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Don Knotts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Birth name Jesse Donald Knotts
Born July 21, 1924
Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
Died February 24, 2006 (aged 81)
Los Angeles, California
Years active 1953 - 2006
Notable roles Barney Fife in The Andy Griffith Show
Ralph Furley in Three's Company

Jesse Donald Knotts (July 21, 1924 - February 24, 2006) was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show (a role which earned him five Emmy Awards), and as landlord Ralph Furley on the television sitcom Three's Company. He also appeared opposite Tim Conway in a number of comedy films aimed at children.




Biography

Early life

Knotts was born in the university town of Morgantown, West Virginia to William Jesse Knotts and his wife, Elsie L. Moore. His father's family had been in the United States since the 17th century, originally settling in Queen Anne's County, Maryland.[1] Though his father had been a farmer, the latter suffered a nervous breakdown and lost his farm before Don was born. The family (including Don's two brothers) was supported by Don's mother, who ran a boarding house in town. [2] Knotts's father suffered from schizophrenia and alcoholism and died when Don was thirteen years old.[3] Some time later, Knotts graduated from Morgantown High School.

At 19, Knotts joined the Army and served in World War II as part of a traveling GI variety show. After the war, Knotts graduated from his hometown West Virginia University in 1948 with a degree in theater. He was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity.


Career

After performing various roles and venues (including a ventriloquist act with a dummy named Danny), Knotts got his first major break on television in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow where he appeared from 1953 to 1955. However, he gained greater fame in 1956 on Steve Allen's variety show, appearing as part of Allen's comedic repertory company, most notably in Allen's mock "Man in the Street" interviews, always as a man obviously very nervous about being on camera. The humor in the interviews would be increased when Knotts stated his occupation- always one that wouldn't be appropriate for such a nervous, shaking person, such as a surgeon or an explosives expert.

In 1958, Knotts appeared in the movie No Time for Sergeants alongside Andy Griffith. The movie, based on the play and book of the same name, began a professional and personal relationship between Knotts and Griffith that would last for decades.

In 1960, when Griffith was offered the opportunity to headline in his own television sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968), Knotts took the role of Barney Fife, the deputy and cousin of Sheriff Andy Taylor (portrayed by Griffith). Knotts's five seasons portraying the bumbling deputy on the popular show would earn him five Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. It would also bring him his greatest recognition.

A summary of the show from the website of the Museum of Broadcast Communications describes Deputy Barney Fife:

Self-important, romantic, and nearly always wrong, Barney dreamed of the day he could use the one bullet (which he kept in his shirt pocket) Andy had allowed him to be issued. While Barney was forever frustrated that Mayberry was too small for the delusional ideas he had of himself, viewers got the sense that he couldn't have survived anywhere else. Don Knotts played the comic and pathetic sides of the character with equal aplomb.
When the show first aired, Andy Griffith was intended to be the comedic lead with Don Knotts as his "foil," or straight man. But, it was quickly found that the show was funnier the other way around. The years during which the two worked on the show cemented Griffith's lifelong admiration for Don Knotts and their lifelong friendship.

Believing, based on earlier remarks made by Griffith, that The Andy Griffith Show would soon be ending, Knotts began to look for other work, and signed a film contract with Universal Studios. He was caught off guard when Griffith announced he would be continuing with the show after all, but Knotts's hands were tied, and left the series in 1965. (Within the series, it was announced that Deputy Fife had finally made the "big time," and had joined the Raleigh, NC police force.)

Knotts went on to star in a series of film comedies which drew on his high-strung persona from the TV series: The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968) and The Love God? (1969). Knotts would, however return to the role of Barney Fife several times in the 1960s: he made five more guest appearances on The Andy Griffith Show (gaining him another two Emmys), and later appeared once more on the spin-off Mayberry RFD , where he was present for the marriage of Andy Taylor and his longtime love, Helen Crump.

After making The Love God (the only one of his Universal films that did not carry a "G" rating), Knotts's contract with Universal came to an end. He continued to work steadily, though he did not appear as a regular on any successful series. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Knotts served as the spokesman for Dodge trucks and was featured prominently in a series of print ads and dealer brochures. On television, he went on to host an odd-variety show/sitcom hybrid on NBC, The Don Knotts Show, which aired Tuesdays during the fall of 1970, but the series was low-rated and short-lived. He also made frequent guest appearances on other shows such as The Bill Cosby Show and Here's Lucy. In 1970, he would also make yet another appearance as Barney Fife, in the pilot of The New Andy Griffith Show. (This was particularly odd, as Andy Griffith did not play Sheriff Taylor in this series.) In 1972, Knotts would voice an animated version of himself in two memorable episodes of The New Scooby Doo Movies. He also appeared as Felix Unger in a stage version of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple with Art Carney as Oscar Madison.

