Great, edgar. I know that our dads who are listening will appreciate it.
Hey, folks, instead of singling out one celebrity, how about a tribute to those who left us too soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXCGJn_eG8w
Now it's time for Jane Morgan. I think she had just the one hit song, but, what a song.
Fascination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef1GGEgdJ-k
edgar, I love that song, but I simply do not remember Jane Morgan. I suppose a bunch of folks sang it, Texas.
Speaking of remembering; anyone remember Jules Verne's book "Around the World in Eighty Days"?
The movie adaptation has been done twice.
Here's a funny video with the theme song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K56DTYxV9to
David Rose
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Background information
Born June 15, 1910(1910-06-15), London, England
Died August 23, 1990 (aged 80) Burbank, California
Occupation(s) songwriter, composer, arranger, and orchestra leader
Years active 1940s-1990??
David Rose (June 15, 1910 - August 23, 1990) was a British-born American songwriter, composer, arranger, and orchestra leader. His most famous compositions were "The Stripper", "Holiday for Strings", and "Calypso Melody". He also wrote music for the television series Little House on the Prairie and Bonanza. In addition, Rose was musical director for the Red Skelton show during its 21-year-run on the CBS and NBC networks. He was a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music.
Recipient of four Emmy awards, David Rose was born in London to Jewish parents and raised in Chicago, Illinois.
He was married on October 8, 1938, to the actress Martha Raye. They were divorced on May 19, 1941.
He was married for a second time, on July 28, 1941, to the actress and singer Judy Garland. They had no children, though Garland reportedly underwent at least one abortion during the marriage, at the insistence of her mother, her husband, and the studio that employed her, MGM. Garland and Rose divorced in 1945.
He had two daughters with his third wife, Betty Bartholomew. His granddaughter is singer-songwriter Samantha James.
Rose was a live steam hobbyist, with his own backyard railroad.
Rose died in Burbank, California at the age of 80 and was buried in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.
"The Stripper" was composed by Rose and recorded in 1962. It evinces a jazz influence with especially prominent trombone lines, and evokes the feel of music used to accompany striptease artists. The piece features in the films Slap Shot, The Full Monty and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit as well as TV series Little Britain and Scrubs. It was also famously used in a parody by British comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, where they danced to the tune while making breakfast. It also is often used in cartoons and sitcoms when an attractive female enters a room.
"Holiday for Strings" became well-known as the theme for Red Skelton's programs. It was also recorded as a vocal by Allan Sherman, with the straight melody but with ersatz lyrics comprised solely of the names of the American states.
Lash La Rue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lash La RueLash La Rue (June 14, 1917-May 21, 1996) was a movie actor noted for his roles in low-budget Westerns.
Early life and education
Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna, Louisiana, USA of Cajun ancestry, he was raised in various towns throughout Louisiana but in his teens the family moved to Los Angeles, California where he attended St. John's Military Academy.
Films
He began acting in films in 1944 as Al La Rue, appearing in two musicals and a serial before being given a role in a Western film that would result in him being cast in a cowboy persona for virtually the rest of his career. He was given the name Lash because of the 18-foot-long bullwhip he used to help bring down the bad guys. The popularity of his first role as the Cheyenne Kid, a sidekick of singing cowboy hero Eddie Dean, not just brandishing a whip but using it expertly to disarm villains, paved the way for La Rue to be featured in his own series of Western films. After appearing in all three of the Eddie Dean Cinecolor singing Westerns in 1945/46, he starred in quirky B-westerns from 1947 to 1951, at first for Poverty Row studio PRC, and later for producer Ron Ormond. La Rue developed his image as a cowboy hero dressed all in black and inherited from Buster Crabbe a comic sidekick in the form of "Fuzzy Q. Jones" played by the great Al St. John.
