Movin' On,He's A-Movin' On
He couldn't straddle, that doggone paddle, He's A-Movin' On.

We travel a lot to make our showin'
The way we sing we have to keep goin'
We're A-Movin' On, We're A-Movin' On
We've gotta go, here comes Hank Snow, We're A-Movin' On.

Love it!
0 Replies
 
hamburger
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 06:48 pm
good evening and greetings from canada !
listen to our own "stopin' tom" - if there ever was a true canadian , it's "stompin' tom" !
listen to his "ketchup song" - you need to know that "leamington" is in southern ontario and has many tomatoe farms and is known as "ketchup country" .
hbg

tom is the one in black

http://www.stompintom.com/photoalbum/tomandcelebs/091.jpg

Quote:
There was a guy from PEI they used to call Podato
He met this young Leamington Ontario Tomato
But he had eyes for other girls & she was a little mushy
So they said well let's get wed there's no sense bein fussy
Chorus:
Baked sized french fries-how they love Tomatoes
So dress em up with Heinz Ketchup-(Ketchup luvs Potatoes)x2

Well he went down to Windsor town to buy a ring on Monday
Saturday they said OK we'll cut the cake on Sunday
But Sunday came and what a shame-They had no one to fetch it
Without a cake they just sat and ate-Potato chips and ketchup
Bake sized french fries how they love Tomatoes
So dress em up with Heinz Ketchup- (Ketchup luvs Potatoes)X2

And so this guy from Pei they used to call Podato
Got two boys and a little girl-Two spuds & one Tomato
They romp and run around LEAMINGTON and boy when they get hungry
The bottle drips all over the chips way down in the KETCHUP COUNTRY .
Chorus
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Apr, 2007 07:00 pm
Welcome back, hbg. Love that song. It seems that Tom in black has a penchant for parodies, too.

First, let me assure all our listeners that I love K.D.Lang's voice, but you gotta love this as well.

Artist: Stompin Tom
Song: K D Lang
]

Where the wild roses grow in Alberta-
On the banks of the Gooseberry lake
There's a rose I suppose that you hearda-
She's as mild as a wild Irish wake
Like a thorn she was born to be contrary
Like a boy's was her joy raising cain.
The wildest rose that ever drove on the prairie
behind the wheel of a big truckload of grain.
Chorus
Little k little d little l-a-n-g-Her name was just plain kd lang
But her main claim to fame was how she sang with a twang
And jumped around like a 'rangytang-lady k.d. lang
k.d. lang, k.d. lang, she jumped around like a 'rangytang-
lady k.d.lang.
>From her home down in consort Alberta
near the tracks of that old railroad line
With her hair she could scare old Medusa,
While she sang like a young Patsy Cline.
It wasn't long till her songs got her landed
On the stage with those outrageous clothes-
There were skirts over shirts, boots, and trousers,
Hangin down from this wild Alberta Rose.
Chorus:
Now she toured north and south of the border-
And recorded with many famous names...
Though her style it was wild and outrageous,
Her star just kept rising to fame-
With her voice that was new and exciting,
She was called to those Juno awards
She made a leap on the stage and she got one
And took it home to Alberta, Boy George!
Chorus:
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Apr, 2007 03:47 am
Good morning, WA2K folks. I just read that Kurt Vonnegut has died. I don't recall having read the following, but it most certainly is intriguing.

Thematic Overview

Slaughterhouse-Five describes man's inhumanity to man, and the mass destruction of Dresden by Allied forces serves as Vonnegut's primary example.


Although a humanist at heart, Vonnegut repeatedly demonstrates the human aptitude for cruelty, and he shows how technology magnifies this cruelty beyond human control.

At a deeper level the novel explores the moral vacuum in which contemporary human life exists. Vonnegut's outrage over Dresden was as much a result of the lack of attention given to this event as it was to the bloodshed, but there are no villains in Vonnegut's novels, and he fully recognizes the ambiguous connection between agent and victim. Thus, in one of the novel's many Biblical allusions he sympathizes with Lot's wife who looks back at the destruction she is escaping before being turned to stone.

Slaughterhouse-Five, which is about Vonnegut's effort to tell his story as much as it is about Billy Pilgrim, explores the ambiguous nature of communication.

The rest of the story, folks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_on_re_us/obit_vonnegut
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Apr, 2007 05:20 am
Suddenly There's A Valley
Gogi Grant

[Words and Music by Chuck Meyer and Biff Jones]

When you've climbed the highest mountain
When a cloud holds the sunshine in
Suddenly there's a valley
Where the earth knows peace with man

When a storm hides the distant rainbow
And you think you can't find a friend
Suddenly there's a valley
Where friendships never end

Touched only by the seasons
Swept clean by the waving grain
Surveyed by a happy bluebird
And kissed by the falling rain

When you think there's no bright tomorrow
And you feel you can't try again
Suddenly there's a valley
Where hope and love begin

Suddenly there's a valley
Where hope and love begin
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Apr, 2007 05:30 am
Good morning, edgar. You know, Texas, the only song that I recall from Gogi is "The Wayward Wind." Thanks for another one.

