One time Harry Belafonte employed Bob Dylan to play harmonica in some recording sessions. After the first song, Dylan walked. I don't know all the particulars. The song they completed appeared on the album, Midnight Special. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1VuXMcyqOA&feature=related
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firefly
1
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Sat 2 Aug, 2008 04:39 pm
Listening to edgar's Belafonte song I noticed this one which I haven't heard in a long time.
firefly, Larry Adler was excellent, and what a shame that the McCarthey era had to label so many great performers as red. (red has a different political meaning now)
edgar and RH, I had forgotten about Mickey so I found this little blurb:
Before Mickey Gilley opened 'Gilley's', the only people who wore cowboy hats were, well, cowboys. Before Gilley's, the only people who listened to country music were country people. If the shrine of country music might rightly be claimed by the Grand Ole Opry, then Gilley's was surely its honky-tonk halfway house.
I wasn't familiar with edgar's song, but knew immediately "You Don't Know Me". Thanks guys
Well, folks, today is Tony Bennett's birthday so I thought that I would play a neat song by him and Michael.
I could happily spend the day just listening to Tony Bennett.
Today is also Martha Stewart's birthday. The domestic diva always advocates perfection, and makes it look so easy, so it's fun to see a different side of her.
firefly, you forgot her biggest blooper of all, and that would be insider trading which cost so many people their jobs.
Here's one by a great vocalist, but the lyrics betray the definition of "white lies" which means small untruths that one tells a person to keep from hurting their feelings.
Hope this works, folks, as I have yet again experienced a Bill Gates blooper.
In all fairness to Martha, Letty, she was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements--she lied about a stock sale, but was not found guilty of insider trading. I'm not sure her actions really cost anyone their jobs. The business empire she heads employs far more people than would ever have been unemployed due to her crimes. The woman did her prison time, and continues to suffer repercussions for her actions--I think that's sufficient for what she did.
Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 - April 18, 1945) was an American journalist who wrote as a roving correspondent for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain from 1935 until his death in combat during World War II. Ernie Pyle was the uncle to the actor Denver Pyle, famous for his role of Uncle Jesse on the Dukes of Hazard. His articles, about the out-of-the-way places he visited and the people who lived there, were written in a folksy style much like a personal letter to a friend. He enjoyed a loyal following in as many as 300 newspapers.
Early life and World War I
Pyle was born on a tenant farm near Dana, Indiana. When he was almost 18 years old, he briefly joined the United States Navy Reserve. World War I ended soon after, so Pyle only served for three months.
After the First World War, Pyle attended Indiana University, traveled to the Orient with fraternity brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and edited the student newspaper?-but he did not graduate.[1] Instead, with a semester left to graduate, Pyle accepted a job at a paper in LaPorte, Ind. He worked there three months before moving to Washington, D.C. A tabloid newspaper, the Washington Daily News, founded in 1921, had hired Pyle as a reporter.[2] All of the editors were young, including Editor-in-Chief John M. Gleissner (one of Warren G. Harding's drinking buddies), Lee G. Miller (author of An Ernie Pyle Album - Indiana to Ie Shima), Charles M. Egan, Willis "June" Thornton, and Paul McCrea.[3] Pyle was named managing editor of the Washington Daily News, and served in that post for three years, all the while fretting that he was unable to do any writing. In 1926, Pyle tired of work at a desk in the news room, quit his job, and headed out on the road to see America with his new wife in a Ford roadster.[4]
The opportunity to return to writing came after he spent time on a leisurely trip to California to recuperate from a severe bout of influenza. Upon his return, it was suggested that he write some columns about his trip to fill in for the vacationing syndicated columnist Heywood Broun. The series of 11 columns was a hit. G.B. ("Deac") Parker, editor in chief of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain, said he had found in Pyle's vacation articles "a Mark Twain quality that knocked my eye out". Pyle was relieved of his duties as a managing editor and began writing a national column for the Scripps-Howard Alliance group. He wandered around the country and the Americas in his car, writing columns about the unusual places and people he met in his ramblings. Select columns were later compiled and published in Home Country. Nevertheless, Pyle suffered from fits of deep depression, never satisfied with the quality of his writing.[5] In 1928 he became the country's first aviation columnist, a role in which he continued for four years.
While he was in Washington he met Jerry (Geraldine Siebolds), his "fearful and troubled wife", with whom he carried on a tempestuous relationship. They were married in 1925. Jerry suffered from intermittent bouts of mental illness and alcoholism. Pyle described her as "desperate within herself since the day she was born". In a letter to his college roommate Paige Cavanaugh after his return for a vacation during his war correspondent days, he said "Geraldine was drunk the afternoon I got home. From there she went on down. Went completely screwball. One night she tried the gas. Had to have a doctor." The two were divorced shortly after.[6]
World War II
Following the entry of the U.S. into World War II, Pyle became a war correspondent, applying his intimate style to the war. Instead of the movements of armies or the activities of generals, Pyle generally wrote from the perspective of the common soldier, an approach that won him not only further popularity but also the Pulitzer Prize in 1944. His wartime writings are preserved in four books: Ernie Pyle In England, Here Is Your War, Brave Men, and Last Chapter.
In 1944, he wrote a column urging that soldiers in combat get "fight pay" just as airmen were paid "flight pay". Congress passed a law giving soldiers 50 percent extra pay for combat service. The legislation was called "the Ernie Pyle bill."
He reported from the United States, Europe, Africa, and the Pacific. On April 18, 1945 Pyle died on Ie Shima, an island off Okinawa Honto, as the result of machine gun fire from an enemy machine gun nest. He had been riding in a jeep with Lieutenant Colonel Joseph B. Coolidge, commanding officer of the 305th, as well as three other men. The road, which paralleled the beach two or three hundred yards inland, had been cleared of mines, and hundreds of vehicles had driven over it. As the vehicle reached a road junction, a machine gun position on a coral ridge about a third of a mile away began shooting at them. The men stopped their vehicle and jumped into a ditch. Pyle and Coolidge raised their heads to look around for the others, and when they spotted them, Pyle smiled and asked Coolidge "Are you all right?" Those were his last words. The sniper began shooting again, and Pyle was struck in the left temple. The colonel called for a medic, but there were none present. Pyle had been killed instantly. He was buried with his helmet on, and laid to rest in a long row of graves among other soldiers, an infantry private on one side, an engineer on the other. At the 10 minute service, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Army were represented.[7] He was later reburied at the Army cemetery on Okinawa, then moved to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific located in Honolulu. When Okinawa was returned to the Japanese, the Ernie Pyle Memorial was one of three American memorials they allowed to remain in place.
