FUNERAL MARCH FOR A MAISONETTE - Lol Mason on “HEARTACHE AVENUE”

The fantasy image is Lol Mason, looking back at himself when he was the leader of The Maisonettes. They had a hit with "Heartache Avenue." The heartache is that on July 31st, a few weeks after a kidney transplant operation, he died of a heart attack. He was 69. 

Some fondly remember Lol's first band, City Boy.  He was the lyricist for most of their most eccentric and humorous songs, but their lone hit "5-7-0-5" didn't feature him as lead singer. That honor went to a newcomer to the band, drummer Roy Ward. So, technically Mason's greatest success was as the leader of his own Maisonettes. 

His wife Kathryn recalled, “He was known as The Headmaster in The Maisonettes. He was a total professional, it was extraordinary the way he managed it. It was a serious job and he said he was a ‘benign dictatorship." 

He wrote all the lyrics. The music was from guitarist Mark Tibenham. The band's drummer was Nick Parry. 

Kathryn Mason recalls that the classy-looking band members weren't above a bit of low game-playing: "The Maisonettes were in the South of France on a promotional tour and were with one of the reps from the record company. Lol could tell this guy hadn’t done his homework, and didn’t know anything about them.

"Lol just looked at Nick and ordered the most expensive things on the menu, the most expensive champagne...The guy’s whole budget was blown in one sitting."

Lol Mason was perhaps an unlikely lead singer-star, as was another British gent who favored jazz-tinged rock, Gerry Rafferty. In person, Lol was what you might expect from a satiric and sometimes dark songwriter: a little distant at first, a bit shy perhaps, but a lot of fun. When he was in City Boy, he was the one who offered up the often biting introductions to the songs. A show broadcast on radio from Boston, had him mocking the rocky plane ride into town. He dedicated the first song "to the pilot. We hope he sobers up." Also mocking the habit of entertainers playing to the town in which they are temporarily staying, Lol pointed downward. He told the Boston audience, "look! Red socks!"

The combination of Realist humor and satire appear in the video for "Heartache Avenue," where the supposedly lonely Lol happens to have a pair of butt-shaking babes close by. Doing a "Cool for Cats" bunch of hip-thrusts, and cooing a few lines as well, the girls were Carla Mendoca and Elisa Richards. Oh, hello, ladies: 

The Maisonettes did have a follow-up single, "Where I Stand," not the catchiest tune. Despite some campy visuals for the video, it didn't show off Lol as the rock world's most charismatic leading man. 

 The song managed to sneak into the Top 30 in the UK, but Laurence Edward Mason's group disbanded with just one album to their credit. He went on to write radio scripts and write songs for others. A few turned up on Sam Fox albums. He didn't seem to mind being out of the spotlight, which had involved with the stresses of promotion, performing, and prying royalties from unwilling corporations. 

Was he ever tempted to make a comeback? How about "The New Maisonettes?" There actually was a video shot for "Perfect Girlfriend," but no single or album was released.  How amusing, the perfect girlfriend who can't stand up for falling down: 

Lol Mason's lyrics were always sharp, and often darkly droll. Another lost song is "My Inspiration (Good Enough for Me)" hoisted to YouTube by Mark Tibenham, the music-maker of The Maisonettes.

She takes a tenner from the table full of cash.
God only knows what I was thinking….
But where’s the harm done, there’s no blood upon the floor
I will survive and so will she…
My reputation is preceding me these days....
A wicked tongue with an eccentric turn of phrase...
So this old man came rolling home again tonight
You should’ve seem him slalom down the street
And when they dig up his old bones what will they find?
Hollow legs and two left feet. 

How about the old-time strippers on that video? (NOW you decide to watch...) 

Let's have another lost Lol classic. Check out his lyrics on "Love and Be Damned."

“Such sweet pain dancing on razor blades
Grown up games for children to play
So it’s hand to hand and the blows still land
I’ll give up the fight, thank God that I’m with you tonight….
Nothing’s perfect and nobody’s looking for paradise
It’s a bitch of a world and it’s hard making plans
But there’s something about you that I’ll always recognize
So love and be damned…." 

Fans of City Boy who created tribute forums or websites, longed for some remarks from Mason. His wife admitted to reporters that Lol "gained the most enjoyment from his time with The Maisonettes." Steve Broughton likewise ignored the good-natured fans hoping for some interview quotes or answers to trivia questions. Reached for comment after Lol's death, Steve said: "Lol was the brother I never had. When I reluctantly left City Boy, I only played one more show ever. That was all it took for me to realise that it was no fun, that it was cold and pointless without my brilliant best friend and co-conspirator by my side." Although Steve chose to live in New York, he did sometimes get back to the U.K., and reconnect with Lol in Birmingham.

One more Mason-Tibenham gem: "Midnight Man." 

As for THE HIT, yes, “Heartache Avenue” remains one of the better songs of the 80’s. The music and performance reflect a cynical half-hearted glam (Lol Mason dresed up in a white suit and white fedora). The beat might have helped some zombie shuffle around on the dance floor, wondering if any woman was going to come close. "Heartache Avenue" did get play in discos, didn't it? 

Mason and Tiberman experimented further with music that was beyond rock, disco or jazz. How about "Still Waters Run Deep," a smooth soul song performed by Ruby Turner? It may have been the B-side to one of her singles, but that's b-side the point. It's an A-1 number. From a 1988 TV performance: 

"Heartache Avenue" remains one of the best you'll find as you search for "Heartbreak Hotel" and wander on the streets of sorrow that earlier singers stumbled and trudged through: "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," "Lonely Street," "Heartache Street" (by the Four Coins in 1958), and yes, there was even a previous "Heartache Avenue." Connie Hall sang about it, and  Mercury thought it had a chance: “Tonight he’ll promise things…he’s gonna tell me how that he’s been cheated to. Ain’t nothin’ ever gonna be all right, so I’ll just make believe tonight. Tomorrow I’ll be back on Heartache Avenue!”  
 
I was thinking about Lol Mason when I walked outside the other day. Thinking about his passing made every street a Heartache Avenue.

NANCY HOLLOWAY was 86 - I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND (sung in French)

   One of the more unusual “ye ye girls” in France was a black woman from Cleveland.  Born Nancy Brown (December 11, 1932-August 28, 2019) she married a guy named Holloway, but only the last name lasted. As Nancy Holloway, she made her way to New York City, taking day jobs and working as a dancer when she got lucky. Via Club Harlem, she joined the “Beige Beauties,” a group created by black impresario Larry Steele, who also had the “Sepia Revue” and the “Smart Affairs” touring group. The latter played everywhere from Las Vegas to Australia.  Steele was one of the big managers specializing in black entertainment, and at one time or another, his roster included Cab Calloway, Sarah Vaughan, Freda Payne, Lou Rawls and Billy Daniels.  

    Holloway found welcome venues in France, where Josephine Baker had been a success. Paris audiences adored American jazz, and with far more solo opportunities for a singer who had some dance moves, Holloway worked up a set of tunes and premiered at the Mars Club in 1954. She also played the local Blue Note, and toured Germany. She reached the big time playing The Moulin Rouge in 1959, and earning the attention of “The King” himself, who was in Germany at the time, drafted into the Army.  

    In 1961, years with help from  actor André Pousse,she was making films, appearing on TV and had a record deal. To say she was a sensation would be an understatement. She made her film debut in “Ballade Pour Un Voyou” in 1963 and opened her own “Chez Nancy Holloway” nightclub. She could sing and she could move. Here’s the DUM DUM TWIST:  

The French loved it when Nancy sang American tunes in their language, and from big band and R&B (French language versions of “Big Noise from Winnetka” and “Hit The Road Jack”) she moved into the popular “ye ye” territory, covering Dionne Warwick’s “Don’t Make Me Over,” the wistful Brian Hyland end-of-summer ballad “Sealed with a Kiss,” and eventually Beatles hits, which appeared on her 1964 album “Bye Bye” on French Decca. 

