WA2K Radio is now on the air

Ah, hbg, I remember my suite mate, Peggy, loved Frankie Laine, and played that song over and over. Thanks, buddy.

You know, since hamburger has brought up the subject of mules, I begin to think of a song about muleskinners, and found this info.

Mule Skinners and Freight Wagons
The Mule skinner was a professional individual sometimes called a teamster whose sole purpose was to keep his wagon pulled by mules, under control and moving. The mule skinner actually rode one of the mules and guided the entire team with a single rein which was called a jerk line. An experienced mule skinner knew the personality of every one of his mules and could make them into a magical running machine whereas an inexperienced teamster found them to be obstinate and stubborn.

So, from Jerry Garcia

Good morning captain
Good morning shine
Do you need another muleskinner
Out on your new mud line
[yodel]

I'm an old muleskinner
Up from California way
I can make any mule listen
And I won't accept your pay
[yodel]

Hey, litle water boy
Won't won't you bring your water round
If you don't like your job
You can put your water bucket down
[yodel]

Well, I missed edgar's comment about Tennessee Ernie Ford, and I never see his name that I don't think about our djjd and his confusion over that man and Tennessee Williams. I did not know that T.W. wrote poetry, so I did a quick search through the archives and found this rather strange one.

The Wine-Drinkers

The wine-drinkers sit on the porte cochère in the sun.
Their lack of success in love has made them torpid.
They move their fans with a motion that stirs no feather,
the glare of the sun has darkened their complexions.

Let us commend them on their conversations.
One says "oh" and the other says "indeed."

The afternoon must be prolonged forever, because the night
will be impossible for them.
They know that the bright and very delicate needles
inserted beneath the surfaces of their skins
will work after dark--at present are drugged, are dormant.

Nobody dares to make any sudden disturbance.

One says "no," the other one murmurs "why?"
The cousins pause: tumescent.
What do they dream of? Murder?
They dream of lust and they long for violent action
but none occurs.
Their quarrels perpetually die from a lack of momentum
The light is empty: the sun forestalls reflection.

Tennessee Williams

Wow! hope that I don't have nightmares after reading that one.

Goodnight, all
From Letty with love

If It Be Your Will

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will
If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will.


Leonard Cohen

Letty,
Giving the recipe to my kids, before I forget how to make it! I had a Creole Aunt, who I loved dearly. She could make something out of nothing! She did dictate her fudge recipe to me, which I have, but she knew how to make home-made mayonnaise, a cake so moist, it would melt in your mouth, could cook anything from 'coon to 'cowan, (turtle), in New Orleans and make it taste like we were the richest people, in the City!

Many traditional Creole recipes are lost, because the owners, didn't share thier recipes. I just happen to know how to make "Pain Perdu", from watching my mother. We weren't allowed near the stove, for fear of being burned. My mother had an ultra-modern kitchen for that time, in the 50's. She had a Tappan Range, a Frigidaire that made ice cubes, a WestingHouse Washer, with the porthole in the center, to see the clothes swishing around and a 19" television, with an AM-FM radio and record changer, by GE! My Dad was raised poor, due to the early death of his father in 1920. Determined to overcome poverty and want, after his service in WWII, he opened a dry cleaning business, a one-hour Martinizing, used his friends and neighbors as customers and also worked 21 years in the USPS, as a letter carrier. If you didn't have a college degree in those days, the U.S. Postal Service, is where many Blacks worked.

He "impressed" his friends and relatives with "conspicuous consumption"! He enrolled us kids in Parochial Schools, sent us to Dance and Ballet lessons and me? I received voice training and violin lessons! The voice and dance lessons lasted 12 years. The violin? Only a few months, I was so terrible! I hated it, but now, when I see professional musicians play the instrument, I wished I had stuck with it! Well, at least I can read music! Ever really looked at a Clef? Looks like an S backwards, huh? I went to a 50's dance last weekend and now the Clef is on my dining room table!

I have an old phonograf table with the Clef, as decoration, on each end! I do ramble, huh? Anyway, to all who enjoy and love the "show", Happy Thanksgiving, eat all you want, for one day and savor what you have to be thankful for! Many thanks to God and to you Letty, for your gracious company!

Sharon

quote="Letty"]Ah, Sharon, one of the things that I miss the most is dancing. Why is it that musicians seem to be so heavy of foot, folks? I always had to drag my husband on the dance floor and he was one helluva acoustic bass man.

Love chicken gumbo, gal, and my son, when he was small called it Dead Turkey Day.


One of my favorite dance songs.

this version by Taco

(What we're gonna do?)
(Gonna do what?)
(Hey - what we're gonna do, c'mon)
(C'mon, c'mon, what we're gonna do)

There may be trouble ahead
But while there's moonlight and music and love and romance
Let's face the music and dance

Before the fiddlers have fled
Before they ask us to pay the bill and while you still have the chance
Let's face the music and dance

Soon, we'll be without the moon
Humming a different tune, and then

There may be teardrops to shed
So while there's moonlight and music and love and romance
Let's face the music and dance, dance
Let's face the music and dance (dance - dance - dance)

Here's a mini bio of Taco.

Taco Ockerse (born 21 July, 1955) is a singer popularly known as Taco. Taco was born to a Dutch couple in Jakarta. He gained international stardom when in 1982 he recorded a distinctive cover record of the old Irving Berlin favorite, Puttin' on the Ritz in Germany, which made him famous early the next year (United States Billboard chart number 4). It has been reported that he did not speak any English at all and merely read the lyrics from transliterations, but this is false: Taco's first language is English, and he has always performed in English. He also speaks German, Dutch, and French.

His releases include After Eight in 1982 and Let's Face The Music in 1984 for RCA, Swing Classics / In The Mood Of Glenn Miller in 1985 and Tell Me That You Like It in 1986.[/quote]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm one of nine children. I've got four sisters and four brothers. Two won't make it to our noisy and fun gathering today. We'll sit down to eat with about thirty family members. Luckily I'm the one with the biggest mouth.

George Eliot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pseudonym: George Eliot
Born November 22, 1819(1819-11-22)
South Farm, Arbury, near Nuneaton
Died December 22, 1880 (aged 61)
4 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London
Occupation Novelist
Influenced Virginia Woolf

Mary Ann (Marian) Evans (22 November 1819 - 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. She was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Her novels, largely set in provincial England, are well known for their realism and psychological perspicacity.

She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure that her works were taken seriously. Female authors published freely under their own names, but Eliot wanted to ensure that she was not seen as merely a writer of romances. An additional factor may have been a desire to shield her private life from public scrutiny and to prevent scandals attending her relationship with the married George Henry Lewes.





Biography

Mary Ann Evans was the third child of Robert Evans (1773-1849) and Christiana Evans (née Pearson, the daughter of a local farmer, ?1788-1836). When born, Mary Ann, sometimes shortened to Marian,[1] had two teenage siblings, a half-brother, Robert (1802-1864), and sister, Fanny (1805-1882), from her father's previous marriage to Harriet Poynton (d. 1809). Robert Evans was the manager of the Arbury Hall Estate for the Newdigate family in Warwickshire, and Mary Anne was born on the estate at South Farm, Arbury, near Nuneaton. In early 1820 the family moved to a house named Griff, part way between Nuneaton and Coventry. Her full siblings were Christiana, known as Chrissey (1814-1859), Isaac (1816-1890), and twin brothers who survived a few days in March 1821.

The young Evans was obviously intelligent, and due to her father's important role on the estate, she was allowed access to the library of Arbury Hall, which greatly aided her education and breadth of learning. Her classical education left its mark; Christopher Stray has observed that "George Eliot's novels draw heavily on Greek literature (only one of her books can be printed without the use of a Greek font), and her themes are often influenced by Greek tragedy".[2] Her frequent visits also allowed her to contrast the wealth in which the local landowner lived with the lives of the often much poorer people on the estate, and different lives lived in parallel would reappear in many of her works. The other important early influence in her life was religion. She was brought up within a narrow low church Anglican family, but at that time the Midlands was an area with many religious dissenters, and those beliefs formed part of her education. She boarded at schools in Attleborough, Nuneaton and Coventry. At the second she was taught by the evangelical Maria Lewis?--to whom her earliest surviving letters are addressed?--and at the Coventry school she received instruction from Baptist sisters.