Honors, archives, and burial
Pyle's legacy is preserved at Indiana University, where he began his journalism training. The School of Journalism is housed in "Ernie Pyle Hall," and scholarships, established soon after his death, are still given to students who have ability in journalism, the promise of future success in the profession, and a military service record. A major initial contribution to the scholarships came from the proceeds of the world premiere of the film, The Story of G.I. Joe, which starred Burgess Meredith as Pyle.
In 1947, his last home in Albuquerque, New Mexico was made into the first branch library of the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System, named in honor of its famous occupant. Today, the Ernie Pyle Library houses a small collection of adult and children's books, as well as Pyle memorabilia and archives.[8] The bulk of his archives, however, are at the Lilly Library at Indiana University; the Ernie Pyle State Historic Site at Dana, Indiana; and the Wisconsin State Historical Society. The Ernie Pyle State Historic Site in Dana, Indiana has Pyle's boyhood home, fully restored. The site also has a Quonset hut with many WWII Pyle artifacts contributed by people in this community where Pyle grew up.
Laid to rest between two unknown soldiers, Pyle is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
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bobsmythhawk
1
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Sun 3 Aug, 2008 07:06 am
Tony Bennett
Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Tony Bennett (born Anthony Dominick Benedetto; August 3, 1926) is an American singer of popular music, standards and jazz. After having achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1950s and early 1960s, his career suffered an extended downturn during the height of the rock music era. Bennett staged a comeback, however, in the late 1980s and 1990s, expanding his audience to a younger generation while keeping his musical style intact. He remains a popular and critically praised recording artist and concert performer in the 2000s.
Bennett is also a serious and accomplished painter.
Early life
Anthony Benedetto was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City, the son of Ann (née Suraci) and John Benedetto.[1] His father was a grocer who had emigrated from Podàrgoni, a rural eastern district of the southern Italian city of Reggio Calabria, and his mother was a seamstress.[2] With two other children and a father who was ailing and unable to work, the family grew up in poverty.[3] John Benedetto died when Anthony was 10 years old.[3]
The young Benedetto grew up listening to Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby as well as jazz artists such as Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and Joe Venuti. An uncle was a tap dancer in vaudeville, giving him an early window into show business.[4] By age 10 he was already singing and performed at the opening of the Triborough Bridge.[5] Drawing and caricatures were also an early passion of his.[3] He attended New York's High School of Industrial Art where he studied painting and music,[2] but dropped out at age 16 to help support his family.[6] He then set his sights on a professional singing career, performing as a singing waiter in several Queens Italian restaurants.[7]
World War II and after
His singing career was interrupted when Benedetto was drafted into the United States Army in November 1944 during the final stages of World War II.[3][8] He did basic training at Fort Dix and Fort Robinson, encountering bigotry due to his Italian heritage, and became an infantry rifleman.[9] Processed through the huge Le Havre "repple depple" replacement depot, in January 1945 he was assigned as a replacement infantryman to 255th Infantry Regiment of the 63rd Infantry Division, a unit filling in for heavy losses after the Battle of the Buldge.[10] He moved across France and into Germany,[3] and as March 1945 began he joined the front line and what he would later describe as a "front-row seat in hell."[10]
As the German Army was pushed back into their homeland, Benedetto and his company saw bitter fighting in cold winter conditions, often hunkering down in foxholes as German 88 mm guns fired on them.[11] At the end of March they crossed the Rhine and engaged in dangerous house-to-house, town-to-town fighting to clean out German soldiers;[11] during the first week of April they crossed the Kocher and by the end of the month reached the Danube.[12] During his time in combat, Benedetto narrowly escaped death several times.[3] The experience made him a patriot but also a pacifist;[3] he would later write, "Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn't gone through one."[10] At the war's conclusion he was involved in the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp near Landsberg,[3] where some American prisoners of war from the 63rd Division were also freed.[12]
Benedetto stayed in Germany as part of the occupying force, but was assigned to an informal Special Services band unit that would entertain nearby American forces.[3] Later, his dining with a black friend from high school at a time when the Army was still segregated led to his being demoted and reassigned to Graves Registration duties.[13] Subsequently, he sang with the Army military band under the stage name Joe Bari, and played with many musicians who would have post-war careers.
Upon his discharge from the Army and return to the States in 1946, he studied at the American Theater Wing on the GI Bill.[5] He was taught the bel canto singing discipline,[14] which would keep his voice in good shape for his entire career. He continued to perform wherever he could, including while waiting tables.[3] He developed an unusual approach that involved imitating the style and phrasing of other musicians as he sang?-such as that of Stan Getz's saxophone and Art Tatum's piano?-helping him to improvise as he interpreted a song.[6] He made a few recordings as Bari in 1949 for small Leslie Records, but they failed to sell.[15]
In 1949, Pearl Bailey spotted his talent and asked him to open for her in Greenwich Village.[7] She had invited Bob Hope to the show. Hope decided to bring Bari on the road with him, but suggested he use his real name simplified to Tony Bennett.[15] In 1950, Bennett cut a demo of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and was signed to the major Columbia Records label by Mitch Miller.[5]
First successes
Warned by Miller not to imitate Frank Sinatra[4] (who was just then leaving Columbia), Bennett began his career as a crooner singing commercial pop tunes. His first big hit was "Because of You", a ballad produced by Miller with a lush orchestral arrangement from Percy Faith. It started out gaining popularity on jukeboxes, then reached #1 on the pop charts in 1951 and stayed there for 10 weeks,[16] selling over a million copies.[15] This was followed to the top later that year[16] by a similarly-styled rendition of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart", which helped introduce Williams and country music in general to a wider, more national audience. The Miller and Faith tandem continued to work on all of Bennett's early hits. Bennett's recording of "Blue Velvet" was also very popular and attracted screaming teenage fans at concerts in the famed Paramount Theater in New York (Bennett did 7 shows a day, starting at 10:30 a.m.)[17] and elsewhere.
On February 12, 1952,[18] Bennett married Ohio art student and jazz fan Patricia Beech, whom he had met the previous year after a nightclub performance in Cleveland.[15] Two thousand female fans dressed in black gathered outside the ceremony at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral in mock mourning.[2] Bennett and Beech would have two sons, D'Andrea (Danny) and Daegal (Dae).
A third #1 came in 1953 with "Rags to Riches." Unlike Bennett's other early hits, this was an up-tempo big band number with a bold, brassy sound and a double tango in the instrumental break; it topped the charts for eight weeks.[16] Later that year Bennett began singing show tunes to make up for a New York newspaper strike; "Stranger in Paradise" from the Broadway show Kismet reached the top, as well as being a #1 hit in the United Kingdom and starting Bennett's career as an international artist.
