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What a plaintive song, edgar. That way of life may have vanished, but the nostalgia is still there, right?

Found this man while roaming aimlessly through the archives, and I feel that it reflects your song, Texas.

MICHAEL JOHNATHON
folksinger - tree hugger
"Take the inventiveness of Bob Dylan, the melodic voice of John Denver, add the showmanship of Garrison Keillor and that's Michael Johnathon." Bob Spear - Publisher, HEARTLAND REVIEW

Michael Johnathon is a folksinger, songwriter, gardener, painter, concert performer, author, and now playwright with a worldwide radio and TV audience approaching two million listeners each week. He began his career in New York, moved to the Mexican border in Laredo Texas and then started performing in the Appalachian mountains while living in Mousie, Kentucky.

Give me a day... when the sun is shining
Give me a day... when the rain don't fall
Give me a day... when the city is singing
And then I'll cry... a long, hard cry

Give me a night... noche en paz
Alone in the darkness... noche en paz
Give me a night... at my true love's side
Give me a night... when my children are dreamin'
And then I'll cry... a long, hard cry

Give me a dream... miechta
That I wanna keep dreamin'... miechta
Give me a dream... I can fly through the sky
Give me a dream... all the people are dreamin'
And then I'll cry... a long, hard cry

Give me a war... where the people keep living
Give me a war... where the innocent survive
Give me a war... where the leaders are learning
And then I'll cry... a long, hard cry

Give me a tear... la larme du monde
From the joys of laughter
Give me a tear... of a happy day
Give me a tear... la paix
Of the peace that we're after... la paix
And then I'll cry... a long, hard cry
And then I'll cry... a long, hard cry

Give me the dream... noche en paz... la larme du monde
Give me the dream... noche en paz... la paix
Give me the dream... noche en paz... la larme du monde

.

good evening !
GAILY THE TROUBADOUR will sing and play for you :

Good evening, hbg. You and I are thinking alike tonight, Canada. Yours is a lovely troubadour song about war and mine is a Spanish Cavalier.

Don't ask why I know this one, because I don't know the answer.

A Spanish cavalier stood in his retreat,
And on his guitar played a tune, dear.
The music so sweet would ofttimes repeat
The blessings of my country and you, dear.

Chorus: Say, darling, say, when I'm far away,
Sometimes you may think of me, dear.
Bright sunny days will soon fade away.
Remember what I say and be true, dear.

I'm off to war; to the war I must go
To fight for my country and you, dear,
But if I should fall, in vain I would call
The blessings of my country and you, dear.

(Chorus, with 'Remember what I say and be true, dear' substituted for second line.)

When the war is o'er, to you I'll return,
Again to my country and you, dear,
But if I be slain, you must seek me in vain;
Upon the battlefield you will find me.

(Chorus, as in second stanza)

Strange to me, folks, that cavalier treatment is a negative thing, while a singing cavalier is positive.

well , let's have the troubadour sing and the ballerina dance :

BALLERINA AT THE HANDRAIL by fernando botero



probably from a MARX BROTHERS MOVIE :wink:

Guess I had better say goodnight, all. I dread tomorrow, because I have a lot of "work business" that I must do.

How about a funny song; maybe I can make myself smile.

TOM LEHRER REVISITED
The Hunting Song
Almost every day during the hunting season you see at least one item in the newspapers about somebody who has shot somebody else, under the impression that he was a deer with a red hat, perhaps. Maybe a large flesh-colored squirrel. At any rate, it seems to me that this marks an encouraging new trend in the field of blood sports, and deserves a new type of hunting song which I present herewith.

I always will remember,
'Twas a year ago November,
I went out to hunt some deer
On a morning bright and clear.
I went and shot the maximum the game laws would allow:
Two game wardens, seven hunters, and a cow.

I was in no mood to trifle,
I took down my trusty rifle
And went out to stalk my prey.
What a haul I made that day!
I tied them to my fender, and I drove them home somehow:
Two game wardens, seven hunters, and a cow.

The law was very firm, it
Took away my permit,
The worst punishment I ever endured.
It turned out there was a reason,
Cows were out of season,
And one of the hunters wasn't insured.

People ask me how I do it,
And I say "There's nothin' to it,
You just stand there lookin' cute,
And when something moves, you shoot!"
And there's ten stuffed heads in my trophy room right now:
Two game wardens, seven hunters, and a pure-bred Guernsey cow.

Love it!

Goodnight.

From Letty with love

Oops, hbg. Just saw your ballerina. Thanks for the smile, buddy, and did you know that Nat Cole sang that song?

Time to retire and I think no one will have to sing me to sleep.

Walter Brennan
Dutchman's gold,)
(Oh, Dutchman's gold.)

Brennan:
In The Arizona desert
Stands a giant of earth and stone
Mighty superstition mountain
With it's mystery and it's gold.

A miner, out prospectin'
Found his fortune and his fame
Found the gold of superstition
Just plain Dutchman, was his name.

Chorus:
Oh, the Dutchman was a gambler
And a party was his fun
But he kept his precious secret
Never trusting anyone.

And in death, he still is laughing
For the grave his secret holds
And the mighty superstition
Keeps the Dutchman's yellow gold.

Yellow gold.

Brennan:
Mighty superstition mountain
Standing high and all alone
Once you told your precious secret
And you gave your soft, pure gold.

'Pache indians know the story
And in legend there is told
Many takes of the beginnin'
When you gave your yellow gold.

Now I'd like to dream and wonder
If someday you'll give again
The bounty of your treasure
To some lonely, strugglin' man.

And if you, in all your splender
May choose me to be the one
To find your precious treasure
Shinin' yella, in the sun.

Chorus:
Oh, the Dutch,an was a gambler
And a party was his fun
But he kept his precious secret
Never trusting anyone.

And in death, he still is laughing
For the grave his secret holds
And the mighty superstition
Keeps the Dutchman's yellow gold

Yellow gold.
Yellow gold.
Yellow gold.
Dutchman's gold

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.

edgar, thanks for the "gold" song, and I just did some research and found that Walter Brennan was a main stay in The Real McCoys. I know there is a ballad out there somewhere about the Hatfields and McCoys, but, alas, I cannot locate it. Well, the next best thing, I suppose, is this song by Willie Nelson.

The only two things in life that make it worth living,
Is guitars tuned good and firm-feeling women.
I dont need my name in the marquee lights,
I got my song and I got you with me tonight.
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love.
Lets go to Luckenbach, Texas,
With Waylon and Willie and the boys.
This successful life were living,
Got us feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys.
Between Hank Williams' pain songs,
An' Newberry's train songs,
An' "Blue Eyes Cryin' In The Rain",
Out in Luckenbach, Texas,
Aint nobody feeling no pain.
So baby lets sell your diamond ring,
Buy some boots and faded jeans and go away.
This coat and tie is choking me,
In your high society, you cry all day.
Weve been so busy keeping up with the Jones,
Four-car garage and were still building on.
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love.
Lets go to Luckenbach, Texas,
With Waylon and Willie and the boys.
This successful life were living,
Got us feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys.
Between Hank Williams' pain songs,
An Newberry's train songs,
An' "Blue Eyes Cryin' In The Rain",
Out in Luckenbach, Texas,
Aint nobody feeling no pain.
Lets go to Luckenbach, Texas,
With Waylon and Willie and the boys.
This successful life were living's,
Got us feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys.
Between the Hank Williams' pain songs,
An Jerry Jeff's train songs,
An' "Blue Eyes Cryin' In The Rain",
Out in Luckenbach, Texas,
Aint nobody feeling no pain.

I liked edgar's song about Dutchman's gold, here is another one about a Dutchman.

The Dutchman (As sung by Steve Goodman)

The Dutchman's not the kind of man who keeps his thumb jammed in the dam
That holds his dreams in
But that's a secret that only Margaret knows

When Amsterdam is golden in the summer Margaret brings him breakfast
She believes him
He thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snow

He's mad as he could be
But Margaret only sees that sometimes
Sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes

Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee
Long ago I used to be a young man
And dear Margaret remembers that for me

The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes, his cap and coat are patched with the love
That Margaret sewed there
Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam

And he watches the tugboats down canals, calls out to them when he thinks
He knows the captain
Till Margaret comes to take him home again

Through unforgiving streets
That trip him though she holds his arm
Sometimes he thinks he's alone and he calls her name

Let us go to the banks of the ocean ...

The wind has whirled the windmills round, she winds his muffler tighter
And they sit in the kitchen
Some tea with whisky keeps away the dew

And he sees her for a moment, calls her name, and she makes the bed up singing
Some old love song
A song Margaret learned when it was very new

He hums a line or two
They sing together in the dark
The Dutchman falls asleep and Margaret blows the candle out

Let us go to the banks of the ocean ...

One of my favorite Walter Brennan roles is opposite Gary Cooper, in which he plays Judge Roy Bean. The film is The Westerner.

This is one of the most unusual and delightful Westerns ever made. What sets it apart is the relative lack of action, the way that director William Wyler shifts most of the interest onto the relationship and interpersonal interplay between Cole Hardin (Gary Cooper, in one of his finest Western roles) and Judge Roy Bean (Walter Brennan). The way the two move from instant enemies, to unexpected friends, to uneasy opponents, to reluctant enemies, and finally back to sympathetic friends is masterfully portrayed. As fine as Cooper is, much of the credit lies with Brennan, who became the first person to win three acting Oscars by picking up his third Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Unlike his other Oscar wins, this role was essentially a lead role. Although many actors have portrayed Judge Roy Bean over the years, Brennan's is the definitive one, despite being the least historically accurate. If his version isn't the most faithful, it is the most compelling. He manages to be utterly absurd, dangerously unpredictable, and utterly likable at the same time.
The story essentially falls into two halves. The first involves Gary Cooper's accidental identification in Judge Bean's saloon as a horse thief, his trial and conviction, and clever manipulation of the Judge to gain a reprieve. The second half concerns Cooper's taking sides in a range war, siding with a lone female farmer against cattlemen. Both halves are brought together nicely in Cooper and Brennan's final struggle that ends the film.

Along with Walter Brennan and Gary Cooper, the real star of this film is Gregg Toland, whose cinematography rivets the viewer's attention on the screen from beginning to end. Toland, who died tragically young in 1948 at the age of 44, is universally regarded as one of the very greatest cinematographers of all time, and THE WESTERNER was one of his finest efforts in a very, very great streak of films over a relatively short period of time. In the period running from 1939-41, Toland was responsible for filming such extraordinary classics as WUTHERING HEIGHTS, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, THE WESTERNER, and CITIZEN KANE. Has any cinematographer ever had a two-year period matching this one? I saw THE WESTERNER years before I knew who Gregg Toland was, but I long retained the memory of several of the amazing shots Toland framed. He was a favorite of director William Wyler, who would employ him often during Toland's tragically short career.