Beginning in 1975 Knotts was teamed with Tim Conway in a series of slapstick movies aimed at children, including the 1975 Disney film The Apple Dumpling Gang, and its 1979 sequel, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again and the Disney movie Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo.

In 1979, Knotts returned to series television in his second most identifiable role, landlord Ralph Furley on Three's Company. The series, which was already an established hit, added Knotts to the cast when the original landlords, a married couple Audra Lindley and Norman Fell, left the show to star in a short-lived spin-off series (The Ropers). Though the role of the outlandish, overdressed, nerdy-geeky-buffoon landlord was originally intended to be minor recurring character, Knotts was so funny and lovable as a character who fantasized that he was an incredibly attractive lothario, that the writers greatly expanded his role. On set, Knotts easily ingratiated himself to the already-established cast. Knotts remained on the show from until it ended in 1984. The Three's Company script supervisor, Carol Summers, went on to be Knotts's agent-- often accompanying him to personal appearances.

In 1986, Don Knotts reunited with Andy Griffith in the 1986 made-for-television movie Return to Mayberry, where he reprised his role as Barney Fife yet again. In 1989 he joined Griffith in another show, playing a recurring role as pesky neighbor Les Calhoun on Matlock until 1992.

After Matlock ended, Knotts's film and television roles became sporadic. In 1998, Knotts had a small but pivotal role as the mysterious TV repairman in Pleasantville. That year, his home town of Morgantown, West Virginia, changed the name of the street formerly known as South University Ave (US 119, US 73) to "Don Knotts Boulevard" on "Don Knotts Day." Also that day in a nod to Don's role as Barney Fife he was also named an honorary Deputy Sheriff with the Monongalia County Sheriff's Department. Two years later, Knotts was recognized for his television work with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Though he continued to act on stage, much of his film and television work after 2000 was voice only. In 2002, he would appear again with Scooby-Doo in the video game Scooby-Doo: Night of 100 Frights (Knotts also sent up his appearances on that show in various promotions for Cartoon Network and in a parody on Robot Chicken, where he was teamed with Phyllis Diller). In 2003, Knotts teamed up with Tim Conway again to provide voices for the direct-to-video children's series, Hermie & Friends which would continue until his death. In 2005 he was the voice of Mayor Turkey Lurkey in Chicken Little (2005), his first Disney movie since 1979.

On September 12, 2003, Knotts was in Kansas City doing a stage version of On Golden Pond when he received a phone call from John Ritter's family telling him that his ex-Three's Company's co-star had died of an aortic dissection that day. Knotts and the rest of his co-stars attended the funeral four days after Ritter's death. Before Ritter's death, Knotts appeared with the former one final time in a cameo on an episode of the series 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. It was an episode that paid homage to the earlier famous TV series.

During this period of time, macular degeneration in both eyes caused the otherwise robust Don Knotts to become virtually blind, and his live appearances on television were few, and all were nostalgic or parodic versions of his iconic characters. In 2005, Knotts parodied his Ralph Furley character in a Desperate Housewives sketch on The 3rd Annual TV Land Awards. He would parody that part one final time, in his last live-action television appearance, an episode of That '70s Show, ("Stone Cold Crazy"). In the show Don played Fez and Jackie's new landlord. Although the landlord was never named, it was obvious to Knotts fans that he was none other than Ralph Furley.



Death

Don Knotts died on February 24, 2006 at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California at the age of 81 from pulmonary and respiratory complications related to lung cancer. He had been undergoing treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in recent months, but went home after he reportedly had been getting better [4]. Long-time friend Andy Griffith visited Knotts' bedside a few hours before he died. His daughter stayed with him until his death.

Knotts' obituaries began surfacing the Saturday afternoon following his death, mostly noting his Barney Fife character. Some cited him as a huge influence on other famous television stars. Musician and fan J.D. Wilkes said this about Knotts: "Only a genius like Knotts could make an anxiety-ridden, passive-aggressive Napoleon character like Fife a familiar, welcome friend each week. Without his awesome contributions to television there would've been no other over-the-top, self-deprecating acts like Conan O'Brien or Chris Farley."

Knotts is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles. [5]

Since his death, his hometown, Morgantown, West Virginia has began working towards the creation of a statue of Don's likeness in his honor which will be placed in a special memorial park along the river and Don Knotts Boulevard.[citation needed]


Trivia

Andy Griffith often called Knotts by his first name, Jesse.
He was actually a calm and quiet person, in sharp contrast to some of his characters that he had played (especially Barney Fife and Ralph Furley).
He was parodied in Family Guy, voiced by a sound-a-like.
In the film Ghost World, the main character Enid draws a caricature of Don Knotts for an art assignment.
Wakko Warner, from the cartoon show Animaniacs, is a big fan of Don Knotts.
The character Barney, the security guard from the Half-Life computer game series, originally resembled Don Knotts in the beta version of the game, hence the name "Barney".
An urban legend that Don Knotts had been in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and had been one of the toughest and most feared drill sergeants to ever serve has been disproved.[6]
Johnny Bravo deceives an enemy in an episode by saying, "Hey, isn't that Don Knotts?". Knotts would voice himself on two episodes of Bravo.
In the PlayStation Portable game Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, the guard inside Clank's body acts and looks like Don Knotts
In the film Serial Mom, a main character Misty sells a portrait of Don Knotts at a swap meet.

