T. E. Lawrence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Edward Lawrence
August 16, 1888(1888-08-16) - May 19, 1935
Nickname Lawrence of Arabia
Place of birth Tremadog, Caernarfonshire, North Wales
Place of death Bovington Camp, Dorset, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Air Force
Years of service 1914-1918
Rank Lieutenant colonel
Awards Companion in the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Légion d'Honneur
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO (August 16, 1888 [1] - May 19, 1935), known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British soldier renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt of 1916-18, but whose vivid personality and writings, along with the extraordinary breadth and variety of his activities and associations, have made him the object of fascination throughout the world as "Lawrence of Arabia".
Lawrence's public image was due in part to U.S. traveller and journalist Lowell Thomas' sensationalised reportage of the Revolt, as well as to Lawrence's autobiographical account, Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Early years
Lawrence was born in 1888 in Tremadog, Caernarfonshire, North Wales. His Anglo-Irish father, Sir Thomas Robert Tighe Chapman, seventh Baronet of Westmeath in Ireland, had abandoned his wife, Edith, for his daughters' governess, Sarah Junner. The couple did not marry. Sir Thomas and Sarah had five illegitimate sons, of whom Thomas Edward was the second-eldest. The family later lived at 2 Polstead Road (now marked with a blue plaque) in Oxford, under the names of Mr and Mrs Lawrence. Thomas Edward (known in the family as "Ned") attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys, where one of the four houses is now named "Lawrence" in his honour. In about 1905, Lawrence ran away from home and served for a few weeks as a boy soldier with the Royal Garrison Artillery at St Mawes Castle in Cornwall; he was bought out.
From 1907 Lawrence was educated at Jesus College, Oxford. During the summers of 1907 and 1908, he toured France by bicycle, collecting photographs, drawings and measurements of castles dating from the crusader period. Subsequently, in the summer of 1909, he set out alone on a three-month walking tour of crusader castles in Syria, during which he travelled 1,000 miles on foot. Lawrence graduated with First Class Honours after submitting a thesis on The influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture - to the end of the 12th century; the thesis was based on his own field research in France and the Middle East.
On completing his degree (1910), he commenced postgraduate research in medieval pottery with a Senior Demy at Magdalen College, Oxford, which he abandoned after he was offered the opportunity to become a practicing archaeologist in the Middle East. In December 1910 he sailed for Beirut, and on arrival went to Jbail (Byblos), where he studied Arabic. He then went to work on the excavations at Carchemish, near Jerablus in northern Syria, where he worked under D.G. Hogarth and R. Campbell-Thompson of the British Museum. He would later state that everything that he had accomplished, he owed to Hogarth.[2] While excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites, Lawrence met Gertrude Bell, who was to influence him for much of his time in the Middle East.
In late summer 1911, Lawrence returned to England for a brief sojourn. By November he was en route to Beirut for a second season at Carchemish, where he was to work with Leonard Woolley. Prior to resuming work there, however, he briefly worked with William Flinders Petrie at Kafr Ammar in Egypt.
Lawrence continued making trips to the Middle East as a field archaeologist until the outbreak of World War I. In January 1914, Woolley and Lawrence were co-opted by the British military as an archaeological smokescreen for a British military survey of the Negev Desert. They were funded by the Palestine Exploration Fund to search for an area referred to in the Bible as the "Wilderness of Zin"; along the way, they undertook an archaeological survey of the Negev Desert. The Negev was of strategic importance, as it would have to be crossed by any Turkish army attacking Egypt in the event of war. Woolley and Lawrence subsequently published a report of the expedition's archaeological findings,[3] but a more important result was an updated mapping of the area, with special attention to features of military relevance such as water sources. At this time, Lawrence visited Aqaba and Petra.
From March to May, Lawrence worked again at Carchemish. Following the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, on the advice of S.F. Newcombe, Lawrence did not immediately enlist in the British Army but held back until October.
Arab Revolt
At the outbreak of World War I Lawrence was a British University post-graduate researcher who with, by, and under his own passport and visas had for years entered and traveled extensively within the Turkish Empire provinces of the Levant (Trans-Jordan & Palestine) and Mesopotamia (Syria & Iraq) under his own name. As such he became known to the Turkish Interior Ministry authorities and their European (German) "friends" and technical advisors who he came into contact with in order to pass into and then from one province within the Empire to another. As a fellow European Lawrence came into contact with the Turk's German technical advisors as a European himself living, working and operating in a "non-white" country; traveling over the German designed, built and financed railways during the course of his travels and researches.
Thus on the eve of World War I the Turks would have already regarded Lawrence as a relatively well known English foreigner who, was also known to have detailed knowledge of Turkish frontier territories bordering on the British sphere of influence at Suez and in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Once the Turkish Empire joined the war as a co-belligerent with Germany, the Turkish Interior Ministry would have regarded Lawrence and men like him as presumptively suspect enemy aliens who very likely would be spies working for their Governments. The Turks on their own or under the tutelage of their German advisors would have been on the lookout for all such persons, who might attempt reenter their Empire and reestablish contacts with their friends and or dissidents that they had met during their travels before the war.
Even if Lawrence had not volunteered, the British would probably have drafted him as a reserve officer for his detailed first-hand knowledge of the Levant, Syria and Mesopotamia. His posting to Cairo on the Intelligence Staff of the GOC Middle East was therefore inevitable. It is against this backdrop that Lawrence's actions should be viewed.
Contrary to later myth, it was not Lawrence or the Army that conceptualized a campaign of internal insurgency against the Turks in the Middle East, it was the Arab Bureau of Britain's Foreign Office. The Arab Bureau had long appraised as high the likelihood that a campaign instigated and financed by outside powers, supporting the break-away-minded tribes and regional challengers to the Turks' centralized rule of their empire, would pay great dividends in the diversion of effort that would be needed to meet such a challenge. The Arab Bureau was the first to recognize what is today called the "asymmetry" of such conflict. The Turks would have to devote a hundred or a thousand times the resources to contain the threat of such an internal rebellion, as would be the Allies' cost of sponsoring it.