Once the rock and roll era began in 1955, the dynamic of the music industry changed and it became harder for existing pop singers to do as well commercially.[5] Nevertheless Bennett continued to enjoy success, placing eight songs in the Billboard Top 40 during the latter part of the 1950s, with "In the Middle of an Island" reaching the highest at #9 in 1957.[19]
In 1956, Bennett hosted the television variety show The Tony Bennett Show[20] as a summer replacement for The Perry Como Show.[21]
A growing artistry
In 1954, the guitarist Chuck Wayne became Bennett's musical director.[22] In 1955, Bennett released his first long-playing album, Cloud 7, which showed Bennett's jazz leanings and was billed as featuring Wayne. In 1957, Ralph Sharon became Bennett's pianist and musical director,[23] replacing Wayne. Sharon told Bennett that a career singing "sweet saccharine songs like 'Blue Velvet'" wouldn't last long, and encouraged Bennett to focus even more on his jazz inclinations.[4]
The result was the 1957 album The Beat of My Heart. It used well-known jazz musicians such as Herbie Mann and Nat Adderley, with a strong emphasis on percussion from the likes of Art Blakey, Jo Jones, Latin star Candido, and Chico Hamilton. The album was both popular and critically praised. Bennett followed this by working with the Count Basie Orchestra, becoming the first male pop vocalist to sing with Basie's band. The albums Basie Swings, Bennett Sings (1958) and In Person! (1959) were the well-regarded fruits of this collaboration,[5] with "Chicago" being one of the standout songs.
Bennett also built up the quality and reputation of his nightclub act; in this he was following the path of Sinatra and other top jazz and standards singers of this era.[5] Bennett also appeared on television; he sang on the first night of both the Johnny Carson The Tonight Show and The Merv Griffin Show. In June 1962, Bennett staged a highly-promoted concert performance at Carnegie Hall, using a stellar lineup of musicians including Al Cohn, Kenny Burrell, and Candido, as well as the Ralph Sharon Trio. The concert featured 44 songs, including favorites like "I've Got the World on a String" and "The Best Is Yet To Come." It was a big success, and further cemented Bennett's reputation as a star both at home and abroad.
Also in 1962, Bennett released the song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." Although this only reached #19 on the Billboard Hot 100,[19] it spent close to a year on various other charts and increased Bennett's exposure.[5] The album of the same title was a top 5 hit[5] and both the single and album achieved gold record status. The song won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Solo Vocal Performance, and over the years would become known as Bennett's signature song.[2][14] In 2001, it was ranked 23rd on an RIAA/NEA list of the most historically significant Songs of the 20th Century.
Bennett's following album, I Wanna Be Around (1963) was also a top 5 success,[5] with the title track and "The Good Life" each reaching the top 20 of the pop singles chart[19] and the top 10 of the Adult Contemporary chart.[24]
The next year brought The Beatles and the British Invasion, and with them still more musical and cultural attention to rock and less to pop, standards, and jazz. Over the next couple of years Bennett had minor hits with several albums and singles based on show tunes - his last top 40 single was the #34 "If I Ruled the World" from Pickwick in 1965[19] - but his commercial fortunes were clearly starting to decline. An attempt to break into acting with a role in the 1966 film The Oscar[20] was not well received.
A firm believer in the American Civil Rights movement,[14] Bennett participated in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.[25] Years later he would continue this commitment by refusing to perform in apartheid South Africa.[2]
Years of struggle
Sharon and Bennett parted ways in 1965.[23] There was great pressure on singers such as Lena Horne and Barbra Streisand to record "contemporary" rock songs, and in this vein Columbia Records' Clive Davis suggested that Bennett do the same.[5] Bennett was very reluctant, and when he tried, the results pleased no one. This was exemplified by Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today! (1969),[5] which featured misguided attempts at Beatles and other current songs and a ludicrous psychedelic art cover.[26]
Years later Bennett would recall his dismay at being asked to do contemporary material, comparing it to when his mother was forced to produce a cheap dress. By 1972, he had departed Columbia for MGM Records, but found no more success there, and in a couple more years he was without a recording contract.[5]
Bennett and his wife Patricia had been separated since 1965, their marriage a victim of too much time on the road, among other factors.[2] In 1971, their divorce became official. Bennett had been involved with aspiring actress Sandra Grant since filming The Oscar, and on December 29, 1971 they married.[18] They would have two daughters, Joanna and Antonia.
Taking matters into his own hands, Bennett started his own record company, Improv.[5] He cut some songs that would later become favorites, such as "What is This Thing Called Love?", and made two well-regarded albums with jazz pianist Bill Evans, The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album (1975) and Together Again (1976), but by 1977 Improv was out of business. A stint living in England, like other American jazz expatriates, did not change his fortunes.
As the decade neared its end, Bennett had no recording contract, no manager, and was not performing any concerts outside of Las Vegas.[6] His second marriage was failing (they would completely separate in 1979, but not officially divorce until 2007).[27] He had (like many musicians) developed a drug addiction, was living beyond his means, and had the Internal Revenue Service trying to seize his Los Angeles home.[6] He had hit bottom.
Turnaround
After a near-fatal cocaine overdose in 1979, Bennett called his sons Danny and Dae for help. "Look, I'm lost here," he told them. "It seems like people don't want to hear the music I make."[6]
Danny Bennett, an aspiring musician himself, also came to a realization. The band Danny and his brother had started, Quacky Duck and His Barnyard Friends, had foundered and Danny's musical abilities were limited. However he had discovered during this time, that he did have a head for business. His father, on the other hand, had tremendous musical talent but was having trouble sustaining a career from it. Danny signed on as his father's manager.
Danny got his father's expenses under control, moved him back to New York, and began booking him in colleges and small theatres to get him away from a "Vegas" image.[6] Tony Bennett had also reunited with Ralph Sharon as his pianist and musical director.[23] By 1986, Tony Bennett was re-signed to Columbia Records, this time with creative control, and released The Art of Excellence. This became his first album to reach the charts since 1972.[5]
An unexpected audience
By the mid-1980s, the excesses of the disco, punk rock, and new wave eras had given many artists and listeners a greater appreciation for the classic American song. Rock stars such as Linda Ronstadt began recording albums of standards, and such songs began showing up more frequently in movie soundtracks and on television commercials.
Danny Bennett felt strongly that younger audiences, although completely unfamiliar with Tony Bennett, would respond to his music if only given a chance to see and hear it. More crucially, no changes to Tony's appearance (tuxedo), singing style (his own), musical accompaniment (The Ralph Sharon Trio or an orchestra), or song choice (generally the Great American Songbook) were necessary or desirable.[5]
Accordingly, Danny began to book his father on shows with younger audiences, such as David Letterman's talk shows, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Simpsons, and various MTV programs.[2][6] The plan worked; as Tony later remembered, "I realized that young people had never heard those songs. Cole Porter, Gershwin - they were like, 'Who wrote that?' To them, it was different. If you're different, you stand out."[6]
During this time, Bennett continued to record, first putting out the acclaimed look back Astoria: Portrait of the Artist (1990), then emphasizing themed albums such as the Sinatra homage Perfectly Frank (1992) and the Fred Astaire tribute Steppin' Out (1993). The latter two both achieved gold status and won Grammys for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance (Bennett's first Grammys since 1962) and further established Bennett as the inheritor of the mantle of a classic American great.