With tastes changing in the late 60’s, Nancy not only moved on to stronger rock material, but even was allowed to sing in English. She did a very nice swingin’ take on The Doors classic “Light My Fire.” For a few complete albums, it’s vaguely possible that the usual suspects will offer downloads — the “English as a Second Language” assholes. These "album cover and a link" (or maybe adding "R.I.P." or something they stole off AllLMusic) are mostly in Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Holland and other countries that don't have rock music of their own anyone wants.  They just want to pretend they're in show biz, get some undeserved applause, or just “have fun.”  Yes, at the literal expense of artists, record store owners, and anyone else who isn't retired or retarded and is trying to earn a living from legal and creative music-making.

    The fun part of Holloway’s career was when she was in her late 20’s and 30’s. Her eight films were made between 1963 and 1971, and most of her hit songs were in that era, too. Tragedy struck in 1969 when her six month-old daughter drowned in a bathtub accident. She semi-retired for a while, unsure of what direction to take as middle-age and changing music styles added to her miseries.  "Je suis la seule responsable de ma carrière en dents de scie. J'ai commis de graves erreurs... J'étais un peu comme une cigale qui chantait en toute insouciance,” she said. She’d made some mistakes over the years, but she wasn’t blaming a manager or an agent; she was responsible for her own decisions. She poetically likened herself to a “little cicada,” singing but not really being fully aware of what was going on around her. 

    Broadening her outlook, Nancy began to tour the world. In the late 70’s and into the 80’s, she performed in Bombay, Singapore, India, and a variety of African countries including Chad and The Ivory Coast. She also worked for AIDS charities in the 80’s, and was still a big name despite a lack of new hits. CDs re-packaged her old classics, and around 2006, she was performing nostalgia tours with a variety of European stars including beloved veteran entertainers Richard Anthony, Demis Roussos and Franck Alamo. She also was still a big attraction at some local Parisian nightclubs, with audiences loving her mix of ballads and the upbeat tunes she popularized in the 60’s. 

Here's  her vintage version of  I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND: “Je Veux Prendre Ta Main.” 

Download or listen on line - no passwords, no links to dodgy sites run by slime, no spyware

YAO LEE is gone -- Sang Original CHINESE version of Frankie Laine's "ROSE ROSE I LOVE YOU"

We all know that Frank Sinatra's "My Way" was originally a French song, and "Mack the Knife" was originally German. But can you name a hit song that was originally Chinese? Now you can. 

Until you hear the late (as of today) Yao Lee's high-voiced version, you wouldn't have even thought that Frankie Laine's "Rose, Rose I Love You" had an Asian melody. It seemed more like some dopey number you'd find in "Paint Your Wagon" or "Oklahoma." 

Méiguì méiguì wǒ ài nǐ  with lyrics by Wu Cun and music by Lin Mei, DROPPED (as we Millennials now call it) in 1940. In 1951, British lyricist Wilfrid Thomas turned it into "Rose, Rose I Love You," and Frankie Laine took it to #3 on the Billboard charts. The original was also released on Columbia, with Yao Lee billed as "Miss Hue Lee." (Her real name was Yáo Xiùyún: September 3 1922 – July 19, 2019).

In an ironic twist, Yao Lee was almost considered the Mandarin Peggy Lee, but instead, she began to emulate Patti Page. From the somewhat shrill 78's of the 1940's, her voice deepened and in the 50's, her recordings had a richer tone.  (Well, Gee, even Sinatra's Columbia high voice turned more rugged on Capitol). You can hear the difference in Lee's style as you listen to  "The Spring Breeze Kisses My Face," which opens with an homage to Grieg's "Morning," from the Peer Gynt Suite.

   
China, now RED China, did not appreciate Western influences in their music, and began to ban anything that wasn't a march. Or a traditional melody. In the 50's, Yao Lee re-located to Hong Kong where she could continue singing the kind of music she liked. She continued to record hundreds of songs through the late 1960's, and ultimately retired around 1975. 

While she may be unknown to the English speaking world, her music is still very popular in the Far East, and with new interest in Asian culture, some references to her have appeared in recent films and TV shows. The movie "Crazy Rich Asians" included her song "Ren Sheng Jiu Shi Xi" as background music in one scene. Fans today are saying, "Yao, Yao...we love you." 

KEN NORDINE and the SHIFTING WHISPERING SANDS

Ask grandma. She might remember the glowing lights warming up the big radio and the mesmerizing voice of Ken Nordine telling the story of the “Shifting Whispering Sands.” It was back in October of 1955. 

With the pokey arrangement of Billy Vaughn’s orchestra and a creepy middle-aged chorus a contrast to Ken’s lone voice, he spoke of “the days of long ago, when the settlers and the miners fought the crafty Navajo. How the cattle roamed the valley! Happy people worked the land. And now, everything is covered by the shifting, whispering sands.”  (That includes a miner who may have died by his own hand. Or by a tomahawk chop from a crafty Navajo.) But let’s not give the tall tale away, as you might have missed it as shellac turned to vinyl, and vinyl turned to CD plastic, and CD plastic turned to an invisible blip of an mp3 file. Instead, some words on Ken…

Ken Nordine, of Swedish heritage, was born in Cherokee, Iowa but the family moved up to Chicago and that’s where he attended high school. He began working local radio stations, narrating short stories in a compelling baritone voice. Perhaps the very reason “Shifting Whispering Sands” became a crossover hit was because Dot records chose a guy who didn’t drawl the words. Rusty Draper also recorded the song in 1955, and actually half-sang it, but didn’t make it a hit. Jim Reeves, a classy C&W artist who didn’t speak with a twang, also covered it, as did the Jewish Canadian who worked the Ponderosa, Lorne Greene. 

 The song still belonged to Ken Nordine, who to his credit, didn’t choose to stay with country cornball poetry or narration. He left it to others, including Dot’s Wink Martindale who re-issued the old cowboy card trick “Deck of Cards,” and Dot’s Walter Brennan who scored hit singles including “Dutchman’s Gold.” 

City-boy Ken managed to persuade Dot to let him move in a hipper direction. Just two years after his country-tinged cowboy hit, record stores received "Word Jazz," a pioneering effort much in keeping with a cult-trend for "beat poet" narration records, which sometimes included recitations over jazz. Ginsberg, Rexroth, Ferlinghetti and others were playing with words. Kerouac was making albums. Jean Shepherd mixed with Mingus. Dion McGregor recorded his dreams (or, rather, somebody recorded them while he slept) and Mel Henke among others put out stuff that could've been dumped in the spoken word bin or the comedy bin (where swingin' Lord Buckley's stuff was turning up).

More word jazz albums followed, along with thinking man’s vinyl with titles such as “Colors,” “Twink,” “Stare with Your Ears” and "Triple Talk.” He was, along with Herschel Bernardi and Paul Frees, always welcomed by sponsors who needed a compelling voiceover artist to shill their products. That he maintained that second career as a sincere recording artist points to Ken’s restless energy and enthusiasm. A cool legend, he worked with the Grateful Dead (“Devout Catalyst” in 1991) and his "Word Jazz" items were re-issued on CD, mostly because English-as-a-Second-Language bloggers were too busy giving away the Louvin Brothers, Everly Brothers, The Lennon Sisters and Big Brother and the Holding Company and other kin to bother with Ken. 

No word on whether Nordine was cremated and spread over shifting whispering sands. He died a few days ago at the age of 98 (April 13, 1920 – February 16, 2019). Death is something to take seriously. The grim and mystic “Shifting Whispering Sands?” Not so much. 