At that point in the British Foreign Office's thinking they were not considering the region as candidate territories for formal incorporation and addition to the British Empire, but only as an extension of the range of British Imperial influence. And the weakening and destruction of a German ally, the Turkish Empire.
During the war, he fought with Arab irregular troops under the command of Emir Faisal, a son of Sherif Hussein of Mecca, in extended guerrilla operations against the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence's major contribution to World War I was convincing Arab leaders to co-ordinate their revolt to aid British interests.[citation needed] He persuaded the Arabs not to drive the Ottomans out of Medina, thus forcing the Turks to tie up troops in the city garrison. The Arabs were then able to direct most of their attention to the Hejaz railway that supplied the garrison. This tied up more Ottoman troops, who were forced to protect the railway and repair the constant damage.
In 1917 Lawrence arranged a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces under Auda Abu Tayi (until then in the employ of the Ottomans) against the strategically located port city of Aqaba. He was promoted to major in the same year. On July 6, after an overland attack, Aqaba fell to Arab forces. Some 12 months later, Lawrence was involved in the capture of Damascus in the final weeks of the war and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1918.
As was his habit when travelling before the war, Lawrence adopted many local customs and traditions (many photographs show him in the desert wearing white Arab garb and riding camels), and he soon became a confidant of Prince Faisal.
During the closing years of the war he sought to convince his superiors in the British government that Arab independence was in their interests, with mixed success.
In 1918 he co-operated with war correspondent Lowell Thomas for a short period. During this time Thomas and his cameraman Harry Chase shot much film and many photographs, which Thomas used in a highly lucrative film that toured the world after the war.
Lawrence was made a Companion in the Order of the Bath and awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the French Légion d'Honneur, though in October 1918 he refused to be made a Knight Commander of the British Empire.
Post-war years
Immediately after the war, Lawrence worked for the Foreign Office, attending the Paris Peace Conference between January and May as a member of Faisal's delegation.
Lowell Thomas's film was seen by four million people in the post-war years, giving Lawrence great publicity.[citation needed] Until then, Lawrence had little influence, but soon newspapers began to report his opinions. Consequently he served for much of 1921 as an advisor to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office.
Lawrence was ambivalent about Thomas's publicity, calling him a "vulgar man," though he saw Thomas's show several times.[citation needed] Starting in 1922, Lawrence attempted to join the Royal Air Force as an airman under the name John Hume Ross. He was soon exposed and subsequently forced out of the RAF. He changed his name to T.E. Shaw and joined the Royal Tank Corps in 1923. He was unhappy there and repeatedly petitioned to rejoin the RAF, which finally admitted him in August 1925. A fresh burst of publicity after the publication of Revolt in the Desert (see below) resulted in his assignment to a remote base in British India in late 1926, where he remained until the end of 1928. At that time he was forced to return to the UK after rumours began to circulate that he was involved in espionage activities.
He purchased several small plots of land in Chingford, built a hut and swimming pool there, and visited frequently. This was demolished in 1930 when the Corporation of London acquired the land.
He continued serving in the RAF, specialising in high-speed boats and professing happiness, and it was with considerable regret that he left the service at the end of his enlistment in March 1935.
Lawrence was a keen motorcyclist, and, at different times, had owned seven Brough Superior motorcycles.[4]
Death
A few weeks after leaving the service, aged 46, he was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident in Dorset, close to his cottage, Clouds Hill, near Wareham (now run by the National Trust and open to the public). The accident occurred because of a dip in the road that obstructed his view of two boys on their bicycles; he swerved to avoid them, lost control, and was thrown over the handlebars of his motorcycle. He died six days later.[5]
Some sources mistakenly claim that Lawrence was buried in St Paul's Cathedral; in reality, only a bust of him was placed in the crypt. His actual final resting place is the Dorset village of Moreton. Moreton Estate, which borders Bovington Camp, was owned by family cousins, the Frampton family. Lawrence had rented and subsequently purchased Clouds Hill from the Framptons. He had been a frequent visitor to their home, Okers Wood House, and had for many years corresponded with Louisa Frampton.
On Lawrence's death, his mother wrote to the Framptons; due to time constraints, she asked whether there was space for him in their family plot at Moreton Church. At his subsequent funeral there, attendees included Winston and Clementine Churchill and Lawrence's youngest brother, Arnold (who demonstrated the Lawrencian dry humour in speaking with reporters), and T.E. Lawrence's coffin was transported on the Frampton estate bier.
Writings
Throughout his life, Lawrence was a prolific writer. A large proportion of his output was epistolary; he often sent several letters a day. Several collections of his letters have been published. He corresponded with many notable figures, including George Bernard Shaw, Edward Elgar, Winston Churchill, Robert Graves and E.M. Forster. He met Joseph Conrad and commented perceptively on his works. The many letters that he sent to Shaw's wife, Charlotte, offer a revealing side of his character.[6]
In his lifetime, Lawrence published four major texts. Two were translations: Homer's Odyssey, and The Forest Giant - the latter an otherwise forgotten work of French fiction. He received a flat fee for the second translation, and negotiated a generous fee plus royalties for the first.
Seven Pillars
Lawrence's major work is Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an account of his war experiences. In 1919 he had been elected to a seven-year research fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, providing him with support while he worked on the book. In addition to being a memoir of his experiences during the war, certain parts also serve as essays on military strategy, Arabian culture and geography, and other topics. Lawrence re-wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom three times; once "blind" after he lost the manuscript while changing trains in Reading.
The accusation that Lawrence repeatedly exaggerated his feats has been a persistent theme among commentators.[citation needed] The list of his alleged "embellishments" in Seven Pillars is long, though many such allegations have been disproved with time, most definitively in Jeremy Wilson's authorised biography.
Lawrence acknowledged having been helped in the editing of the book by George Bernard Shaw. In the preface to Seven Pillars, Lawrence offered his "thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Shaw for countless suggestions of great value and diversity: and for all the present semicolons."
The first edition was to be published in 1926 as a high priced private subscription edition. Lawrence was afraid that the public would think that he would make a substantial income from the book, and he stated that it was written as a result of his war service. He vowed not to take any money from it, and indeed he did not, as the sale price was one third of the production costs.[citation needed] This left Lawrence in substantial debt.
