For a generation of TV-watchers, William Frawley was always a comical old cuss, first as Fred Mertz on "I Love Lucy," and later as Bub on "My Three Sons," a role he played until he was too feeble and nap-prone to continue. He was dropped in favor of slow-burn vaudevillian William Demarest, and he dropped dead, age 79, walking home from a movie.
Frawley played squinty, raspy, cynical characters in movies for years. What you saw was the man himself, a hard-drinking tough guy with just enough grouchy humor to make him tolerable. Desi Arnaz warned him that everyone knew his reputation, and if he showed up drunk, he'd be bounced off "I Love Lucy."
The only thing that was more scary than being bounced off "Lucy" was being on Lucy's friend Ethel Mertz. With typical ego, he thought that Vivian Vance was too shapeless and frumpy to play his wife. Vance, who like Audrey Meadows, could glam up and look quite presentable, could deal with playing a dowdy housewife but had openly expressed her qualms about playing opposite a man way too old for her.
If anyone asked you if you thought that Fred and Ethel still had sex, your reply, ala Ricky Ricardo, would've been, "No I dunt." Ethel's dunt was not a sight you wanted to ponder, and, to use a Kenneth Williams euphemism, that went double for Fred's cordwangle.
Frawley's new-found TV fame led to a record deal, and an album on Dot (the record label of semi-singers Wink Martindale and Walter Brennan) was titled "William Frawley Sings the Old Ones." Well, it wouldn't be "William Frawley Fucks the Old Ones," or even kisses the old ones, as the tune below would tend to prove. Wearing a striped vaudevillian jacket and a straw hat on the cover, he promised grand nostalgia.
"I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" might have had Bill thinking back to his lone marriage, which ended in divorce in 1927. His wife was the latter half of "Frawley and Louise," who toured the vaudeville circuit. Frawley had been getting silent film roles, and that was good enough over the next decades. He supported Bing Crosby ("Going My Way"), grumped in "Miracle on 34th Street," and "Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man" among others. He was even in Charlie Chaplin's "Monsieur Verdoux." So while Louise faded into obscurity, bachelor Bill was a Hollywood personality.
On "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" and the others, Frawley's hokey tenor is suited to the rotten songs. He's ALMOST as awful as an aging Rudy Vallee would've been with the same material. But every now and then, Bill's "inner Mertz" comes through, and here, the tender whiffenpoofing gives way to a sneering, dark and bitter recitation: "I wonder who's kissing her now. Kinda wonder who's teaching her how. And I wonder who's looking into her eyes...breathing sighs...telling her LIES!" Then he flips back into singing wistfully, backed by a male choir.
Wish he'd covered "Babalu," or the actual "I Love Lucy" theme, but this is quite memorable for all the wrong reasons.
FRAWLEY SINGS and GROUSES - listen online or download - no wait time, egocentric passwords, or requests for donations
A salute to Peggy Lee, born Norma Egstrom on May 26, 1920. (She swooped the planet on January 21, 2002).
Also being saluted, Elizabeth Montgomery, who died of colorectal cancer on May 18th, 1995. It's possible that if she'd had a colonoscopy or other check-up, her problem could have been caught and corrected, and she'd still be with us. She was born April 15, 1933.
Many vintage TV themes had lyrics so that idiots could instantly figure out what the show was about. The "premise" TV theme was used to explain the Clampetts becoming "The Beverly Hillbillies," Mr. and Mrs. Douglas moving to "Green Acres," and how the castaways got to "Gilligan's Island." The "introductory" TV theme simply explained "Bat Masterson," "Wyatt Earp," "Maverick" and "Paladin." Some shows didn't require much in the way of lyrics. One theme song merely had a sexy gal saying..."It's Burke's Law."
Fans have discovered that there ARE lyrics to some TV shows with well known instrumental themes, including "Bonanza," "Hawaii 5-0," and yes..."Bewitched." But you'll find out about the latter with just a finger twitch...
Twitch and hear BEWITCHED...online or via download. No greedhead Paypal donation request, no egocentric Password, no buy-a-premium-account weasel shit from Rapidgator
Rose Marie became a Twitter sensation in the last year of her life.
