01.08.08
The Phases of Elvis
1. The Beginning. (1954-1955) Elvis was first discovered by Sam Phillips of Sun Records and for the first months of his career he was a Southern performer.
2. The Hits. (1956-1958) Once Elvis fell under the management of Colonel Parker his career skyrocketed with hit and hit on his new record company RCA records.
3. The Army. (1958-1959) Many thought that after Elvis was drafted by the United States Army his career was over. It turned out to be just a short break. One where he would discover his future bride.
4. The Movie Years. (1960-1968) While many of the movies seemed to be remakes of themselves, he enjoyed big screen stardom and with all of the films made, he will be around forever, even if it will be on late night television.
5. The Comeback. (1968-1970) Once he decided that the movie career was enough and what he really wanted as well as what he was best at was being a singing star, he reestablished his recording and concert career. Some of the best songs were done during this comeback stage.
6. The Concert Years. (1971-1977) Elvis was a performer and when he was on stage in the middle of a song you have to believe that was when he was the happiest. He wanted to please and for many of those years that’s exactly what he did.
Opinions are those of the author and any error are mine.
01.07.08
Silent Film Forgotten Clowns
When speaking of comic of the silent era it’s not uncommon to think of Laurel and Hardy, although most will recall their sound pictures, and Charlie Chaplin. But there have been many Silent Clowns that have simply been forgotten, although at their heyday, they were some of the most popular people of films.
Mabel Normand
The first time that Charlie Chaplin performed his famous ‘Little Tramp’ (Although this was the second film released with him as that character. The first released was A Day at the Race at Venice) was in the film Mabel’s Strange Predicament starring Mabel Normand. Normand is credited as being the most prominent comedienne of silent films. Not only did she perform in her silent films she also wrote and directed quite a few of them. In 1918 she signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn that gave her $3,500 a week leaving Keystone studios as well as the male star of many of her films there, Roscoe ‘Fatty Arbuckle.
Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle
Arbuckle was one of the most popular stars in films from 1914-1922. He was the leading male comic, director and screenwriter. Unfortunately he is better remembered today for the scandal in which at a San Francisco party held in his room a young woman died. He was tried three times, the first two in mistrials with the 3rd resulting in an acquittal and a written apology issued by the court. The trial of public opinion ended his career in films.
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton was given his first big break by Roscoe Arbuckle in the film The Butcher Boy. Keaton’s films feature clever visual gags and camera trickery. The man himself performed with a deadpan expression that earned him the nickname “The Great Stone Face”. For film historian he is considered one of the greatest directors of all time. His film The General is perhaps the best of all of the silent comedy films.
Harold Lloyd
Harold Lloyd made nearly 200 films between 1914 and 1947 and is considered along with Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin as one of the most influential film comics of the silent era. Many of his films featured extended chase scenes and daredevil feats by his ordinary man in glasses. One of the most famous comic image is of Lloyd hanging onto the hands of a clock way above the street in the film Safety Last!
Harry Langdon
Many of the comic greats of silent film work with or was discovered by Mack Sennett. Harry Langdon was one of them. His screen character was of a wild-eyed innocent man with childlike characteristics. His best work was when he was directed others with those that he took creative control being less appealing. In his later career he played the role of comic goofs, but it was in his silent films that his talent shone.
Edna Purviance
Edna Purviance may be the most forgotten of all of the silent film clowns by name, but not her face. She appeared in 33 of Chaplin’s productions including his classic the Kid.
01.02.08
Ghost Riders in The Sky
This past weekend I finally had the chance to see the Nicholas Cage movie Ghost Rider. What I really liked about the movie was how they incorporated the old song Ghost Riders in the Sky into the soundtrack. A few times during the movie you could hear the guitar riff in the film and it featured perfectly when the Ghost Riders made the 500 mile journey through the desert. The nearly 5 minute version of the song done by the group Spiderbait during the closing credits was great.
The song Ghost Riders in The Sky was written in 1948 by Stan Jones (1914-1963) while he was working in Death Valley for the National Park Service. During that summer he was assigned to the movie crew that was filming The Walking Hills as a technical advisor. He would play his songs for them while on breaks and they encouraged him to sell the songs and went to music publishers to try to sell the songs.
Shortly after the beginning of 1949, Burl Ives heard the song and decided to record it on February 16, 1949 reaching the charts on April 22 peaking at number 21. Also in 1949 the song was recorded by Bing Crosby on March 22, 1949 reaching the charts on May 6 with it peaking at number 16.
