The Lucky Strike Papers

Hit Parade radio show, January,1952

2012-01-31T18:42:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned previously, in this space, that during the time my late mother was a featured singer on Your Hit Parade, on NBC-TV (during the 1951-1952 season), she made two guest appearances on the radio version of the Hit Parade, also on NBC. One of those appearances took place in April of 1952; the other appearance took place on this date, sixty years ago.

Here is a press release about the January, 1952 appearance, from the BBD&O advertising agency. BBD&O was the agency which oversaw the Hit Parade radio and television programs.

Diane Sinclair

2012-01-27T16:25:00.000-08:00

I learned a few days ago that Diane Sinclair, a well-known dancer in early television, passed away last May. She was 90.

Ms. Sinclair and her dance partner, Ken Spaulding, were the featured dance team on Kay Kyser’s 1949-1950 TV show on NBC-TV (they joined the show in early 1950). They also starred on Dave Garroway’s 1953-1954 NBC show, and on The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show, also on NBC, from 1951 to 1953.

In 1954, Ms. Sinclair appeared on the cover of Life magazine; the photograph of her was taken by Gordon Parks. A photo feature by Mr. Parks, inside the issue, concerned Ms. Sinclair and Ken Spaulding.

I interviewed Ms. Sinclair at length, in 1984, for my book about early television. I loved the conversation: Ms. Sinclair’s comments, I have long felt, are some of the most interesting, and insightful, in the book.

After the book was published, at the end of 2007, I sent her a copy, and we ended up speaking by phone, on several occasions, over the next few years.

I remain grateful for the interview she gave me, in 1984. I am also grateful for the friendship (a warm, if intermittent, one) which came about, years later, and am very saddened to learn about her death.

Here is a Wikipedia page about Ms. Sinclair:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Sinclair

(Image above: Gordon Parks's photograph of Diane Sinclair, on the cover of the January 25 1954 issue of Life magazine)

Kay Kyser and Merwyn Bogue, NBC, 1949

2012-01-23T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here is a photograph (and accompanying press release) that I recently bought on ebay. The picture is of bandleader Kay Kyser, and his comedy sidekick, Merwyn Bogue (a/k/a “Ish Kabibble”).

The picture, from NBC Television, is dated December 25, 1949; Kay Kyser’s TV show, the College of Musical Knowledge, had made its debut, on NBC, a few weeks before.

The "Today" show, January 14, 1952

2012-01-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

Sixty years ago, on this date—January 14, 1952—the Today show made its debut, on NBC-TV. The program’s host was the unusually talented and compelling figure Dave Garroway. Mr. Garroway was host of the program from 1952 until 1961.

Here is a brief film, evidently from later in 1952, about the relatively new medium of television; its host is Mr. Garroway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGk7r7HdDuA&feature=related

The You Tube description notes that the film was made “circa 1952”; a posting in the comments section says that it is indeed from 1952, which appears to be accurate. One of the television shows featured in the film (as noted in the Facebook posting) is the drama Dangerous Assignment, which starred Brian Donlevy. According to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh (Ballantine Books, several editions), the drama (which was syndicated) made its debut in early 1952, and only 39 episodes were produced.

By the way: near the end of the film (while describing television’s immediacy and reach), Garroway says: “...from a river rampage, to the proud debut of an American superliner. Television has a new world to bring you. And now, it’s in your town.”

The superliner shown in the film is the legendary S.S. United States; its maiden voyage took place the first week of July, in 1952. The ship, as noted on previous occasions in this space, plays a part in my book about early television. The last episode of Your Hit Parade’s 1951-1952 season, on NBC, originated from the S.S. United States, five days before the ship’s inaugural voyage.

Photograph from January, 1952

2012-01-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

This is a photograph of a rehearsal for the January 5, 1952 telecast of Your Hit Parade, on NBC (sixty years ago this week). In the picture (which, unfortunately, contains various scratches and other imperfections), my mother, Sue Bennett, is singing the #6 song on the Hit Parade survey that week: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." (The #1 song that week was "Slow Poke.")

According to the script she was joined in the song by the show's vocal chorus, The Hit Paraders (who appeared both on-camera, and off-camera, during Hit Parade broadcasts), though I am guessing that the performers in front of her are three of the show's dancers. The performer to the left looks like dancer Virginia Conwell; the performer at the right looks like it might be Bobby Trelease. Both Conwell and Trelease were prominent dancers on the program. (They were both, in addition, routinely featured in key non-speaking acting roles, during Hit Parade production numbers.)

The script, by the way, notes that the images behind my mother are to be seen "by means of the vue-graph rear projection." I find the phrase "vue-graph" interesting, but am unsure what it means. Perhaps it was simply another name, at the time, for the rear-projection process, or perhaps it referred to a specific kind, or specific brand, of rear-projection device; I have not come upon the phrase elsewhere.

(Photo above, copyright Lost Gold Entertainment, Inc.)

Adele

2011-12-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of the very impressive British singer Adele, performing her hit song "Rolling in the Deep," at a radio station (I believe in the Netherlands).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fmCoUjOMXU&feature=related

Adele has received six Grammy nominations for 2012, including two for "Rolling in the Deep": Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. The awards will be televised February 12th on CBS.

1959 photograph

2011-12-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

I recently bought this photograph, on ebay. It's of singer Snooky Lanson, with his wife Florence. The photo is dated 1959, which was two years after Lanson's tenure as one of the stars of Your Hit Parade ended.

It's a nice photo of the Lansons. I also like the television set, in the background, which I think looks something like a microwave.

New Doris Day CD

2011-12-04T22:28:00.000-08:00

A new CD by Doris Day is being released. While the CD’s release date in the US has been reported as being December 2nd, it will be available on amazon.com on December 6th (and on the Barnes & Noble site, bn.com, a week later). (A shorter version of the CD appeared in the UK in September; the US version contains an additional song.)

Of the thirteen recordings on the CD, most were recorded in the mid-1980s (and were produced by Ms. Day’s late son, Terry Melcher), but were never released. (A few of the songs, the UK-based website “Discovering Doris Day” notes, were aired on Ms. Day’s 1980s TV show, “Doris Day’s Best Friends.”) Another of the recordings was made for a 1970s Doris Day TV special, and a few others are previously-released Day songs. The UK website also notes: “All proceeds from the American release of the album will go to Ms. Day’s animal welfare organisation, the Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF).”

Terry Melcher, Ms. Day's son, passed away in 2004. He is perhaps best known for his work with the 1960s group The Byrds; he produced the group’s early recordings, including “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and “Turn, Turn, Turn.”

Here are two stories about the new Doris Day CD, from the “Discovering Doris Day” website:

http://www.dorisdaytribute.com/blog/2011/09/02/my-heart-album

http://www.dorisdaytribute.com/blog/2011/11/10/doris-days-best-selling-album-my-heart-receives-a-us-release-on-december-2-2011

The CD’s amazon.com link is:

http://www.amazon.com/My-Heart-U-S-Doris-Day/dp/B00656C6KK/

In addition, here is the web page of the Doris Day Animal Foundation:

http://ddaf.org/dd/

The Raymond Scott Orchestrette, @ Lincoln Center

2011-11-30T16:26:00.000-08:00

The New York-based group, formed by Irwin Chusid (Raymond Scott archivist, and producer of Raymond Scott CDs), is appearing at New York's Lincoln Center on Thursday (December 1st). Admission to the performance is free.

http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/index.php/atrium-raymond-scott-orchestrette-dec-1-2011

http://raymondscott.com/orchette.html

http://raymondscott.blogspot.com/

Tom Wicker

2011-11-25T20:32:00.000-08:00

Journalist Tom Wicker has died, at age 85.

Here is the obituary from The New York Times, the paper for which he wrote for many years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/us/tom-wicker-journalist-and-author-dies-at-85.html?pagewanted=1&ref=obituaries

"Van Camp's Little Show," NBC, 1950 and 1951

2011-11-20T23:16:00.000-08:00

The advertisement, below, is for Van Camp's foods, and appeared in the magazine Woman's Day, either in 1950 or 1951. The ad refers to the television program sponsored by the Stokely-Van Camp company, Van Camp's Little Show, which starred the singer and actor John Conte (the program was also known as John Conte's Little Show). The musical program, fifteen minutes long, aired Tuesday and Thursday evenings on NBC, from 1950-1951. My mother was a regular guest vocalist on the program, in 1951.

In the close-up image, one can see the phrase "Look-Listen-Enjoy" (it is used in reference to the television show); the phrase is a variant of the slogan which was employed by the company at the time: "Heat-Eat-Enjoy." The "Heat-Eat-Enjoy" slogan also appears in the advertisement, above the box of "Tenderoni."

Carly Simon, three videos

2011-11-20T22:13:00.000-08:00

Here are a few terrific performances by the enormously talented Carly Simon; the first two are from a concert in Central Park, and broadcast by ABC, in the early 1970s. The first song is "Anticipation," written by Simon. The second song, written with her frequent songwriting partner Jacob Brackman, is "That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be"; I think it is one of the more beautiful songs which came out of the rock era, and this live performance, by Simon, is particularly beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDJ_Mz8ftqI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux7HgO9QhAc&feature=related

The last video is from a live performance by Simon in 1995, in New York's Grand Central Station. It is of the song "Haven't Got Time for the Pain," also written by Simon and Jacob Brackman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4HLHuS3hkw

(First two videos: copyright Ron Delsner. Third video: copyright Milding Inc.)

Jack Benny and Gisele MacKenzie

2011-11-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

During my weekly radio program tonight (on the Internet station "Radio Once More"), a listener from Canada mentioned (on the station's Facebook page) Canadian singer (and Hit Parade star) Gisele MacKenzie, and her well-known appearance on Jack Benny's television show in the 1950s. (I unfortunately don't know the year of the appearance.) The listener later posted a YouTube link featuring the performance, in which Benny and MacKenzie played a violin duet of the song "Getting To Know You." The performance is very funny, very charming, and quite wonderful.

Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3cc0HlO7so

"Someday, Someway," by Marshall Crenshaw

2011-11-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

This is a video from the David Letterman program, NBC, 1982. It is of Marshall Crenshaw singing his terrific song "Someday, Someway."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKZkhdvSNSI

Jackie Wilson on "The Ed Sullivan Show"

2011-11-06T22:46:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice video of the great singer/entertainer Jackie Wilson, from 1962, on Ed Sullivan's program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9POh4ATtuBw&feature=relmfu

Martin Grams's most recent book

2011-10-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

Here's the amazon link for the latest book by Martin Grams, Jr.; the book concerns the 1955-1957 television series Science Fiction Theatre.

http://www.amazon.com/SCIENCE-FICTION-THEATRE-HISTORY-TELEVISION/dp/1593936575/

Martin was a guest, tonight, on my weekly "Radio Once More" program. The show airs from 9 p.m.-midnight, Eastern time, on Thursdays.

http://www.radiooncemore.com/

The address of Martin's web site is:

http://www.martingrams.com/.

Norman Corwin

2011-10-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

He was often referred to as the "poet laureate of radio." Norman Corwin—writer, director, producer—died yesterday, at 101.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/norman-corwin-poet-laureate-of-radio-dies-at-101/2010/09/21/gIQAz246wL_story.html?sub=AR

Snooky Lanson & Gisele MacKenzie, on 1974 "Mike Douglas Show"

2011-10-17T16:22:00.000-07:00

The following is a segment of The Mike Douglas Show, from May of 1974. The guests are Your Hit Parade singers Snooky Lanson (who starred on the TV show from 1950-1957), and Gisele MacKenzie (who starred on the program from 1953-1957). The video comes from a Gisele MacKenzie-related YouTube channel.

During the segment, Lanson describes a mistake which occurred during his singing of “O Holy Night,” on the Hit Parade’s 1954 Christmas broadcast. The YouTube video includes (at 3:23) a kinescope segment; the kinescope footage (not part of the 1974 Mike Douglas broadcast) includes the error Lanson was describing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yALZQnzVov8

Here, too, is the link for the Gisele MacKenzie YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/GiseleMacKenzieTunes

Snooky Lanson passed away in 1990, at age 76. Gisele MacKenzie passed away in 2003, also at 76.

Recently published Kay Kyser biography

2011-10-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

I’ve referred, in previous posts, to a biography of bandleader Kay Kyser, brought out in April by BearManor Media.

The book, Thinking of You—The Story of Kay Kyser, is by the late Raymond D. Hair, and by Jürgen Wölfer.

http://www.bearmanormedia.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=kay kyser&product_id=241

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-You-Story-Kay-Kyser/dp/1593936362/

I’ve only had the chance to read a handful of sections of the book, but wanted to mention a fascinating detail which appears in one of the book’s chapters.

The detail occurs in a part of the book which concerns the end of Kay Kyser’s television program (which aired on NBC in 1949 and 1950), and Kyser’s imminent retirement from show business.

By way of preface: in my own book about early television—a significant portion of which concerns Kay Kyser’s TV show—I noted that the orchestra which played on the New York-based television program was not made up of Kay Kyser’s longtime musicians; members of the New York musicians’ union were hired to play in the TV show’s orchestra. Popular Kay Kyser saxophonist Jack Martin and cornetist and comedian Merwyn Bogue (a/k/a Ish Kabibble) were the only longtime band members to become part of the television show (in addition to Carl Hoff, who had been musical director of the band, earlier in the 1940s; he led the orchestra on the TV program).