Ken Nordine at the Sands - no idiotic password, no slow download to force you to buy a premium account, no dodgy server telling you your flash is out of date

Michel Legrand - The Windmills Won't Stop

Michel Legrand died a few days ago (February 24, 1932 – January 26, 2019). Thus ends the musical question, "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?" But his other very famous song? "Windmills of Your Mind" keeps on going. 

He was active a rather long time, having worked on a new stage musical (an adaption of a Dumas novel) in 2008. It was called Marguerit. The average fan of musicals probably knows Legrand for "Yentl," which won him a bunch of awards in 1983. His prime years were the 60's through the 80's. 

Although his 3 Oscars and 5 Grammy awards were for soundtracks and songs, Legrand was well schooled in classical music at the Conservatoire de Paris, and an early love was jazz. In the photo above, well, if you don't know who is with Michel, that's your problem, and a big one. Legrand was a fine jazz pianist and worked with many of the greats of the early 60's (which was when the Grammy Award broadcasts STILL would have room for allowing jazz performers to do their stuff).

Legrand's film soundtracks did have some fine music, and this was recognized via nominations and/or awards for "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968), Wuthering Heights (1970), Le Mans (1971) and "Lady Sings the Blues" (1972) among others. One of his better but more neglected scores was for "Ice Station Zebra" (1968). Still, his name remains mostly associated with fluff: his scores for "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1965), The Young Girls of Rochefort (1968, which featured Gene Kelly and the sisters Catherine Deneueve and her ill-fated sibling Francoise Dorleac), and "Summer of '42" (1971). 

No doubt, his three most famous songs are "I Will Wait For You," and the notorious "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" and "Windmills of your Mind," both featuring the lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The latter first became a hit via Noel Harrison, who got into a prickly squabble over the rhyme of "tunnel of its own" with "sun has never shone." Being a proud Brit, he refused to sing the American pronunciation. In fact, he shunned it.
  
When it came time for the Oscar telecast (the song was the winner), Noel was shunned. Well, actually, Jose Feliciano was substituted because Harrison was making a movie and the producer refused to release him for the few days necessary to fly in, rehearse and perform. Harrison admitted that this was largely because the producer hated him. The producer apparently wasn't the only one, but Noel would have a long way to go to be disliked as much as his notoriously misanthropic and egocentric father, Rex. 

Noel's "Windmills" was the big international hit, but soon Dusty Springfield's cover made the Top 40 in many markets. Jose Feliciano, with his Oscar triumph, actually got his single into the Top 20 in the actual land of the windmills, Holland. 

Ever have a tune keep playing over and over in your brain? 

That's 'cause...there are WINDMILLS in your mind. Really. And they respond especially well to catchy kitsch. 

Seemingly put together as a homework assignment for Similes 101, "Windmills of Your Mind" offered spooky psychedelia via the music of Michel Legrand, and the alcoholic mist created by middle-aged hacks Alan and Marilyn Bergman. They toss snowballs down a mountain and think the world is "like an apple whirling silently in space."

First line sets our theme:
"ROUND." Yep, things are round (like an apple) and just as ripe.

The lyrics get so numbing Jazz singer Carmen Lundy mistakenly sings of a "clock whose hands are SLEEPING" past the minutes of its face. But you get plenty of other versions where the singers do get the lyrics (and variatios thereof) right. And most rhyme
"own" and "SHOWN." But what's it all mean?

The song seems to be saying that as endless as the world is, life isn't and love isn't.



Did you know there's a lyric variation to the song? Do you care?

 Singers had a choice of "when you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware that the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair," OR, "when you knew that it was over in the autumn of goodbyes, for the moment you could not recall the color of his eyes." The latter is represented here by Ms Judith Lefeber.
 
Years ago, comedian Frank Fay made a living satirizing the lyrics of pop tunes like "Tea for Two." It's a cruel trick. A cheap trick. So we'll surrender any further impulse to insult a song that keeps saying "like" over and over, and mentioning "things that are round" like a bad game of $25,000 Pyramid.

Fact is, the song's circles and spirals and wheels are kind of mesmerizing. The Bergmans come up with "words that jangle in your head" (a nod to Bob's Tambourine Man perhaps). Like some Dylan tunes, notably "Lenny Bruce," there are some good lines jammed against bad ones. In Bob's case, in that song, it was "they stamped him and they labeled him, like they do with pants and shirts" followed by the good "he fought a war on a battlefield where every victory hurts." Here, a cliche about lovers leaving footprints in the sand is followed by: "Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?" Not too shabby. 

There are also some effective and eerie images: "Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own..." or "Like a door that keeps revolving in a half-forgotten dream." Like, you gotta like that. 

Like, listen for yourself. Over and over. Legrand's grandfather clock heart has stopped, but his songs live on. And "Windmills of Your Mind" lives on and on and on. 

The song has been covered by literally a hundred well known performers, ranging from Dinah Shore, Sandler and Young and The Sandpipers to Sharleen Spiteri, Barbra Streisand, Sting and Swing out Sister. From Mel Torme and Leslie Uggams to Edward Woodward, Johnny Mathis, Nana Mouskouri, Alison Moyet and Billy Paul. From Pepe & Paradise to the Parenthetical Girls. From Ray Coniff, Anne Clark and Petula Clark to John Davidson, John Gary, Jack Jones and Skeeter Davis. 
 
You get 25 different versions (some use the French title Les Moulins de mon Coeur) including Legrand, Frida Boccara, Dorothy Ashby, Mathilde Santing, Paul Muriat, and James Galway. Of special interest, the top 10:

1. Psychedelic and slow: Vanilla Fudge
2. Eerie border colic: Baja Marimba Band
3. Oliver Twists: Trinity Boys Choir
4. Disco Dizziness: Sally Anne Marsh
5. A gargle of goo: Jim Nabors
6. Swanky swinging: Judith Lefeber
7. Vintage French Fluff: Vicky Leandros
8. Scat with Scuffy Grapelli-style Violin: Carmen Lundy
9. Accapella Angst: The Lettermen
10. How Elton Might've Done It: Jose Feliciano

Go Dutch: Here's the WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND - a ZIP FILE to download (can't listen on line) No dopey PASSWORD, no creepy Russian server loaded with malware, and no waiting around on a PAY site that takes the royalties for themselves

Charlotte Rae passed away on August 5th. She was 92. A "sick" MERRY MINUET

      First off, in offering a picture of Charlotte in her TV sitcom prime, the full cover of her obscure album was cut off a bit. The title is NOT, "Songs I Taught my Moth." 

    Sad that the lovely, talented and naturally funny Charlotte Rae is no longer with us.  Also sad is that the representative song below is not up to the usual blog-basic standards. The one time I saw it, in one of the used record shops I used to haunt, the jacket was split on most of its seams and the previous owner had played the vinyl a lot. Fortunately with some careful digital work, the sound quality picks up after some unavoidable crunchiness during the first 20 seconds. Another problem is that back then (around 1955) some records were pressed “quietly,” and you had to turn up the volume just to hear it at all, thus magnifying any dust or scratches.

    When the obits arrived on Charlotte Rae Lubotsky, almost all of them concentrated on her mature work as a sitcom star. That would be “Diff’rent Strokes,” which evolved into “The Facts of Life.”  There was some mention that she played Mrs. Schnauzer on “Car 54 Where Are You,” but you’d have to be OLD to remember or care about that show. (Remembering and caring being two different things). 

    Charlotte was atypical of most Jewish entertainers; she was born in Wisconsin and attended Northwestern University. She didn’t come to New York City till 1948. It took a half-dozen years for her to establish herself, as she worked the posh nightclubs (Blue Angel, Village Vanguard) with comedy routines and parody songs (including a Zsa Zsa Gabor imitation, courtesy of songwriter Sheldon Harnick).  