Robin Williams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Birth name Robin McLaurin Williams
Born July 21, 1951 (1951-07-21) (age 56)[1]
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Spouse(s) Valerie Velardi (1978-1988) (1 child)
Marsha Garces Williams (1989-present) (2 children)
Notable roles Mork in Mork & Mindy
Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning, Vietnam
John Keating in Dead Poets Society
Peter Pan in Hook
Parry in The Fisher King
Mrs. Doubtfire/Daniel Hillard in Mrs. Doubtfire
Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting
Alan Parrish in Jumanji
Armand Goldman in The Birdcage
Bob Munro in RV
Genie in Aladdin and Aladdin and the King of Thieves
Lovelace and Ramon in Happy Feet
Academy Awards

Nominated: Best Actor
1987 Good Morning, Vietnam
1989 Dead Poets Society
1991 The Fisher King
Won: Best Supporting Actor
1997 Good Will Hunting
Golden Globe Awards

Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1987 Good Morning, Vietnam
1991 The Fisher King
1993 Mrs. Doubtfire
Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical
1978 Mork and Mindy
Cecil B. DeMille Award (2005)
Grammy Awards

Best Comedy Album
1980 Reality...What a Concept
1988 A Night at the Met
1989 Good Morning, Vietnam
Best Spoken Comedy Album
2003 Robin Williams - Live 2002
Screen Actors Guild Awards

Best Cast in a Motion Picture
1996 The Birdcage
Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1997 Good Will Hunting

Robin McLaurin Williams (born July 21, 1951)[1] is an Academy Award-winning American actor and comedian who has done television, stage, and film work.




Biography

Early life and education

Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois. His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams (September 10, 1906 - October 18, 1987) was a senior executive at Ford in charge of the Midwest area. His mother, Laura McLaurin Smith (1922-2001), was a former model from Jackson, Mississippi.[2] Williams was raised in the Episcopal church (although his mother practiced Christian Science)[3][4] and grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Marin County, California. While in California, Robin attended Redwood High School in Larkspur and grew up in the Marin County suburb of Tiburon. In Michigan, he attended Detroit Country Day School, an exclusive college-preparatory school which boasts other famous alumni, including Steve Ballmer from Microsoft and Courtney Vance from Law and Order: Criminal Intent. In an interview with Michael Parkinson, Williams stated that when he saw Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb he was immediately inspired to become an actor.

He has two half-siblings: McLaurin, on his mother's side, and Todd on his father's side.[5] He has described himself as a quiet child whose first imitation was of his grandmother to his mom. He did not overcome his shyness until he became involved with his high school drama department.[6] In high school, he won an award for "Most Likely To Not Succeed".[7]

Every year, two thousand students audition for twenty places in the freshman class at Juilliard. Only two or three are accepted into the Advanced Program. Williams and Christopher Reeve were the only students accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program in 1973. Reeve and Williams had several classes together in which they were the only two students. In their dialects class, Williams had no trouble mastering all dialects naturally, whereas Reeve was more meticulous about it. Williams' manic comedy did not impress all of his teachers, but his dramatic performances impressed everyone. Williams and Reeve developed a close friendship, and they remained good friends for the remainder of Reeve's life. Williams visited Reeve after the horseback riding accident that paralyzed him from the neck down and cheered him up by arriving as an eccentric Russian doctor (similar to his role in Nine Months). Williams claimed that he was there to perform a colonoscopy. Reeve stated that he laughed for the first time since the accident and knew that life was going to be okay.[8]


Early stand-up/TV career

Williams first achieved notice for his stand-up routines, performing for tips, and working clubs like The Purple Onion in San Francisco. After appearing in the cast of the short-lived The Richard Pryor Show on NBC, he was cast by Garry Marshall as the alien Mork in a guest role in the TV series Happy Days.

As Mork, Williams improvised much of his dialogue and devised plenty of rapid-fire verbal and physical comedy, speaking in a high, nasal voice. Mork's appearance was so popular with viewers that it led to a spin-off hit television sitcom, Mork and Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982. Williams became an overnight sensation, and Mork was featured on posters, coloring books, lunchboxes, and other merchandise. His nonsensical catch phrases, including the greeting "Nanu, Nanu!" and the expletive "Shazbot!", were widely known.