Revolt
Revolt in the Desert was an abridged version of Seven Pillars, also published in 1926. He undertook a needed but reluctant publicity exercise, which resulted in a best seller. Again, he vowed not to take any fees from the publication, partly to appease the subscribers to Seven Pillars who had paid dearly for their editions. By the fourth reprint in 1927, the debt from Seven Pillars was paid off. As Lawrence left for military service in India at the end of 1926, he set up the "Seven Pillars Trust" with his friend DG Hogarth as a trustee, in which he made over the copyright and any surplus income of Revolt in the Desert. He later told Hogarth that he had "made the Trust final, to save myself the temptation of reviewing it, if Revolt turned out a best seller."
The resultant trust paid off the debt, and Lawrence then invoked a clause in his publishing contract to halt publication of the abridgement in the UK. However, he allowed both American editions and translations which resulted in a substantial flow of income. The trust paid income either into an educational fund for children of RAF officers who lost their lives or were invalided as a result of service, or more substantially into the RAF Benevolent Fund set up by Air-Marshal Trenchard, founder of the RAF, in 1919.
Posthumous
He also authored The Mint, a memoir of his experiences as an enlisted man in the Royal Air Force. Lawrence worked from a notebook that he kept while enlisted, writing of the daily lives of enlisted men and his desire to be a part of something larger than himself: the Royal Air Force. The book is stylistically very different from Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It was published posthumously, edited by his brother, Prof. A.W. Lawrence.
After Lawrence's death, his brother inherited all Lawrence's estate and his copyrights as the sole beneficiary. To pay the inheritance tax, he sold the U.S. copyright of Seven Pillars of Wisdom (subscribers' text) outright to Doubleday Doran in 1935. Doubleday still controls publication rights of this version of the text of Seven Pillars of Wisdom in the USA. He then in 1936 split the remaining assets of the estate, giving "Clouds Hill" and many copies of less substantial or historical letters to the nation via the National Trust, and then set up two trusts to control interests in Lawrence's residual copyrights. To the original Seven Pillars Trust he assigned the copyright in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as a result of which it was given its first general publication. To the Letters and Symposium Trust, he assigned the copyright in The Mint and all Lawrence's letters, which were subsequently edited and published in the book T. E. Lawrence by his Friends (edited by A.W. Lawrence, London, Jonathan Cape, 1937).
A substantial amount of income went directly to the RAF Benevolent Fund or for archaeological, environmental, or academic projects. The two trusts were amalgamated in 1986, and, on the death of Prof. A.W. Lawrence, also acquired all the remaining rights to Lawrence's works that it had not owned, plus rights to all of Prof. Lawrence's works.
Sexuality
As was common for his class and generation, Lawrence did not discuss his sexual orientation or sexual practices, and his actual orientation and experiences are debated. Writers working to elucidate the history of same-sex erotic relationships identify a strong homoerotic element in Lawrence's life, while scholars, including his official biographer, have been accused of "attempt[ing] to defend Lawrence against 'charges' of homosexuality."[7]
There is one clearly homoerotic passage in the Introduction, Chapter 2, of Seven Pillars of Wisdom: "quivering together in the yielding sand, with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace." However, this passage merely discusses Bedouin practices of homosexuality, not his own involvement in them.
The book is dedicated to "S.A." with a poem that begins:
"I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands
and wrote my will across the sky in stars
To gain you Freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house,
that your eyes might be shining for me
When I came."[8]
It is unclear whether "S.A." identifies a man, a woman, a nation, or some combination of the above. Lawrence himself maintained that "S.A." was a composite character.[citation needed] On the subject of the war, Lawrence once said: "I liked a particular Arab, and thought that freedom for the race would be an acceptable present."[9]
If "S.A." does refer to a particular person, a likely possibility is Selim Ahmed, nicknamed "Dahoum" ("Dark One"), a 14-year-old Arab with whom Lawrence is known to have been close. The two met while working at a pre-war archaeological dig at Carchemish. Lawrence allowed the boy to move in with him, carved a nude sculpture of him which he placed on the roof of the house in Greco-Roman style (Lawrence being a scholar of classical literature), and brought Ahmed on holiday to England.
The two parted in 1914, never to see each other again, as Dahoum died of typhus in 1918. Boston University Professor Matthew Parfitt (who never met Lawrence) maintains that "in Seven Pillars, and more explicitly in his correspondence, Lawrence suggests that his distaste for the entire exploit in its last triumphant days was largely owing to news of his friend's death."
In Seven Pillars, Lawrence claims that, while reconnoitering Deraa in Arab disguise, he was captured, tortured and possibly gang-raped.[10] Due to misconceptions about male sexual assault, some critics have used this as evidence to suggest that Lawrence was homosexual.[citation needed] For supporting evidence there are letters and reports that Lawrence bore scars of whippings, but the actual facts of the event are lost. Lawrence's own statements and actions concerning the incident contributed to the confusion. He removed the page from his war diary which would have covered the November 1917 week in question. As a result, the veracity of the Deraa events is a subject of debate.
It is true that Lawrence hired a man to beat him, making it clear he had unconventional tastes, notably masochism.[11] Also, years after the Deraa incident, Lawrence embarked on a rigid programme of physical rehabilitation, including diet, exercise, and swimming in the North Sea. During this time he recruited men from the service and told them a story about a fictitious uncle who, because Lawrence had stolen money from him, demanded that he enlist in the service and that he be beaten. Lawrence wrote letters purporting to be from the uncle ("R." or "The Old Man") instructing the men in how he was to be beaten, yet also asking them to persuade him to stop this. This treatment continued until his death.[12] The authenticity of some of these claims and reports is disputed, but others are verified.
Those who attest that T.E. Lawrence was homosexual are primarily biographers and researchers writing after his death. Most of the discussion about Lawrence's sexuality seems to have originated from Richard Aldington's scathingly critical Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry (1955). Richard Meinertzhagen wrote in his Middle East Diary that upon meeting Lawrence, he asked himself, "Boy or girl?" - though historians widely consider this to have been added after the fact. The play Ross (1960) by Terrence Rattigan, as well as the famous film Lawrence of Arabia, helped introduce the idea into popular culture.