    She managed to snag a role in the obscure musical "Three Wishes for Jamie" in 1952, and got good notices for “The Threepenny Opera” in 1954. The following year she turned up in "The Golden Apple," and parlayed her credits into a record deal. Her first and last album is a rather fey and chi-chi collection of sophisticated songs. Frankly, it's dated now, and the stylings would seem pretentious to anyone who doesn't know and like some of Rae's contemporaries: Cole Porter (she covers two of his songs), Noel Coward, Hildegarde, Anna Russell and Elsa Lanchester. Rae's stand-up style was like Jean Carroll's, without the neurotic quavery voice that she (and Alice Ghostley) would find so lucrative in TV sitcom work. 

    “Merry Minuet,” one of four Sheldon Harnick songs on the album (which is, amazingly, now on CD) was first sung by Orson Bean in John Murray Anderson’s revue “Almanac.” Revues were all the rage back then, with Leonard Sillman creating his annual “New Faces” variety show (Rae was in one of those), Ben Bagley offering his “Shoestring” revues (Rae was in one of those, titled "Littlest Revue") and Julius Monk selecting promising stars for his “Upstairs at the Downstairs” shows. Harnick would go on to write the lyrics for “Fiddler on the Roof,” including one of the most charmingly cynical songs in Broadway history, “When Messiah Comes.” How cynical does it get…the song was funny, cutting, and cut from the show before the curtain rose. (When Herschel Bernardi replaced Zero Mostel as Tevye, and issued his own album of “Fiddler” songs, he made sure to cover “When Messiah Comes.”) 

    If the name “Merry Minuet” sounds familiar, it’s probably because of the Kingston Trio version, which hammered the song into folk, and accentuated the Tom Lehrer-like ghoulishness of cheerfully acknowledging world chaos. 

    Here, Rae performs it very much in cabaret style, with the so-called “Baroque Bearcats” helping out, and John Strauss at the piano. Strauss and Rae were married in 1951. Although she worked TV (since so many variety shows were shot in New York) she preferred Broadway. This included her very atypical turn as “Mammy Yokum” in the original stage production of “Li’l Abner,” her co-star role with Ghostley in "The Beauty Part," and her Tony nomination opposite Harry Secombe in the failed musical "Pickwick." She ended the 60's with her second Tony nomination for "Morning Noon and Night." She was in "Boom Boom Room" with Madeline Kahn in 1973, and won an off-Broadway Obie for "Whiskey," written by Terrence McNally.

     She moved out to California for TV work, including a memorable guest spot as a neurotic, emotional Tupperware saleslady in "All in the Family." From there, producer Norman Lear cast her in “Diff’rent Strokes,” and the spinoff "The Facts of Life" where her character Mrs. Garrett was housemother in a school for girls. The 70’s was a time for explosive new freedoms, from stage nudity to edgy political comedy. People were encouraged to be themselves, and husband John Strauss came out of the closet and told Charlotte that he was really gay. Now was the time for him to realize who he really was, and be a happy gay. It was time for Charlotte to get a divorce.

    "The Facts of Life" helped Charlotte Rae achieve fame and economic security. It might not buy health, but it allowed her to keep on top of emerging problems, and she beat pancreatic cancer and had a pacemaker installed in 1982. She left her sitcom due to the strain of the work (Cloris Leachman, her friend from Northwestern University became the new housemother) but she took roles at her leisure. This included the challenge of a Chicago stage production of “Driving Miss Daisy.” She wrote her autobiography and was still in demand for interviews and other work when was diagnosed with bone cancer last year. The fact is...she had a very full life. Her autobiography will tell you much more. 

 The wry, doom-loving MERRY MINUET by Sheldon Harnick, performed by Charlotte Rae

TAB HUNTER - the “YOUNG LOVE” that couldn’t be mentioned in 1961

     Tab Hunter missed reaching his birthday by just a few days. That's sad for fans of the actor...admired for his acting career as a likable hetero hero...and for coming "out of the closet" late in life to discuss what it was like in an era when, as in Oscar Wilde's time, there was a type of love "that dare not say its name." There probably aren't many who miss the guy for his singing! And that's why he's on this blog of less renown. 

      Tab Hunter (July 11, 1931-July 8, 2018) began his career as an actor, taking a name almost as ridiculous as Rock Hudson, Rory Calhoun, Guy Madison, Troy Donahue, Rip Torn, Dirk Bogarde and Touch Connors. [Touch Connors managed to switch back to being Michael Connors and ultimately Mike Connors...star of “Mannix,” which at least wasn't the detective's first name.]

      Hunter was born Arthur Kelm, a half-Jewish New Yorker who had a mean father and a doting mother. He was only 21 when he as cast opposite Linda Darnell in “Island of Desire” (1952). He was Robert Mitchum’s younger brother in “Track of the Cat” and had a meaty role in “Battle Cry” (both in 1955).  He and Natalie Wood became a team when Warners cast them together in two 1956 movies. The studio cooked up a fake romance between them, and the following year, Pat Boone’s record label signed him for a  recording (below) of “Young Love.” He’s not quite Fabian. He’s an adequate singer, similar to his somewhat bland boyfriend for a while, Anthony Perkins. Perkins released several albums (but is hardly remembered for his music). Unlike Perkins, Tab scored a #1 hit thanks to “Young Love.” No, Tab doesn’t seem too convincing in his depiction of boy-meets-girl delights, but it’s not an easy song to sing. Morrissey could do it well as a bit of camp, but at the time, sugary songs with awkward vowels stretched over several notes, were quite welcome, including choirboy high notes on songs that didn’t have the angst of  Johnnie (gay) Ray. Dot now had two puppy-love vocalists to dominate the charts: Pat Boone and Tab Hunter. Or, did they?  

        In an amazing bit of music trivia, Warner Bros. decided to start up a record division just to exploit Tab Hunter. Tab had to end his contract with Dot and be exclusive to Warners in both music and movies. He combined music and movies with his next film, the only one that made any impression on me:  “Damn Yankees.” Hunter hadn’t starred in the Broadway version, and probably didn’t have the singing chops for 8 performances a week, but he had the perfect “look” for the movie. He was believable as an All-American baseball hero, ironically looking like one of those “Damn Yankees,” sort of in the ballpark with fair-haired Mickey Mantle and Tony Kubek. The movie didn’t require all that much singing or dancing from him. Like many a female star, all that he had to do was stand around looking pretty.  


      Hunter’s bland good looks were an interesting contrast to older woman Gwen Verdon as Lola. The film’s director didn’t want Gwen in the movie, pronouncing her “ugly,” but she had made the Broadway show a hit. One of Tab’s next leading ladies would be Sophia Loren in the 1959 drama “That Kind of Woman.” Hunter moved on to safer leading ladies, co-starring with Debbie Reynolds in the fluffy 1961 film “The Pleasure of His Company.” He also had a sitcom which lasted a year.  After that, he was another journeyman actor with decent credits, revived in 1981 by John Waters’ “Polyester,” a campy (of course) item that fueled the rumors that Hunter was gay. Gays happily filled blogs with pix of Tab posing with other "hunks" of the day, and sharing "girl dating" advice with Roddy McDowall, who was notoriously well endowed and had no trouble finding playmates on either side of the sexual equator. He officially “came out” via his 2005 autobiography. 

      Many obits on Hunter simply headlined that he was a well-known movie star. Some mentioned he was also a "gay icon." Nobody mentioned his #1 single. And leave it to the London Daily Fail to headline that he had a relationship with "Psycho star" Anthony Perkins. Couldn't put "Psycho" in quotes, or italics, you lot of loonies...

