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Cecil B. DeMille
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 - January 21, 1959) was one of the most successful filmmakers during the first half of the 20th century.

Born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, DeMille directed hundreds of silent shorts before coming into huge popularity during the 1920s, when he reached the apex of his popularity with such films as Don't Change Your Husband (1919), The Ten Commandments (1923), and The King of Kings (1927). Though most commonly referred to by the press as DeMille with a capital "D", deMille preferred and even signed his checks as "deMille" with a small "d". DeMille's business address for most of his career was 2010 DeMille (capital "D") Drive, Hollywood, California. In either case, the persona of the larger than life showman was reinforced by such affectations and his status as an icon thrived.

Cecil B. DeMille had a keen eye for talent and was known for being an instumental catalyst for the rising status of many a previously young, struggling, or unknown actor. Actor Richard Dix's best-remembered early role was in the silent version of Demille's The Ten Commandments. Richard Cromwell owed his 1930s movie fame in part to being personally selected by DeMille for the role as the leader of the youth gang in Demille's poignant, now cult-favorite, This Day and Age (1933).

DeMille displayed a loyalty to certain supporting performers, casting them over and over in his pictures. They included Henry Wilcoxen, Julia Faye, Joseph Schildkraut, Ian Keith, Charles Bickford, Theodore Roberts, Akim Tamiroff, and William Boyd. He also cast leading actors such as Claudette Colbert, Gloria Swanson, Gary Cooper, Robert Preston, Paulette Goddard, and Charlton Heston in multiple pictures. He was not known as a particularly good director, often hiring actors whom he relied on to develop their own characters and act accordingly. He was, however, adept at directing "thousands of extras," and many of his pictures include spectacular set pieces, including the parting of the Red Sea in both versions of The Ten Commandments, the toppling of the pagan temple in Samson and Delilah, train wrecks in Union Pacific and The Greatest Show on Earth and the destruction of a zeppelin in Madam Satan. He knew what the movie-going public wanted, and gave it to them over and over.

DeMille was one of the first directors in Hollywood to become a celebrity in his own right, performing as himself, long before the likes of Erich von Stroheim and Alfred Hitchcock made it fashionable. From 1936 to 1944, DeMille hosted and even acted as pitchman for Cecil B. DeMille's Lux Radio Theater, which was one of the most popular dramatic radio shows at the time. Actress Gloria Swanson immortalized DeMille with the oft-repeated line, "I'm ready for my closeup Mr. DeMille" in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, wherein DeMille played himself.

While he continued to be prolific throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he is probably best known for his 1956 film The Ten Commandments (which is very different from his 1923 film by the same title). Also representative of his penchant for the spectacular was the 1952 production of The Greatest Show on Earth which gave deMille an Oscar for best picture and a nomination for best director.

Cecil B. Demille died in 1959 and was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. At the time of his death, he was negotiating to direct the remake of Ben-Hur for MGM, and was planning to direct a movie about space travel.

A lesser known fact, regarding DeMille's date of death, is that Cecil DeMille died on exactly the same day as Carl Switzer who had played "Alfalfa" in the 1930s production "Our Gang". Many of Switzer's associates would later claim that this was bad timing and slightly unfair, since Cecil DeMille's obituary was so lengthy that Switzer's death was allocated very little attention in the media. Ironically, Switzer appeared, unbilled, in DeMille's 1956 The Ten Commandment's.

Demille's niece, Agnes de Mille, was a dancer and choreographer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_B._DeMille

I come and go as I please
From down here
up north and in between
But baby it's a shame
'cause I always feel the same
When I can't see Texas from here

I can't see Texas from here
No matter how I try
it makes me wanna die
So if you see me looking down
I'm trying not to show this frown
'Cause I can't see Texas from here

I can't say I don't like Tennessee
The people here have all been good to me
So please don't take offense
if I start to gettin' tense
It's just 'cause I can't see Texas from here

I can't see Texas from here
No matter how I try
it makes me wanna die
So if you see me looking down
I'm trying not to show this frown

The only two things in life that make it worth living
Is guitars tuned good and firm-feeling women.
Well, I don't need my name in the marquee lights,
I got my song and I got you with me tonight.
Let's go to luckenbach, texas
With waylon and willie and the boys
This successful life we're living's
Got us feuding like the hatfields and mccoys.
Between hank williams pain songs,
Steve goodman train songs,
Blue eyes crying in the rain,
Out in luckenbach, texas,
Ain't nobody feeling no pain.