The reason she went on Twitter was to promote a documentary on her life — which was more than some vanity piece on an actress most people vaguely know was a child star on radio, and a brassy co-star on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” The film, “Wait For Your Laugh,” is an excellently done, often fascinating and moving piece of work. In a rare example of networking actually working, she built up a huge following and saw sell-out crowds at her film screenings. Though in a wheelchair, the self-described “old broad” was her lively, raucous self, fielding audience questions along with the famous friends on stage with her, Dick Van Dyke and Carl Reiner.
After her death, Rose’s daughter kept up the Twittering, and pushed the DVD release to #1 in the documentary category. Since the torrent monkeys tend to be Eurotrash who want to give away the latest Marvel super-hero shit, none of the “freedom of speech is giving away movies” bunch carved into the profits via bootleg downloads. Then again, Rose Marie’s audience is mostly made up of older people who’d say “torrent? You mean my adult diaper is leaking? How am I supposed to notice?” Cleverly, the DVD includes a lot of bonus material so that those who saw the movie in its brief selected theater run have plenty of reason to buy the package. What, color footage on the set of the Van Dyke series…and on the set when she made her dramatic TV debut on “Gunsmoke?” Great!
The documentary underlines that “Baby Rose Marie” was not just a child star. She was a BIG child star, in the Shirley Temple category, only her dominance was on radio and on stage, not in films. People flocked to see this pint-sized girl belt songs like Durante, and some thought she was a midget in disguise. Although her creepy father took ALL the money, Rose didn’t care because she simply loved to perform and enjoyed the attention…which included doting Al Capone.
“The mob” was always very good to Rose Marie, and she admitted it. Bugsy Siegel began building up Las Vegas from nothing…and yes, chose Rose Marie to be a major attraction. Since she was more of a talent than a looker, the gangsters didn’t demand she sleep her way to top billing. She would’ve probably smacked ‘em if they tried. She only had eyes for a trumpet player who, despite threats from her father, married her, gave her a memorable honeymoon, and become the love…and heartbreak of her life. He died of a rare blood disease when she was at the height of her fame on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
From “Baby Rose Marie” to a bombastic Las Vegas entertainer, to the co-star of the Phil Silvers “Top Banana” musical, Rose Marie already had an incredible ride before she played the Selma Diamond-inspired female comedy writer Sally Rogers. Nobody could’ve sparked the show better, not even laid-back Selma. Rose Marie later co-starred on “The Doris Day Show” and teamed with Rosemary Clooney, Helen O’Connell and Margaret Whiting for sold out tours when so many others from that era couldn’t get a booking at all.
One thing Rose Marie didn’t have was a recording career like her friend Jimmy Durante. She guested on a few tracks of Morey Amsterdam’s indie album, “Funny You Should Ask,” and put out an album of comedy and songs when the Van Dyke show was topping the ratings....
Rose Marie Mazzetta (August 15, 1923-December 28, 2017). Below is the audio from a film performance done in 1952. “My Mama Says No No” may have been inspired by “Yes My Darling Daughter,” which had been a hit for Dinah Shore among others. Only instead of mama weirdly saying “yes” to an anxious daughter’s first forays into dating and sex, THIS mama is saying NO! Well, didn’t Rose save herself for her wedding night? YES.
MAMA SAYS NO NO... to dopey links from spyware sites, to jerk-ass PASSWORDS or Paypal tip jar requests. Listen online or download free.
Here’s to Pat Boone, who, today, departed on what will probably be his last pilgrimage to The Holy Land. He will be arm and arm with his friend Rabbi Eckstein, leading fans through the sites of Israel treasured by both Christians and Jews.
While anti-Semites think that Israel is only of interest to the Jews, and that the Middle East would be better off if Israel was “blown off the map,” many supporters of Israel are Christian. They want to be able to walk in Christ’s footsteps in Israel…and bathe in the River Jordan afterward.