     At this point, the “Damn Yankees” soundtrack is memorable for Gwen Verdon’s “Whatever Lola Wants,” and for eccentric Ray Walston’s cheerfully black ode to Jack the Ripper and the stock market crash, “Those Were the Days.” Likewise, Hunter’s #1 hit and other recordings are as forgotten as so much of Dot’s other pop idol, Pat Boone. And so, for the blog of less renown, Tab Hunter — The Singer — fits right in. The golden boy may not have had a golden throat, but his tunes certainly reflected the times…fairly light-hearted and naive and…gay mostly in the old sense of the word. Tab missed his birthday by only a few days, and many still miss those days when all a movie needed was a nice guy and a nice girl and a happy ending.

Tab Hunter sings of YOUNG LOVE -- come on, Morrissey, cover it, just for fun

ROSE MARIE - MY MAMA SAYS NO NO

    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. 

MAURANE - starts her comeback and dies at 57

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

THESE THINGS TOO SHALL PASS AWAY - TOM RAPP

    No, the sorrowful, haunted and lispy moan that was Tom Rapp’s singing was not going to make him a star. Titling his group “Pearls Before Swine,” with the implication that they were singing great music for an audience of pigs, probably didn’t help either. Still, he held a niche for listeners who wanted their "transcendental rock" a little dark than George Harrison and sensitive ballads a little grimmer than Paul Simon. 

    On the title track to “These Things Too,” Rapp offered up his version of a phrase George couched with some degree of optimism as “All Things Must Pass.” Here, a Persian king gathers his wise men to find something “he could say on every occasion that always would be so.” Acknowledging “illusions, circles and changes,” the wise men come up with “these things too shall pass away.” 

    If Paul Simon was Mr. Alienation, what was Tom Rapp? On the same album, he sang, “When I was a child I lived all alone,  all my trials I bore them alone. Sometimes I would smile but often I’d grieve; growing up was learning to disbelieve.” Paul couldn't match such collegiate phrases as: “a saint in the evening, a leper at dawn,” or describe the Escher angst pf being “lost on mobius street,” a line on “If You Don’t Want To I Don’t Mind.” 

    My favorite Pearls Before Swine song, which I played on my radio show late at night, was “The Jeweler.” Well suited to Rapp’s damaged vocal powers, this is a sympathetic look at an old man who tries to find a place in this world polishing old coins. (“He knows the use of ashes. He worships God with ashes.”) Unlike Paul Simon’s boxer, the old jeweler has different scars. Working late into the night “both his hands will blister badly. They will often open painfully and the blood flows from his hands…he sometimes cries…” 

    Undergrads and intellectuals probably stowed their Pearls Before Swine albums on that same shelf as W.H. Auden books (Rapp set one Auden poem to music), or art books filled with the agonies of Bosch (yes, Pearls Before Swine used Bosch artwork on “One Nation Underground,” their 1967 debut album on the indie E.S.P. label, which never paid Tom a royalty or advance.

    Thomas Dale Rapp (March 8, 1947-February 11, 2018) was born in North Dakota, but also spent some early years in Minnesota, and then Florida. Just another folkie in New York, he submitted a demo tape to E.S.P. and he got a two-record deal. And just as E.S.P.’s star group The Fugs signed to Warner/Reprise, so did Pearls Before Swine, eventually. 

      What was "acceptable" in music had begun to change in the late 60's and early 70's, especially thanks to the imperfect vocals of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen. Still, reviewers could be hostile. A 1971 Stereo Review critic:

    “At first I thought this junk must be somebody’s idea of a sick joke…unfortunately the mournful wailing contained on this disc is really the way Tom Rapp sounds. He is also the composer-lyricist of eight of the easily forgettable songs I suffered through here…Although Rapp swallows most of his words like lumps, I was occasionally able to hear such scintillating lines as “What does a raindrop know?” or “My talking was only words, my smile was only teeth.” Third-grade doodling…Tom Rapp is a horrendously vulgar no-talent whose very presence on records gives me pause about the rock-bottom tastes and motives of the talent scouts at Reprise Records.”

    Worse than a lack of sympathy for his work was a lack of money. Even in what some consider the “golden era” of music, when hundreds of albums were being issued and FM radio was booming, not every act was making millions, or even breaking even on the road. How many records could anyone afford to buy? Around the same time, even Genesis, fronted by Peter Gabriel, came home broke. After a few solo albums, Rapp found a day job, working behind the popcorn counter at a movie theater. “I knew at the end of the week, every single week, I would get $85,” Rapp recalled. “I was insane with joy.”

    The insane world of acid folk and sensitive rock was left behind for twenty years. Tom went back to college and earned a degree, eventually working on discrimination cases for a Philadelphia law firm. He later moved to Florida. He was married three times. Around 1996, he was persuaded to make some appearances in local clubs. At a gig at NYC’s Knitting Factory in 1997, he explained his long absence: “I got into a 12-step program for reclusivity.”

    To the surprise and delight of his small circle of friends, a new Tom Rapp album appeared in 1999, titled “A Journal of the Plague Year,” which in style wasn’t very different from what he’d done for E.S.P. a generation earlier. It was on an obscure label and Rapp kept his day job.


The Jeweler (The Use of Ashes) - Pearls Before Swine

Marty Allen - LAST OF THE SECRET AGENTS & SILLY COMICS - Nancy Sinatra

Nancy Sinatra, who sings the theme song and appears in "Last of the Secret Agents," says it's "My favorite of my movies because it's zany and silly and goofy. Mary Allen and Steve Rossi were really one of the funniest comedy teams of the time." 

    Marty Allen, who died a few days ago at 95, wasn’t “The Last of the Secret Agents,” (maybe Mike Myers as "Austin Powers" will be), but he was probably the last of the corny, harmless, family-oriented comedians. It was rooted in a childlike sense of fun; he'd say "the darndest things" for a quick laugh. Filling the nightclub gap left by Martin and Lewis, the goofy comic and his Italian singer/partner Steve Rossi had a simple gimmick: interview Marty and let him say just about anything. 

     "Hello Dere" (his happy catch-phrase) was a gold album in 1962, and loaded with "lay it in their laps" gags. "Hello dere, my name is Christopher Columbus." "Where were you born?" "On Columbus Day!" "What are you famous for?" "I'm a great lover!" "What do you mean by that?" "Ever hear of the nights of Columbus?" "Who did you make love to?" "Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria." "Those are ships." "It wasn't easy."

    As dopey as it may seem, adults were paying to drink and smoke and listen to that stuff. It seemed like kid-oriented comedy albums to me. I had all the albums by this new generation of comedy teams which included Rowan and Martin,  The Smothers Brothers, and with various straight men, Bill Dana as Jose Jimenez. 

      Comedy mirrors its times, and audiences no longer wanted sharp, bitter “sick” humor ala Mort Sahl, Shelley Berman and Lenny Bruce. Marty and Steve were welcomed (along with Stiller and Meara) on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” and right into his 90's Marty never lacked for people asking him what was it like to be on the show that introduced The Beatles to America. It was a big selling point for his self-published book. 

    One thing nightclub comedy teams couldn’t seem to do was transfer to film. It didn’t work for Noonan and Marshall (who made “The Rookie” co-starring Julie Newmar) or Rowan and Martin (who made “The Maltese Bippy” co-starring Julie Newmar.) Allen & Rossi tried to cash in on the secret agent craze (without co-starring Julie Newmar, but with Nancy Sinatra). It was a little too silly and a little too late. (“Get Smart” had been running on TV for several years. Why pay for more?) Still, there are those who remember it with fondness (like Nancy Sinatra). 

    When the team split, Marty found plenty of work as an actor and as a wiseguy on the quiz show “The Hollywood Squares.” When Steve Rossi couldn’t do much with other partners (black Slappy White, aging Joe E. Ross, and even a Marty look-alike, Bernie Allen), the team reunited. They played Vegas-friendly venues, with Marty’s wife doing some singing as well. When Steve slowed down, Marty and his wife Karon kept right on going. Last Christmas, he told his fans on Facebook that his broken hip was nothing serious and that rehab was not going to take too long. But to borrow a line from the cynical comedian Brother Theodore, the bad hospitals let you die and the good hospitals kill you. Marty passed away at 95, from pneumonia. He was the last of the comedians from a golden age of silly. 