In 1836 her mother died and Evans returned home to act as housekeeper, but she continued her education with a private tutor and advice from Maria Lewis. When she was 21, her brother Isaac married and took over the family home, so Evans and her father moved to Foleshill near Coventry. The closeness to Coventry society brought new influences, most notably those of Charles and Cara Bray. Charles Bray had become rich as a ribbon manufacturer and had used his wealth in building schools and other philanthropic causes. He was a freethinker in religious matters, a progressive in politics, and his home, Rosehill, was a haven for people who held and debated radical views. The people whom the young woman met at the Brays' house included Robert Owen, Herbert Spencer, Harriet Martineau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Through this society, Evans was introduced to more liberal theologies, many of which cast doubt on the supernatural elements of Biblical stories, and she stopped going to church. This caused a rift between herself and her family, with her father threatening to throw her out, although that did not happen. Instead, she respectably attended church and continued to keep house for him until his death in 1857. Her first major literary work was the translation of David Strauss' Life of Jesus (1862), which she completed after it had been begun by another member of the Rosehill circle.

Before her father's death, she travelled to Switzerland with the Brays, and on her return moved to London with the intent of becoming a writer and calling herself Marian Evans. She stayed at the house of John Chapman, the radical publisher whom she had met at Rosehill and who had printed her translation. Chapman had recently bought the campaigning, left-wing journal The Westminster Review, and Evans became its assistant editor in 1858. Although Chapman was the named editor, it was Evans who did much of the work in running the journal for the next three years, contributing many essays and reviews.


Now in this vast ugliness resides a most powerful beauty which, in a very few minutes, steals forth and charms the mind, so that you end, as I ended, in falling in love with her....
?- Henry James, in a letter to his fatherWomen writers were not uncommon at the time, but Evans's role at the head of a literary enterprise was. The mere sight of an unmarried young woman mixing with the predominantly male society of London at that time was unusual, even scandalous to some. Although clearly strong-minded, she was frequently sensitive, depressed, and crippled by self-doubt. She was well aware of her ill-favoured appearance,[3] and she formed a number of embarrassing, unreciprocated emotional attachments, including that to her employer, the married Chapman, and Herbert Spencer. However, another highly inappropriate attraction would prove to be much more successful and beneficial for Evans.

The philosopher and critic George Henry Lewes met Evans in 1851, and by 1854 they had decided to live together. Lewes was married to Agnes Jervis, but they had decided to have an open marriage, and in addition to having three children together, Agnes had also had several children with other men. As he was named on the birth certificate as the father of one of these children despite knowing this to be false, and since he was therefore complicit in adultery, he was not able to divorce Agnes. In July 1854 Lewes and Evans travelled to Weimar and Berlin together for the purpose of research. Before going to Germany, Evans continued her interest in theological work with a translation of Ludwig Feuerbach's Essence of Christianity and while abroad she wrote essays and worked on her translation of Baruch Spinoza's Ethics, which she would however never complete.

The trip to Germany also doubled as a honeymoon as they were now effectively married, with Evans calling herself Marian Evans Lewes, and referring to George Lewes as her husband. It was not unusual for men in Victorian society to have mistresses, including both Charles Bray and John Chapman. What was scandalous was the Lewes's open admission of the relationship. On their return to England, they lived apart from the literary society of London, both shunning and being shunned in equal measure. While continuing to contribute pieces to the Westminster Review, Evans had resolved to become a novelist, and she set out a manifesto for herself in one of her last essays for the Review: Silly Novels by Lady Novelists. The essay criticised the trivial and ridiculous plots of contemporary fiction by women. In other essays she praised the realism of novels written in Europe at the time, and subsequently an emphasis placed on realistic story-telling would become clear throughout her subsequent fiction. She also adopted a new nom-de-plume, the one for which she would become best known: George Eliot. This masculine name was chosen partly in order to distance herself from the lady writers of silly novels, but it also quietly hid the tricky subject of her marital status.

In 1864 Amos Barton, the first of the Scenes of Clerical Life, was published in Blackwood's Magazine and, along with the other Scenes, was well received. Her first complete novel, published in 1859, was Adam Bede and was an instant success, but it prompted an intense interest in who this new author might be. Scenes of Clerical Life was widely believed to have been written by a country parson or perhaps the wife of a parson. With the release of the incredibly popular Adam Bede, speculation increased markedly, and there was even a pretender to the authorship, one Joseph Liggins. In the end, the real George Eliot stepped forward: Marian Evans Lewes admitted she was the author. The revelations about Eliot's private life surprised and shocked many of her admiring readers, but this apparently did not affect her popularity as a novelist. Eliot's relationship with Lewes afforded her the encouragement and stability she so badly needed to write fiction, and to ease her self-doubt, but it would be some time before they were accepted into polite society. Acceptance was finally confirmed in 1867, when they were introduced to Princess Louise, the daughter of Queen Victoria, who was an avid reader of George Eliot's novels.

After the popularity of Adam Bede, she continued to write popular novels for the next fifteen years. Within a year of completing Adam Bede, she finished The Mill on the Floss, inscribing the manuscript: "To my beloved husband, George Henry Lewes, I give this MS. of my third book, written in the sixth year of our life together, at Holly Lodge, South Field, Wandsworth, and finished 21st March 1860."

Her last novel was Daniel Deronda, published in 1873, whereafter she and Lewes moved to Witley, Surrey; but by this time Lewes's health was failing and he died two years later on 25 November 1873. Eliot spent the next two years editing Lewes's final work Life and Mind for publication, and she found solace with John Walter Cross, an American banker whose mother had recently passed away.


George Eliot died at 4 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.On 16 May 1880 George Eliot courted controversy once more by marrying a man twenty years younger than herself, and again changing her name, this time to Mary Anne Cross. The legal marriage at least pleased her brother Isaac, who sent his congratulations after breaking off relations with his sister when she had begun to live with Lewes. John Cross was a rather unstable character, and apparently jumped or fell from their hotel balcony into the Grand Canal in Venice during their honeymoon. Cross survived and they returned to England. The couple moved to a new house in Chelsea but Eliot fell ill with a throat infection. This, coupled with the kidney disease she had been afflicted with for the past few years, led to her death on the 22 December 1880 at the age of 61.

The possibility of burial in Westminster Abbey being rejected due to her denial of Christian faith and "irregular" though monogamous life with Lewes, she was buried in Highgate Cemetery (East), Highgate, London in the area reserved for religious dissenters, next to George Henry Lewes. In 1980, on the centenary of her death, a memorial stone was established for her in the Poets' Corner.


Literary assessment

Eliot's most famous work, Middlemarch, is a turning point in the history of the novel[citation needed]. Making masterful use of a counterpointed plot, Eliot presents the stories of a number of denizens of a small English town on the eve of the Reform Bill of 1832. The main characters, Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate, long for exceptional lives but are powerfully constrained both by their own unrealistic expectations and by a conservative society. The novel is notable for its deep psychological insight and sophisticated character portraits.

Throughout her career, Eliot wrote with a politically astute pen. From Adam Bede to The Mill on the Floss and the frequently-read Silas Marner, Eliot presented the cases of social outsiders and small-town persecution. No author since Jane Austen had been as socially conscious and as sharp in pointing out the hypocrisy of the country squires. Felix Holt, the Radical and The Legend of Jubal were overtly political novels, and political crisis is at the heart of Middlemarch. Readers in the Victorian era particularly praised her books for their depictions of rural society, for which she drew on her own early experiences, and she shared with Wordsworth the belief that there was much interest and importance in the mundane details of ordinary country lives. Eliot did not, however, confine herself to her bucolic roots. Romola, an historical novel set in late 15th century Florence and touching on the lives of several real persons such as the priest Girolamo Savonarola, displays her wider reading and interests. In The Spanish Gypsy, Eliot made a foray into verse, creating a work whose initial popularity has not endured.

