WA2K Radio is now on the air

After being married 25 years, I took a look at my wife and said,
Honey, do you realize that 25 years ago, I had a cheap appartment,
a cheap car, slept on a sofa bed and watched a 10 inch black and white TV,
but I got to sleep every night with a hot 25 year old blond.
"Now, we have a nice house,
Nice car, big bed and plasma screen TV.
but I'm sleeping with a 50 year old woman.
It seems to me that you are not holding up your side of things,"
Now my wife is a very reasonable woman ...
She told me to go find a hot 25 year old blond,
and she would make sure
that I would once again be living in a cheap apartment,
driving a cheap car,
and sleeping on a sofa bed ....
I shut up and took out the trash ... !!
Aren't older women great .. ?
They really know how to solve your mid-life crisis ... !!!

Bob.

Good morning WA2K.

Beatrix Potter, Rudy Vallee and Sally Struthers:

It Could Happen To You
Jo Stafford

Hide your heart from sight
Lock your dreams at night
It could happen to you

Don't count stars
Or you might stumble
Someone drops a sigh
And down you tumble
Keep an eye on spring
Run when church bells ring

It could happen to you
All I did was wonder
How your arms would be
And it happened to me

Good morning, Bio Bob. Thanks for the great bio's and especially the tale that always makes us smile. Love it, hawkman.

My, my, listeners. There's our Raggedy with a laugh and a trio of famous faces. Thanks, PA. There's Miss Potter and her famous rabbit, Rudy, and Sally. What great memories.

edgar, love that song. I didn't know that Jo did it, either.

One from Rudy, listeners.


Deep night, stars in the sky above
Moonlight, lighting our place of love
Night winds seem to have gone to rest
Two eyes, brightly with love are gleaming
Come to my arms, my darling, my sweetheart, my own
Vow that you'll love me always, be mine alone

Deep night, whispering trees above
Kind night, bringing you nearer, dearer and dearer
Deep night, deep in the arms of love

Come to my arms, my darling, my sweetheart, my own
Vow that you'll love me always, and be mine alone

Deep night, whispering trees above
Kind night, bringing you nearer, dearer and dearer
Deep night, deep in the arms of love

Don't You Know I Care
Duke Ellington

Don't you know I care
Or don't you care to know
If you know I care
How can you hurt me so

Darling, you are part of ev'ry breath I take
Will you break my heart
Or give my heart a break
I can't figure out what love's all about
And where I fit into your scheme

Am I wasting time, please tell me
'Cause I'm down to my last dream
Won't you please be fair
Love me or let me go
Don't you know I care
Or don't you care to know

edgar, anything by the Duke is royal. Thanks, Texas.

Having some problems with the equipment in my wee studio, so I guess I better either call that Virginia nerd, or try and fix the problem myself.

Until then, folks, better take a station break.

This is cyber space, WA2K radio

Master song

I believe that you heard your master sing
when I was sick in bed.
I suppose that he told you everything
that I keep locked away in my head.
Your master took you travelling,
well at least that's what you said.
And now do you come back to bring
your prisoner wine and bread?

You met him at some temple, where
they take your clothes at the door.
He was just a numberless man in a chair
who'd just come back from the war.
And you wrap up his tired face in your hair
and he hands you the apple core.
Then he touches your lips now so suddenly bare
of all the kisses we put on some time before.

And he gave you a German Shepherd to walk
with a collar of leather and nails,
and he never once made you explain or talk
about all of the little details,
such as who had a word and who had a rock,
and who had you through the mails.
Now your love is a secret all over the block,
and it never stops not even when your master fails.

And he took you up in his aeroplane,
which he flew without any hands,
and you cruised above the ribbons of rain
that drove the crowd from the stands.
Then he killed the lights in a lonely Lane
and, an ape with angel glands,
erased the final wisps of pain
with the music of rubber bands.

And now I hear your master sing,
you kneel for him to come.
His body is a golden string
that your body is hanging from.
His body is a golden string,
my body has grown numb.
Oh now you hear your master sing,
your shirt is all undone.

And will you kneel beside this bed
that we polished so long ago,
before your master chose instead
to make my bed of snow?
Your eyes are wild and your knuckles are red
and you're speaking far too low.
No I can't make out what your master said
before he made you go.