Although not known for writing songs, it was Pat Boone who wrote the lyrics to “Exodus.” After the movie came out, he was listening to the soundtrack theme and thought…there should be words to this. His divine inspiration for the opening chords: “This land is mine. God gave this land to me.” He wrote down the rest within a half an hour. Yes, the Jewish composer Ernest Gold wrote the music, but the Christian Pat Boone wrote the words (Boone wears both a cross and a Star of David). Years later, a Jewish museum requested that when the time was right for him, Pat would donate the original manuscript of his words. Pat was more than glad to comply, but he let the museum know: “I wrote the lyrics on the back of a Christmas card.”
You’d assume that this blog would happily ridicule Pat Boone as a limp fish in a barrel of milk. Thing is, Pat Boone never pretended to be anything but a whitebread middle-American who liked to sing pleasant melodies. If the song was a little hot (oh, say, Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti”) Pat poured milk on it. That’s what his fans wanted, and that’s what most of America wanted at the time. His version of the song and Richard’s version were both in the Top 20 at the same time, but were played on different radio stations. It wasn’t segregation; it was the simple fact that there were few “crossover” singers or songs back then. Morons who say Boone was “racist” should listen to Rev. Jesse Jackson, who said Boone’s covers helped the cause.
Frankie Laine and Louis Prima were whites who could sound black, and Johnny Mathis and Nat “King” Cole were blacks who sounded easy-going, if not white. Of all the media, including movies and TV, music was the most progressive in allowing blacks to participate. Everyone bought records by Cab Calloway or Louis Armstrong or Billie Holiday. Was Pat Boone covering them all, or other white artists?
Is anyone puking because Nat “King” Cole sang something as white and sappy as “Mona Lisa?” Should revisionist Black Panthers be protesting him as an Uncle Tom because he happened to like and thrive on “middle of the road” white-style music? On music Pat Boone could’ve performed? Then why the reverse racism bullshit. The race card is too easy to play on Pat Boone. To his credit Boone never lost his cool despite the slams about him “stealing” from the blacks. Let’s also remember that Boone was actually a rival to Elvis Presley…and that his “lame” style of music attracted as many bobby soxers to his singles as to Presley’s.
Once The Beatles arrived, Boone and his milk pack (including Paul Anka, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Darin, Fabian, etc.) disappeared. He became a young guy on the oldies circuit, and sang the same repertoire as Andy Williams and other pleasant fellows. The white bread style that sold millions of albums for Mantovani and Melachrino went moldy. The conservative views of Pat Boone and Anita Bryant became increasingly out of touch with a majority of Americans, although “easy listening” music still had a home in Las Vegas and in Branson, Missouri.
Boone finally returned to the charts when he put together a jokey lounge album of heavy metal songs. This time, it was his fans, not his enemies, who were appalled. They hated the album, hated him wearing leather and fake tattoos, and thought he was nuts. Actually it was just Pat Boone being Pat Boone.
A few years later he put out an album of R&B duets with top soul and R&B contemporaries. Yes, despite the reverse racists screaming “he bad,” and “he stole da black music,” Boone had just about every famous name black performer singing with him. They got it. Differ with his views on abortion, Trump, whatever, and like or dislike his music (I don’t play his “Greatest Hits” — anymore than I listen to Kostelanetz or James Last) but don’t diss da Boone! Sis Boone? Bah!
Do you know what Netanyahu calls him? “Speedy.” That’s because the leader of Israel is a fan of Pat’s dopey “Speedy Gonzalez” novelty hit. Who knows, Netanyahu might also, like so many white people, sing a Four Tops or Supremes song while driving along, or in the shower. He’s allowed. Boone’s allowed. “It’s all permitted.” Whites know they aren’t sounding like Levi Stubbs or Stevie Wonder or Smokey Robinson, but they enjoy it anyway. That’s a GOOD thing. There are also blacks who enjoy singing opera and country songs. Whites shouldn’t tell them they can’t, and neither should blacks. Sing along to whatever you want, and enjoy your fantasies.
“This song is mine. God didn’t give this song to me…I bought the sheet music in a store. Nothing on the sheet music mentions that I can’t sing it unless I’m of the same race as the composer….”
EXODUS -- via a download that won't take 10 days.
As soon as rock and roll became popular, exploitation movies were grinded out with every finger-snapper from Bill Haley to Jimmy Clanton singing their hits. To be current, even movie soundtracks exploded with the dangerous, delinquent sound of roaring saxes and pounding drums.