La Rue was different from the usual cowboy hero of the era; dressed in black, he spoke with a "city tough-guy" accent, somewhat like that of Humphrey Bogart, whom he resembled. His use of a bullwhip, however, was what set him apart from bigger cowboy stars such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. His influence was felt throughout the dying medium of B-westerns; for example, he had an imitator, Whip Wilson, who starred in his own brief series, and even Roy Rogers started picking up and using a bullwhip in some of his Republic Studios westerns made in the same period.
La Rue also made frequent personal appearances at small-town movie theaters that were showing his films during his heyday of 1948-1951, becoming the only cowboy star most children of the time ever got to see and meet in person. His skillful displays of stunts with his whip, done live on movie theater stages, also convinced young western fans that there was at least one cowboy hero who could do in real life the same things he did on screen.
Lash La Rue Western comic books were published first by Fawcett Comics and later by Charlton Comics, between 1949 and 1961. They were among the most popular western-themed comics of the era, running for more than 100 (usually monthly) issues. For a time he was married to Reno Browne, a B-western actress, who together with Dale Evans was one of only two western actress to ever have their own comic book fashioned after her character. Lash was also married to Barbara Fuller who was an acomplished actress of both radio (Clauda on "One Man's Family,") and motion pictures and Television having played opposit Charles Boyer. Lash LaRue comic books sold over one million each around the world and many of them featured Lash and Barbara's godson J.P. Sloane.
In the later 1950s, he appeared in featured roles in a number of episodes of the television series 26 Men and Judge Roy Bean as well as having a continuing role as Sheriff Johnny Behan on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. However, after decades of popularity, interest in westerns faded and La Rue was forced to make a living from appearances at conventions for western film buffs and sometimes as an evangelist on the rodeo and country-music circuit. Problems with the Internal Revenue Service made it difficult for LaRue to work. A role as the villain in a pornographic western, Hard on the Trail, led him to repentance as a missionary for ten years, as he had not been informed of the adult nature of the film and would not have consented had he known (he did not appear in any pornographic scenes). The film was released without the pornographic scenes and retitled Hard Trail to eliminate the double entendre.[1] Late in his career, he appeared in two low-budget horror films shot in the South, Alien Outlaw and The Dark Power. In the latter, he plays a park ranger who makes extensive use of the bullwhip to battle wild dogs and attacking zombies.
La Rue was also noted for instructing Harrison Ford in how to use the bullwhip for the Indiana Jones movies.
La Rue often returned to his native Louisiana, where he was a regular at the jam sessions at the Dew Drop Inn in New Orleans. In his autobiography, Backbeat, drummer Earl Palmer recalls:
"Lots of white people wanted to come to the Dew Drop. Most were turned away, but they let a few in. Every time the cowboy actor Lash La Rue came in town, he came by. He played a hell of a guitar and was a regular guy that people liked."
La Rue died in Burbank, California and is believed to be interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Trivia
Professional wrestler John LeRoux borrowed his ring name from La Rue, dubbing himself "Lash LeRoux" in 1999.
In the film Pulp Fiction, Winston Wolf refers to Vincent Vega as Lash LaRue and asks if he can keep his spurs from jingling and jangling.
He was mentioned in The Statler Brothers song "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?"
He is mentioned in the Tom Paxton song "My Pony Knows the Way."
In the Rockford Files episode 'A Material Difference', Jim asks if Angel is moonlighting as Lash LaRue.
He was one of several people injured by a tornado while in attendance at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, MO on August 20, 1952.
James Belushi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born James Adam Belushi
June 15, 1954 (1954-06-15) (age 54)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Other name(s) "Funniest Living Belushi"[1]
Occupation Film, television actor
Spouse(s) Jennifer Sloan (1998 - present) 2 children
Marjorie Bransfield (1990 - 1992; divorced)
Sandra Davenport (1980 - 1988; divorced) 1 child
James Adam Belushi (born June 15, 1954) is an American actor, comedian, musician and younger brother of the late comedian John Belushi. Belushi stars in the sitcom According to Jim.