So baby let's sell your diamond ring
To buy some boots and faded jeans and go away.
This coat and tie is choking me
In your high society you cry all day.
We've been so busy keeping up with the jones
Four-car garage and we're still building on.

Let's go to luckenbach, texas,
Waylon and willie and the boys.
This successful life we're living's
Got us feuding like the hatfields and mccoys.
Between hank williams pain songs,
Steve goodman train songs,
Blue eyes crying in the rain,
Luckenbach, texas,
Ain't nobody feeling no pain.

You say you love me but you love me not
Something about true love that you must have forgot
To lose a memory I know just where to go
Somewhere between Texas and Mexico
Somewhere between Texas and Mexico

(Chorus:)
King fish are jumping the moon is right
Full throttle captain til the we're out of sight
Stars on the ocean will find me I know
Somewhere between Texas and Mexico
Somewhere between Texas and Mexico

South Padre Island to the Brownsville Bay
My heart is healing with each breaking way
But I got some real friends and they're ready to go
Somewhere between Texas and Mexico
Somewhere between Texas and Mexico

(Chorus:)
King fish are jumping the moon is right
Full throttle captain til the we're out of sight
Stars on the ocean will find me I know
Somewhere between Texas and Mexico
Somewhere between Texas and Mexico

It's gonna take just a little more time
With a little help from the salt and a lime
Something about the wind and the sea sets a broken heart free out there yeah

(Chorus:)
King fish are jumping the moon is right
Full throttle captain til the we're out of sight
Stars on the ocean will find me I know
Somewhere between Texas and Mexico
Somewhere between Texas and Mexico

Somewhere between Texas and Mexico

Good morning, WA2K radio. Great seeing everyone in our studios and I do think that McTag started a marvelous country music trend.

edgar, that was quite a barrage of great country music beginning with our Brit's request for "T-for Texas."(of course we all know about T in England).<smile>

Bob, once again, you have informed our listeners with your marvelous bios and we appreciate all the research that goes in to your keeping us informed. Wow! I am so glad that your daughter and her children didn't have to sleep in the terminal for too long. That is a coincidence.

Back later, listeners, after I brew some brew.

Aw shucks
British Airways
What a great big mess.

Good day all.

Thanks for the interesting bios, Bob. I do hope your daughter's predicament is straightened out soon.

August 12 birthdays:

1503 - Christian III of Denmark and Norway (d. 1559)
1604 - Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1651)
1626 - Giovanni Legrenzi, Italian composer (d. 1690)
1629 - Tsar Alexei I of Russia (d. 1676)
1643 - King Afonso VI of Portugal (d. 1683)
1644 - Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Bohemian composer (d. 1704)
1647 - Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (d. 1719)
1686 - John Balguy, English philosopher (d. 1748)
1696 - Maurice Greene, English composer (d. 1755)
1774 - Robert Southey, English poet and biographer (d. 1843)
1831 - Helena Blavatsky, author (d. 1891)
1859 - Katharine Lee Bates, American poet (d. 1929)
1866 - Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer (d. 1954)
1876 - Mary Roberts Rinehart, author (d. 1958)
1880 - Christy Mathewson, baseball player (d. 1925)
1880 - Radclyffe Hall, British author (d. 1943)
1881 - Cecil B. DeMille, American director (d. 1959)
1883 - Pauline Frederick, stage and film actress (d. 1938)
1887 - Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1892 - Alfred Lunt, actor (d. 1977)
1904 - Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov, Tsarevich (d. 1918)
1906 - Pauline Frederick, journalist (d. 1990)
1906 - Tedd Pierce, animator (d. 1972)
1907 - Joe Besser, American actor and comedian (d. 1988)
1911 - Cantinflas, actor (d. 1993)
1911 - Jane Wyatt, actress
1924 - Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, leader of Pakistan (d. 1988)
1924 - Derek Shackleton, English cricketer
1925 - Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 2004)
1925 - Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 1975)

