Thanks, puppy, for the great trio of celeb's. We always appreciate your having put those faces to name.
hbg, That was great. We really appreciate the sub titles
So, Strauss was the father of that delightful duo. Thanks, buddy.
Well, it seems that the hamburgers are going to party tonight. Here's one for them, followed by a parody of same. Remember to read the annotation, folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUUGblNjK20
We like repartee
We like, we like repartee
We like repartee
We like, we like repartee
We like repartee
We like, we like repartee
We like repartee
Ive got something to tell you
Ive got news for you
Well it pays to increase your word power
Get ready 'cause were coming through.
Hey now hey now, hear what I say now,
Eruditions just around the corner
Hey now hey now, hear what I say now,
Well be there for you.
The dictionarys coming,
And everybodys jumping
With Webster and Encarta
Youll soon be feeling smarta
If knowledge is your mission
Look up the definition
If you think you can swing this
Youll be a cunning linguist.
We like repartee
We like, we like repartee
We like repartee
We like, we like repartee
Hey now hey now, hear what I say now,
Elocutions just around the corner
Hey now hey now, hear what I say now,
Well be there for you.
The dictionarys coming,
And everybodys jumping
With Webster and Encarta
Youll soon be feeling smarta
Dont watch Oprah or Jerry
Learn some vocabulary
Youll rise above the rabble
And kick ass playing Scrabble
The dictionarys coming,
And everybodys jumping
With Webster and Encarta
Youll soon be feeling smarta
Were gonna stop this chorus
Before it starts to bore us
So while youre waiting for us
Go check out our thesaurus
We like repartee
We like we like repartee
We like repartee
We like we like repartee
We like repartee
We like we like repartee
We like repartee
We like we like repartee
The dictionarys coming
The dictionarys coming
The dictionarys coming
The dictionarys coming...
The dictionarys coming
And everybodys jumping
With Webster and Encarta
Youll soon be feeling smarta
>From aardvark to zygotic
Our language is exotic
The longest, we suppose, is
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
The dictionarys coming,
And everybodys jumping
With Webster and Encarta
Youll soon be feeling smarta
Were causing a sensation
With our pronunciation
Though dictionaraoke
Can sound a little hokey
The dictionarys coming
The Venga Boys! I can't believe you found this! I remember when they were big in Germany.
Hey, Urs. Purely coincidental, honey.(I like to use the words serendipity or synchronicity) Take a look at that parody.
Oops, missed edgar's song. Thanks, Texas. What a lovely woman, and I noticed that she is no longer with us.
Before I go to bed, here is something German. Some of the childhood pictures look pretty familiar to me
Rosenstolz
Good morning, WA2K music enthusiasts.
Ah, Urs, what a sweet song. I loved the nostalgia of it, gal, and although the places are not familiar to me, the situation with the children is. Thank you for the ultimate happy ending, however.
My goodness, edgar. That was great blues, buddy, and the comment about Bill Clinton and his sax was quite timely. Thanks, Texas.
Well, all, it appears that today is the birthday of one of my favorite performers, Carole King. This was brings me some memories of my own.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzy6lDG2c48&feature=related
So, let's wish a Happy 66th to Carole King
and a Happy 86th to Kathryn Grayson and 63rd to Mia Farrow
and remember, if you can, Carmen on her day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1KmUV7jaag
Good morning, Raggedypuppy. Thanks for the trio of celeb's, PA.
Did a quick check of Carmen, and was dismayed to find out how many problems that she had. Yes, let's remember her.
Here's a cute one, folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo1en0pBrH0
Poor Norma Jean, edgar, and thanks for the song, Texas.
And from Tennessee Ernie Ford, folks.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TwrsF77i5L0&feature=related
UhOh, where is djjd?
Debacle, I love that. I think we might refer to that kid as an idiot savant. Isn't it amazing that the same man who wrote Deliverance is a fabulous poet?Thanks, buddy.
So, folks, our poem for the day.