As Bennett was seen at MTV Video Music Awards shows side by side with the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flavor Flav, and as his "Steppin' Out With My Baby" video received MTV airplay, it was clear that, as The New York Times said, "Tony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap, he has demolished it. He has solidly connected with a younger crowd weaned on rock. And there have been no compromises."[28]
The new audience reached its height with Bennett's appearance in 1994 on MTV Unplugged. Featuring guest appearances by rock and country stars Elvis Costello and k.d. lang (both of whom had a profound respect for the standards genre), the show attracted a considerable audience and much media attention. The resulting MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett album went platinum and, besides taking the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy award for the third straight year, also won the top Grammy prize of Album of the Year. At age 68, Tony Bennett had come all the way back.
No retirement
Since then Bennett has continued to record and tour steadily, doing up to 200 shows a year.[2] In concert Bennett often makes a point of singing one song (usually "Fly Me to the Moon") without any microphone or amplification, demonstrating to younger audience members the lost art of vocal projection. One show, Tony Bennett's Wonderful World: Live From San Francisco, was made into a PBS special. Bennett also created the idea behind, and starred in the first, of the A&E Network's Live By Request series, for which he won an Emmy Award. In addition to numerous television guest performances, Bennett has had cameo appearances as himself in films such as The Scout, Analyze This, and Bruce Almighty. Bennett also published The Good Life: The Autobiography of Tony Bennett in 1998.
A series of albums, often based on themes (Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, blues, duets) have met with good acceptance; Bennett has won seven more Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance or Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammys in the subsequent years, most recently for the year 2006. According to his official biography, Bennett has now sold over 50 million records worldwide during his career.
Tony Bennett's career as a painter has also flourished.[29] He followed up his childhood interest with serious training, work, and museum visits throughout his life. He sketches or paints every day, even of views out of hotel windows when he is on tour. Painting under his real name of Benedetto, he has exhibited his work in numerous galleries and has been commissioned by the Kentucky Derby and the United Nations.[29] His painting "Homage to Hockney" (for his friend David Hockney) is on permanent display at the highly regarded Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio as is his "Boy on Sailboat, Sydney Bay" at the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park in New York.[29] His paintings have been featured in ARTnews and other magazines, and sell for as much as $40,000.[2] Many of his works were published in the art book Tony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen in 1996. In 2007, another book involving his paintings, Tony Bennett in the Studio: A Life of Art & Music, became a best-seller among art books.[17]
Accolades came to Bennett. For his contribution to the recording industry, Tony Bennett was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street. Bennett was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997, was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and received a lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) in 2002. In 2002, Q magazine named Tony Bennett in their list of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die." On December 4, 2005, Bennett was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor. Later, a theatrical musical revue of his songs, called I Left My Heart: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett was created and featured some of his best-known songs such as "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", "Because of You", and "Wonderful." The following year, Bennett was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.
Bennett frequently donates his time to charitable causes, to the extent that he is sometimes nicknamed "Tony Benefit."[30] In April 2002, he joined Michael Jackson, Chris Tucker and former President Bill Clinton in a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee at New York's Apollo Theater. He has also recorded public service announcements for Civitan International.[31] In the late 1980s, Bennett entered into a long-term romantic relationship with Susan Crow (born c. 1960), a former New York City schoolteacher.[6] Together they founded Exploring the Arts, a charitable organization dedicated to creating, promoting, and supporting arts education. At the same time they founded (and named after Bennett's friend) the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, a public high school dedicated to teaching the performing arts, which opened in 2001 and would have a very high graduation rate.[3] It was a tribute in return, for in a 1965 Life magazine interview Sinatra had said that:
"For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He's the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more."[14]
Danny Bennett continues to be Tony's manager while Dae Bennett is a recording engineer who has worked on a number of Tony's projects and who has opened Bennett Studios in Englewood, New Jersey. Tony's younger daughter Antonia is an aspiring jazz singer.[6]
In August 2006, Bennett turned eighty years old. The birthday itself was an occasion for publicity, which then extended through the rest of the following year, as his album Duets: An American Classic was released, reached his highest placement ever on the albums chart,[5] and garnered two Grammy Awards; concerts were given, including a high-profile one for New York radio station WLTW-FM; a performance made with Christina Aguilera and a comedy sketch made with Alec Baldwin on Saturday Night Live; a Thanksgiving-time, Rob Marshall-directed television special Tony Bennett: An American Classic on NBC, which would win multiple Emmy Awards;[17] receipt of the Billboard Century Award; and guest-mentoring on American Idol season 6 and performing during its finale. He received the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Humanitarian Award. Bennett was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts - Jazz Masters Award in 2006, (the highest honors that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians).
On June 21, 2007, Bennett married long-time partner Susan Crow in a civil ceremony in New York.[32]
Bennett made two surprise appearances at Shea Stadium on July 16th & 18th, 2008 - appearing with his good friend Billy Joel to sing "New York State of Mind" during Joel's sell out "Last Play at Shea Stadium " concerts appearing in front of nearly 120,000 over the two nights
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bobsmythhawk
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Sun 3 Aug, 2008 07:08 am
Gordon Scott
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Gordon Merrill Werschkul
August 3, 1926(1926-08-03)
Portland, Oregon, USA
Died April 30, 2007 (aged 80)
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Gordon Scott (August 3, 1926[1] - April 30, 2007) was an American actor known for his portrayal of Tarzan in five films (and one compilation of three made-as-a-pilot television episodes) from 1955 to 1960.
Biography
Early life
Scott was born Gordon Merrill Werschkul in Portland, Oregon, one of nine children of advertising man Stanley Werschkul and his wife Alice.[2] Scott was raised in Oregon and attended the University of Oregon for one semester. Upon leaving school, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1944 and was honorably discharged in 1947. He then worked at a variety of jobs until 1953, when he was spotted by a talent agent while working as a lifeguard at the Las Vegas Sahara Hotel.