Nancy Sinatra - Last of the Secret Agents - listen online or download. No egocentric password, no Bulgarian/Croatian spyware

Denise LaSalle Dies, the Advice Stays: LICK IT BEFORE YOU STICK IT

You shouldn't smile when somebody dies. But...

...that hokey hooker-name Denise LaSalle instantly brought back a memory of that odd 70's time when you just might open up a demo package from a record label and find...a bawdy black lady bawlin' inside. 

I don't know quite what prompted the return to rudeness (which of course goes back to those old R&B "copulatin' blues" 78's black women made). But there was Denise (real name Denise Allen (July 16, 1939-January 8, 2018). There was, of course Donna Summer with "Bad Girls" (beep beep!) and my favorite (on the album cover alone) Millie Jackson (still with us at 73. OK, Millie, let's see that album cover: 

Huh, what? Well, politically incorrect or not, the theme seemed to be: you were not likely to get a blowjob from Olivia Newton-John or Marie Osmond, you'd have a long line ahead of you to get to Carly or Joni, but what you REALLY should be doin' is finding a BLACK MAMA who knows ALL the tricks...and is downright NASTY...

...but not so NASTY that you wouldn't want to lick it before you stick it. 

LaSalle's four decade career obviously was more about talent than the occasional risque song. Signed to Chess in the late 60'ss her single "A Love Reputation" hinted that she could build on her charisma and be a star. Her breakthrough was "Trapped By a Thing Called Love" (1971) and it sold a million copies. 

She wrote a lot of her own stuff, and though she still tended to show up on the R&B charts more than the mainstream charts, she was in the Top 10 with "Man Sized Job" and "Love Me Right," and her "Married, But Not To Each Other" was covered by Barbara Mandrell. She was sizzling between Millie Jackson and the future queen Donna Summer when "The Bitch is Bad!" came out in 1977. 

You could grab a handful of Denise in any decade. Her many albums include 70's releases  Trapped By A Thing Called Love, Doin' it Right, On The Loose, Here I Am Again, Second Breath and The Bitch Is Bad!, 80's items My Toot Toot, Rain And Fire, It's Lying Time Again and Hittin´ Where It Hurts. Funny (no, not really) it was long after Donna's "Bad Girls...BEEP BEEP" that the dopey single "My Toot Toot" became La Salle's only Top 10 UK hit.

In the 90's LaSalle released, among others, I'm Here Again ... Plus, Still Bad, and Smokin’ In Bed and more recently, Still The Queen (2002), Wanted (2004), Pay Before You Pump (2007) and 24 Hour Woman (2010). 

"Gee our old LaSalle ran great..." Those were the days. Still can be the days if you feel like it. And..."Lick it before you stick it" is still good advice. 

Lick It (not "dig it" "get it" "cheers!" "enjoy!" or other dopey blogger link words) Download or listen on line

"Hope for the best..." Mel Brooks' music man JOHN MORRIS dies at 91

"Hope for the best," the chorus sang in "The 12 Chairs," directed by Mel Brooks, "EXPECT THE WORST." 

Friends, fans and family of John Morris saw him live through his 70's and 80's. And he died last Thursday at 91. (October 18, 1926-January 25, 2018). Despite his great fame as a composer and arranger, he didn't care much for the lifestyle of a California musician; not only was he born in New Jersey, but died in New Jersey.

John Morris is mainly associated with Mel Brooks movies. John was behind "The Producers," "The 12 Chairs," "Young Frankenstein," "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie," "High Anxiety," "History of the World Part 1," "To Be Or Not To Be," "Spaceballs," and "Life Stinks." That's a lot of fun incidental music. He also helped in arranging and producing and sometimes co-writing the songs in those films, including the title track for "Blazing Saddles." Your download below, "Hope for The Best, Expect the Worst," was adapted from a Brahms Hungarian dance. Morris once said that when it came to composing songs, "All I have to do is think Johannes Brahms. And I know what Brahms does. I know how he wrote, and you just do what he does and you’re in business.”

One of John's favorite instrumental tracks is "Transylvanian Lullaby," which has been performed by both Pops and symphony orchestras. John, a Juilliard-trained musician, recalled Mel's instructions: "This is about the monster’s childhood. Write the most beautiful Middle European lullaby.” Morris: “So I wrote this tune, and it was perfect for violin. It’s that kind of melody.”

Aside from Mel Brooks comedies, John scored a lot of other wacko films, many starring Brooks favorites including Gene Wilder, Dom DeLuise and Marty Feldman, including "Yellowbeard," "Haunted Honeymoon," "Last Remake of Beau Geste" and "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother." 

The soundtrack bin has John's name on "The Elephant Man" (for which he got an Oscar nomination), "Ironweed" and "Dirty Dancing." John's last work was for made-for-TV films: "Murder in a Small Town" and "The Lady in Question" (1999) and lastly, "The Blackwater Lightship" (2004). John also worked on Broadway shows and composed TV themes, ranging from Julia Child's "The French Chef" to the sitcom "Coach."

John leaves behind a wife and a daughter...his only son passed away three years ago. 

Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst (download or listen on line; no passwords, spyware or USA-hating cloud host hiding behind the Iron Curtain and screwing USA artists)

The "JASON KING" Theme by Laurie Johnson

For many, Peter Wyngarde = Jason King. 

Wyngarde died a few days ago, perhaps at the age of 90. He liked to cloak himself in mystery, and that included his date of birth, his real name, and his sexuality. Up until his spate of arrests ("what's up with British gay celebrities and sex in men's rooms?") he got away with his image of being too dangerous for women. 

His problem with women, he declared back in the day, "is that they fall in love with Jason King and find I am really Dracula...very sadistic. There is a sadistic streak in me, but I think women quite like it. You have got to be tough with them, really tough and then they love you for it. Treat them with any amount of charm, that’s how you start - then you throw off the frock coat and put on the bearskin. I love being the caveman. The reason I think I am sadistic is that men have a side that hates their mothers. Having so many women is a revenge against your mother."

As was typical of Wyngarde, that paragraph held truths and fantasies. The truth was sadistic gay affairs (notoriously one with Alan Bates). The fantasy, picked up by directors and producers, was that his severe knife-sharp nose, curled lip, lizard eyes and woman-hating stance did make for a figure that fascinated female viewers. The stage-trained actor didn't have much to do in "The Innocents," one of his early films, but as Peter Quint, his glare at a spinster (played by Deborah Kerr) was enough to make her wet and to chill her at the same time. 

Wyngarde would later star in "Burn Witch Burn," but seemed to prosper more in theater, and in guest roles on hip shows of the day including "The Prisoner" and "The Avengers." He appeared several times on the latter, either as a prig or a sadist. Many fans of the show will name "A Touch of Brimstone" (about "The Hellfire Club") as their favorite episode; the one in which he sought to dominate a leather-clad Emma Peel. PS, sharp-eyed Pythons might recognize Carol Cleveland, also in that episode!

Then came his starring role in "Department S" as Jason King, and the follow-up officially titled "Jason King." He insisted he was just like the show's flamboyant hero: ‘I decided Jason King was going to be an extension of me. I was not going to have a superimposed personality. I was inclined to be a bit of a dandy, used to go to the tailor with my designs. And my hair was long because I had been in this Chekhov play, The Duel, at the Duke of York’s….Jason King had champagne and strawberries for breakfast, just as I did myself. I drank myself to a standstill. When I think about it now, I am amazed I’m still here." 

