WA2K Radio is now on the air

Holy Moses, Brother Bob. That is one funny story. Thanks again for the bio's, and, as usual, will await our glitter pup to appear with those faces that are carved in stone.

Until then, listeners, let's hear a paint of another color.

I Ride an Old Paint
arranged and adapted by Arlo Guthrie

I ride an old paint, I lead an old dan
I'm goin' to Montana to throw the hoolihan
They feed in the coulees, they water in the draw
Their tails are all matted, their backs are all raw

CHORUS:
Ride around little dogies, ride around them slow
For the fiery and snuffy are rarin' to go

Old Bill Jones had a daughter and a son
One went to college, the other went wrong
His wife, she got killed in a poolroom fight
But still he's a-singin' from mornin' till night

CHORUS

When I die, take my saddle from the wall
Place it on my old pony, lead him out of his stall
Tie my bones to my saddle and turn our faces to the West
And we'll ride the prairie we love the best

CHORUS

I ride an old paint, I lead an old dan
I'm goin' to Montana to throw the hoolihan
They feed in the coulees, they water in the draw
Their tails are all matted, and their backs are all raw

CHORUS

Old Paint's sweltering in the PA heat today, but not to worry - he'll be feeling better this evening when the rain falls.

And here are Fred Gwynne, Sue Lyon and Arlo Guthrie (love that New Orleans song)

Another, Oops, folks. Missed Uncle Bob's bar song, but I am glad that he's still doing the karaoke thing. Say hello to Nair for us, Boston.

Look at that cute painted pony, folks. Hey, Raggedy. Thanks for the trio of Fred, Sue, and Arlo. Hmmm. Don't recall much about Sue, but I hate that Lolita caused her destruction, PA.

Had another of those "Aha" moments, listeners, and I think that I know why, but here is the result.

TELL LAURA I LOVE HER
Ray Peterson

Laura and Tommy were lovers
He wanted to give her everything
Flowers, presents and most of all, a wedding ring
He saw a sign for a stock car race
A thousand dollar prize it read
He couldn't get Laura on the phone
So to her mother Tommy said

Tell Laura I love her, tell Laura I need her
Tell Laura I may be late
I've something to do, that cannot wait

He drove his car to the racing grounds
He was the youngest driver there
The crowed roared as they started the race
'Round the track they drove at a deadly pace
No one knows what happened that day
How his car overturned in flames
But as they pulled him from the twisted wreck
With his dying breath, they heard him say

Tell Laura I love her, tell Laura I need her
Tell Laura not to cry
My love for her will never die

And in the chapel where Laura prays
For Tommy who passed away
It was just for Laura he lived and died
Alone in the chapel she can hear him cry

Tell Laura I love her, tell Laura I need her
Tell Laura not to cry
My love for her will never die
Tell Laura I love her.....

We need more rain here as well.

Well done Raggedyaggie. Thought I'd let Pa. wannabe's know what it's like to be from Pa.

You Know You're From or In Pennsylvania If:

You've never referred to Philadelphia as anything but "Philly." And
New Jersey has always been "Jersey."

You refer to Pennsylvania as "PA" (pronounced Peeay).

How many other states do that?

You know what "Punxsutawney Phil" ( A Ground Hog ) is, and what it
means if he sees his shadow.

The first day of buck and the first day of doe season are school
holidays.

You can use the phrase "fire hall wedding reception" and not even bat
an eye.

You can't go to a wedding without hearing the "Chicken Dance," at
least 1 Polka and either an Italian song (sung in Italian,) or "Hava
Nagila."

At least 5 people on your block have electric "candles" in all or
most of their windows all year long.

You know what a "Hex sign" is.

You know what a "State Store" is, and your out of state friends find
it incredulous that you can't purchase liquor at the mini-mart.

You own only three condiments "salt, pepper and Heinz ketchup."

Words like "hoagie," "chipped ham," "sticky buns," "pirogies",
"crick", "pop" , "Stillers" and "pocketbook" actually mean something
to
you.

You can eat cold pizza (even for breakfast) and know others who do
the same. (Those from NY find this "barbaric.")