Toland's photography manages to give this film an epic feel and scope, while the tensions in the relationship between Cooper and Brennan make it a highly intimate film. This is easily one of the most unique Westerns in the history of Holly, and one of the best.

Dutchy, welcome back. I love your song, buddy. When I was a wee thing, I was fascinated with wooden shoes and tulips. Remember the legend of the wealthy lady from the Zuiderzee? It was one of my favorites.

edgar, thank you for the mini lesson in moviecology. Hey, folks. I just coined a word.

How about a song by Fat Tulips, then.

My Secret Place

Passing time on a railway line
Trying not to fall from the tungsten tracks
Wishing that one day
That train won't pass me by
A desolate station long disused
The barren platform's overrun
With weeds that whisper
Staring me in the eye

As I sit on a broken bench
Blowing time from a dandelion
I hope no-one will find me
Discover my secret place
My secret place

Like the paint on the platform sign
My thoughts of you are crumbling
Tumbling to the dusty floor
Like I'm stumbling to discover more
What went wrong?
What went wrong with us?
Will I always be the only passenger on the platform?
Waiting for another train
That may never come along
Waiting for another train
That will probably
Never find my secret place

As I sit on a broken bench
And blow time from a dandelion
I hope someone will find me
Discover my secret place
My secret place.

morning all !
just a short song by a fellow who surely is a goner
(it's blustery her - a bit of snow - but this fellow sure feels the warmth of his sweet love )

Good afternoon, hbg. Had to do some financial stuff, but it's a burden I've had to bear. That's my "poor me" for the day.

Loved the lyrics to your song, Canada, and an inspiration from your lovely picture of the nightingale made me recall Jenny Lind, "The Swedish Nightingale".

Here's a tribute to her and P.T. Barnum from Gordon Lightfoot.

A Lesson in Love

Nothing is for certain, that's what the showman said
First you must open the curtain
And stand them on their heads
There can be no inhibitions, no prima donna ways
If you want to pass the audition
And times is tough these days

Remember when Mr. Barnum presented Jenny Lind
They named a candy after her, a circus after him
End of my story, the rest is history
She in all of her glory, he lived quietly
He needed her, she needed him, as sure as the sky above
In a way it was for them
A lesson in love, a lesson in love

You look like the moonglow that follows me home
Always makes me turn around, won't leave me alone
First to come are the midgets, a monkey and a kid
Followed by those two one-armed jugglers, the ego and the id

Songs of the season, apples of the sun
There is no rhyme or reason, just a time for each and every one
Hang on Mr. Barnum, hang on Jenny Lind
We will meet you in streets of gold where eternity begins
We will let it all hangout, go hand in glove
Life was meant to live and learn, a lesson in love, a lesson in love

Mark Twain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Pseudonym: Mark Twain
Born November 30, 1835(1835-11-30)
Florida, Missouri, United States
Died April 21, 1910 (aged 74)
Redding, Connecticut
Occupation Author
Nationality American
Genres Historical fiction, non-fiction, satire, essay
Influences Artemus Ward, Charles Dickens, Thomas Paine, Alexander Macfarlane, Josh Billings
Influenced Kurt Vonnegut, Gore Vidal, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, H. L. Mencken, Hunter S. Thompson, Hal Holbrook, Jimmy Buffett, Ron Powers, Ralph Ellison

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humanist,[2] humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel,[3] and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is also known for his quotations.[4][5] During his lifetime, Twain became a friend to presidents, artists, leading industrialists and European royalty.

Twain enjoyed immense public popularity, and his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. American author William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature."[6]




Biography

Early life

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835 to a Tennessee country merchant, John Marshall Clemens (August 11, 1798-March 24, 1847), and Jane Lampton Clemens (June 18, 1803-October 27, 1890).[7] He was the sixth of seven children. Only three of his siblings survived childhood: his brothers Orion (July 17, 1825-December 11, 1897) and Henry (July 13, 1838-June 21, 1858) and his sister Pamela (September 19, 1827-August 31, 1904). His sister Margaret (May 31, 1830-August 17, 1839) died when Twain was four years old, and his brother Benjamin (June 8, 1832-May 12, 1842) died three years later. Another brother, Pleasant (1828-1829), died at the age of six months. [8]

When Twain was four, his family moved to Hannibal,[9] a port town on the Mississippi River that would serve as the inspiration for the fictional town of St. Petersburg in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.[10] At that time, Missouri was a slave state in the Union, and young Twain became familiar with the institution of slavery, a theme he later explored in his writing.

In March 1847, when Twain was 11, his father died of pneumonia[11]. The following year, he became a printer's apprentice. In 1851, he began working as a typesetter and contributor of articles and humorous sketches for the Hannibal Journal, a newspaper owned by his brother, Orion. When he was 18, he left Hannibal and worked as a printer in New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. He joined the union and educated himself in public libraries in the evenings, finding wider sources of information than he would have at a conventional school[12]. At 22, Twain returned to Missouri. On a voyage to New Orleans down the Mississippi, the steamboat pilot, Horace E. Bixby, inspired Twain to pursue a career as a steamboat pilot; it was a richly rewarding occupation with wages set at $250 per month[13], equivalent to $155,000 a year today.


The library of the Mark Twain House, which features hand-stenciled paneling, fireplaces from India, embossed wallpapers and an enormous hand-carved mantel that the Twains purchased in Scotland (HABS photo)Because the steamboats at the time were constructed of very dry flammable wood, no lamps were allowed, making night travel a precarious endeavor. A steamboat pilot needed a vast knowledge of the ever-changing river to be able to stop at any of the hundreds of ports and wood-lots along the river banks. Twain meticulously studied 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of the Mississippi for more than two years before he received his steamboat pilot license in 1859. While training, Samuel convinced his younger brother Henry to work with him. Henry was killed on June 21, 1858, when the steamboat he was working on exploded. Twain had foreseen this death in a detailed dream a month earlier[14], which inspired his interest in parapsychology; he was an early member of the Society for Psychical Research[15]. Twain was guilt-stricken over his brother's death and held himself responsible for the rest of his life. However, he continued to work on the river and served as a river pilot until the American Civil War broke out in 1861 and traffic along the Mississippi was curtailed.


Travels and family

Missouri was a slave state and considered by many to be part of the South, but it did not join the Confederacy. When the war began, Twain and his friends formed a Confederate militia (depicted in an 1885 short story, "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed"), which drilled for only two weeks before disbanding.[16] Twain joined his brother, Orion, who had been appointed secretary to the territorial governor of Nevada, and headed west.


Twain and his brother traveled for more than two weeks on a stagecoach across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, visiting the Mormon community in Salt Lake City along the way. These experiences became the basis of the book Roughing It, and provided material for The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. Twain's journey ended in the silver-mining town of Virginia City, Nevada, where he became a miner.[16] Twain failed as a miner and found work at a Virginia City newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise.[17] On February 3, 1863, he signed a humorous travel account "LETTER FROM CARSON - re: Joe Goodman; party at Gov. Johnson's; music" with "Mark Twain".[18]

Twain then traveled to San Francisco, California, where he continued as a journalist and began lecturing. He met other writers such as Bret Harte, Artemus Ward and Dan DeQuille. An assignment in Hawaii became the basis for his first lectures.[19] In 1867, a local newspaper funded a steamboat trip to the Mediterranean. During his tour of Europe and the Middle East, he wrote a popular collection of travel letters which were compiled as The Innocents Abroad in 1869.

Twain met Charles Langdon, who showed him a picture of his sister Olivia; Twain claimed to have fallen in love at first sight. They met in 1868, were engaged a year later, and married in February 1870 in Elmira, New York.[19] She came from a "wealthy but liberal family", and through her he met abolitionists, "socialists, principled atheists and activists for women's rights and social equality", including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass and the utopian socialist William Dean Howells[20].

The couple lived in Buffalo, New York from 1869 to 1871. Twain owned a stake in the Buffalo Express, and worked as an editor and writer. Their son Langdon died of diphtheria at 19 months.

In 1871[21], Twain moved his family to Hartford, Connecticut, where starting in 1873 he arranged the building of a dramatic house for them, which local admirers saved from demolition in 1927 and eventually turned into a museum focused on him. There Olivia gave birth to three daughters: Susy, Clara (c1875-1962) [22], and Jean. The couple's marriage lasted 34 years, until Olivia's death in 1904.

During his years in Hartford, Twain became friends with fellow author William Dean Howells.


Later life and death

Twain made a second tour of Europe, described in the 1880 book, A Tramp Abroad. His tour included a visit to London where, in the summer of 1900, he was the guest of newspaper proprietor Hugh Gilzean-Reid at Dollis Hill House. Twain wrote of Dollis Hill that he had "never seen any place that was so satisfactorily situated, with its noble trees and stretch of country, and everything that went to make life delightful, and all within a biscuit's throw of the metropolis of the world [23]." He returned to America in 1900, having earned enough to pay off his debts.

In 1906, Twain began his autobiography in the North American Review. Oxford University awarded him an Doctorate of Literature a year later.

Twain outlived Jean and Susy. He passed through a period of deep depression, which began in 1896 when his favorite daughter Susy died of meningitis. Olivia's death in 1904 and Jean's death on December 24, 1909, deepened his gloom.[24]

In 1909, Twain is quoted as saying:[25]

" I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.' "

Twain died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910 in Redding, Connecticut. Upon hearing of Twain's death, President Taft said:[26] [27]

" Mark Twain gave pleasure?-real intellectual enjoyment?-to millions, and his works will continue to give such pleasure to millions yet to come... His humor was American, but he was nearly as much appreciated by Englishmen and people of other countries as by his own countrymen. He has made an enduring part of American literature. "

Mark Twain is buried in his wife's family plot in Elmira, New York.


Life as a writer

Career overview

Twain began his career writing light, humorous verse but evolved into a grim, almost profane chronicler of the vanities, hypocrisies and murderous acts of mankind. At mid-career, with Huckleberry Finn, he combined rich humor, sturdy narrative and social criticism. Twain was a master at rendering colloquial speech and helped to create and popularize a distinctive American literature built on American themes and language. Many of Mark Twain's works have been suppressed at times for various reasons. When an anonymous slim volume was published in 1880 entitled 1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors., Twain was among those rumored to be the author. The issue was not settled until 1906, when Twain acknowledged his literary paternity of this scatological masterpiece. Huckleberry Finn has been repeatedly restricted in American high schools, not least for its frequent use of the word "nigger", which was a common term when the book was written.


Early journalism and travelogues

Mark Twain's first important work, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, was first published in the New York Saturday Press on November 18, 1865. The only reason it was published there was because his story arrived too late to be included in a book Artemus Ward was compiling featuring sketches of the wild American West.

