Looking Back
You hit the street, you feel them staring
You know they hate you you can feel their eyes a glarin'
Because you're different, because you're free
Because you're everything deep down they wish they could be
You're lookin back (lookin back) they're lookin back (lookin back)
Too many people lookin back
You're lookin back (lookin back) they're lookin back (lookin back)
Too many people lookin back
They watch the news, see young men dying
They watch them bleedin' and listen to them lyin'
And if they're normal if they can see
They just reach out and change the channel on the TV
You're lookin back (lookin back) they're lookin back (lookin back)
Too many people lookin back
You're lookin back (lookin back) they're lookin back (lookin back)
Too many people lookin back
When they could vote, and end the war
They're much too busy fittin' locks upon the back door
Give you a foxhole, a place to hide
Cause when the war come the cops'll be on their side
You're lookin back (lookin back) they're lookin back (lookin back)
Too many people lookin back
You're lookin back (lookin back) they're lookin back (lookin back)
Too many people lookin back
Bob Seger
Heartless
The doctor said "Come back again next week, I think that you need me."
All she did was cry
She wanted to die
"Doctor when can you see me here?"
There's a guy out there! Seems like he's everywhere!
It just ain't fair!
Heartless-Heartless! Never, never out of control
Heartless-Heartless! Ya keep on sinnin' in the name of a-rock and roll
Heartless-Heartless! Ya think he's gonna bare his empty soul?
He never realized, the way love dies when you crucify it's soul
Late nite, in the penthouse room, the fire is burning.
The shadows are warm, she lay in his arms, answers his yearning.
D'ya think she understand the lie of his plans her eyes are filled with sand.
Heartless-Heartless! Never, never out of control
Heartless-Heartless! Ya keep on sinnin' in the name of rock and roll
Heartless-Heartless! it's so cool to be cold
He never realized, the way love dies when you crucify it's soul
(breakdown) oooooooo (repeat 4)
Heartless-Heartless! Never, never out of control no no
Heartless-Heartless! sinnin' in the name of a-rock and roll
Heartless-come on he's Heartless! Ya think it's gonna fill your empty soul?
Ya never realized, the way love dies when you crucify it's soul
Yeah didn't you ever realize it?
Crucify me.
Yeah
Heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_GpxCUg9Vo
Good night WA2K with a salute to Les Paul, the father of modern rock technology...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VKwMEOIoyc&feature=related
RH
Good morning, WA2K folks.
First, allow me to thank our edgar for the three songs that were quite diversified. I'm not familiar with Chuck Willis, but I always like to listen to the "steps of the past". What a surprise to hear Englebert and see him. That was good.
Hey, Rex. Welcome back. Strange, the one line I got from one of your songs was "crucifixion of the soul".
RH, I did NOT know that Les Paul was the first to do multi-track recordings. Thanks for the great music of the master, buddy.
I didn't particularly think about what I was going to begin our day with, but when I looked at the lawn outside my wee studio, I was reminded of the desert, so this one came to mind, folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIlVSZmnOgI
Good morning, Breakfast Club. Nice one to begin with, letty. And, back to Les Paul, is anyone familiar with his record, actually released, of two guitar licks? One of his recordings ended with the old Shave-and-a-Haircut, but omitted the two-bits. In answer to disk jocey complaints they had lots of dead air space awaiting the final two licks, Paul had the records pressed and sent out.
My, my, folks. Look who is back.
Nice to see you again, Walter, and yes, they do look older, but don't we all? Thanks for the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song. I haven't heard that one, but it has appeal, no?
Today is Vincent Perez's birthday. Never heard of him, but I think that I love him, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_EbvNeshGs&feature=related
It seems that Vincent has done everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, y'all.