Starting in the late '70s and throughout the '80s, Williams began to reach a wider audience with his standup comedy, including three HBO comedy specials, Off The Wall (1978), An Evening with Robin Williams (1982) and Robin Williams: Live at the Met (1986). His standup work has been a consistent thread through his career, as is seen by the success of his one-man show (and subsequent DVD) Robin Williams Live on Broadway (2002). He was voted 13th on Comedy Central's list 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

After some encouragement from his friend Whoopi Goldberg, he was set to make a guest appearance in the 1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "A Matter of Time", but he had to cancel due to a scheduling conflict; Matt Frewer took his place as a time-traveling con man, Professor Berlingoff Rasmussen.

Williams also appeared on an episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Season 3, Episode 9: November 16, 2000). During a game of "Scenes from a Hat," the scene "What Robin Williams is thinking right now" was drawn, and Williams stated "I have a career. What the hell am I doing here?"

Although Williams has had a successful stand-up career, there have been accusations of him stealing material, and some comedians have refused to perform in front of him due to fear of plagiarism.[9]


Cinema fame

The majority of Williams' acting career has been in film, although he has given some memorable performances on stage as well (notably as Estragon in a production of Waiting for Godot). His first starring roles, Popeye (1980) and The World According to Garp (1982), were both considered flops,[10] but his performance in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) got Williams nominated for an Academy Award and established a screen identity. Many of his roles have been comedies tinged with pathos, for example, The Birdcage and Mrs. Doubtfire.

His role as the Genie in the animated film Aladdin was instrumental in establishing the importance of star power in voice actor casting. Later, Williams once again used his voice talents in A.I, the 2005 animated feature Robots, the 2006 Academy Award winning Happy Feet, and an uncredited vocal performance in 2006's Everyone's Hero. Furthermore, he was the voice of The Timekeeper, a former attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort about a time-traveling robot who encounters Jules Verne and brings him to the future.

Williams has also starred in dramatic films, earning himself two subsequent Academy Award nominations: first for playing an unorthodox and inspiring English teacher in Dead Poets Society (1989), and later for playing a troubled homeless man in The Fisher King (1991). Other acclaimed dramatic films include Awakenings (1990), What Dreams May Come (1998), and Jakob the Liar (1999).

In 1997, he won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his role as a psychologist in Good Will Hunting. However, by the early 2000s, he was thought by some to be typecast in films such as Patch Adams (1998) and Bicentennial Man (1999) that critics complained were excessively maudlin. This apparently prompted Williams to take radically unconventional roles,[10] beginning with a role as a lowlife kiddie show host in the dark comedy Death to Smoochy, followed by One Hour Photo in a watershed performance as an obsessed film developer, Insomnia as a sociopathic writer, and The Final Cut, which is more in tune with Williams as a protagonist. In 2006 Williams starred in The Night Listener, a thriller about a radio show host who realizes he's developed a friendship with a child who may or may not exist.

He is known for his wild improvisational skills and impersonations. His performances frequently involve impromptu humor designed and delivered in rapid-fire succession while on stage. According to the Aladdin DVD commentary, most of his dialogue as the Genie was improvised. He is a talented mimic and can jump in and out of characters and various accents at an extremely fast pace. Williams states that he began doing impersonations as a child, mimicking his aunt's southern accent.[10]

In 2006, he starred in five movies including Man of the Year and was the Surprise Guest at the 2006 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. He appeared on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition that aired on January 30, 2006. Via a live video link to the De'Aeth family whose house and animal rescue shelter were being made over, he encouraged their son Cory, a budding comedian, and gave the family's shelter a recreational vehicle used in the movie R.V..

At one point, he was in the running to play the Riddler in Batman Forever until director Tim Burton dropped the project. Williams had earlier been a prime candidate to play the Joker in Batman. He had expressed interest in assuming the role in the sequel to 2005's Batman Begins.[11]

He was portrayed by Chris Diamantopoulos in the made-for-TV biopic Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy (2005), documenting the actor's arrival in Hollywood as a struggling comedian and becoming an overnight star when he landed the role in Mork & Mindy.

On Inside the Actor's Studio, Al Pacino said that Williams was his idol.


Personal life

His first marriage was to Valerie Velardi on June 4, 1978, with whom he has one child, Zachary Pym (Zak) (born April 11th, 1983). The marriage ended in 1988. On April 30, 1989, he married Marsha Garces. They have two children, Zelda Rae (born July 31, 1989) and Cody Alan (born November 25, 1991). Williams currently resides in a large house in the upper-income Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco.[10] Incidentally, Williams is good friends with film director Chris Columbus who is also a San Francisco resident. He also has a summer house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Williams has starred in Columbus' films Mrs. Doubtfire, Nine Months, and Bicentennial Man.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Williams had a serious addiction to cocaine; he has since kicked the habit. One quote attributed to him: "Cocaine is God's way of telling you that you are making too much money." [12] Williams was a close friend and frequent partier alongside John Belushi. Williams says the death of his friend and the birth of his son prompted him to quit drugs: "Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level. The grand jury helped too".[13] (Inside the Actors Studio, Episode 94, Season 7).

