Good morning, WA2K folks.
edgar, now I recall that song, and it is indeed a barber shop piece. Thanks, Texas, and a nice goodnight song by Bob as well. I am still amazed at what that man has done. Wigwam? who could tell.
Izzie, you have a wonderful sunday as well, lovely.
As promised, listeners, here is the acoustic version of "Till There Was You", and the lyrics to match.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSNogCdocvE
There were bells on the hill
But I never heard them ringing,
No, I never heard them at all
Till there was you.
There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
Till there was you.
And there was music,
And there were wonderful roses,
They tell me,
In sweet fragrant meadows of dawn, and dew.
There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
Till there was you!
A beautiful ballad
Nelson Eddy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Nelson Ackerman Eddy
June 29, 1901(1901-06-29)
Providence, Rhode Island
Died March 6, 1967 (aged 65)
Sans Souci Hotel, Palm Beach, Florida
Cause of death Cerebral hemorrage
Burial place Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Occupation Baritone, film star
Spouse Ann Denitz Franklin
Partner Jeanette MacDonald
Parents William Darius and Isabel Eddy nee Kendrick
Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 - March 6, 1967) was an American singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. Although he was a classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald.
During his 40-year career, he earned three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one each for film, recording, and radio), left his footprints in the wet cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater, earned three Gold records, and was invited to sing at the third inauguration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He also introduced millions of young Americans to classical music and inspired many of them to pursue a musical career.
Family Background
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the only child of William Darius Eddy and Isabel Kendrick Eddy. His father was a machinist and toolmaker whose work required him to move from town to town. Nelson grew up in Providence and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and in New Bedford, Massachusetts. As a boy, he was a redhead and quickly acquired the nickname "Bricktop." As an adult, his red hair was streaked with silver, so that his hair photographed as blond.
Nelson came from a musical family. His Atlanta-born mother was a church soloist, and his grandmother, Caroline Ackerman Kendrick, was a distinguished oratorio singer. His ancestry on his mother's side of the family was Russian Jewish[1], while he was New England English on his father's side. His father, William Darius Eddy, occasionally moonlighted as a stagehand at the Providence Opera House, sang in the church choir, played the drums, and performed in local productions such as H.M.S. Pinafore.
Eddy's parents divorced when he was 14. Eddy moved with his mother to Philadelphia, where her brother, Clark Kendrick, lived. His uncle helped Eddy secure a clerical job at the Mott Iron Works, a plumbing supply company. He later worked as a reporter with the Philadelphia Press, the Evening Public Ledger and the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. He also worked briefly as a copywriter at N.W. Ayer Advertising, but was dismissed for constantly singing on the job.
Early singing background
Throughout his teens, Eddy studied voice and imitated the recordings of baritones like Titta Ruffo, Scotti, Amato, Campanari, and Werrenrath. He gave recitals for women's groups and appeared in society theatricals, usually for little or no pay.
His first professional break came in 1922 when he was singled out by the press after an appearance in a society theatrical, The Marriage Tax, although his name had been omitted from the program.
In 1924, Eddy won the top prize in a competition that included a chance to appear with the Philadelphia Opera Society. Alexander Smallens, musical director of the Philadelphia Civic Opera and later assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, became interested in Eddy's career and coached him. (In a 1936 career profile of Eddy put out by Arthur Judson Concert Management, Smallens is credited with Nelson's "operatic success.")
By the late 1920s, Eddy was appearing with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company and had a repertoire of 28 operas, including Amonasro in Aida, Marcello in La bohème, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, both Tonio and Silvio in Pagliacci, and Wolfram in Tannhäuser. (William von Wymetal was the group's producer at this time, in association with Fritz Reiner who later directed the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra.) Eddy also performed in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas with The Savoy Company at the Broad Street Theatre in Philadelphia.
Eddy studied briefly with the noted teacher David Scull Bispham, a former Metropolitan Opera singer, but when Bispham died suddenly, Eddy became a student of William Vilonat. In 1927, Eddy borrowed some money and followed his teacher to Dresden for European study, which was then considered essential for serious American singers. He was offered a job with a small German opera company. Instead, he decided to return to America, where he concentrated on his concert career, making only occasional opera appearances during the next seven years. In 1928, his first concert accompanist was a young pianist named Theodore (Ted) Paxson, who became a close friend and remained his accompanist until Eddy's death 39 years later.