Biography
Early life
James Belushi was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Agnes B. (née Samaras), a first-generation Albanian American who worked as a cashier,[2] and Adam Belushi, an Albanian immigrant and restaurant operator[3] who left his native village, Qytezë, in 1934 at the age of fifteen.[4] After graduating from Wheaton Central High School, Belushi attended the College of DuPage and graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in Speech and Theater Arts.
Career
From 1977 to 1980 Belushi, like his older brother, John Belushi, worked with the Chicago theater group The Second City. During this period, Belushi made his television debut in the 1978's Who's Watching the Kids and also had a small part in Brian De Palma's The Fury. His first significant role was in Michael Mann's Thief (1981). After his elder brother John's death, from 1983 to 1985, he appeared on Saturday Night Live; he portrayed characters such as Hank Rippy from "Hello, Trudy!", and "That White Guy". Belushi also appears in the film Trading Places as a drunk man in a gorilla suit during a New Year's Eve party.
Belushi rose to greater prominence with his supporting roles in About Last Night..., Salvador, and Little Shop of Horrors (as Patrick Martin) (all 1986) which opened up opportunities for lead roles. He has starred in films including Real Men (1987), The Principal (1987), Red Heat (1988), Homer and Eddie, K-9 (1989) which starred a real life police dog from Kansas City, Missouri named Koton (played as "Jerry Lee" and was later killed in police action in 1991) and produced two sequels that were released straight to video; K-911 (1999) starring Mac, Sonto & Reno as "Jerry Lee" and K-9: P.I. (2002) starring King as "Jerry Lee", Dimenticare Palermo (1989), Taking Care of Business (1990), Mr. Destiny (1990), Curly Sue (1991), Wild Palms (1993), Royce (1994), Race the Sun (1996), Retroactive (1997), Gang Related (1997), and Angel's Dance (1999).
His voice work includes The Mighty Ducks, Babes in Toyland, and Hey Arnold!, and the more recent Hoodwinked and The Wild. He also lended his vocal talents for 9: The Last Resort (a PC game released in 1995), in which he portrayed 'Salty' a coarse yet helpful character. On January 4, 2001, Belushi appeared on the ER episode "Piece of Mind". The episode focused on both Dr. Mark Greene's life-or-death brain surgery in New York and Belushi's character, who had been in a car accident with his son in Chicago. Belushi's performance contributed to his reemergence in the public eye, and the following year he was cast as the titular role in ABC's According to Jim. His first animation voice-over was as a pimple on Krum's head in "Ahhhh! Real Monsters" on Nickelodeon. That performance led him to be cast in the continuing role as Simon, the Monster Hunter, in that series where he ad-libbed much of his dialogue.
In 2003, Belushi and Dan Aykroyd released the album Have Love, Will Travel, and participated in an accompanying tour. He also performs at various venues nationwide as Zee Blues in an updated version of The Blues Brothers. He had his first book released, Real Men Don't Apologize, Real Women Don't Sass Back, in May, 2006.
Recently, Belushi was a narrator of an NFL offensive linemen commercial. Belushi also introduced the starting lineups for the University of Illinois football team during ABC's telecast of the 2008 Rose Bowl.
Personal life
Belushi has married three times and has three children. He married Sandra Davenport on May 17, 1980 and had a son, Robert (born 1981), with her. He later married Marjorie Bransfield on September 22, 1990, but divorced in April 1992. He is currently married to Jennifer Sloan, since May 2, 1998. Together they have a daughter, Jamison Bess (born 1999), and son, Jared James (born 2002). Belushi is an Albanian Orthodox Christian.[5]
On November 2, 2004 Belushi filed a lawsuit against actress and neighbor Julie Newmar.[6] Belushi claimed that Newmar was trying to drive him from his home by blaring loud music directed at his house, bad-mouthing him to neighbors, and destroying his property. Newmar claimed she was the victim of Belushi and had been suffering for many years, ever since he moved next door to her. In January 2006, the two announced they had settled their differences out-of-court, and later that year Newmar guest-starred on an episode of According to Jim ("The Grumpy Guy") that poked fun at the feud by having Newmar play a neighbor who annoys Belushi's character.[7]
Belushi is a die hard Chicago Cubs fan and also is a dedicated fan of home town football team the Chicago Bears. Jim has more recently confessed to also being a fan of the Chicago Fire. He drops in for big games at home games of those teams when in his native Chicago. Belushi appeared in Santo's documentary, This Old Cub.