You not only have heard of Birch Beer, but you know it comes in
several colors: Red, White, Brown, Gold

You know several places to purchase or that serve Scrapple, Summer
Sausage (Lebanon Bologna), and Hot Bacon Dressing.

You can eat a cold soft pretzel from a street vendor without fear and
enjoy it.

You know the difference between a cheese steak and a Primanti Bros.
"sanwich", and know that you can't get a really good one outside PA.

You live for summer, when street and county fairs signal the
beginning of funnel cake season.

Customers ask the waitress for "dippy eggs" for breakfast.

You know that Blue Ball, Intercourse, Climax, Bird-in-Hand, Beaver,
Moon, Virginville, Paradise, Mars, a nd Slippery Rock are PA towns.

You know what a township, borough, and commonwealth is.

You can identify drivers from New York, New Jersey, Ohio, or other
neighboring states by their unique and irritating driving habits.

A traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a horse-drawn carriage on
the highway in Lancaster County.

You know several people who have hit deer more than once.

You carry jumper cables in your car and your female passengers know
how to use them.

You still keep kitty litter, starting fluid, de-icer, or a snow brush
in your trunk, even if you live in the South.

Driving is always better in winter because the potholes are filled
with snow.

As a kid you built snow forts and leaf piles that were taller than
you were.

Your graduating class consisted of mostly Polish, German, & Italian
names.

"You guys" and "ynz" is a perfectly acceptable reference to a group
of men & women.

You know how to respond to the question "Djeetyet?"
(Did you eat yet?)

You learned to pronounce Bryn Mawr, Wilkes-Barre, Schuylkill, Bala
Cynwyd, Conshohocken, and Monongahela.

You know what a "Mummer" is, and are disappointed if you can't catch
at least highlights of the parade.

You actually understand these jokes and send them on to other
Pennsylvanians.

Well done, Bob.

Never had hot bacon dressing though. I guess that's outside the Burgh.

Hey, nothing wrong with cold pizza and a bottle of pop to wash it down.

Don't we love these exchanges between Raggedy and Bob, folks?

Speaking of "filly" and painted ponies, how about this one.

Artist: Blood Sweat And Tears
Song: Spining Wheel


What goes up
must come down
spinning wheel
got to go around
talkin' 'bout your troubles
it's a cryin' sin
Ride a painted pony
let the spinning wheel spin

You got no money
you got no home
spinning wheel
all al lone
talkin' 'bout your troubles and you,
you never learn
Ride a painted pony
let the spinning wheel turn

Did you find
the directing sign
on the straight and narrow highway

Would you mind a reflecting sign
Just let it shine
within your mind
and show you, the colors
that are real

Someone's waiting
just for you
spinning wheel,
spinning true
Drop all your troubles by the riverside
Catch a painted pony
on the spinning wheel ride

Someone's waiting
just for you
spinning wheel,
spinning true
Drop all your troubles by the riverside
Ride a painted Pony
let the spining wheel fly

And a spinning wheel goes round, round, round.


artist: Perry Como lyrics
title: Round And Round


Find a wheel and it goes round, round, round
As it skims along with a happy sound
As it goes along the ground, ground, ground
Till it leads you to the one you love

Then your love will hold you round, round, round
In your heart's a song with a brand new song
And your head goes spinning round, round, round
'cause you've found what you've been dreamin' of

In the night you see the oval moon
Going round and round in tune
And the ball of sun in the day
Makes a girl and boy wanna say

Find a ring and put it round, round, round
And with ties so strong that two hearts are bound
Put it on the one you've found, found, found
For you know that this is really love

Find a wheel and it goes round, round, round
As it skims along with a happy sound
As it goes along the ground, ground, ground
Till it leads you to the one you love

Then your love, you'll hold her round, round, round
In your heart's a song with a brand new song
And your head goes spinning round, round, round
'cause you've found what you've been dreamin' of

In the night you see the oval moon
Going round and round in tune
And the ball of sun in the day
Makes a girl and boy wanna say

Find a ring and put it round, round, round
And with ties so strong your two hearts are bound
Put it on the one you've found, found, found
For you know that this is really love

Find a ring, ptu it on
For you know that this is really love, really love,
Really love

Well, folks, this is wheel day on WA2K. Love that one, Bob, now how about this wheel. We'll dedicate it to Dutchy and fbaezer.