After this burst of popularity, Twain was commissioned by the Sacramento Union to write letters about his travel experiences for publication in the newspaper, his first of which was to ride the steamer Ajax in its maiden voyage to Hawaii, referred to at the time as the Sandwich Islands. These humorous letters proved the genesis to his work with the San Francisco Alta California newspaper, which designated him a traveling correspondent for a trip from San Francisco to New York City via the Panama isthmus. All the while Twain was writing letters meant for publishing back and forth, chronicling his experiences with his burlesque humor. On June 8, 1867, Twain set sail on the pleasure cruiser Quaker City for five months. This trip resulted in The Innocents Abroad or The New Pilgrims' Progress.

" This book is a record of a pleasure trip. If it were a record of a solemn scientific expedition it would have about it the gravity, that profundity, and that impressive incomprehensibility which are so proper to works of that kind, and withal so attractive. Yet not withstanding it is only a record of a picnic, it has a purpose, which is, to suggest to the reader how he would be likely to see Europe and the East if he looked at them with his own eyes instead of the eyes of those who traveled in those countries before him. I make small pretense of showing anyone how he ought to look at objects of interest beyond the sea - other books do that, and therefore, even if I were competent to do it, there is no need. "

In 1872, Twain published a second piece of travel literature, Roughing It, as a semi-sequel to Innocents. Roughing It is a semi-autobiographical account of Twain's journey to Nevada and his subsequent life in the American West. The book lampoons American and Western society in the same way that Innocents critiqued the various countries of Europe and the Middle East. Twain's next work kept Roughing It's focus on American society but focused more on the events of the day. Entitled The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, it was not a travel piece, as his previous two books had been, and it was his first attempt at writing a novel. The book is also notable because it is Twain's only collaboration; it was written with his neighbor Charles Dudley Warner.

Twain's next two works drew on his experiences on the Mississippi River. Old Times on the Mississippi, a series of sketches published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1875, featured Twain's disillusionment with Romanticism. Old Times eventually became the starting point for Life on the Mississippi.


Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

Twain's next major publication was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which drew on his youth in Hannibal. The character of Tom Sawyer was modeled on Twain as a child, with traces of two schoolmates, John Briggs and Will Bowen. The book also introduced in a supporting role the character of Huckleberry Finn, based on Twain's boyhood friend Tom Blankenship.

The Prince and the Pauper, despite a storyline that is omnipresent in film and literature today, was not as well received. Pauper was Twain's first attempt at fiction, and blame for its shortcomings are usually put on Twain having not been experienced enough in English society and the fact that it was produced after such a massive hit. In between the writing of Pauper, Twain had started Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (which he consistently had problems completing[citation needed]) and started and completed another travel book, A Tramp Abroad, which follows Twain as he travels through central and southern Europe.

Twain's next major published work, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, solidified him as a noteworthy American writer. Some have called it the first Great American Novel. Finn was an offshoot from Tom Sawyer and proved to have a more serious tone than its predecessor. The main premise behind Huckleberry Finn is the young boy's belief in the right thing to do even though the majority of society believes that it was wrong. The book has become required reading in many schools throughout the United States because Huck ignores the rules and mores of the age to follow what he thinks is just (the story takes place in the 1850s where slavery is present). Four hundred manuscript pages of Huckleberry Finn were written in the summer of 1876, right after the publication of Tom Sawyer. Some accounts have Twain taking seven years off after his first burst of creativity, eventually finishing the book in 1883. Other accounts have Twain working on Finn in tandem with The Prince and the Pauper and other works in 1880 and other years. The last fifth of Finn is subject to much controversy. Some say that Twain experiences?-as critic Leo Marx puts it?-a "failure of nerve." Ernest Hemingway once said of Huckleberry Finn: "If you read it, you must stop where the Nigger Jim is stolen from the boys. That is the real end. The rest is just cheating."[28]

Near the end of Huckleberry Finn, Twain wrote Life on the Mississippi, which is said to have heavily influenced the former book.[citation needed] The work recounts Twain's memories and new experiences after a 22-year absence from the Mississippi. The book is of note because Twain introduces the real meaning of his pseudonym.


Later writing

After his great work, Twain began turning to his business endeavors to keep them afloat and to stave off the increasing difficulties he had been having from his writing projects. Twain focused on President Ulysses S. Grant's Memoirs for his fledgling publishing company, finding time in between to write "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed" for The Century Magazine. The name of his publishing company was Charles L. Webster & Company, which he owned with Charles L. Webster, his nephew by marriage.[29]


Twain in his old ageTwain next focused on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which featured him making his first big pronouncement of disappointment with politics. The tone become cynical to the point of almost being a rant against the established political system of the day (which would have been in King Arthur's time), and eventually devolved into madness for the main character. The book was started in December 1885, then shelved a few months later until the summer of 1887, and eventually finished in the spring of 1889.

Some say[attribution needed] that this work marked the beginning of the end for Twain, as he fell into financial trouble and eschewed his humor vein. Twain had begun to furiously write articles and commentary with diminishing returns to pay the bills and keep his business intentions afloat, but it was not enough because he filed for bankruptcy in 1894. His next large scale work, The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (also known as Those Extraordinary Twins), drew on his sense of irony, though it has been misconstrued.[citation needed] There were parallels between this work and Twain's financial failings, notably his desire to escape his current constraints and become a different person.

Twain's next venture was a work of straight fiction that he called Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc and dedicated to his wife. Twain had long said that this was the work of which he was most proud, despite the criticism he received for it. The book had been a dream of his for a very long time, and he eventually thought it to be the work to save his publishing company. His financial adviser, Henry Huttleston Rogers, squashed that idea and got Twain out of that business altogether, but the book was published nonetheless.

Twain's wife died in 1904, and after an appropriate time Twain allowed himself to publish some works that his wife, a de facto editor and censor throughout his life, had looked down upon. Of these works, The Mysterious Stranger, which places the presence of Satan, also known as "No. 44," in various situations where the moral sense of humankind is absent, is perhaps the best known. This particular work was not published in Twain's lifetime. There were three versions found in his manuscripts made between 1897 and 1905: the Hannibal version, the Eseldorf version, and the Print Shop version. Confusion between the versions led to an extensive publication of a jumbled version, and only recently have the original versions as Twain wrote them become available.

Twain's last work was his autobiography, which he dictated and thought would be most entertaining if he went off on whims and tangents in non-sequential order. Some archivists and compilers had a problem with this and rearranged the biography into a more conventional form, thereby eliminating some of Twain's humor and the flow of the book.


Finance, science, and inventions

Twain made a substantial amount of money through his writing, but he spent much of it in bad investments, mostly in new inventions. He was fascinated with science and scientific inquiry. He developed a close and lasting friendship with Nikola Tesla, and the two spent much time together in Tesla's laboratory. His book A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court features a time traveler from contemporary America, using his knowledge of science to introduce modern technology to Arthurian England. Twain inventions included a bed clamp for infants, a new type of steam engine, and the kaolatype (or collotype, a machine designed to engrave printing plates). The Paige typesetting machine was a beautifully engineered mechanical marvel that amazed viewers when it worked, but was prone to breakdowns; before it could be commercially perfected it was made obsolete by the Linotype. He patented an improvement in adjustable and detachable straps for garments.


Twain also lost money through his publishing house, which enjoyed initial success selling the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant but went bust soon after, losing money on an ill-advised idea that the general public would be interested in a Life of the Pope.

Twain's writings and lectures combined with the help of a new friend enabled him to recover financially.[30] In 1893, he began a 15-year-long friendship with financier Henry Huttleston Rogers, a principal of Standard Oil. Rogers first made Twain file for bankruptcy. Then Rogers had Twain transfer the copyrights on his written works to his wife, Olivia, to prevent creditors from gaining possession of them. Finally Rogers took absolute charge of Twain's money until all the creditors were paid. Twain then embarked on an around-the-world lecture tour to pay off his creditors in full, despite the fact that he was no longer under any legal obligation to do so.[31]


Friendship with Henry H. Rogers

While Twain credited Henry Rogers, a Standard Oil executive, with saving him from financial ruin, their close friendship in their later years was mutually beneficial. Clemens lost three of his four children and his beloved wife, and the Rogers family increasingly became a surrogate family for him. He became a frequent guest at their townhouse in New York City, their 48-room summer home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and aboard their steam yacht, the Kanawha.


A late life friendship for each, Mark Twain and Henry Huttleston Rogers in 1908.The two men introduced each other to their acquaintances. Twain was an admirer of the remarkable deafblind girl, Helen Keller. He first met her and Anne Sullivan at a party in the home of Laurence Hutton in New York City in the winter of 1894. Twain introduced them to Rogers, who, with his wife, paid for Keller's education at Radcliffe College. It was Twain who is credited with labeling Sullivan, Keller's governess and companion, a "miracle worker." His choice of words later became inspiration for the title of William Gibson's play and film adaptation, The Miracle Worker. Twain also introduced Rogers to journalist Ida M. Tarbell, who interviewed the robber baron for a muckraking expose that led indirectly to the break-up of the Standard Oil Trust. On cruises aboard the Kanawha, Twain and Rogers were joined at frequent intervals by Booker T. Washington, the famed former slave who had become a leading educator.

While the two famous old men were widely regarded as drinking and poker buddies, they also exchanged letters when apart, and this was often since each traveled a great deal. Unlike Rogers' personal files, which have never become public, these insightful letters were published[32]. The written exchanges between the two men demonstrate Twain's well-known sense of humor and, more surprisingly, Rogers's sense of fun, providing a rare insight into the private side of the robber baron.

In April 1907, Twain and Rogers cruised to the opening of the Jamestown Exposition in Virginia. Twain's public popularity was such that many fans took boats out to the Kanawha at anchor in hopes of getting a glimpse of him. As the gathering of boats around the yacht became a safety hazard, he finally obliged by coming on deck and waving to the crowds.

Because of poor weather conditions, the steam yacht was delayed for several days from venturing into the Atlantic Ocean. Rogers and some of the others in his party returned to New York by rail; Twain disliked train travel and so elected to wait and return on the Kanawha. However, reporters lost track of his whereabouts; when he failed to return to New York City as scheduled, the New York Times speculated that he might have been "lost at sea." Upon arriving safely in New York and learning of this, the humorist wrote a satirical article about the episode, offering to "...make an exhaustive investigation of this report that I have been lost at sea. If there is any foundation for the report, I will at once apprise the anxious public."[33] This bore similarities to an earlier event in 1897 when he made his famous remark "The report of my death is an exaggeration", after a reporter was sent to investigate whether he had died. (In fact it was his cousin who was seriously ill.) See List of premature obituaries.

