WA2K Radio is now on the air

Wishing



to all.

Merry Christmas to Miss Letty and company.

And Merry Christmas to you and that Raggedy gal, Miss Glass.

Hoke never did show to drive Miss Letty to de sto, soooo she'll have to drive herself, but before going here's a song from Tony Martin.



Artist: Tony Martin
Song: Here


(Recitation)

If some of ya'll never been down South too much...
I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this, so that you'll understand
What I'm talking about
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the
woods and the fields,
looks somethin' like a turnip green.
Everybody calls it Polk salad. Polk salad.
Used to know a girl that lived down there and
she'd go out in the evenings and pick a mess of it...
Carry it home and cook it for supper, 'cause that's about all they had to eat,
But they did all right.

Down in Louisiana Where the alligators grow so mean
There lived a girl that I swear to the world Made the alligators look tame

Polk salad Annie polk salad Annie
Everybody said it was a shame
Cause her mama was working on the chain-gang
(a mean, vicious woman)

Everyday 'fore supper time She'd go down by the truck patch
And pick her a mess o' Polk salad And carry it home in a tote sack

Polk salad Annie 'Gators got you granny
Everybody said it was a shame
'Cause her mama was aworkin' on the chain-gang
(a wretched, spiteful, straight-razor totin' woman,
Lord have mercy. Pick a mess of it)

Her daddy was lazy and no count
Claimed he had a bad back
All her brothers were fit for was stealin' watermelons out of my truck patch
Polk salad Annie, the gators got your granny
Everybody said it was a shame
Cause her mama was a working' on the chain gang
(Sock a little polk salad to me, you know I need a mess of it)

That sure doesn't sound like the man from the Casbah, right?

Merry Christmas, Letty, from Vivienne and myself to you and all your listeners!

Reyn, our audience thanks you and Vivienne, and I thank you and Vivienne.

From Joey Ramone and Louis Armstrong.


I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I say to myself
What wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
Bright sunny days, dark sacred nights
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow are so pretty in the skies
Are also on the faces of people walking by
I see friends shaking hands saying
How do you do?
They're really saying
I love you

I see babies cry, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world

And I say to myself
What a wonderful world.

Well, folks, it's a wonderful world today at least. <smile>

hope you are all having a nice christmas !
i've asked uncle louis to play for you :

I am certain that everyone is having a nice Christmas, hbg. Thanks for the sachmo song.

And I have invited Bizet to play.

The flower that you threw to me

Remained with me while I was in prison.

Withered and dried, the flower

Always maintained its sweet scent.

And for hours,

My eyes, with eyelids closed,

I became intoxicated by this smell

And in the night I saw you!

I began to curse you,

I detested you, to saying to myself:

Why is it necessary for fate

To put herself there in my path?

Then I accused myself of blasphemy

And I felt only within myself

I felt but one desire

A single desire, a single hope

To see you again, oh Carmen,

To see you again!

For you had only to appear

Only to throw your glance at me

In order to take a hold of all my being

Oh my Carmen!

And I was owned by you.

Carmen, I love you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBBn3krFIHU

This is a lovely way to spend an evening. can't think of anything I'd rather do
This is a lovely way to spend an evening, can't think of anyone as lovely as you

A casual stroll through a garden. a kiss by a lazy lagoon
Catching a breath of moonlight, humming our favorite tune

This is a lovely way to spend an evening
I want to save all my nights and spend them with you
Catching a breath of moonlight, humming our favorite tune
This is a lovely way to spend an evening
I want to save all my nights and spend them with you

Goodnight, my friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_N7rXDQLSU&feature=related

From Letty with love

Sending Ms Letty the warmest Christmas greetings! (even though I loathe Christmas! :wink:)

Good morning, WA2K radio audience.

Wow! It's great to see msolga in our wee cyber studio. Hey Aussie, I understand how you feel about Christmas. There's too much frantic stuff that goes on, but thank you so much for that greeting, gal.

You probably don't know The Four Tops of Motown, but I used to love to dance to this one, all. and since today is Abdul Fakir's birthday, why not?