The new Kay Kyser book indicates (via an interview with trombonist Joe Howard, who was not part of the television show’s orchestra, but who had been part of Kay Kyser’s band in the 1940s) that there was regular turnover in the television band’s personnel—that band members were hired for only brief periods of time, and new musicians then joined the program. I was not aware of this; my impression was that there had been continuity in the TV band’s personnel.

The book also makes this contention: that the musicians who were hired to play in the television program’s orchestra were not especially enamored of Kay Kyser's talent.

“The musicians hired for the show in New York did not know Kyser,” the authors write. During the period of the TV show, the authors say, Kyser “wished to spend all the time he could with his family. He was at home every night. This was far different than it was during the days of the radio show when he was traveling across the country entertaining troops.”

The authors continue: “The New York musicians were not aware of what Kyser had done. They only knew what they saw while playing on the TV show. Due to that they didn’t recognize his abilities and felt he was overrated. Kay knew their feelings, but said nothing about it.”

I have no knowledge of the preceding paragraph’s details, regarding the musicians on the television show—yet the statements (e.g., the musicians “felt [Kyser] was overrated”) sound rather sweeping to me. I am a bit perplexed, too, by the suggestion that the TV show’s musicians would have been unaware “of what Kyser had done.” In 1949 and 1950, despite the decline of the big band era, Mr. Kyser was still regarded as a major figure in American entertainment.

Nonetheless: there is another detail in the book, concerning the end of Kay Kyser’s TV show (and the end of his show business career), which I find compelling.

The authors write:

The cancelation [of the television show] did not concern Kyser. He had long wished to leave the stress and physical demands of show business. This was a good chance for him to return to his beloved Chapel Hill. As soon as he finished his business in New York, he headed south.

Merwyn Bogue recalled, “It was Christmas day of 1950 that Kay sent us all a letter saying he didn’t want to talk to any of us down at his office in New York, and not to try to contract (sic) him about anything. He was retiring - goodbye - and like that. I went down to his office in New York…and he looked surprised when I came in the office.

According to Bogue, as reported in the new book, the following exchange occurred between the two:

He [Kyser] said, ‘I thought I said not to try to contact me’, and I said yes you did, but here I am.

It is, indeed, a distinctly chilly, and certainly arresting detail: I thought I said not to try to contact me.

The authors add:

Knowing how the New York musicians felt about him, Kyser had no desire to see any of them. Ish had been with Kay for 20 years, so Kyser decided to talk with him.

Even this concluding sentence, by the authors, is suggestive of a chilliness—suggesting what appears to have been a grudging decision, by Kay Kyser, to talk.

I had written, in my 2007 book, about an estrangement between Kay Kyser and Merwyn Bogue. The estrangement had begun—according to Merwyn Bogue, via an interview I conducted with him in 1979—in the mid-1940s.

Yet the estrangement had something of a one-sided quality to it, as described to me by Bogue in 1979 (Bogue passed away in 1994).

The following exchange appears in my book. I was speaking with Bogue about Kay Kyser’s television show, and his relationship with Kyser.

AF: I had heard that you and Kyser had had a big rift.

Merwyn Bogue (1979): Oh, yes, we did.

AF: And you didn’t speak to each other much.

Bogue: That’s right. Well, I spoke to him, but he didn’t answer me.

(As noted previously, in this space, my description of the estrangement—indeed, the simple fact of the estrangement—was challenged last year, belligerently, by another Kay Kyser biographer, who pronounced the story not credible.)

In fact, the remarks by Merwyn Bogue, contained in the new Kay Kyser book, are—in their tone—very similar to the remarks Bogue made to me, in 1979. In the newly published remarks, and in his remarks to me, Merwyn Bogue told of efforts to communicate with Kay Kyser, despite the distance Kyser clearly wished to keep.

From my book: Well, I spoke to him, but he didn’t answer me.

From the new book: He said, ‘I thought I said not to try to contact me’, and I said yes you did, but here I am.

-------

Here, as well, is the brief section from my book which concerns the genesis of the estrangement between Kay Kyser and Merwyn Bogue:

Several years before [the TV show], while appearing on Kay Kyser’s radio program, Bogue had asked Kyser for more money. “I was getting I think $175 a week,” Bogue said in 1979, “which wasn’t much. And all the other comparable stooges, like Jerry Colonna with [Bob] Hope . . . all the stooges were getting a thousand a week. So I thought I ought to have a thousand a week. And I asked him for it, and he wouldn’t give it to me. So I said, Well, then, I quit. And he said Fine, so I quit. And after about three weeks he called me back, he said, O.K., I’ll pay it, and he did, but then he was so mad he wouldn’t speak to me. . . .‘Course I didn’t get wealthy on it because I got it for two weeks and then I got drafted in the Army. And I was gone for about a year.”

After the service, Bogue returned to Kyser’s radio program. Later, in 1949, he joined Kyser for his television program. Yet Kyser still did not speak to him.

AF: But you have corresponded with him in recent years.

Bogue (1979): Oh, yes. . . . No, we got over that. We correspond now.

Oscar Handlin

2011-10-02T21:38:00.000-07:00

The distinguished historian Oscar Handlin recently passed away, at 95.

Here is an obituary, from The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/us/oscar-handlin-historian-who-chronicled-united-states-immigration-dies-at-95.html

Here, too, is an amazon link to for his well-known book about immigration, The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations That Made the American People. The book received the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for history.

http://www.amazon.com/Uprooted-Oscar-Handlin/dp/0316343137/

James M. Cannon, journalist, biographer, and presidential advisor

2011-09-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

Between 1992 and 1994, I was a periodic fill-in host for a talk show on a Philadelphia NPR station. (At the time I was also host of my own weekday talk show, on a radio station in Bucks County, PA.)

In 1994, on the NPR station, I interviewed James M. Cannon. He had been a political reporter and war correspondent for The Baltimore Sun, was later a writer for Time magazine, and was subsequently National Affairs Editor at Newsweek. Following his journalism career, he became a political advisor to Governor Nelson Rockefeller, was an advisor to Gerald Ford, during Mr. Ford’s presidency, and later served as Chief of Staff to Senator Howard Baker. I interviewed him in 1994 because of a biography of President Ford he had written, Time and Chance: Gerald Ford’s Appointment with History.

http://www.amazon.com/Time-Chance-Gerald-Appointment-History/dp/0472084828/

I have worked in radio on and off since the mid-1980s, and my interview with Mr. Cannon remains one of the conversations I have most enjoyed.

Time and Chance, his biography of President Ford, was a fine book, and I found Mr. Cannon to be a thoughtful and incisive guest. He grew up in Alabama, and I recall that there was, about him, a gracious, warm and dignified southern manner.

Mr. Cannon recently passed away, at age 93.

Here are two obituaries; they are from The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/james-m-cannon-iii-former-newsweek-editor-and-ford-adviser-dies-at-93/2011/09/17/gIQAWsAgaK_story.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/us/politics/james-m-cannon-an-adviser-to-ford-dies-at-93.html?_r=2&ref=obituaries

Appendix

2011-09-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

Parts of the past couple of weeks have been, to me, rather interesting. Surgery (and that which both precedes it, and follows it) can be an oddly intriguing experience.

I am grateful for the fine medical care I have received. Yet various parts of the experience have nonetheless been quite difficult. Having a ruptured appendix (and recovering from the surgery for it) has not been a lot of fun.

Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention

2011-09-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

The Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention is taking place this week in Hunt Valley, Maryland. The convention will open with a film presentation Wednesday night, and beginning Thursday morning will feature three days of events and presentations. This is the convention's sixth year.

http://midatlanticnostalgiaconvention.com/

The convention, run by Martin and Michelle Grams, will include appearances by Patty Duke, Michael Constantine, Karen Valentine, Davy Jones, and others. There will also be presentations about such subjects as “The History of Zorro,” “Lady Aviators in Real Life and Popular Fiction,” and “The History of Buck Rogers.”

On Sunday, the convention was the subject of an on-line New York Times piece:

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/tv-nostalgia-fans-to-convene/?scp=1&sq=Mid+atlantic+nostalgia+convention&st=cse

My friends at the Internet radio station “Radio Once More” (http://www.radiooncemore.com/) will be broadcasting from the convention Wednesday night, and throughout the daytime hours on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

On Thursday, Neal Ellis, who founded and runs the station, and who appears four nights each week as host of the station’s talk and entertainment program, The Live Show, will be conducting an on-stage interview at the convention with actors Tony Dow, Billy Gray and Lauren Chapin. The next day, his Live Show co-host, Ken Stockinger, will be conducting an on-stage interview with Patty Duke.

Incidentally, Martin Grams’s latest book was recently released. It concerns the 1950s television show Science Fiction Theatre. Here is the amazon link for the book:

http://www.amazon.com/SCIENCE-FICTION-THEATRE-HISTORY-TELEVISION/dp/1593936575/

The Tenth Anniversary

2011-09-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

(Photo, circa 1978, courtesy of artist Jenny Lynn)

Photograph of singer Russell Arms

2011-09-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

A nice photo of Arms, one of the stars of TV's Your Hit Parade, is currently for sale on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Russell-Arms-Your-Hit-Parade-Original-8x10-photo-G9826-/400240941278?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item5d303818de

"The Mike Douglas Show," Cleveland, 1962

2011-09-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

Here are two pictures of my mother and Mike Douglas, taken from a copy of a 1962 videotape. They are singing a duet of the song “Exactly Like You,” on Douglas’s Cleveland TV talk show.

In 1962, my father, an obstetrician & gynecologist, was scheduled to be interviewed on Douglas’s program; he had co-written (with my aunt, who was, at the time, a journalist) a book about childbirth. When Douglas learned about his upcoming appearance, he asked that my mother appear on the program as well.

On the 1962 broadcast, my mother sang two additional songs: “Makin’ Whoopie,” and “It’s All Right with Me,” and she and Douglas reminisced about the period when they had performed together, with bandleader Kay Kyser.

Douglas’s program began airing nationally in 1963, and during the 1960s my parents made periodic joint appearances on the program; my mother sang, on the shows, and my father discussed medical matters.

Tonight's program...

2011-08-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

Re: the broadcast referred to in the post below. Bad weather, I regret to say, caused my DSL to go out four or five times tonight, throwing the program off the air each time (the show is fed, via Skype, to the Maryland-based station). The last two times the DSL went out occurred during the playing of the pre-recorded interview with author Mike Sowell. The program was then scrapped; the interview with Mike Sowell will be played in its entirety next week. Also on next week's program: writer Denis Ledoux, author of a book about memoir writing, "Turning Memories Into Memoirs."

"Radio Once More"

2011-08-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

I've written, in previous posts, about the Internet radio station "Radio Once More"; the station features Old-Time Radio and nostalgia-themed programming (please see: www.radiooncemore.com). I've appeared regularly on the station this year, as a guest, as a guest co-host, and (for the past few months) as a weekly host. The show I'm hosting is called, simply, the "Thursday Live Show," and it airs Thursday nights from 9 to midnight; the program focuses largely on nostalgia-oriented subjects (but focuses, too, on other matters--such as history-related subjects which are not nostalgia-related).

On tonight's program, one of the topics will be the 1920 death of Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman, after he was hit by a pitch thrown by New York Yankees star Carl Mays. The guest will be Mike Sowell, author of the book The Pitch That Killed.

http://www.amazon.com/Pitch-That-Killed-Mike-Sowell/dp/1566635519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313706838&sr=8-1

New York benefit show, 1952

2011-08-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

In December of 1952, shortly before my mother’s New York television career ended, she appeared in a benefit show; it was for the War Wounded Christmas Fund of the New York Journal-American newspaper. At the time, she was singing on Morey Amsterdam’s local TV program, Breakfast with Music; the program aired weekday mornings on New York station WNBT (later renamed WNBC), and also starred musician (and bandleader) Milton DeLugg.

The benefit took place at Skouras’ Academy of Music in New York, and included appearances by Dagmar, Gene Rayburn, Skitch Henderson, Faye Emerson, Clifton Webb, Morey Amsterdam, Herb Sheldon, Jackie Robinson, Marguerite Piazza, and Ben Grauer, who served as the show’s MC.

The above Journal-American picture (rather wrinkled, unfortunately) appeared in the paper the week before the benefit, and featured Herb Sheldon, my mother, and Morey Amsterdam. The picture below (a Xeroxed image, which, one also notes, has accumulated scrapes and other imperfections, over time) was part of a feature in the newspaper after the show took place.

Amy Winehouse

2011-07-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

Amy Winehouse was an immensely talented, and soulful, singer.