Dusty Springfield

Round like a circle in a spiral like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending on beginning on an ever-spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes on its face
And the world is like an apple spinning silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half-forgotten dream
Like the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes on its face
And the world is like an apple spinning silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Keys that jingle in your pocket
Words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly?
Was it something that I said?
Lovers walk along a shore
And leave their footprints in the sand
Was the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway
Or the fragment of a song
Half-remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair?

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever-spinning reel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Old Crow Medicine Show Wagon Wheel Lyrics

Headed down south to the land of the pines
And I'm thumbin' my way into North Caroline
Starin' up the road
Pray to God I see headlights

I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
And I'm a hopin' for Raleigh
I can see my baby tonight

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama anyway you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Runnin' from the cold up in New England
I was born to be a fiddler in an old-time stringband
My baby plays the guitar
I pick a banjo now

Oh, the North country winters keep a gettin' me now
Lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave
But I ain't a turnin' back
To livin' that old life no more

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama anyway you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke
I caught a trucker out of Philly
Had a nice long toke
But he's a headed west from the Cumberland Gap
To Johnson City, Tennessee

And I gotta get a move on before the sun
I hear my baby callin' my name
And I know that she's the only one
And if I die in Raleigh
At least I will die free

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama anyway you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Hey, edgar. I did a quick search and there is some dispute over who wrote that song. Was it Dylan?

Well, the first medicine they tell me was whiskey, Texas.



How about eighteen wheels, listeners.

Artist/Band: Alabama
Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)


Roll on highway, roll on along
Roll on daddy till you get back home
Roll on family, roll on crew
Roll on momma like I asked you to do
And roll on eighteen-wheeler roll on (roll on)

Well it's Monday morning, he's kissin' momma goodbye
He's up and gone with the sun
Daddy drives an eighteen-wheeler
And he's off on a midwest run
As three sad faces gather 'round momma
They ask her when daddy's comin' home
Daddy drives an eighteen-wheeler
And they sure miss him when he's gone (yeah they do)

Ah, but he calls them every night and he tells them that he loves them
He taught them this song to sing

Roll on highway, roll on along
Roll on daddy till you get back home
Roll on family, roll on crew
Roll on momma like I asked you to do
And roll on eighteen-wheeler, roll on (roll on)

Well it's Wednesday evening, momma's waitin' by the phone
It rings but it's not his voice
Seems the highway patrol has found a jack-knifed rig
In a snow bank in Illinois

But the driver was missin' and the search had been abandoned
For the weather had everything stalled
And they had checked all the houses and the local motels
When they had some more news they'd call
And she told them when they found him to tell him that she loved him
And she hung up the phone singin'

Roll on highway, roll on along
Roll on daddy till you get back home
Roll on family, roll on crew
Roll on momma like I asked you to do
And roll on eighteen-wheeler roll on

Momma and the children will be waiting up all night long
Thinkin' nothing but the worst is comin'
With the ringin' of the telephone
Oh, but the man upstairs was listening
When momma asked him to bring daddy home
And when the call came in it was daddy on the other end
Askin' her if she had been singin' the song, singin'

Roll on highway, roll on along
Roll on daddy till you get back home
Roll on family, roll on crew
Roll on momma like I asked you to do
And roll on eighteen-wheeler

Roll on highway, roll on along
Roll on daddy till you get back home
Roll on family, roll on crew
Roll on momma like I asked you to do
And roll on eighteen-wheeler, roll on (roll on)

Eighteen-wheeler
Eighteen-wheeler
Eighteen-wheeler
Eighteen-wheeler
Roll on
Roll on
Roll on
Roll on

I don't know the writer of that one, letty.

Well, I'll check it out again, edgar, but in the interim, Texas is this true?