Career and Personal Life
Due in part to his muscular frame and 6'3" height, he was quickly signed to replace Lex Barker as Tarzan.[3] Scott's Tarzan films ranged from rather cheap re-edited television pilots to larger scale epics. Two of them, Tarzan's Greatest Adventure and Tarzan the Magnificent are generally considered to be among the very best Tarzan films ever made. Scott's (and his writers') particular gifts to the series included returning Tarzan to his former status as a literate, well-spoken character. Following his departure from the Tarzan films, he moved to Italy and became a popular star of what were known as "sword and sandal" epics, featuring handsome bodybuilders as various characters from Greek and Roman myth. Scott was a friend of Hercules star Steve Reeves, and collaborated with him as Remus to Reeves' Romulus in Duel of the Titans (1961). Scott also played Hercules in a couple of low-budget productions during the mid-1960s. His final film appearance was in The Tramplers, filmed in 1966, released in the U. S. in 1968. Scott was married apparently three times, including once to his Tarzan co-star, actress Vera Miles, from 1954 to 1959. He had one son, Michael, born 1957, with Miles, and possibly several more children[4]. For the last two decades of his life, he was a popular guest at film conventions and autograph shows. His manner of making a living the last forty years of his life is unclear, for aside from autograph shows and selling occasional souvenir knives, he does not seem to have been employed. He spent much of his final years living with fans who remembered him from his Tarzan days[5].
Death
Scott died on April 30, 2007 in Baltimore, Maryland of lingering complications from multiple heart surgeries earlier in the year.
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bobsmythhawk
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Sun 3 Aug, 2008 07:14 am
Martin Sheen
from Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Martin Sheen (born Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez on August 3, 1940) is an American actor. He earned recognition for his performances as Captain Willard in the film Apocalypse Now and as President Josiah Bartlet on the long-running television drama series The West Wing. Apart from the recognition he earned as an actor, Sheen has gained visibility as an activist whose political views are closely intertwined with his personal religious convictions.[1][2]
Biography
Early life
Sheen was born Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Mary Ann (née Phelan), an immigrant from County Tipperary, Ireland, and Francisco Estévez, a Galician factory worker/machinery inspector from Parderrubias, Galicia, Spain.[2] Sheen's mother had fled from Ireland during the Irish War of Independence due to her family's connections to the Irish Republican Army. Sheen adopted his stage name in honor of the Catholic archbishop and theologian, Fulton J. Sheen.[2] Sheen lived on Brown Street in the South Park neighborhood, and was one of 10 siblings (nine boys and one girl).[2] One of his brothers is actor Joe Estévez. He attended Chaminade High School (now Chaminade-Julienne High School) and was raised as a Roman Catholic.[2]
During the 1940s and 1950s, his family lived in Bermuda, where Sheen's father was a representative of IBM. Among others, the elder Estevez sold cash registers and early computing and copying equipment to businesses and to the U.S. Air Force.[3] The family lived on St. John's Road, Pembroke, just outside Hamilton and attended the Mount Saint Agnes school, an institution operated by the Sisters Of Charity, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Sheen was the first of the 10 Estévez children who was not born in Bermuda.
Career
Sheen was drawn to acting at a young age, but his father disapproved of his interest in the field. Despite his father's opposition, Sheen borrowed money from a priest and headed to New York City. It was there that he met Catholic activist Dorothy Day and, he says, began his commitment to social justice.[4][2] While Sheen claims he deliberately failed the entrance exam for the University of Dayton so that he could pursue his acting career, he still has an affinity for UD, and is seen drinking from a "Dayton Flyers" coffee mug during several episodes of The West Wing. He also has a great affinity for the University of Notre Dame and was[5] awarded the Laetare Medal, the highest honor bestowed on American Catholics, in May 2008 at the school's commencement. Sheen has said that he was greatly influenced by the actor James Dean.[2] He developed a theater company with other actors in hopes that a production would earn him recognition. In 1963, he made an appearance in Nightmare, an episode of the television science fiction series The Outer Limits. The following year, he starred in the Broadway play The Subject Was Roses, which he recreated in the 1968 film of the same name. Sheen was a co-star in the controversial, Emmy-winning 1972 television movie That Certain Summer, said to be the first television movie to portray homosexuality in a sympathetic, non-judgmental light. His next important feature film role was in 1973, when he starred with Sissy Spacek in the crime drama Badlands - which he has said in many interviews is his best film.[2][6]
In 1974, Sheen portrayed a hot rod driver in the TV movie The California Kid, and that same year received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Actor in a television drama for his portrayal of Pvt. Eddie Slovik in the made-for-television film, The Execution of Private Slovik.[2] Based on an incident that occurred during World War II, the film told the story of the only U.S. soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. It was Sheen's performance in this film that ultimately led to Francis Ford Coppola choosing him for a starring role in 1979's Apocalypse Now, a film that gained him wide recognition. Sheen admitted that during filming, he was not in the greatest shape and was drinking heavily.[2] On location, he had a heart attack and crawled out to a road for help.[2]
Sheen has performed voice-over work as the narrator for the Eyewitness Movie series.
NUI Galway
In light of the end of filming of The West Wing, Sheen announced plans to further his education: "My plan is to read English literature, philosophy and theology in Galway, Republic of Ireland, where my late mother came from and where I'm also a citizen".[7] Speaking after an honorary arts doctorate was conferred on him by the National University of Ireland, Sheen joked that he would be the "oldest undergraduate" at the National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway when he started his full-time studies there in the autumn of 2006. Although expressing concern that he might be a "distraction" to other students at NUIG, he attended lectures like everyone else. Speaking the week after filming his last episode of The West Wing, he said, "I'm very serious about it." He once said, "I never went to college when I was young and am looking forward to giving it a try... at age 65!"[8] On 1 September 2006, Sheen was among the first to register as a student at NUI Galway.[9] He left the University after completing a semester.
Political activism
Martin Sheen is no stranger to politics, both as an actor and in real life. He has played U.S. President John F. Kennedy (in the miniseries Kennedy ?- The Presidential Years), Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the television special The Missiles of October, White House Chief of Staff A.J. McInnerney in The American President, sinister future president Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone, and fictional Democratic president Josiah Bartlet in the acclaimed television drama The West Wing.[2]
Although he did not attend college, Sheen credited the Marianists at University of Dayton as a major influence on his public activism. Sheen is known for his robust support of liberal political causes, such as opposition to United States military actions and a toxic-waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio. Sheen has resisted calls to run for office, saying: "There's no way that I could be the president. You can't have a pacifist in the White House I'm an actor. This is what I do for a living."[10] Sheen is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum.
He supported the 1965 farm worker movement with Cesar Chavez in Delano, California. He has also supported causes for PETA and is a proponent of the Consistent Life ethic, which advocates against abortion, capital punishment and war.[11] He also supports the Democrats for Life of America's Pregnant Women Support Act.[12] In 2004, along with fellow actor Rob Reiner, Sheen campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean. He later campaigned for nominee John Kerry.