In a letter to a homosexual, Lawrence wrote that he did not find homosexuality morally wrong, yet he did find it distasteful.[13] In the book T.E. Lawrence by His Friends, many of Lawrence's friends are adamant that he was not homosexual but simply had little interest in the topic of sex. Not one of them suspected him of homosexual inclinations. Like many men of the time, T.E. Lawrence had little pressure to pursue women, and most of his time was devoted to other activities. E.H.R. Altounyan, a close friend of Lawrence, wrote the following in T.E. Lawrence by His Friends:
"Women were to him persons, and as such to be appraised on their own merits. Preoccupation with sex is (except in the defective) due either to a sense of personal insufficiency and its resultant groping for fulfilment, or to a real sympathy with its biological purpose. Neither could hold much weight with him. He was justifiably self sufficient, and up to the time of his death no woman had convinced him of the necessity to secure his own succession. He was never married because he never happened to meet the right person; and nothing short of that would do: a bald statement of fact which cannot hope to convince the perverse intricacy of the public mind."
Vision of Middle East
A map of the Middle East that belonged to Lawrence has been put on exhibit at the Imperial War Museum in London. It was drafted by him and presented to Britain's War Cabinet in November 1918.
The map provides an alternative to present-day borders in the region, based on the sensibilities of the local populations. It includes a separate state for the Armenians and groups the people of present-day Syria, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia in another state, based on tribal patterns and commercial routes.
Military
According to Lawrence's RAF enlistment medical file of March 12, 1923, he was 5 ft 5.5 in (1.66 m) tall, weighed 130 lb (59 kg), had "scars on his buttocks", "three superficial scars on lower part of his back" and "four superficial scars left side." He was also circumcised.
One of his favourite weapons was a Colt Peacemaker revolver. As recounted in Thomas's With Lawrence In Arabia, Lawrence, while on a pre-war archaeological trip to Mesopotamia, was attacked by an Arab bandit intent on stealing his gun. However, the Arab did not understand the revolver's firing mechanism, and was forced to leave Lawrence unconscious but alive. After this incident, Lawrence's weapon of choice was the Peacemaker, and he almost always carried one for good luck. Lawrence was also known to carry a Broomhandle Mauser, and later, a Colt M1911 semi-automatic.
His SMLE Mk III rifle, given to him by Emir Feisal, is on display in the Imperial War Museum, London.
Film
Lawrence was portrayed twice on film, by Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and by Ralph Fiennes in the made-for-TV movie, A Dangerous Man: Lawrence after Arabia (1990). Both actors are much taller than the real Lawrence: O'Toole stands 6' 3" (1.90 metres) and Fiennes, 6' 1" (1.85 m). Alec Guinness was considered for the title role in the first film, but was passed over as too old; he did, however, play Emir Faisal.
Lawrence was portrayed a third time in the 1992 TV series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, by actors Joseph Bennett and Douglas Henshall.
He was portrayed by Judson Scott in the 1982 TV series, Voyagers!.
Theatre
Lawrence was also the subject of Terrence Rattigan's controversial play Ross, which explored Lawrence's alleged homosexuality. Ross ran in 1960-61, starring Alec Guinness, an admirer of Lawrence's. The play had originally been written as a screenplay, but the planned film was never made.
Alan Bennett's Forty Years On (1968) includes a satire on Lawrence; known as "Tee Hee Lawrence" because of his high-pitched, girlish giggle. "Clad in the magnificent white silk robes of an Arab prince ... he hoped to pass unnoticed through London. Alas he was mistaken." The section concludes with the headmaster confusing him with D.H. Lawrence.
The character of Private Napoleon Meek in George Bernard Shaw's 1931 play Too True to Be Good was inspired by Lawrence. Meek is depicted as thoroughly conversant with the language and lifestyle of tribals. He repeatedly enlists with the army, quitting whenever offered a promotion.
T.E. Lawrence's first year back at Oxford after the Great War to write his Seven Pillars of Wisdom was portrayed by Tom Rooney in a play, The Oxford Roof Climbers Rebellion, written by Canadian playwright Stephen Massicotte (premiered Toronto 2006). The play explores Lawrence's political, physical and psychological reactions to war, and his friendship with poet Robert Graves.
Lawrence's final years are portayed in a one-man show by Raymond Sargent, "The Warrior and the Poet."[14]
Travel
Jordanian attempts to promote the Hejaz railway as a tourist attraction with a Lawrence Special running from Aqaba to Wadi Rum were derailed in September 2006 when a freight train ran off the track close to one of Lawrence's detonation points, causing similar damage to the permanent way.
A road in the Mount Batten area of Plymouth, where Lawrence was stationed, has been named Lawrence Road in his honour.
Other
Oxford legend holds that, while an undergraduate at Jesus College, Lawrence crept into the deer park of Magdalen at night and stole a deer; by the morning, he had managed to transfer the deer to the front quad of All Souls, the college which is normally off limits for undergraduates.
At the time Lawrence was going under the name Shaw, and signing himself, for example in the guest book at Philip Sassoon's Port Lympne estate, as "338171 A/C Shaw". Noel Coward in a letter to him asked "May I call you 338?"[15]
An evergreen practical joke of London newspapers is to place a notice in the Lost and Found column: "FOUND IN PADDINGTON STATION: manuscript of Arabian adventures. Will the author please call &c. &c.".[citation needed]
Al Hibbler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albert George Hibbler (August 16, 1915-April 24, 2001) was a singer. He was born in Tyro, Mississippi. From birth he was blind.
Life and career
He attended a school for the blind in Little Rock, Arkansas where he joined the school choir. He won an amateur talent contest in Memphis, Tennessee and at first worked with local bands, as well as starting a band of his own. In 1942 he joined a band led by Jay McShann, and the next year he joined Duke Ellington's band, replacing Herb Jeffries. He worked eight years with Ellington before becoming a soloist. Some of his singing is classified as rhythm and blues, but he is really best classified as a bridge between R&B and traditional pop music.