Helen Hunt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Helen Elizabeth Hunt
June 15, 1963 (1963-06-15) (age 45)
Culver City, California, USA
Spouse(s) Hank Azaria (1999-2000)
Domestic partner(s) Matthew Carnahan (2001-present)
Awards won
Academy Awards
Best Actress
1997 As Good as It Gets
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 Mad About You
Golden Globe Awards
Best TV Actress - Comedy/Musical
1994, 1995, 1997 Mad About You
Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy
1998 As Good as It Gets
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1997 As Good as It Gets
Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an American Emmy-, Golden Globe-, and Academy Award-winning actress, widely known for her role in the television sitcom Mad About You and her Academy Award-winning role in As Good As It Gets. She has starred in several Hollywood films, including Trancers, the direct-to-video sequels Trancers II & III, Twister, What Women Want, and Pay It Forward.
Biography
Early life
Hunt was born in Culver City, California, the daughter of Jane Elizabeth (née Novis), a photographer, and Gordon Hunt, a film director and acting coach.[1][2] Her uncle, Peter H. Hunt, is also a director, and her maternal grandmother, Dorothy Fries (née Anderson) was a voice coach.[1][3] Hunt is of Jewish (from her paternal grandmother)[4] and Methodist background.[5] Hunt spent part of her childhood in New York City and later attended the University of California at Los Angeles.[6]
Career
Hunt began working in the 1970s as a child actress. Her early roles included an appearance as Murray Slaughter's daughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, alongside Lindsay Wagner in an episode of The Bionic Woman, and a regular role in the television series The Swiss Family Robinson. She appeared as a marijuana-smoking classmate on an episode of The Facts of Life. She also appeared as a young woman who, while on PCP, jumps out of a second-story window in a 1982 after school special called Desperate Lives (a scene which she mocked during a Saturday Night Live monologue in 1994).[7] In the mid-1980s, she had a recurring role on St. Elsewhere as Clancy Williams, girlfriend of Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison. She remains best known for one of her earliest roles as Jennie in Bill: On His Own, costarring Mickey Rooney.
In the 1990s, after the lead female role in the short-lived My Life and Times, Hunt became well-known to television audiences in Mad About You, winning Emmy Awards for her performance in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. Hunt has also had a successful film career, with roles in movies such as Cast Away and the 1996 blockbuster Twister.
In 1998 Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Carol Connelly, a waitress and single mother who finds herself falling in love with Melvin Udall, an obsessive-compulsive romance novelist played by Jack Nicholson in the movie As Good as It Gets. After winning the Academy Award she took several years off from movie work to play Viola in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Lincoln Center in New York City.[8]
In 2000, Hunt returned to the screen in four films: Dr. T & the Women with Richard Gere, Pay It Forward with Kevin Spacey & Haley Joel Osment, What Women Want with Mel Gibson, and Cast Away with Tom Hanks. In 2003, she returned to Broadway in Yasmina Reza's Life x 3.[8] Hunt was also a final candidate for the role of "Clarice Starling" in Hannibal, after Jodie Foster decided not to reprise her Oscar winning role from The Silence of the Lambs. However, Hunt lost the role to Julianne Moore at the last minute. In 2006, Hunt appeared in a small role in the film Bobby.