A Morning
by James Dickey
A dog surroundingly howls.
Painfully he is changing
His voice from a voice for the moon
To the voice he has for the sun.
I stoop, and my hands are shining;
I have picked up a piece of the sea
To feel how a tall girl has swum
Yesterday in it too deeply,
And, below the light, has become
More naked than Eve in the garden.
I drop her strange body on the cobbles.
My hands are shining with fever,
And I understand
The long, changing word of the dog
With the moon dying out in his voice,
And the pain when the sun came up
For the first time on angel-shut gates,
In its rays set closer than teeth.
Brian Donlevy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Waldo Bruce Donlevy
Born February 9, 1901
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Died April 5, 1972
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA
Years active 1924-1969
Spouse(s) Yvonne Grey (1928-1936)
Marjorie Lane (1936-1938)
Lillian Lugosi (1966-1972)
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor
1939 Beau Geste
Brian Donlevy (February 9, 1901 - April 5, 1972) was an American actor, known for many film roles from the 1930s to the 1960s. Particularly known for playing "tough guy" roles, he mainly appeared in supporting roles on screen. Amongst the films for which he was best known were Beau Geste (1939) and The Great McGinty (1940). For his role as Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
His obituary in The Times newspaper in the United Kingdom stated that "any consideration of the American 'film noir' of the 1940s would be incomplete without him."[1]
Early life and career
Donlevy was born Waldo Bruce Donlevy in Cleveland, Ohio. Early in his career, Hollywood film bosses established a fictional background of Donlevy having been born in Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland. This was not true, although it remains a popular biographical myth.[2]
After lying about his age, Donlevy joined the American army in 1916 and saw service as a pilot during the First World War. After the war, he remained in the army for a short time before he decided to make the move into acting. He began his career in New York in the early 1920s, over the course of the decade appearing in many theatre productions and also winning an increasing number of silent film parts.
Film roles
Donlevy's break into major film roles came in 1935, when he was cast in the Edward G. Robinson film Barbary Coast. A large amount of successful film work followed, with several important parts. In 1939, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste, although the Oscar went to Thomas Mitchell for Stagecoach.
The following year he played the role for which he is perhaps the best remembered, that of McGinty in The Great McGinty (known as Down Went McGinty in the United Kingdom), a role he reprised four years later in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.
In 1942, Donlevy starred in the Paramount film Wake Island. Donlevy played Maj. Geoffrey Caton, part of a small band of United States Marines defending the island against the Japanese. At the time, the movie Wake Island was very well received garnering four major Academy Award nominations: Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor.
In 1955, he starred in the British science-fiction / horror film The Quatermass Xperiment (called The Creeping Unknown in the US) for the Hammer Films company, playing the lead role of Professor Bernard Quatermass. The film was based on a 1953 BBC Television serial of the same name, in which the character had been British, but Hammer cast Donlevy in an attempt to help sell the film to American audiences, much to the displeasure of Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale who disliked Donlevy's portrayal of the character, referring to Donlevy as "a former Hollywood heavy gone to seed". Nonetheless, the film version was a success and Donlevy returned for the sequel, Quatermass 2 (Enemy From Space in the US), in 1957, also based on a BBC television serial. This made Donlevy the only man ever to play the famous scientist on screen twice, although later Scottish actor Andrew Keir would play him two times, once on film and later on the radio.
Later work
Throughout his film career, Donlevy also did several radio shows, including a reprise of The Great McGinty. He went on to feature in a number of films over the following years until his death. He also appeared in a variety of television series from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s, guest starring in episodes of such popular programs as Perry Mason, Wagon Train, Rawhide, as well as in his own series in the 1950s, Dangerous Assignment. In 1957, he appeared in a CBS production of the A. J. Cronin novel, Beyond This Place. His last film role was in a picture called The Winner, released in 1969.
Personal life
Donlevy was married three times: firstly to Yvonne Grey from 1928-36, then to actress Marjorie Lane from 1936-1938, and finally to Lillian Lugosi (the widow of Bela Lugosi, famous for playing Dracula) from 1966 until his death in 1972.