Then I think you're playing far too rough
for a lady who's been to the moon;
I've lain by this window long enough
to get used to an empty room.
And your love is some dust in an old man's cough
who is tapping his foot to a tune,
and your thighs are a ruin, you want too much,
let's say you came back some time too soon.

I loved your master perfectly
I taught him all that he knew.
He was starving in some deep mystery
like a man who is sure what is true.
And I sent you to him with my guarantee
I could teach him something new,
and I taught him how you would long for me
no matter what he said no matter what you'd do.

I believe that you heard your master sing
while I was sick in bed,
I'm sure that he told you everything
I must keep locked away in my head.
Your master took you travelling,
well at least that's what you said,
And now do you come back to bring
your prisoner wine and bread?


Winter Lady

Trav'ling lady, stay awhile
until the night is over.
I'm just a station on your way,
I know I'm not your lover.

Well I lived with a child of snow
when I was a soldier,
and I fought every man for her
until the nights grew colder.

She used to wear her hair like you
except when she was sleeping,
and then she'd weave it on a loom
of smoke and gold and breathing.

And why are you so quiet now
standing there in the doorway?
You chose your journey long before
you came upon this highway.

Trav'ling lady stay awhile
until the night is over.
I'm just a station on your way,
I know I'm not your lover.


Stranger song
(1966)

It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter
I know that kind of man
It's hard to hold the hand of anyone
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind
you find he did not leave you very much
not even laughter
Like any dealer he was watching for the card
that is so high and wild
he'll never need to deal another
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger
he was just some Joseph looking for a manger.

And then leaning on your window sill
he'll say one day you caused his will
to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter
And then taking from his wallet
an old schedule of trains, he'll say
I told you when I came I was a stranger
I told you when I came I was a stranger.

But now another stranger seems
to want you to ignore his dreams
as though they were the burden of some other
O you've seen that man before
his golden arm dispatching cards
but now it's rusted from the elbows to the finger
And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter
Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.

Ah you hate to watch another tired man
lay down his hand
like he was giving up the holy game of poker
And while he talks his dreams to sleep
you notice there's a highway
that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder
It's curling just like smoke above his shoulder.

You tell him to come in sit down
but something makes you turn around
The door is open you can't close your shelter
You try the handle of the road
It opens do not be afraid
It's you my love, you who are the stranger
It's you my love, you who are the stranger.

Well, I've been waiting, I was sure
we'd meet between the trains we're waiting for
I think it's time to board another
Please understand, I never had a secret chart
to get me to the heart of this
or any other matter
When he talks like this
you don't know what he's after
when he speaks like this,
you don't know what he's after.

Let's meet tomorrow if you choose
upon the shore, beneath the bridge
that they are building on some endless river
Then he leaves the platform
for the sleeping car that's warm
You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter
And it comes to you, he never was a stranger
and you say ok the bridge or someplace later.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind...

And leaning on your window sill...

I told you when I came I was a stranger.


Sisters of Mercy

Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.
They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on.
And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song.
Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.

Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control.
It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your soul.
Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned:
When you're not feeling holy, your loneliness says that you've sinned.

Well they lay down beside me, I made my confession to them.
They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem.
If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn
they will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon.
Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon.
And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night:
We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right,
We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right.

A master, a winter lady, and a stranger melody, edgar. I have a couple, now that the heavens have quit storming, listeners.

The first one is very familiar, and the second about a stripper.

This older one is done in a minor key.


If it takes forever I will wait for you
For a thousand summers I will wait for you
Till you're back beside me, till I'm holding you
Till I hear you sigh here in my arms

Anywhere you wander, anywhere you go
Every day remember how I love you so
In your heart believe what in my heart I know
That forevermore I'll wait for you


The clock will tick away the hours one by one
Then the time will come when all the waiting's done
The time when you return and find me here and run
Straight to my waiting arms

If it takes forever I will wait for you
For a thousand summers I will wait for you
Till you're here beside me, till I'm touching you
And forevermore sharing your love

Chloe Dancer

Chloe don't know better
Chloe just like me, only beautiful
A couple of years of difference
But those lessons never learned
Chloe danced the tables in the french
quarter
Always been given so I can't always
make her laugh
But I'm proud to say
And I won't forget
Time spent laying by her side
Time spent laying by her side
And dreams like this must die