On June 29, 2006 Robin appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. During the appearance he lampooned Rush Limbaugh for his addiction to prescription pain medication by asking "Where was he (Rush) staying in the Caribbean? Club Medicated?" On August 9, 2006, Williams entered himself into a rehabilitation center for alcoholism. His publicist has confirmed, saying "After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for his own well-being and the well-being of his family. He asks that you respect his and his family's privacy during this time. He looks forward to returning to work this Fall to support his upcoming film releases."[14]


Other interests

Williams is a self-confessed gamer known to enjoy online video games, recently playing Warcraft 3, Day of Defeat, Half-Life[15], and the first-person shooter Battlefield 2 as a sniper.[16] In addition, he also plays the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000. In an interview for a video game magazine, he stated that Nintendo contacted him once and told him because of his love of video games, if there ever is a live action Pokémon movie made, he would be their first, last, and only choice to play Professor Oak.[citation needed] He named his daughter Zelda because his son, Zachary, is a devoted fan of the Legend of Zelda video game series.[citation needed] Williams was even in talks to do a voice for the game Half-Life 2, because he is a big fan of the series. However, scheduling conflicts prevented this.[citation needed]

On January 6, 2006 he performed live at Consumer Electronics Show during Google's keynote.[17] In the 2006 E3, on the invitation of Will Wright, he demonstrated the creature editor of Spore while simultaneously commenting on the creature's look: "This will actually make a platypus look good."[18] He also complimented the game's versatility, comparing it to Populous and Black & White.

Williams is a prolific collector of sports memorabilia. He is known to be a San Francisco Giants fan and can occasionally be seen at AT&T Park during games. On June 23, 2007, Williams did the Giants starting line-up for the Fox Network against the New York Yankees [Billy Crystal was alongside to do the New York Yankees line-up].

Williams enjoys rugby union and is a fan of the New Zealand All Blacks. He is also a keen follower of the National Rugby League in Australia and lists his favorite team as the North Queensland Cowboys, saying his favorite players are Matt Bowen, Steve Southern and Luke O'Donnell. He also follows the Queensland Maroons in the State of Origin.

Williams is a fan of professional road cycling, during the Lance Armstrong years of domination in the Tour de France Williams was a regular on the US Postal and Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team bus and hotels.[19]

He is a fan of the Japanese anime Neon Genesis Evangelion (EVA). In fact, the toy used in One Hour Photo was from Robin's personal collection.[citation needed] Also, in the CGI film Robots, Williams' character carries a spear nearly identical to the Lance of Longinus prominiently featured in EVA.[citation needed]

Williams also maintains an interest in weaponry, with a collection consisting of several antique swords and knives.

He stated during the 2007 VH1 Rock Honors that Genesis is his favorite band, although he may have said this for dramatic effect because he was presenting the band.


Charity work

Williams and his wife, Marsha, founded the Windfall Foundation, a philanthropic organization to raise money for many different charities. Williams devotes much of his energy doing work for charities, including the Comic Relief fund-raising efforts. He is also a cycling fan, known to own hundreds of bicycles and to attend the Tour de France. Through his interest in cycling, he has been a friend and supporter of Lance Armstrong and his foundation, performing at events for the foundation.[citation needed]

Directly after 9/11, Williams was shown donating blood numerous times to help victims of the attacks.[citation needed]

Williams has performed in the USO for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq for three years. Just days after the start of the Iraq War, Williams performed for American troops stationed in Afghanistan.[citation needed] As recently as January 24-25 2007, he performed two live stand-up comedy shows in Boston, MA. Donations from the events were split between the USO Operation Care Package and the Greater Boston Food Bank.[20]

In 2006, he helped fund and also wrote the foreword to the book Home Wasn't Built in a Day with the nonprofit writing center 826 Valencia. The book was written by public school students from Galileo Academy of Science and Technology in San Francisco.

Dec 1999 sang in French on the BBC-inspired music video of international celebrites doing a cover of the Rolling Stones "It's Only Rock & Roll" for the charity Children's Promise.[21][22]

THE RULES OF LIFE

Rules of life to consider very very seriously really!

Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often.
Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.
My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.
A person, who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.

I Hear You Knocking
Gale Storm

You went away and left me long time ago
Now you've come back knocking at my door

I hear you knockin'
But you can't come in
I hear you knockin'
Go back where you've been

I begged you not to go
But you said goodbye
Now you've come back
Telling all those lies

I hear you knockin'
But you can't come in
I hear you knockin'
Go back where you've been

I told you way back a long time ago
The day would come when you'd miss me so

I hear you knockin'
But you can't come in
I hear you knockin'
Go back where you've been

You better go back to your use-to-be
'Cause your love's no good to me

I hear you knockin'
But you can't come in
I hear you knockin'
I know where you've been

Good 'high noon' bio Bob!