Here are two videos of live performances she gave; both are of her superb song, "Rehab."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG61N6OhRWE&feature=related

The second performance is a more intimate, and more minimal, version of the song; she is accompanied by only two musicians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tshDCsBKUU&feature=related

Kay Kyser photograph on ebay

2011-07-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

There's a publicity photograph of bandleader Kay Kyser which is currently on sale on the auction site ebay. The auction page includes an image of the reverse side of the photograph, on which a date is stamped: December 1, 1949. This is the day that Kay Kyser's weekly television program (a program profiled at length in my book about early TV) made its debut on NBC Television.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1949-Orchestra-Leader-Kay-Kyser-Press-Photo-/260818400338?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3cb9fcf452

July, 1951

2011-07-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

I was recently listening (via YouTube) to Louis Armstrong’s beautiful recording of “A Kiss To Build A Dream on,” made with Sy Oliver’s orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHjZQb-kGek

The song (as noted in the accompanying YouTube information) was recorded on July 24, 1951 (sixty years ago this month).

This was during the time period with which my book is concerned (the late 1940s and early 1950s; the early years of television, but also, as well, the closing years of the big band period). And so, because of my own particular focus upon the era (or more precisely, perhaps, my fixation upon it, and my mother’s relationship to it), I make note of the following:

The musicians who played on the Louis Armstrong recording are listed, on the YouTube page. The bass player on the record, for example, was Sandy Block. In 1949, Block had been the bassist on the Dumont Network TV show Teen Time Tunes, a weeknight program which featured my mother and The Alan Logan Trio. In addition to Sandy Block, the Trio featured pianist/Trio leader Alan Logan, and guitarist Al Chernet.

Also playing on “A Kiss To Build A Dream On”: clarinetist/alto saxophonist Milt Yaner. Nearly two weeks prior to this, on July 12, 1951 (according to the music publication DownBeat), Yaner played saxophone in a session with the George Siravo Orchestra. (Siravo is best remembered, today, as an arranger for Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Doris Day, and others.)

During the session with the George Siravo Orchestra—sixty years ago this week—three recordings were made. Two of them were released as a 78 on the Mercury label: an instrumental version of Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” and, on the reverse side, “Farewell, Farewell to Love”; the latter song (co-written by George Siravo) featured my mother as vocalist. A week later, Frank Sinatra recorded another version of “Farewell, Farewell to Love”, arranged by Siravo, and performed with Harry James’ orchestra. It was released on Columbia Records.

I never knew about the record my mother made with George Siravo until after she died, in 2001. Some months later, I came upon the record, at my parents’ apartment. It has become one of my favorite records that she made.

Here is a segment of the recording:

http://www.luckystrikepapers.com/images/Farewell_Farewell_To_Love_George_Siravo_segment.wav

One more note, about music, and television, and my mother’s career, during this period:

On July 12^th of 1951, the day my mother recorded “Farewell, Farewell To Love” with George Siravo’s orchestra, bandleader Freddy Martin’s new weekly TV show made its debut on NBC. The show starred Martin and his orchestra, and featured singer Merv Griffin, pianist Murray Arnold, and the vocal group The Martin Men. Each week, a guest female vocalist appeared on the show. On July 12^th, for the debut program, the guest vocalist was Mary Mayo. The next week, my mother was the guest singer. Freddy Martin’s show was telecast through the summer, and then continued into the fall; my mother appeared as a regular guest on the show. The show went off the air at the end of November of that year.

(Video images, above, made from a kinescope of Freddy Martin’s NBC-TV program. Both images are of a song performance, from a September of 1951 telecast: Freddy Martin, on a telephone, sings to Merv Griffin, Sue Bennett, and Murray Arnold; they sing, in response, via another telephone. Pictures used by permission of NBC Studios, Inc.)

Betty Ford (1918-2011)

2011-07-08T18:42:00.001-07:00

I always thought she was a remarkable, courageous, genuine (and wonderfully forthright) individual.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/08/betty.ford.dies/index.html

Morgan White, Jr., and WBZ Radio

2011-07-06T01:19:00.000-07:00

I spent an enjoyable hour tonight as the guest of Morgan White, Jr., on Boston's WBZ Radio. Morgan has for years been a regular guest host on WBZ (http://boston.cbslocal.com/), and he's been filling in this week for the station's overnight host, Steve LeVeille. (I've appeared as Morgan's guest a number of times in the past few years.)

We spoke about a particular television topic: police shows (in particular, police detective shows), over time. Much time was spent talking about the incomparable Columbo program, which starred Peter Falk. Falk, of course, recently passed away, at 83.

I meant to mention one thing, during the conversation: that the writer and producer William Link, who with the late Richard Levinson created Columbo (along with many other notable television programs), released a book last year; it features new Columbo-related short stories. I have not yet gotten the book, but expect to do so soon.

Here is the book's amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Columbo-Collection-William-Link/dp/1932009949/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309936566&sr=1-1

And here, too, is Morgan White, Jr.'s website:

www.morganwhitejr.com

Book cover, "The Shadow," by Martin Grams, Jr.

2011-06-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

I like the covers of the books referred to in the previous two posts: the book about Kay Kyser, brought out recently by BearManor Media, and the cover of Ricky Riccardi's new book about Louis Armstrong. I also like the cover, to the left, very much: it's the cover of Martin Grams, Jr.'s latest book (his radio-related and television-related books have been referred to in previous posts). The book (which I recently got, but have not yet read) is The Shadow: The History and Mystery of the Radio Program, 1930-1954.

Here is the amazon.com link for the book:

http://www.amazon.com/SHADOW-History-Mystery-Radio-Program/dp/0982531117/

New York Times interview with Ricky Riccardi

2011-06-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

An interview with Ricky Riccardi, author of What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years (published last week by Pantheon, and the subject of a recent post, below), appeared in Sunday's New York Times. (The piece was posted on the newspaper's website a couple of days before.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/nyregion/ricky-riccardi-satchmo-biographer-to-read-in-howell-nj.html

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307378446?tag=rickricc-20&camp

New Kay Kyser biography

2011-06-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

My publisher, BearManor Media, recently brought out a biography of bandleader Kay Kyser. The book, Thinking of You--The Story of Kay Kyser, is by the late Raymond D. Hair, and by Jürgen Wölfer.

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-You-Story-Kay-Kyser/dp/1593936362/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308293639&sr=1-1

I'll have a bit more to say about the book in the near future, in a follow-up post.

"What a Wonderful World," by Ricky Riccardi

2011-06-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

I’ve written previously, here, about Ricky Riccardi, who is the Project Archivist at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, and who writes a Louis Armstrong-related blog, titled "The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong."

(http://www.dippermouth.blogspot.com/)

Riccardi’s book about Armstrong, What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years, is about to be published. Originally scheduled to be brought out last year, it is being released by Pantheon Books on June 21^st.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307378446?tag=rickricc-20&camp

Terry Teachout, author of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, says this, of Riccardi’s book: “The story of Louis Armstrong’s later years is the great untold tale of postwar jazz. Now Ricky Riccardi has told it to perfection. What a Wonderful World is a unique and indispensable landmark in Armstrong scholarship, a weathervane that will point the way to all future writings on his life and work.”

Here is one of my previous posts about Riccardi, and Louis Armstrong:

http://andrewleefielding.blogspot.com/2009/12/louis-armstrong-1950.html

Scott Pelley, and "The CBS Evening News"

2011-06-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

I’m a longtime CBS News-watcher, and enjoyed Katie Couric’s tenure as anchor of The CBS Evening News. Yet I’m also quite pleased that with Couric’s departure, Scott Pelley has taken her place.

Pelley is a fine reporter and anchor, and I very much enjoyed his debut broadcast, on Monday. He is straightforward, serious, and likeable.

Here are two examples of Pelley’s excellent reporting; both reports were featured on 60 Minutes.

The first piece, from May 1, 2011, is an interview with another terrific reporter, Lara Logan—who describes, very courageously, how she was brutally sexually assaulted and beaten by a mob in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, following the resignation of Hosni Mubarak.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7364550n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.7

The second report is a superb piece about children experiencing homelessness in America. It aired on March 6, 2011.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7358670n&tag=related;photovideo

Neal Ellis and Ken Stockinger

2011-05-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my friends Neal Ellis and Ken Stockinger, from “Radio Once More,” the Internet radio station which broadcasts Old-Time Radio and nostalgia-themed programming. (I have written previously in this space about the station, which was founded by, and is run by, Neal Ellis—and on which Ellis and Stockinger both appear, as hosts.)

They received a significant honor, at the 25th annual Cincinnati Old-Time Radio and Nostalgia Convention, which took place May 13-14 (and from which they conducted day-long broadcasts).

They were the co-recipients, at the convention, of the Stone/Waterman Award, named for radio's Ezra Stone (most famous for playing the character Henry Aldrich, on The Aldrich Family) and Willard Waterman (who played The Great Gildersleeve, after the show's original star, Harold Peary, left the program).

The award, given to Ellis and Stockinger for their “outstanding contribution(s) to the Preservation of Old-Time Radio," was presented by Bob Burchett, who runs the yearly convention.

Dick Van Dyke: "My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business"

2011-05-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

One of the most talented performers in show business history—Dick Van Dyke—has released a memoir, called My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business. I’m looking forward to reading it.

http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Life-Out-Show-business/dp/0307592235/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304664710&sr=1-1

There is no one quite like Dick Van Dyke. He is a wonderfully enjoyable and likeable singer, actor, and dancer. (He has always had a beautiful sense of movement—both when he is dancing, and when he is not.)

Here is Van Dyke, with Janet Leigh, in a scene from the 1963 film Bye Bye Birdie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0GyZwQFOW4

Singer Ellie Goulding

2011-05-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

I had not known of British singer Ellie Goulding, until seeing her last weekend on Saturday Night Live.

She performed her version of Elton John's "Your Song"; her rendition, I think, is lovely.

Here is the song's video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9AFMVMl9qE

Osama Bin Laden

2011-05-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

Osama Bin Laden was a profoundly evil individual. He was driven by ruthlessness, hate, and cruelty; he clearly took great pleasure in committing (and promoting) mass murder.

As President Obama said, on Monday: “Our country has kept its commitment to see that justice is done. The world is safer, it is a better place, because of the death of Osama bin Laden.”

"Your Hit Parade"

2011-04-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

I have a book, from a series published in the 1990s by Warner Books, called You Must Remember This; the edition I have focuses on 1956, the year I was born. The book was a gift from a friend, in 1995.

She did not realize, when she gave it to me, that the picture on the book’s inside cover was of the stars of TV’s Your Hit Parade, shown celebrating the new year of 1956. From the top, clockwise, are Snooky Lanson, Gisele MacKenzie, Russell Arms, and Dorothy Collins.

Of the various singers who appeared on the television version of the Hit Parade, Lanson, MacKenzie, Arms, and Collins remain, today, the singers who are most identified with the program.

Kay Kyser

2011-04-25T23:36:00.000-07:00

A nice picture of Kay Kyser, holding an NBC Radio microphone, was up for auction this week on ebay. The picture was taken by photographer Elmer Holloway.

Boston's WNAC-TV, "Cinema 7"

2011-04-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

For a few years (the late 1950s, into the start of the 1960s), my mother was the host of a Sunday afternoon movie program on Boston's WNAC-TV (Channel 7). The show was called Cinema 7.

Another photo, 1954, "The Sue Bennett Show"

2011-04-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

A 1954 rehearsal photograph, from my mother's 1954-1955 weekly musical show on Boston's WBZ-TV (Channel 4). She can be seen in the distance, near the center of the photograph.

"The Sue Bennett Show," Boston's WBZ-TV

2011-04-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

Years ago, local television stations routinely aired a great deal of local programming: talk shows, children’s shows, entertainment programs.

Here are a couple of pictures from my mother’s 1954-1955 television program, The Sue Bennett Show, a program I have referred to previously in this space. The show aired weekly on Boston's WBZ-TV, and featured my mother’s singing, and the singing of a vocal group, The Freddy Guerra Trio.

The pictures here are rehearsal photographs, from 1954. The first shows The Freddy Guerra Trio, at the left of the picture (singers Joe McPherson, Freddy Guerra, and Charles Bean); my mother stands nearby. The second picture gives a closer view of the trio.

Elizabeth Taylor

2011-03-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

She was, of course, an extremely talented actress.

Yet my heavens she was beautiful...

(Photo: CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

Songwriter Hugh Martin

2011-03-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

The composer and lyricist Hugh Martin passed away on Friday, at 96. Two of the standards for which he remains well-known are the wonderful "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and "The Trolley Song," both from the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis.

Here, from the film, is Judy Garland singing "The Trolley Song," with choral accompaniment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0odXnKhKBxQ

Here, as well, are two stories about Hugh Martin:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/hugh-martin-composer-of-trolley-song-and-holiday-classic-dies-at-96-/2011/03/12/AB0F7SS_story.html

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/148728-Hugh-Martin-Composer-of-Meet-Me-in-St-Louis-Dies-at-96

Upcoming books, by Martin Grams, Jr. and Laura Wagner

2011-03-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

A book by Martin Grams, Jr. (about whom I've written previously in this space), is being published in the next few weeks; the book is about the radio program The Shadow. Information about it can be found at the following links:

http://oldtimeradiotapes.homestead.com/Shadow.html

http://www.amazon.com/SHADOW-History-Mystery-Radio-Program/dp/0982531117/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299870830&sr=1-1

And a book about Anne Francis, by author Laura Wagner, will be appearing at the end of May:

http://www.amazon.com/Anne-Francis-Career-Laura-Wagner/dp/0786463651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299567513&sr=1-1

http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6365-7

Jane Russell

2011-02-28T16:31:00.000-08:00

Jane Russell, the well-known actress (who also sang with Kay Kyser's orchestra, for part of 1947), has passed away. She was 89.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41838758/ns/today-entertainment/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/movies/01russell.html?ref=obituaries

(Photo: Keystone Features/Getty Images)

"Radio Once More"

2011-02-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

Since mid-January, I’ve appeared several times on the Internet radio station “Radio Once More,” as both a guest, and guest co-host (on the station’s four-times-per-week talk and entertainment program, The Live Show). The station features Old-Time Radio and nostalgia-oriented programming.