You ever heard the story of Mr. Faded
Glory?
Say he who rides a pony must someday fall
I been talkin' to my alter
Life is what you make it
And if you make it death well then rest
your soul away
Away away yeah child
It's a broken kind of feeling
She'd have to tie me to the ceiling
A bad moon's a comin' better say your
prayers
I wanna tell her that I love her
But does it really matter?
I just can't stand to see you dragging down
Again

So I'm singing
This is my kinda love It's the kind that
moves on
It's unkind and leaves me alone
Yes it does

I uses to treat you like a lady
Now you're a substitute teacher
This bottle's not a pretty, not a pretty sight
I owe the man some money so I'm turnin
over honey
You see Mr. Faded Glory is once again
doin' time

This is my kinda love
It's the kind that moves on
It's unkind and leaves me alone
Yes it does
Like a crown of thorns it's all who you
know
So don't burn your bridges woman cause
someday, yeah

Kick it!

Baby i said com' on, com' on, com' on,
com' on yeah I said baby don't burn your
bridges woman

no umbrellas in Cherbourg, then?

There is our M.D. from the big island. Welcome back, honey. I had forgotten that "I Will Wait for You" was done by Michel Legrand. What a fantastic musician he is.

Now you have reminded me that my young friends and I did get a moment of "...shelter from the storm.." but not until after my hair looked a bit like a water fall. A funny guy at the restaurant where we sought shelter and lunch, yelled across the room. "Love your hair". Everyone laughed and I joined in.

and another from that umbrella, yet.

Let someone start believing in you
Let him hold out his hand
Let him touch you and watch what happens

One someone who can look in your eyes
And see into your heart
Let him find you and watch what happens

Cold, no I won't believe your heart is cold
Maybe just afraid to be broken again

Let someone with a deep love to give
Give that deep love to you
And what magic you'll see

Let someone with a deep love to give
Give that deep love to you
And what magic you'll see

Let someone give his heart
Someone who cares like me
Let someone give his heart who cares like me

to go with my "connect the picture" entry :



"lantern festival" was always a special occasion for us kids - the only time we were allowed an "open fire" - unless we did it on the sly

Harry Belafonte
Zombie Jamboree


It was a Zombie Jamboree
Took place in a New York cemetery
It was a Zombie Jamboree
Took place in a New York cemetery

Zombies from all parts of the Island
Some of them was great Calypsonians
Although the season was Carnival
We get together in bacchanal
And they singing

Back to back, belly to belly
I don't give a damn, I done dead already
Oho back to back, belly to belly
At the Zombie Jamboree

One female Zombie wouldn't behave
See how she jumping out of the grave
In one hand a quart a rum
In the other hand she knocking Conga drum
The lead singer start to make his rhyme
The Zombies are rackling their bones in time
One bystander had this to say
?'T was a pleasure to see the Zombies break away

Back to back, belly to belly
I don't give a damn, I done dead already
Oho back to back, belly to belly
At the Zombie Jamboree

I goin' talk to Miss Brigit Bardot
And tell her miss Bardot take it slow
All the men think they're Casanova
When they see that she's bare foot all over
Even old men out in Topeka
Find their hearts getting weaker and weaker
So I goin' to ask her for your sake and mine
At least wear her ear rings part of the time

Back to back, belly to belly
I don't give a damn, I done dead already
Oho back to back, belly to belly
At the Zombie Jamboree

A lot of World leaders talkin' ?'bout war
And I'm afraid they're going too far
So it's up to us you and me
To put an end to Catastrophe
We must appeal to their goodness of heart
And ask them to pitch in and please do their part
Cause if this Atomocic war begin
They won't even have a part to pitch in

Back to back, belly to belly
I don't give a damn, I done dead already
Oho back to back, belly to belly
At the Zombie Jamboree

hbg's lantern song lights up the night and edgar plays a zombi song, folks. Wow! Is this going to be one of those eerie evenings?

Well, we always cried over Hans Christian Anderson's Little Match Girl story, and Old Shep, so let's cry some more.


The Little Match Girl


It was biting cold, and the falling snow,
Which filled a poor little match girl's heart with woe,
Who was bareheaded and barefooted, as she went along the street,
Crying, "Who'll buy my matches? for I want pennies to buy some meat!"

When she left home she had slippers on;
But, alas! poor child, now they were gone.
For she lost both of them while hurrying across the street,
Out of the way of two carriages which were near by her feet.

So the little girl went on, while the snow fell thick and fast;
And the child's heart felt cold and downcast,
For nobody had bought any matchea that day,
Which filled her little mind with grief and dismay.