The religious elements in her fiction also owe much to her upbringing, with the experiences of Maggie Tulliver from The Mill on the Floss sharing many similarities with the young Mary Anne Evans' own development. When Silas Marner is persuaded that his alienation from the church means also his alienation from society, the author's life is again mirrored with her refusal to attend church. She was at her most autobiographical in Looking Backwards, part of her final printed work Impressions of Theophrastus Such. By the time of Daniel Deronda, Eliot's sales were falling off, and she faded from public view to some degree. This was not helped by the biography written by her husband after her death, which portrayed a wonderful, almost saintly, woman totally at odds with scandalous life they knew she had led. In the 20th century she was championed by a new breed of critics; most notably by Virginia Woolf, who called Middlemarch "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people". The various film and television adaptations of Eliot's books have re-introduced her to the wider-reading public.

As an author, Eliot was not only very successful in sales, but she was, and remains, one of the most widely praised for her style and clarity of thought. Eliot's sentence structures are clear, patient, and well balanced, and she mixes plain statement and unsettling irony with rare poise. Her commentaries are never without sympathy for the characters, and she never stoops to being arch or flippant with the emotions in her stories. Villains, heroines and bystanders are all presented with awareness and full motivation.

Hoagy Carmichael
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Hoagland Howard Carmichael
Born November 22, 1899(1899-11-22)
Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.
Died December 27, 1981 (aged 82)
Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.

Hoagland Howard "Hoagy" Carmichael (November 22, 1899 - December 27, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing the melody to "Stardust" (1927), one of the most-recorded American songs of all time. [1] Carmichael always spelt it "Star Dust", but the space is usually dispensed with.[2]

Alec Wilder, in his study of the American popular song, concluded that Hoagy Carmichael was the "most talented, inventive, sophisticated and jazz-oriented" of the hundreds of writers composing pop songs in the first half of the 20th century.[3]




Biography

Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Carmichael attended Indiana University and the Indiana University School of Law, where he received his Bachelor's degree in 1925 and a law degree in 1926. He was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity and played the piano to support his studies. After graduating in 1926, he moved to Miami to join a local law firm but returned to Indiana in 1927 to devote his energies to music.

Carmichael maintained a lifelong affiliation with Indiana University. In 1937 he wrote the song "Chimes of Indiana" which was presented to the school as a gift by the class of 1935. It was made Indiana University's official co-alma mater in 1978. Carmichael also holds the distinction of being awarded an honorary doctorate in music by the university in 1972. [4]


Songs

While still a student, he wrote the songs "Washboard Blues" and "Boneyard Shuffle" for Curtis Hitch and also made the acquaintance of Bix Beiderbecke, who recorded his "Riverboat Shuffle".

Carmichael joined ASCAP in 1931. Aside from "Stardust" (partially composed on a piano in the Book Nook store across the street from the Indiana University School of Law [5]), he wrote "Rockin' Chair", " Heart & Soul", "New Orleans" and "Georgia on My Mind." He also collaborated with Sidney Arodin on the standard "Up a Lazy River." His collaborations with Johnny Mercer include "Lazybones" (1933), "Skylark" (1942), and "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening", which won the 1952 Oscar for Best Original Song. With lyricist Frank Loesser he wrote "Two Sleepy People" (1938). He also contributed to the 1941 animated film, "Mister Bug Goes to Town." Carmichael was inducted into the USA's Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971. [6]


Radio

Between 1944 and 1948, Carmichael was the host of three musical variety radio programs: In 1944-45, the 30-minute Tonight at Hoagy's aired on Mutual Sunday nights at 8:30 pm (Pacific time). Produced by Walter Snow, the show featured Carmichael as host and vocalist. The musicians included Pee Wee Hunt and Joe Venuti.

NBC carried the 30-minute Something New at 6 pm (Pacific time) on Mondays in 1945-46. All of the musicians in this show's band, the Teenagers, were between the ages of 16 and 19. Carol Stewart and Gale Robbins were the vocalists and comedy was supplied by Pinky Lee and the team of Bob Sweeney and Hal March.

The Hoagy Carmichael Show was broadcast by CBS from October 26, 1946 until June 26, 1948. Luden Cough Drops sponsored the 15-minute program until June 1947.


Films and television

Carmichael appeared as an actor in 14 motion pictures (most notably the Humphrey Bogart-Lauren Bacall classic To Have and Have Not, Young Man with a Horn with Bacall and Kirk Douglas and The Best Years of Our Lives with Myrna Loy and Frederic March), often singing and playing the piano on his own compositions. Among his numerous television roles, he was a regular on Laramie (1959-63), co-starred in The Helen Morgan Story on Playhouse 90 (1957) and provided the voice for a stone-age parody of himself, "Stoney Carmichael," on an episode of The Flintstones.


Books

Carmichael wrote two autobiographies: The Stardust Road (1946) and Sometimes I Wonder (1965). These were combined into a single volume for a paperback published by Da Capo in 1999.

Author Ian Fleming wrote in his novels Casino Royale and Moonraker that British secret agent James Bond resembled Carmichael, but with a scar down one cheek. In the book Casino Royale, James Bond compares himself unfavorably with Carmichael.

When Richard M. Sudhalter wrote the first full biography, Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael (Oxford University Press, 2002), Publishers Weekly reviewed:

Sudhalter skillfully blends cultural and personal history, demonstrating how growing up in Indiana, a racial and musical crossroads for myriad touring musicians and entertainers, profoundly influenced Carmichael. Sudhalter paints vivid pictures, trying to divine the biographical inspiration for such Carmichael hits as "Ole Buttermilk Sky," "Georgia on My Mind" and "Lazy River." At times, Sudhalter's detailed notes on composition weigh heavily on the narrative. It's hard to imagine that the new audience Sudhalter hopes to entice would derive much pleasure from his scholarly dissections. Thankfully, the stiff bits are drummed between long runs of imaginative exposition. Sudhalter draws from numerous interviews, archival material, recorded music and Carmichael's personal papers to show that the laid-back man at the piano, cigarette dangling from his lips, was, for the most part, image. Carmichael, far from being carefree, embodies the American myth--hardworking, self-taught, recognized for his efforts and pushed aside by the next big thing: rock and roll.
Carmichael died of heart failure in Rancho Mirage, California. He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Bloomington.[7]

Rodney Dangerfield
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pseudonym Jack Roy
Birth name Jacob Cohen
Born November 22, 1921(1921-11-22)
Babylon, New York, U.S.
Died October 5, 2004 (aged 82)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Medium stand-up, television, film
Nationality American
Years active 1940-1949; 1963-2004
Genres Character comedy, Word play, Black comedy
Subject(s) self-depreciation, depression, childhood, marriage, human sexuality, aging
Influenced Robert Klein, Chris Rock, Artie Lange
Spouse Joyce Indig (1949-1962; 1963-1970) (2 children)
Joan Child (1993-2004)
Notable works and roles Al Czervik in Caddyshack
HBO television specials
Thornton Melon in Back to School
Ed Wilson in Natural Born Killers
Website rodney.com
Grammy Awards
Best Comedy Recording
1981 No Respect
American Comedy Awards
Creative Achievement Award 1995

Rodney Dangerfield (November 22, 1921 - October 5, 2004), born Jacob Cohen, was an American comedian and actor, best known for the catchphrase "I don't get no respect" and his monologues on that theme.




Early life and career

He was born in Long Island in the town of Babylon, the son of vaudevillian Phil Roy (Philip Cohen). He would later say that his father "was never home ?- he was out looking to make other kids", and that his mother "brought him up all wrong". As a teenager, he got his start writing jokes for standup comics; he became one himself at 19 under the name Jack Roy. He struggled financially for nine years, at one point performing as a singing waiter (he was fired), before giving up show business to take a job selling aluminum siding to support his wife and family. He later said that he was so little known then that, "At the time I quit, I was the only one who knew I quit!" In the early 1960s he started down what would be a long road toward rehabilitating his career, still working as a salesman by day. He came to realize that what he lacked was an "image" ?- a well-defined on-stage persona that audiences could relate to and that would distinguish him from similar comics. He took the name Rodney Dangerfield, a pseudonym which had been used by Ricky Nelson on the TV program The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. However, Jack Roy remained his legal name, as he mentioned from time to time.[1]

Fate intervened one Sunday night in New York, when The Ed Sullivan Show needed a last-minute replacement for another act. This live, weekly talent show, hosted by the very influential Sullivan, could make or break a show-business career. The middle-aged, husky Dangerfield, with his pessimistic monologue, was a contrast to the younger, trendier comics usually seen on the Sullivan show, and this alone gave him a novelty value. His success was assured when he told his very first "no respect" joke: "I don't get no respect. I played hide-and-seek, and they wouldn't even look for me". Dangerfield would also tell conventional jokes in his act: "I grew up in a tough neighborhood. Tough neighborhood! Teachers would get notes from parents saying, 'Please excuse Johnny for the next 5 to 10 years!'" Dangerfield became the surprise hit of the show.