Later that year, Twain and Rogers's son, Henry Jr. returned to the Jamestown Exposition aboard the Kanawha. The humorist helped host Robert Fulton Day on September 23, 1907, celebrating the centennial of Fulton's invention of the steamboat. Twain, filling in for ailing former U.S. President Grover Cleveland, introduced Rear Admiral Purnell Harrington. Twain was met with a five-minute standing ovation; members of the audience cheered and waved their hats and umbrellas. Deeply touched, Twain said, "When you appeal to my head, I don't feel it; but when you appeal to my heart, I do feel it"[34].

In April 1909 the two old friends returned to Norfolk, Virginia for the banquet in honor of Rogers and his newly completed Virginian Railway. Twain was the keynote speaker in one of his last public appearances, and was widely quoted in newspapers across the country. [35]

A month later, Twain was en route from Connecticut to visit his friend in New York City when Rogers died suddenly on May 20, 1909. Twain arrived at Grand Central Station to be met by his daughter with the news. Stricken with grief, he uncustomarily avoided news reporters who had gathered, saying only "This is terrible...I cannot talk about it." Two days later, he served as an honorary pallbearer at the funeral in New York City. However, he declined to join the funeral party on the train ride for the interment at Fairhaven. He said "I cannot bear to travel with my friend and not converse."


Political and religious views

While his reputation as a popular author overshadows his contributions as a social critic, Twain held strong views on the political topics of his day; his friend Helen Keller had her radicalism similarly neutralised by history. Through his wife's family, Twain had contact with many well-placed progressives. He spent the last 20 years of his life as an "outspoken anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist"[36].


Changing his views

Although Twain remained neutral during the Civil War, his views became more radical as he grew older. He acknowledged that his views changed and developed over his life, referring to one of his favorite works:

When I finished Carlyle's French Revolution in 1871, I was a Girondin; every time I have read it since, I have read it differently - being influenced and changed, little by little, by life and environment ... and now I lay the book down once more, and recognize that I am a Sansculotte! - And not a pale, characterless Sansculotte, but a Marat.[37]

He describes his transformation and political awakening, in the context of the Philippine-American War, from being "a red-hot imperialist":

I wanted the American eagle to go screaming into the Pacific ...Why not spread its wings over the Philippines, I asked myself? ... I said to myself, Here are a people who have suffered for three centuries. We can make them as free as ourselves, give them a government and country of their own, put a miniature of the American Constitution afloat in the Pacific, start a brand new republic to take its place among the free nations of the world. It seemed to me a great task to which we had addressed ourselves. But I have thought some more, since then, and I have read carefully the treaty of Paris [which ended the Spanish-American War], and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.[38]


Anti-imperialism

From 1901, soon after his return from Europe, until his death in 1910, Twain was vice-president of the American Anti-Imperialist League[39], which opposed the annexation of the Philippines by the United States and had "tens of thousands of members"[40]. He wrote many political pamphlets for the organization. The Incident in the Philippines, posthumously published in 1924, was in response to the Moro Crater Massacre, in which six hundred Moros were killed. Many of his neglected and previously uncollected writings on anti-imperialism appeared for the first time in book form only in 1992.[citation needed]

Twain was also critical of imperialism in other countries too. In Following the Equator, Twain expresses "hatred and condemnation of imperialism of all stripes"[41]. He was highly critical of European imperialism, notably of Cecil Rhodes, who greatly expanded the British Empire, and of Leopold II, King of the Belgians[42]. King Leopold's Soliloquy is a stinging political satire about his private colony, the Congo Free State. Reports of outrageous exploitation and grotesque abuses led to widespread international protest in the early 1900s, arguably the first large-scale human rights movement. In the soliloquy, the King supposedly argues that bringing Christianity to the country outweighs a little starvation. Leopold's rubber gatherers were tortured, maimed and slaughtered until the turn of the century, when the conscience of the Western world forced Brussels to call a halt.


Pacifist or revolutionary?

I am said to be a revolutionist in my sympathies, by birth, by breeding and by principle. I am always on the side of the revolutionists, because there never was a revolution unless there were some oppressive and intolerable conditions against which to revolt. [43]

During the Philippine-American War, Twain wrote a pacifist story entitled The War Prayer. Through this internal struggle, Twain expresses his opinions of the absurdity of slavery and the importance of following one's personal conscience before the laws of society. It was submitted to Harper's Bazaar for publication, but on March 22, 1905, the magazine rejected the story as "not quite suited to a woman's magazine." Eight days later, Twain wrote to his friend Daniel Carter Beard, to whom he had read the story, "I don't think the prayer will be published in my time. None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth." Because he had an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, Mark Twain could not publish The War Prayer elsewhere; it remained unpublished until 1923. It was republished as campaigning material by Vietnam War protestors[44].

Twain supported the revolutionaries in Russia against the reformists, arguing that the Czar must be got rid of, by violent means, because peaceful ones would not work[45].


Abolition, emancipation, and anti-racism

Twain was an adamant supporter of abolition and emancipation, even going so far to say "Lincoln's Proclamation ... not only set the black slaves free, but set the white man free also,"[46]. He argued that non-whites did not receive justice in the United States, once saying "I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible to the invention of a degraded nature....but I never saw a Chinaman righted in a court of justice for wrongs thus done to him." [47]


Labor unions

He wrote glowingly about unions in the riverboating industry in Life on the Mississippi, which was read in union halls decades later [48]. He supported labor movement in general, especially one of the most important unions, the Knights of Labor[49]. In a speech to them, he said:

Who are the oppressors? The few: the King, the capitalist, and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat.[50]


Vivisection and vegetarianism

Twain was opposed to vivisection of any kind, not on a scientific basis but rather an ethical one. He was a vegetarian, and stated that no sentient being should be made to suffer for another without consent.[51]

I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't. ... The pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.


Religion

After his death, Twain's family suppressed some of his work which was especially irreverent toward conventional religion, notably Letters from the Earth, which was not published until 1962. The anti-religious The Mysterious Stranger was published in 1916, although there is some scholarly debate as to whether Twain actually wrote the most familiar version of this story. Twain was critical of organized religion and certain elements of Christianity through most of his later life.


Legacy
Further information: Mark Twain in popular culture

Twain's legacy lives on today as his namesakes continue to multiply. Several schools are named after him, including Twain Elementary School in Houston, Texas, which has a statue of Twain sitting on a bench, and Mark Twain Intermediate School. There are also other structures, such as the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge.

Awards in his name proliferate. In 1998, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts created the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, awarded annually. The Mark Twain Award is an award given annually to a book for children in grades four through eight by the Missouri Association of School Librarians. Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, sponsors the Mark Twain Young Authors' Workshop each summer in collaboration with the Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal. The program is open to young authors in grades five through eight.[52] The museum sponsors the Mark Twain Creative Teaching Award.[53]

Buildings associated with Twain, including some of his many homes, have been preserved as museums. His birthplace is preserved in Florida, Missouri. The Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, Missouri preserves the setting for some of the author's best-known work. The home of childhood friend Laura Hawkins, said to be the inspiration for his fictional character Becky Thatcher, is preserved as the "Thatcher House." In May 2007, a painstaking reconstruction of the home of Tom Blankenship, the inspiration for Huckleberry Finn, was opened to the public. The family home he had built a family home in Hartford, Connecticut, where he and his wife raised their three daughters, is preserved and open to visitors as the Mark Twain House.

Actor Hal Holbrook created a one man show called "Mark Twain Tonight", which he has performed regularly for 50 years. The broadcast by CBS in 1967 won him an Emmy Award. Of the three runs on Broadway (1966, 1977, and 2005), the first won him a Tony Award.

Additionally, like countless influential individuals, Mark Twain was honored by having an asteroid, 2362 Mark Twain, named after him.


Pen names

Twain used different pen names (pseudonyms or "noms de plume") before deciding on "Mark Twain". He signed humorous and imaginative sketches "Josh" until 1863. Additionally, he used the pen name "Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass" for a series of humorous letters.[54]

He maintained that his primary pen name came from his years working on Mississippi riverboats, where two fathoms, a depth indicating "safe water" for the boat to float over, was measured on the sounding line. A fathom is a maritime unit of depth, equivalent to two yards (six feet, approximately 1.8 metres); "twain" is an archaic term for "two". The riverboatman's cry was "mark twain" or, more fully, "by the mark twain", meaning "according to the mark [on the line], [the depth is] two [fathoms]", that is, "there are 12 feet of water under the boat and it is safe to pass".

Twain claimed that his famous pen name was not entirely his invention. In Life on the Mississippi, he wrote:[55]

Captain Isaiah Sellers was not of literary turn or capacity, but he used to jot down brief paragraphs of plain practical information about the river, and sign them "MARK TWAIN," and give them to the New Orleans Picayune. They related to the stage and condition of the river, and were accurate and valuable; ... At the time that the telegraph brought the news of his death, I was on the Pacific coast. I was a fresh new journalist, and needed a nom de guerre; so I confiscated the ancient mariner's discarded one, and have done my best to make it remain what it was in his hands?-a sign and symbol and warrant that whatever is found in its company may be gambled on as being the petrified truth; how I have succeeded, it would not be modest in me to say.

Twain's version of the story regarding his nom de plume is not without detractors and has been called into question by biographer George Williams III[56], the Territorial Enterprise newspaper[57] and Purdue University's Paul Fatout[58]. These sources claim that "mark twain" refers to a running bar tab that Clemens would regularly incur while drinking at John Piper's saloon in Virginia City, Nevada.

Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (born November 30, 1918 in New York, New York) is an American actor best known for his roles in the television series 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I. and for several appearances as "Dandy Jim Buckley" on TV's Maverick.

Zimbalist is the son of violinist Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. (1889-1985) and operatic soprano Alma Gluck (1884-1938). Like his father before him he is also an accomplished violinist and a composer.

A 1940 graduate of Yale University, Zimbalist had a stage career as both actor and producer. He also appeared in leading and supporting roles in several feature films, including Harlow, Wait Until Dark, and Airport 1975.

Born Jewish, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. has had a close association with evangelical Christianity, having appeared on some Christian radio and television shows including "The 700 Club", Pat Boone's radio show[citation needed] and TBN. Zimbalist was an early practitioner and proponent of Transcendental Meditation, as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, prior to his conversion to Christianity.

His wife was Stephanie Spaulding Zimbalist, who died of lung cancer on February 4, 2007. She was 73 years old. [1]

Zimbalist is the father of actress Stephanie Zimbalist and of Efrem Zimbalist III. He had a recurring role on his daughter's 1980s mystery series, Remington Steele. In 1989, Zimbalist played the father of Zorro in the (then Christian Broadcasting Network's- aka CBN) Family Channel's remake "The New Zorro". Zimbalist relinquished the role after the program's first season, due to time being spent on location. Zimbalist had a small recurring role in the 1990s science fiction TV series Babylon 5 as William Edgars.