His biggest hit was "Unchained Melody" in 1955. Other hits were "He", "11th Hour Melody", "Never Turn Back", and "After the Lights Go Low" (all in 1956). "After the Lights Go Low", sung with a put-on British accent, was his last charted hit.
In the late 1950s and 1960s, Hibbler became a civil rights activist, marching with protestors and getting arrested in 1959 in New Jersey and in 1963 in Alabama. The notoriety of this activism discouraged major record labels from carrying his work, but Frank Sinatra supported him and signed him to a contract with his label, Reprise Records.
However, Hibbler made very few recordings after that, occasionally doing live appearances through the 1990s. He died in April, 2001 in Chicago.
Fess Parker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. (born August 16, 1924) is an American film and television actor best known for his 1950s portrayals of Davy Crockett for Walt Disney, as well as a wine maker and resort owner-operator.
Early years
Parker was born in Fort Worth, Texas. Parker is best known for his role playing frontiersmen Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone as well as starting a fad of wearing coonskin caps. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps at the end of World War II. He enlisted to become a pilot but was rejected as an aviator for being too tall (six feet, five inches).
After being discharged, he was stabbed in the neck by a drunken driver during a post-collision argument. Parker required many months of rehabilitation, but he was unable afterwards to participate in collegiate sports as much as he wanted.
At the University of Texas he was initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity in 1948. Parker graduated from the University in 1950 with a history degree and moved to California, where he studied drama at the University of Southern California.
He married Marcella Belle Rinehart January 19, 1960. They have two children.
Fess Elisha Parker III
Ashley Allen Rinehart Parker
Acting career
He began his show business career in the play, Mister Roberts, in 1951 and was subsequently hired by the Walt Disney Studios in 1954 to play historic figure Crockett. He also made guest appearances on television programs, and composed and sang music.
From 1964-1970 he starred in the NBC series Daniel Boone. Parker retired from the film industry in the 1970s, after the short-lived 1974 sitcom The Fess Parker Show.
Parker has also appeared as on-screen narrator on at least one jury-duty orientation film.
Current work
Parker currently owns and operates a family winery, Fess Parker Winery and Vineyard, near Santa Barbara, California along with two hotels, the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort which he designed and developed (part-owner and jointly manages with Hilton Hotels) in Santa Barbara, and the Fess Parker's Wine Country Inn and Spa in nearby Los Olivos, California which he owns and manages.
Ann Blyth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Ann Marie Blyth
Born August 16, 1928 (1928-08-16)
Mount Kisco, New York USA
Spouse(s) Dr. James McNulty (1953-2007)
Ann Marie Blyth (born August 16, 1928) is an Oscar-nominated American actress and singer, most often cast in Hollywood musicals, but who also succeeded in the dramatic roles she was given.
Early life
Blyth was born in Mount Kisco, New York to parents who divorced shortly after her birth. She was raised a devout churchgoing Roman Catholic by her mother.
Career
Blyth began her acting career initially as "Anne Blyth", changing the spelling of her name back to the original (Ann) at the beginning of her film career. Her first acting role was on Broadway in Watch on the Rhine (from 1941 until 1942). She was signed to a contract with Universal Studios, and made her film debut in Chip Off the Old Block (1944). In musical films such as Babes on Swing Street and Bowery to Broadway (both 1944), she played the part of the sweet, and demure teenager. Her next film, on loan to Warner Brothers cast her against type, as Veda Pierce, the scheming, ungrateful daughter of Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945). Her dramatic portrayal won her outstanding reviews, and she received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Blyth injured her back after this film, and was not able to capitalize on its success completely although she was still able to make a few films. She played the part of Regina Hubbard in Another Part of the Forest (a 1948 prequel to The Little Foxes), and achieved success playing a mermaid in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948). Her other films include : Our Very Own (with Farley Granger, 1950), The Great Caruso (1951), One Minute to Zero (with Robert Mitchum, 1952), Rose Marie (1954), The Student Prince (1954), Kismet (1955), The Buster Keaton Story (1957) and The Helen Morgan Story.
Blyth raised eyebrows in 1954 at the Academy Awards show when she sang Doris Day's song Secret Love from Calamity Jane while seven months pregnant.
From the 1960s she worked in musical theater, summer stock and television. She also became the spokesperson for Hostess Cupcakes. Her most recent television appearances have been in episodes of Quincy (1983) and Murder, She Wrote (1985).
Blyth has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures, at 6733 Hollywood Boulevard. She was featured in a comic book story with Superman in Action Comics No. 130, March 1949: "Superman and the Mermaid!".
Private life
Blyth married Dr. James McNulty, brother of Dennis Day, in 1953. The couple have five children and remained together until Dr. McNulty's death in 2007.
Robert Culp
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Martin Culp (born August 16, 1930 in Oakland, California), and a 1947 graduate of Berkeley High School, is an American actor, best known for his work on television.
Culp came to national attention with his first role on film as the lead star in the 1957 western television series Trackdown. After that series ended in 1959, he continued to work in television and guest starred on numerous TV shows in the early 1960s including a lead role of "Captain Shark" in the fourth episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. Among his more memorable performances were in three episodes of the science fiction anthology series The Outer Limits (1963-1965) including the classic "Demon with a Glass Hand." In 1965, Culp would star in what would become his most famous role in a TV series, as Kelly Robinson on the espionage series I Spy (1965-1968), opposite co-star Bill Cosby as Alexander Scott. During the series run, he wrote scripts for seven episodes and directed one episode.
He played the murderer in three Columbo television movies, portraying several different characters. In 1971, he, Peter Falk, Robert Wagner, and Darren McGavin all stepped in to take turns with Anthony Franciosa's rotation of The Name of the Game after Franciosa was fired, rotating the lead of the lavish 90-minute show about the magazine business with Gene Barry and Robert Stack. His next starring stint on television was as FBI agent Bill Maxwell in The Greatest American Hero (1981). In 1987 he again teamed up with Bill Cosby on The Cosby Show playing Cliff Huxtible's (Bill Cosby) old friend Scott Kelly; the name is a combination of the I Spy character's names (see above) .