In the early 1930s, Eddy's principal teacher was Edouard Lippé, who followed him to Hollywood and appeared in a small role in Eddy's 1935 film Naughty Marietta. In his later years, Eddy frequently changed teachers, constantly trying new vocal techniques. He also had a home recording studio where he studied his own performances. It was his fascination with technology that inspired him to record three-part harmonies (soprano, tenor, baritone) for his role as a multiple-voiced singing whale in the animated Walt Disney feature, "The Whale that Sang at the Met", the concluding sequence in the 1946 feature film Make Mine Music.
With the Philadelphia Civic Opera, Eddy sang in the only American performance of Feuersnot by Richard Strauss (December 1, 1927) and in the first American performance of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos (November 1, 1928) with Helen Jepson. In Ariadne, Eddy sang the roles of the Wigmaker and Harlequin in the original German. He performed under Leopold Stokowski as the Drum Major in the second American performance of Alban Berg's Wozzeck on November 24, 1931.
At Carnegie Hall in New York, Christmas 1931, he sang in the world premiere of Maria Egiziaca (Mary in Egypt), unexpectedly conducted by the composer Ottorino Respighi himself when famed conductor Arturo Toscanini fell ill at the last minute. Years later, when Toscanini visited the MGM lot in California, Eddy greeted him by singing a few bars of Maria Egiziaca.
Eddy continued in occasional opera roles until his film work made it difficult to schedule appearances the requisite year or two in advance. Among his final opera performances were three with the San Francisco Opera in 1934, when he was still "unknown." Marjory M. Fisher of the San Francisco News wrote of his December 8, 1934 performance of Wolfram in Tannhäuser, "Nelson Eddy made a tremendously fine impression....he left no doubt in the minds of discerning auditors that he belongs in that fine group of baritones which includes Lawrence Tibbett, Richard Bonelli, and John Charles Thomas and which represents America's outstanding contribution to the contemporary opera stage."[citation needed] He also sang Amonasro in Aida on November 11, 1934 to similar acclaim. Elisabeth Rethberg, Giovanni Martinelli, and Ezio Pinza were in the cast. However, opera quietly faded from Eddy's schedule as films and highly lucrative concerts claimed more and more of his time.
When he resumed his concert career following his screen success, he made a point of delivering a traditional concert repertoire, performing his hit screen songs only as encores. He felt strongly that audiences needed to be exposed to all kinds of music.
Hollywood
Eddy was "discovered" by Hollywood when he substituted at the last minute for the noted diva, Lotte Lehmann, at a sold-out concert in Los Angeles on February 28, 1933. He scored a professional triumph with 18 curtain calls, and several film offers immediately followed. After much agonizing, he decided that being seen on screen might boost audiences for what he considered his "real work," his concerts. (Also, like his machinist father, he was fascinated with gadgets and the mechanics of the new talking pictures.) Eddy's concert fee rose from $500 to $10,000 per performance.
Eddy signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he would make the first 14 of his 19 feature films. His contract guaranteed him three months off each year to continue his concert tours. MGM was not sure how to use him, and he spent more than a year on salary with little to do. His voice can be heard singing "Daisy Belle" on the soundtrack of the 1933 Pete Smith short, Handlebars. He appeared and sang one song each in Broadway to Hollywood and Dancing Lady, both in 1933, and Student Tour in 1934. Audience response was favorable, and he was cast as the male lead opposite the established star Jeanette MacDonald in a film version of Victor Herbert's 1910 operetta Naughty Marietta.
Naughty Marietta was the surprise hit of 1935. Its key song, "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life," became a hit and earned Eddy his first Gold Record. He also sang "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" and "I'm Falling in Love with Someone." The film was nominated for an Oscar as Best Picture, received the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture, and was voted one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1935 by the New York film critics. Critics singled out Eddy for praise:
"A new star emerged on the Capitol screen." - New York Daily News.[citation needed]
"The screen has found a thrilling thrush, possessed not only of a rare vocal tone, but of a personality and form and features cast in the heroic mould." - New York American.[citation needed]
"Eddy is a brilliant baritone, masculine, engaging and good looking." - Richard Watts, Jr., in the New York Herald.[citation needed]
Eddy appeared in seven more MGM films with Jeanette MacDonald:
Rose Marie, 1936, is probably his most-remembered film. Eddy sang "Song of the Mounties" and "Indian Love Call" by Rudolf Friml. His definitive portrayal of the steadfast Mountie became a popular icon, frequently spoofed in cartoons and TV skits, and even generating travesties on stage (Little Mary Sunshine, 1959) and film (Dudley Do-Right, 1999). When the Mounties retired their classic red jackets and hat in 1970, hundreds of newspapers accompanied the story with a photo of Nelson Eddy as Sgt. Bruce in Rose Marie, made 34 years earlier.