He died on April 6, 1972 in Woodland Hills, California from throat cancer, aged 71, survived by his wife Lillian and a daughter, Judy Donlevy, by his second wife. His ashes were scattered over Santa Monica Bay.
Carmen Miranda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha
Born February 9, 1909(1909-02-09)
Marco de Canaveses, Portugal
Died August 5, 1955 (aged 46)
Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California
Other name(s) The Brazilian Bombshell
Spouse(s) Dave Sebastian (17 March 1947 - 5 August 1955)
Official site Official site
Carmen Miranda, pron. IPA: ['kaɾme͂j mi'rɐ͂dɐ], (February 9, 1909 - August 5, 1955); birth name Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, GCIH) was a Portuguese-born[1] Brazilian[2] samba singer and motion picture star most active in the 1940s. She was nicknamed Carmen by her father, because of his love of the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet. Carmen's legacy was instrumental in synthesizing, divulging and popularizing samba.
Life and career
Carmen Miranda was born in the small northern Portuguese town of Marco de Canaveses to Portuguese parents. She was the second daughter of José Maria Pinto Cunha (1887 - 1938) and Maria Emília Miranda (1886 - 1971). Shortly after her birth, her father, José Maria, emigrated to Brazil and settled in Rio de Janeiro (the then capital), where he opened a barber's shop. In 1910, her mother followed, together with her eldest daughter, Olinda, and Carmen. Carmen never returned to Portugal. Once in Brazil, her parents had further children, namely: Amaro (1911), Cecília (1913), Aurora (1915 - 2005) and Oscar (1916).
Carmen went to school at the Convent of Saint Therese of Lisieux. Her very Catholic parents did not approve of her dreams of pursuing show business, so she kept them secret for years. In her spare time, she often sang at parties and festivals around town. Carmen's sister, Olinda, contracted tuberculosis and returned to Portugal for treatment. Carmen got her first job, in a tie shop at age 14, to help pay for her sister's medical treatment. She later worked in a boutique, La Femme Chic, where she learned to make hats. In no time, she started her own small hat business which became quite profitable. Olinda, meanwhile, remained in Portugal until her death in 1931.
Before long, she was discovered and began singing on a local radio station. Ultimately, Carmen wound up with a recording contract with RCA. One thing led to another, and she pursued a career as a samba singer for 10 years before she was invited to New York City to perform in a show on Broadway.By 1928, she was a genuine superstar in Brazil. As with other popular singers of the era, Carmen eventually made her way into the film world. She made her debut in the Brazilian documentary "A Voz Do Carnaval". Two years later Carmen appeared in her first feature film entitled "Alo, Alo Brasil". But it was Estudantes that seemed to solidify Carmen in the minds of the movie going public
In Brazil, she was noted as a musical innovator, and was one of the first samba superstars long before her arrival in the United States. She also made six films in Brazil.
Carmen arrived in the United States in 1939 with her band, the Bando da Lua, and achieved stardom in the early 1940s. She was encouraged by the United States government in her American career as part of President Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy, designed to strengthen links with Latin America and Europe; it was believed that in delivering content like hers, the policy would be better received by the American public. She was the country's highest-paid entertainer for several years in the 1940s, and in 1945, was the highest-paid woman in the United States, earning more than $200,000 that year, according to IRS records.
Carmen made a total of 14 Hollywood films between 1940 and 1953. As a singer, she sold more than 10 million copies worldwide[citation needed]. She was given the nickname "The Brazilian Bombshell".
Carmen's Hollywood image was one of a generic Latinness that blurred the distinctions between Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico as well as between samba, tango and habanera. It was carefully stylized and outlandishly flamboyant. She was often shown wearing platform sandals and towering headdresses made of fruit, becoming famous as "the lady in the tutti-frutti hat." At only 5 feet tall (1,52 m), these accoutrements made her appear almost larger-than-life on screen.