Finally established as a reliable stand-up comedian, he would write thousands more of these self-depreciating jokes. Dangerfield began headlining shows in Las Vegas and made frequent encore appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. He became a regular on The Dean Martin Show and appeared on The Tonight Show 70 times.

He bought a Manhattan nightclub in 1969 in order to remain near his children after their mother had died.[2] "Dangerfield's" was the venue for an HBO show which helped popularize many stand-up comics, including Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr, Jeff Foxworthy, Sam Kinison, Rita Rudner, Andrew Dice Clay and Bob Saget.


His comedy album No Respect won a Grammy Award. One of his TV specials featured a musical number, "Rappin' Rodney", which soon became one of the first MTV music videos.

His career peaked during the early 1980s, when he became a movie star. His appearance in Caddyshack led to starring roles in Easy Money and Back To School. In Back to School, Dangerfield's writing described the character Lou (Burt Young) as "nice and tough" ?- he put one son through college and another through a wall. (On The Tonight Show, he applied this same description to his doctor, Dr. Vinny Boombotz.)

He played an abusive father in Natural Born Killers in a scene where he wrote his own lines.

In 1994, Rodney Dangerfield won an American Comedy Award for lifetime creative achievement. He was also recognized by the Smithsonian Institution, which put one of his trademark white shirts and red ties on display. When asked about the honor, he joked that the museum was using his shirt to clean Charles Lindbergh's plane.


Personal life

He was married twice to Joyce Indig ?- from 1949 to 1962, and again from 1963 to 1970 ?- with whom he had a son named Brian and a daughter named Melanie. From 1993 to his death he was married to Joan Child, who was instrumental in setting up his Internet site.

The confusion of Dangerfield's stage persona with his real-life personality was a conception that he long resented. While Child described him as "classy, gentlemanly, sensitive and intelligent" (yet he can make his eyes go big and small within seconds) [3], people who met the comedian nonetheless treated him as the belligerent loser whose character he adopted in performance. In 2004, Dangerfield's autobiography, It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs (ISBN 0-06-621107-7) was published. The book's original title was My Love Affair With Marijuana, a reference to the drug he smoked daily for 60 years.[4]

In 1995, his application for membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was rejected. At the time, he commented on how then-president of AMPAS, Roddy McDowall, who acted in a monkey suit in the Planet of the Apes series of films, possibly felt that Dangerfield was not dignified enough to join the organization. AMPAS would later offer membership, an offer he declined.

Dangerfield lived in his later years under his legal name "Jack Roy", which he used in some of his skits, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where he raised his two children. The family owned at least one dog, which father or daughter (or both) walked regularly. Despite living inside a metropolitan city, Dangerfield was not a noticeable figure. He was said to have liked strolling to the New York Health and Racquet Club in his robe and he always had a touring bus (a rental) readily parked outside his apartment building.

Chris Rock once remarked that he was in Catch A Rising Star one night when "Rodney showed up in his robe". Rock said, "He must have lived down the block" ?- Dangerfield's was less than a mile from home, a place he could be found most anytime he wasn't touring. Despite his stage persona, he was generally well-respected in his daily life, very private and secluded, but polite if engaged.


Later years and death

On April 8, 2003, Dangerfield underwent brain surgery to improve blood flow in preparation for heart valve-replacement surgery on August 24, 2004. Upon entering the hospital, he uttered another one-liner of the type for which he was known: When asked how long he would be hospitalized, he said, "If all goes well, about a week. If not, about an hour-and-a-half".

In September 2004, it was revealed that Dangerfield had been in a coma for several weeks. Afterward, he had been breathing on his own and had been showing signs of awareness when visited by friends. However, on October 5, 2004, he died at the UCLA Medical Center, where he had undergone the surgery in August. He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. In keeping with his "No Respect" persona, his headstone reads simply, "Rodney Dangerfield - There goes the neighborhood". [1].

Joan Child held an event in which the word "Respect" had been emblazoned in the sky, while each guest was given a live Monarch butterfly for a Native American butterfly-release ceremony led by Farrah Fawcett.


Homage

Farrah Fawcett is sculpting a life-size bronze statue of Dangerfield, which will be placed in Pierce Brothers Memorial Park. He will be the first celebrity ever to have this done. [citation needed]UCLA's Division of Neurosurgery has named a suite of operating rooms after him and given him the "Rodney Respect Award" which his wife presented to Jay Leno on October 20, 2005, on behalf of the David Geffen School of Medicine/Division of Neurosurgery at UCLA at their 2005 Visionary Ball.

Comedy Central aired a special titled Legends: Rodney Dangerfield on September 10, 2006, which commemorated his life and legacy. Featured comedians included Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Ray Romano, Roseanne Barr, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Saget, Jerry Stiller, Kevin Kline and Jeff Foxworthy.

Northern Irish rock band The Dangerfields are named in tribute to him.

Impressed by Dangerfield's role in Caddyshack, Europet's design manager Allen Shuemaker brought forth the idea of creating a line of animal chew toys modeled after the comedian. The line had a short run in 1989 and, in recent years, have become highly desirable by a small group of collectors.


Part of Europet's 1989 product line was influenced by Dangerfield's distinct look

Cultural Effect

Since the 1980s, his name has been a frequently-used metaphor for someone who gets no respect, such as "Ringo was always the Rodney Dangerfield of the Beatles".

In 2007 it was reported that a Rodney Dangerfield tattoo is among the most popular celebrity tattoos in the United States, generally by people in their late 20s or early 30s who got the tattoo in the 1990s.[5]


References in pop culture


The bipedal, talking shark from Hanna-Barbara's cartoon "Jabberjaw" is the combined characters of Curly from The Three Stooges, as evident by his persona and voice; and Rodney Dangerfield, frequently using his famous catch phrase, "I don't get no respect".
In November 1996, he appeared on The Simpsons episode "Burns, Baby Burns" as Mr. Burns' son Larry. The character was modeled on Dangerfield himself, right down to his tie tug and the line, "I don't get no regard -- and no esteem, neither".
He had a famous falling out with former Howard Stern Show writer Jackie Martling over a loan Rodney made to him the in late 1970s. Jackie claimed that he paid Rodney back in jokes and that the debt was settled.
On The George Lopez Show episode "George is Lie-Able For Benny's Unhappiness", George makes a comment about his friend's mother's large bra: "They're so big they still got snow on 'em in the summer time". George's mother overhears him and George explains by saying "What!? I heard it off a guy on TV that don't get no respect", an obvious reference to Dangerfield's catchphrase.
On Adam Sandler's film Little Nicky, Dangerfield plays the first devil ever, Lucifer. When Nicky's brother claims the throne, he throws Lucifer (who is Nicky's, Adrian's, and Cassius' grandfather) out of his way. While Dangerfield is lying on the ground, he says "Even in Hell I don't get no respect".
"Rock It Like This" by Run DMC includes the lyric "I'm not Rodney Dangerfield, so give me respect".
In the Disney movie Aladdin, the Genie takes on the form of Rodney when delivering the line, "I can't believe it; I'm losin' to a rug!"
Rodney was portrayed in Celebrity Deathmatch, defeating Rob Schneider.

Geraldine Page
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Birth name Geraldine Sue Page
Born November 22, 1924
Kirksville, Missouri
Died June 13, 1987 (aged 62)
New York City, New York
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Best Actress
1985 The Trip to Bountiful
BAFTA Awards
Best Supporting Actress
1978 Interiors
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries/Movie
1967 A Christmas Memory
1969 The Thanksgiving Visitor
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1962 Summer and Smoke
1963 Sweet Bird of Youth

Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924 - June 13, 1987) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated American actress. Although starring in at least two dozen feature films, she is primarily known for her celebrated work in the American theater.