When Larry Hagman entered into contract negotiations over his character of J. R. Ewing in Dallas, Culp was ready to step into the role with an explanation that his face had been rebuilt following an accident. One of his most recent roles was a recurring part on Everybody Loves Raymond as Warren Whelan, Ray's father-in-law.
In addition to television, he has also worked as an actor in theatrical films, beginning with PT 109 (1963) and then as Wild Bill Hickok in The Raiders (1963). He went on to star in the film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969); probably the height of his movie career. One of his most memorable film roles was as Thomas Luther Price in Hannie Caulder (1971). He later starred in the films Hickey & Boggs (1972), which reunited him with Cosby for the first time after I Spy, and Turk 182 (1985). Culp also played the U.S. President in Alan J. Pakula's The Pelican Brief (1994). Altogether, Culp has made hundreds of appearances in TV shows and movies between 1957 and 2007.
Culp lent his voice to the digital character Doctor Breen, the prime antagonist in the 2004 computer game Half-Life 2.
Culp has been married five times and has two sons. From 1967 to 1970, he was married to Eurasian actress France Nuyen.
Eydie Gormé
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Background information
Birth name Edith Gormezano
Born August 13, 1931 (1931-08-13) (age 76)
Origin Bronx, New York City, USA
Genre(s) Big band, Swing, pop standards
Occupation(s) Singer, Actor
Years active 1955 - Present
Website
http://www.steveandeydie.com/
Eydie Gormé (born Edith Gormezano on August 16, 1931) is an American singer credited heavily, along with husband Steve Lawrence, with helping to keep the classic Traditional pop music repertoire alive and well. She still continues to entertain and tour with husband Steve.
Throughout her long career she has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Grammy Award, and an Emmy Award.
The couple's striking union of broad ballads and breezy swing has combined with the endurance of their marriage and their comic facility to make them American institutions---even though neither of the couple, as separate performers or together, has put a single into the American Top 40 since 1963.
Early years
Gormé was born Edith Gormezano in Bronx, New York, and raised by her immigrant Sephardic parents, of Spanish descent. She graduated from William Howard Taft high school in 1946 (legendary film director Stanley Kubrick attended the school at the same time), and worked for the United Nations as a translator, using her fluency in the Spanish language.
She also hired out as a singer, working in the big bands of former Glenn Miller singer Tex Beneke as well as the lesser-known Tommy Tucker, before going on her own in 1952.
Tonight Show start
She caught both her big break and her life partner when she and singer Steve Lawrence were booked to the original The Tonight Show, then hosted by Steve Allen. When they sang together, the legend goes, the industry buzzed about them from the morning after forward; indeed, Steve & Eydie (as they are usually referenced) became two of the only legitimate music stars to break out from 1950s television. (Rick Nelson, who strutted his stuff on his parents' hit situation comedy, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, was the other.)
Marriage
The couple were married in Las Vegas on December 29, 1957. They had two sons, one of whom predeceased them. They became famous on stage for their banter, which usually involved tart yet affectionate and sometimes bawdy references to their married life, which remains a feature of their stage style even now. (A typical exchange: Lawrence---"Baby, you're the only thing I've invested in that's doubled." Gormé---"Now you have to figure out how to make me split.")
In 1995 Gorme and Lawrence were honored for their lifetime contribution to song by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Solo/duo
Gormé enjoyed a few hit singles on her own, none selling bigger than 1963's "Blame it on the Bossa Nova", which was also her final foray into the Top 40 pop charts. Still, she won a Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance in 1967, for her version of "If He Walked Into My Life", from the stage musical Mame. Like her husband, Gormé has appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including The Carol Burnett Show and The Nanny. She and Lawrence appeared together on Broadway in the unsuccessful musical Golden Rainbow, the gestation of which is covered in very unflattering detail in William Goldman's 1968 book The Season.
Gorme also gained unique crossover success in the Latin Music market through a series of albums she made in Spanish. One album being her bestselling album: Eydie Gorme, Canta en Espanol (Sings in Spanish) with a trio of musicians called Los Panchos. The other album is called Cuatro Vidas (Four Lives).
As a duo with her husband, their show name was "Steve and Eydie". In 1960, Steve and Eydie were awarded the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group for their song "We Got Us." One of their best known duos was the 1979 Israeli song "Hallelujah," winner of the Eurovision song contest. They recorded it under the pseudonym Parker and Penny.
Since the 1970s, the couple has focused strictly on the American pop repertoire, recording several albums themed around individual American pop composers. As the 21st Century arrived, the normally indefatigable couple announced their plans to cut back on their touring, launching a "One More For The Road" tour in 2002.
In 2006 Gormé became a blogger, posting occasional messages on her official Web site.
Parenthood
Gormé and Lawrence had two sons, David, who is a composer, and Michael, who died unexpectedly of ventricular fibrillation resulting from an undiagnosed heart condition in 1986, at the age of 23.[1] Michael was a seeded tennis player at Cal State Northridge the time of his death, and apparently healthy despite a previous diagnosis of slight arrhythmia, which he was expected to grow out of. Gormé and Lawrence were in Atlanta at the time of his death, having performed at the Fox Theater the night before. Upon learning of the tragedy, Frank Sinatra sent his private plane to pick up the couple so that they could fly to New York to meet their other son, David, who was attending school at the time. Following the death of Michael, the couple took a year off before touring again.
Lesley Ann Warren
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born August 16, 1946 (1946-08-16)
New York, New York
Spouse(s) Jon Peters
(13 May 1967 - 1977) (divorced) 1 child
Ronald Taft
(16 January 2000 - present)
[show]Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Best TV Actress - Drama
1977 79 Park Avenue
Lesley Ann Warren (born August 16, 1946), is a Golden Globe Award-winning, Oscar nominated American stage, film and television actress and singer.
Warren was born in New York City to a Jewish family whose surname was originally "Woronoff". The 5-foot-8 inch actress began her career as a ballet dancer, training at the School of American Ballet.
She entered the Actors Studio at the age of seventeen - reputedly the youngest applicant ever to be accepted. Her Broadway debut came in 1963 in the musical, 110 in the Shade. She won the Theatre World Award for her performance in the 1965 flop musical Drat! The Cat!. In 1973 she portrayed Scarlett O'Hara in the Los Angeles production of Scarlett, which was reviewed so scathingly it didn't continue to Broadway as planned.