1926 - John Derek, actor (d. 1998) Marriages: Bo Derek (1974 - 22 May 1998) (his death) , Linda Evans (1968 - 1974) (divorced), Ursula Andress (1957 - 1966) (divorced) , Pati Behrs (1951 - 1957) (divorced) son Russell, daughter Sean (Knock on Any Door; Exodus)

1927 - Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist
1927 - Porter Wagoner, singer
1928 - Bob Buhl, baseball player (d. 2001)
1928 - Dan Curtis, film and television producer and director
1929 - Buck Owens, singer
1930 - George Soros American businessman
1931 - William Goldman, screenwriter
1933 - Parnelli Jones, race car driver

1939 - George Hamilton, actor (Your Cheatin' Heart(Hank Williams story); Evil Kneivel; Light in the Piazza; Love At First Bite; Zorro, the Gay Blade, Where the Boys Are )

1949 - Mark Knopfler, musician (Dire Straits)
1954 - Pat Metheny, guitarist
1971 - Michael Ian Black, comedian
1971 - Pete Sampras, tennis player
1972 - Rebecca Gayheart, actress
1972 - Takanohana Kōji, sumo wrestler
1973 - Richard Reid, English bomber
1974 - Matt Clement, Major League Baseball pitcher
1976 - Antoine Walker, basketball player
1977 - Plaxico Burress, American football player
1980 - Dominique Swain, American actress
1988 - Leah Pipes, actress

Good morning, Raggedy. Thanks again for the updates on the famous among us. (this time I received updates)

It seems to me, folks, that John Derek once did a movie on the life of Jesus which was panned by the critics, but I'm not certain about that.

George Hamilton did the life of Hank Williams? Wow! I cannot imagine that.

I recognize Robert Southey, and will be back later with some of his poetry.

Bob, I caught all your bits about the fun that Americans have had with Kathy Lee Bates, but I do love America the Beautiful. Especially notable is Stan Freberg who was one funny satirist.

Perhaps one of our music discographers will recall another singer by the same name as George Hamilton.

Well, folks. This is not the poem that I recalled by Southey, but it is lovely:





Inscription 03 - For A Cavern That Overlooks The River Avon


Enter this cavern Stranger! the ascent
Is long and steep and toilsome; here awhile
Thou mayest repose thee, from the noontide heat
O'ercanopied by this arch'd rock that strikes
A grateful coolness: clasping its rough arms
Round the rude portal, the old ivy hangs
Its dark green branches down, and the wild Bees,
O'er its grey blossoms murmuring ceaseless, make
Most pleasant melody. No common spot
Receives thee, for the Power who prompts the song,
Loves this secluded haunt. The tide below
Scarce sends the sound of waters to thine ear;
And this high-hanging forest to the wind
Varies its many hues. Gaze Stranger here!
And let thy soften'd heart intensely feel
How good, how lovely, Nature! When from hence
Departing to the City's crouded streets,
Thy sickening eye at every step revolts
From scenes of vice and wretchedness; reflect
That Man creates the evil he endures.

Robert Southey

and I would like to add, listeners, that Southey was expelled from Westminster for opposing the practice of flogging. That makes him okay in my book.

By special request we want to play the following song:

Lucretia McEvil little girl what's your game?
Hard luck and trouble bound to be your claim to fame
Tail shakin' home breakin' truckin through town....
Each and every country mothers son hangin round
Drive a young man insane: Evil thats your name

(talk about it)

Lucretia McEvil bet you think youre doing fine
Back seat Delilah, got your six pack jug o wine, woman
I hear your mother was the talk of the sticks
Nothing that your daddy wouldnt do for kicks
Never done a thing worthwhile: Evil Woman Child

Devil got you Lucy under lock and key.
Aint about to set you free
Signed, sealed and witnessed on the day you were born
No use trying to fake him out
No use trying to make him out
Soon hell be taking out his doom
What you goin to do?