Thanks, hawkman, for the great bio's. Love your rules, buddy, especially this one: "A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter is not a nice person." Boy, is that ever true. Will await our Raggedy before commenting further on your celebs, however.

edgar, my word, Texas. That's an oldie that has had some parodies in its life. Thanks for the reminder.

I like this song from Robin's "Birdcage." Gene Hackman was absolutely hilarious in the movie.



We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up everybody and sing

Everyone can see we're together
As we walk on by
(FLY!) and we fly just like birds of a feather
I won't tell no lie
(ALL!) all of the people around us they say
Can they be that close
Just let me state for the record
We're giving love in a family dose

We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up everybody and sing

We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up everybody and sing

Living life is fun and we've just begun
To get our share of the world's delights
(HIGH!) high hopes we have for the future
And our goal's in sight
(WE!) no we don't get depressed
Here's what we call our golden rule
Have faith in you and the things you do
You won't go wrong
This is our family Jewel

We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up everybody and sing

We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up everybody and sing

Good afternoon WA2K.

From Bob's "rules", my favorite is "Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often. " I hope I can remember that.

I hadn't known that Kay Starr was married six times --- or that Don Knotts was nearly blind before he passed away. Sad.

Letty: I loved Gene Hackman in "The Birdcage", too.

Never There

I need your arms around me, I need to feel your touch
I need your understanding, I need your love so much
You tell me that you love me so, you tell me that you care
But when I need you baby, you're never there

On the phone long, long distance
Always through such strong resistance
First you say you're too busy
I wonder if you even miss me

Never there
You're never there
You're never, ever, ever, ever there

A golden bird that flies away, a candle's fickle flame
To think I held you yesterday, your love was just a game
A golden bird that flies away, a candle's fickle flame
To think I held you yesterday, your love was just a game

You tell me that you love me so, you tell me that you care
But when I need you baby
Take the time to get to know me
If you want me why can't you just show me
Were always on this roller coaster
If you want me why can't you get closer?

Never there
You're never there
You're never ever ever ever there

Cake

There's our pretty puppy, folks. Hey, Raggedy, great trio today, PA.

I didn't realize that Don was almost blind either. His facial expression of perpetual surprise always gave me a smile. Facial expressions, such as Robin's in Birdcage, can be as funny as dialogue, no?

I guess Kay's "wheel" produced many losers, right?

Never cared for Kay's voice, but let's do her famous song, ok?

The wheel of fortune
Goes spinning around
Will the arrow point my way?
Will this be my day?

Oh, wheel of fortune
Please don't pass me by
Let me know the magic of
A kiss and a sigh

While the wheel is spinning, spinning, spinning
I'll not dream of winning fortune or fame
While the wheel is turning, turning, turning
I'll be yearning, yearning
For love's precious flame

Oh, wheel of fortune
I'm hoping somehow
If you ever smile on me
Please let it be now

While the wheel is spinning, spinning, spinning
I'll not dream of winning fortune or fame
While the wheel is turning, turning, turning
I'll be yearning, yearning
For love's precious flame

Oh, wheel of fortune
I'm hoping somehow
If you ever smile on me
Please let it be now

Take A Picture

Awake on my airplane
Awake on my airplane
My skin is bare
My skin is theirs
Awake on my airplane
Awake on my airplane
My skin is bare
My skin is theirs
I feel like a newborn
And I feel like a newborn
Awake on my airplane
Awake on my airplane
I feel so real

Chorus:
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Yeah

I dont believe in
I dont believe in
In your sanctity
You privacy
I dont believe in
I dont believe in
Sanctity
A hypocrisy
Could everyone agree that
No one should be left alone
Could everyoone agree that
They should not be left alone yeah
And I feel like a newborn
And I feel like a newborn
Kicking and screaming

Chorus:
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Yeah

Filter

Oops, Rex. Missed your two songs, Maine. I'm not familiar with either, I'm afraid, but the lyrics to "Take a Picture" are odd. Thanks, buddy.

Speaking of pictures, folks, I have always liked this oldie:


I'll wake each morning and I'll promise to laugh
I'll say "Good morning" to your old photograph
Then I'll speak to you, dear, just as though you were here

When purple shadows start to welcome the dark
I'll take the same old stroll we took through the park
And I'll cling to you, dear, just as though you were here

But I know so well that distance and time will finally tear us apart
The farther you go, the longer you stay, the deeper the doubts in my heart

Each night before I wander off into sleep
I'll bring to light the tears I've buried so deep
Then I'll kiss you, my dear, just as though you were here

<instrumental>

And when I hear a lonesome train, I'm afraid
I'll think of all those trips we never quite made
Fragile dreams that we planned
Then I'll reach for your hand
Just as though, just as though you were here

Bob Dylan was a prophet, methinks.

Breaking news.

India names first female president By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 15 minutes ago

NEW DELHI - India elected Pratibha Patil as the country's first female president Saturday in a vote seen as a victory for the hundreds of millions of Indian women who contend with widespread discrimination.