Sessue Hayakawa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Kintaro Hayakawa
June 10, 1889(1889-06-10)
Nanaura, Chiba, Japan
Died November 23, 1973 (aged 84)
Tokyo, Japan
Spouse(s) Tsuru Aoki (1914-1961)
Awards won
Academy Awards
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor
1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai
Sessue Hayakawa (早川 雪洲, Hayakawa Sesshū?, June 10, 1889 - November 23, 1973) was an Academy Award nominated Japanese actor who starred in both Japanese and American films. Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States as well as Europe[1], during his time he was as well known as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks.[2] He was one of the highest paid stars of his time; making $5,000 a week in 1915, and $2 million a year via his own production company during the 1920s.[3]He starred in over 80 movies and has two films in the U.S. National Film Registry.[4] His international stardom transitioned both silent films and talkies. [5]
Of his English language films, Hayakawa is probably best known for his role as Colonel Saito in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai, for which he received a nomination for Academy Award Best Supporting Actor in 1957. In addition to his acting career Hayakawa was also a film and theatre producer, author, martial artist, and an ordained Zen master.[6]
Early life
Hayakawa was born Kintaro Hayakawa (早川金太郎, Hayakawa Kintarō) in the Nanaura Village, of Chikura Town, of Minamibosō City, in the Chiba Prefecture, Japan on June 10, 1889, the second eldest son of the provincial governor.[7]
From early on Hayakawa was groomed for a career as a naval officer. However at the age of 17, he took a schoolmate's dare to swim to the bottom of a lagoon (he grew up in a shellfish diving community) and ruptured his eardrum. He had been studying at the Naval Academy in Etajima but his record of perfect health was now shattered and he failed the navy's rigorous physical. His formerly proud father was now ashamed and embarrassed of his son. Their relationship became strained.[8]
The strained relationship drove the young Hayakawa to attempt seppuku (ritual suicide). One quiet night after dinner Hayakawa entered a garden shed on his parents' property, locked his favorite dog outside and spread a white sheet on the ground. To uphold his family's samurai tradition, Hayakawa stabbed himself in the abdomen more than 30 times.[9] The dog's barking alerted Hayakawa's family and his father smashed through the shed door with an axe in time to save his son.[10]
After he recovered from the suicide attempt Hayakawa enrolled in the University of Chicago to study political economics. His family had decided that if he could not be a naval officer, he would become a banker. Three years after arriving in the US, Hayakawa briefly returned home after his father's passing. His older brother pleaded with him to stay in Japan. However, Hayakawa saw no future for himself there and returned to the US.[11]
Career Beginnings
Hayakawa was on vacation in Los Angeles when he wandered into a Japanese Playhouse in Little Tokyo. He soon was fascinated with acting and performing plays. It was around this time he first assumed the name Sessue Hayakawa.[12]
One of the productions Hayakawa performed in was called The Typhoon. The well known film producer Thomas Ince saw the production and offered to turn it into a silent movie using the original cast. Anxious to return to his studies at the University of Chicago, Hayakawa decided to try and dissuade Ince by requesting the absurdly high fee of $500 a week. Ince agreed to pay it.[13]
The Typhoon was filmed in 1914, and was an instant hit. Hayakawa made two more films with Ince, The Wrath of the Gods co starring his new wife, actress Tsuru Aoki, and The Sacrifice. With his rising stardom Hayakawa soon was offered a contract by Jesse L. Lasky. He signed on making him part of Famous Players-Lasky (now Paramount Pictures).[14]
Stardom
Hayakawa second film for Famous Players Lasky was The Cheat, directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The Cheat co starring Fannie Ward, was a huge success, making Hayakawa a romantic idol to the female movie going public.[15] With his popularity Hayakawa's salary soared to over $5,000 a week in 1915. In 1917 he built his residence, a castle styled mansion, on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Argyle Street in Hollywood, which became a landmark until being torn down in 1956. [16]
Following the success of The Cheat Hayakawa became a top leading man for romantic dramas in the 1910s and early 1920s.[17] After these roles he switched to Westerns and Action films.[18]
After years of extensive typecasting at Famous Players, Hayakawa decided to form his own production company. He borrowed $1 million from a former classmate at the University of Chicago and formed Haworth Pictures Corporation in 1918.[19] Over the next three years he pumped out 23 films and netted $2 million a year.[20] Hayakawa controlled the content. He produced, starred in, and contributed to the design, writing, editing, and directing of the films. His films influenced the way the American public viewed Asians.[21]
In 1918 Hayakawa personally chose the highly popular American serial actress Marin Sais to appear opposite him in a series of films, the first being the 1918 racial drama The City of Dim Faces followed by His Birthright, which also starred his wife. Hayakawa's collaboration with Sais ended with the 1919 film Bonds of Honor. He also appeared opposite Jane Novak in The Temple of Dusk, a Mutual Film Corporation production.
In 1919 Hayakawa made what is generally considered one of his best films, The Dragon Painter. During this period Hayakawa was at his Hollywood peak. He was one of the highest paid stars of the era, making $2 million a year through his production company throughout the 1920s.[22] His fame rivaled that of Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and in many ways he can be seen as a precursor to Rudolph Valentino.[23]
Hayakawa's wealth and extravagance was legendary. He drove a gold plated Pierce-Arrow. He entertained lavishly in his 'Castle' which was known as the scene of some of Hollywood's wildest parties. Shortly before Prohibition took effect in 1920, he bought a carload of booze. Hayakawa once claimed that he owed his social success to his liquor supply.[24] During this time, in the course of one night he gambled away $1 million in Monte Carlo, shrugging off the loss while another Japanese gambler who lost a fortune committed suicide.