If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
That lead guitar is hot but not for "Lousiana Man"
So rosin up that bow for "Faded Love" and let's all dance
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band

I remember down in Houston we were puttin' on a show
When a cowboy in the back stood up and yelled, "Cotton-Eyed Joe"!
He said, "We love what you're doin', boys don't get us wrong
There's just somethin' missin' in your song"

If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
That lead guitar is hot but not for "Lousiana Man"
So rosin up that bow for "Faded Love" and let's all dance
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band

So we dusted off our boots and put our cowboy hats on straight
Them Texans raised the roof when Jeff opened up his case
You say y'all all wanna two-step
You say ya wanna doe-si-doe
Well, here's your fiddlin' song before we go

If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
That lead guitar is hot but not for "Lousiana Man"
So rosin up that bow for "Faded Love" and let's all dance
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band

If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band
That lead guitar is hot but not for "Lousiana Man"
So rosin up that bow for "Faded Love" and let's all dance
If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band

I checked the two most complete listings of Dylan songs I know, and as near as I can tell, he didn't write or record that song.

Well, edgar, I am certainly not going to challenge you on B.D. <smile>

Maybe you can make sense out of this, Texas.

http://ninebullets.net/archives/learn-something-new-everyday-rock-me-momma-aka-wagon-wheel

Here's one that surprised me, folks. I got it in my head when edgar started playing wagon wheels. I'm certain that the song goes back farther than Marty, however.

Marty Robbins

Wagon wheels (rollin', rollin', rollin')wagon wheels
Keep on a-turnin' (turnin') wagon wheels
Roll along (rollin', rollin', rollin') sing your song
Carry me over the hill (carry me over the hill)

Roll on mule, there's a steamer at the landin'
Waitin' for this cotton to load
Roll on mule, the boss is understandin'
There's a pasture at the end of each road

Wagon wheels (rollin', rollin', rollin')wagon wheels
Keep on a-turnin' (turnin') wagon wheels
Roll along sing your song
Wagon wheels carry me home
Wagon wheels carry me home
(Wagon wheels carry me home)

I thought of the Sons of the Pioneers, but it don't seem to be them. Maybe Gene Autry.

One of the earliest TV shows centered around an animal, was Champion the Wonder Horse- -Gene Autry's horse. Here is the theme

Like a streak of lightnin' flashing 'cross the sky
Like the swiftest arrow whizzing from a bow
Like a mighty cannonball he seems to fly
You'll hear about him everywhere you go
The time will come when everyone will know
The name of.....Champion the wonder horse

I Cover The Waterfront
Eddy Duchin

I cover the waterfront
I'm watching the sea
Will the one I love
Be coming back to me

I cover the waterfront
In search of my love
And I'm covered by
A starless sky above

Here am I
Patiently waiting
Hoping and longing
Oh, how I yearn
Where are you
Are you forgetting
Do you remember
Will you return

I cover the waterfront
I'm watching the sea
For the one I love
Must come back to me

Here am I
Patiently waiting
Hoping and longing
Oh, how I yearn
Where are you
Are you forgetting
Do you remember
Will you return

I cover the waterfront
I'm watching the sea
For the one I love
Must come back to me

Good morning, WA2K and edgar.

I love that one, Texas. Bud played it solo on his bass. Wonderful memories, y'all.

I appreciate the info on Champion. I most assuredly did not know that.

Here's another water song, folks.


Led Zeppelin
The Ocean

[Count-In: John Bonham] - "We've done four already but now we're steady
and then they went: One, two, three, four"

Singing in the sunshine, laughing in the rain
Hitting on the moonshine, rocking in the grain
Ain't no time to pack my bag, my foots outside the door
Got a date, I can't be late, for the high hopes hailla ball.


Singing to an ocean, I can hear the ocean's roar
Play for free, play for me and play a whole lot more, more!
Singing about good things and the sun that lights the day
I used to sing on the mountains, has the ocean lost it's way.

Sitting round singing songs 'til the night turns into day
Used to sing on the mountains but the mountains washed away
Now I'm singing all my songs to the girl who won my heart
She is only three years old and it's a real fine way to start.

E. B. White
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899, Mount Vernon, New York - October 1, 1985, North Brooklin, Maine) was a leading American essayist, author, humorist, poet and literary stylist.