But it was Vaughn Monroe’s version recorded on March 14 reaching the charts on April 15 that reached the number 1 position. In fact it was the biggest record of 1949. When it was recorded in 1949 it was called Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)
Gene Autry thought so much of the song that he crafted a movie based on it. He also recorded the version that was used in the movie.
In 1949 alone at least six performers recorded the song and since that time it has been recorded numerous times in each of the succeeding decades. Johnny Cash recorded a version in 1979. On 1988 he performed a duet of the song with Willie Nelson on VH1 Storytellers. On that version Willie Nelson did the 4th verse instead of the third.
01.01.08
Remembering 2007
1) They Died in 2007.
Brad Delp lead singer for the rock group Boston died on March 9th.
Kitty Carlisle died on April 17 at the age of 96.
Lois Maxwell, who we all fondly remember as Miss Moneypenny died on September 29.
Joey Bishop, the last member of the famed Rat Pack, died on October 17.
Teresa Brewer, who sang Music, Musi, Music in the 60’s, also died on October 17.
Dick Wilson, Don’t Squeeze the Charmin’s Mr. Whipple, died on November 19.
2) Sports Championships:
College Football ended with Florida defeating Ohio State, even though Ohio State returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown.
Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning finally won their Super Bowl defeating the Chicago Bears.
Men’s College Basketball Championship went to Florida who defeated Ohio State. The Woman’s winner was Tennessee with Rutgers losing the game.
In Pro Basketball the San Antonio Spurs won the championship in four games over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Phoenix Mercury, who wasn’t in the 2006 playoffs, won the WNBA Championship over the 2006 Champions Detroit Shock by winning the fifth game of their five game series.
The Hockey season ended with the Anaheim Ducks defeating the Ottawa Senators by winning 4 of the first five games.
The Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series, even though the Rockies went on an incredible late season run to make the playoffs and then won each of their National League series in sweeps to go to their first even World Series.
3) Entertainment
The Grammy for best album of 2006 was awarded in 2007 to The Dixie Chicks for their first CD since their political statements about President Bush.
The Best Picture Oscar went to The Departed.
Helen Mirren won awards for playing both Queen Elizabeth I and II. She won an Oscar for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II and an Emmy for playing Queen Elizabeth I.
4) Events
Even though the national election was nearly 2 years away the race for US president began early in both of the political parties.
The year ended on a sad note for Pakistan when Benazir Bhutto’s life ended on December 27th.
5) Technology
Microsoft finally released their newest Windows Operating System, Vista. It was not the success that they had hoped with many remaining with with older XP systems.
Apple rocked the world by releasing their iPhone. The new touch based cell phone sold only on the AT&T network in the United States, but sold better than anticipated.
Apple also released new iPods, including one that uses many of the same features as the iPhone as well as an upgrade to their computer operating system.
One of Apple’s biggest announcements came just after the first of the year when they announced that they were dropping the world Computer from their name and would be simply Apple, INC.
6) Changing from one year to another is just a way of measuring time. There is nothing special about 2008 that makes it any different than 2007 or even 1908. We all live one day at a time, one minute to the next.
12.27.07
Jeanne Carmen
1) Jeanne Laverne Carmen was born on August 4, 1930 in Paragould, Arkansas. She died on December 20, 2007.
2) She has often been called the “little country girl” who ran away from home when she was 13 to pursue stardom in New York.
3) Her start on Broadway came in 1948 as part of the chorus line of Bert Lahr’s “Burlesque”.
4) Carmen is said to have picked up skills as a trick golfer from trick shot master Jack Redmond and claims she used her golfing skills to hustle pro golfers with Las Vegas mobster Johnny Roselli.
5) Her platinum blonde hair and hourglass 36-26-36 measurements gained her entry into photo shoots for then-risqué girlie magazines. These led to roles in low-budget flicks. She has been given the title of “Queen of the B Movies.”
6) Her son Brandon James wrote her biography, Jeanne Carmen: MY WILD, WILD LIFE as a New York Pin Up Queen. A movie is reportedly in the works, with starlets such as Scarlett Johansson and Kate Bosworth rumored to be in line to play the lead role.