Maytime, 1937, is regarded as one of Eddy's best films. "Will You Remember" by Sigmund Romberg brought Eddy another Gold Record. The New York Times thought Maytime "the most entrancing operetta the screen has given us
.it affirms Nelson Eddy's preeminence among the baritones of filmdom."[citation needed]
The Girl of the Golden West (1938) had an original score by Sigmund Romberg and reused the David Belasco stage plot also employed by Giacomo Puccini for La Fanciulla del West.
Eddy and MacDonald from the trailer for Sweethearts (1938)Sweethearts, 1938, was MGM's first three-strip Technicolor feature, incorporating Victor Herbert's 1913 stage score into a modern script by Dorothy Parker. It won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture of the Year.
New Moon, 1940, based on Sigmund Romberg's 1927 Broadway hit, became one of Eddy's most popular films. His key songs were "Lover, Come Back to Me," "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise," "Wanting You" and "Stout Hearted Men".
Bitter Sweet, 1940, was a Technicolor film version of Noël Coward's 1929 operetta. The love theme was "I'll See You Again." Eddy played a Viennese singing teacher who elopes with his pretty English pupil and takes her to live in Vienna.
I Married an Angel, 1942, adapted from the Rodgers and Hart stage musical about an angel who loses her wings on her wedding night, suffered from censorship problems. Eddy sang "Spring Is Here" and the title song.
Nelson Eddy also starred in films with other leading ladies:
Rosalie, 1937, with Eleanor Powell, offered a score by Cole Porter. In his first solo-starring film, the script called for Eddy to portray a football-playing West Point pilot who pursues a princess-in-disguise to Europe. Eddy recorded the title song.
Let Freedom Ring, 1937, with Virginia Bruce, was a Western. Eddy got to beat up rugged Oscar winner Victor McLaglen and preserve freedom and the American way from bad guys, a popular theme just before World War II.
Balalaika, 1939, with Ilona Massey, was based on the 1936 English operetta by George Posford and Bernard Grün. Eddy is a prince in disguise, in love with a commoner during the Russian Revolution. The title song became one of his standards.
The Chocolate Soldier, 1941, with Metropolitan Opera star Risë Stevens, was a stylish musical adaptation of Ferenc Molnár's The Guardsman. Eddy played a dual role and turned in one of his best performances.
Phantom of the Opera, 1943, was Eddy's first film after he left MGM at the end of his seven-year contract. This lavish Technicolor musical also starred Claude Rains as the Phantom and Susanna Foster as Christine.
Knickerbocker Holiday, 1944, was based on the popular stage musical by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson. It co-starred Charles Coburn (singing the classic "September Song") and Constance Dowling.
Make Mine Music, 1946, was a Walt Disney animated feature compilation. Eddy provided all the singing and speaking voices for the touching final segment, "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met," later released as a short, Willie, the Operatic Whale, by RKO in 1954. Using a technique based on his technical experiments with his home recording equipment, Eddy was able to sing sextets with himself on the soundtrack, providing all the voices from bass to soprano.
Northwest Outpost, 1947, co-starred Ilona Massey. Rudolf Friml provided the songs for a story of Fort Ross, a Russian settlement in the Wild West of California. It was made at Republic Studios and turned out to be Eddy's final film.
After Eddy and MacDonald left MGM in 1942, there were several unrealized films that would have reunited the team. Eddy signed with Universal in 1943 for a two-picture deal. The first was Phantom of the Opera and the second would have co-starred MacDonald. She filmed her two scenes for Follow the Boys then both stars severed ties with Universal, as Eddy was upset with how Phantom of the Opera turned out.
Among their later other proposed projects were East Wind; Crescent Carnival, a book optioned by MacDonald; and The Rosary, the 1910 best-seller--which Eddy had read as a teen and pitched to MGM as a "comeback" film for himself and MacDonald in 1948. Under the name "Isaac Ackerman" he wrote a biopic screenplay about Chaliapin, in which he was to play the lead and also a young Nelson Eddy, but it was never produced. He also wrote two movie treatments for himself and MacDonald, Timothy Waits for Love and All Stars Don't Spangle.