Having failed to obtain the role of Liesl in the film version of The Sound of Music, her first major television success was in the title role of Rodgers and Hammerstein's television special, Cinderella, in 1965. She later replaced Barbara Bain as the leading female in the Mission: Impossible team during the 1970-1971 television season, though according to The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier by Patrick White, she was considered too inexperienced for the part and left after only one year (she was billed as Lesley Warren on the series).
In 1967, she married producer Jon Peters. They had one son, Christopher Peters (born 1968, now an actor), but were subsequently divorced.
Television
She has also appeared extensively on television, most notably in Mission: Impossible (1970-71). In 1970 she also had the lead role in an unbroadcast pilot based upon the 1965 film Cat Ballou. Most recently, she has had recurring roles on Will & Grace - as Will's father's mistress - and on Desperate Housewives as Susan's mother. She has also played the role of Claudia Casey's mother on the ABC show "Less Than Perfect".
Trivia
She played Lois Lane in the 1975 TV production of the failed 1966 musical, It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman and later auditioned for the role of Lois in the 1978 Superman movie. Footage of Warren's screen-test for the role is included on the film's DVD release. Incidentally, Teri Hatcher, (who Warren would play mother to in Desperate Housewives) played Lois Lane in the 90's Superman series, Lois and Clark.
Angela Bassett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born August 16, 1958 (1958-08-16)
Harlem, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s) Courtney B. Vance (1997-present)
Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an Emmy and Academy Award-nominated, and Golden Globe winning American actor who is particularly known for biographical film roles portraying women in American culture.
Biography
Born in The Bronx, and then relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida, as a child. Angela Bassett and her sister D'nette were raised by their social worker mother, Betty. Bassett spent most of her childhood in housing projects, but even at a young age she was an entertainer. She and her younger sister often put on shows, reading poems or performing popular music, for their mother and aunts. At Boca Ciega High School, Bassett was a member of the debate team, student government, drama club, choir, and was a cheerleader. Bassett attended Yale University and received her B.A. in African-American studies in 1980. In 1983, she earned a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the Yale School of Drama. At Yale Bassett met her future husband Courtney B. Vance, a 1986 graduate of the drama school. After graduation, Bassett worked as a receptionist for a beauty salon and as a photo researcher.
She soon looked for acting work in New York theater. One of her first New York performances came in 1985 when she appeared in J.E. Franklin's Black Girl at Second Stage Theatre. She appeared in two August Wilson plays at the Yale Repertory Theatre under the direction of her long-time instructor Lloyd Richards. The Wilson plays featuring Bassett were Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984) and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1986).
Television and film career
In 1985 she made her first appearance on television as a prostitute in the TV movie Doubletake (1985). However, she made her official film debut as a news reporter in F/X (1986). Bassett has said "I really believe that what I do as an actress is my God-given talent. This is my calling...not my career." Bassett moved to Los Angeles and gained recognition in the films Boyz n the Hood (1991) and Malcolm X (1992). For her portrayal of Betty Shabazz she earned an Image Award.
Later that year, she won the role of Tina Turner in the feature film What's Love Got to Do with It. Bassett went through a lengthy and intense audition and broke her finger during a screen, but was given the role over actors Robin Givens and Halle Berry. To gain Turner's well-sculpted figure, Bassett went on a no-sugar diet and weight-trained four hours a day, six days a week. She had to memorize numerous song lyrics and full dance routines to portray the singing legend during her performances.
The film was released in 1993. Bassett earned a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Turner. She was the first African-American to win the Best Actress Golden Globe for a Musical or Comedy.
Angela Bassett starred in three movies in 1995 that were released with varied reactions from critics; Vampire in Brooklyn, Strange Days, and Waiting to Exhale (where she worked with author Terry McMillan). In Strange Days, Bassett plays Lornette "Mace" Mason who is regarded as the savior/heroine in the film often saving the male main character in gutsy, raw fist fights or fiery car chases. Bassett's Mace is also one of the few black female science-fiction characters in film. Bernadine, Bassett's character in Waiting to Exhale, was betrayed by her husband and in revenge she set fire to his entire wardrobe and vehicle, then she sold what was left for one dollar. Bassett's performance in the film was so popular that her scenes are often referenced in novels, and there are still social groups that gather to watch Waiting to Exhale.
It can be argued that Angela Bassett's first truly leading role, where the film solely depended on her star power and charisma, was in 1998's How Stella Got Her Groove Back where she once again collaborated with McMillan. She played Stella in the film about a 40-year-old professional woman falling in love with a 20-year-old Jamaican man. Bassett appears in nearly every scene in the film, showing off her toned figure in jogging suits or two-piece swim-suits, but more notably displaying her leading lady status. She unsurprisingly received rave reviews:
Bassett made headlines when she stated that she was offered the role in Monster's Ball (for which Halle Berry won a history-making Oscar) but did not accept it because of its representation of African-American females.
Bassett has not had to audition for a film since 1993's What's Love Got to Do with It? although Bassett says that she would not mind auditioning for a director to prove that she can do a role they are not used to seeing her perform.
Angela Bassett is a private person, often choosing not to discuss her personal life with the public. She is also a religious person who is of the Christian faith and attends LA's West Angeles Church of God in Christ along with fellow actor Denzel Washington. Bassett told the Los Angeles Times: "Loving God is like my being black. I just am. [No one says] 'You know what? I'm gonna be blacker today!' It's my culture. It's not something I put on or take off or show more. You just communicate that in the way you live your life."
She has been married to actor Courtney B. Vance since 1997. In the summer of 2005, they starred together in a production of the play His Girl Friday at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The couple's first children, son Slater Josiah and daughter Bronwyn Golden, were born on January 27, 2006. The children were carried by a surrogate mother after Bassett had a seven year battle with infertility.
Bassett is an avid supporter of programs for the Arts, especially for youth. She annually attends events for children with diabetes and in foster homes, and she is an active Ambassador of UNICEF. Bassett is a big supporter of the Royal Theater Boys & Girls Club in her hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. The Club is one of the first all performing arts Boys & Girls Clubs in the country.