12.24.07
Musical Artist of the Decade
1) 1930’s – Bing Crosby with the 1940’s – Frank Sinatra. Many could be of the opinion that Bing Crosby could be the artist of the 30’s and 40’s with Sinatra reaching the top in the later 40’s and into the early 50’s
2) 1950’s – Elvis Presley. He’s not called the King for nothing
3) 1960’s – The Beatles. They began in 1962 as a top British act before reaching the US in 1964.
4) 1970’s – Elton John. He was the first artist to debut at Number 1 on the album chart and didn’t miss a year without a top selling song.
5) 1980’s – Michael Jackson. Just one word, Thriller. Although there is an argument for Madonna.
6) 1990’s – Garth Brooks. Whether you liked him or not, he sold a bunch of CD’s.
12.19.07
Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’
1) A Christmas Carol by English novelist Charles Dickens was first published on December 19, 1843. It had illustrations by John Leech.
2) The story is divided into Staves and not chapters. A stave, which is similar to a stanza, is found in music as a recurring pattern of meter and rhyme. Dickens felt this added humor as it relates to the title.
3) When Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his old partner and friend Jacob Marley, Marley’s ghost informs “Expect the first tomorrow, when the bell tolls one. … Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The Third, upon the next night when the last stroke of Twelve has cease to vibrate.” In the end the three spirits visited him on one night.
4) A Christmas Carol has been adapted for nearly every form of entertainment including theatre, opera, film, radio and television. The first film version was made in 1901 called Scrooge. In 1908 Thomas Edison also produced a film version of the story.
5) Lionel Barrymore’s radio production of him playing Scrooge was so popular that plans were made for him to do a film version. However, before it was filmed he was confined to a wheelchair with crippling arthritis and the role was played by Reginald Owen.
6) One of the best acclaimed film version of A Christmas Carol starred Alastair Sim as Ebeneser Scrooge. The English produced film was released with the title Scrooge in England and A Christmas Carol in the United States. It however did not attain its stature until the 1970’s when it turned up each year on US TV. Prior to this the most popular version of the filmed story in the US was the 1938 version with Reginald Owen.
12.18.07
The Temptations
1) The Temptations was one of the most successful vocal groups that came out of Motown, the record company founded in Detroit, Michigan by Berry Gordy. The original members of the group were Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Al Bryant, Eddie Kendricks, and Paul Williams forming under the name The Elgins. Otis Williams and Al Bryant came from a group called The Distants, while Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams came from the Primes.
2) In 1963, Al Bryant, who prefered his day job over performing, left the group and David Ruffin, cousin of Lamont Dozier of the song writing team of Holland, Dozier, Holland, joined the group. David Ruffin’s brother Jimmy had been considered, but David had better performance skills.
3) Ruffin, with his more Southern “gospel shouter” style, emerged as a third lead singer along with Kendrick’s smoother falsetto “romantic lead” and Paul William’s power baritone style. With this they could perform nearly any style that the producers of Motown desired. Most of the Singles released by the Temptations before 1968 had Ruffin singing lead.
4) 1968 saw a major change for the Temptations. David Ruffin left the group for a solo career and was replaced by Dennis Edwards. At the same time Norman Whitfield, who had been producing the group for a couple of years created a new pyschedelic sound for them. Cloud Nine was the debut of this new sound and they moved away from the Ruffin style ballards to a funkier beat.
5) Two years later saw the departure of Eddie Kendrick and Paul Williams. Paul Williams health was on the decline and he was even replaced on stage a few times by Richard Street. Kendricks didn’t like the sound that the group was taking and regularity had fights with Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin over who was the leader of the group. However before they left recorded the lead vocals for Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me).
6) Otis Williams is the only original member still with the group. Of the original five he is also the only one still alive. Paul Williams died as a result of suicide in 1973. Al Bryant died in 1975 of cirrhosis of the liver. Eddie Kendrick died in 1992 of lung cancer. Melvin Franklin died in 1995. He was the only other original member to not leave the group.
12.17.07
Directors of Silent Films
1) Erich Von Stroheim
Stronheim was an Austrian who had a long career in Silent Films in Hollywood beginning in 1915. His most famous work as a director is Greed, a detailed filming of the novel McTeague by Frank Norris. Stroheim originally edited a nine-hour version of the story, shot mostly at the locations as described in the book, San Francisco and Death Valley. He did cut it to less than three hours but it still was rejected by MGM which cut the film to a little over two hours. Stroheim destroyed the excess footage.