Early life

Page was born in Kirksville, Missouri. She attended the Goodman Theatre Dramatic School in Chicago and studied acting with Uta Hagen. She began appearing in stock at the age of seventeen.


Stage career

Page was a trained Method Actor and worked closely with Lee Strasberg.

She earned critical accolades for her performance in Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth opposite Paul Newman. Page received her first Tony Award nomination for the play. She and Newman later starred in the film adaptation and Page earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the film. In 1964, she starred in a Broadway revival of Anton Chekov's The Three Sisters with Kim Stanley and Shirley Knight. The production was directed by Lee Strasberg. She also starred in Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy/White Lies, in 1967, which was the production in which both Michael Crawford and Lynn Redgrave made their Broadway debuts. Page received her second Tony nomination (for Best Featured Actress in a Play) for a successful production of Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular with Sandy Dennis and Richard Kiley. It would be in a few years and a few mixed-reviewed plays later that Page starred in another successful Broadway play. Agnes of God, which opened in 1982, ran for 599 performances with Page performing in nearly all of them. She received a Tony Award nomination, for Best Lead Actress in a Play, for her performance as the secretive nun Mother Miriam Ruth. The highly acclaimed production garnered co-star Amanda Plummer a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Elizabeth Ashley played the court-appointed psychiatrist Dr. Martha Livingstone. After winning an Academy Award in 1985, Page returned to Broadway in a revival of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit in the role of the psychic medium Madame Arcati. The production, which also starred Richard Chamberlain, Blythe Danner and Judith Ivey, was Page's last. Page was again nominated for a Tony Award, for Best Lead Actress in a Play, and was considered to be a favorite to win. Unfortunately, she did not win, and several days after the awards ceremony she died. The show lasted several weeks more with co-star Patricia Conolly taking over Page's role.

In 1960 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.


Career

Page gave celebrated performances in movies as well as her work on Broadway. Her film debut was in Out of the Night (1947). Her role in Hondo, garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In all, despite her relatively small filmography, Page received eight Academy Award nominations. She finally won the Oscar in 1986 for a wonderful performance in The Trip to Bountiful, which was based on a play by Horton Foote. Had she not won for Trip to Bountiful, she would have held the record for most nominations without a single win. When she won, she received a standing ovation from the audience at the ceremony. She was surprised by her win (she openly talked about being a seven-time Oscar loser), and took a while to get to the stage to accept the award because she had taken off her shoes while sitting in the audience. She had not expected to win, and her feet were sore.

Her other notable screen roles include Academy Award-nominated performances in Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke (1961); Sweet Bird of Youth (1962); Toys in the Attic (1963) and Woody Allen's Interiors (1978). She also appeared in quirky and eccentric roles such as calculating murderer of old ladies in What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969); a repressed schoolmistress in the Clint Eastwood film The Beguiled (1971); a charismatic evangelist (modeled after Aimee Semple McPherson) in The Day of the Locust (1975); and as Sister Walburga in Nasty Habits (1977).

She did various television shows in the 1950s through the 1980s, including movies and series, such as Hawaii 5-0, Kojak, and several episodes of Rod Serling's "Night Gallery", including "The Sins Of The Fathers" and "Something In The Woodwork".

She also was a voice actress and voiced the hilariously evil Madame Medusa in the Disney animated film The Rescuers and Mickey's Christmas Carol.

Page has also appeared in television productions and won two Emmy Awards as Outstanding Single Performance By an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama for her roles in the classic Truman Capote stories, A Christmas Memory (1967) and The Thanksgiving Visitor (1969).

Her final film was the 1987 Mary Stuart Masterson film My Little Girl, which was the film debut of Jennifer Lopez.


Private life

Page was married to violinist Alexander Schneider from 1954 to 1957. In 1963 she married actor Rip Torn, who was 7 years younger than Page. They remained married until her death. Page and Torn had three children, a daughter (actress Angelica Torn) and twin sons (including actor Tony Torn).

Page, who also suffered from kidney disease, died of a heart attack in 1987 during a run on Broadway in Sir Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at the Neil Simon Theatre. She did not arrive for either of the show's two June 13 performances, and at the end of the evening performance, the play's producer announced that she had died at the age of 62.[1] Five days later, "an overflow crowd of colleagues, friends and fans," including Torn, Sissy Spacek, James Earl Jones, and Amanda Plummer, filled the Neil Simon Theatre to pay tribute to Page.[2] Her achievements as a stage actress and teacher were highlighted; actress Anne Jackson stated at the tribute that "[Page] used a stage like no one else I'd ever seen. It was like playing tennis with someone who had 26 arms."[2]

Robert Vaughn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Robert Francis Vaughn
Born November 22, 1932 (1932-11-22) (age 75)
New York City, New York
Spouse(s) Linda Staab (1974-)
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor
1959 The Young Philadelphians
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series
1978 Washington: Behind Closed Doors

Robert Francis Vaughn (born November 22, 1932) is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. He is perhaps best known as suave spy Napoleon Solo in the popular 1960s TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and his villainous performance as Ross Webster in Superman III, and more recently the hit British drama, Hustle, while continuing to be a popular television actor.





Biography

Early life

Vaughn was born in New York City to showbiz parents, Gerald Walter Vaughn, a radio actor, and Marcella Frances (Gaudel), a stage actress.[1] He was raised in an Irish Catholic family.[2] His parents separated when he was very young, with Vaughn and his mother relocating to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he attended North High School and later enrolled in the University of Minnesota as a journalism major. He quit after a year and moved to Los Angeles, California. There he majored in theater at Los Angeles State College (now Cal. State Univ., Los Angeles), where he earned his Master's degree. Continuing his higher education even through his successful acting career, Vaughn earned a Ph.D. in communications from the University of Southern California, published his dissertation as the book Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting in 1972.


Professional career

Vaughn made his television debut on the "Black Friday" episode of the TV series Medic (airdate November 21, 1955), the first of more than 200 episodic roles by mid-2000. His first movie appearance was as an uncredited extra in The Ten Commandments (1956), playing a golden calf idolator and also visible in a scene in a chariot behind that of Yul Brynner. Vaughn's first credited movie role came the following year in the Western Hell's Crossroads (1957), in which he played the real-life Bob Ford, the killer of outlaw Jesse James.

Vaughn's first notable appearance was in The Young Philadelphians (1959) for which he was nominated for a Supporting Actor Academy Award. Next he appeared as gunman Lee in The Magnificent Seven (1960), a role he essentially reprised 20 years later in Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), both films being adaptations of filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese samurai epic, Seven Samurai. Vaughn played a different role, Judge Oren Travis, on the 1998-2000 syndicated TV series The Magnificent Seven. Vaughn is the only surviving member of the title cast of the original 1960 film other than Eli Wallach.




In the 1963-1964 season, Vaughn appeared in The Lieutenant as Captain Raymond Rambridge alongside Gary Lockwood. His dissatisfaction with that role led him to request a series program of his own. When that request was granted, it made television history.


The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and other programs

From 1964-1968, he starred as "Napoleon Solo", the eponymous man from U.N.C.L.E. ("United Network Command for Law and Enforcement"), along with British co-star David McCallum. Following the end of that hit series ?- which had spawned a spin-off show, large amounts of merchandising, and overseas theatrical movies of reedited episodes ?- Vaughn continued to act in television and in mostly B movies. He starred in two seasons of the popular Gerry Anderson detective series The Protectors in the early 1970s, and a decade later co-starred with George Peppard in the final season of The A-Team.

In 2004, after a string of guest starring roles on series such as Law & Order, in which he had a recurring role during season eight, Vaughn experienced a career resurgence when he began co-starring in the BBC series Hustle, made for the UK's BBC One, also broadcast in the United States on the cable network AMC. In the series Vaughn plays elder-statesman con artist Albert Stroller, a father figure to a group of younger grifters. In September 2006 he guest starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. As of 2007, Vaughn remains a pitchman for personal injury attorneys in television commercials aired throughout the U.S.A.