The hosts of The Live Show (as I’ve noted previously) are Neal Ellis and Ken Stockinger. The program airs Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9 p.m. to midnight, and is heard on Sundays from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Featured on tonight’s program: a conversation with Laura Leff, the president of the International Jack Benny Fan Club. The program can be heard at http://www.radiooncemore.com/.

The S.S. United States's new owners

2011-02-25T15:15:00.000-08:00

I’m very pleased to note that the S.S. United States, the legendary ocean liner, is now owned by the S.S. United States Conservancy, the organization which has, for some time, led a campaign on behalf of the ship’s preservation. The Conservancy acquired the title to the ocean liner at the beginning of February.

The ship, which has not been in use since 1969, has been docked, since 1996, on the Philadelphia waterfront. I wrote in a post last year that the fate of the ship (which had been owned since 2003 by the Norwegian Cruise Line company) was in doubt. The cruise line, it had been reported, was considering bids, for the ship, from scrap companies.

In 2010, the S.S. United States Conservancy received a $5.8 million gift from H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest, the Philadelphia philanthropist. The money provided by Mr. Lenfest paid for the purchase of the ship—the cost was $3 million—as well as providing for 20 months of maintenance fees.

The Conservancy said, on its website: “Owners Norwegian Cruise Line/Genting Hong Kong entered an exclusive purchase option with the Conservancy last year, graciously declining a bid twice as high from a vessel scrapper, in order to support the Conservancy’s efforts. The Conservancy is deeply grateful to both Gerry Lenfest and Norwegian/Genting for their support.” (Genting is one of the parent companies of NCL.)

As I have noted previously in this space (and as I wrote in my book), the final telecast of the 1951-1952 season of Your Hit Parade, on NBC, took place on the ship, five days before its maiden voyage.

Here is additional information about the purchase of the ship. The last link is to a New York Post piece by Dan McSweeney, the S.S. United States Conservancy’s executive director.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254304576116223089782038.html

http://www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org/news/_/2011/2/conservancy-purchases-ss-united-states-through-grant-from-lenfest-foundation/

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/saving_an_icon_of_the_american_century_R5twq9IWy1ZbjhIVjwzVOK

(Above: cover of the 1953 children's book The Superliner United States, published by Rand McNally & Company.)

Lady Gaga, and "Your Hit Parade"

2011-02-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

Lady Gaga (who is, I think, a terrific singer, and performer) will be interviewed on tonight’s telecast of CBS's 60 Minutes. She will also be appearing on tonight's Grammy Awards, also airing on CBS.

Here are a few thoughts about her—and about the Hit Parade TV show from the 1950s. (I am going to try, here, to briefly establish a connection between Lady Gaga, and the TV show.)

First, Your Hit Parade:

There was a difference in intent, between the Hit Parade radio show, which made its debut in 1935, and the TV show, which appeared in 1950.

The radio show (which notably, for a time, starred Frank Sinatra) featured vocal and orchestral performances of each week’s hit songs. The television show, on the other hand, featured not simply music, but dramatizations of the songs.

Hit songs routinely appeared on the Hit Parade for weeks at a time. The TV show’s producers, in creating the television version of the program, decided that song dramatizations—storytelling treatments, which changed from week to week—could serve to attract, and maintain, the interest of viewers.

In 1981, I spoke with Ted Fetter, one of the television show’s creators, and one of its producers in its early years; the interview with him appears in my book. He told me (as noted in the book) that while viewers of the TV show might enjoy learning which song was the number one song each week,

the greater appeal of the TV show, for viewers—“the point of the show,” Fetter said—was the stories themselves, and viewer curiosity regarding how the same songs—appearing week after week—would be presented; what the stories, the fictional treatments, would be.

And now, to Lady Gaga.

I like her singing a great deal, she dances/moves nicely on stage, and is a fine musician (she not infrequently accompanies herself, on piano).

She is also (as has often been noted by others) very theatrically-oriented: she often seems engaged, on-stage, in a kind of performance art.

Which perhaps explained, to some degree, the outfit, made of meat, that she wore to last year's MTV Video Music Awards. While she offered, indeed, a socio/political explanation of the outfit, I think there were probably a lot of people (I would include myself in that group) who thought the idea of it was pretty unpleasant.

(She explains, here, her motivation for wearing the outfit: http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/stopthepresses/279379/meet-the-mystery-meat-dress-lady-gaga-explains-rare-vmas-outfit/ )

Yet, nevertheless: I think Lady Gaga is extremely talented. One of the things I particularly like about her is the changing nature of her performances.

The staging of her songs often changes, from one performance to another. Sometimes it is more minimal, straightforward; at other times, it is elaborate, spectacle-like.

In the first YouTube video, below (from a 2009 MTV performance of“Paparazzi"), Lady Gaga emerges from a volcano-like construct; the pieces of the volcano move, and shift, during the song (the people operating the pieces, from behind, are occasionally visible).

In the second video, below, also from 2009, Gaga performs “Paparazzi" by herself, at a piano in a radio station studio—what she calls her acoustic version of the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUH_3m4ixVc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3R3KqrJAI4

As the presentations of her songs regularly change, so, too, frequently, does Lady Gaga change, in a physical sense. There is, I think, something of a chameleon-like quality to her; she often looks markedly different, from one appearance to another—because of hair style, say, or costuming, or makeup. Her look can change, too, within the same performance, as she removes, say, a mask covering part of her face (also part of the first video, above). She puts me in mind (to some degree) of photographer Cindy Sherman, and how (in Sherman’s “film stills” series) her physical appearance regularly changes.

There are, certainly, great differences in tone and style between Lady Gaga and Your Hit Parade. The Hit Parade was part of a dramatically different era; the TV show did not, for example, contain anything approaching the sexuality which has been a part of Lady Gaga’s performances.

Yet there is nonetheless, it seems to me, this commonality: that in a manner similar to the Hit Parade, in which the dramatizations of songs changed from week to week, and viewers tuned in to see how the song productions would change, Lady Gaga pays heed to the idea of variation, on stage—altering, with regularity, how she presents a song to audiences, how a song is staged, choreographed, performed. She thus avoids, in this way, a sense of pre-conception: her audiences are not sure what to expect.

Here are two videos of Lady Gaga performing her 2009 song “Bad Romance.” The first is from Ellen DeGeneres’s TV show. The second is from the British TV series, The X Factor. (In the second video, the performance of the song begins at approx. 1: 15.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIvhs1DLHEI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlKbGWFN_pU&feature=related

(Photo above: Lady Gaga performing "Paparazzi" on MTV, via YouTube)

Buddy Holly

2011-02-03T19:20:00.000-08:00

Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959, 52 years ago today, in an Iowa plane crash. He was twenty-two.

Here is a video of Holly from December of 1957, singing “Peggy Sue.” The appearance took place on NBC’s dance-oriented show, The Arthur Murray Party.

He and The Crickets are introduced by the show’s host, Kathryn Murray. Kathryn Murray was married to Arthur Murray.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEl3UUl1Fmw

Here, too, is Holly's recording of "Everyday":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KduJS8y48jc

Cliff Edwards

2011-01-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

In 2004, around the time I began re-writing my book about early television (when originally completed, in 1984, it did not reach publication), I made a trip to Washington, DC, to the Library of Congress.

The Library had, available for viewing, two kinescopes of Kay Kyser’s 1949-1950 NBC-TV show. (There were one or two other telecasts of the program in the Library's collection, yet they had not been transferred to videotape.)

One kinescope I watched was incomplete—it was the first half of the program’s debut broadcast, in December of 1949. The second was a full program, from November of 1950.

In the November, 1950 broadcast, several guest stars appeared. They included Bob Hope, singer Carlos Ramirez, comedian Carl Ballantine, and Cliff Edwards; Edwards made a brief cameo/walk-on appearance.

Cliff Edwards, who was also known as “Ukulele Ike,“ was for years a hugely popular performer—on radio, records, and in films. In 1949, he had a three-times-a-week television show on CBS.

Edwards, who died in 1971, is no doubt best remembered, today, for providing the voice of Jiminy Cricket, in the 1940 Walt Disney film Pinocchio. He sang the movie’s famous song, “When You Wish Upon a Star.”

Here are two YouTube recordings of Edwards singing the song.

The first recording is from the Pinocchio soundtrack. His vocal on the record (which includes his striking and lovely falsetto) is gentle, moving, and beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6RoRRdyTxw&feature=related

I do not know the date of the second recording, but it is also very beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ1NYFFDT8I

(Photo above: Cliff Edwards)

Georgia Carroll Kyser

2011-01-23T16:01:00.000-08:00

Georgia Carroll Kyser has passed away, at age 91. Here is the story from The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/arts/music/23carroll.html

Georgia Carroll was a well-known model, who then became an actress, and a singer with Kay Kyser's orchestra. She and Mr. Kyser married in 1944.

Mr. Kyser passed away in 1985. Mrs. Kyser is survived by daughters Kimberly and Amanda, and five grandchildren.

TV news reports, and Dr. King

2011-01-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a proposal: that it is time to change one of the ways we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The observance of Dr. King’s January 15th birthday honors one of America’s most magnificent leaders. His “I Have a Dream” speech, from 1963, remains one of the most luminous, most remarkable speeches ever delivered.

Yet the speech, I believe, is in danger of losing its potency. Not because it is in actuality any less powerful, today—but because parts of it, for years, have been relied upon, too reflexively, in news coverage of Dr. King's life.

Whether it has been each January (at the time of the King holiday), or on other occasions over time, news reports about Dr. King (I am thinking largely of television broadcasts) have routinely played brief segments of—usually, certain sentences from—his 1963 address.

Such as, part of the address’s conclusion—in which King looked to the day when “black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”

Such words are intensely moving, and meaningful. Yet I am guessing that these, and other segments of the speech, have become the only words of King’s with which many Americans—in particular, younger Americans—are familiar.

In general, as regards history, the notion of repetition has enormous value, reminding us of that which is crucial and profound: the words, facts, images and emotions of the past.

Repetition, of course, can also be used with beauty and power, in the art of rhetoric—as in the recurring “I have a dream” phrase in King’s 1963 address.

Yet repetition—when employed without sufficient care—can also achieve the following: it can help to transform that which is meaningful, or beautiful, or painful, or momentous, into that which we begin, over time (perhaps less than consciously), to take for granted. I believe we have begun taking King’s 1963 speech for granted.

I recently watched various videos of Dr. King on YouTube—interviews from the 1960s, for example, on Meet the Press, The Mike Douglas Show, and other programs. Another well-known video I watched—widely regarded as another of King’s greatest speeches—is the haunting address he delivered the night before his death. (“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now…”)

In these different videos, King’s moral force, and his rhetorical force, are gripping. Yet we do not see these other videos often enough.

Through the years, journalistic coverage of Dr. King has, most certainly, been impelled by the best of intentions. Yet the regular reliance upon brief parts of his best-known speech has, I believe, provided a constricted view of his life, and legacy. A new effort to capture a more expansive sense of Dr. King would be a meaningful way to remember one of America’s finest, most vital, and most heroic citizens.

Anne Francis

2011-01-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

The talented (and beautiful) Anne Francis, who passed away this week (at age 80), was probably best known for her 1965-1966 private-eye television series Honey West.

(Certain childhood memories can be so elusive, indistinct. I watched Honey West, at ages nine/ten, yet recall, in essence, nothing about it—other than remembering that I liked Anne Francis.)

Many will also recall Francis’s enjoyable lead performance in an episode of The Twilight Zone (the story concerned department store mannequins). I’ve never seen the well-known 1956 science fiction movie in which she co-starred, Forbidden Planet, though she had a key role in one of my favorite 1950s films, Blackboard Jungle.

(The film, released in 1955, had as its primary stars Vic Morrow , Glenn Ford, and Sidney Poitier, and is remembered in part for the song used at the start of the film, and used elsewhere in it, as well: “Rock Around the Clock.” The record had been released the year before, but did not achieve huge popularity until it was used in the film. After the release of the movie, it became the first number one rock & roll record on the Billboard pop music charts. Blackboard Jungle, one can therefore argue, played a not-insignificant part in the rise of rock & roll.)

The following is a story about Anne Francis, from The Los Angeles Times:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-anne-francis-20110103,0,2031697.story

My publisher, incidentally, has a book out about Honey West; it is by author John C. Fredriksen:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1593933460?tag=bbccomedy

(Photo above: Anne Francis, from Honey West)

Kay Kyser, Buzz Kulik, & December 28, 1950

2010-12-28T17:50:00.000-08:00

On December 28, 1950 (60 years ago today), Kay Kyser’s NBC show had its final telecast.