Alas! she was hungry and shivering with cold;
So in a corner between two houses she made bold
To take shelter from the violent storm.
Poor little waif! wishing to herself she'd never been born.

And she grew colder and colder, and feared to go home
For fear of her father beating her; and she felt woe-begone
Because she could carry home no pennies to buy bread,
And to go home without pennies she was in dread.

The large flakes of snow covered her ringlets of fair hair;
While the passers-by for her had no care,
As they hurried along to their homes at a quick pace,
While the cold wind blew in the match girl's face.

As night wore on her hands were numb with cold,
And no longer her strength could her uphold,
When an idea into her little head came:
She'd strike a match and warm her hands at the flame.

And she lighted the match, and it burned brightly,
And it helped to fill her heart with glee;
And she thought she was sitting at a stove very grand;
But, alas! she was found dead, with a match in her hand!

Her body was found half-covered with snow,
And as the people gazed thereon their hearts were full of woe;
And many present let fall a burning tear
Because she was found dead on the last night of the year,

In that mighty city of London, wherein is plenty of gold -
But, alas! their charity towards street waifs is rather cold.
But I hope the match girl's in Heaven, beside her Saviour dear,
A bright reward for all the hardships she suffered here.

William Topaz McGonagall

Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand inside the rain
Ev'rybody knows
That Baby's got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.

Queen Mary, she's my friend
Yes, I believe I'll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
That Baby can't be blessed
Till she sees finally that she's like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.

It was raining from the first
And I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what's worse
Is this pain in here
I can't stay in here
Ain't it clear that

I just can't fit
Yes, I believe it's time for us to quit
When we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don't let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world.
Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do
You make love just like a woman, yes, you do
Then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl.


Just Like a Woman
Bob Dylan

Sigmund Romberg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Sigmund Romberg, born Romberg Zsigmond (July 29, 1887, Nagykanizsa − November 9, 1951, New York, New York) was an American composer best known for his operettas.


Biography

He was born to a Jewish family in the West-Hungarian provincial town of Nagykanizsa during the Austro-Hungarian K.u.K. Monarchy period. He went to Vienna to study engineering, but also took composition lessons while there. He moved to the United States in 1909 and, after a brief stint working in a pencil factory, was employed as a pianist in cafés. He eventually founded his own orchestra and published a few songs, which, despite their limited success, brought him to the attention of the Shubert brothers, who in 1914 hired him to write music for their Broadway theatre shows. That year he wrote his first successful Broadway revue, The Whirl of the World.

Romberg's adaptation of melodies by Franz Schubert for Blossom Time (1921, produced in the UK as Lilac Time) was a great success. He subsequently wrote his best-known operettas, The Student Prince (1924), The Desert Song (1926) and The New Moon (1928), which are in a style similar to the Viennese operettas of Franz Lehár. He also wrote Rosalie (1928) together with George Gershwin. His later works, such as Up in Central Park (1945), are closer to the American musical in style, but they were less successful. Romberg also wrote a number of film scores and adapted his own work for film.

Columbia Records asked Romberg to conduct orchestral arrangements of his music (which he had played in concerts) for a series of recordings from 1945 to 1950 that were issued both on 78-rpm and 33-1/3 rpm discs. These performances are now prized by record collectors. Naxos has digitally remastered the recordings and issued them in the U.K. (They cannot be released in the U.S. because Sony BMG, which acquired Columbia Records, holds the copyright for their American release.)[1]

Much of Romberg's music, including extensive excerpts from his operettas, was released on LP during the 1950s and 1960s, especially by Columbia, Capitol, and RCA Victor. Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, who appeared in an MGM adaptation of New Moon in 1940, regularly recorded and performed his music. There have also been periodic revivals of the operettas.

Romberg died in 1951 in New York City and was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Romberg was the subject of the 1954 Stanley Donen-directed film Deep in My Heart, in which he was portrayed by José Ferrer.

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.

edgar, don't we love the arcane verses of Dylan? Thanks, Texas, and I'm not going to play anything about "...just like a man..." because it would take too long. Instead, I am going to dedicate this one to all the ladies out there who are having a bad HAIR day.