2) F.W. Murnau
Murnau was one of the greats of the Germanic Silent directors. His most famous film was the unauthorized version of Dracula, which he called Nosferatu. Even though he lost the lawsuit brought against him by Stoker’s estate which ruled that all copies of the film was to be destroyed, prints had been saved and now it has been fully restored.
3) King Vidor
Vidor might be best remembered as being a non-credited director of The Wizard of Oz, but he is also in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest career as a film director. His first in 1913 with Hurricane in Galveston and ending in 1980 with a short documentary on painting entitled The Metaphor. In 1928, Vidor received his first Oscar nomination, for The Crowd. In the same year, he made the classic Show People, the last silent film of Marion Davies, a comedy about the film industry.
4) John Ford
Ford may be best remembered for his westerns starring John Wayne, but came to Hollywood in the 1910’s following his brother and began work as a director in the early 1920’s. Many of his silent films, both as an actor and as a director have been lost.
5) Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock like Ford will be remember for the films he made after sound was put on film, but he began as a director of silent films in England in the mid 1920’s. His first ‘talkie’ Blackmail, his tenth film, was released a month before his final silent film, The Manxman.
6) Cecil B. DeMille
The great filmmaker Cecil B. Demille began in the early days of film. He directed Paramount first film The Squaw Man in 1915. A few of his silent films such as The Ten Commandments he was a able to remake in the sound era.
12.11.07
About the Christmas Season
1) Many people are away from home or alone on Christmas. Many people will journey home during the holidays, but there are those who won’t be able to with family during the holidays. Some may not be able to afford the expenses to travel. There are others who can’t take the time off from work or have jobs that require them to work on the holidays. People who work in the hospitals and those on active duty in the military would be examples. To those whose love ones can’t be with them or those who can’t be with their love ones, it can be depressing.
2) There are many common elements in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three believe in a Divine Being, the source of all that exists. All three religions believe that this God is the origin, cares about the entire creation and desires the well-being of all. God is just and merciful. They believe they are the children of Abraham and that Moses, David and Jesus are prophets. Islam believe in the virgin birth of Mary and accepts Jesus as a prophet and teacher but as Judaism do not believe in him as the savior.
3) Many of the Christmas traditions come from pagan practices. The date of Christmas was the date that Roman pagans celebrated the Birthday of the Invincible Sun God. It’s possible that December 25 was selected as the date of Christ’s birth in the early days of Christianity as way for all to participate. Yule is one of the pagan holidays and the idea of the Yule log came from that. Decorating a tree has its origins with the Druids who saw evergreen as symbols of everlasting life and decorating the trees may have also come from the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia, a celebration of the Winter Solstice.
5) The vision of Santa Claus we know him today was created by Clement Moore and Thomas Nash. The legend of St. Nicholas can be traced back to 280 A.D. and a Turkish monk. By the time of the Renaissance St. Nicholas was one of the most popular saints in Europe and even when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged he maintain a positive reputation, especially in Holland. In 1822 Clement Moore wrote the classic christmas poem “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas”. In the poem he classified St Nicholas as a ‘jolly old elf’ with the supernatural ability to ascend a chimney and riding a sled led by 8 reindeer. In 1881 Thomas Nash drew upon the poem and created the first likeness that matches our vision of Santa Claus as a cheery man with full, white beard and a sack of toys. Nash gave Santa his bright red suit and a North Pole workshop with elves and Mrs. Claus.
4) Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer was originally an advertising campaign. In 1939 Montgomery Ward, a chain of department stores, asked one of their copywriters, Robert L. May, to create a christmas story to give to shoppers as a coloring book. Prior to that they had been purchasing the books and thought by creating their own they could save money. May had a knack for writing children’s stories and created Rudolph as an ostracized member of the reindeer community because of an abnormality, his red nose. The Montgomery Ward stores distributed 2.4 millions copies of the story in 1939 and by 1946 6 million copies had been given away.
6) White Christmas by Bing Crosby is the biggest selling song of all-time with over 100 million copies sold. The Song was written by irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant who also wrote God Bless America. It was first sung by Bing Crosby in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn and release each Christmas for many years. In 1942 it was number 1 on the music charts and reached number 1 again in 1944 and 1945, becoming the only recording to reach number one in three different years. Holiday Inn was remade in 1954 as White Christmas. White Christmas is the most recorded Christmas song with over 500 versions by over 150 different artists.
Originally posted in 2006