The guest stars for the last show included Ted Lewis, and Frances Faye.

After his show left television, Kay Kyser, forty-five years old, retired from show business. (He passed away in 1985, at age 80.)

After his TV show ended, Kyser returned with his family to his home state of North Carolina. He became involved in various community-oriented efforts—such as, playing a key role in bringing public television to the state.

In addition, Christian Science became an increasingly important part of his life. In time (using his given name, James K. Kyser), he became a Christian Science teacher, and a Christian Science practitioner (a practioner being another term for a Christian Science healer).

--------

Here is a ticket (its scuff marks and scratches more pronounced in the scan) from Kay Kyser’s last TV broadcast. I found it years ago, amidst other things my mother had saved from her career in New York (such as, scripts, recordings, photographs, newspaper and magazine stories, etc.).

Though it does not show up well in the scan, if you look to the right of the phrase “TELEVISION SHOW," you’ll see a name, written in pencil. It says “Kulik.” In that it is not my mother’s handwriting, I am guessing this means that the ticket had originally been put aside for (or, was put aside at the request of) Buzz Kulik, the show’s director, but that perhaps he ended up not needing it.

Later, Buzz Kulik became one of television’s best-known (and most accomplished) directors. In the 1950s, after directing Kay Kyser’s show, he directed such live television dramatic programs as Playhouse 90, Climax, and Lux Video Theatre. In the 1960s, he directed a number of episodes of The Twilight Zone, and worked on The Defenders, Have Gun, Will Travel, and many other programs.

He is perhaps best known for his direction of the landmark made-for-television film Brian’s Song, which aired in 1971. He also directed a number of feature films, including 1980’s The Hunter, which was Steve McQueen’s last film.

Though I did not know this when I interviewed him in 1981, Kulik also directed one of the TV productions I enjoyed most during childhood: a 1970 "Hallmark Hall of Fame" drama written by Rod Serling, A Storm in Summer, which starred Peter Ustinov. Ustinov won an Emmy Award for his performance, the show itself was named "Outstanding Dramatic Program" (for 1969-1970), and Kulik received an Emmy nomination for his direction of the program.

Kulik (who passed away in 1999, at age 76) also received Emmy nominations for the 1984 mini-series George Washington, for the 1976 television film The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, for a 1961 episode of Dr. Kildare, and for Brian’s Song.

Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

2010-12-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

Judy Garland, in the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g4lY8Y3eoo&feature=related

And, as sung by Frank Sinatra:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpPdl0StUVs&feature=related

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

2010-12-20T15:35:00.000-08:00

In 1949, Gene Autry’s “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was released, and it became a hit (and classic) recording. In the next couple of years other singers (such as Bing Crosby, and Spike Jones) recorded the song. It again became a Christmas-time hit in 1950, 1951, and 1952.

The song appeared as one of the top seven songs on Your Hit Parade for part of December of 1951, and continuing into the first week of January, 1952.

During one of those weeks, my mother sang the song with Snooky Lanson; on another telecast, she sang the song alone.

Above: a rehearsal photograph of the performance with Snooky Lanson (it is a picture which does not appear in my book). Also in the photograph: the Hit Parade Dancers (including Dusty McCaffrey, far left, and Carmina Cansino, second from right).

(Copyright of photo held by Lost Gold Entertainment, Inc.)

“Larry King Live," and the Hit Parade

2010-12-18T14:54:00.000-08:00

I haven’t watched Larry King’s program for a while, but his final show this past week was enjoyable.

One of the guests was the routinely entertaining Regis Philbin. During the segment Philbin mentioned that Larry King knew a lot of old songs, and loved to sing them.

Philbin began singing a particular song, and asked King to sing it with him. The song was “So Long For a While,” which was the closing theme of Your Hit Parade, on both radio and TV. Philbin changed some of the words, to suit the occasion of King’s last show.

King, however, did not sing along; he was obviously a bit thrown by Philbin’s invitation to do so, and explained that he didn’t know the song.

Here is a video of the exchange between Philbin and Larry King. The Hit Parade-related portion of the segment takes place during the first minute and twenty seconds of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGaDr9oOmr8

Here, too, is an audio recording of “So Long For a While,” from a spring of 1951 television broadcast of Your Hit Parade. The first vocalist heard is Eileen Wilson; she is followed by Snooky Lanson and Dorothy Collins. The entire cast then joins in.

http://luckystrikepapers.com/images/So_Long_for_a_While,_Your_Hit_Parade.wav

"Deconstructing Dad"

2010-12-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

I’d like to recommend a documentary (now available on DVD) that I wrote about in a recent post, and which I have now seen.

Deconstructing Dad is by filmmaker Stan Warnow, and is about his late father, the extraordinary Raymond Scott—orchestra leader, musician, composer, and electronics inventor/visionary.

The film is a finely-crafted, impressive work—an enjoyable, moving, and satisfying blend of biography, musicology, memoir, and family portrait.

As noted in my previous post, critic and historian Leonard Maltin has called the film a “fascinating look at a musical genius and the way he lived his life. Stan Warnow allows us to share his journey of discovery as he pieces together the story of his father. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Warnow is the film’s director and producer, as well as its narrator, and interviewer. The film’s co-producer is Jeff E. Winner (who created, and runs, the official Raymond Scott website: http://raymondscott.com/).

To learn more about the film, please click on this link: http://www.scottdoc.com/

(Photo above: Stan Warnow, from the “Deconstructing Dad” website)

John Lennon

2010-12-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

Here are three videos of John Lennon, with The Beatles.

The first, with Lennon as lead singer, is of a live performance of “Twist and Shout,” from 1964.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX1r6ggAqR4&feature=related

In the second, in a scene from the movie Help, Lennon sings the lead on “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLD5SVctBrw

Then, from 1964, The Beatles sing “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” on Ed Sullivan’s show (live from Miami).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQC7ecXQIJg&feature=related

Lastly, the announcement by Howard Cosell, thirty years ago tonight, during a telecast of Monday Night Football, that Lennon had been killed in New York.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gcdz1IRVoM&feature=related

Sale price of book

2010-12-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

The Lucky Strike Papers is currently being offered, via my website, for the discounted price of $19.95, which includes Media Mail shipping and Delivery Confirmation.

Please see this link: http://luckystrikepapers.com/purchase.html

"Radio Once More," and Nov. 22nd

2010-11-22T12:21:00.000-08:00

The Internet radio station "Radio Once More," about which I've previously written in this space, is, at the moment, in the midst of airing nine hours of radio coverage (both network and local) which took place on Nov. 22nd of 1963.

To listen to the station, please click on this link: http://www.radiooncemore.com/

In addition, the station's Facebook link is: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Radio-Once-More/206726779589?ref=search&sid=100000036812392.1343272947..1#!/pages/Radio-Once-More/206726779589

Boston radio program, 1953

2010-11-21T23:07:00.000-08:00

My parents were married in Manhattan in 1949, several months after my mother’s New York television career had begun. My father, at the time, was in his medical residency.

At the start of 1953, his residency now completed, and having accepted a job with a Boston medical practice, my parents left New York, and moved to suburban Boston.

A couple of months later (her network career now ended), my mother began singing on a daily radio show on Boston station WEEI-AM. She was, at the time, pregnant with my brother. (I was born later, in 1956.)

The radio show, Beantown Varieties, was hosted by Boston personality Carl Moore, and she sang on the show with an orchestra. (I don’t know how many musicians the orchestra featured, yet I have long been struck by the fact that an orchestra would be part of a local radio show. It was, indeed, a different era.)

Here is a segment of a song she sang on the show: “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man,” from the musical Show Boat (music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II).

http://www.luckystrikepapers.com/images/Can_t_Help_Lovin_That_Man,_segment,_1953.wav

"David Susskind: A Televised Life"

2010-11-20T21:54:00.000-08:00

There is a brief interview in my book (conducted in 1984) with David Susskind. During the 1949-1950 period Kay Kyser's TV show aired on NBC, Susskind was an agent and executive at the Music Corporation of America; he was also an assistant to M.C.A. senior executive (and noted agent) Sonny Werblin. M.C.A. was the agency that represented Kay Kyser, and Susskind was the agent for a number of the performers on Kay Kyser’s TV show (including my mother).

Susskind, in 1984, remembered that he and Kay Kyser Show writers Eddie Lawrence and Bob Quigley picked contestants, from the audience of New York’s International Theatre, for future broadcasts of the TV show. Eddie Lawrence, who also performed in sketches on the Kay Kyser program, later became well-known (on television, and on records) for his comedy character “The Old Philosopher." Bob Quigley, who also appeared in sketches on Kay Kyser’s show, later achieved great success as a producer (with Merrill Heatter) of such game shows as The Hollywood Squares.

In later years, of course, David Susskind became a prominent television talk show host, and producer. A biography of Susskind—David Susskind: A Televised Life—was recently released. The book is by Stephen Battaglio, and is published by St. Martin’s Press.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312382863/sr=1-1/qid=1287257690/

Ted Fetter, and "Taking a Chance on Love"

2010-11-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

In a recent post, I mentioned Ted Fetter, who from 1950 until 1953 was one of the producers of the Hit Parade television show.

Fetter is interviewed in my book about the program (and about early television in general). In addition to his work as a television producer, on the Hit Parade and other shows (he also later worked as a television executive, at ABC), Fetter was a songwriter—and is remembered, today, for being one of the lyricists of the outstanding (and much-recorded) song “Taking a Chance on Love.” The song was written in 1939 (with lyricist John Latouche and composer Vernon Duke), and it became part of the 1940 Broadway show Cabin in the Sky.

Here are three versions of the song, via YouTube. The first is by Benny Goodman’s orchestra, with vocalist Helen Forrest. The second version is sung by June Christy, and the third, by Frank Sinatra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E65N6d_vBVw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haeq-2c-axg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAKYOoXxB_g

Additional hostility

2010-11-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

There have recently been a couple of further attacks on a particular part of my book, by Steven Beasley, author of a Kay Kyser biography, in posts left on the Geezer Music Club blog. As I’ve previously noted, the Geezer site, which I enjoy very much, reviewed my book favorably in 2008.

I had responded to Mr. Beasley’s previous ill-informed comments, in a post on my blog October 19th.

In his initial posting in September, Mr. Beasley called into question the section in my book in which I wrote of a several-years estrangement between Kay Kyser and his sidekick and cornet player Merwyn Bogue (a/k/a Ish Kabibble). Mr. Beasley, dismissing the story, wrote:

“Could be it was an isolated incident Miss Bennett remembers...”

My mother, Sue Bennett, was indeed familiar with the estrangement between Kay Kyser and Merwyn Bogue. She was a featured singer on Kay Kyser’s TV program the entire time it aired on NBC—from December of 1949 until December of 1950—and in 1950 she recorded a number of records with Mr. Kyser’s orchestra. During that time, she saw, up close, the nature of the relationship (or the lack of a relationship, at the time) between Mr. Kyser and Mr. Bogue.

Yet my mother was not cited in the book, concerning the relationship between Kay Kyser and Merwyn Bogue; Merwyn Bogue was, via an interview he gave me in 1979.

In additional comments on the Geezer site, on 10/28, Mr. Beasley asked—skeptically—why Mr. Bogue would have spoken to me about an estrangement with Kay Kyser, while not mentioning the estrangement to other interviewers.

That is not something I can answer. I’m guessing the radio interviewers Mr. Beasley referred to either did not know about the estrangement, or chose not to mention it. And while in our 1979 conversation Mr. Bogue did not bring up the story himself, he confirmed it—unhesitatingly—when I asked him about it. (I do think it is possible that because Mr. Bogue and my mother had worked together, he might have felt comfortable addressing the issue with me—but that is simply a guess.)

Why, Mr. Beasley asked, did Mr. Bogue not mention the estrangement in his autobiography?

Again, I cannot say. Perhaps, because Mr. Bogue’s book came out in 1989, and Mr. Kyser had passed away just four years earlier, Mr. Bogue decided not to address the subject—admittedly a sensitive one—out of deference to Mr. Kyser and Mr. Kyser’s family.

In his snide and reckless posts, Mr. Beasley seems to be suggesting that Merwyn Bogue did not in fact describe to me, in my interview with him in 1979, a several-years estrangement from Mr. Kyser.

Mr. Beasley can believe what he wishes to believe. He didn’t interview Merwyn Bogue; I did.

Mr. Bogue said what he said, in 1979 (and part of it was said, it seemed to me, with a kind of good humor). In addition, as noted in my previous post about the matter, Mr. Bogue also told me—importantly—that he and Mr. Kyser had, at the time we spoke, moved beyond their strained relationship, and were again in touch with one another.

Let me also note the following:

In June of 2008, six months after my book was published (and more than a year before his book came out), Mr. Beasley wrote a post on a Kay Kyser-oriented blog he had on MySpace.

He wrote this: that “there are indications that [Kay Kyser] had a temper, and that he could and did hold a grudge at times."

Mr. Beasley then told a story about the relationship between Kay Kyser and one of his musicians, in the 1940s—a story which, incidentally, did not appear to involve a grudge, but I’ll leave to the side that first story he told.