Sugarpie honeybunch
You know that I love you
I can't help myself
I love you and nobody else
In and out my life
You come and you go
Leaving just your picture behind
And I kissed it a thousand times

When you snap your fingers
Or wink your eye
I come a running to you
I'm tied to you, baby
And there's nothing I can do
Ooh, sugar

Sugarpie honeybunch
I'm weaker than a man should be
I can't help myself
I'm a fool in love you see
Wanna tell you I don't love you
Tell you that we're through
And I've tried
But everytime I see your face
I get up all choked up inside

When I call your name, girl
It starts the flame burning in my heart
Tearin' it all apart
No matter how I try
My love I cannot hide

Sugarpie honeybunch
You now that I'm weak for you
I can't help myself
I love you and nobody else

Sugarpie honeybunch
I'll do anything you ask me to
I can't help myself
I want you and nobody else

Sugarpie honeybunch
You know that I love you
I can't help myself

Richard Widmark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born December 26, 1914 (1914-12-26) (age 93)
Sunrise Township, Minnesota
Years active 1947-1992
Spouse(s) Jean Hazlewood (1942-1997)
Susan Blanchard (1999-)
[show]Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Most Promising Newcomer - Male
1948 Kiss of Death

Richard Widmark (born December 26, 1914) is an Academy Award-nominated American film actor.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Widmark has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6800 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2002, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.





Biography

Widmark grew up in Princeton, Illinois, and attended Lake Forest College, where he studied acting. He taught acting at the college after graduation, before debuting on radio in 1938 in Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories. He appeared on Broadway in 1943 in Kiss and Tell. He was unable to join the military during World War II because of a perforated eardrum.

Widmark's first movie appearance was in 1947's Kiss of Death, as the giggling, sociopathic villain Tommy Udo. His most notorious scene in the film found Udo pushing a wheelchair-bound old woman (played by Mildred Dunnock) down a flight of stairs to her death. Kiss of Death was a commercial and critical success, and started Widmark's seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won the Golden Globe Award in 1947 as 'Most Promising Newcomer' for his role. Widmark's character was also the inspiration for the song, "The Ballad of Tommy Udo", by the band Kaleidoscope.

In 1950, Widmark co-starred with Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jack Palance and Zero Mostel in Elia Kazan's classic film noir Panic in the Streets, and with Gene Tierney in Jules Dassin's Night and the City, which are considered classic film noirs. Two years later, in 1952, Widmark had his handprints cast in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. During his stint at Fox, he appeared in The Street with No Name and Don't Bother to Knock with Marilyn Monroe among other projects. His later filmography includes Vincente Minnelli's 1955 cult film The Cobweb with Lauren Bacall.



Personal life

Widmark was married to his first wife, Jean Hazlewood, a writer, for almost 55 years, from April 5, 1942 until her death on March 2, 1997. Their daughter, Anne Heath Widmark, an artist and author, married baseball legend Sandy Koufax on January 1, 1969 (but divorced in 1982). In September 1999, Widmark married Susan Blanchard, who earlier was Henry Fonda's third wife. Now retired, Widmark resides in Roxbury, Connecticut, where he has lived since the 1950s.

Alan King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born December 26, 1927(1927-12-26)
New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Died May 9, 2004 (aged 76)
New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Occupation Comedian

Alan King (December 26, 1927 - May 9, 2004) was an American comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well-known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He appeared in a number of movies and television shows. King wrote several books, produced films, and appeared in plays. In later years, he helped many philanthropic causes.




Biography

Early life

The youngest of several children, King was born Irwin Alan Kniberg in New York City, New York, to Minnie (née Solomon) and Bernard Kniberg, a handbag cutter.[1] He spent his first years on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Later, King's family moved to Brooklyn. King used humor to survive in the tough neighborhoods. As a child, King performed impersonations on street corners for pennies.

When he was fourteen, King performed "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime" on the radio program Major Bowes Original Amateur Hour. He lost first prize, but was invited to join a nationwide tour. At fifteen, King dropped out of high school to perform comedy at the Hotel Gradus in the Catskill Mountains. After one joke that made fun of the hotel's owner, King was fired. He worked in Canada in a burlesque house while also fighting as a professional boxer. He won twenty straight fights before losing. Nursing a broken nose, King decided to quit boxing and focus on his comedy career. King began working as a doorman at the popular nightclub Leon and Eddie's while performing comedy under the last name of the boxer who beat him, "King".