Stardom outside of the United States
A bad business deal forced Hayakawa to leave Hollywood in 1921. The next 15 years saw him performing in New York, France, England and Japan. In 1924 he made The Great Prince Chan and The Story of Su in London.[25]
In 1925 he wrote a novel, The Bandit Prince, and turned it into a short play. In 1930 he performed in a one-act play written especially for him, Samurai, for King George V of Great Britain and Queen Mary. He also became very popular in France thanks to the prevailing French fascination with anything Asian. In 1930 Hayakawa returned to Japan and produced a Japanese-language stage version of The Three Musketeers.[26]
Later career
In the 1930s his career began to suffer from the rise of talkies, as well as a growing Anti-Japanese sentiment. Hollywood deemed his gifts unsuitable for the new talkies. Hayakawa's sound film debut came in 1931 in Daughter of the Dragon, starring opposite fellow Asian performer Anna May Wong.[27]
In 1937 Hayakawa went to France to act in Yoshiwara and found himself trapped by the German occupation. He was separated from his family during this time.[28]
Hayakawa made few movies during these years, but supported himself by selling watercolors. He joined the French Resistance and helped Allied flyers during the war. [29]In 1949, Humphrey Bogart's production company tracked Hayakawa down and offered him a role in Tokyo Joe. Before issuing a work permit, the American Consulate investigated Hayakawa's activities during the war. They found that he had in no way contributed to the German war effort. Hayakawa followed Tokyo Joe with Three Came Home, in which he played a real-life POW camp commander Lieutenant-Colonel Suga, before returning to France.[30]
His post-war screen persona became fixed as the honorable villain, perhaps best exemplified in his role as Colonel Saito in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai, which won the 1957 Academy Award for Best Picture. Hayakawa was nominated for Best Supporting Actor but lost to Red Buttons. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe for the role. He called this role the highlight of his career.[31]
After that film Hayakawa in essence retired from acting. Throughout the rest of his life he performed on a handful of television shows and a few movies. His final film appearance was in The Daydreamer in 1966.[32]
Other Works
Hayakawa had created his own production company in 1918. During that period he produced, directed, contributed to the design, writing, of editing his films.[33] He wrote several plays, painted watercolors, performed martial arts, and invested wisely.[34]
In 1961 he became a Zen master as well as a private acting coach.[35] He wrote an autobiography, Zen Showed me the Way.[36]
Acting Style
During the height of his popularity critics of the day hailed Hayakawa's Zen-influenced acting style. Hayakawa sought to bring muga, or the "absence of doing," to his performances, in direct contrast to the then-popular studied poses and broad gestures. He was one of the first stars to do so, Mary Pickford being the other.[37]
Racism and Racial Barriers
Hayakawa was in a unique position due to his ethnicity and fame in the English world. Due to Anti-miscegenation laws that existed at the time Hayakawa would be unable to become a citizen or marry someone of another race. In 1930, the Production Code came into effect which forbade portrayals of miscegenation in film. Due to the practice of yellowface this meant that unless Hayakawa played opposite an authentic Asian actress, he would not be able to portray a romance with her.
Throughout his career, the United States dealt with yellow peril which affected Americans perceptions of Asians. This left Hayakawa to constantly be typecast as a villain or forbidden lover and unable to play parts that would be given to fellow white actors such as Douglas Fairbanks.[38]
Hayakawa can be seen as a precursor to Rudolph Valentino. Both were foreign born, both were typecast as exotic or forbidden lovers, and both were wildly popular during their time. Hayakawa also inadvertently helped Rudolph Valentino's rise to stardom. His contract with Famous Players expired in May 1918, but the studio still asked him to star in The Sheik. Hayakawa turned down the picture in favor of starting his own company, most likely not happy with another 'forbidden villain lover' role. With influence from June Mathis, the role went to the barely known Valentino, which turned him into an icon.[39]
Reception in Japan
Hayakawa's early films were not popular in Japan most likely due to the fact that Hollywood played up his Japaneseness at a time that Japan was trying to become more American.[40]
Some Japanese felt his American success represented turning his back on his nation. His later films were also not popular, because he was now ironically seen as 'too Americanized' during a time of 'Nationalism'.[41]
Reception in United States
In more than 20 films for Famous Players, Hayakawa was typecast as either the villain or the exotic lover who in the end would turn his lover over to the proper man of her race.[42]
This typecasting was the reason Hayakawa set up his own production company in 1918 around the height of his US fame. At that time he stated he wanted to be shown "as he really is and not as fiction paints him." As for his prior roles, he said, "They are false and give people a wrong idea of us [Asians]."