The Husband Store
A store that sells new husbands has just opened in New York City, where a
woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is
a description of how the store operates:
You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the value of
the products increase as the shopper ascends the flights.
The shopper may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to
go up to the next floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the
building!
So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. On the first floor
the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 - These men Have Jobs.
The second floor sign reads:
Floor 2 - These men Have Jobs and Love Kids.
The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, and are Extremely Good Looking.
"Wow,"& nbsp; she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.
She goes to the fourth floor and the sign reads:
Floor 4 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good Looking and
Help With Housework.
"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"
Still, she goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads:
Floor 5 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, Help
with Housework, and Have a Strong Romantic Streak.
She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign
reads:
Floor 6 - You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on
this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to
please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store!
To avoid gender bias charges, the store's owner opens a New Wives store
just across the street.
The first floor has wives th at love sex.
The second floor has wives that love sex and have money.
The third floor has wives that love sex, have money and own a brewery.
The fourth through sixth floors have never been visited.
Good afternoon, hawkman. You have given us many wonderful backgrounds on the celebs today, and I think we know most of them. Ah, the female and male of the species are never much of a surprise, are they, Bio Bob. Perhaps we all should just window shop, buddy. Liked the idea, however.
Now, folks, I am not going to take the chance of having our puppy vanish in a pink cloud today, so I will most definitely await her photo contribution before commenting further. because I want her to explain that synchronicity.
Until then, let's hear this familiar one by Al.
"Unchained Melody"
Oh, My love, my darling,
I hunger for your touch,
A long. Lonely time.
And time goes by, so slowly,
And time can do so much,
Are you still mine?
I need your love.
I need your love.
God speed your love to me.
Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea,
To the open arms of the sea.
Lonely rivers sigh, wait for me, wait for me,
I'll be coming home, wait for me.
Oh, My love, my darling,
I hunger, hunger!, for your love,
For love. Lonely time.
And time goes by, so slowly,
And time can do so much,
Are you still mine?
I need your love.
I need your love.
God speed your love to me.
i like this song by Eydie Gorme & Los Panchos
Sabor A Mi
Tanto tiempo disfrutamos de este amor
Nuestras almas se acercaron tanto asi
Que yo guardo tu sabor pero tu llevas tambien
Sabor a mi.
Sin negaras mi presencia en tu vivir
Bastaria con abrazarte y conversar.
Tanta vida yo te di que por fuerza tienes ya
Sabor a mi.
No pretendo ser tu dueno.
No soy nada, yo no tengo vanidad.
De mi vida, doy lo bueno
Soy tan pobre que otra cosa puedo dar?
Pasaran mas de mil anos, muchos mas.
Yo no se si tenga amor la eternidad.
Pero alla tal como aqui, en la boca llevaras
Sabor a mi.
So much time we have enjoyed this love
Our souls got so close
that I feel your essence
but you also carry my essence
If you were to deny my presence in your life
I would only need to hug you and talk
I gave you so much life
that you can't help to carry my essence
I do not pretend to be in control
I am nobody. I am not vain.
From my life, I give the best things.
I am so poor, what else can I give?
More than a thousand years will pass by.. many more
I don't know if eternity has love
but there, just like here
in your mouth you'll have my essence
Well, Raggedy, I guessed as much, PA. Great photo's today puppy, and for once we got the animals altogether in one place.
I noticed, folks, that Sarah Brightman did this one, but I have heard it by Madonna, so let's listen.
Don´t Cry For Me Argentina
It won't be easy, you'll think it strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I still need your love after all that I've done
You won't believe me
All you will see is a girl you once knew
Although she's dressed up to the nines
At sixes and sevens with you
I had to let it happen, I had to change
Couldn't stay all my life down at heel
Looking out of the window, staying out of the sun
So I chose freedom
Running around, trying everything new
But nothing impressed me at all
I never expected it to
Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance
And as for fortune, and as for fame
I never invited them in
Though it seems to the world they were all I desired
They are illusions
They're not the solutions they promised to be
The answer was here all the time
I love you and hope you love me
Don't cry for me Argentina
Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance
Have I said too much?
There's nothing more I can think of to say to you
But all you have to do is look at me
To know that every word is true
Don't cry for me Argentina
I'm going to have to start calling our island man an eagle, folks.
He flew in here so rapidly that I missed him. Thanks, honu, for the song, especially the translation. It's lovely.
I like this one by her as well.
I'll take romance,
While my heart is young and eager to
fly,
I'll give my heart a try - I'll take romance.
I'll take romance,
While my arms are strong and eager for you,
I'll give my arms their cue - I'll take romance.
(Bridge:)
So when you want me, call me,
In the hush of the evening;
When you call me in the hush of the
Evening I'll rush to my
First real romance,
While my heart is young and eager and gay,
I'll give my heart away - I'll take romance.
Her phrasing was great on that one, listeners.
Just found out that Max Roach died today. Wow! He, Clifford Brown, along with Richie and Bud Powell were a wonderful jazz group.
A.B. SPELLMAN, National Endowment for the Arts: "Parisian Thoroughfare" was written by the great pianist Bud Powell, who is the older brother of the pianist on this date, Richie Powell. Richie Powell was a very talented young man who happened to die along with the great Clifford Brown in a tragic accident in June 1956.
Now, Clifford Brown is one of the very great jazz trumpeters, though he only had about three years of notoriety. And in those three years, fortunately, he did a lot of recording, so we've got a good sampling of him. It's idle to speculate on what he might have done, but what he did do changed trumpet playing drastically in his time.
Sorry that I cannot find the lyrics to Parisian Thoroughfare, but this is a lovely jazz ballad done by the group.
I should care, I should go around weeping
I should care, I should go without sleeping
Strangely enough, I sleep well
'cept for a dream or two
But then I count my sheep well
Funny how sheep can lull you to sleep
So I should care, I should let it upset me
I should care but it just doesn't get me
Maybe I won't find someone as lovely as you
But I should care and I do
brief instrumental interlude
I should care but it just doesn't get me
Maybe I won't find someone as lovely as you
But I should care and I do
And I do