Recordings
Eddy made more than 290 recordings between 1935 and 1964, singing songs from his films, plus opera, folk songs, popular songs, Gilbert and Sullivan, and traditional arias from his concert repertoire. Since both he and screen partner Jeanette MacDonald were under contract to RCA Victor between 1935 and 1938, this allowed several popular duets from their films. In 1938, he signed with Columbia Records, which ended MacDonald-Eddy duets until a special LP album the two made together in 1957. He also recorded duets with his other screen partner Risë Stevens (The Chocolate Soldier) and for albums with Nadine Conner, Virginia Haskins, Doretta Morrow, Gale Sherwood, Eleanor Steber, and Jo Stafford.
Eddy's recordings drew rave reviews during the 1930s and 1940s, but it is a special tribute to his vocal technique that he continued to rate them into the 1960s. The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner on October 4, 1964 noted: "Nelson Eddy continues to roll along, physically and vocally indestructible. Proof is his newest recording on the Everest label, ?'Of Girls I Sing.' At the age of 63 and after 42 years of professional singing, Eddy demonstrates there has not been much change in his romantic and robust baritone?-the baritone that made him America's most popular singer in the early '30s."[citation needed]
War work
Like many performers, Eddy was active in "war work" during World War II, even before the United States entered the war. He did his first "war effort" concert on October 19, 1939 with Leopold Stokowski for Polish war relief. In 1942, he became an air raid warden and also put in long hours at the Hollywood Canteen. In 1943, he went on a two-month, 35,000-mile tour, giving concerts for military personnel in Belém and Natal, Brazil; Accra, Gold Coast; Aden; Asmara, Eritrea; Cairo (where he met King Farouk); Teheran, Iran; Casablanca; and the Azores. He also broadcast for the armed forces throughout the war.
Marriage
Eddy married Ann Denitz Franklin, former wife of noted director Sidney Franklin, on January 19, 1939. Her son, Sidney Jr., became Eddy's stepson, but she and Nelson had no children of their own. They were married for 27 years, until Nelson's death. Ann Eddy never remarried after Nelson's death and died on August 28, 1987. She is buried next to Nelson and his mother, Isabel, in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Eddy/MacDonald romance
John Kenneth Hilliard, a sound engineer backstage at MGM from 1933 to 1942, reported in 1981 that though Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald were a screen couple, they "hated each other with a vengeance".[2] Hilliard worked on Naughty Marietta and it is common knowledge that MacDonald's initial iciness toward Eddy almost caused Eddy to walk off that film. There were three film sets on which they battled off-screen including the second half of Rose Marie, after MacDonald's refusal to elope to Reno with Eddy; The Girl of the Golden West, filmed immediately after MacDonald's marriage and New Moon, filmed after Eddy's marriage. Nevertheless, an off-screen affair was verified from another MGM sound engineer who built Eddy's home recording equipment, and other MGM staff such as makeup artists William Tuttle and Fred Phillips. Contemporary magazine writer Sandy Reiss reported that a private trailer was set up for the two on Maytime and that the crew called them "the lovebirds". Other MGM co-workers claimed that Eddy and MacDonald were closest during the filming of Sweethearts and I Married an Angel. After the MGM years, their private lives fell off the Hollywood radar. Baritone Theodor Uppman, who won the Atwater Kent opera auditions and later sang at the Metropolitan Opera, saw Eddy and MacDonald at a 1947 party together, where the talk of the evening was the fact that MacDonald was pregnant with Eddy's child but he could not get a divorce.
A 2001 biography of Eddy and MacDonald, Sweethearts by Sharon Rich, claims that MacDonald's marriage to Gene Raymond was engineered by studio boss Louis B. Mayer to prevent Eddy from marrying MacDonald. Rich's original source for this information was Jeanette MacDonald's older sister Blossom Rock. The Eddy-MacDonald romance appears again in print in The Golden Girls of MGM by Jane Ellen Wayne. In these books, it is reported that Eddy's relationship with MacDonald began in late 1933 and continued, with a few breaks, until her death in 1965. Many of Eddy's personal letters and diary entries verifying a rocky romance with MacDonald are reproduced in Sweethearts, providing insight into his character and disproving some critics' claims that he was emotionally "wooden."
Radio and television
Eddy began his more than 600 radio appearances in the mid-1920s. The first may have been on December 26, 1924 at station WOO in Philadelphia. Besides his many guest appearances, he hosted The Voice of Firestone (1936), Vicks Open House (1936), The Chase and Sanborn Hour (1937-1939), and Kraft Music Hall (1947-1948). He had his own show on CBS in 1942-1943. Eddy frequently used his radio shows to advance the careers of promising young singers. While his programs often featured "serious" music, they were never straitlaced. It was in a series of comedy routines with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on the Chase and Sanborn Hour that Eddy's name became associated with the song "Shortnin' Bread," which was also included in the film Maytime.