She was well aware of the tensions in her career. During a visit to Brazil in 1940, she was heavily criticized for giving in to American commercialism and projecting a false image of Brazil. She responded with the Portuguese language song "Disseram Que Voltei Americanizada," or "They Say I've Come Back Americanized." Another song, "Bananas Is My Business," was based on a line in one of her movies and directly addressed her image. She was greatly upset by the criticism and did not return to Brazil again for 14 years.
Carmen did not drink or smoke until her late 30s.[citation needed] In addition to her addiction to alcohol and tobacco, Carmen regularly used amphetamines and barbiturates, all of which weakened her heart.[citation needed]
"Scared Stiff" was her final performance on the silver screen. On August 4, 1955, Carmen suffered a heart attack, although she didn't realize it at the time, while taping a segment for the Jimmy Durante Show.
The A&E Network Biography episode featuring Carmen Miranda contained the final tragic kinescope footage from her August 4 appearance.
After completing a dance number, Carmen unknowingly suffered a mild heart attack, and nearly collapsed. Durante was at her side, and helped keep her on her feet. She laughed "I'm all out of breath" and Durante replied "Dat's OK, honey, I'll take yer lines!" Carmen laughed again, quickly pulled herself together and finished the show. At the end of the broadcast, she danced backwards out of the door, turned to the audience, blew a big kiss, and was gone for the last time.
"The Brazilian Bombshell" died early the following morning, at the age of 46.
The official cause of death given on her death certificate was from untreated toxemia (later known as pre-eclampsia), and heart failure stemming from a pregnancy. Her body was flown back to Brazil soon afterwards and the Brazilian government declared a period of national mourning. She was buried in the Cemitério São João Batista in Rio de Janeiro[3]. Her funeral cortège, en route to the cemetery, was accompanied by about half a million people.
Tributes
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Carmen Miranda has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6262 Hollywood Boulevard.
Helena Solberg made a documentary of her life, Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business in 1995.
Carmen's enormous, fruit-laden hats are iconic visual recognized around the world. Her image was much satirized and taken up as camp, and today, the "Carmen Miranda" persona is popular among female impersonators and drag performers. The style was even emulated in animated cartoon shorts. The animation department at Warner Brothers seemed to be especially fond of the actress's image. Animator Virgil Ross used it in his short Slick Hare, featuring Bugs Bunny, who escapes from Elmer Fudd by hiding in the fruit hat. Tex Avery also used it in his MGM short Magical Maestro when an opera singer is temporarily changed into the persona, fruit hat and all, via a magician's wand. The popular internet cartoon Homestar Runner paid tribute to Miranda in 2000 in the Halloween cartoon Homestarloween Party, when Strong Bad dressed up as Carmen. He was mistaken for the Chiquita banana lady, and protested, "I'm Carmen freakin' Miranda!"
Serious musical tributes and references are relatively infrequent. Brazilian singer Ney Matogrosso's album Batuque brings the period and several of Carmen's great early hits back to life in faithful style. Caetano Veloso paid tribute to Carmen out of love for her early samba recordings made in Rio when he recorded Disseram que eu voltei americanizada on the live album Circuladô Vivo in 1992. He also examined her iconic legacy of both kitsch and sincere samba artistry in an essay in the New York Times. Additionally, on one of Veloso's most popular songs, "Tropicalia", Veloso sings "Viva a banda da da da....Carmem Miranda da da da" as the final lyrics of the song. Singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett included a tribute to Carmen Miranda on his 1973 album A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, entitled "They Don't Dance Like Carmen No More." In the early 1970s a novelty act known as Daddy Dewdrop had a top 10 hit single in the US titled "Chick-A-Boom," one of Carmen's trademark song phrases, although the resemblance ended there.
Brazilian author Ruy Castro wrote a monumental biography of Carmen Miranda entitled Carmen After Four Years of Interviews, published in 2005 in Brazil. This book has yet to appear in English.