"No one can write a sentence like White," James Thurber once said of his crisp and graceful writing style.[1] A liberal free-thinker, White often wrote as an ironic onlooker, championing freedom of the individual. His writing ranged from satire to textbooks and children's fiction. His writers' style guide, The Elements of Style, remains a well-regarded text; his three children's books, Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan, are regarded as classics of the field.





Biography

E.B. White was born in Mount Vernon, New York and graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1921. He picked up the nickname "Andy" at Cornell, where tradition confers that monicker on any student surnamed White, after Cornell co-founder Andrew Dickson White. While at Cornell, he worked as editor of The Cornell Daily Sun with classmate Allison Danzig who later became a sportswriter for The New York Times. White was also a member of the Quill and Dagger society.

He wrote for The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer and worked as an ad man before returning to New York City in 1924.

He published his first article in The New Yorker magazine in 1925, then joined the staff in 1927 and continued to contribute for six decades. Best recognized for his essays and unsigned Notes and Comment pieces, he gradually became the most important contributor to The New Yorker at a time when it was arguably the most important American literary magazine. He also served as a columnist for Harper's Magazine from 1938 to 1943.

In the late 1930s White turned his hand to children's fiction on behalf of a niece, Janice Hart White. His first children's book, Stuart Little, was published in 1945, and Charlotte's Web appeared in 1952. Both were highly acclaimed, and in 1970 jointly won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, a major prize in the field of children's literature. In the same year, he published his third children's novel, The Trumpet of the Swan. In 1973, that book received the Sequoyah Award from Oklahoma and the William Allen White Award from Kansas, both of which were awarded by students voting for their favorite book of the year.

In 1959, White edited and updated The Elements of Style. This handbook of grammatical and stylistic dos and don'ts for writers of American English had been written and published in 1918 by William Strunk Jr., one of White's professors at Cornell. White's rework of the book was extremely well received, and further editions of the work followed in 1972, 1979, and 1999; an illustrated edition followed in 2005. That same year, a New York composer named Nico Muhly premiered a short opera based on the book. The volume is a standard tool for students and writers, and remains required reading in many composition classes.

In 1978, White won a special Pulitzer Prize for his work as a whole. Other awards he received included a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, and memberships in a variety of literary societies throughout the United States. White was also a world federalist, and once said[1]:

"Government is the thing. Law is the thing. Not brotherhood, not international cooperation, not security councils that can stop war only by waging it...Where does security lie, anyway - security against the thief,a bad man the murderer? In brotherly love? Not at all. It lies in government."
White married Katharine Sergeant Angell in 1929, also an editor at The New Yorker, and author (as Katharine White) of Onward and Upward in the Garden. They had a son, Joel White, a naval architect and boatbuilder, who owned Brooklin Boatyard in Brooklin, Maine. Katharine's son from her first marriage, Roger Angell, has spent decades as a fiction editor for The New Yorker and is well-known as the magazine's baseball writer.

White died on October 1, 1985 at his farm home in North Brooklin, Maine, after a long fight with Alzheimer's Disease. He was cremated, and his ashes were buried beside his wife at the Brooklin Cemetery.[2]


Writings

White's style was wry, understated, thoughtful, and informed. He was widely regarded as a master of the English language, noted for clear, well-constructed, and charming prose. Many readers single out his essay "Here Is New York," written for Holiday magazine in 1948 and published in book form the next year, for its distillation of the bittersweet pleasures of New York City life. It was widely quoted after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, because of a passage--written at the beginning of the age of nuclear weapons--in which he talks about New York's vulnerability: "The city, for the first time in its long history, is destructible. A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate the millions. The intimation of mortality is part of New York in the sound of the jets overhead, in the black headlines of the latest edition."