On March 31, 1933 he performed the role of Gurnemanz in a broadcast of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal with Rose Bampton, conducted by Leopold Stokowski. During the 1940s, he was a frequent guest on Lux Radio Theater with Cecil B. DeMille, performing radio versions of Eddy's popular films.
In 1951, Eddy guest-starred on several episodes of The Alan Young Show on CBS-TV. In 1952, he recorded a pilot for a sitcom, Nelson Eddy's Backyard, with Jan Clayton, but it failed to find a network slot. On 12 November 1952, he surprised his former co-star Jeanette MacDonald when she was the subject of Ralph Edwards' This Is Your Life. On 30 November 1952, he was Ed Sullivan's guest on Toast of the Town.
During the next decade he guested on Danny Thomas's sitcom Make Room for Daddy and on variety programs such as The Bob Hope Show, The Edgar Bergen Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Spike Jones Show, The Rosemary Clooney Show, The Dinah Shore Show, and The Big Record with Patti Page. He was a frequent guest on talk shows, including The Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show with Jack Paar.
On 7 May 1955, Eddy starred in Max Liebman's 90-minute, live-TV version of Sigmund Romberg's The Desert Song on NBC-TV. It featured Gale Sherwood, Metropolitan Opera bass Salvatore Baccaloni, veteran film actor Otto Kruger, and the dance team of Bambi Lynn and Rod Alexander.
On December 31, 1966, a few months before his death, Eddy and his nightclub partner, Gale Sherwood, sang 15 songs on Guy Lombardo's traditional New Year's Eve program, telecast from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
Nightclub act
The advent of television made inroads in the once-lucrative concert circuits, and, in the early 1950s, Eddy had to consider future career options, eventually deciding to form a nightclub act. It premiered in January 1953 with singer Gale Sherwood as his partner and Ted Paxson as accompanist. Variety wrote, "Nelson Eddy, vet of films, concerts, and stage, required less than one minute to put a jam-packed audience in his hip pocket in one of the most explosive openings in this city's nitery history...Before Eddy had even started to sing, they liked him personally as a warm human being."[citation needed] The act continued for the next 15 years and made four tours of Australia.
Finale
Eddy visibly aged after the death of Jeanette MacDonald in January 1965. On January 31, 1960, he told Jack Paar on The Tonight Show that "I love her", [3] and he broke down when interviewed[4] after her death. According to Bob Hunter, Eddy's accompanist during his final Australian tour, Eddy sang a special song to MacDonald in every performance of his nightclub act.
In March 1967, Eddy was performing at the Sans Souci Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, when he was stricken on stage with a cerebral hemorrhage. His singing partner, Gale Sherwood, and his accompanist, Ted Paxson, were at his side. He died a few hours later in the early hours of March 6. He is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, next to his wife, Ann, who survived him by 20 years.
Eddy's meticulously annotated scores (some with his caricatures sketched in the margins) are now housed at Occidental College Music Library in Los Angeles. His personal papers and scrapbooks are at the University of Southern California Cinema/Television Library, also in Los Angeles.
Frank Loesser
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Frank Henry Loesser
June 29, 1910(1910-06-29)
New York City, New York
Died July 26, 1969 (aged 59)
New York City, New York
Occupation composer, lyricist, screenwriter, actor
Years active 1936 - 1969
Spouse(s) Lynn Garland (m.1936)
Jo Sullivan (m.1959)
Awards won
Academy Awards
Best Original Song
1949 Neptune's Daughter
for the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
Grammy Awards
Best Original Cast Show Album
1961 How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying
Tony Awards
Best Original Score
1951 Guys and Dolls
1962 How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying
Frank Henry Loesser (June 29, 1910, New York City - July 26, 1969, New York City) was an American composer and lyricist. He died of lung cancer at age 59.
During World War II, he wrote 1942's "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition". Formerly a successful lyricist in collaboration with other composers, this was the first song for which Loesser composed the melody in addition to the lyric.
Loesser was awarded a Grammy Award in 1961 for Best Original Cast Show Album for How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.