Zimbalist also provided the voice of the German-accented Dr. Octopus on the 1990s Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: The Animated Series. He has appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.[2]

Zimbalist has written an autobiography My Dinner of Herbs, published by Limelight Editions, New York.

Virginia Mayo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Virginia Clara Jones
Born November 30, 1920(1920-11-30)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died January 17, 2005 (aged 84)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active 1939 - 1997
Spouse(s) Michael O'Shea (1947-1973)

Virginia Mayo (November 30, 1920 - January 17, 2005) was an American film actress.





Early life

Born Virginia Clara Jones in St. Louis, Missouri. Tutored by a series of dancing instructors engaged by her aunt, she appeared in the St. Louis Municipal Opera chorus and then appeared with six other girls at an act at the Jefferson Hotel. There she was recruited by vaudeville performer Andy Mayo to appear in his act (as ringmaster for two men in a horse suit), taking his surname as her stage name. She appeared in vaudeville for three years in the act, appearing with Eddie Cantor on Broadway in 1941's Banjo Eyes.


Hollywood

Mayo continued her career as a dancer, then signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn and appeared in several of Goldwyn's movies. With Danny Kaye she made comedies including Wonder Man (1945), The Kid from Brooklyn (1946) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).

In 1949's White Heat she took on the role of "Verna Jarrett," opposite James Cagney. Mayo later claimed in interviews that she was occasionally genuinely frightened by Cagney during the filming of the picture, because Cagney's acting was so realistic and natural.

She was cast against type in The Best Years of Our Lives, in which she gave a performance that garnered much acclaim.

Her film career continued through the 1950s and 1960s, frequently in B-movie westerns and adventure films. While she also appeared in musicals, Mayo's singing voice was always dubbed.

Mayo has a star on the Walk of Fame, for her work in television, at 1751 Vine Street.

In 1996 she received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.


Personal life

In 1947, she married actor Michael O'Shea, who died in 1973. They had one child, Mary Catherine O'Shea (born in 1953). The O'Shea family lived for several decades in Thousand Oaks, California.

In the 1990s, Mayo donated her extensive collection of Hollywood memorabilia to the Thousand Oaks Library. She died of natural causes in Los Angeles in 2005 at the age of 84.

Allan Sherman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born November 30, 1924(1924-11-30)
Chicago, Illinois
Died November 20, 1973 (aged 48)
Los Angeles, California


Allan Sherman (sometimes incorrectly Alan or Allen), November 30, 1924 - November 20, 1973, was an American musician, parodist, satirist, and television producer.





Early life

Sherman took his mother's maiden name after being abandoned in childhood by his father, Percy Copelon, a stock car racer, mechanic and inventor. Copelon would much later offer to pay for Sherman's education if he would re-take the family name, but when no support was forthcoming, the young man became Allan Sherman once again. His mother married four times, with numerous relationships in between. Sherman attended 21 schools. At Fairfax High School, Sherman wrote the senior musical, starring classmate Ricardo Montalban.[citation needed]

Early career: Classic Albums

Sherman was employed by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions as a producer. He was the creator and original producer of the popular I've Got a Secret (1952-1967). He also produced a short-lived 1954 game show What's Going On? Sherman was fired after a particularly unsuccessful episode of I've Got a Secret (featuring Tony Curtis) that aired June 11, 1958. Later, he found that the little song parodies he performed to amuse his friends and family were taking a life of their own. Sherman had the good fortune to live in Van Nuys next door to Harpo Marx, who invited Sherman to perform his song parodies at parties attended by Marx's show-biz friends. After one such party, George Burns phoned a record executive and persuaded him to sign Sherman to a contract. The result was an LP of these parodies, My Son, the Folk Singer, in 1962. The album was so successful that it was quickly followed by My Son, the Celebrity.

The first two LPs were mainly Jewish-folk-culture rewritings of old folk tunes (as suggested by the albums' titles), and his first minor hit was "Sarah Jackman", pronounced "Jockman", a takeoff of "Frère Jacques" in which he and a woman (Christine Nelson) exchange family gossip ("Sarah Jackman, Sarah Jackman, How's by you? How's by you? How's by you the family? How's your sister Emily?" etc.) By his peak with My Son, the Nut in 1963, Sherman had begun to appeal to a larger audience, and broadened both his subject matter and his choice of parody material.

Sherman's parody lyrics were written in collaboration with Lou Busch. A few of the Sherman/Busch songs are completely original creations, featuring original music as well as lyrics, rather than new lyrics applied to an existing melody. The Sherman/Busch originals ?- notably "Go to Sleep, Paul Revere," and "Peyton Place" ?- are delightful novelty songs, showing genuine melodic originality as well as deft lyrics.

In My Son, The Nut, his pointed parodies of classical and popular tunes savaged summer camp ("Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" to the tune of one segment of Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours"), encroaching automation in the workforce ("Automation" to the tune of "Fascination"), space travel ("Eight Foot Two, Solid Blue" to "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue"), the exodus to the suburbs, ("Here's to the Crabgrass" to the tune of "English Country Garden"), and his own bloated figure ("Hail to Thee, Fat Person", which perhaps only half-jokingly blames his obesity on the Marshall Plan).

Sherman's 1965 album My Name Is Allan (which bears a childhood photograph of Sherman on the jacket sleeve) is something of a theme album. (The cover was a sly dig at Barbra Streisand, whose contemporary album My Name is Barbra also featured a cover photograph of the singer as a young girl.) Except for a couple of original novelty songs with music by Sherman and Busch, all the songs on this album are parodies of songs that had won the Academy Award for Best Song, including "That Old Black Magic", "Secret Love" and "The Continental".

During his brief heyday, Sherman's parodies were so popular that he had at least one contemporary imitator: My Son the Copycat was an album of song parodies performed by Stanley Ralph Ross, co-written by Ross and Bob Arbogast titled My Son, the Copycat. Lest there be any doubt of whom Ross is copying, his album's cover bears a crossed-out photo of Allan Sherman. One of the songs on this album is a fat man's lament, "I'm Called Little Butterball", parodying "I'm Called Little Buttercup" from HMS Pinafore. Sherman would later parody this same song ?- with the same title and subject matter ?- on his album Allan in Wonderland. The song may have had more poignancy for Sherman, as he (unlike Stanley Ross) was genuinely overweight. Sherman also parodied Gilbert and Sullivan's "Tit-Willow" from The Mikado (as "The Bronx Bird-Watcher") and several other G&S numbers.


Later work

At the height of his popularity in 1965, Sherman published an autobiography, A Gift of Laughter. For a short period, Sherman was culturally ubiquitous.

He sang on and guest-hosted The Tonight Show, appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and narrated his own version of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler (this concert was released as the album Peter and the Commissar). The concert also included "Variations on 'How Dry I Am'" (With Sherman as Conductor) and "The End of a Symphony." In "Variations," Fiedler was the guest soloist, providing solo hiccups.

A children's book version of "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" with illustrations by Syd Hoff was released. A pirate album, More Folk Songs by Allan Sherman and His Friends, was a compilation of material by various Borscht Belt comedians, which included two Sherman parodies of popular mid-1960s songs: "If I Were a Tishman" (parodying "If I Were a Rich Man" from the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof) and "Westchester Hadassah" (parodying the 1966 hit song "Winchester Cathedral").

Later albums grew more pointedly satirical and less light-hearted as the decade lost its innocence, and Sherman took up his pen to skewer protesting students ("The Rebel"), consumer debt ("A Waste of Money" to "A Taste of Honey"), and the generation gap ("Downtown", "Pop Hates the Beatles").

Sherman inspired a new generation of developing parodists such as "Weird Al" Yankovic, who pays homage to Sherman on the cover of his own first LP. Sherman was involved in the production of Bill Cosby's first three albums and was guest hosting when Cosby first appeared on The Tonight Show.

Like his contemporary Tom Lehrer, Sherman wrote satirical songs for the two-year-long "highbrow" satire program (the American version) That Was The Week That Was (1964-1965), including his "Dropout's March."

Unfortunately, his topics were often relevant only to his own time and place; unlike most of Lehrer's, Sherman's parodies generally did not date or travel very well. A typical example: the folk song "Where Have You Gone, Billy Boy?" was parodied by Sherman as "What Have You Done, Billy Sol?". This song is now incomprehensible to anyone who does not recall the brief 1962 scandal involving a fertilizer company owned by Billy Sol Estes.

"Hello Muddah" has been translated into other languages: Sweden, for example?-represented by Dutch-Swedish poet Cornelis Vreeswijk?-has translated and adopted the song as its own.


Decline

Sherman's creative career was rather short. After its peak in 1963, his popularity declined during 1964; some have attributed this decline in part to the Kennedy assassination, as the public felt less open to Sherman's type of comedy.[1] By 1965 he had released two albums that did not make the top 50. In 1966 Warner Brothers dropped him from the label.

Sherman wrote the script and lyrics (but not the music) for The Fig Leaves Are Falling, a flop Broadway musical that lasted only four performances in 1969.

Disillusioned but still creative, in 1973 Sherman published the controversial The Rape of the A*P*E*, which detailed his point of view on American Puritanism and the sexual revolution.

In 1971 he was the voice of the Cat in the Hat in Dr. Seuss' animated specials. His last film was Dr. Seuss on the Loose before his death.


Personal life and legacy

Sherman struggled with lung disease, and finally succumbed to emphysema ten days before his 49th birthday.

A biographical article[1] details his rise and fall, as well as the follow-up story of his son, Robert Sherman, who was the original "Boy from Camp Granada".

Allan Sherman is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

A "Best of" CD was released in 1990 and a musical revue of his songs entitled "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" opened off-Broadway in 1992 and had a run of almost a year, another production later toured in 2003. A box set of most of his songs was recently released under the title "My Son, The Box".

On 14 March, 2006, National Public Radio profiled Sherman on All Things Considered.[2]

Trivia


Allan Sherman is often confused with Tin Pan Alley songwriter, Al Sherman; however, the two men were not related. Furthermore, Allan's son, Robert was the inspiration and subject of Allan's signature song, "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" and Al Sherman also fathered a son named "Robert".
In his autobiography, A Gift of Laughter, Sherman explained, among other things, how to decode the classified ads in the Real Estate section of the newspaper. He said:
If an ad says "unusual," that means the house has a weird architectural design.
If it says "quaint," the house is extremely old.
If it says "charming," it's the size of a doll house.
And if it says "interesting," don't even bother!
Sherman's song "Rat Fink" was covered by punk rock band The Misfits as "Ratt Fink", on their 1979 single "Night of the Living Dead". Sherman wrote the song as a parody of "Rag Mop", originally performed by The Ames Brothers in 1950.
In an episode of The Simpsons, "Weird Al" Yankovic makes a guest appearance. When Homer asks Yankovic if he got the two songs he recorded and sent in, Yankovic replies that he did. When Homer asks which he liked better, Yankovic replies, "They were pretty much the same, Homer." Homer then mutters angrily, "Yeah, like you and Allan Sherman." Sherman also was shown in the episode "Marge Be Not Proud" when Bart hid a tape in a copy of his "Camp Granada" album, noting that "no one would EVER listen to it."