He then continued: “Another example of Kay's holding a grudge regards his TV show, which ran 2 seasons on NBC in 1950. According to a book called 'The Lucky Strike Papers', the author's mother, Sue Bennett worked on Kyser's show as a vocalist (true enough) and noted that Kay and Ish Kabibble spoke to each other only on the show, and would not communicate directly offstage. This might be related to a rumor I heard a few years back where Ish felt he deserved a raise, Kyser denied him, and Ish felt forced to issue an ultimatum that he would not be present for the next TV show if the raise wasn't forthcoming. No dice. Sure enough, Ish wasn't there for the next show, and it was stated to me that Kay never forgave him.

“Now, while both these examples [the 2 stories Mr. Beasley told in his post] have not been proven to be 100 per cent accurate, all it proves is that Kyser, a very bright and personable man, had high standards, and was a normal guy, with foibles and faults like any of us.”

So: Mr. Beasley’s tone and stance have now changed, markedly.

While in his 2008 MySpace post he was perfectly willing to accept (in part via a “rumor” he heard) the possibility of an estrangement between Kay Kyser and Merwyn Bogue, during the time Mr. Kyser’s TV program aired on NBC, he now rejects the idea (“Could be it was an isolated incident Miss Bennett remembers...”). Indeed, he now lashes out, repeatedly, regarding the story I reported (a story, once again, told to me by Mr. Bogue): that the estrangement, in actuality, took place over several years.

There’s nothing I can do about Mr. Beasley’s insistent disbelief. Nor can I do anything about his self-righteousness, and his ugly and arrogant hostility.

To read the section in my book which concerns the several-years estrangement between Kay Kyser and Merwyn Bogue, please see my previous post:

http://andrewleefielding.blogspot.com/2010/10/response-to-angry-and-inaccurate.html

Here, too, is the link to the 2008 review of my book on the Geezer Music Club site; the posts left by Mr. Beasley appear after the review.

http://geezermusicclub.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/book-review-the-lucky-strike-papers-by-andrew-lee-fielding/

A Recent Presentation

2010-11-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

I recently made a presentation about early television, to the “Pines Lake Seniors” group, located in northern New Jersey.

I had a wonderful time speaking with the group’s members (who welcomed me, I must say, with great kindness and hospitality).

There was, for me, a lovely surprise at the meeting. One of the event’s attendees, Muriel Wood, worked for several years on Your Hit Parade, beginning in 1951. (This was the same year my mother joined the program’s cast, although Ms. Wood and my mother, evidently, did not know one another.)

Ms. Wood worked for BBD&O, the Hit Parade’s advertising agency; she was secretary to the show’s producers, Dan Lounsbery and Ted Fetter, who also worked for the agency. (After Fetter left the program, in 1953, she continued to work for Lounsbery.) Bill Wood—whom she met at BBD&O, and whom she married later in the decade—also was closely involved with Your Hit Parade, working on the production of the show’s Lucky Strike commercials. Mr. Wood passed away in 1997.

It was a delight meeting her. She brought along a few Hit Parade-related mementos, thinking I might like to see them (which was indeed the case)—photographs, for example, of singers Russell Arms and June Valli. There was also a picture of Muriel and Bill Wood, taken at their 1956 wedding in New Jersey. The picture included the Hit Parade's Dorothy Collins, who sang at the wedding.

My thanks, again, to the Pines Lake members who attended the event—and my appreciation, too, to George Kick, one of the group’s officers, who extended, to me, the invitation to speak.

Musicians, singing

2010-11-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

While in childhood, perhaps my early teens, my mother introduced me to an idea which interested me, and that stayed with me. It was the notion of the “musician’s voice”: that there were certain musicians who, while they were not singers per se, nonetheless had singing voices which were very appealing.

I remember, for example, her enjoyment of composer and pianist Burt Bacharach’s singing, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In television appearances at the time, Bacharach sometimes sang his own songs (songs he had written with the lyricist Hal David).

Bacharach’s singing (then, and remaining so today) perhaps does not have the polish of other vocalists. His singing often has a near-fragile, whispery quality; words, phrasings, are not infrequently clipped, unsustained. Sometimes he appears as if he is having difficulty reaching certain notes. Yet all of this is part of the appeal of his very beautiful, expressive vocal style. It is a style informed by great feeling.

In retrospect, I think that my mother’s appreciation for Bacharach’s singing offered me a lesson of some significance: that categories do not necessarily apply. If you were not, officially (as was she), a singer, if you did not have the familiar skills of a singer, this did not mean that your singing did not warrant attention. One could have much affection for—great admiration for—the singing of someone who was not a singer.

I think, too, of a record I learned about, years ago. In 1979, I made a trip to Nashville to interview singer Snooky Lanson, who in the 1950s starred on Your Hit Parade (it is an interview which appears in my book). During that time, he had a weekly radio show, near Nashville (co-hosted by a disc jockey at the radio station), which featured records from the band era, and I went with him to the recording of one of the shows.

During the broadcast he played a song I had not known of: “Gotta Be This or That,” a 1945 hit by Benny Goodman’s orchestra.

There is a brief part of the song during which Goodman sings. While Burt Bacharach, over time, has sung with some regularity, I do not believe that Benny Goodman sang often. I don’t think that his singing, on “Gotta Be This or That,” is necessarily flawless, yet this does not matter. What stands out (at least for me) is the charm of the singing; there is a hip and likeable quality to it. And (as is the case when one hears Burt Bacharach sing), one feels a kind of privilege: being allowed to hear a great musician venturing into another musical realm.

Here are a few videos of Burt Bacharach, singing songs he wrote with Hal David.

First, a brief video from 2008, of Bacharach singing “This Guy’s In Love”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb_AJ3I7aIk&feature=related

And here, from 2009, Bacharach performs “Alfie,” at the 92nd Street Y in New York. At the beginning of the video, he recalls the years he grew up in, and worked in, New York, and pays tribute to his songwriting collaborators, including Hal David. The introduction to “Alfie” begins at about 2:37.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgH5LjGCkj8

A final Bacharach video (which, in places, is a more energetic vocal performance than the performances above), is from a 1967 broadcast of the TV show The Hollywood Palace, with host Herb Alpert. (Herb Alpert, of course, sang on the original recording of “This Guy’s In Love,” which became a big hit the following year. Alpert—another musician who had not been known as a singer—gave a very lovely vocal performance on the record.)

At around 1:08, not long before Bacharach begins singing, Herb Alpert asks him: Who would you say you sing like?

BB: (pause) Beethoven.

HA: Beethoven?

BB: Beethoven.

HA: Burt, Beethoven wasn’t a singer.

BB: That’s right.

He then sings a medley of Bacharach/David songs (continuing until about 4:05). Other performers then continue the medley—including Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66 (singing “The Look of Love”—a performance which, while lip-synched, is a reminder of how beautiful their version of the song was), guitarist Wes Montgomery, and Liza Minnelli. The end of the video features commercials from the broadcast. (My apologies, for the slightly low volume on the video.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvxCuN6W_9U

Lastly, here is Benny Goodman, with “Gotta Be This or That.” Goodman’s singing begins approximately fifty seconds into the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WVrA7QqynI&feature=related

(Photo above, of Burt Bacharach, The Hollywood Palace, 1967, via YouTube)

Doris Day, interviewed by Jonathan Schwartz

2010-10-31T19:15:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to a very enjoyable interview with Doris Day; the interview aired today on Jonathan Schwartz's Sunday Show, on the New York public radio station WNYC-FM. (Mr. Schwartz is also heard on Saturdays, on WNYC; his programs on the station are also carried on Sirius XM Radio.)

During the interview, which lasts a little over an hour, Mr. Schwartz also played several recordings by Ms. Day.

http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2010/oct/30/celebrating-hollywood-legend-doris-day/#comments

Likeable performers

2010-10-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

I recently posted, on this blog, a video of Helen O’Connell, singing the song “Green Eyes,” from an early 1950s TV broadcast. Though I enjoyed her singing a great deal, in the video, I was also struck by this: how likeable Ms. O’Connell appeared. One becomes aware of this likeable quality the moment the video begins. She had a friendly and appealing demeanor, and looked to be enjoying herself, as she sang.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJbmE3J7s6k&feature=related

Here, too, are The Beatles, from the film A Hard Day’s Night, performing “I Should Have Known Better.” The Beatles routinely conveyed a sense of enjoyment, during their performances (as did, I think, Elvis Presley). It is an attractive quality, and one that not all performers share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTYr2XtGGRk&feature=related

I think of a terrific singer/guitarist/songwriter performing today—KT Tunstall, who is from Scotland. She has a very likeable stage presence, and a very appealing vocal style.

Here is Tunstall singing “Suddenly I See,” on David Letterman’s show. The video is from 2006.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU-OLy7MTgg&feature=related

Please note, in the above video, a signature feature of Tunstall’s performances: she employs foot pedals—known, evidently, as looping pedals. She uses them to record brief sections of her performances—such as, vocal phrases, or beats tapped out on her guitar—and then plays them back moments later, as accompaniment. The pedals are used, for vocal purposes, at the start of her performance on David Letterman’s program.

Here is another performance, also from David Letterman’s program, during a broadcast from Chicago. The video is of Al Green, who has regularly brought a very likeable quality, and, indeed, a sense of joy, to his performances. (I am not sure of the year of the video—though it is perhaps from 1998, when the CD referred to by Letterman, during his introduction of Green, was released.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QztIY43lPgI&feature=related

And concerning the subject of my book: there were many performers in early television, it seems to me, who had about them a noticeably likeable quality, a number of whom are a part of my book: singers such as Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, Eileen Wilson, Russell Arms (all from the Hit Parade), bandleader Freddy Martin (who starred on his own network show in 1951, a show on which my mother appeared as a regular guest), bandleader Kay Kyser, and others.

I think it is probable that being likeable was an important attribute during early television. Americans were given, during the period of early TV, a new proximity to performers; they were now seen up close, in one’s home, one’s living room. I am guessing that being likeable, week after week, made the presence of such performers, within the home, that much more pleasing.

"Your Hit Parade," October of 1950

2010-10-25T22:35:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 1950, on NBC, there were four experimental television broadcasts of the show Your Hit Parade. The Hit Parade had been heard on radio since 1935, and was now being tried on television.

The experimental TV broadcasts were successful, and in October of 1950 (sixty years ago this month), the TV show began airing weekly. Its three singing stars were Snooky Lanson, Eileen Wilson, and Dorothy Collins.

In February of 1951, my mother joined the program's cast. At first, she sang in the show's "extravaganza" commercials, for Lucky Strike cigarettes; the commercials were production numbers which featured singing and dancing. She later became a featured vocalist on the program.

A response to a hostile--and inaccurate--comment left on a website

2010-10-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

In 2008, a very kind review of my book was printed on the enjoyable “Geezer Music Club” website/blog.

http://geezermusicclub.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/book-review-the-lucky-strike-papers-by-andrew-lee-fielding/

This week I came upon a comment about the book review; it was left on the Geezer Music Club blog last month. The comment came from Steven Beasley, who came out with a biography of Kay Kyser in 2009.

Mr. Beasley, in his response to the book review, wrote about a section in my book in which I described the strained relationship between bandleader Kay Kyser and his comedy sidekick, Merwyn Bogue (better known as “Ish Kabibble”). Bogue, who was a cornetist in addition to being a comedian and sidekick, had been a part of Kyser's orchestra since the early 1930s. The rupture in their relationship took place in the mid-1940s (several years before Kay Kyser's "College of Musical Knowledge" came to TV), and it continued for the remainder of their professional association. During this time, Kyser and Bogue were not on speaking terms.

Mr. Beasley wrote:

“I visited Kay Kyser’s widow (Georgia Carroll Kyser) recently, whom I have known for 15 years. I brought up the part in the LUCKY STRIKE PAPERS that says Kay and Ish werent on speaking terms offstage, and she completely poo-pooed the idea. 'Even our kids were friends', she said. That makes sense, as Kyser was a very organized and practical man, and would’ve cleared up any misunderstanding as opposed to acting childish and perhaps causing delays or pressure due to some unspoken feud. Could be it was an isolated incident Miss Bennett remembers, but NO, I dont think they excommunicated each other. My new book, ‘KAY KYSER-THE OL’ PROFESSOR OF SWING! AMERICA’S FORGOTTEN SUPERSTAR’ tells the whole story of Kyser and his gang. I have a 1980s interview w/ Ish, and he certainly didnt seem to diss Kyser in any way. People should check their ‘facts’ before printing them.”

Mr. Beasley suggested I check my “facts” before publishing them. He should have actually taken the time to read the section in the book about Kyser and Merwyn Bogue, before criticizing it.

The rift between Kay Kyser and Merwyn Bogue was described to me by Merwyn Bogue himself, when I interviewed him in 1979.

Here is the section from the book:

I asked Merwyn Bogue—Ish Kabibble—about Kay Kyser. Kyser and Bogue were a team, on the air.

Off-the-air, however, the two did not speak with one another. Kyser used intermediaries to speak with Bogue, even when Bogue stood nearby.

AF: I had heard that you and Kyser had had a big rift.
Merwyn Bogue (1979): Oh, yes, we did.
AF: And you didn’t speak to each other much.
Bogue: That’s right. Well, I spoke to him, but he didn’t answer me.