He wrote the following Broadway musicals:
Where's Charley? (1948) (starring Ray Bolger)
"Once in Love With Amy"
Guys and Dolls (1950)
"A Bushel and a Peck"
"Fugue for Tinhorns"
"I'll Know"
"If I Were A Bell", a favorite of Miles Davis, featured in recordings with John Coltrane
"Luck Be a Lady Tonight"
The Most Happy Fella (1956)
"Standing on the Corner"
"Big D"
"Somebody Somewhere"
"Joey, Joey"
Greenwillow (1960)
How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (1961)
"I Believe In You"
"The Brotherhood Of Man"
Pleasures and Palaces (1965)
Some well-known songs he composed for movies and Tin Pan Alley:
"Baby, It's Cold Outside" from Neptune's Daughter (1949). This was originally a song which Loesser and his wife Lynn (born Blankenbaker) performed at parties for the private entertainment of friends. They also recorded the song for Mercury Records. Under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to supply a full score for Neptune's Daughter, Loesser included this song which he had created in 1944, originally for their housewarming party.
"Heart and Soul" (from the Paramount Short Subject A Song is Born) -- lyrics
"I Don't Want to Walk Without You" (from the Paramount Pictures motion picture Sweater Girl)
"Inch Worm" (from the motion picture Hans Christian Andersen)
"(I'd Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China"
"Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year" (from the motion picture Christmas Holiday)
"Thumbelina" (from Hans Christian Andersen)
"Two Sleepy People" (music by Hoagy Carmichael, 1938)
"What are You Doing New Year's Eve?"
"Wonderful Copenhagen" (from Hans Christian Andersen), which is now the official song of the city of Copenhagen.
He was also the author of "The Ballad of Rodger Young".
2006 saw the release of the PBS documentary, Heart & Soul: The Life and Music of Frank Loesser.
Slim Pickens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Louis Burton (Bert) Lindley, Jr.
June 29, 1919(1919-06-29)
Kingsburg, California, U.S.
Died December 8, 1983 (aged 64)
Modesto, California ,U.S.
Spouse(s) Margaret (Maggie) Pickens
Slim Pickens (June 29, 1919 - December 8, 1983) was an American rodeo performer, and film and television actor, who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr. Strangelove and Blazing Saddles.
Life and career
Early life
Pickens was born Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. in Kingsburg, California, the son of Sally Mosher (née Turk) and Louis Bert Lindley, Sr. He was an excellent rider from age four and quit school to join the rodeo at age twelve. He was told that working in the rodeo would be "slim pickings" (very little money), giving him his name, but he did very well, eventually rising to become a well known rodeo clown ?- one of the most dangerous jobs in show business.
After twenty years on the rodeo circuit, his distintive Oklahoma-Texas drawl (even though he was a lifelong Californian), his wide eyes and moon face, and his strong physical presence and grace gained him a role in the western Rocky Mountain (1950), starring Errol Flynn. He subsequently appeared in many westerns, playing both villains and comic sidekicks to the likes of Rex Allen.
Movie career
Pickens appeared in dozens of films, including, Old Oklahoma Plains (1952), Down Laredo Way (1953), One-Eyed Jacks (1961) with Marlon Brando, Major Dundee (1965) with Charlton Heston, the remake of Stagecoach (1966; Pickens played the driver, portrayed in the 1939 film by Andy Devine), The Cowboys (1972) with John Wayne, Ginger in the Morning (1974) with Fred Ward, Blazing Saddles (1974), Poor Pretty Eddy (1975), Rancho Deluxe (1975), The Getaway, with Steve McQueen, Tom Horn (1980) also with McQueen, An Eye for an Eye (1966) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) in a small but memorable and moving role. He also had a small role in Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979) in scenes with Toshiro Mifune and Christopher Lee. In 1978, Pickens lent his voice to theme park Silver Dollar City as a character named Rube Dugan for a ride called "Rube Dugan's Diving Bell". The Diving Bell was a simulation ride that took passengers on a journey to the bottom of Lake Silver and back. The ride was in operation from 1978 to 1984. He also played werewolf sheriff Sam Newfield in The Howling (1981).
Pickens was offered the part of Dick Hallorann in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining. He refused, saying that filming with Kubrick on Dr. Strangelove was too strenuous. He later relented, saying that he would appear in the film as long as Kubrick was contractually required to shoot Pickens' scenes in fewer than 100 takes a shot. However, the role eventually went to Scatman Crothers.
Another memorable role was that of Taggart, head of the gang of cowboy thugs in Mel Brooks' classic 1974 comedy Blazing Saddles:
"What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is a-goin' on here?! I hired you people to try to git a little track laid, not to jump around like a bunch of Kansas City faggots!"