From Hair:

Good Morning Starshine

Good morning starshine
The earth says hello
You twinkle above us
We twinkle below

Good morning starshine
You lead us along
My love and me as we sing
Our early morning singing song

Gliddy glub gloopy
Nibby nabby noopy
La la la lo lo
Sabba sibby sabba
Nooby abba nabba
Le le lo lo
Tooby ooby walla
Nooby abba naba
Early morning singing song

Good morning starshine
The earth says hello
You twinkle above us
We twinkle below

Good morning starshine
You lead us along
My love and me as we sing
Our early morning singing song

Gliddy glub gloopy
Nibby nabby noopy
La la la lo lo
Sabba sibby sabba
Nooby abba nabba
Le le lo lo
Tooby ooby walla
Nooby abba naba
Early morning singing song

Singing a song
Humming a song
Singing a song
Loving a song
Laughing a song
Singing a song
Sing the song
Song song song sing
Sing sing sing sing song

William Powell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name William Horatio Powell
Born July 29, 1892
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Died March 5, 1984, age 91
Palm Springs, California
Spouse(s) Eileen Wilson (1915-1930)
Carole Lombard (1931-1933)
Diana Lewis (1940-1984)

William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 - March 5, 1984) was a three-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, noted for his sophisticated, cynical roles. He is most widely known for portraying Nick Charles, husband of Nora Charles (Myrna Loy) in six Thin Man films.




Childhood

Powell, an only child, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Nettie Manila Brady and Horatio Warren Powell.[1] He showed an early aptitude for performing. In 1907, he moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri.


Film career

After high school, he left home for New York and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts at the age of 18. In 1912 Powell graduated from the AADA, and worked in some vaudeville and stock companies. After several successful experiences on the Broadway stage, he began his Hollywood career in 1922 playing a small role in a production of Sherlock Holmes that starred John Barrymore as the great detective. His most memorable role in silent movies was as a bitter film director opposite Emil Jannings' Academy Award-winning performance as a fallen general in The Last Command (1928), which led to Powell's first starring role as amateur detective Philo Vance in The Canary Murder Case (1929).


Perhaps Powell's most famous role was that of Nick Charles in six Thin Man films, beginning with The Thin Man in 1934. The role provided a perfect opportunity for Powell to showcase his sophisticated charm and his witty sense of humor, and he received his first Academy Award nomination for The Thin Man. Myrna Loy played his wife, Nora, in each of the Thin Man films. Their partnership was one of Hollywood's most prolific on-screen pairings, with the couple appearing in 14 films together.

He and Loy also starred in the Best Picture of 1936, The Great Ziegfeld, with Powell in the title role and Loy as Ziegfeld's wife Billie Burke. That same year, he also received his second Academy Award nomination, for the comedy My Man Godfrey.

In 1935, he starred with Jean Harlow in Reckless. Soon it developed into a serious romance, though she died in 1937 before they could marry. His distress over her death, as well as his own battle with colon cancer around the same time, caused him to accept fewer acting roles.

His career slowed considerably in the 1940s, although in 1947 he received his third Academy Award nomination for his work in Life with Father. His last film was Mister Roberts in 1955, with Henry Fonda, James Cagney, and Jack Lemmon. Despite numerous entreaties to return to the screen, Powell refused all offers, happy in his retirement.


Personal life

In 1915, he married Eileen Wilson, with whom he had his only child, William David Powell, before an amicable divorce in 1930. (Powell's son became a television writer and producer before a period of ill health led to his suicide in 1968.)

In 1931, Powell married actress Carole Lombard. The marriage lasted just over two years. They were divorced in 1933, though they too remained on good terms, even starring together in the comedy, My Man Godfrey, three years later.

A close relationship with Jean Harlow, begun in 1935, was cut short by her untimely death in 1937. It is reported that a single white gardenia with an unsigned note, but presumed to be written by Powell, that read "Good night, my dearest darling" were placed in her hands in her grave. He also paid for her final resting place?-the $25,000, 9?-10-foot private room lined with multicolored imported marble located in the "Sanctuary of Benediction".

On January 6, 1940, he married actress Diana Lewis, whom he called "Mousie." Although the couple had only met for the first time three weeks before their wedding, they remained married until Powell's death.

On March 5, 1984, Powell died of cardiac arrest in Palm Springs, California at the age of 91, some thirty years after his retirement. His widow, Diana Lewis, died in 1997.


Honors

Academy Awards nominations

1935 Nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Thin Man
1937 Nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role - My Man Godfrey
1948 Nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role - Life with Father

Other

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1636 Vine Street. He won the New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Life With Father.