Hunt is a director, having helmed several episodes of Mad About You, including the series finale. Her big-screen directorial debut came with the film Then She Found Me, in which she also starred.[1]
She currently owns a production company with Connie Tavel, Hunt/Tavel Productions under Sony Pictures Entertainment.[1]
Personal life
Hunt was married to actor Hank Azaria from 1999 until 2000.[1] She has been in a relationship with Matthew Carnahan since 2001 and they have a daughter, Makena Lei Gordon Carnahan, born in 2004.[9][1]
Filmography and awards
Hunt has been recognized extensively in her career. In 1998 she joined Liza Minnelli and Helen Mirren as the three actresses to win a Golden Globe Award, an Academy Award and an Emmy Award in the same year. Hunt was nominated for an Emmy Award for lead actress in a comedy seven years in a row, from 1993 through 1999, winning in the last four years.[10] She is the only actress to win four consecutive Emmys[10] and to win four Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.[citation needed]
"Mad Wife Disease"
A guy was sitting quietly reading his paper when
his wife walked up behind him and whacked him
on the head with a magazine.
'What was that for?' he asked.
'That was for the piece of paper in your pants
pocket with the name Laura Lou written on it, '
she replied.
'Two weeks ago when I went to the races, Laura
Lou was the name of one of the horses I bet on,'
he explained.
'Oh honey, I'm sorry,' she said. 'I should have
known there was a good explanation. '
Three days later he was watching a ball game
on TV when she walked up and hit him in the
head again, this time with the iron skillet, which
knocked him out cold.
When he came to, he asked, 'What the hell
was that for?"
'Your horse called.'
Hey, BioBob, thanks for the celeb background. Too bad about the guy. He should have been quicker, right?
Let's listen to some holiday strings, folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7u0HzgmVNc
That's funny, Bob.
Quit that horsing around, Letty.
I remember Jane Morgan. I have a vinyl album of her stashed away somewhere. She had a lovely voice.
Bio pics:
Edvard Grieg (loved the musical "Song of Norway" which put lyrics to his music); David Rose; Lash LaRue; Waylon Jennings (see link to Youtube below); James Belushi and Helen Hunt
Love this Dan Seals song by Tom Jones (I'm not a Tom Jones fan, but he does it beautifully). It was featured in the movie "Skyward" with Bette Davis who in the movie teaches a wheelchair bound girl how to pilot a plane. I believe Dan Seals sang it in the movie. Waylon's recording was the hit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_5f0Kgty38
Hey, Raggedy. Great montage today, PA. (resisting the urge to play, "A horse is a horse, of course, of course"
)
Wow! that song by Mr. and Mrs. Jennings was truly beautiful. Thanks for playing it, puppy.
I had no idea that James Belushi was Albanian. Had to go to a map to find the country was NW of Greece.
I decided to play an Albanian song in honor of James. Perhaps someone can do the translation. (sure they can)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahG5Ol66PdQ
I also recall trying to find The Song of Norway lyrics for Cyracuz. Remember him, y'all?
I remember trying to find the lyrics. No luck.
"Strange Music" became very popular after the Broadway production of "Song of Norway", but I can't find it on Youtube. (Florence Henderson made her debut in the movie version.)
Strange Music
Musical adaptation by Robert Wright and George Forrest
(Based on "Nocturne" and "Wedding Day" In Troldhaugen" by Evard Grieg)
Strange music in my ears
Only now as you spoke, did it start.
Strange music of the spheres
Could it's lovely hum be coming from my heart?
You appear and I hear song sublime
Song that I'm incapable of.
So Dear, let me hold you near
While we treasure ev'ry measure,
So that time can never change
The strange, new music of love
GREAT!
I wonder what Mr. Grieg would have thought of this one that was also featured in "Song of Norway".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBUdf4bvyA4
Raggedy, this has been an amazing day. I know that funny little song and dance number, and I have never seen The Song of Norway at all. Loved that one.
Welcome back, Francis and Happy father's day. Hmmm, so you have seen What Women Want? Even Freud didn't know the answer to that one.
Well, from a goldfish's perspective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEpZTRy-qCM
Well, I tried to find the traditional song of "Don't Let the Deal Go Down" because I wanted to dedicate it to my father, but no luck.
He loved this one, so this is for you, Daddy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoEPajtj2cA