Visitors to Rio de Janeiro can find a museum dedicated to Carmen Miranda in the Flamengo neighborhood on Avenida Rui Barbosa. The museum includes several original costumes, and shows clips from her filmography. There is also a museum dedicated to her in Marco de Canaveses, Portugal called "Museu Municipal Carmen Miranda", with various photos and one of the famous hats. Outside the museum there is a statue of Carmen Miranda.
A hot air balloon in her likeness was conceived in 1982 at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta by Jacques Soukup and Kirk Thomas. Named "Chic-I-Boom", the craft was built by Cameron England, and was the first special-shaped hot-air balloon ever to fly at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. The original Chic-I-Boom was retired from flight in 1996, and a new Chic-I-Boom was built by Aerostar. Chic-I-Boom's bananas are each 50 feet long.
The singer Leslie Fish created a song called "Carmen Miranda's Ghost is Haunting Space Station Three", in which a space station is inundated with fresh fruit. A science fiction anthology later had the same title.
John Cale, a member of the Velvet Underground, issued a song called "The Soul of Carmen Miranda" on his album Words for the Dying.
A suburb in Sydney, Australia called "Miranda" has a night club called "Carmens" thus being Carmens Miranda.
Carmen Miranda Square
On September 25, 1998, a city square in Hollywood was named Carmen Miranda Square in a ceremony headed by longtime honorary mayor of Hollywood, Johnny Grant, who was also one of the singer's personal friends dating back to World War II. The effort was spearheaded by concert promoter Jean Chakanaka and Carmen Miranda's grandniece, Cheryl Cunha, herself a songwriter, singer and performer who adopted the stage name "Miranda" and performs many of her aunt's songs in tribute. Brazil's Consul General Jorió Gama was on hand for opening remarks, as were members of Bando da Lua, Carmen Miranda's original band.
Carmen Miranda Square is only one of about a dozen Los Angeles city intersections named for historic performers. The square is located at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive across from Grauman's Chinese Theater. The location is especially noteworthy not only since Carmen Miranda's footprints are preserved in concrete at the Chinese Theater's famous collection, but in remembrance of an impromptu performance at a nearby Hollywood Boulevard intersection on V-J Day where she was joined by a throng of servicemen from the nearby USO.
Kathryn Grayson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kathryn Grayson (born February 9, 1922) is an American actress and singer who was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Hedrick family later moved to Franlin, St Louis, where she was discovered singing on the empty stage of the St Louis Municipal Opera House by a janitor, who introduced her to Frances Marshall of the Chicago Civic Opera, who gave the twelve-year-old girl voice lessons.
In Hollywood she would marry twice: first to actor John Shelton; secondly to actor/singer Johnnie Johnston. She has one daughter. Throughout the 1950's, she carried on an affair with mogul Howard Hughes, and was briefly engaged to him (although this was not included in the film The Aviator, as the film only profiled Hughes through the late 1940s).
Though she started out as MGM's answer to Deanna Durbin (with films such as Seven Sweethearts and Anchors Aweigh), she proved herself a top star in "Thousands Cheer", "Anchors Aweigh' and "Two Sisters From Boston". and in the film versions of the Broadway hitKiss Me, Kate (1953). In this film, she teamed up with Howard Keel, with whom she had starred earlier in the 1951 Technicolor remake of Show Boat, and in 1952's Lovely To Look At, a 1952 Technicolor version of Roberta. She and Keel also appeared together in a highly successful cabaret act in the 1960's. She also appeared in a duo of films with tenor Mario Lanza - The Toast of New Orleans and That Midnight Kiss.
With the end of MGM's great era of musicals, so ended Miss Grayson's film career. Kathryn was on stage in numerous stage musicals such as Show Boat, Rosalinda, Kiss Me, Kate, Naughty Marietta, and The Merry Widow, for which she was nominated for Chicago's Sarah Siddons Award. This led to her as a replacement for Julie Andrews on Broadway in 1962 in Camelot, scoring a great success as Queen Guenevere, before going on to star in the National tour for over sixteen months, after which she left the show due to health problems. During her period with the Camelot tour, all box-office records were broken and she gained uniformly excellent notices. Grayson had a lifelong dream of being an opera star, and she appeared number of operas in the '60s, such as La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, Orpheus in the Underworld and La Traviata. Her dramatic and comedy stage roles included Night Watch, Noises Off, Love Letters and Something's Afoot as Dottie Otterling.