In 1992, Sheen and several others were unsuccessful in their attempt to convince a judge to impose no jail or prison time for those who were convicted of pulling innocent motorists from their vehicles and beating them during the Los Angeles Riots, including the four young men seen on video footage around the world tossing a brick at truck driver Reginald Denny's head, crushing his skull and causing him permanent damage.
On May 16, 1995, Martin Sheen and Paul Watson from the non-profit environmental organization, Sea Shepherd, were attacked in a hotel on Magdalen Islands by a number of Canadian sealers, who were upset that they had come there to protest against the annual seal hunt and promote non-lethal alternatives. Sheen was trying to negotiate with the angry mob while Watson was escorted to the airport by police and had to spend the night in the hospital.[13] On August 28, 2005, he visited anti-Iraq War activist Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey. He prayed with her and spoke to her supporters. He began his remarks by stating, "At least you've got the acting President of the United States," referring to his role as fictional President Josiah Bartlet on The West Wing.[14] Cindy Sheehan had been demanding to speak with the actual President, George W. Bush, again.
Sheen endorsed marches and walkouts called by the civil rights group, By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), to force the state of California to honor the Cesar Chavez holiday. On March 30, the day of the protests, thousands of students, primarily Latino from California and elsewhere, walked out of school in support of the demand. Sheen also stated that he participated in the massive immigration marches in Los Angeles in 2006 and 2007.[15][16]
On April 10, 2006, the New York Times reported that members of the Democratic Party in Ohio had contacted Sheen, attempting to persuade him to run for the U.S. Senate in Ohio. Sheen declined the offer, stating that "I'm just not qualified," he said. "You're mistaking celebrity for credibility."[17] On November 26, 2006, the Sunday Times in the Republic of Ireland, where Sheen is currently living due to his enrollment in NUI Galway, reported on him speaking out against mushroom farmers exploiting foreign workers by paying them as little as 2.50 an hour in a country where the minimum wage is 7.65.
On April 1, 2007, Sheen was arrested, with 38 other activists, for tresspassing at the Nevada Test Site at a Nevada Desert Experience event protesting the Nevada Test Site.[18]
On October 27, 2007, Martin Sheen echoed his son Charlie Sheen's doubts about the public account of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He stated: "Up until last year, I was very dubious, I did not want to believe that my government could possibly be involved in such a thing, I could not live in a country that I thought could do that - that would be the ultimate betrayal. However, there have been so many revelations that now I have my doubts, and chief among them is Building 7 - how did they rig that building so that it came down on the evening of the day?"[19]
His latest activisms includes several attendances at meetings of the environmentalist group Earth First!.[citation needed] Sheen has also endorsed and supported Help Darfur Now, a student run organization to help aid the victims of the genocide in Darfur, the western region in Sudan.
Sheen initially endorsed New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in the 2008 US Presidential Election, and helped raise funds for his campaign.[20] After Richardson had dropped out of the campaign, Sheen stated in a BBC Two interview that he was supporting Barack Obama.[17]
Personal life
Sheen married art student Janet Templeton on December 23, 1961, and they have four children, three sons and a daughter, all of whom are actors: Emilio, Ramón, Carlos (better known as Charlie Sheen) and Renée.[2]
Sheen starred in the Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now, and his son, Charlie Sheen, also starred in a film about Vietnam: Platoon. Charlie Sheen once stated that he wanted to star in a film similar to one his father was in because he wanted to know what it feels like. They jointly parodied their respective previous roles in the 1993 movie Hot Shots Part Deux: their river patrol boats passed each other, at which point they both shouted, "I loved you in Wall Street!", a film they both starred in in 1987.
In the Spring of 1989, Sheen was named Honorary Mayor of Malibu, California. He promptly marked his appointment with a decree proclaiming the area "a nuclear-free zone, a sanctuary for aliens and the homeless, and a protected environment for all life, wild and tame".[21] Some local citizens were angered by the decree, and the Malibu Chamber of Commerce met in June of that year to consider revoking his title, but voted unanimously to retain him.[22]
Sheen has limited lateral movement of his left arm, which is three inches shorter than his right, due to its being crushed by forceps during his birth.[23] This restricts him from putting on a coat in the typical manner; instead, he flips it up and over his head from the front, as clearly demonstrated throughout the run of The West Wing.
Over the years, he has played the father of sons Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen in various projects: he played Emilio's father in The War at Home and In the Custody of Strangers, and Charlie's father in Wall Street, No Code of Conduct, and two episodes of Spin City. He also appeared as a guest star in one episode of Two and a Half Men playing the father of Charlie's neighbor Rose (Melanie Lynskey), and another as guest star Denise Richards' father; at the time that episode aired, Richards was still married to Charlie. Martin also played a "future" version of Charlie in a VISA TV commercial. Martin has played other characters with his sons and his daughter.
Awards
Sheen received six Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance on The West Wing, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in TV-Drama, as well as two SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, and was part of the cast that received two SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
In his acting career, Sheen has been nominated for ten Emmy Awards, winning one. He has also earned eight nominations for Golden Globe Awards. Sheen has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1500 Vine Street.[24]
Sheen was the 2008 recipient of the Laetare Medal, an annual award given by the University of Notre Dame for outstanding service to the Roman Catholic Church and society.
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bobsmythhawk
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Sun 3 Aug, 2008 07:19 am
Martha Stewart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Martha Helen Kostyra
August 3, 1941 (1941-08-03) (age 67)
Nutley, New Jersey United States
Ethnicity Polish
Occupation Entrepreneur; television and magazine personality
Net worth ▲ $638 million [2], [3]
Spouse(s) Andrew Stewart (divorced)
Partner Billionaire Charles Simonyi (dating 15 years)
Children Alexis Stewart
Website
marthastewart.com
Martha Stewart (born Martha Helen Kostyra; August 3, 1941) is an American business magnate, author, editor and homemaking advocate. She is also a former stockbroker and fashion model. Over the last two decades Stewart has held a prominent position in the American publishing industry; as the author of several books, hundreds of articles on the domestic arts, editor of a national homekeeping magazine, host for two popular daytime television programs, and commercial spokeswoman for K-Mart. In 2001 she was named the third most powerful woman in America by Ladies Home Journal. In 2004 she was convicted of lying to investigators about a stock sale and served five months in prison.
Biography
Martha Stewart was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to middle-class Polish-American parents Edward "Eddie" Kostyra (c. 1912 - 1979) and Martha Ruszkowski Kostyra (b. Buffalo, New York, September 16, 1914 - d. Norwalk, Connecticut, November 16, 2007)[1]. Stewart, along with her five siblings, was raised in Nutley, New Jersey.[2] Stewart graduated from Nutley High School in her hometown.[3]
Her family instilled in her a strong passion for activities in the home. Stewart's mother taught her how to cook and sew. Later, she learned the processes of canning and preserving when she visited her grandparents' home in Buffalo, New York. Her father had a passion for gardening, and passed on much of his knowledge and expertise to his daughter.