In a way, it was amazing he made it out of his teens. Born (August 23-1927-January 15, 2018) to a Eurasian woman and a guy named Goldbert, the boy christened Cyril Louis Goldbert ended up living on his own in wartorn Shanghai, having some tense times waiting to get back to England. The teenager of World War 2 became a stage actor in the 50's, and a TV star in the late 60's and early 70's. He moved back to stage work with a successful revival of "The King and I" in 1973, still fascinating the ladies.

In 1975, after a few cautions the previous year by police willing to preserve his reputation, Wyngarde was arrested for "gross indecency" with a man in a Gloucester bus station men's room. The former sex symbol of espionage and decadence on screen was now aging and outed. Even so, he was such a forceful and charismatic presence, he didn't lack for work. Over the next ten years he made many films as well as stage work (notably with Raymond Burr in "Underground" (in Canada) and comedy (in a "Two Ronnies" Christmas show). 

He was semi-retired when the biography of Alan Bates appeared in 2007, exposing his long affair with the actor, and re-affirming that his mens room arrest was not a one-off gay experiment. Wyngarde retained his trademark walrus mustache into old age, and like John Huston in "Chinatown," presented himself as a dangerous-looking geezer. One of his last public appearances, in a wheelchair, was at a 50th Anniversary celebration of "The Prisoner" TV show. He was in good humor, had an evil glint in his eye, and was able to give a short speech to delighted fans. 

Yes, there's some odd spoken-word audio on Wyngarde, but below, the "Jason King" theme song by Mr. Laurie Johnson (who also composed "The Avengers" theme). No reason to be idiotic and write "Dig It" or "Get It" or "Cheers!" or "Enjoy." Downloading a song is not a big deal, is it? To pretend it is, is so uncool.

"JASON KING" theme - listen on line or download. No password crap, wait time or Russian malware

BETTY WILLIS - Homeless & Dead on New Year’s Day

"Oh, did you read that sad story about the woman who Brian Wilson discovered?" 

At four in the morning, New Year's Day, Betty Willis, homeless and sleeping in a California mall, was beaten to death during an attempted rape. That's the sad fact. 

The "fake news" is that she was Rachel of "Rachel and the Revolvers," a girl group invented by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher to fuse the California sound with Motown. No, she wasn't Rachel.

What she was, was a very talented singer who caught the ear of young producer Leon Russell. In 1965, he produced a single for her, including a cover of "Act Naturally." By 1968, with only a few singles and duets gathering dust in the record stores, she recorded her last song, ironically titled, "Ain't Gonna Do You No Good." She was disillusioned with the music business, disturbed by the amount of drinking and drugs that went with the lifestyle, and with a young daughter to raise, chose a more sedate and secure lifestyle working for the U.S. Post Office.

A sad fact about some of the homeless, is that they choose that lifestyle. Betty apparently had a pension from the post office, and most certainly had a daughter and other relatives, and even some concerned fans, but she took her meals at charity places for the indigent and slept in the mall.

California climate makes the homeless lifestyle a little less rugged than in other parts of America, and in San Francisco, there are "camps" where some, including aging hippies, seem to thrive. In quiet Santa Ana, Betty felt secure in her day to day life, and the crime rate not especially high. Rape is a crime of violence, not of sexual need, and there are a lot of angry, crazed bastards around. Like THIS guy

Willis (March 10, 1941-January 1, 2018) was born on a farm in Mississippi, but her family moved west to Santa Ana. Her singing seemed like her ticket to fortune. She started with a 1962 duet with Ray Lockhart for Rendezvous. It was credited to "Betty & Ray" and called "You're Too Much." She followed it with a solo effort, "Take Your Heart." Said Righteous Brother Bill Medley, "She had that quality that Leon Russell and myself were drawn to … that wonderful, black church soulful thing.” Her version of "Act Naturally," produced by Russell and recorded in 1965, was released on Phil Spector's Phi-Dan label.

 Listening to “Act Naturally” now, and you’d think, “Oh, that had to have been a hit. It’s Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound meets Motown.” You might even imagine that Goldie and the Gingerbreads (Genya Ravan) could’ve had a hit with it in England while touring with the Rolling Stones…doing her hysteric, overdramatic soulful raving, taking a simple song and detonating it into a funk bomb. 

But, no, this was recorded back when people barely wanted to hear Ringo Starr’s version. Aside from the few R&B radio stations, and the record stores in the black communities, this type of music was simply too raw for the average "easy listening" fan's ears. It would take years of The Beatles (and Lennon's "Twist and Shout") and Dylan and so much more before most people found pleasure in black music. At least, black music that wasn't sweetened and creamed up the way The Supremes did it, or Smokey Robinson. 

Medley's duet with Betty, 'My Tears Will Go Away,' would've been quiet controversial at a time when there was such segregation in the country. It never did get released, and he became busy with his new partner Bobby Hatfield, and their almost instant success with "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling." 

“She had the talent to make it, and she certainly deserved to make it,” says Bill Medley.  “It just breaks my heart to hear this … Damn… It’s a wonderful world, isn’t it?” 

 ACT NATURALLY, Betty's single produced by Leon Russell 


AIN'T GONNA DO YOU NO GOOD, Betty's last single, released in 1968

JERRY VAN DYKE dies … IT KINDA MAKES YOU WONDER DON’T IT?

   As we get older, we become more aware of the obit page, and it seems our favorites die more frequently. We realize, “This IS serious.” It’s going to be OUR time soon. And…it kinda makes you wonder, don’t it? I mean, about being dead? “To be really dead,” Dracula once mused, “must be glorious.” 

    No, like the dead parrot Mr. Cleese brought back to the store, a corpse has “ceased to be.” And so a once vibrant, funny guy like Jerry Van Dyke (July 27, 1931-January 5, 2018) is now silent. The Big Sleep is Sleep No More. 

    A friend of mine killed himself. He was in his early 20’s. My mother happened to meet his mother, and my mother hadn’t heard the news yet. “How is Keith,” she asked. Keith’s mother replied, “There is no Keith.” That sums it up, doesn’t it?  

    We talk about how the legacy lives on. The work is still there. The memories are around. Thus, the person hasn’t really died. What a lovely rationalization. No, the loved one is an EX-Person. One minute you might be able to call Jerry Van Dyke, and he might go off on some goofy anecdote or other. Now he can’t do that. 

    YOU can download “It Kinda Makes Yuh Wonder Don’t It” and enjoy it. And you can think Jerry Van Dyke was a personable fellow. He knows nothing about it. There is pain in sorrow for those around him, and we offer condolences, but we can’t offer condolences to a corpse. In his autobiography, Dick Cavett wrote about feeling depressed sitting on a park bench and realizing he could never tell W.C. Fields or Laurel & Hardy how much they meant to him. And how sad it also was that these guys couldn't be heartened and cheered by that kind of appreciation. Or that they couldn't just enjoy more years of retirement, being at peace instead of resting in it.

     So we end up mourning OUR loss, a bit more than the fact that someone who we wish was still enjoying life, is not. Which kinda makes you wonder. Don’t it? 

    OK, I’ll stop being existential. If it wasn’t for the title of the song, and the fact that it IS a weird fucking song, I wouldn’t have started this way. Time for an appreciation of the deceased artiste.  

    It’s been said, and was said too much during his lifetime, that Jerry was over-shadowed by his famous brother Dick. Well, so have 90% of the comedians and actors in America. Dick Van Dyke is legend. But Jerry did well for himself. He had his own personality. He played an affable variation of “stupid” in his comedy and his stand-up and his talk-show appearances. His variation was to be slighty dizzy and uninhibited. 