Personal life

Vaughn married actress Linda Staab in 1974. They have adopted two children, Cassidy (b. 1975) and Caitlin (b. 1981). They also have a Labrador Retriever mix named Sam (named after the beer, Sam Adams), which was adopted after the death of their previous dog, a Bichon Frisé named Peaches.[3]

Jamie Lee Curtis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born November 22, 1958 (1958-11-22) (age 49)
Los Angeles, California
Spouse(s) Christopher Guest (1984-)
[show]Awards
BAFTA Awards
Best Supporting Actress
1983 Trading Places
Golden Globe Awards
Best TV Actress - Comedy/Musical
1990 Anything But Love

Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy
1995 True Lies

Other Awards
Saturn Award for Best Actress (film)
1994 True Lies

Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American film actress and an author of children's books. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in many horror films early in her career, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that covers many genres. She has received an Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe Awards. Her 1998 book, Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day, made the best-seller list in The New York Times. She is married to actor Christopher Guest (Lord Haden-Guest) and, as the wife of a Lord, is titled Lady Haden-Guest, but she chooses not to use the title when in the United States.





Early life

Curtis was born in Los Angeles, California, the child of well-known actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Her paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Hungary.[1][2] Curtis's parents divorced in 1962 and her mother then married Robert Brandt. Curtis has an older sister, Kelly Curtis, who is also an actress, and several half-siblings (all from her father's remarriage), Alexandra, Allegra, Ben, and Nicholas Curtis (who died in 1994 of a drug overdose). Curtis attended both Westlake School in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills High School, but graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall. Returning to California in 1976, Jamie attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Jamie considered majoring in social work, but left after a semester in order to pursue a life in acting.


Career

Film

Curtis' film debut was in the classic 1978 horror film Halloween, playing the role of Laurie Strode, the only teenage character in the film who is not killed. The film was a major success and was considered the highest grossing independent film of its time, earning status as a classic horror film. Curtis was subsequently cast in several horror films, garnering her the title of a "scream queen". The filmmakers did not know who her parents were at the time they cast her.

Her next film following Halloween was the horror film, The Fog, which was directed by "Halloween" director John Carpenter. The film opened in February 1980 to mixed reviews but strong box office,[3] further cementing Curtis as a horror film starlet. Her next film, Prom Night, was a low-budget Canadian slasher film released in July 1980. The film, for which she earned a Genie Award nomination for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress, was similar in style to Halloween, yet received negative reviews which marked it as a disposable entry in the then active "slasher film" genre. That year, Curtis also starred in Terror Train, which opened in October met with a negative reaction akin to Prom Night. Both films performed only moderately well at the box office.[4] Curtis had a similar function in both films - the main character whose friends are murdered, and is practically the only protagonist to survive. Film critic Roger Ebert, who had given negative reviews to all three of Curtis' 1980 films, said that Curtis "is to the current horror film glut what Christopher Lee was to the last one-or Boris Karloff was in the 1930s".[5] Curtis later appeared in Halloween II, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and Halloween: Resurrection.

Her role in 1983's Trading Places established her as more than just a horror queen and 1988's A Fish Called Wanda achieved near cult status -- while showcasing her as a first rate comic actress. She won a Golden Globe for her work in 1994's True Lies. Her recent successful film roles include Disney's Freaky Friday (2003), opposite Lindsay Lohan. The movie was filmed at Palisades High School in Pacific Palisades, California, near where Curtis and Guest make their home with their children. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in this movie.

In October 2006, Curtis told Access Hollywood that she has closed the book on her acting career to focus on family. However, she has reportedly returned to acting after she was cast in June 2007 in Disney's upcoming live-action-animated film, South of the Border, co-starring opposite Piper Perabo as one of two live-action characters in the film.[6]


Television

Curtis made her TV debut in an episode of Columbo, but her first starring role was opposite Richard Lewis in the situation comedy Anything But Love. Her role as Hannah Miller received both a Golden Globe and People's Choice Award. She also earned a Golden Globe nomination for her work in TNT's adaptation of the Wendy Wasserstein play The Heidi Chronicles. More recently, Curtis starred in the CBS television movie Nicholas' Gift, for which she received an Emmy nomination. Curtis also appeared in the science fiction series, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.



Children's books

Working with illustrator Laura Cornell, Curtis has written a number of critically-acclaimed children's books. These include:

When I was Little: A Four-Year Old's Memoir Of Her Youth, published September 1993.
Tell Me Again About The Night I was Born, published August 1996.
Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day, published September 1998, which was listed on the New York Times best-seller list for nine weeks.
Where Do Balloons Go?: An Uplifting Mystery, published August 2000.
I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem, published September 2002.
It's Hard to Be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel, published September 2004.
Is There Really A Human Race?, published September 2006.

Inventions

In 1987, Curtis filed US Patent No. 4,753,647.[7] This is a modification of a diaper with a moisture proof pocket containing wipes that can be taken out and used with one hand. Curtis has refused to allow her invention to be marketed until companies start selling biodegradable diapers.[8]


Personal life

Curtis married actor Christopher Guest on December 18, 1984, becoming Lady Haden-Guest when her husband inherited the Barony of Haden-Guest in 1996, upon the death of his father. The couple have two adopted children, Anne Haden Guest (born 1986) and Thomas Haden Guest (born 1996). Both children are entitled to use the honorific The Honourable before their names, because of a Royal Warrant dated 30 April 2004 that addressed the status of adopted children of peers. However, the Haden-Guest title will be inherited by Christopher Guest's heir presumptive, his younger brother, Nicholas, since a peer's adopted children do not have succession rights.

Curtis is actor Jake Gyllenhaal's godmother.[9] She takes time to support various philanthropic groups. Curtis was Guest of Honor at the 11th annual Gala and Fundraiser in 2003 for Women in Recovery, Inc., a Venice, California-based non-profit organization offering a live-in, twelve-step program of rehabilitation for women in need. Past Honorees of this organization include Sir Anthony Hopkins; the 2005 honoree was Angela Lansbury. Curtis is also involved in the work of the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, serving as host for the organization's Dream Halloween event in Los Angeles in October 2007.[10]

Mariel Hemingway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Mariel Hadley Hemingway
Born November 22, 1961 (1961-11-22) (age 46)
Mill Valley, California
Spouse(s) Stephen Crisman (1984-)

Mariel Hadley Hemingway (born November 22, 1961) is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated American actress.





Biography

Early life

Hemingway was born in Mill Valley, California, the daughter of Byra Louise (née Whittlesey) and Jack Hemingway, a writer.[1] Her paternal grandfather was writer Ernest Hemingway and her sister was Margaux Hemingway; she never met her grandfather, as he died several months before she was born. She was named after the Cuban port of Mariel - a village that her father and grandfather visited regularly as sportsmen to fish. Her middle name was after her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Hadley (née Richardson). Hemingway grew up primarily in Ketchum, Idaho, where her father lived, and where her paternal grandfather also spent a great deal of time as a sportsman and writer. Mariel also spent part of her adolescence growing up in New York and Los Angeles.


Career

Hemingway's first role was with her sister Margaux in the 1976 film Lipstick. The movie was not considered especially good, but Mariel did receive notice for the quality of her acting, and she was nominated as "Best Newcomer" for the Golden Globes Award that year. Hemingway's most famous role was in Woody Allen's Manhattan, in which she plays Allen's high school lover. Only 17 at the time, she was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress.

In the 1982 movie Personal Best, she played a bisexual athlete in a movie noted for some explicit (by mainstream standards) lesbian love scenes. In 1983, she starred as Dorothy Stratten in Star 80, a film about the Playboy model's life and murder. For that role, Hemingway had her breasts enlarged. Her implants were later removed in 2001 after one of them ruptured. Hemingway was featured in newly discovered deleted footage, which was shown in a very rough edit with unfinished visual effects, from Superman IV: The Quest For Peace and was released on DVD in November 2006 as a Deluxe Edition and as part of The Ultimate Superman Collection.

Hemingway has played a lesbian in several film or television shows, including Personal Best, an infamous episode of the sitcom Roseanne in which she kissed Roseanne Barr on the lips, and an episode of Crossing Jordan, but the actress is not gay. Hemingway has said she formed a "big connection with the gay and lesbian community" after Personal Best and enjoys taking roles in "cutting-edge" productions.[2] Hemingway made fun of her reputation for lesbian roles during a 1995 appearance on Saturday Night Live when she kissed new female cast members during her opening monologue as host.[3]

She has a perfume, "Mariel", by H2O+.