Career

King began his comedy career with one-liner routines and other material concerning mothers-in-law and Jews. King's style of comedy changed when he saw Danny Thomas performing in the early 1950s. King realized that Thomas was talking to his audience, not at them, and was getting a better response. King changed his own style from one-liners to a more conversational style that used everyday life for humor. His comedy inspired other comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Billy Crystal.

King married Jeanette Sprung in 1947. They had three children, Andrew, Robert, and Elainie Ray. His wife persuaded him to move to Forest Hills, Queens for their children, and later, to Great Neck, Long Island, where he lived for the rest of his life. There, he developed comedy revolving around life in suburbia. With America moving to suburbs, King's humor took off.

King began opening for many celebrities including Judy Garland, Patti Page, Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine, Lena Horne and Tony Martin. When Martin was cast in the movie Hit the Deck, he suggested King for a part, which gave King his first movie role. King played small roles in movies in the 1950s, but disliked playing stereotypical roles that he described as "always the sergeant from Brooklyn named Kowalski".[2] King eventually expanded his range and made a name for himself playing gangsters in five movies, including Cats Eye and The Anderson Tapes.

Like many other Jewish comics, King worked the Catskill circuit known as the Borscht Belt. His career took off after appearances on the Ed Sullivan, Perry Como, and Garry Moore Shows. Living just outside New York City, King was frequently available when Sullivan needed an act to fill in for a last-minute cancellation. King also became a regular guest host for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, hosted the Oscars in 1972, and was the MC for President John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. King was also the long-standing host of the New York Friar's Club celebrity roasts.

King was the first recipient (1988) of the award for American Jewish humor from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. The award was subsequently renamed in his honor.


Personal life

Throughout his life, King was deeply involved in charity work. He founded the Alan King Medical Center in Jerusalem, raised funds for the Nassau Center for Emotionally Disturbed Children (near his home in Kings Point, New York), and established a chair in dramatic arts at Brandeis University. He also created the Laugh Well program, which sends comedians to hospitals to perform for patients. In the 1970s, King turned his passion for tennis into a pro tournament in Las Vegas called the Alan King Tennis Classic, which was carried on national TV by the TVS Television Network. He also started the Toyota Comedy Festival.

King died at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan on May 9, 2004, after succumbing to lung cancer. He was 76.

A local United Way office realized that the organization had never received a donation from the town's most successful lawyer. The person in charge of contributions called him to persuade him to contribute.

"Our research shows that out of a yearly income of at least $700,000, you give not a penny to charity. Wouldn't you like to give back to the community in some way?"

The lawyer mulled this over for a moment and replied, "First, did your research also show that my mother is dying after a long illness, and has medical bills that are several times her annual income?"

Embarrassed, the United Way rep mumbled, "Um ... no."

The lawyer interrupts, "or that my brother, a disabled veteran, is blind and confined to a wheelchair?"

The stricken United Way rep began to stammer out an apology, but was interrupted again.

"or that my sister's husband died in a traffic accident," the lawyer's voice rising in indignation, "leaving her penniless with three children?!"

The humiliated United Way rep, completely beaten, said simply, "I had no idea..."

On a roll, the lawyer cut him off once again, "So if I don't give any money to them, why should I give any to you?"

UhOh, BioBob. Wonder if Ticomaya heard that lawyer joke. He will probably think that it is funny as well.

Thanks for the celeb bio's. Unfortunately, about the only song that I can play for our listeners is the one by that King of comedy. Perhaps when Raggedy arrives, we can be better inspired.

Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?
Gorney, Harburg

They used to tell me
I was building a dream.
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow
Or guns to bear
I was always there
Right on the job.
They used to tell me
I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead.
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad
I made it run
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad
Now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime.
Once I built a tower,
Now it's done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits
Gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodle dee dum.
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum!
Say don't you remember?
They called me Al.
It was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Say buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits,
Ah, gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodle dee dum!
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum!
Oh, say don't you remember?
They called me Al.
It was Al all the time.
Say, don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Buddy, can you spare a dime?