Just as the leather-clad creeps in “Blackboard Jungle” broke a teacher’s prize jazz 78’s, microphones were broken in sound studios as middle-of-the-road composers tried to hep up their scores. Soon, craven movie moguls were using rock songs as movie themes, to get publicity, airplay, and kids into the theaters. "Town Without Pity," for example, was almost a ridiculous parody of teen tragedy songs, but it worked thanks to Gene Pitney, and had people coming in to see a pretty depressing film about a teen gang rape.
A few years earlier, the melodic Alex North offered the raunchy “Hey Eula” for the Tennessee Williams drama “The Long Hot Summer” in 1958. Perhaps "Town Without Pity" owes a slight debt to this early version of hormonal bop. The object of the attention in his film: Lee Remick, who was almost as much of a “baby doll” as another Tennessee Williams favorite, Carroll Baker.
Rushing to get their platters to the disc jockeys and the juke boxes, Sil Austin and Marty Wilson (and the Strat-o-Lites) each offered bombastic versions of "Hey! Eula," loaded with bump and grind. You get both of those below, as well as the Alex North original soundtrack take.
Not too many people cared that there were words (by old-timer Sammy Cahn). One who did, was the legendary British writer-comedian Barry Cryer. It's on the flip-side of his notorious cover version of “Purple People Eater.” And guess what, Cryer’s a good wailer! Just why he didn’t end up recording more rave-ups, silly or straight, well, “I’m sorry, I haven’t a clue.”
There have not been too many songs immortalizing the name “Eula,” which seems to nestle between the extremes of “Beulah” and “Ulalume.” Beulah is a well known Southern name most often associated with black women, notably the big fat maid played by Louise Beavers on her own early sitcom. Yes, before Diahann Carroll’s “Julia,” here was a TV show starring a black woman. But the PC brigade doesn’t want anyone to remember it because she played a domestic.
On the other side, there’s “Ulalume,” which is best known as the name of dead woman immortalized in a grim poem by Edgar A. Poe. He also wrote "Eulalie," another variation on the cognomen. Ah, yes, I know, I digress. And so I end this "Eula" eulogy. So just dig the download, as the hepsters say. You know, “Dig!” “Enjoy! “DL!” “Cheers!” Only here, those dopey phrases are despised, and so is the phrase “and please donate via my Paypal Tip Jar, so I can get paid while the artists don't." Nah, that's really criminal and "without pity."
"Barry, you start. Give us EULA with Lyrics." BARRY CRYER
Alex North Soundtrack Version
SIL AUSTIN COVER VERSION
MARTY WILSON COVER VERSION
There’s more rain…tears in the eyes of all fans of the great Maurane. She performed over the weekend for the FIRST TIME in two years…and then was found dead.
Maurane, qui avait interrompu sa carrière en 2016 à cause de problèmes aux cordes vocales….oh, pardon MOI. Sapristi! Maurane, the Belgian singing star whose career came to a halt in 2016 due to vocal cord issues, only recently returned to the stage. She told her Facebook faithful that she was planning a new album covering the music of Jacque Brel (another Belgie) and planned on a tour in 2019. Over the weekend, she performed her first concert, posting to her fans, “Today, I officially set foot on a stage after more than two years of absence. I will not tell you in what state I am …”
She was found dead on Monday evening, May 7th, at her home in Schaerbeek, which is outside of Brussels. There was nothing to suggest anything but natural causes, but an autopsy will be performed.
Born Claudine Luypaerts, she appeared in “Starmania” and had her first hit single, ‘Danser’ in 1986. She sang in French, rather than brutal German or repulsive Dutch, which had many thinking she was actually from France.
She did share the stage with many of the great French singers of the era, including Michel Berger and France Gall, and sang a duet with Canada's beautiful Lara Fabian in 2003. Lara wrote: "I'm sitting here in my little white office in Montreal, I do not want to realize you're gone, I can not. I tell myself that you are going to call and shout at me, because we do not see enough…”
Maurane made about a dozen albums, and was part of the jury of the television show "Nouvelle Star" in 2012 and 2013. In 2014 she released (the current word would be “dropped”) the album “Overture.” Some time after that, the vocal cord problem kicked in. And after she solved it, she kicked off. As Ringo would tell you, “tomorrow never knows.”