Several years before [the TV show], while appearing on Kay Kyser’s radio program, Bogue had asked Kyser for more money. “I was getting I think $175 a week,” Bogue said in 1979, “which wasn’t much. And all the other comparable stooges, like Jerry Colonna with [Bob] Hope . . . all the stooges were getting a thousand a week. So I thought I ought to have a thousand a week. And I asked him for it, and he wouldn’t give it to me. So I said, Well, then, I quit. And he said Fine, so I quit. And after about three weeks he called me back, he said, O.K., I’ll pay it, and he did, but then he was so mad he wouldn’t speak to me. . . .‘Course I didn’t get wealthy on it because I got it for two weeks and then I got drafted in the Army. And I was gone for about a year.”

After the service, Bogue returned to Kyser’s radio program. Later, in 1949, he joined Kyser for his television program. Yet Kyser still did not speak to him.

AF: But you have corresponded with him in recent years.
Bogue (1979): Oh, yes. . . . No, we got over that. We correspond now.

"Deconstructing Dad," a film by Stan Warnow

2010-10-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Filmmaker Stan Warnow has directed and produced a documentary which has received much attention. The film, Deconstructing Dad, is about his father, Raymond Scott—the musician, composer, and bandleader, who was also widely regarded as an electronics visionary. (Though I have not yet seen the film, I am planning on doing so soon.)

Warnow’s film has had screenings at many film festivals (as well as music-oriented festivals), and it is now available on DVD.

Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin calls the film a “fascinating look at a musical genius and the way he lived his life. Stan Warnow allows us to share his journey of discovery as he pieces together the story of his father. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

For more information about Deconstructing Dad, please see the film’s website:

http://scottdoc.com/

Raymond Scott, as noted previously in this space, was the orchestra leader on the 1950s television show Your Hit Parade. He had been a very successful (and much admired) bandleader in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1949, the orchestra leader on the Hit Parade radio show, Mark Warnow (Scott's brother), died, and Scott took his place on the program. Scott continued as orchestra leader when the show came to television in 1950.

In the 1930s, Scott had played piano for (and contributed compositions to) the CBS Radio Orchestra, led by his brother. In order to avoid suggestions of nepotism, Scott (born Harry Warnow) changed his name. He found the name Raymond Scott in the phone book.

Stan Warnow was an editor and cameraman for the Academy Award-winnning film Woodstock, and has worked on many other films and television programs. Here is his biography, from the website for Deconstructing Dad:

http://scottdoc.com/about-the-filmaker/

To order a DVD of the film, please click on this link:

http://scottdoc.com/where-we-are-now/

Live broadcasts

2010-10-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

In the previous post, concerning tonight's live broadcast of 30 Rock, I neglected to mention certain programs which today are broadcast live: the very popular talent competition shows, such as American Idol, and Dancing with the Stars.

"30 Rock," "Your Hit Parade," and Studio 8-H

2010-10-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

Other than Saturday Night Live, and news and sports programs, live television programs are today rare. On Thursday, at 8:30 p.m. (EST), the NBC show 30 Rock will be broadcasting live, from NBC’s Studio 8-H, in Rockefeller Center.

Three of the primary stars of 30 Rock—Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, and Alec Baldwin—are very familiar with the studio, which has been the home of Saturday Night Live since the show began airing in 1975. Fey and Morgan starred on Saturday Night Live, and Baldwin has been a frequent host on the program.

Before the television era, Studio 8-H had been famous for being the radio home of conductor Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra; Toscanini’s radio broadcasts had begun on NBC in the 1930s.

Near the start of 1951, when my mother joined the cast of Your Hit Parade, the show was broadcast from New York’s Center Theatre, near Rockefeller Center; the theatre had been converted to accomodate NBC television productions. In the spring of 1952, the Hit Parade left the Center Theatre, and moved to Studio 8-H.

In 1983, while doing research for my book, I spoke with the television and film director Paul Bogart. Bogart worked in early TV (and later became one of television's most prominent directors, of both drama and comedy; in the 1970s, he won an Emmy Award for his direction of the series All In The Family). He remembered watching the Hit Parade at Studio 8-H, when the show moved there.

The following, about Bogart, is from my book:

He did not work on the [Hit Parade]; he was, at the time, a floor manager for other shows, yet he spent time at Studio 8-H and watched the show during rehearsals....

The Hit Parade, he said, “was a wonderful show. It came out of 8‑H, the big Toscanini studio in Radio City. It was the big studio, it had the big orchestra, it had lots of dancers, it had lots of singers. It was just plain fun. There were hundreds of people running around changing costumes all the time, it was like opening night of Broadway, you know, it was all that excitement. And I loved watching it. I used to hang around there all the time . . . .It had all that nice music going on, it was such sweet entertainment, so innocent. And lovely little bits of production.”

Arthur Penn

2010-09-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

The distinguished film, television and stage director Arthur Penn, best known for films such as Bonnie and Clyde and Little Big Man, died on Tuesday, at age 88.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/movies/30penn.html?ref=obituaries

Before becoming a film director, Mr. Penn was a prominent director in live television (including directing the 1957 Playhouse 90 production of The Miracle Worker, which he also later directed on Broadway, and then as a feature film). He was very kind, and gracious, when he spoke with me in 1981 about his television work.

Here is a brief exchange with Mr. Penn, from my book:

AF: I spoke with [director] Buzz Kulik, and he said that he and some friends used to say that if you worked in live TV, you could work in any medium, that nothing could throw you.

Penn: I would agree. I’ve never run into anything as tough as that...It sort of raised [your] threshold of fearlessness. If you could do those damn things, you could do anything.

“The Artist’s Eye: Vernon P. Johnson’s Watercolors of 1950s Small Town America"

2010-09-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

In the 1980s, when I was a radio talk host in Philadelphia, I interviewed journalist Janis Johnson on perhaps two or three occasions; at the time, she was writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer. During her years as a journalist Johnson was also on the staff of The Washington Post, was a correspondent for USA Today, and wrote for other major U.S. newspapers.

Last year, I came upon her website, and dropped her a note. She’s now a communications consultant, based in California. As her website indicates, her clients include “small and emerging businesses,” and she works often with non-profit organizations, such as colleges/universities (see the Johnson Consulting website: http://www.jjohnsoncommunication.com/).

In August, Johnson published a book, which (as one whose own book is a mixture of family history, and cultural history) looks to me to be very interesting.

The book, The Artist’s Eye, pays tribute to the 1950s artwork of her father, Vernon P. Johnson—and addresses, too, the American period the artwork depicts.

From the book’s website/blog:

“The Artist’s Eye: Vernon P. Johnson’s Watercolors of 1950s Small Town America uses Mount Vernon, Ohio as the setting to document the enduring legacy of this transitional decade in which the first generation of Baby Boomers was born.

“In the 1950s, Mount Vernon in Knox County in central Ohio was an iconic example of small town America, animated by the tug between tradition and progress. Johnson was an accomplished watercolor artist and Ohio native who studied under influential artists of the popular ‘Cleveland School’ in the late 1930s and after serving in World War II, became a graphic design innovator in the burgeoning flexible packaging industry. He had a particular vision for small town America, which he illustrated in his paintings of Knox County.

“In a volume that is part memoir, author Janis Johnson, the artist’s daughter and a published journalist and writer, takes us back to the 1950s using extensive family memorabilia and her father’s paintings, drawings, journals and writings. She returned to her hometown of Mount Vernon, Ohio to capture the voices of those who knew the artist and own his works. In partnership with the Knox County Historical Society, ‘The Artist’s Eye’ translates the story of one community into the larger and more far-reaching story of the 1950s across America.”

For additional information about the book:

http://theartistseye.wordpress.com/

An e-mail address is provided on the website, to inquire about purchasing the book. The book is also available through the Knox County Historical Society, in Ohio:

http://www.knoxhistory.org/index.html

Doris Day

2010-09-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

In August, on this blog, I inquired about the identity of a singer in a Wikipedia picture I posted. I was contacted by Howard Green of North Hollywood, California; he let me know that the singer was Helen O’Connell.

After Mr. Green wrote me, I learned that he has made many contributions to a website about Doris Day. The website, “The Films of Doris Day,” can be found at this address:

http://www.dorisday.net/Film_List/film_list.html

Mr. Green is also known as a collector of Doris Day audio recordings. His collection includes many rare recordings of her radio appearances.

I’ve enjoyed Doris Day’s work for years—her vocals, her acting. A favorite film of mine is Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, from 1956; it starred Day, and James Stewart. Her performance in the film (during which she sings “Que Sera, Sera”) is superb.

Here’s a segment of a Doris Day recording that I enjoy a great deal. It is from 1947, during the time she sang on the Hit Parade radio show. The recording was included on an album of Hit Parade performances, brought out many years ago by Sandy Hook Records, and released in the 1990s on CD (“Your Hit Parade, The Memorable Radio Years, 1938-1952.”). She is introduced by Frank Sinatra, and sings “The Lady from 29 Palms.”

http://www.luckystrikepapers.com/images/The_Lady_From_29_Palms.wav

In more recent years, of course, Day has become well-known for her advocacy on behalf of animals, through her important and wonderful organizations: the Doris Day Animal League (http://www.ddal.org/), and the Doris Day Animal Foundation (http://www.ddaf.org/). The Animal Foundation became independent from the Animal League a few years ago, when the latter organization, which is concerned with lobbying efforts, merged with The Humane Society of the United States.

(Above image: Doris Day with Alfred Hitchcock, from the website “The Films of Doris Day.”)

Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention

2010-09-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

Though tonight (Wednesday) there will be a screening of The Poet Laureate of Radio: An Interview with Norman Corwin, by filmmaker Michael James Kacey (the interview was conducted in 2004), the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention officially begins tomorrow morning, and continues through Saturday, at the Marriott Hotel in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

http://www.midatlanticnostalgiaconvention.com/

Actor Van Williams, from television’s Green Hornet, will not be attending as scheduled, because of illness. Yet other movie and television performers will be appearing—such as Roy Thinnes (The Invaders), Dawn Wells (Gilligan’s Island), and Ed Nelson, (Peyton Place, The Twilight Zone). There will also be a number of presentations—about Phil Harris & Alice Faye, about The Lone Ranger, and about The Green Hornet. Dr. Wesley Britton, author of The Encyclopedia of TV Spies, will be speaking, as will Jack French, author of Private Eyelashes: Radio's Lady Detectives.

Both of the above books were brought out by BearManor Media. Here are amazon links for them:

http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-TV-Spies-Wesley-Britton/dp/1593933258/

http://www.amazon.com/Private-Eyelashes-Radios-Lady-Detectives/dp/1593934505/

Please note, as well: The Internet radio station “Radio Once More,” about which I’ve previously written in this space, will be broadcasting live from the convention, beginning Thursday morning. Neal Ellis, from the station, will be on-scene at the convention; his co-host Ken Stockinger will be joining him from New Jersey.

http://www.radiooncemore.com/

Sale price of book

2010-08-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

The cover price of The Lucky Strike Papers is $24.95. The book (published in softcover) currently sells on amazon.com for $22.45.

To order a copy of the book, for the price of $21 (which includes Media Mail shipping, with Delivery Confirmation), please click on the following link, from my website. Payment can be made either via paypal, or by check.

http://luckystrikepapers.com/purchase.html

George David Weiss, addendum

2010-08-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

An additional note about George David Weiss, whose death was noted in the prior post:

Another song co-written by Mr. Weiss was "Can't Help Falling in Love," written for the 1961 film Blue Hawaii, starring Elvis Presley.

Here is the scene in the film during which Elvis sings the song. (The song begins about twenty seconds after the start of the video.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdYHivTvQCU&feature=related

"Can't Help Falling in Love" was written by Mr. Weiss, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Its melody was based on the French song from the late 1700s, "Plaisir d'amour," by composer Jean Paul Egide Martini.

Songwriter George David Weiss

2010-08-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

In my post of August 22nd, I wrote of my mother's April, 1952 appearance as guest vocalist on the Hit Parade radio show, on NBC. This was during the time she was a featured singer on the Hit Parade television program.

The number one song on the Hit Parade that week was "Wheel of Fortune." The song was a hit, at the time, for the singer Kay Starr.

Songwriter George David Weiss, who co-wrote "Wheel of Fortune" (with Bennie Benjamin), died this week. He was 89.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/arts/music/24weiss.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries

Among Mr. Weiss's other hits was the very beautiful 1960s Louis Armstrong song, "What a Wonderful World." Mr. Weiss co-wrote the song with Bob Thiele.

Some time ago, in this space, I posted a video of a lovely Louis Armstrong performance of "What a Wonderful World." Here is the video, again :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xotoDy5806Y

Here, too, is a brief audio segment of my mother singing "Wheel of Fortune," on the Hit Parade radio broadcast, in 1952. The radio show starred bandleader Guy Lombardo.

http://www.luckystrikepapers.com/images/Wheel_of_Fortune,_1952,_Hit_Parade_radio.wav

Edward Kean, from "The Howdy Doody Show"

2010-08-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

Mr. Kean, who recently passed away at age 85, played a key role in the production of The Howdy Doody Show.

The program, originally known as Puppet Playhouse, began airing on television at the end of 1947.