Patil received 65.82 percent of the votes cast by national lawmakers and state legislators, said Election Commission head P.D.T. Achary. She had been widely expected to win.

Patil, the 72-year-old candidate of the governing Congress party and its political allies, defeated incumbent Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

Bob Dylan - Times They Are A Changing

Come gather round people wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone
For the times, they are a changing

Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pens
And keep your eyes open, the chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon, the wheel's still in spin
And there's no telling who that it's naming
Oh the loser will be later to win
For the times, they are a changing

Come senators, congressmen, please head the call
Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt will be her that has stalled
The battle outside ragging will soon shake your windows
And rattle your hall
For the times, they are a changing

Come mothers and fathers all over this land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughter are beyond your command
Your old role is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand
For the times they are a changing

The line, it is drawn, the curse, it is cast
The slow one will later be fast
And the present now will soon be the past
The order is rapidly fading
The first one now will later be last
For the times, they are a changing

Bullets Of Mexico
By Phil Ochs


The peons of Mexico long have known suffering and pain.
Zapata and Villa have died there, fighting in vain.
Rube'n Jaramillo kept up the tradition, he fought for the land once again.
He lived for the land, and there on the land he was slain.

A forty-five bullet has ended the life of a man who had lived by the gun,
but all of the bullets of Mexico cannot undo all the work that he's done.

The greedy capiques* have stolen and plundered the land,
With pistoleros they ruled with a cold iron hand.
The poor campesinos could stand it no longer, resistance was starting to grow.
Jaramillo decided to fight for a new Mexico.

A forty-five bullet has ended the life of a man who had lived by the gun,
but all of the bullets of Mexico cannot undo all the work that he's done.

For twenty long years he fought and he struggled and tried,
Epifania, his wife, always there at his side.
Often surrounded, he always was hounded, they searched for him
near, far, and wide:
A man of deep sorrow, but also a man of deep pride.

A forty-five bullet has ended the life of a man who had lived by the gun,
but all of the bullets of Mexico cannot undo all the work that he's done.

Two thousand peasants he led to their long-promised land,
and the army's revenge killed the wife and the sons and the man.
His assasins rejoiced with their whiskey and women, they laughed and
they danced on his grave.
Now the land waits again for another to ride on the waves.

A forty-five bullet has ended the life of a man who had lived by the gun,
but all of the bullets of Mexico cannot undo all the work that he's done.

Great song, edgar. It reminds me of our Mr. Lee who wrote such a lovely song about "Viva Zapata and an old man named Bierce"

Love this quote by Ambrose Bierce, incidentally:

War is God's way of teaching American's geography.

Here's one that I found, but, of course, there is always something lost in translation.

ADIOS MI CHAPARRITA

"Adios mi chaparrita no Ilores por tu Pancho

que si se va del rancho muy pronto volverá.

Veras que del vajío te trairá cosas buenas,

mil besos pa tus penas que muy pronto olvidarás.

Dos moñitos pa tus trensas y pa tu Mamacita,

reboso de bolita y sus naguas de percal.

Ay que Caray!!



Translation:

Goodbye My (Chaparrita) beloved short one don't cry for your Pancho.

If he leaves our ranch he will very soon return.

You'll see the he will bring you from the valley,

a thousand kisses for your fears and troubles that you will soon forget.

Two bows for your long Braids, and for your dear little mother,

a shawl with little balls and a bunting skirt.

AY QUE CARAY!

Here is an interesting site:
banned rock songs

From banned rock and roll

"1968

An El Paso, Texas radio station deletes all records by Bob Dylan from its play list, because it is too difficult to understand the lyrics. They do however continue to play other artists covering Dylan's material."

This is hilarious. Thanks for the site, edgar.

Well, edgar and Tai, the problem with banning stuff is that it immediately becomes of interest to kids. That list was unbelievable, and I read almost every one.

I loved this song, and then my sister told me that it have overtures of a sexual nature.

Venus


Goddess on the mountain top
Burning like a silver flame
The summit of beauty and love
And venus was her name

She's got it
Yeah, baby, she's got it
I'm your venus, I'm your fire
At your desire
Well, I'm your venus, I'm your fire
At your desire

Her weapons were her crystal eyes
Making every man a man
Black as the dark night she was
Got what no-one else had
Wa!

She's got it
Yeah, baby, she's got it
I'm your venus, I'm your fire
At your desire
Well, I'm your venus, I'm your fire
At your desire

Goddess on the mountain top
Burning like a silver flame
The summit of beauty and love
And venus was her name

She's got it
Yeah, baby, she's got it
I'm your venus, I'm your fire
At your desire
Well, I'm your venus, I'm your fire
At your desire

When we were kids, we used to dance to Sixty Minute Man. Paid absolutely no attention to the lyrics, we just liked the rhythm

Well, listen here, girls, I'm telling you now,
They call me loving Dan,
I'll rock 'em, roll 'em all night long
I'm a sixty-minute man.