Hayakawa desperately sought to show a more balanced and fair portrait of Asians. In 1949 he stated, "My one ambition is to play a hero." In his autobiography he observed, "All my life has been a journey. But my journey differs from the journeys of most men."
Personal life
On May 1, 1914 Hayakawa married fellow Japanese actress Tsuru Aoki. She would star in quite a few of his movies alongside him.[43] She died in 1961 at which time Hayakawa moved back to Japan and became a Zen master.
In Europe the couple adopted a boy, Yukio who became an engineer. They also adopted two daughters: Yoshiko, an actress; and Fujiko, a dancer.
Hayakawa was known for his discipline and martial arts skills. While in University he played quarterback for the football team. He was once penalized for using jujitsu to bring down a rival player.[44]
While filming The Jaguar's Claws, in the Mojave Desert, Hayakawa played a Mexican bandit, and the film required 500 cowboys as extras. On the first night of filming, the extras drank all night and well into the next day. No work was being done, so Hayakawa challenged the group to a fight. Two men stepped forward. Hayakawa said of the incident, "The first one struck out at me. I seized his arm and sent him flying on his face along the rough ground. The second attempted to grapple and I was forced to flip him over my head and let him fall on his neck. The fall knocked him unconscious." Hayakawa then disarmed yet another cowboy. The extras returned to work, amused by the way the small man manhandled the big bruising cowboys.[45]
Death
Sessue Hayakawa retired from film in 1966. After his wife's death he returned to Japan where he became a Zen master and a drama coach. He died in Tokyo on November 23, 1973 from a blood clot in the brain, complicated by pneumonia.[46] He was buried in the Chokeiji Temple Cemetery in Toyama, Japan.[47]
Legacy
To date Hayakawa is the only Asian to obtain romantic icon status in the US. His work lives on in various forms. Many of his films are lost. However most of his later films including The Geisha Boy, Tokyo Joe, Three Came Home, and The Bridge on the River Kwai are available on DVD.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Sessue Hayakawa was awarded a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1645 Vine Street, in Hollywood, California.
In 1989 a musical based on his life, Sessue, played in Tokyo.
In September 2007 the Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective on Hayakawa's work titled: "Sessue Hayakawa: East and West, When the Twain Met"[48]
Robert Cummings
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings
June 10, 1908(1908-06-10)
Joplin, Missouri, U.S.
Died December 2, 1990 (aged 82)
Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Robert Cummings (June 10, 1908 - December 2, 1990), also known as Bob Cummings, was an American motion picture and television actor, noted for his fresh faced youthful look which lasted long into his old age.
Cummings chiefly performed in comic roles but was effective in his few dramas, especially two Alfred Hitchcock films, Saboteur (1942) and Dial M for Murder (1954).
Biography
Cummings was born in Joplin, Missouri, the son of Charles Clarence, a physician and surgeon, and Ruth Annabelle nee Kraft, an ordained minister for the Science of Mind.[1] While attending Joplin High School, he was taught to fly by his godfather, Orville Wright. He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. He had a brief career on Broadway under the stage name Blade Stanhope Conway, supposedly an Englishman, before moving to Hollywood, first acting under the name and persona of Bruce Hutchens, a wealthy Texan.
In the 1930s Cummings worked (under his own name) as a contract player and appeared in a number of minor roles. He achieved stardom in 1939 in Three Smart Girls Grow Up opposite Deanna Durbin. His many film comedies also include: The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) with Jean Arthur, and The Bride Wore Boots (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Cummings gave memorable performances in three notable dramas: Kings Row (1942) with friend Ronald Reagan, Saboteur (1942) with Priscilla Lane and Norman Lloyd, and Dial M for Murder (1954), with Grace Kelly and Ray Milland. Cummings also starred in You Came Along (1945) that featured a screenplay by Ayn Rand. The Army Air Forces pilot Cummings played had the same name as the character on his later television show.
Cummings was chosen by producer John Wayne as his co-star for the part of airline pilot Captain Sullivan in The High and the Mighty, in part due to Cummings's experience as a pilot. But director William A. Wellman overruled Wayne and hired Robert Stack for the part.[2]
Cummings also made his mark in the CBS Radio network's long-running dramatic serial entitled Those We Love. In the program, which ran from 1938 to 1945, Cummings played the role of David Adair, opposite Richard Cromwell, Francis X. Bushman (famed silent-era film actor), and Nan Grey.