    Here’s a guy who could go into embarrassing detail about how your ass gets flatter as you get older, or how llama shit has no smell ("which is a good thing if you sell it as fertilizer") and the more blankly oblivious he seemed in his ramblings, the funnier he became. His light-hearted, goofy way of walking through life got him a lot of work in sitcoms. In fact he "sleepwalked" through his first TV sitcom role, a nepotistic turn on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” as Rob’s confused banjo playing brother. Jerry actually made his TV debut at 19 doing stand-up on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” He showed a lot of poise stepping out there and telling self-deprecating jokes at that age.

    Jerry’s childlike "say what you're thinking or not thinking" charm got almost instant attention. He became a regular on “The Judy Garland Show” and was in the running for many sitcom parts (including the lead in "Gilligan's Island.") He chose the infamous “My Mother the Car” figuring that if talking dog and horse sitcoms had done well, this would succeed too. It lasted a year but was picked on by critics as an example of how low and ridiculous TV comedy had stooped. 

    Fortunately for Jerry, he was able to savor fame late in life. He was Emmy-nominated four years in a row (1990 through 1993) as a co-star on “Coach.” He also performed solo shows and played dinner theater.  

      It is more than a shame that his fame on “Coach” was marred by a great personal tragedy. On November 17, 1991 his troubled daughter Kelly hanged herself.  Her strange and rebellious nature led her to porn films as "Nancee Kellie," including “Catfighting Students,” “Rump Roasts,” and “Coach’s Daughter,” marketed to reference her father’s hit series. She was married to sleazy Jack Nance, who eventually died after some thugs beat him up and damaged his already pulpy brain. The sordid story of her porn life was amply covered by “Inside Hollywood”-type documentaries at the time.

    When he got to be visibly OLD, Jerry was perfect for productions of “The Sunshine Boys.” He played Willy Clark, the firmly retired vaudevillian opposite a variety of straight men including his brother Dick, and also Tom Smothers.  

    When Tom and Jerry performed in “The Sunshine Boys” together, Jerry offered reporters a typically goofy joke: “We both have brothers named Dick, but doing this play, we're Dickless!” But really, memorizing and performing that play at their age did take balls. 

    The song below? It still makes ME wonder. It comes from the Broadway show "Kelly," which seemed like such a sure thing (music by Moose Charlap) that people were vying to cover songs from it before it even opened. The Village Stompers recorded it as an instrumental on their "New Beat on Broadway" album. Columbia handed it to Jerry for his debut single, even if the only lyrics he sang were, yeah, "It Kinda Makes Yuh Wonder, Don't It?" And I wonder, what was going on in the Broadway show during this song?

    "Kelly" lasted just ONE performance and there's no review describing the song, which was ultimately spelled with a YOU not a YUH. I'd like to think that in the musical, the rascal Mr. Kelly is either doing magic tricks, or perhaps eyeing a chorus of burlesque strippers doing a bump and grind. Well, you can imagine your own visuals that could make you wonder. You can do it because you're still alive. 

IT KINDA MAKES YUH WONDER, DON'T IT? - listen online or download, no Passwords, time delays or invitations to download malware because your Adobe is out of date so click here... 

FRANCE MOURNS FRANCE GALL

    So cute. These days, “barely legal” ye-ye girls would not be allowed to frolic. In a kind of milder, gentler age, we appreciated youthful exuberance without that much leering. In France, they went oui-oui over one of their favorite “Ye Ye” girls, France Gall.

    It was just, well, NICE to see Annette in those “beach party” movies, and we liked the cheerful nature of the flat-chested bikini-wearing “Laugh-In” girls Goldie Hawn and Judy Carne. Chirps who weren’t overtly busty (like Little Eva or Petula Clark) were also welcome.  So were the Asian versions like Rita Chao. I suppose the closest thing to “ye ye” girls today are female gymnasts, who are perky, flexible, leave nothing to the imagination, but aren’t overtly sexual. But…back to France. 

    One of the first music stars to pass on in 2018 is France Gall. Most people think anyone from France has a lot of gall. But no, not the French ladies we love so much.  

    Isabelle Genevieve Gall (October 9, 1947-January 7, 2018) first gained fame at 16 with “Ne Sois Pas Si Bete” (“Dont Be So Stupid”). Somehow she represented Luxembourg in the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest, and won with a song written by her friend Serge Gainsbourg. She recorded it in both German, Italian and Japanese versions (“Poupee de Cire, Poupee De Son” was the French original) but didn’t try for the UK/USA market. An irony is that she had a hit with “L’ Amerique.” 

       Her biggest hit was probably another Gainsbourg item, the sassy "Laisse tomber les filles.” It wasn’t exactly big because of her singing, but her personality. At the time, she probably was considered similar to Lesley Gore, in that both were given credit more for attitude than ability. Was anyone claiming Gore displayed a lot of range and emotion on “It’s My Party,” or the rather monotonous “California Nights?” No, it was just pop. 

    Walt Disney actually thought the breathy, pretty French pop singer might make a perfect Alice for a new production of “Alice in Wonderland,” but he died and the project died with him.

    Gall’s maturity led her to try for more than kiddie songs pop songs, and “ye ye” rave-ups. Gainsbourg wrote “Teenie Weenie Boppie,” which offered up a strange video of France seemingly passed out on LSD.

 

     In the video she was carried around a pleasure boat by two black dancers. Inside, someone dressed as Napoleon frugs with various wigged women, while France, wandering around the boat eventually collapses, glassy eyed, and her stiff (apparently dead body) carried off by the sorrowful black dancers and a coterie of white-clad women.

    Gall fans didn’t seem to want anymore of this, and that included “Qui se Souveient de Caryl Chessman,” an anti-capital punishment song that referenced California’s “Red Light Bandit.” Chessman, after many appeals and a book smuggled out detailing his life, was sent to the electric chair by Gov. Pat Brown (yes, father of current California governor Jerry Brown) even though he hadn’t killed anyone. 

    Considered washed up at 21, France turned from her native country to concentrate on recording in German, scoring several Top 10 hits. Below, you’ll hear “Die schönste Musik, die es gibt” which you’ll recognize as “Music to Watch Girls By,” popularized as an instrumental in an American TV commercial but with a life of its own in various idiotic lyrics. How idiotic the German lyrics are, I have no idea. 

    In 1974, she found new inspiration via Michel Berger, who tended to write much more romantic tunes than Gainsbourg. Veronique Sanson once covered Berger via an entire album of his quite beautiful music. You’ll find the 1987 track “Ella Elle L’a” (a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald) to be very typical not only of the mature France Gall, and of the work of Berger, but also similar in lilt to Veronique Sanson and some of the latter songs of Mylene Farmer. It’s rhythm-driven with that unusual flirtation in dancing along the dark keys more than the safer ones that don’t involve flats and sharps.  

    The song is a celebration of the feel-good scat singer, and of “du peuple noir” in general, "the black people" whose music and lifestyle balance and dance between “love and despair.” 

C'est comme une gaité
Comme un sourire
Quelque chose dans la voix
Qui parait nous dire "viens"
Qui nous fait sentir étrangement bien

C'est comme toute l'histoire
Du peuple noir
Qui se balance
Entre l'amour et l'désespoir

Quelque chose qui danse en toi
Si tu l'as, tu l'as
Ella, elle l'a
Ce je-ne-sais-quoi
Que d'autres n'ont pas
Qui nous met dans un drôle d'état

Ella, elle l'a Ella, elle l'a
Cette drôle de voix


    She had a mature beauty, didn't she! 

    Through the 80’s, she and Berger enjoyed a great deal of success, but in 1992, Michel suffered a fatal heart attack. Their child, who had cystic fibrosis, died five years later. She was pretty much retired at that point, but hardly forgotten. A documentary on her, “France Gall par France Gall” was broadcast on French TV in 2001. She remained an icon in her native country, and when cancer took her a few days ago, France’s President Macron praised her “sincerity and generosity,” and her “songs known to all French.” And yes, to many of us around the world.
    
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