I noticed via google that this is the anniversary of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin. Odd, folks, that I found a group that did a song about him and their name is Ozma. I found a strange little Russian to English version, but it's not very good.

Translation of russian spoken word

Astronaut, send us up
Once i'm out i'll beam you shots
As long as you return me back to you

Cosmonaut, best you've got,
Way too far from the stars
Promise to return me back to you

Return me back to you
0 Replies
 
Letty
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Apr, 2007 05:48 am
and here he is, that Cosmonaut

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/40/Juri_Gagarin.jpg/200px-Juri_Gagarin.jpg
0 Replies
 
bobsmythhawk
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Apr, 2007 09:51 am
Helen Forrest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Helen Forrest (April 12, 1917 - July 11, 1999) was one of the most popular female vocalists during America's Big Band era. She was born Helen Fogel to a Jewish family in Atlantic City, New Jersey on April 12, 1917. She first sang with her brother's band at the age of 10, and later began her career singing on CBS radio under the name Bonnie Blue.

Forrest achieved fame when bandleader Artie Shaw hired her in 1939. Shaw was looking for new talent since vocalist Billie Holiday had left the band the previous year. Forrest recorded 38 singles with Shaw's band. Two of her biggest hits with Shaw were the songs "They Say" and "All the Things You Are."

In late 1939 Forrest left Shaw and joined Benny Goodman, with whom she recorded a number of celebrated songs, including the hit song "The Man I Love." She recorded with Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton in 1940. In 1941, Forrest was hired by Harry James. It was with the Harry James Orchestra that she recorded what are arguably her most popular numbers, including "I Had the Craziest Dream" and "I Don't Want to Walk Without You." Forrest also dated James until he met the woman he would later marry, Betty Grable.

Because of her involvement with most of the popular bands of the big band era, Forrest was known as "the voice of the name bands."

Forrest left Harry James in late 1943 in pursuit of a solo career. In the late 1940s she sang on Dick Haymes' radio show. It was with Haymes that she recorded the song "Some Sunday Morning." After a dip in recording in the 1950s, Forrest sang with Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra led by Sam Donahue in the early 1960s. She continued to sing in supper clubs in the 1970s and 1980s. Her final album was released in 1983.

She kept singing until the early 1990s, when arthritis forced her into retirement. Over the course of her career, she recorded more than 500 songs. Forrest also acted in several musical films including Bathing Beauty (1944) and Two Girls and a Sailor (1944). She was a civil rights activist as well.

Forrest married and divorced three times, and had one son, Michael Forrest Feinman, who currently resides in Lancaster, California.

Helen Forrest died from congestive heart failure on July 11, 1999 in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 82. Her final resting place is in Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Forrest"
0 Replies
 
bobsmythhawk
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Apr, 2007 09:54 am
Ann Miller
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Birth name Johnnie Lucille Collier
Born April 12, 1923 1
Chireno, Texas, USA
Died January 22, 2004
Los Angeles, California, USA

Ann Miller (April 12, 1923 1 - January 22, 2004) was an American dancer, singer and actress, who was christened Johnnie Lucille Collier.

Born in Chireno, Texas (some sources cite Houston, where she was raised), her father insisted on the name Johnnie because he had wanted a boy, but she was often called Annie. She took up dancing to exercise her legs to help her rickets.

She was considered a child dance prodigy. In an interview featured in a "behind the scenes" documentary on the making of the compilation That's Entertainment III, she said that Eleanor Powell was an early inspiration. Miller was given a contract with RKO at the age of thirteen (she had told them she was eighteen), and remained there until 1940.

The following year, Miller was offered a contract at Columbia Pictures, where she bumped friend Lucille Ball from the throne as "Queen of the B-Movies". She finally hit her mark (starting in the late 1940s) in her roles in MGM musicals such as Kiss Me, Kate, Easter Parade, and On the Town.

Miller was famed for her speed in tap dancing; she claimed to be able to tap 500 times per minute. She was known as well, especially later in her career, for her distinctive appearance, which reflected a studio-era ideal of glamor: massive black bouffant hair, heavy makeup with a slash of crimson lipstick, and fashions that emphasized her lithe figure and long dancer's legs.

Her film career effectively ended in 1956 as the studio system lost steam to television, but she remained active in the theatre and on television. In 1979 she astounded audiences in the Broadway show Sugar Babies with fellow MGM veteran Mickey Rooney, which toured the United States extensively after its Broadway run. In 1983 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.

She appeared in a special 1982 episode of The Love Boat, joined by fellow showbiz legends Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Della Reese, Van Johnson, and Cab Calloway in a storyline that cast them as older relatives of the show's regular characters.

In 2001 she took her last role, playing Coco in auteur director David Lynch's critically acclaimed Mulholland Drive. Her last stage performance was a 1998 production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, in which she played the hardboiled survivor Carlotta Campion and received rave reviews for her rendition of the anthemic "I'm Still Here".

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Ann Miller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6914 Hollywood Blvd.

She died at the age of 80 from cancer which had metastasized to her lungs, and was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
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