Cummings served duty at a base in Oxnard, California during World War II, and later was a pilot in the United States Air Force Reserve.
Cummings began a long career on television in 1952 with the comedy My Hero. He was in the first performance of Twelve Angry Men to be televised, a live production that aired in 1955, and received an Emmy award for his role as "Juror Number Eight." From 1955 through 1959, Cummings starred in the celebrated sitcom, The Bob Cummings Show (shown in reruns as Love That Bob), later followed by The New Bob Cummings Show, 1961-1962. He also spent a season starring in My Living Doll (1964), another sitcom. His last significant credit was the 1973 TV movie Partners in Crime, also starring Lee Grant.
Cummings married five times and sired seven children. He was a staunch advocate of natural foods and a healthy diet and authored the book Stay Young and Vital (1960) on health foods and exercise. In reference to refined products such as white flour, white rice, and sugar, he was once quoted as saying, "Never eat anything white."
Cummings died of kidney failure[citation needed] in 1990 at the age of 82 and was interred in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Lionel Jeffries
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born June 10, 1926 (1926-06-10) (age 82)
Forest Hill, London, England, UK
Awards won
Other Awards
Hollywood Gold Medal Award (For The Railway Children)
Lionel Charles Jeffries (born June 10, 1926 in Forest Hill, London, England) is a British actor, screenwriter and film director.
Life and work
He attended the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wimborne and then trained at RADA after his World War II service, for which he was awarded the Burma Star. He then went into repertory at the David Garrick Theatre, Lichfield for 2 years and appeared in early British television plays.
He built a successful career in British films mainly in comic character roles and as he was prematurely bald he often played characters older than himself. For example, he played the role of father to Caractacus Potts (played by Dick Van Dyke) in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), although Jeffries is actually 6 months younger than Van Dyke. His acting career reached a peak in the 1960s with leading roles in other films like Two-Way Stretch (1960), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), First Men in the Moon (1964) and Camelot (1967).
In the 1970s he turned to writing and directing children's films, including the celebrated 1970 version of The Railway Children. He belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild, formerly headed by the late actress Patricia Hayes.
His roles in television are far less as it was reported he did not like the medium. However in 1985 he appeared in the Central Television situation-comedy (for ITV) Roll Over Beethoven, alongside Nigel Planer and Liza Goddard. Since then he appeared in a few further television roles.
A Russian scientist and a Czechoslovakian scientist had spent their
lives studying the grizzly bear. Each year they petitioned their
respective governments to allow them to go to Yellowstone to study
the
bears.
Finally their request was granted, and they immediately flew to
Yellowstone.
They reported to the ranger station and were told that it was the
grizzly mating season and it was too dangerous to go out and study
the
animals.
They pleaded that this was their only chance, and so finally the
ranger
relented. The Russian and the Czech were given portable phones and
told
to report in every day.
For several days they called in, and then nothing was heard from the
two
scientists. The rangers mounted a search party and found the camp
completely ravaged, with no sign of the missing men. Following the
trails of a male and a female bear, they finally caught up with the
female. Fearing an international incident, they decided they must
kill
the animal to find out if she had eaten the scientist.
They killed the female and opened the stomach to find the remains of
the
Russian. One ranger turned to the other
and said,
"You know what this means, don't you?"
The other ranger responded . . .
"I guess it means the Czech's in the male."
Good morning.
I saw Vincent Perez in Swept Away (scenes shown on Letty's video) and Indochine, and I agree.
and in remembrance of Sessue Hayakawa; Robert Cummings; Hattie McDaniel and Judy Garland on their day.
And a Good Day to all.
Thanks again, BioBob for the celeb background and I love the pun on "the check's in the mail".
Raggedy, ah, the way you do your thing. That is a great quartet of notables, and thanks for recognizing Vince Perez.
How about this one, folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD1OqjY829I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3pQubiUXD0
I came here with my own Bridge clip, not realizing you had posted one already, letty. I looked forward to Sessue Hayakawa's performances most of my life and felt I had to honor him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pQ-M6ruLK0
And how could you not love Hattie McDaniel?
edgar, I watched your clip twice. What a powerful performance by Sessue
Hayakawa and Alec Guinness.
Of course Hattie McDaniel was marvelous as well. Both of them made me a bit lachrymose. Are you surprised?
Thinking of the theme from GWTW, y'all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikVeY0brtXU