Personal life

Hemingway has been married since December 9, 1984 to writer and director Stephen Crisman, and they have two daughters: Dree (b. 1987) and Langley (b. 1989).

Hemingway is the author of the 2006 self-help book Mariel Hemingway's Healthy Living from the Inside Out: Every Woman's Guide To Real Beauty, Renewed Energy, and a Radiant Life.

Scarlett Johansson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born November 22, 1984 (1984-11-22) (age 23)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1994-present
[show]Awards
BAFTA Awards
Best Actress in a Leading Role
2004 Lost in Translation

Scarlett Johansson (born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. She rose to fame with her role in 1998's The Horse Whisperer and subsequently gained critical acclaim for her roles in Ghost World, Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring, the latter two earning her Golden Globe Award nominations in 2003.





Biography

Early life

Johansson was born in New York City. Her father, Karsten Johansson, is a Danish-born architect, and her paternal grandfather, Ejner Johansson, was a screenwriter and director. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, a producer, comes from a Jewish American family from the Bronx.[1][2][3] Johansson's parents met in Denmark, where her mother lived with Johansson's maternal grandmother, Dorothy, a former bookkeeper and schoolteacher.[4] Johansson has an older sister, Vanessa, who is also an actress; an older brother, Adrian; a twin brother, Hunter, also an actor; and a half-brother, Christian, from her father's re-marriage.

Johansson grew up in a household with "little money"[2] with a mother who was a "film buff".[5] Johansson began her theater training by attending and graduating from Professional Children's School in Manhattan in 2002.


Acting career

Johansson began acting during childhood, after her mother began taking her to auditions.[2] She made her film debut in 1994's North. After appearing in several films during the late 1990s, Johansson garnered praise and widespread attention for her performance in 1998's The Horse Whisperer and 2001's Ghost World.

She won the "Upstream Prize" for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance in 2003's Lost in Translation. The same year, she was nominated for two Best Actress awards at the Golden Globes, one for drama (Girl with a Pearl Earring) and one for comedy (Lost in Translation). She was also nominated for Best Actress for both films at the BAFTAs, and won Best Actress for Lost in Translation.

Johansson was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2004.[6] In the same year, she starred in the films The Perfect Score, In Good Company and A Love Song for Bobby Long, the last of which earned her a third Golden Globe Award nomination. Johansson was involved for a short time with the film Mission: Impossible III, but was not officially cast because of scheduling conflicts, although a falling out with the film's star, Tom Cruise, had been both widely reported and publicly denied.[7] She was replaced by Keri Russell.

In July 2005, Johansson starred with Ewan McGregor in Michael Bay's The Island, making her debut as a female lead in a mainstream action film. In the same year, she starred in the Woody Allen-directed drama Match Point, which opened in December. Johansson received her fourth Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the role, but lost to Rachel Weisz.

Johansson's next film, Scoop, another collaboration with Allen, was released on July 28, 2006. The same year, she appeared in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, a film noir shot in Los Angeles and Bulgaria. Johansson has noted that she was a De Palma fan and had wanted to work with him on the film, even though she thought that she was "physically wrong" for the part.[8] Her reviews were mixed: CNN.com noted that Johansson "takes to the pulpy period atmosphere as if it were oxygen,"[9] whereas the Kalamazoo Gazette referred to Johansson as "miscast".[10]

On January 14, 2006, Johansson hosted Saturday Night Live. Also in 2006, Johansson starred in a short film directed by Bennett Miller and set to Bob Dylan's "When the Deal Goes Down...", released to promote Dylan's album, Modern Times.[11] Johansson's thriller The Prestige, opened on October 20, 2006.

She made a return appearance on Saturday Night Live on April 21, 2007, during which she dueted with Andy Samberg for a version of "Something to Talk About".

Her newest film, The Nanny Diaries, in which she stars alongside Alicia Keys, opened on August 24, 2007. In post-production as of August 2007, Johansson stars opposite Natalie Portman and Eric Bana in The Other Boleyn Girl, playing Mary Boleyn.[12] Also in August 2007, she is filming her third Woody Allen film, his "Untitled Spanish Project", in Barcelona. [13]

Johansson has signed on for three new projects. She was cast to the femme fatale Silken Floss opposite Gabriel Macht in Frank Miller's noir comedy adaptation of Will Eisner's comic The Spirit. The movie is scheduled to go into production October 2007.[14] She will also portray Mary, Queen of Scots in a film scheduled to begin production in March 2008[15][16] and appear as a pilates instructor in He's Just Not That Into You, with Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Justin Long. The film is directed by Ken Kwapis and produced by Barrymore.


Music career

In 2005, Johansson was considered for the role of Maria[17] in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End stage version of The Sound of Music, though the role ultimately went to newcomer Connie Fisher after she won BBC's talent show "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?"[18] Released May 8, 2006, Johansson sang the track "Summertime" for Unexpected Dreams - Songs from the Stars, a non-profit collection of songs recorded by Hollywood actors. She also performed with The Jesus And Mary Chain for a special Coachella Reunion Show in Indio, California in April 2007.[19]

In the summer of 2007, Johansson spent about a month in Maurice, Louisiana recording an album at Dockside Studio, a rural 12-acre complex.[20] The album, entitled Scarlett Sings Tom Waits, consists entirely of Johansson's cover versions of Tom Waits songs.[21][5] It is being produced by Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio and features members from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.[22][23] and Celebration,[24][25]

In 2006, Johansson was the leading lady in Bob Dylan's music video for "When the Deal Goes Down". In 2007, she appeared as the leading lady in Justin Timberlake's music video for "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around Interlude," nominated August 2007 for video of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards.[26]


Advertising work

Johansson endorsed the Calvin Klein perfume "Eternity Moment" and was featured in several commercials and printed advertisements for the product. One of the commercials was featured in her 2005 film The Island. She became the face and spokesperson for Louis Vuitton in early 2005 and has appeared in three of their ad campaigns: Spring 2005, Spring 2007 and Fall 2007. In January 2006, she was named as a spokesperson of L'Oreal.[27]

In July 2006, Reebok signed a deal with Johansson to co-create "Scarlett 'Hearts' Rbk," athletic footwear scheduled for a debut in the spring of 2007. Johansson will also be featured in Reebok's global women's advertising campaign, also in the spring of 2007. The company's press releases described Johansson as a "world renowned style icon" and an "inspiration for today's young women."[28]


Personal life

Johansson is a Democrat and campaigned for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.[5] She was later quoted as saying, of George W. Bush's re-election, that "[she was] disappointed. I think it was a disappointment for a large percentage of the population."[29] Johansson has also taken part in the anti-poverty campaign ONE which was organised by U2 lead singer Bono.[5]

Johansson has previously stated that she has a connection to older men, and could not see herself dating anyone under the age of 30. She has also noted that she does not discuss her personal life with the press, specifying that she feels "it's nice to have everybody not know your business." However, this has not stopped Johansson from sharing "select" opinions and personal details.[30] Johansson's ex-boyfriend (and member of the band Steel Train), Jack Antonoff, has included lyrics that refer to Johansson in his band's song "Better Love."[31] Antonoff also references Johansson in the song "2 O'clock." She has been linked to many famous men, including Derek Jeter, Benicio del Toro, Jared Leto, Justin Timberlake and most notably her Black Dahlia co-star Josh Hartnett. The pair dated for around two years until the end of 2006, with Hartnett citing their busy professional lives as the reason for the split.[32] She is currently dating Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds.[33] In October 2007, it was revealed she had given boyfriend Ryan Reynolds her wisdom tooth as a birthday present. Scarlett took the tooth and dipped it in gold before stringing it onto a necklace to give to him.[34]

Johansson has repeatedly said that she does not believe in monogamy, and that it is not human nature to be with just one person. She has also said that "contrary to popular belief... [she is] not promiscuous" and she works "really hard" when she is in a relationship "to make it work in a monogamous way."[35] She gets tested for HIV twice a year, and has specified that she feels "it's part of being a decent human" and that she finds it "disgusting" and "irresponsible" when people do not do so.[36]

Johansson has claimed to be a fanatic for cheese, saying: "My greatest vice is cheese. Nothing else reigns over my life."[37] She has criticized the media and Hollywood for promoting an image that causes unhealthy diets and eating disorders among women, saying that she thinks "that being ultra-thin is not sexy at all. Women shouldn't be forced to conform to unrealistic and unhealthy body images that the media promote."[38]

Johansson appeared on the controversial cover of the March 2006 issue of Vanity Fair in the nude with fellow Hollywood "it girl" Keira Knightley and world-renowned fashion designer Tom Ford.