Good morning WA2K:

I remember Richard Widmark playing Jim Bowie in "The Alamo", and I remember this song from that movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNGtxVyeOFY&feature=related

I also remember Widmark playing one of the meanest men I ever saw in a movie, Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death, in which he laughingly pushed an old woman in a wheel chair down the staircase to her death, and there was a song written about that character, The Ballad of Tommy Udo, but I don't think we'll find the lyrics on the net, and I don't think we'd like it if we did.

hope you won't wear yourself out from shopping today :wink:
ehbeth left at 9 this morning and is expected back at ... ...

let's enjoy a little swing time music !
hbg

Hey, hbg. I know that song. UhOh! Thanks, Canada. I still think it amazing that Al Jolson's father wanted him to be a cantor, and he ended up doing minstrel and singing about Dixie. Tell ehBeth that Letty has never been a compulsive shopper. I think it has to do with large crowds and trying on bathing suits.

Found this mini bio about Al, folks.

Waiting for the Robert E. Lee

Lewis F. Muir (M) and L. Wolfe Gilbert (L) - 1912: This is one of many songs that helped make Al Jolson famous, or possibly vice versa. In Tin Pan Alley, author Dave Jasen tells of its curious origin. Muir already had a string of hits behind him, and had just composed When Ragtime Rosie Ragged the Rosary. Gilbert, in a column for the New York Clipper, wrote a column attacking the song as sacrilege, and derided both the composer and the publisher. The two ran into each other a few days later, and Muir asked Gilbert about any hits he had written. Gilbert named some obscure publications that Muir had never heard of. Gilbert challenged Muir to write a song with him if he was so talented. They went to Muir's home that evening and turned out a love ballad and a Dixie chorus. The next morning they took their songs to Muir's publisher, Fred Mills. Mills told them the ballad stank, and that Dixie songs were now passé. He offered Gilbert a batch of songs to show him what Mills Music published. Gilbert left steaming, then realized he hadn't taken the songs offered him. He came back in and Mills asked him to play that Dixie tune again because he couldn't get it out of his head. A few weeks later, Jolson introduced Waiting for the Robert E. Lee, and it has been a favorite ever since.

Way down on the levee in old Alabamy,
There's daddy and mammy, there's Ephriam and Sammy,
On a moon light night you can find them all,
While they are waitin' the banjos are syncopatin'
What's that they're sayin'? What's that they're sayin'?
While they keep playin' they're hummin' and swayin'.
It's the good ship Robert E. Lee that's come to carry the cotton away

Chorus: Watch them shufflin' along. See them shufflin' along.
Go take your best gal, real pal, go down to the levee, I said to the levee
And join that shufflin' throng, hear that music and song.
It's simply great, mate, waitin' on the levee, waitin' for the Robert E. Lee.

The whistles are blowin', the smoke stacks are showin',
The ropes they are throwin', excuse me, I'm goin'
To the place where all is harmonius.
Even the preacher, he is the dancing teacher.
Have you been down there? Were you around there?
If you ever go there you'll always be found there.
Why dog gone, here comes my baby on the good old Robert E. Lee.

Watch them shufflin' along. See them shufflin' along.
Go take your best gal, real pal, go down to the levee, I said to the levee
And join that shufflin' throng, hear that music and song.
It's simply great, mate, waitin' on the levee, waitin' for the Robert E. Lee.

letty :
ebeth arrived in her little honda civic with (big :wink: ) john , cleo and bailey ... ... the car was PACKED . she'll be leaving with the aforementioned and even more stuff - we've suggested , that she buy a trailer !
crowds don't bother her - that's why she likes the big apple !
after our first visit to NYC when she was 12 years old - we stayed for a whole week - she decided THAT SHE WOULD LEAVE HOME TO LIVE IN NYC !!!
hbg


and here is billie holiday singing irving berlin


(i pair of longjohns come in handy sometimes :wink: )