Through his writing, he set a way to write in American English by adopting Anglo-Saxon derived terms rather than focusing on finding the Latin origin of the words he used. The Associated Press uses White's words in showing his writing style :[3]

The rules of The Elements of Style were as simple to state -- 'Omit needless words' -- as they were difficult to obey

Yul Brynner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Birth name Yuliy Borisovich Brynner
Born July 11, 1920
Vladivostok, Russian SFSR
Died October 10, 1985 aged 65
New York, New York, United States
Years active 1944 - 1980
Spouse(s) Kathy Lee (1983 - October 10, 1985) (his death)
Jacqueline de Croisset (1971 - 1981) (divorced) 2 children
Doris Kleiner (1960 - 1967) (divorced) 1 child
Virginia Gilmore (1944 - 1960) (divorced) 1 child
Academy Awards

Best Actor
1956 The King and I
Tony Awards

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
1952 King and I
1985 Special Award

Yul Brynner (July 11, 1920[1] - October 10, 1985) was a Russian-born Broadway and Academy Award-winning Hollywood actor. He appeared in many movies and stage productions in the United States. He is best known for his portrayal of the Siamese king in the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical The King and I on the stage and on the screen, as well as Rameses II in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille film The Ten Commandments and as Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven.

He was known for his shaved head which he kept as a personal trademark since adopting it in his role in The King and I. The term Yul Brynner became synonymous with baldness during his lifetime.





Biography

Early life

He was born Yuliy Borisovich Brynner (Russian: Юлий Бори́сович Бри́ннер) in Vladivostok, Russia. His mother, Marusya Blagоvidova (Russian: Маруся Благовидова), was the daughter of a Russian doctor and his father, Boris Brynner (Russian: Борис Бриннер), was an engineer and inventor, who was of Swiss and 1/16th Mongolian ancestry. He was named Yul after his paternal grandfather, Jules Brynner.

Brynner's early life was exotic, but he made it out to be even more exotic than it actually was, claiming that he was born Taidje Khan of part-Mongol parentage on the Russian island of Sakhalin. A biography published by his son Rock Brynner in 1989 clarified these issues.

After Boris Brynner abandoned his family, his mother took Yul and his sister, Vera Bryner (Russian: Вера Бриннер), to Harbin, China, where they attended a school run by the YMCA, and in 1934 she took them to Paris, France.

During WWII (1942-D-Day) Brynner worked as a French speaking radio announcer and commentator for the US Office of War Information, broadcasting propaganda to occupied France.


Career

He began acting and modeling in his 20s, and early in his career he was photographed nude by George Platt Lynes.

Brynner's best-known role was that of King Mongkut of Siam in the Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical The King and I which he played 4,626 times onstage over the span of his career. He appeared in the original production and subsequent touring productions, as well as a 1977 Broadway revival, and another Broadway revival in 1985. He also appeared in the film version for which he won an Academy Award as Best Actor, and in a short-lived TV version (Anna and the King) on CBS in 1972. Brynner is one of only seven people who have won both a Tony Award and an Academy Award for the same role.


He made an immediate impact upon launching his film career in 1956, appearing not only in the film version of The King and I that year, but also in major roles in The Ten Commandments opposite Charlton Heston and Anastasia opposite Ingrid Bergman. Brynner, only 5'10", was reportedly concerned about being overshadowed by Charlton Heston's physical presence in the film The Ten Commandments, and prepared with an intensive weight-lifting program.

He later starred in such films as the Biblical epic Solomon and Sheba (1959), as Solomon, The Magnificent Seven (1960), and Westworld (1973). He co-starred with Marlon Brando in Morituri; Katharine Hepburn in The Madwoman of Chaillot and William Shatner in a film version of The Brothers Karamazov. He starred with Barbara Bouchet in Death Rage, 1976. His final feature film appearance was in the sequel to Westworld, titled Futureworld with Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner, in 1976.

Brynner also appeared in drag in an unbilled role in the Peter Sellers comedy The Magic Christian.

Towards the end of his life he contracted trichinosis and subsequently sued Trader Vic's restaurant in the Plaza Hotel in New York City for serving him undercooked pork, from which, allegedly, he caught the disease.



In addition to his work as a performer, Brynner was an active photographer, and wrote two books. His daughter Victoria put together a book of his photographs of family, friends, and fellow actors, as well as those he took while serving as a UN special consultant on refugees. The book is titled Yul Brynner: Photographer (ISBN 0-8109-3144-3). Brynner also published Bring Forth the Children: A Journey to the Forgotten People of Europe and the Middle East in 1960 and The Yul Brynner Cookbook: Food Fit for the King and You (ISBN 0-8128-2882-8) in 1983.