As the New York Times obituary notes (see link, below), Mr. Kean was the show's chief writer, co-wrote (with star Buffalo Bob Smith) the lyrics to the program's famous theme song, and named such characters as Clarabell the Clown, and Princess Summerfall Winterspring. The obituary also notes: "He once said that he was probably best known for coining the word 'cowabunga' (originally spelled with a 'k') as a greeting for Chief Thunderthud, a character on the show."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/arts/25kean.html?adxnnl=1&ref=obituaries&adxnnlx=1282709396-k1oU0qF1yTg/Qk3obNZo9A

More about Helen O'Connell (and Sue Bennett)

2010-08-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

I found this nice video (actually, a video made from a kinescope) of Helen O’Connell on YouTube. Someone who left a post beneath the video says it is from 1953, and the CBS-TV show TV’s Top Tunes. The show, that year, also featured singer Bob Eberly (who appears in a longer version of the same video, also available on YouTube), and the Ray Anthony Orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJbmE3J7s6k&feature=related

And also this, about Helen O’Connell:

I noted in previous posts, below, that a Wikipedia photo of Ms. O’Connell was, evidently, from the 1951-1953 radio version of Your Hit Parade, which starred Guy Lombardo and his orchestra.

I don’t have the date of the photo of Helen O’Connell’s Hit Parade appearance. I do have a list of the vocalists who appeared on the radio program from September of 1951 until June of 1952 (each week, a guest female vocalist appeared as “Your Lucky Star of the Week”), and Ms. O’Connell appeared on the show on May 1, 1952. What I do not have is the list of singers who appeared on the show beginning in the fall of 1952, and continuing until the early part of 1953, when the program left the air. It is possible, therefore, that Ms. O’Connell also appeared on the show at some point during that latter period, and that the photo is from that time.

Yet (it interests me to note), O’Connell’s May, 1952 appearance on the radio show took place the week after my mother appeared on the program; my mother had also appeared as the show’s guest vocalist on a January, 1952 broadcast. Her April 24, 1952 appearance took place on the show’s 17th anniversary broadcast, which aired from the United States Naval Hospital, in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

Here is a page of the script from the end of the April, 1952 program—and it is noted (by Guy Lombardo, and announcer Kenny Delmar) that Helen O’Connell will be appearing on the show the following week, from Fort Monmouth, in New Jersey.

Helen O'Connell, on "Your Hit Parade" radio show

2010-08-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

Howard Green, of North Hollywood, California, e-mailed me today about the previous blog entry. He told me that the singer in the Wikipedia picture was (to my surprise) the well-known vocalist Helen O’Connell.

I would not have figured this out. I had a different image, in my mind, of how O’Connell looked—probably from appearances she made on television much later in her career, in the 1970s.

Yet here is an additional picture of O’Connell, which shows that Mr. Green is clearly right.

The picture is of O’Connell with Stan Freberg and Bobby Troup. The IMDB website says the picture is from a 1953 television appearance.

Helen O’Connell passed away in 1993, at 73.

My thanks to Mr. Green for his e-mail.

(Image copyright: mptvimages.com)

"Your Hit Parade," on Wikipedia

2010-08-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

As part of the Wikipedia entry for Your Hit Parade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Your_Hit_Parade), there is a photograph (seen below) in which the singer who is pictured is identified as being Dorothy Collins. The picture's caption says that Collins sang on the Hit Parade with Frank Sinatra in 1947.

The caption is unfortunately not accurate (Dorothy Collins did not join the program until 1950, the year the show came to television), and the picture itself is not of Collins. If you click on the picture, on the Wikipedia page, you are taken to another page; a new caption identifies the singer as Doris Day, who did sing on the Hit Parade radio show with Frank Sinatra. But it certainly doesn't look like Doris Day, either.

Before 1950, the Hit Parade was solely a radio program. For a time, after the show came to television, the radio show continued, and the radio and television programs featured the same casts. (The shows were aired in a semi-simulcast. The Hit Parade cast performed on the half-hour NBC radio show, Saturday nights at 9 p.m. At 10: 30 p.m., an hour after the radio program ended, the same cast members performed on the TV show.)

In the fall of 1951, however, the radio and television shows became separate entities. The TV show continued to air on Saturday nights, and a new version of the radio show, which starred bandleader Guy Lombardo and his orchestra, and which featured a guest female vocalist each week, was heard on Thursday nights. The Guy Lombardo version of the radio program aired until 1953. The Wikipedia picture is evidently from this 1951-1953 version of the Hit Parade radio show; one can see Guy Lombardo, seated, to the right of the singer.

If anyone knows who the singer in the photo is, I'd be interested in finding out. Please e-mail me at lspapers@aol.com.

Pictured below: Hit Parade star Dorothy Collins, on the cover of the New York edition of TV Guide, in August of 1952.

Bobby Thomson

2010-08-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

In October of 1951, Bobby Thomson of The New York Giants hit one of the most dramatic home runs in baseball history. He passed away on Monday, at 86.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/sports/baseball/18thomson.html?hp

Below is a YouTube video of Thomson's home run. (The audio recording accompanying the film, however, is actually from the radio. It is the famous call by Russ Hodges, who was announcing the game on New York City radio station WMCA.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrI7dVj90zs

The Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention

2010-08-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

Last August, I spoke about my book, as part of a panel at the annual Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, in Aberdeen, Maryland.

Though I won’t be speaking at the convention this year, I wanted to pass along the link to the convention’s website:

http://www.midatlanticnostalgiaconvention.com/

The convention is now in its fifth year, and will be taking place from September 23 – 25, in a new location—Hunt Valley, Maryland.

One of the actors who will be appearing is Van Williams, who starred in the 1960s television series The Green Hornet.

Martin Grams, Jr., one of the convention’s organizers, is (as previously mentioned in this space) the co-author (with Terry Salomonson) of the recently-published book, The Green Hornet (OTR Publishing).

http://www.amazon.com/GREEN-HORNET-History-Pictures-Television/dp/0982531109/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281927808&sr=1-1

Grams and Salomonson will be giving a presentation about The Green Hornet, on the second night of this year’s event.

Robert F. Boyle, film production designer

2010-08-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

Though this is not a television-related story (aside from the fact that the well-known films Robert Boyle was a part of have been seen on TV for years), I wanted to make note of Mr. Boyle's passing.

From The New York Times:

"Robert F. Boyle, the eminent Hollywood production designer who created some of the most memorable scenes and images in cinematic history — Cary Grant clinging to Mount Rushmore in “North by Northwest,” the bird’s-eye view of the seagull attack in “The Birds,” the colorfully ramshackle shtetl for “Fiddler on the Roof” — died on Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 100."

As part of his work on "North By Northwest" (for which he received an Art Direction/Set Decoration Academy Award nomination), Boyle, notably, worked with director Alfred Hitchcock to design the "crop duster" scene, one of the great scenes in movie history:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_dguEsATfI&feature=related

Unfortunately, the above video ends prematurely. One does not see the scene's conclusion: Cary Grant's character (Roger Thornhill) making off with the truck of one of the bystanders.

Here is the full New York Times obituary for Robert Boyle:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/movies/04boyle.html?ref=obituaries

(Above: Cary Grant, publicity photo, "North By Northwest")

Thomas A. DeLong

2010-07-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

I was saddened, this week, to learn of the death of writer Thomas A. DeLong. He passed away July 12th, at 75.

I enjoyed reading Mr. DeLong’s work, over time—which included such books as Radio Stars (subtitled An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960), published in 1996 by McFarland & Company, and Quiz Craze—America’s Infatuation with Game Shows (Praeger, 1991). I had the pleasure of speaking with him, by phone, several months ago.

Mr. DeLong lived in both Florida, and Connecticut. Here is an obituary, from the Westport, Connecticut on-line publication WestportNow:

http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v2/comments/thomas_a_delong_75/

Here, too, is a amazon.com page which lists four of the ten books Mr. DeLong published during his writing career.

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-A.-DeLong/e/B001HOGH0U/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Louis Armstrong, "La Vie En Rose," Ricky Riccardi

2010-07-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

There’s a nice commercial on TV for the iphone 4, directed by Sam Mendes. It features Louis Armstrong singing “When You’re Smiling.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLrP8rCctgg

Previously, in this space, I wrote of Ricky Riccardi’s enjoyable blog, “The Wonderful World Of Louis Armstrong” (http://www.dippermouth.blogspot.com/). In November Riccardi wrote about “When You’re Smiling,” and had included in his posting an audio recording (one I had not been aware of before, and which I was therefore delighted to hear) of Armstrong performing the song on Kay Kyser’s NBC television show, in 1950:

http://dippermouth.blogspot.com/2009/11/when-youre-smiling-later-versions.html.

Riccardi, as noted in my previous post, is the Project Archivist for the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens (www.louisarmstronghouse.org/). He also lectures about Armstrong, and is the author of the forthcoming book What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years (Pantheon). The book was originally scheduled to be brought out this past spring, but now will appear in May of 2011. (The cover of the book, as currently seen on amazon—http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307378446?tag=rickricc-20&camp—appears above.)

In his 1950 appearance on Kay Kyser’s TV show, Louis Armstrong performed two songs: “When You’re Smiling,” and “La Vie En Rose.”

Riccardi, in his blog, recently wrote about “La Vie En Rose.” As was the case when he wrote about “When You’re Smiling,” he included in the recent post a recording of Armstrong’s performance of the song on Kay Kyser's TV program. The recording appears at about the halfway point of the post:

http://dippermouth.blogspot.com/2010/06/50-years-of-la-vie-en-rose.html.

As I had not heard the performance of "When You're Smiling," from Kay Kyser's program, until coming upon it several months ago on Riccardi's blog, I had also not previously heard the performance of "La Vie En Rose," from the same telecast. It was wonderful to be able to listen to it.

JCC of Middlesex County, NJ

2010-07-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

I had a thoroughly enjoyable time appearing at the Jewish Community Center in Edison, New Jersey last week. It was a great pleasure meeting with and speaking with the attendees—and hearing about their recollections of early television.

During the presentation, I showed some videotape, made from kinescopes of Your Hit Parade. One of the kinescope segments was of the end of a Hit Parade telecast from 1952, featuring the program’s singers and dancers; they sang the show’s closing theme song, “So Long for a While”:

So long for a while,

That’s all the songs, for a while,

So long to Your Hit Parade, and the tunes that you picked to be played.

So long…

As the video of the theme song played, a number of people in the JCC audience sang along with it. It was a very lovely moment—hearing the audience members sing the song, so many years after the program left the air.

The Lucky Strike Papers

Hit Parade radio show, January,1952

Diane Sinclair

Kay Kyser and Merwyn Bogue, NBC, 1949

The "Today" show, January 14, 1952

Photograph from January, 1952

Adele

1959 photograph

Recommended Reading

New Doris Day CD

The Raymond Scott Orchestrette, @ Lincoln Center

Tom Wicker

"Van Camp's Little Show," NBC, 1950 and 1951

Carly Simon, three videos

Jack Benny and Gisele MacKenzie

"Someday, Someway," by Marshall Crenshaw

Jackie Wilson on "The Ed Sullivan Show"

Martin Grams's most recent book

Norman Corwin

Snooky Lanson & Gisele MacKenzie, on 1974 "Mike Douglas Show"

Recently published Kay Kyser biography

Oscar Handlin

James M. Cannon, journalist, biographer, and presidential advisor

Appendix

Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention

The Tenth Anniversary

Photograph of singer Russell Arms

"The Mike Douglas Show," Cleveland, 1962

Tonight's program...

"Radio Once More"

New York benefit show, 1952

Amy Winehouse

Kay Kyser photograph on ebay

July, 1951

Betty Ford (1918-2011)

Morgan White, Jr., and WBZ Radio

Book cover, "The Shadow," by Martin Grams, Jr.

New York Times interview with Ricky Riccardi

New Kay Kyser biography

"What a Wonderful World," by Ricky Riccardi

Scott Pelley, and "The CBS Evening News"

Neal Ellis and Ken Stockinger

Dick Van Dyke: "My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business"

Singer Ellie Goulding

Osama Bin Laden

"Your Hit Parade"

Kay Kyser

Boston's WNAC-TV, "Cinema 7"

Another photo, 1954, "The Sue Bennett Show"

"The Sue Bennett Show," Boston's WBZ-TV

Elizabeth Taylor

Songwriter Hugh Martin

Upcoming books, by Martin Grams, Jr. and Laura Wagner

Jane Russell

"Radio Once More"

The S.S. United States's new owners

Lady Gaga, and "Your Hit Parade"

Buddy Holly

Cliff Edwards

Georgia Carroll Kyser

TV news reports, and Dr. King

Anne Francis

Kay Kyser, Buzz Kulik, & December 28, 1950

Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

“Larry King Live," and the Hit Parade

"Deconstructing Dad"

John Lennon

Sale price of book

"Radio Once More," and Nov. 22nd

Boston radio program, 1953

"David Susskind: A Televised Life"

Ted Fetter, and "Taking a Chance on Love"

Additional hostility

A Recent Presentation

Musicians, singing

Doris Day, interviewed by Jonathan Schwartz

Likeable performers

"Your Hit Parade," October of 1950

A response to a hostile--and inaccurate--comment left on a website