Notable Quotes

The Thin Man, 1934
Myrna Loy: Pretty Girl.

William Powell: Yes. She's a nice type.

Myrna Loy: You got types?

William Powell: Only you, darling. Lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.
The Thin Man, 1934
William Powell: Oh, it's alright, Joe. It's my dog. And uh, my wife.

Myrna Loy: Well, you might have mentioned me on the first billing.
The Thin Man, 1934
William Powell: Oh, I'm a hero. I was shot twice in the Tribune.
Myrna Loy: I read you were shot five times in the tabloids.
William Powell: It's not true. He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids.
The Thin Man, 1934
William Powell: How'd you like Grant's tomb?

Myrna Loy: It's lovely. I'm having a copy made for you.
After The Thin Man, 1936
William Powell: Come on. Let's get something to eat. I'm thirsty.
My Man Godfrey, 1936
William Powell: These flowers just came for you, miss. Where shall I put them?

Carole Lombard: What difference does it make where one puts flowers when one's heart is breaking?

William Powell: Yes, miss. Shall I put them on the piano?
Life with Father, 1947
William Powell: I don't go to church to be preached at as though I were some lost sheep.

Irene Dunne: Clare, you don't seem to understand what the church is for.

William Powell: Vinnie, if there's one place the church should leave alone, it's a man's soul!

Clara Bow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Clara Gordon Bow
Born July 29, 1905
Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Died September 27, 1965 (aged 60)
West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Spouse(s) Rex Bell

Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1905 - September 27, 1965) was an American actress and sex symbol, best known for her silent film work in the 1920s. Bow was widely recognized as an archetypal flapper and the original "It Girl".





Early life

Bow was born in a tenement in Brooklyn, New York, the only surviving child of a dysfunctional family afflicted with mental illness, poverty, and physical and emotional abuse. She was the third child born to her parents; the first two children, both daughters, were stillborn. Bow's mother, hoping that her third child would also die at birth, didn't bother with a birth certificate.[1]

As a child, she was a tomboy and played games in the streets with the boys. Her clothes were ragged and dirty; other girls wouldn't play with her. Clara's friend Johnny burned to death in her arms when she was 10 years old. Years later, she could make herself cry at will on a movie set by singing the lullaby "Rock-a-bye Baby". She said it reminded her of Johnny.[2]

Bow's mother, Sarah Gordon, was an occasional prostitute who suffered from mental illness and epilepsy. She was noted for her frequent public affairs with local firemen. Bow's father, Robert Bow, was rarely present and may have had a mental impairment. Whenever he returned home, he was verbally and physically abusive to both wife and daughter. Bow's father reportedly raped her when she was between the ages of 15 and 16 years old.[3]


Early career

Having dropped out of school at the age of seven and with little more worldly experience than a job at the Coney Island amusement park, through a stroke of fortune, young Clara Bow found herself working as a movie actress by her mid-teens.

Always an avid movie fan herself, Bow won the Motion Picture Magazine's Fame and Fortune contest in 1921, the grand prize being a part in a film. She needed two photographs in order to enter the contest, so she begged her father for the money and he finally took her to a cheap studio. Although she hated the results, the contest judges were impressed. After numerous screen tests, Bow was selected the winner. She won a part in Beyond the Rainbow (1922), but to her humiliation and disappointment, her scenes were cut from the final print and were not seen until the film was restored years later.

Bow also had to deal with her mother, Sarah Gordon. Gordon told Bow that acting was for prostitutes. She had also taken to sneaking up behind Bow and threatening to kill her because she felt her daughter would be better off dead. One night, she awoke to find her mother holding a butcher knife to her throat. Clara ran and locked herself in a closet until her grandmother came home. Bow suffered insomnia for the rest of her life.[2]


Fame and fortune

Bow's screen introduction wasn't until her next film, Down to the Sea in Ships. This was a silent film, as were all of Bow's early films until the advent of sound in the late 1920s.

She began to appear in numerous small movie roles. All the while, she suffered guilty feelings over her mother's disapproval. In 1923, Bow was on the set when she learned that her mother had died. She was devastated, feeling that her acting was somehow responsible for her mother's death.

With her earliest films being all East Coast productions, Bow got her big break when an officer of Preferred Pictures approached her on the set. He offered her free train fare to make a screen test in Hollywood, and Bow agreed to make the trip. The first time Preferred Pictures head B.P. Schulberg saw disheveled Clara Bow in her one ragged dress, he was dismayed. He was reluctant even to give her a screen test, but when he finally did, the results astounded him. Bow was already adept at pantomime, and she could cry on command.