In March 2006, she topped the U.S. edition of FHM's poll of the sexiest women alive (in the UK edition Johansson was third). In 2007, Maxim named Johansson #3 in their Hot 100 issue,[39] In November 2006, Johansson was named "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire.[40] She was featured at #3 in Maxim's Hot 100 for 2007.

When asked about her religious affiliation, Johansson has answered: "That's a very personal question. I would rather not answer." She has, however, specified that she celebrates a "little of both" referring to Christmas and Hanukkah.[41] She has noted that she dislikes it when celebrities thank God or Jesus in their award acceptance speeches.[42] She described herself as Jewish when she was talking about Woody Allen. "I just adore Woody," she says. "We have a lot in common. We're New Yorkers, Jewish. We have a very easygoing relationship".[43]

Actual stupid questions asked


The below excerpts appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune. They were taken from real court records.


Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, in most cases he just passes quietly away and doesn't know anything about it until the next morning?

Q: What happened then?
A: He told me, he says, "I have to kill you because you can identify me."
Q: Did he kill you?

Was it you or your brother that was killed in the war?

The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?

Q: She had three children, right?
A: Yes.
Q: How many were boys?
A: None.
Q: Were there any girls?

Were you alone or by yourself?

Q: I show you Exhibit 3 and ask you if you recognize that picture?
A: That's me.
Q: Were you present when that picture was taken?

Were you present in court this morning when you were sworn in?

Q: You say that the stairs went down to the basement?
A: Yes.
Q: And these stairs, did they go up also?

Q: Now then, Mrs. Johnson, how was your first marriage terminated?
A: By death.
Q: And by whose death was it terminated?

Q: Do you know how far pregnant you are now?
A: I'll be three months on March 12th.
Q: Apparently then, the date of conception was around January 12th?
A: Yes.
Q: What were you doing at that time?

Do you have any children or anything of that kind?

Was that the same nose you broke as a child?

Q: Mrs. Jones, do you believe you are emotionally stable?
A: I used to be.
Q: How many times have you committed suicide?

So, you were gone until you returned?

You don't know what it was, and you didn't know what it looked like, but can you describe it?

Q: Have you lived in this town all your life?
A: Not yet.

A Texas attorney, realizing he was on the verge of unleashing a stupid question, interrupted himself and said, "Your Honor, I'd like to strike the next question."

Q: Do you recall approximately the time that you examined that body of Mr. Huntington at St. Mary's Hospital?
A: It was in the evening. The autopsy started about 5:30 P.M.
Q: And Mr. Huntington was dead at the time, is that correct?
A: No, you idiot, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was performing an autopsy on him!

Return To Me
Dean Martin

Return to me
Oh my dear I am so lonely
Hurry back, hurry back
Oh my love, hurry back, I'm yours

Return to me
For my heart wants you only
Hurry home, hurry home
Won't you please hurry home to my heart

My darling, if I've hurt you I'm sorry
Forgive me, and please say you are mine
Return to me
Please come back bella mia
Hurry back, hurry home to my arms
To my lips and my heart

Retorna me
Cara mia ti amo
Solo tu, solo tu, solo tu, solo tu
Mio cuore

Hey, all. A little late arriving in our studio today. I guess I feel a bit down because, once again, I will spend Thanksgiving alone.

Rex, thank you for the Leonard Cohen song, Maine. To this day, the only song that I have heard by him is Suzanne.

Sharon, it is always delightful to see you here, gal. Thanks for your observations.

Well, Bob will have company for his Thanksgiving meal. Thanks you for the bio's, Boston. Have a wonderful get together.

We all love the "stupid questions" observations, and I know there is a song called "Stupid Questions", but alas, I cannot locate it. It goes something like,

Stupid questions, you hear them every day.

Maybe later, folks.

One from Hoagy and one from Jay and the Americans.

Ole buttermilk sky I'm keepin' my eye peeled on you
What's the good word tonight are you gonna be mellow tonight
Ole buttermilk sky can't you see my little donky and me
We're as happy as a christmas tree headed for the one I love

I'm gonna pop her the question that question do you Darling do you do
It'll be easy so easy if I can only bank on you

Ole buttermilk sky I'm telling you why now you know
Keep it in mind tonight keep brushing those clouds from sight
Ole buttermilk sky you don't fail me when I'm needing you most
Hang a moon above her hitching post and hitch me to the one I love
You can if you try don't tell me no lie
Will you be mellow and bright tonight buttermilk sky

Jay and the Americans

Cara Mia why must we say goodbye?
Each time we part my heart wants to die
Darling hear my prayer
Cara Mia fair
I'll be your love till the end of time

Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine

Cara Mia why must we say goodbye?
Each time we part my heart wants to die
Darling hear my prayer
Cara Mia fair
I'll be your love till the end of time

Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine

Oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh
Each time we part my heart wants to die
Darling hear my prayer
Cara Mia fair
I'll be your love till the end of time

Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine

Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine
Cara Mia mine

Today's B.D. celeb photo gallery:

George Eliot, Hoagy Carmichael, Rodney Dangerfield, Geraldine Page, Robert Vaughn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mariel Hemingway and Scarlett Johansson







HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Thanks, Raggedy, for taking the time to do your "thang". Great photo's, and I think we may know them all.

Ah, George Eliot, the nom de plume of Mary Ann Evans.

Frankly, folks, I never cared for Steve Martin until I saw "A Simple Twist of Fate." It was, of course, a modernized version of Silas Marner. Strange, but the movies that I like are often the least liked by the critics, but then, critics are simply frustrated actors or writers, methinks.

Stupid song by Steve from The Jerk.

Oh I'm picking out a thermos for you
not an ordinary thermos for you
but the extra best thermos you can buy
with vinyl and stripes and a cup built right in

I'm picking out a thermos for you
and maybe a barometer too
and what else can I buy
so on me you'll rely
a rear end thermometer too

I don't EVEN want to talk about his Cyrano.

i'm in a self-deprecating mood, so....

Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get a job Sha na na na, sha na na na na

Every morning about this time
she get me out of my bed
a-crying get a job.
After breakfast, everyday,
she throws the want ads right my way
And never fails to say,
Get a job Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get a job Sha na na na, sha na na na na

And when I get the paper
I read it through and through
And my girl never fails to say
If there is any work for me,
And when I go back to the house
I hear the woman's mouth
Preaching and a crying,
Tell me that I'm lying 'bout a job
That I never could find.

Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get a job Sha na na na, sha na na na na

Love that one, honu, and here's a parody on the job song written for an assignment in the tenth grade.


I took my wallet out It's not that full
I just realized I need some cash now fool
I look at wanted ads and circle lots of jobs
But then I need a resume

And that's about the time I was typing away
Nobody gets stuff without any money
And I still have a lot of unpaid bills
Get a job that's what they say
Now I am a stock boy all right
Paper or plastic?
Paper or plastic?

But get this now I have to walk home
I have no car or a cell phone
And that's not all kids I live in my parents basement
Parents took away allowance

And that's about the time I was waiting for pay
Worse, I am twenty three years old today
And I still show the people which aisle
Do you know if there's a sale
Now I'm a stock boy all right
Paper or plastic?
Paper or plastic?

And that's about the time I am going insane
I hate work it's hard and it's not funny
And this guy opened a yogurt pack hey
All right today is payday
Now I'm a stock boy all right
Paper or plastic?

That's about the time I was spending away
When I get home I will sit down and lay
Going up to kids did you eat this clay?
I hate work but I will stay
This week I work 4 or 5 days
Paper or plastic?
Paper or plastic?
Paper or plastic?