Stewart was also active in many extracurricular activities, such as the school newspaper and the Art Club. During this time, Stewart began a modeling career. She was hired and appeared in several television commercials and magazines, including one of Tareyton's famous "Rather fight than switch" cigarette advertisements. Finishing with straight As, she was awarded a partial scholarship to Barnard College in New York City.
Initially she intended to major in chemistry, but switched to art and European history, and later architectural history. It was around this time that she met and later married her husband, Andrew "Andy" Stewart, on July 1, 1961. After marrying Andrew Stewart, Martha left Barnard for one year, and continued her moderately-successful modeling career, while her husband finished his law degree at Yale Law School. She returned to Barnard a year later, to graduate with a double major in History and Architectural History. In 1965 her only child, daughter Alexis Stewart was born.
At this time, Stewart began to hone and develop her business skills. In 1967, she became a stockbroker. She was very successful until she left the profession in 1973, in order to focus more time on her daughter, and to restore her new home in Connecticut. It has been suggested that a scandal involving Levitz Furniture may have contributed to her decision to leave the firm of Monness, Horstman, Williams, and Sidel.[citation needed] Several Principals at the firm allegedly received kick-backs from Levitz for selling stock in the financially-troubled company.[citation needed] Stewart and her husband decided to move to Westport, Connecticut. They purchased and undertook a massive restoration of the 1805 farmhouse on Turkey Hill Road that would later become the model for the set of the Martha Stewart Living television program. Stewart and her husband undertook the entire venture by themselves. During the project, Stewart's panache for restoring and decorating became apparent.
In 1976 Stewart started a catering business in her basement with a friend from her modeling days, Norma Collier. The venture quickly became successful, but soured when Collier alleged that Stewart was difficult to work with, and was also taking catering jobs on the side. Stewart soon bought her portion of the business. Stewart was also hired as the manager of a gourmet food store, The Market Basket at the Common Market which she transformed into a booming success.
Meanwhile, Stewart's husband had become the president of prominent New York City publisher Harry N. Abrams, Inc. In 1977, Andy Stewart was responsible for releasing the English-language edition of The Secret Book of Gnomes series, by Dutch authors Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet which quickly became a blockbuster success and New York Times Best Seller. Andy Stewart contracted Stewart's company to cater the book release party, where she was introduced to Alan Mirken, the head of Crown Publishing Group. Mirken was impressed by Stewart's talent and later contacted her to develop a cookbook featuring recipes and photos from the parties that Stewart hosted. The result was Entertaining, ghostwritten by long-time fashion maven Elizabeth Hawes.
From there, word of her skills and business grew rapidly. Entertaining became a New York Times Best Seller, and the best selling cookbook since Julia Child and Simone Beck's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, released two decades earlier.
Rise to fame and career
Following Entertaining's success Stewart released many more books under the Clarkson Potter publishing imprint, including Martha Stewart's Quick Cook (1983), Martha Stewart's Hors D'oeuvres (1984), Martha Stewart's Pies & Tarts (1985), Weddings (1987), The Wedding Planner (1988), Martha Stewart's Quick Cook Menus (1988), Martha Stewart's Christmas (1989), and many others]. During this time she also authored dozens of newspaper columns, magazine articles and other pieces on homemaking, and made numerous television appearances on programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live. She divorced her husband in 1989.
In 1990 she also signed with Time Publishing Ventures to develop a new magazine, Martha Stewart Living, for which Stewart served as editor in chief. The first issue was released in late 1990 with an initial rate base of 250,000. Circulation would peak in 2002 at more than 2 million copies per issue. In 1993, she began a weekly half-hour service program based on her magazine, which was quickly expanded to a full hour, and later to a daily format, with half-hour episodes on weekends. Stewart also became a frequent contributor to CBS's The Early Show, and starred in several prime time holiday specials on the CBS network.
On the cover of their May 1995 issue, New York Magazine declared her as "the definitive American woman of our time."
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
In September 1997, Stewart, with the assistance of business partner Sharon Patrick, was able to secure funding to purchase the various television, print, and merchandising ventures related to the Martha Stewart brand, and consolidate them into a new company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Stewart served as chairwoman, president, and CEO of the new company and Patrick became Chief Operations Officer. By organizing all of the brand's assets under one roof, Stewart felt that it would promote synergy and greater control of the brand's direction through the business' activities. That same month Stewart announced in Martha Stewart Living the launch of a companion website, marthastewart.com, and a catalogue business, Martha by Mail. The company also has a direct to consumer floral business, marthastewartflowers.com.
On October 19, 1999, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MSO. The initial public offering was set at $18 per share, and rallied to $38 by the end of trading, making Stewart a billionaire on paper. The stock price slowly went down to $16 per share by February 2002. Stewart was then and continues to be the majority shareholder, with a commanding 96% control of voting power in the company.
Stock trading case and conviction
According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a federal indictment, Stewart avoided a loss of $45,673 by selling all 3,928 shares of her ImClone stock in late 2001. The day following her sale, the stock value fell 16%.[4]
Stewart voluntarily stepped down as CEO and Chairwoman of MSLO but stayed on a chief creative officer. She went on trial in January 2004. Prosecutors showed that Peter Bacanovic, Stewart's broker at Merrill Lynch, ordered his assistant to tell Stewart that the CEO of ImClone, Samuel D. Waksal, was selling all his shares in advance of an adverse Food and Drug Administration ruling. The FDA action was expected to cause ImClone shares to decline. [5]
After a highly publicized, five-week jury trial that was the most closely watched of a wave of corporate fraud trials, Stewart was found guilty in March 2004 of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to federal investigators and sentenced in July 2004 to serve a five month term in a federal correctional facility and a two year period of supervised release (to include five months of home confinement). [6]
Stewart agreed in September 2004 to begin serving a five-month prison term while her appeal was still pending. In October 2004, she reported to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. She was released on March 4, 2005, after which she was placed under home confinement and required to wear an ankle bracelet for an additional 5 months.