And if you don't believe I'm all I say,
Come up and take my hand.
As soon as I leave you go, you'll cry
"Oh yeah, he's a sixty-minute man!"

Chorus
There'll be fifteen minutes of kissing,
And then you'll holler, "Danny boy, please don't stop!"
There'll be fifteen minutes of teasing, fifteen minutes of
pleasing,
Fifteen minutes of blowing my top (mop! mop! mop!)

Well, if your man ain't treating you right,
Come up and see your Dan.
I'll rock 'em, roll 'em all night long
I'm a sixty-minute man.

Chorus 2
Sixty (minute man)
Well they call me (loving Dan)
I'll rock 'em, roll 'em all night long
I'm a sixty-minute man.

When I took a writing class by correspondence, I submitted a short story, in which I named a female Chelsea, because I felt it helped the atmosphere, by naming a place (Chelsea, a neighborhood in New York). The instructor chided me for venting my hatred of the Clintons through their daughter. Shows that people will interpret what they read and hear any way they choose, without regard for facts.

Exactly, edgar. martybarker has a thread going concerning the word, "hate". It is very difficult to deal with value words, because they can mean so many different things to different people. I played a game with my students called plus and minus. I would read a word and ask them to place a plus or minus value on the word. Some, of course, were valueless or benign. I was truly amazed at some of the answers.

Often, we need to understand the denotation of a word.

Let's take the word hate:

Description and Meaning: Hate

[OE. haten, hatien, AS. hatian; akin to OS. hatan, hat¿n to be hostile to, D. haten to hate, OHG. hazz¿n, hazz¿n, G. hassen, Icel. & Sw. hata, Dan. hade, Goth. hatan, hatian. ¿¿¿. Cf. Hate, n., Heinous.]

1. To have a great aversion to, with a strong desire that evil should befall the person toward whom the feeling is directed; to dislike intensely; to detest; as, to hate one's enemies; to hate hypocrisy. "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." 1 John iii. 15.
2. To be very unwilling; followed by an infinitive, or a substantive clause with that; as, to hate to get into debt; to hate that anything should be wasted. "I hate that he should linger here." Tennyson.
3. (Script.) To love less, relatively. Luke xiv. 26.

Did everyone notice the word "hatian"

Well, folks, this has been one of the discussion segments of our program, proving once again, that we are NOT just music and lyrics.

DISEASE OF CONCEIT

Words and Music by Bob Dylan
1989
There's a whole lot of people suffering tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Whole lot of people struggling tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Comes right down the highway,
Straight down the line,
Rips into your senses
Through your body and your mind.
Nothing about it that's sweet,
The disease of conceit.

There's a whole lot of hearts breaking tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Whole lot of hearts shaking tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Steps into your room,
Eats your soul,
Over your senses
You have no control.
Ain't nothing too discreet
About of disease of conceit.

There's a whole lot of people dying tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Whole lot of people crying tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Comes right out of nowhere,
And you're down for the count
From the outside world,
The pressure will mount,
Turn you into a piece of meat,
The disease of conceit.

Conceit is a disease
That the doctors got no cure
They've done a lot of research on it,
But what it is, they're still not sure

There's a whole lot of people in trouble tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Whole lot of people seeing double tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Give ya delusions of grandeur
And a evil eye,
Give you idea that
You're too good to die,
Then they bury you from your head to your feet
From the disease of conceit.

Bob does say it well in song, edgar.

Strange, the painter that I stumbled upon and really liked, had this to say.

"All artists are vain; they long to be recognised and to leave something to posterity. They want to be loved, and at the same time they want to be free. But nobody is free."
Francis Bacon

From Sir Elton

Ego

Take a look at me now and take a taste of the money
I'm not in it for the bread I'm in it for the gravy, honey
Step on the thin ice lightly
And check out the show twice nightly
'Cause I'm on the stage tonight
And if the price is right
I will amaze before the light I crave the light
Blinding white I need the light tonight

Take a look at me now and take a look at my billing
I'm not in it as an extra, I'm in it for the killing
Inflate my ego gently, tell them heaven sent me
'Cause I'm so expressive and I'm so obsessed with my ego
My ego and it's message
Oh inform the press, invite the guests
I need the press tonight

Do you remember acting out your youth
A Romeo resplendent on an orange case
Do you remember how I would recite
And how I'd blow my lines and hide my face

Well maybe it was childish, foolish, before schoolish
Immaturish, lose your coolish
But I had to grow and prove my ego

Take a look at me now and take a taste of the money
I'm not in it for the bread I'm in it for the gravy, honey
Inflate my ego gently, tell them heaven sent me
Oh 'cause I'm so expressive and I'm so obsessed with my ego
My ego and it's message
Oh inform the press, invite the guests
I need the press tonight