Richard Crenna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Richard Donald Crenna
Born November 30, 1926(1926-11-30)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died January 17, 2003 (aged 76) (aged 76)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active 1940s-2000s
Spouse(s) Penni Sweeney (m. 1959 until his death in 2003)

Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 - January 17, 2003) was an American actor. He had a long career in films, appearing in such movies as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, First Blood (and its following Rambo sequels), Hot Shots! Part Deux and The Flamingo Kid.





Biography

Early life

Crenna was born in Los Angeles, California to Italian immigrants from Tuscany, Italy.[1] His father was a pharmacist and his mother managed a hotel. He attended Belmont High School and the University of Southern California.[2]


Career

Crenna got his acting start on radio, appearing in My Favorite Husband, Boy Scout Jamboree, A Date With Judy, The Great Gildersleeve and Our Miss Brooks. He remained with the cast of the latter show when it transitioned to television. When Our Miss Brooks underwent a format change, writing out his character Walter Denton, he moved to another television program, The Real McCoys starring Walter Brennan. Crenna played the lead in a television series for one season in 1964's Slattery's People.

Crenna is also known as John Rambo's ex-Commanding Officer "Col. Trautman" in the Rambo trilogy.

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6714 Hollywood Blvd.


Personal life

Suffering from pancreatic cancer, Crenna died on January 17, 2003 of heart failure in Los Angeles, California at the age of 76. At the time of his death, he had a recurring role in the television series Judging Amy. On the show, his death was recognized by the death of the character he portrayed.

Crenna's son, Richard Anthony Crenna, is also an actor.

Mandy Patinkin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birth name Mandel Bruce Patinkin
Born November 30, 1952 (1952-11-30) (age 55)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
[show]Awards
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
1995 Chicago Hope
Tony Awards
Best Featured Actor in a Musical
1980 Evita

Mandy Patinkin (birth name: Mandel Bruce Patinkin; Yiddish-Hebrew name: Menachem Mendel [1], born November 30, 1952) is a Tony Award winning and Emmy Award winning American actor of stage and screen, as well as a renowned tenor.




Biography

Early life

Patinkin was born in Chicago, Illinois to Doris "Doralee" (Sinton) Patinkin, a homemaker, and her husband Lester Patinkin, who was the head of the People's Iron & Metal Company and the Scrap Corporation of America.[2][3] His mother wrote Grandma Doralee Patinkin's Jewish Family Cookbook.[3] Patinkin is a cousin of Mark Patinkin, author and nationally syndicated columnist for The Providence Journal, and Jason "Dink" Patinkin, President of Columbia University's EarthCo. One of his other cousins is Sheldon Patinkin of Columbia College's Chicago Theater Department.

Patinkin grew up in a middle class Jewish family[4] and attended South Shore High School, Kenwood Academy (1970 graduate), the University of Kansas, and Juilliard School of Drama. At Juilliard, he was a classmate of Kelsey Grammer. When the producers of Cheers were auditioning for the role of Dr. Frasier Crane, Patinkin was the one who put Grammer's name forward.


Career

Pantinkin's initial success came in musical theater, when he played the part of Che in Evita on Broadway in 1979. Patinkin went on to win a Tony Award for the role as Best Actor (Featured Role - Musical). He then moved to film, playing parts in movies such as Yentl and Ragtime. He returned to Broadway in 1984 to star in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Sunday in the Park with George, which saw him earn another Tony Award nomination for Best Actor (Musical).

Patinkin played Inigo Montoya in Rob Reiner's 1987 The Princess Bride (which Patinkin considers his favorite role), in which he delivers what is arguably the best-remembered line in the film: "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die". (In concert appearances, especially in college towns, Patinkin will assume a fencing stance and utter that line. Raucous applause follows). Over the next decade he continued to appear in various movies, such as Dick Tracy and Alien Nation.

On Broadway, over the next decade, he appeared in the Tony Award-winning musical The Secret Garden for 706 performances. He also released two solo albums, titled Mandy Patinkin and Dress Casual.

In 1994, he took the role of Dr. Jeffrey Geiger on CBS's Chicago Hope for which he won an Emmy Award. However, despite the award and the ratings success of the show, Patinkin left the show during the second season, as he was unhappy spending so much time away from his wife. He returned to the show in 1999 at the beginning of the sixth season, but it was later cancelled in 2000. Since Chicago Hope, Patinkin has appeared in a number of films. However, he has mostly performed as a singer, releasing three more albums.

In 1998, he debuted his most personal project, Mamaloshen, a collection of traditional, classic, and contemporary songs sung entirely in Yiddish ("Mamaloshen" is Yiddish for "mother tongue"). The stage production of Mamaloshen was performed on and off-Broadway, and has toured throughout the country. The recording of Mamaloshen won the Deutschen Schallplattenpreis (Germany's equivalent of the Grammy Award).

He returned to Broadway in 2000 in the New York Shakespeare Festival's The Wild Party, earning another Tony Award nomination for Best Actor (Musical). Recently, he has also been seen in the Showtime comedy-drama Dead Like Me as Rube Sofer. In 2004, he played a six-week engagement of his one-man concert at the Off-Broadway complex Dodger Stages.

In September 2005, he debuted in the role of Jason Gideon, an experienced profiler just coming back to work after a series of nervous breakdowns, the result of his partner's death, in the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds. The show aired in the slot immediately after the 2007 Super Bowl.

On Friday, July 13, 2007, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Patinkin was absent from a table read for Criminal Minds and may not return for a third season.[5] The departure from the show was not due to contractual or salary matters, but over creative differences.[6] Many weeks before his departure, in a videotaped interview carried in the online magazine Monaco Revue, Patinkin told journalists at the Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo that he loathed violence on television and was uncomfortable with certain scenes in Criminal Minds. He also spoke of having planned to tour the world with a musical and wanting to inject more comedy into the entertainment business.[7]


Personal life

Patinkin married actress and writer Kathryn Grody in 1980. They have two sons, Isaac and Gideon.

Patinkin suffered from keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease, in the mid-1990s. This led to two corneal transplants, his right cornea in 1997, and his left in 1998. He also was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in 2004. He celebrated his first year of recovery by doing a 280-mile charity bike ride with his son, Isaac ?- the Arava Institute Hazon Israel Ride: Cycling for Peace, Partnership & Environmental Protection. He subsequently joined the boards of both the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and Hazon.

Patinkin has been involved in a variety of Jewish causes and cultural activities. He sings in Yiddish, often in concert, and on his album Mamaloshen. He also wrote introductions for two books on Jewish culture, The Jewish American Family Album, by Dorothy Hoobler and Thomas Hoobler, and Grandma Doralee Patinkin's Holiday Cookbook: A Jewish Family's Celebrations, by his mother, Doralee Patinkin Rubin.

Patinkin contributed to the children's book, Dewey Doo-it Helps Owlie Fly Again: A Musical Storybook inspired by Christopher Reeve, prior to Christopher and Dana Reeve's deaths. The award winning book, published in 2005, benefits the Christopher Reeve Foundation and includes an audio CD with Mandy Patinkin singing and reading the story as well as Dana Reeve and Bernadette Peters singing.[8]

Billy Idol
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background information

Birth name William Michael Albert Broad
Born November 30, 1955 (1955-11-30) (age 52)
Origin Middlesex, England, UK
Genre(s) Hard rock, New Wave, Synthpop, Punk rock
Occupation(s) Musician, Actor
Instrument(s) Vocals
Guitar
Years active 1977 - present
Label(s) Chrysalis Records
Sanctuary Records
Associated
acts Generation X
Website BillyIdol.net

Billy Idol (born William Michael Albert Broad) is a British musician and singer.

With his spiked peroxide blonde hair, sneering visage and a voice capable of singing growling rock and roll and crooning ballads, Idol became a cultural icon during the 1980's. He first achieved fame as the lead singer of the first-wave UK punk band Generation X. When that band broke up, Idol moved to New York where he met guitarist Steve Stevens. The two of them set out to make punk music sexier, recording a series of hit singles. A series of stylish music videos made him one of the first stars of MTV. His success has waned since the 1990s, but Idol continues to make music.




Biography

Early life and career

William was the first child born to Bill and Joan Broad, shortly after the family moved to Long Island, New York. Two years later, Billy's sister Jane was born. The Broads returned to England after four years of living in the United States. They moved to Mickleham, Surrey before moving to Goring, Sussex.

The Broads were a religious family, and William joined the St. Mary's cub scouts, becoming a full scout. It has been said that William was kicked out of the scouts for making out with a young girl behind a hotdog stand.[citation needed]

Broad progressed well with his studies and his family moved to Bromley, Kent. His father was working as a salesman, and William worked for him as he was growing up.

In 1971, Broad transferred to Ravensbourne Grammar School. He failed to achieve the necessary requirements for a place at University. His parents were upset over his grades and eventually enrolled him in a school that was more relaxed. Broad was allowed to re-take his placement exams at the Orpington College of Further Education. He could grow his hair out, and wouldn't have to wear a school uniform. He soon secured himself a place at Sussex University and took classes in English and Philosophy in September 1975.

Punk rock erupted in England in the mid-1970s, and Broad immersed himself in the scene. He became part of a Sex Pistols fan club called the Bromley Contingent. The club had a lot of admiration for the shocking and boundary breaking band, and wherever the Pistols went, so too did the Contingents.

In 1975, Broad decided to start his own band called The Rockettes. He met another person that shared his musical dreams when he met Tony James. James was interested in starting a band too. Much to the dismay of his parents, Broad decided to drop out of school to focus on music.

In the summer of 1976, singer Gene October put an ad in the Melody Maker searching for "guys who liked the bands, Television and the Ramones." Broad joined Gene October, John Towe (drums) and Tony James (bass) forming the band Chelsea. Broad changed his name to "Billy Idol" and became the band's guitar player.

Broad chose the stage name "Billy Idol" after remembering a comment a teacher had written on a report card. The teacher wrote "William is idle."[1] It was a comment which would stay in Broad's mind for a long time. Broad decided to change the spelling to "Idol" due to the fame of actor and comedian Eric Idle of Monty Python. Broad admired performers like David Bowie (born David Robert Jones), Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg, Jr), Marc Bolan (born Mark Feld), Johnny Rotten (born John Lydon) and Sid Vicious (born John Simon Ritchie) and since his heroes had all changed their names, it seemed like the logical thing to do when he started playing music of his own.