She also appeared on television occasionally. Her first TV appearances were in the 1950s, and she received an Emmy nomination in 1956 for her performance in the General Electric Theater episode Shadow on the Heart with John Ericson. Most recently, she appeared in several episodes of Angela Lansbury's long-running series Murder, She Wrote in the late 1980s.
Never to be overshadowed these days by other talented or exciting MGM contemporaries such as Jane Powell, Ann Miller, Cyd Charisse, Esther Williams and Ann Blyth, Miss Grayson has gained cult status among a large, and wildly devoted, crowd of fans. Today, Kathryn supervises the Voice and Choral Studies Program at the Idaho State University.
Joe Pesci
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Joseph Frank Pesci
Born February 9, 1943 (1943-02-09) (age 65)
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Years active 1961 - 2006
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actor
1990 Goodfellas
BAFTA Awards
Best Newcomer
1980 Raging Bull
Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci (February 9, 1943) is an American Academy Award-winning actor, comedian and singer.
Biography
Early life
Pesci, an Italian American, was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Mary, who worked part-time as a barber, and Angelo Pesci, a forklift driver for General Motors and bartender.[1][2] By the time Pesci was 5, he was appearing in plays in New York.[2] A few years later, at 10, he was a regular on a television variety show called "Startime Kids," which also featured Connie Francis.[2]
Pesci started out working as a barber in the 1960s, following in his mother's footsteps. He released an album entitled Little Joe Sure Can Sing under the pseudonym Joseph Richie, accompanied by a band that included good friend and future fellow actor Frank Vincent.[2] Pesci played guitar for Joey Dee and the Starliters, and was an extra in Dee's film "Hey, Let's Twist!", where he made his film debut.[2]
Career
His breakthrough as an actor came in 1980 alongside Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's boxing film Raging Bull. Subsequently, he performed with De Niro in the films Once Upon A Time In America (in which he was cast at the behest of his friend De Niro), Goodfellas (for which he received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), and Casino. The pairing became famous enough to inspire a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live, called "The Joe Pesci Show". (The real Pesci and De Niro would eventually make a surprise appearance in one episode). Pesci hosted Saturday Night Live on October 10, 1992. During the monologue, he restored a picture of Pope John Paul II, which was torn by Sinead O'Connor on the previous broadcast.
Pesci co-starred in Home Alone (1990), playing one of two bumbling burglars (along with good friend, Daniel Stern) who attempt to rob the house of the character played by Macaulay Culkin. In 1992, he appeared in Home Alone 2.
He also played the non-gangster role of David Ferrie in JFK and finally My Cousin Vinny released in 1991 and 1992 respectively. He appeared in three Lethal Weapon films as the sleazy but likeable Leo Getz.
In 1998 he released an album called Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You which spawned the single "Wise Guy". In 1999, Pesci announced his retirement from acting to pursue a musical career and to enjoy life away from the camera. Pesci returned to acting when he did a cameo in De Niro's 2006 film The Good Shepherd. Pesci is slated to star in the 2009 drama Love Ranch, alongside Helen Mirren.
Personal life
Pesci has been married three times, the first to Claudia Martha (Marty) Haro,[3] with whom he has a daughter, Tiffany.[4] Pesci has been linked with companion Angie Everhart,[3] but rumours that they are engaged have so far yet to be confirmed. Comedian George Carlin prays to him because "he's a good actor" [4] He introduced childhood friends Tommy DeVito, Frankie Valli, and Nick Massi to Bob Gaudio. They went on to become the Four Seasons, one of the most influential rock groups of all time.