Ooh Lucy McEvil
Honey, where you been all night
Your hairs all messed up babe and the clothes youre wearing just dont
fit you right, no
Danny Joes paying your monthly rent
Tells his wife he cant imagine where the money went
Dressing you up in style: Evil Woman Child

Ooh, Lucy, you just so damn bad!

(instrumental bridge)

Aah, here she comes, truckin
Well Lucy, walkin down Main Street, lookin
Look so wild!
(talk about it)
Where you been girl?!
Stop lyin!
Stop lyin!
Stop lyin!
Listen!

Whaaah!
Tell the truth, girl!

(trumpet solo to end)

Hey, all. Material Girl is having a birthday tomorrow. Why not come and share her fun:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1508941#1508941

More news from the homefront, listeners:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1509005#1509005

It seems that our dys and Di are back with wonderful views. <smile>

Simon and Garfunkel Lyrics:

The Sound of Silence



Hello, darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision
That was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
Beneath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed
By the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share...
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence.

"Fools," said I, "you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows."
"Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed in the wells of silence.

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said: "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls,
And whisper'd in the sound of silence."

You know, Bob. I used to look at that song in a positive manner, as I do so value my quiet time. Now I see that it's more an observation about man's inhumanity to man.

I suppose, listeners, that a piece, whether, song or poem bears several readings or listenings, to be effective as a positive force in one's life.

Here is what I admire about each person here:

For Calamity Jane and Walter:

The ability to communicate in a language other than their own.

For Francis:

The ability to master several languages and still be familiar with English slang and nuances.

For McTag:

His willingness to assume duties other than ascribed by certain "rules" which early environment may impose upon him.

For you, Bob. Your endless ability to research and know the background, not only of celebs, but things in our everyday life, which affect us all.

For dj.
His understanding of music as lyrical poetry, and his effectiveness in finding the right one to fit the occasion which makes our little simulation here more believable.

For Raggedy:

Her persistance in learning to create a picture for us to see, and her remarkable research on celebrities with which we often identify, each in our own way.

I know that there are others that I may have missed, but each person here can be rest assured that I will acknowledge them as I take the time to go over our transcript.

and to once again cite John Donne's last stanza of his meditation:

Meditation XVII: No man is an island...
"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."




This famous meditation of Donne's puts forth two essential ideas which are representative of the Renaissance era in which it was written:

The idea that people are not isolated from one another, but that mankind is interconnected; and
The vivid awareness of mortality that seems a natural outgrowth of a time when death was the constant companion of life.
Donne brings these two themes together to affirm that any one man's death diminishes all of mankind, since all mankind is connected; yet that death itself is not so much to be feared as it at first seems.

Listeners, if I have made a mistake in the mechanics of writing, I apologize, but only if it obscures the communication.

and for our Yitwail:

His utter involvement in the rituals of the American Indian is in and of itself a singular revelation that I have always desired to know.

For Ticomaya:

His understanding of the politics of today, and his ability to refer all of us to the music that is not only a blend of genres, but also an appreciation of
the part that even music of today's generation impresses upon a culture.

For dys and Diane:

Just for being who they are with no apologies.

More later, as I read through the remainder of our transcript.

For edgarblythe:

His ability to write poetry, prose, and provide us with meaningful and fantastic songs both of a modern and country aspect. Also for his courage in dealing with his own illness and keeping low key about it.

For Panzade:

He is not only a working musician, but has a total understanding of the influence of music of all walks of life and an understanding of the history that accompanies them.

There are, of course, others who drop in occasionally, and I salute them, too.

We're all in it together, folks.

Letty, regard yourself as having received applause from me for a touching appraisal of the many entities that brighten our treasured abode. Many of us have found a happy home here and you did it. Hugs and kisses Sweety and a heart felt thank you.