The next year, Pickens was in another western, playing the evil limping bank robber in Walt Disney's The Apple Dumpling Gang. He provided the voice of B.O.B. in the late '70's Disney Sci-Fi movie thriller The Black Hole. Pickens also lent his voice to the 1938 children's radio show The Cinnamon bear, where he plays a singing cowboy.
Dr. Strangelove
Pickens' most noted role was as B-52 pilot Major T. J. "King" Kong in Dr. Strangelove. Stanley Kubrick cast Pickens after his first choice for the role of Major Kong, Peter Sellers, broke his leg and was unable to perform the role[1]. Pickens was chosen because his accent and comic sense were perfect for the role of Kong, an absurdly patriotic and gung-ho B-52 commander. Pickens was not told that the movie was a black comedy, but was instructed to play the role straight. He was also not given the script to the entire film, but only those portions in which he played a part. Pickens is best remembered for three scenes:[citation needed]
Reading aloud to his crew the contents of their survival kits (possibly the first mention of condoms in a Hollywood film);
The film ends with Pickens riding a dropped H-bomb to a certain death, as if the bomb were a rodeo bronco and waving his ten gallon hat. Its detonation will trigger the end of the world;
When he receives the definitive inflight order to bomb a strategic target within the USSR, he addresses his crew as follows:
"Well, boys, I reckon this is it ?- nuclear combat toe to toe with the Rooskies. Now look, boys, I ain't much of a hand at makin' speeches, but I got a pretty fair idea that something doggone important is goin' on back there. And I got a fair idea the kinda personal emotions that some of you fellas may be thinkin.' Heck, I reckon you wouldn't even be human bein's if you didn't have some pretty strong personal feelin's about nuclear combat. I want you to remember one thing, the folks back home is a-countin' on you and by golly, we ain't about to let 'em down. I tell you something else, if this thing turns out to be half as important as I figure it just might be, I'd say that you're all in line for some important promotions and personal citations when this thing's over with. That goes for ever' last one of you regardless of your race, color or your creed. Now let's get this thing on the hump ?- we got some flyin' to do."
Pickens credited Dr. Strangelove as a turning point in his career. Before 'Dr. Strangelove' he was "HEY YOU" on sets, and after it, he was addressed as "Mr. Pickens." "After 'Dr. Strangelove,' the roles, the dressing rooms, and the checks all started gettin' bigger." He claimed to be amazed at the difference a single movie could make.
Recording Artist
Pickens lent his voice to the 1975 studio recording of Bobby Bridger's collection of Western ballads A Ballad of the West, in which he narrated part 1, Seekers of the Fleece, the story of Jim Bridger and the Mountain Man Fur Trade Era. Slim's interest in this project blossomed in 1970 when his daughter, Daryle Ann, was cast in Max Evans independent film The Wheel. Evans had also hired Jim Bridger's great, grand-nephew, Bobby Bridger, to sing the theme song of his film. Aware of her father's interest in mountain men, Daryle Ann set up a meeting for them, and Slim immediately volunteered to narrate the heroic couplets. In July, Bobby, Slim, and the Lost Gonzo Band recorded Seekers of the Fleece outside of Denver in a tipi studio, where Slim's old mountain man pal Timberjack Joe had decorated with grizzly bear robes and beaver pelts to set the mood. The pair kept the musicians entertained with yarns, and everyone was happy when Ramblin' Jack Elliot showed up and joined in to help with background vocals.
Television
He also appeared many times on television, both in guest shots, and in regular roles in The Legend of Custer, Bonanza, Hee Haw, B.J. and the Bear, and Filthy Rich (1982). He played the owner of station WJM, Wild Jack Monroe, on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Awards
In 1982, Pickens was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Personal life
In his last years, Pickens lived with his wife in Columbia, Tuolumne County in California. Slim was an accomplished civilian pilot with a multi-engine rating. He enjoyed flying in a green U.S. Air Force flight suit while wearing a cowboy hat, similar to the wardrobe worn in Dr. Strangelove. He died at the age of 64, after surgery for a brain tumor. Rex Allen attended his funeral.
Picken's brother, Samuel T. Lindley, acted under the name Easy Pickens. His most notable appearance was as "Easy" in Sam Peckinpah's The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970).
Gary Busey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born William Gareth Jacob Busey, Sr.
June 29, 1944 (1944-06-29) (age 64)
Goose Creek, Texas, U.S.