In 1976, Idol and Tony James formed a band with John Towe and started playing shows. The band was named after the 1965 book Generation X, which contained a series of interviews with teens in the Mod subculture.[2][3]

Idol decided the band needed to find a guitarist so he could concentrate on being the group's lead singer. Idol spotted a young guitarist named Bob "Derwood" Andrews from Fulham at a local youth club one night and asked him to join the group. John Towe was eventually kicked out of the band and the group replaced him with Mark Laff, who was playing with minimalist group Subway Sect.

The band became a big deal throughout London and eventually record companies started showing up at shows. Generation X was an image-conscious band. They were more about the image than they were about the music. Tony James stated in an interview that he would never allow a fat person in the group.[4]

Generation X signed to Chrysalis Records in 1977, and were rising to success when they crashed under the weight of it all. Punk music no longer stood for the things it once had, and even though Generation X took a lot of punk elements and added them into their sound and image, they were often seen as being too "commercial." Generation X was the first punk band to appear on the BBC's "Top of the Pops" program. The band was on the rise, touring in countries like Japan.

The band was going through many changes in personnel, and Idol and James realized that their manager Stewart Joseph was mishandling their money. They tried to find new management and Bill Aucoin's name kept popping up.[citation needed] Aucoin was working out of New York, and was also managing the rock band Kiss at the time.

Idol, James and new member Terry Chimes decided to carry on as a trio even though they needed a guitar player. Keith Forsey was brought in to help record and produce their third and final album. Steve Jones of Sex Pistols fame was brought in to play guitar on a few tracks. John McGeoch, guitarist from Magazine and Siouxie & The Banshees was also brought in to help finish the album.

In 1981, the band shortened their name to simply "Gen X" and released the single "Dancing With Myself" in the UK. It failed to become the big hit the band was waiting for. The band found new guitarist Steve Andrews and asked him to join the band. The new album was called Kiss Me Deadly. In 1980, the band embarked on a short but successful tour.

At this time, Idol was dating a dancer by the name of "Perri Lister" who became a major influence on his music. Perri was one of the original, "Blitz Kids" along with Steve Strange. She had also been a dancer with "Hot Gossip" on the Kenny Everett television program during the late 1970s in England. She had starred in several music videos with Duran Duran and Def Leppard, and even started her own girl group, called "Boomerang." Even though Idol was never totally loyal to Perri[citation needed], she would remain his girlfriend for close to nine years.


New York

Generation X couldn't hold itself together and the members soon parted ways. Producer Keith Forsey and Bill Aucoin took hold of Billy Idol's career and quickly moved him to New York in hopes of capturing an American audience.

The punk era had come and gone, and "New Wave" was taking over. Radio stations wouldn't play a punk album, let alone an album with a guy with white spiked hair on the cover. Record companies found a way around this by re-marketing their artists. Most music, even older punk acts were now marketed as "New Wave" so they would receive fair radio play.

A few of Idol's songs could be heard playing in the New York dance clubs. "Dancing With Myself" had been remixed, and Idol heard the song being played at a club one night. The idea was to capitalize on the song's popularity by re-releasing it on his own.

Keith Forsey and Billy Idol produced the Don't Stop EP in 1980. The EP was re-released in 1983 containing an interview with MTV VJ Martha Quinn. Billy became quite popular in the New York area and was building a name for himself. Since radio wouldn't play a "punk" record, Idol's single "Mony Mony" was shipped to stations without his picture attached.

Idol was introduced to Steve Stevens by manager Bill Aucoin. Stevens was an up and coming guitarist who had been playing for a band called "The Fine Malibus" who were also being managed by Aucoin. Stevens had recorded an album with the band, and the album was due for release by Island Records, but the deal fell through and the album was shelved. Feeling that his career was going nowhere, Stevens told Aucoin that he was quitting the band. Aucoin talked Stevens into putting together a new band, and one name that kept popping up was "Billy Idol." Aucoin gave Stevens some of Idol's music and set up a meeting between the two. The pair hit it off, and started writing material for a full length album.

Idol's self titled LP was released in 1982. He was having a hard time getting played on the radio, and knew he needed another outlet. That outlet would be the recently created MTV network. Idol became a household name when his videos for "White Wedding" and "Dancing with Myself" made their debut.

"White Wedding" sparked a bit of controversy over the wedding ring Idol places on Perri Lister's finger. The ring was intended to look sharp and cut Perri's finger as Idol slid it on. MTV edited that portion of the video out.

In 1983, "Dancing With Myself" was released in the U.S. in an effort to introduce Idol to American audiences not yet as familiar with him. The music video was directed by Tobe Hooper, produced by Jeffrey Abelson, and conceptualized by Keith Williams. It was played in heavy rotation on MTV for six months. The "Dancing With Myself" video sparked a whole new era of feature film directors that would try their hand at directing music videos.

Billy was featured in several MTV commercials saying, "I Want My MTV" which was MTV's main slogan in the early eighties. Most cable stations didn't include MTV when the network first got its start. People in rural parts of America didn't have the network available to them. These people were told to call to their cable providers telling them, "I Want My MTV."
"White Wedding" was rumored to be a "nasty put down" by Idol and then-girlfriend Perri Lister, directed at Idol's sister for thinking that getting married was the answer to getting pregnant. In the 2001 recording of VH1 Storytellers Idol refutes that, saying his sister's wedding was simply inspiration for the song, which quickly took on its own form. Years after the video, Idol's sister is still married with three children.
"White Wedding" is also a nickname for cocaine.
The video for "Hot in the City" was banned by MTV for its use of imagery. The video featured Lister tied to a cross.
Idol appeared on MTV's New Years Eve special in 1983. He played "Dancing With Myself."
It was about this time that Idol got his famous "Octobarina" tattoo on his left arm. Octobriana is a Russian heroine, "The spirit of the October Revolution." Octobriana's mission was to fight for the Russian People, against the oppressive Soviet Government and all sorts of outlandish threats. The tattoo can be seen throughout the "Dancing With Myself" video.

Rebel Yell

Idol's second LP, Rebel Yell (1984) was a blockbuster success, and established his superstar status in the United States and in Canada with hits like "Eyes Without a Face", "Flesh For Fantasy", and the title cut; Idol also became very popular in Europe thanks to this album and its singles, particularly in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and later in his native UK.

Idol got the idea for "Rebel Yell" while he was at a party with the Rolling Stones. He saw one of the guys drinking some Kentucky straight burboun whisky called "Rebel Yell" and thought it would be a great title for an album.

The band recorded the album at the Record Plant in New York City. Idol, along with Stevens, bassist Steve Webster and producer Keith Forsey started laying down tracks but realized they needed to bring in a drummer. Thommy Price of the group "Scandal" was playing in an adjacent studio. Forsey had Price drum on the "Rebel Yell" album.

Perri Lister sings backup on "Eyes Without a Face."

Steve Stevens also credits himself for coming up with the title and lyrics to "Blue Highway."
Perri can be also be seen in the video for "Rebel Yell." The song "Rebel Yell" has been used in several movies and TV shows. The song appears in the first episode of Knight Rider called "Dead of Knight" (1984). The song was also used in Sixteen Candles, The Wraith (1986), and Big (1988).
It was also during this period that Idol met Robin David Ludwig (The Hammer), the designer and creator of the famous Billy Idol jewelery collection. Most of the crucifixes Idol wears were designed by "Robin the Hammer." The two of them are still close friends to this day.
Sesame Street parodied "Rebel Yell" with a punk Muppet singing "Rebel L."
David Lee Roth has a Billy Idol lookalike in his video for "Just a Gigolo." In the video Roth parodies the "Dancing With Myself" video and pushes Idol into the reactors.
Idol appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine issue number 440 in January 1985.

Whiplash Smile

Idol released Whiplash Smile in 1986, which put him back on the charts. The album included the hits "Don't Need A Gun" the country-flavored "Sweet Sixteen" and the William Bell and Booker T. Jones's Stax-era cover of "To Be a Lover."

A remix album was released in 1987 called Vital Idol. The album had already been available in the UK two years prior to the US release. The album featured a live cover of Tommy James' "Mony Mony". The single did well topping the US charts in 1987.

Idol has said in many interviews that "Mony Mony" was the song he lost his virginity to. During Idol's live shows the crowd will usually chant "Hey mother ******, get laid get fucked" between each verse. Idol can be seen mouthing these words in the live video for "Mony Mony".

Steve Stevens parted ways with Idol after Whiplash Smile. He claims that Idol's music was getting too synthesized and sequenced.[citation needed] Stevens also thought that Idol was getting tense about all of the attention he was getting as a guitar player. Stevens was offered a record deal through Warner Brothers that he couldn't refuse, so he decided it was time to split up with Idol.

Idol ran into trouble when he was busted by undercover police in New York City for carrying crack cocaine. A model by the name of Grace Hattersley had been with him, and this created a bit of turmoil in Idol's life. Hattersley held a press conference saying that she was involved with Billy Idol. Lister took the news quite badly, and decided to hold a press conference of her own, telling the world that she was, and had always been Idol's girlfriend.

Lister and Idol wanted to get "clean" and start a new life. Idol had been addicted to heroin and cocaine, and the two decided it would be best to move from New York to LA. Idol got involved in the Hollywood nightlife, and Lister realized that Idol would never remain loyal.

Idol was involved in a relationship with Linda Mathis (born and raised in Pasadena, CA). Though there was a thirteen-year age difference, and they began seeing each other regularly. At the age of 19, Mathis became pregnant and chose to move in with her mother to have her child. It was a girl named Bonnie Blue Broad, born August 21 1989.

Weird Al Yankovic parodies "Mony Mony" with his song "Alimony," which appears on his album from 1988, Even Worse.

Charmed Life

When Idol and Lister moved to LA to start life over, Lister gave birth to their son, "Willem Wolfe Broad." Idol was still seeing other women, and even obtained a second house for his affairs. Lister eventually left Idol in favor of a normal life.

In 1989, following his breakup with Lister, Idol found his way to Thailand. Idol claimed that he could get any drug he wanted over there, and had many women at his disposal. Newspapers said that Idol left his suites at three deluxe hotels in Thailand in shambles during his visit, with damage estimated at more than $20,000. Idol first checked in at the Oriental Hotel in central Bangkok, where carpets and a television set were among the ruined items. He paid $3,200 in damages before moving on to another hotel. Idol was eventually ejected from Bangkok with the help of the army after refusing to vacate a hotel penthouse where a three-week drug-and-sex spree had racked up a bill of about $250,000. It was reported that an important dignitary wanted the room and Idol refused to give it up.