Starting with Maytime (1923), Schulberg cast Bow in a series of small roles. She nearly always stole her scenes. However, instead of creating projects for her, he loaned her out to other studios for easy money. Nevertheless, Bow started to make a name for herself through these many small roles and was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1924.

As soon as Bow started to make money, she brought her father to live with her in Hollywood. For the next few years, she funded numerous business ventures for him, including a restaurant and a dry cleaners, all of which failed. He soon became a drunken nuisance on her sets, where he would try to pick up young girls by telling them his daughter was Clara Bow. Despite the behavior of her unwanted relative, Bow was adored during this time of her career. Crew members always seemed to fall in love with her. She was friendly, generous, and so grateful for her success that she always remained humble.

In 1925, Schulberg cast Bow in The Plastic Age. The movie was a huge hit, and Bow was suddenly the studio's most popular star. She also began to date her co-star Gilbert Roland, who would become the first of many engagements for her. Bow followed her first big success with Mantrap (1926), directed by Victor Fleming. Though he was twice her age, Bow quickly fell in love with her director. She began seeing both Roland and Fleming at the same time.


The It girl

In 1927, Bow reached the heights of her popularity with the film It, after Bow had already been dubbed "The It Girl" by Elinor Glyn ?- "It... that strange magnetism which attracts both sexes... entirely unself-conscious... full of self-confidence... indifferent to the effect... she is producing and uninfluenced by others.") (The Glyn quote appears in her novel, It). More commonly, "It" was taken to mean "sex appeal" ("It, hell," said Dorothy Parker, "She had those.")[4]

This image was enhanced by various off-screen love affairs publicized by the tabloid press. However, some Hollywood insiders considered her socially undesirable, especially in light of rumored sexual escapades with many famous men of the time. Bela Lugosi, Gary Cooper, Gilbert Roland, John Wayne, director Victor Fleming, and John Gilbert were reputed to be among her many lovers.

Bow's alleged alcoholism, drug abuse, and mental illness were also becoming problems for the studios. Budd Schulberg, the producer's son, said, "There was one subject on which the staid old Hollywood establishment would agree: Clara Bow, no matter how great her popularity, was a low life and a disgrace to the community" (The Schulberg quote appears in his memoir, Moving Pictures). Not all of the negative rumors were true, but Bow probably did inherit mental illness from her mother.

Her acting, however, was finer than her good-time-girl reputation implied. Bow was praised for her vitality and enthusiasm ?- Adolph Zukor once said that "She danced even when her feet weren't moving"[citation needed] ?- though her roles rarely allowed her to show much range. In the early 1930s, Motion Picture magazine complained that the studio never gave her film plots any thought beyond "Hey, let's put Clara in a sailor suit!"[citation needed] At least one important film writer, Adela Rogers St. Johns, felt Bow had enormous promise that was never tapped by the studios.

Documentation indicates that as Bow developed a reputation as "Crisis-a-Day Clara".[citation needed] Paramount went out of its way to humiliate the increasingly emotionally frail actress by cancelling her films, docking her pay, charging her for unreturned costumes, and insisting that she pay for her publicity photographs. Her contract also included a morality clause offering her a bonus of $500,000 for behaving like a lady and staying out of the newspapers.[citation needed]

In 1927, Bow starred in Wings, a war picture largely re-written to accommodate her, as she was Paramount's biggest star at the time. The film went on to win the first Academy Award for Best Picture. After movies such as Wings, Bow's career continued with limited success into the early sound film era. Much of the mystique around Bow was destroyed by the advent of sound, when her fans heard her heavy, lower-class Brooklyn accent. Worse, Bow began experiencing mic fright on the sets of her sound films.

In 1928, Bow wrote the foreword for a novelization of her film The Fleet's In.

She finally retired in 1933 to raise her children with her husband, cowboy actor Rex Bell (actually George F. Beldon), later a lieutenant governor of Nevada. Bow and Beldon married in 1932 and had two sons, Tony Beldon (born 1934, changed name to Rex Anthony Bell, Jr.) and George Beldon, Jr. (born 1938).