Spouse(s) Tiani Warden (September 23, 1996-2001) (divorced)
Judy Helkenberg (December 30, 1968-1990) (divorced) 1 child
Awards won
BAFTA Awards
Won: Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Role (1978) for The Buddy Holly Story
Golden Globe Awards
Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (1978) for The Buddy Holly Story
William Gareth Jacob "Gary" Busey, Sr. (born June 29, 1944) is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-nominated American film and stage actor, as well as an artist. He has appeared in a number of films, including The Buddy Holly Story, Big Wednesday, Lethal Weapon, Point Break, The Firm and Under Siege.
Biography
Personal life
Busey was born in Goose Creek (now Baytown), Texas, the son of Virginia (née Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmer Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager.[1] He graduated from Nathan Hale Highschool in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He attended Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas on a bowling scholarship where he became interested in acting. He is listed as one of the university's "outstanding alumni."[2] He then transferred to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, where he quit school just one class short of graduation. In 1971, wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to his son, fellow actor Jake Busey. Gary and Judy divorced when Jake was nineteen. On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. His skull was fractured and doctors feared he suffered permanent brain damage.[3] Busey has spoken out as being a Born Again Christian as a result of a near-death experience he had resulting from his motorcycle accident.[4] He currently lives in Malibu.
Career
Busey began his show-business career as a drummer in the "Rock Band" Funky Street Beats. He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the name "Sprunk", a character he created when he was a cast member of a local television comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting (which starred fellow Tulsan Gailard Sartain as "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi"). He played in a band called Carp, who released one album on Epic Records in 1969.[5] Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s. In 1975, as the character "Harvey Daley" he was the last person killed on the series Banging Our Heads with Trash Lids (in the third to the last episode, No. 633 - "The Los Carnales").
In 1978, he starred as Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper. The movie earned Busey an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. In the same year he also starred in the critically-acclaimed surfing movie Big Wednesday.
In the 1980s, Busey's roles included Silver Bullet (adapted from Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King), Insignificance,and Lethal Weapon. In the movie, D.C. Cab, Busey portrayed the character, Dell. Dell, much like Busey at the time, was self-absorbed and using drugs regularly. At one point of D.C. Cab, Dell is singing along with a cassette recording of Gary Busey singing the song, Why Baby Why (which Busey recorded, but still remains unreleased)[6]. In the 1990s, he appeared in Predator 2, Rookie of the Year, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Under Siege, The Firm and Point Break.
Throughout the 70's and 90's, Busey would occasionally perform live. Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in March of 1979 and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 90's.
In 2002, Busey voiced the character Phil Cassidy in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, then again in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in 2006.
Gary Busey appeared in the 2006 Turkish film, Valley of the Wolves Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak, in Turkish). The film, accused of anti-Americanism,[7] and anti-Semitism,[8] tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq, and brought into check by a brave Turkish soldier; Gary Busey plays a Jewish-American Army doctor who harvests fresh organs from injured Iraqi prisoners to sell to rich patients in New York, London and Tel Aviv.
In 2007, he appeared as "himself" on HBO's Entourage. Producers at HBO asked Busey to play a "character" on the show who was the self-named actor who is also a famous painter and sculptor. Although Busey is not actually a painter, he does love to sing and write music.
Busey was once again 'front and center' in the media, when during the E! broadcast of the 2008 Oscar red carpet pre-show, he interrupted host Ryan Seacrest's interview with Jennifer Garner and Laura Linney. Busey proceeded to give Garner a hug and kissed her neck, to which Garner expressed her distaste moments later. Busey later apologized for the incident.
Busey recently took part in a photo shoot done by famed photographer Tyler Shields where Gary was put in a straight jacket. The shoot was reportedly for Tyler's book called the dirty side of glamour. The proceeds from which are to be given to charity. A reporter from Inside Edition was there to cover the shoot and speak with Gary about his upcoming projects but the program chose to edit together raw clips from the interview to show more of Gary's crazy side.
The video clip and its many offshoots an re-edits have made their way around the net. Posted on sites such as Insideedition.com,[9] Filmdrunk.com[10] and the photographer's own site Tylershields.com.[11] Adding to the speculation that Gary might not be as insane as he appears, many bloggers and websites have begun to wonder if he is simply pretending to be so eccentric or if he really is as off the wall and unabashed as he seems.
Busey has recently starred in several advertisements for the upcoming video game Saints Row 2, entitled "Street Lessons with Uncle Gary".