A student of music from childhood, Brynner was an accomplished guitarist and singer. In his early period in Europe he often played and sang gypsy songs in Parisian nightclubs with Aliosha Dimitrievitch. He sang some of those same songs in the film The Brothers Karamazov. In 1967, he and Dimitrievitch released a record album, The Gypsy and I: Yul Brynner Sings Gypsy Songs (Vanguard VSD 79265).


Personal life

Yul Brynner was married four times, of which the first three ended in divorce. He had three children and adopted two others.

His first wife, Virginia Gilmore (1944-1960), was an actress. They had one child, Yul Brynner II (b. December 23, 1946), nicknamed when he was six "Rock" by his father in honor of boxer Rocky Graziano, who won the middleweight title in 1947. Rock is a historian, novelist and university history lecturer [2].
Lark Brynner (b. 1958) was born out of wedlock and raised by her mother.
His second wife, Doris Kleiner (1960 - 1967), was a Chilean model, whom he married on the set during shooting of The Magnificent Seven in 1960.[3] They had one child, Victoria Brynner (b. November 1962), whose godmother is Audrey Hepburn.
His third wife, Jacqueline de Croisset (1971 - 1981), was a French socialite. She was the widow of Philippe de Croisset, a publishing executive. Yul and Jacqueline adopted two Vietnamese children: Mia (1974), and Melody (1975).
His fourth wife, Kathy Lee, born in Malaysia, was a dancer in The King and I shows.[4] They married in 1983.
Brynner also had an affair with Marlene Dietrich in the early 1950s.[citation needed]


Death

Brynner died on October 10, 1985 (the same day as Orson Welles, his costar in The Battle of Neretva) in New York City. The cause of death was lung cancer brought on by smoking. Throughout his life, Brynner was always seen with a cigarette in his hand. In January 1985, nine months before his death, he gave an interview on Good Morning America, expressing his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial.[5] A clip from that interview was made into just such a public service announcement by the American Cancer Society, and released after his death; it includes the warning "Now that I'm gone, I tell you, don't smoke." This advertisement now features in the Body Worlds exhibition.

Yul Brynner is interred in the cemetery at the Saint-Michel-de-Bois-Aubry monastery in Luzé, near Poitiers, Vienne, France.

Brynner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6162 Hollywood Blvd, and his childhood home, in Vladivostok, is now a museum. He was made "Top 10 stars of the year", in both 1957 and 1958.


Popular culture references

He is referenced in a Toy Dolls song entitled "Yul Brynner was a Skinhead".[citation needed] The lyrics, contrary to the title, humorously point out that Brynner can't be a skinhead since he's not wearing Dr. Martens boots and doesn't have any tattoos.
Brynner's appearances in Westworld and The King and I are noted in former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus's song "Jo Jo's Jacket." It features a clip of Brynner's voice and the lyrics "I have a bald head, my name is Yul Brynner, and I am a famous movie star!". The song appears on Malkmus's first solo album, Stephen Malkmus.
Brynner is mentioned in the R.E.M. song "I Wanted To Be Wrong", which appears on their 2004 album Around the Sun. The song begins with the lyrics "You know where I come from / You know what I feel / You're Yul Brenner Westworld / Reporting from the field."
Brynner's role in The King and I is also referenced in the 1984 Murray Head song "One Night in Bangkok",[citation needed] in which the lyrics describe Bangkok as "the creme de la creme of the chess world in a show with everything but Yul Brynner". Bangkok is located in Thailand, which was formerly known as Siam.
One of the main characters in the 1993 Disney movie Cool Runnings goes by the name Yul Brenner.
Brynner is shown photographed nude in "Naked Men: Pioneering Male Nudes 1935-1955".
"Yul Brenner" was the name of one of the four bobsled teammates in the film Cool Runnings. The reference to the very similarly named Yul Brynner was apparently lost on the character himself in the film.
Stand up comedian and satirist Bill Hicks, often mentioned Brynner in his acts.