Mental illness

After being diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1949, Bow's treatment regimen included shock treatments. Later in her life her husband sent her to one of the top mental institutions in the nation at the time. Doctors found out that Clara had been raped by her father at a young age. Clara Bow died on September 27, 1965 of a heart attack. She was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Clara Bow was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1994, she was honored with an image on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.


Quotations

When asked what 'It' was, she replied in a Brooklyn accent, "I ain't real sure."
"The more I see of men, the more I like dogs."
"Even now I can't trust life. It did too many awful things to me as a kid."
While filming on location: "I wanna go home. I miss my cook."

Trivia

The 1930 U.S. Census lists Bow's residence as 512 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, California. Her home's value was listed as $25,000, higher than most others on her block at the time.
Clara's mass of tangled, slept-on red hair was her most famous attribute. When fans of the new star found out she put henna in her hair, sales of the dye tripled.[5]
Clara applied her red lipstick in the shape of a heart. Women who imitated this shape were said to be putting a "Clara Bow" on their mouths.[5]
Clara became a lifelong insomniac after her mother tried to kill her in her sleep.[5]
Clara preferred playing poker with her cook, maid, and chauffeur over attending her movie premieres.[5]
Not only did Clara kiss and tell; she did so in language that would make a sailor blush.[5]
A visibly nervous Clara had to do a number of retakes in The Wild Party, her first talkie, because her eyes kept wandering up to the microphone overhead.[5]
Clara was worried that staring in "Talkies" would ruin her sex symbol status due to her strong Brooklyn accent.
Clara was able to live off her earnings as a film star and spent her last years living in a modest house, being attended to by a nurse, and living off an estate worth about $500,000 at the time of her death in 1965, according to a biography by David Stenn. [1]
In Tennessee Williams' play The Night of the Iguana, Hannah Jelkes explains to Reverend Shannon that when she was 16, a young man made advances toward her in a movie theatre and was arrested. To get him off the hook, she says, "I told the police it was a Clara Bow picture?-well, it was a Clara Bow picture?-and I was just over-excited."
The alternative rock band 50 Foot Wave entitled a song "Clara Bow" on their CD "Golden Ocean".
Mentioned in the song "Condition of the Heart" by Prince on his album Around the World in a Day.
Max Fleischer's cartoon character Betty Boop (who debuted in the 1930 short film Dizzy Dishes) was modeled after Bow and entertainer Helen Kane (the "boop-oop-a-doop-girl").
The voice of Clara was emulated by Temperance Brennan (actress Emily Deschanel), while she was undercover. The fact that Clara was a silent film actress and voice was not hear throughout her film career did not stop Brennan. (Bones season 2.08 - the woman in the sand).

Richard Egan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Richard Egan (July 29, 1921 - July 20, 1987) was an American actor. In some films he is credited as Richard Eagan.

Born in San Francisco, California, Egan served in the United States Army as a judo instructor during World War II. A graduate of the University of San Francisco (B.A.) and Stanford University (M.A.), he studied and taught at Northwestern University for a time. Having studied theatre, he took a bit role in the 1949 Hollywood film "The Story of Molly X".

This start would lead to his signing of a contract with 20th Century Fox where his talent, rugged physique and good looks made him a favorite and respected leading man.

In 1956, he starred as Elvis Presley's older brother in Presley's first film, Love Me Tender, and in 1959 was the male lead opposite Dorothy McGuire in A Summer Place. In 1960, Egan appeared in such films as Pollyanna and with Joan Collins in Esther and the King. Other noteworthy films include Undercover Girl (1950), Split Second (1953), A View from Pompey's Head (1955), Slaughter on 10th Avenue (1957), "Voice In The Mirror", about the man who started AA, and The 300 Spartans (1962).

During the decade of the 60s, Richard Egan worked extensively in television, starring in the western drama series, Empire from 1962 to 1964. After his series ended, he made guest appearances on other television shows as well as acting in several motion pictures for the big screen plus in films made specifically for television. In 1982 he joined the cast for the new daytime television political drama Capitol.

Richard Egan died in Los Angeles, California, on July 20th, 1987, 9 days before his 66th birthday, and was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in suburban Culver City, California.

A devout Roman Catholic, with a brother who was a priest, Egan was married to the former Patrica Hardy for thirty years until his death; they had five children, including son Rich Egan, owner of Vagrant Records, and daughter, writer/director Maureen Egan.

Egan was respected within the acting community for having helped a number of young actors get their first break in the film industry.[citation needed]