Bacanovic and Waksal were also convicted of federal charges and sentenced to prison terms.[7][8] Stewart also paid a fine of US$30,000.[9]
In August 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had agreed to settle the related civil case against Stewart. Under the settlement, Stewart agreed to a five-year bar from serving as a director, or as the CEO, CFO (or other officer roles in which she would be responsible for preparing, auditing, or disclosing financial results), of any public company.[10]. In June, 2008, the UK Border Agency refused to grant her a visa to enter Great Britain, because of her criminal conviction for obstructing justice. She had been planning to speak at the Royal Academy on fashion and leisure industry matters. [11]
Current projects
Following her release from prison in March 2005, Stewart launched a highly publicized comeback, and was once again involved in Martha Stewart Living. Offerings of her company's Martha Stewart Everyday line at Kmart were expanded to include a new line of ready-made home furnishings, and its mass market interior paint line became available at larger Sears stores. However, the most heavily promoted aspect of her attempted comeback is television. Stewart returned to daytime television with The Martha Stewart Show and appeared in an adapted version of The Apprentice (called The Apprentice: Martha Stewart). Both shows premiered in September 2005, and both were produced by Mark Burnett. The Martha Stewart Show is currently in its fourth season.
Her prime time Apprentice spin-off received poor ratings, which some attribute to popular dislike for the opportunistic tone of the network's massive promotional campaign and to NBC's slotting the show up against the hit drama Lost. The Apprentice: Martha Stewart was not renewed for a second season.
In October 2005, Stewart also released a new book called The Martha Rules on starting and managing a new business, and a month later her company released Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. In October 2006, Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook, a reference book about looking after your house, was published by Clarkson Potter. She also is a regular contributor of cooking, gardening, and crafts segments on NBC's Today show. Stewart's daily talk show was nominated in six categories for the 33rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in 2006, including Best Host and Best Show. MSLO launched a line of houses that carry her name to be built by KB Home initially in Cary, North Carolina and various other locations nationwide. The first homes, which were inspired by Stewart's homes in New York and Mount Desert Island in Maine, were completed in early 2006. Ultimately 650 homes are planned with prices from low $200,000 to mid-$400,000s. A line of paper-based crafts for EK Success is also in development. In September 2007, she launched an upscale line of homewares for Macy's, which is the largest brand launch in Macy's history. Appearing in commercials for the line, Stewart has stated that she has designed more than 2,000 items exclusively for Macy's. The line includes bedding, bath, cookware and dinnerware.
In addition to television and merchandising, MSLO launched a 24-hour satellite radio channel with Sirius in November 2005, on which Stewart currently hosts a weekly call-in show. Stewart has also encouraged the use of Wikipedia on her program during a segment on pomegranates in order for viewers to learn more about that fruit's symbolism in Jewish tradition. In addition, she has mentioned making a Martha Stewart online encyclopedia: Marthapedia.com.
Stewart also made a special appearance on the serio-comic series Ugly Betty in the November 16, 2006 episode "Four Thanksgivings and a Funeral", in which she gave her friend Wilhelmina Slater (played by Vanessa Williams) tips on how to prepare a turkey. Justin Suarez (played by Mark Indelicato), is a fan of Stewart.
On September 14, 2007, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced that it inked a partnership with E & J Gallo Winery to produce a wine brand with label "Martha Stewart Vintage" (for sale in 6 cities, January, at $15). 15,000 cases to be sold include: 2006 Sonoma County Chardonnay, 2005 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon and 2006 Sonoma County Merlot (for Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, N.C., Denver, Phoenix, and Portland, Oregon). Martha Stewart also signed contract with Costco Wholesale Corp. to offer frozen and fresh food (label - Kirkland Signature).[12]
Personal life
Stewart has never remarried, but has been dating Charles Simonyi for 15 years as of February 2008.[13][14]
Stewart is an avid animal lover. Her pets include champion show Chow Chow dogs, French Bulldogs, Himalayan cats, and Friesian horses.[15] Stewart also created a video[16] on behalf of fur bearing animals after being approached by PETA while in jail. Stewart stated, "I used to wear real fur, but, like many others, I had a change of heart when I learned what actually happens to the animals." [17] On April 12, 2008, it was announced via Stewart's official blog that Kublai Khan Paw Paw Chow Chow Chow[18], one of Stewart's dog's, died at age 12.[18]
Martha Kostyra, Stewart's mother, died on November 16, 2007.[19] Kostyra had appeared on Martha Stewart Living numerous times.
In popular culture
There have been two biopics made for television about Martha. Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart for NBC and a sequel for CBS entitled Martha: Behind Bars, both starring Cybill Shepherd.
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Sun 3 Aug, 2008 07:20 am
Jay North
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Jay Waverly North
August 3, 1951 (1951-08-03) (age 57)
Hollywood, California, USA
Years active 1958-1986
Spouse(s) Cindy Hackney
(1993 - present)
3 children
? (1991 - 1991) (divorced)
? (1982 - 1983) (divorced)
Kathleen Brucher (1973 - ?) (divorced)
Jay Waverly North (born August 3, 1951, in Hollywood, California, USA) is an actor best remembered for his lead role in the CBS television series Dennis the Menace. Chosen for the role by creator Hank Ketcham himself,[1] North appeared in some 146 episodes of the weekly half-hour comedy with costars Herbert Anderson, Gloria Henry, Joseph Kearns, Sylvia Field, and Gale Gordon.
He later appeared in several movies as a teen and as a young adult. He also starred in the television series Maya, with co-star Sajid Khan as well as a lead role in episode 38 of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., "The Deadly Toys Affair" (1965) where he played a young genius, Bartlett Warshowsky. He also did voice work for the Flintstones' spin-off The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, where he provided the voice of a teenage Bamm-Bamm Rubble.
Finding himself forever typecast as "Dennis the Menace," North quit acting and joined the Navy in the 1970s.[2] North became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in April 1978, while he was serving aboard a ship home-ported in Norfolk, Virginia. He later served as a prison security guard in Florida. [3] He is now retired and lives in Lake Butler, the seat of Union County in northern Florida.[1] North is the son of actor/songwriter Hal Hopper and Dorothy North.[1]
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bobsmythhawk
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Sun 3 Aug, 2008 07:23 am
Husbands vs. Wives
Three men were traveling and happened to meet at a bar in New Jersey. One man was from Tennessee, one from North Carolina and one from Kentucky. They got acquainted and started talking about their problems with their wives.
The guy from Tennessee began by saying: "I told my wife in no uncertain terms that from now on she would have to do her own cooking! Well the first day after I told her, I saw nothing. The second day I saw nothing. But on the third day when I came home from work, the table was set, a wonderful dinner was prepared , with wine and even dessert.
Then the man from North Carolina spoke up: "I sat my wife down and told her, that from now on she would have to do her own shopping, and also do the cleaning! The first day I saw nothing. The second day I saw nothing. But on the third day when I came home, the whole house was spotless, and in the pantry shelves were filled with groceries.
The fellow from Kentucky was married to a woman from Harlan County. He sat up straight on the bar stool and said: "I gave my wife a stern look and told her, that from now on she would have to do the cooking, shopping and housecleaning! Well the first day I saw nothing. The second day I still saw nothing. But on the third day, I could see a little bit out of my left eye..."