Below is one of Maurane’s most beloved hits, which translates as “On a Bach Prelude.” You’ll instantly recognize the opening notes, which have echoed in so many concert halls, and bounced off the walls of so many elevators when converted into “easy listening” pap. The notes were even copped by Mr. Fisher, for a glittering surprise appearance on “Repent Walpurgis,” an instrumental on the first album by Boko Harum, the rock group that has turned rogue.
We can see Maurane on YouTube, and we can enjoy her albums. But there could have been so much more, and she could have been thrilling audiences for another dozen years. This star who began in the 80’s, could have lived into her 80’s enjoying life and the benefits befitting someone who shared her talent with the world. Instead, we can only say the recordings are immortal. Maurane: November 12, 1960-May 7, 2018.
Tish, that's FRENCH! "Sur un prélude de Bach" - no Zinfart password, no wheedling parasitic request for a "tip" via Paypal
Happy Birthday to EILEEN, the lady in the sunglasses.
We turn from the sad death of Maurane…to look ahead in celebrating the birthday of Eileen Goldsen-Chamussy. Simply called EILEEN in France, she had hits well before the simply named MAURANE did. Ms. Goldsen is probably best remembered as “the French Nancy Sinatra,” which is a bit hard to do when you’re actually born in America.
As previously mentioned on the blog, Eileen was born in New York, the daughter of a music publisher. She taught French in Los Angeles and came to Paris in the early 60's. She seemed to specialize in doing French cover versions of American folk tunes and pop hits. While some vocalists routinely did their own phonetic versions for the French, Italian and German markets (notably Lesley Gore and Petula Clark) others didn't bother.
When Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots are Made for Walkin'" stomped all over the charts, it was blonde Eileen who offered up the French take. And very well, merci. In fact, record companies being what they are (greedy), it was thought: why not have Eileen actually cover Nancy Sinatra in English, too? Why not siphon off some of the bucks by having Eileen's version of a Nancy hit, in English, available in the stores? "How Does that Grab You, Darlin'?"
Back in the day, it was very common in England and in Europe for a quick cover version to battle the original, and since the cover version was from homegrown talent, available for in-store promotions and TV appearances, it often worked out very well. It also helped if the cover-singer could compete. Eileen technically was a better singer than Nancy Sinatra, but you still have to give the edge to Nancy when it comes to attitude. Nancy's slightly flat and desultory style made her put-downs even more sexy. (Or to quote a Jim Carroll song line, "The more she denies 'em, the more they demand her.")
Eileen still runs her "French Fried" music company in France, and is clearly enjoying the good life. Born May 16th, 1941...Joyeux Anniversaire.
BOOTS in FRENCH - listen or download - no egocentric Passwords, no sleazy requests for Paypal donations
HOW DOES THAT GRAB YOU DARLIN' - you listen or download without being sent to a click here and get spyware trick-link
What do we have here? Sort of a French variation on Old MacDonald? Only here it would be "Old MacDonald had some gas...here a fart, here a quack.."
As a banjo starts to pick out what the French figured was a classic American folk song (and who knows, maybe it is), Eileen and her silly French backup singers sing while froggy fart noises and ducky quacks pop up in the background.
Did American Eileen figure to become an authentic "frog" in France by doing this GRENOUILLE song? Possible! Some years later, Veronique Sanson, the French pop-rock legend, tried to crack the American market by singing about being a "Full Tilt Frog." (No, Americans didn't care, nor were they impressed she was married to Stephen Stills at the time.)
“Une Grenouille Dans Le Vent” is an ill oddity you should have in your collection. As Humphrey Lyttleton might explain if he was alive, it has Eileen's vocals which have the smooth charm of a swanny whistle, while the frog noises create a startling counterpoint like a raspy kazoo. "Une Grenouille" of course means "A Frog." “Dans Le Vent” is “without a Dutch asshole.” No, no, I could be wrong about that....
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