Idol had been working on a new album for close to two years. In February of 1990, Idol was driving back to the studio to hear the final album, and was involved is a serious motorcycle accident. He had run a stop sign and collided with an oncoming vehicle. The accident almost cost Idol his leg. The doctor that first saw Idol was upset that someone had brought him down to look at a "bum". It was explained to the doctor that the patient was Billy Idol. Idol's leg was cracked in three places and he was suffering from a few broken ribs. His doctors managed to pull him through and save his leg through a lengthy operation and skin grafting.

The new album, Charmed Life was due for release and a video for the single "Cradle of Love" had to be shot. The song had been featured in the Andrew Dice Clay film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane and, "Cradle of Love" was set to be the title song for the movie.

Since Billy was unable to walk, director David Fincher decided to film Idol from the waist up. The video would feature footage of Idol singing in large frames throughout an apartment while the very young and beautiful model Betsy Lynn George was trying to seduce a modest and mild mannered businessman. The video was a huge hit and was placed in heavy rotation on MTV. Idol and George recreated the opening of the video for the 1991 American Music Awards.

Idol had always been a huge Doors fan, and he was asked to take part in the new movie, The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone. Idol was barely able to walk, therefore his part in the movie was trimmed down to a mere cameo, playing the role of "Cat", a friend of Jim Morrison's.

Against his doctors' orders, Idol decided to tour behind the Charmed Life album. Billy could be seen walking with a cane onstage. He got his personal jewellery maker, "Robin the Hammer" to customize a silver gauntlet for him. The gauntlet has "La Vie Enchantee" etched in the wrist. Robin also designed a large cross/knife necklace that can be seen in the "Cradle of Love" video.

Idol's stage show was quite elaborate, there was a new band featuring, Mark Younger-Smith as the new guitarist. A massive fist was designed to hang over the crowd. The words "Rude Dude" were written across the fingers. During the show the fist would rotate and flip off the audience. The hand can be seen in the video for "Prodigal Blues."

Idol's concert at Wembley stadium in December of 1990 was professionally filmed, but remains unreleased. Several bootleg copies exist from Japanese sources.
In 1991 Idol protested against motorcycle helmet laws in L.A.
Idol was charged with assault after allegedly punching a woman in the face. In 1992, he pleaded guilty and paid a fine.
Former Police frontman Sting parodied Billy during a skit on Saturday Night Live which aired in January of 1991. The skit featured Sting playing "Billy Idol" in the "Sinatra Group." Phil Hartman was playing Sinatra.

Cyberpunk

In 1993, Idol released Cyberpunk, which fell on deaf ears. Music had changed in 1993, and a lot of the bands that were popular in the eighties were now being pushed to the wayside in favor of the new "Seattle" movement. Cyberpunk is considered to be ahead of its time by many people, and very experimental for that period. The album reportedly took 10 months to record.

Idol claims that punk rock journalists Legs McNeil interviewed him while he was in the hospital being treated for his leg. He called Idol a "Cyberpunk" because of the muscle stimulator on his leg. He said it looked like man merging with machine. The critics slammed the album for many reasons, one being the over-commercialization of the word "Cyberpunk."

The album was recorded in a home studio using a Macintosh computer, which was a fairly new concept for the time. Idol recorded the album with Mark Younger-Smith and producer Robin Hancock. Special editions of the album were issued with a floppy disc, which contained a screen saver.

Idol shot a concept video for "Shock to the System." The video would feature Idol being attacked by several police for trying to videotape them beating up someone on the street. The idea of this goes back to the LA riots. Idol would then turn into a cyborg that scared away the police. A video EP was released to retail stores.

Idol had a lot of grand ideas for Cyberpunk and the short tour that followed. He changed his look during this period, growing a set of dreadlocks, and had a lot of ideas about using "Blendo" video footage during his show. Colorful footage and images would be edited live on a computer to fit the music.

In 1994 Idol collapsed outside an LA nightclub due to an overdose on a drug called GHB. GHB happened to be a legal drug at the time which was mainly used by weight-lifters. The drug would slow your system down, putting your body into a relaxed comatose like state. Drugs like this are often used to alter the effects of other drugs such as cocaine which speed the system up. Idol admitted to being hooked on a lot of heavier drugs at that time.

After the incident, Idol realized that his children would never forgive him for dying of a drug overdose, and he began to focus more on fatherhood. Idol has never admitted that he is totally off drugs, just that he has his habit under control. He claims to have first smoked marijuana at the age of 12, and also says he took acid at the age of thirteen.

The album pays tribute to Lou Reed with Idol's cover of "Heroin."
The Tour was called "The No Religion Tour."

The Late 90's/Early 2000's

Idol didn't want to release an album during this period because he was having a lot of problems with his record label. It was decided that he would wind up owing the record company money if he produced anything. EMI hired producer, Glenn Ballard to work with him on a new project, but Idol battled the label over creative differences and the album was put on hold.

In 1994 Idol and Steve Stevens contributed a song called "Speed" to the soundtrack of the hit movie Speed starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Even though Idol and Stevens worked together on this track, a reunion was not in the works.

In 1996 Idol appeared in a live version of the Who's Quadrophenia, playing the part of "The Ace Face/Cousin Kevin." Idol also started getting involved in cross country motorcycle rides, some of which involved riding for charity.

Idol returned to the popular eye in 1998, when he played himself in The Wedding Singer, an Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore 80s romantic comedy, where "White Wedding" was used as the title track.

In 2001 Idol reunited with guitarist Steve Stevens to write and record a new album. Idol and Stevens started touring, which generated a lot of attention. It wasn't long until VH1 got involved.

Another Greatest Hits CD was issued in 2001. Keith Forsey's "Don't You (Forget About Me)" appears on the compilation. Although Forsey originally wrote it with Idol in mind, Idol turned it down and eventually the song was given to Simple Minds who would go on to make it a worldwide hit in 1985.

The Greatest Hits album also includes a live acoustic version of "Rebel Yell" which is taken from a performance at L.A. station KROQ's 1993 Acoustic Christmas concert. EMI expected the Greatest Hits album to sell around 100,000 copies, but it has sold more than 940,000 so far, according to SoundScan.[citation needed]

Vh1 aired Billy Idol - Behind the Music on April 15th, 2001. The Behind the Music series was very popular at the time, and each band or artist that was featured on that program usually gained a resurgence of interest after the show had aired. Billy Idol and Steve Stevens were no exception.

On April 19th, 2001, Idol and Stevens took part in a VH1 Storytellers show. The reunited duo set out to play a series of acoustic/storytellers shows prior to recording the Vh1 special. The acoustic tour was a big success, and Idol eventually started adding new material into the show. The TV show was broadcast sometime later. A DVD and CD were issued.


"The Great Gonzo" of the Muppets sang "Dancing With Myself" in the third season (1997-1998) of the short lived Muppets Tonight TV show that aired on the Disney Channel. Dennis Quaid was hosting.
Fans noticed that the character "Spike (Buffyverse)" on the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" television series played by actor "James Marsters resembles Billy Idol. In the television show, Spike is referred to as "William the Bloody." The show makes reference to the comparisons claiming that Idol stole his look from Spike.
In 2000, Idol was invited to be one of the guest vocalists on Tony Iommi's album. He contributed vocals on the song "Into The Night", which he also co-wrote.
Idol lent his voice to the mysterious alien character "Odin" in the animated fantasy film Heavy Metal 2000.
On August 1st, 2001 Idol and Stevens were asked to take part in MTV's twentieth birthday bash. They played "Rebel Yell."
Idol starred in an IKEA commercial rapping to a song called "Start it Up." IKEA's sales pitch during the commercial was "Try Something Different."
Idol played the 2002 National Rugby League Grand final, when a power problem resulted in no one being able to hear him singing.
"White Wedding" appeared on popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on fictional Classic Rock radio station, K-DST.
Girl group The Donnas covered "Dancing With Myself" for the Mean Girls soundtrack (2004).
Todd McFarlane had a Billy Idol action figure listed on his website for release, but the figure never materialized. Todd is famous for creating the comic book character "Spawn." He also has a successful toy company.

The Devil's Playground

Devil's Playground, was released on 22 March 2005. It was Idol's first new album in nearly twelve years. It was after a concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom that Sanctuary Records approached Idol about making new music in his older style. Idol claims that seeing people like Slash making hit records again gave him hope that there was life after death.

The album was recorded with the entire band playing in one room, rather that each person recording their part separately. Idol's drummer, Brian Tichy, collaborated with Idol and Stevens and co-wrote some of the tracks on the album. The first single and video to be released was "Scream."

Idol had been playing a batch of new songs in concert that never made the final release of the album. These songs include "Monster", "Stranger in My Skin", "Walk the Line", "In the Killbox", "Beautiful Life" and "Big World" (written for his daughter).
Idol appeared on an episode of Viva La Bam, Bam Margera's MTV show. In the episode, Bam's mom is taken to Atlantic City to see Idol perform. Idol and Bam are seen riding around in Bam's Lamborghini. On a stop, Margera asks Billy Idol to convert his Lamborghini to a targa using an angle grinder, which Idol consequently does. Bam Margera appears in the video for "Plastic Jesus."
Idol played a handful of dates on the 2005 Vans Warped Tour and also made an appearance the UK's Download Festival at Donington Park. He headlined the Sunday night of GuilFest in 2006. This was his only UK date.
After Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans a television special was aired to raise money for the vicitms. Randy Newman had written a song called "Louisiana." Idol covered the song sometime later during a show in Baltimore, Maryland. The song was released as a free download on his website.
On August 8, 2005 Idol played "White Wedding" with Lisa Marie Presley at the 2005 Fashion Rocks show. CBS aired the special on Friday, September 9th 2005, but critics slammed Presley's performance, saying she couldn't sing. Presley wore a white wedding dress, Idol was in a silver suit.
In 2006, Idol was asked to sing on Derek Sherinian's solo album Blood of the Snake, covering the 1970 Mungo Jerry hit "In the Summertime". Sherinian is Idol's current keyboard player. Guitarist Slash also plays on the track. A video was created for the song, and features Idol, Slash and Sherinian.
Idol was recorded by a fan singing the Gnarls Barkley song "Crazy" acapella in concert. Idol added the song as a free download on his official website, and later added it to his official MySpace page.
In November 2006, Idol released a Christmas album called Billy Idol: Happy Holidays. The album was intended to be sold through Idol's website, but a distribution deal was set up through Best Buy. A limited number of albums were autographed and sold through Billy's website.
On July 28th, 2006 Idol and Stevens played Chicago planning to record and release a live concert DVD. The show was shot in HD and was shown on the HD network. The DVD was scheduled to be released, but to this day remains shelved.