Chilton Memorial Hospital, "New Vitality" program

I'm looking forward to speaking about The Lucky Strike Papers at Chilton Memorial Hospital, in Pompton Plains, NJ, on October 30th. The talk is part of the hospital's "New Vitality" program--"A Health and Wellness Program for People 50 and Older"--and will take place at 1:30 p.m., in the conference center at the hospital's Collins Pavilion.

The hospital is located at 97 West Parkway in Pompton Plains. The phone number for the New Vitality program is: (973) 831-5367.

More images, 1951

A few additional pictures--from a September, 1951 telecast of Your Hit Parade. The song "Mississippi Mud" was, during this telecast, a "Lucky Strike Extra." Lucky Strike Extras, featured on each program, were songs which were not hits, at the time, but were previously popular, perhaps standards.

Picture # 3 shows my mother singing the song. Directly behind her are the Hit Parade dancers (including Bobby Trelease, Lenny Claret and Virginia Conwell), and, standing in the distance, members of the Hit Paraders vocal chorus.

Pictures from a DVD

Yesterday, I copied a DVD to my computer, of segments from telecasts of shows profiled in my book: Your Hit Parade, The Freddy Martin Show, and the one segment of Kay Kyser’s TV show that I have (it is a five-minute segment of the hour-long program, purchased on ebay several years ago; I have no idea why only a five-minute portion of the program was offered for sale). The DVD was made from videotapes I have; the videotapes were originally made from kinescopes (although some of the tapes I have were no doubt made from other tapes, and not directly from kinescopes).

One of the features of the DVD viewing program, on my computer, is that one can take snapshots of the video images.

Here are a few from Your Hit Parade. (The quality of the videotape from which these particular images came was obviously less-than-ideal.)

They are from 1951, of guest dancers Fosse & Niles--Bob Fosse (later the acclaimed stage and film choreographer and director), and his dance partner (and then-wife) Mary Ann Niles. They appeared regularly on Your Hit Parade, as guest dancers, during the 1950-1951 TV season. Here, they’re dancing to the song “Alabamy Bound.” The scene takes place in a train station; it is Fosse who is holding the train schedule, seen during the introduction to the song, which showed TV viewers the song title; the ways in which song titles were revealed to viewers was one of the signature features of the Hit Parade. (Video images courtesy of Lost Gold Entertainment, Inc.)

"The Mike Douglas Show," 1965

I have a scrapbook from childhood. Contained within it is a page of autographs from a 1965 broadcast of The Mike Douglas Show.

(I began collecting autographs in 1964, when I was eight; this was not long after the death of President Kennedy. Over time I wrote to various politicians and government figures, and also certain baseball players, asking for signed photos. Adlai Stevenson sent me one, as did Richard Nixon; Nixon was, at the time, a lawyer. I also received pictures from several U.S. Senators—and from Sandy Koufax, Hank Aaron, Bob Feller, and Roy Campanella. This hobby lasted for several years.)

In 1965, The Mike Douglas Show came to Boston for a week, broadcast live from the city’s War Memorial Auditorium. The co-host for the week was actor Pat O’Brien. My parents were guests on one of the broadcasts.

They appeared on a number of Mike Douglas’s programs during the 1960s, beginning in 1962, when the show was seen only in Cleveland. In 1962, my father, an obstetrician and gynecologist, had co-written (with my aunt, who at the time was a journalist), a book about childbirth, and as a result was scheduled to appear on the program. When Douglas learned my father was to be a guest, he asked that my mother appear on the show as well; my mother and Douglas had both been featured singers on Kay Kyser’s NBC-TV show in 1949 and 1950, and had not seen one another since. After their 1962 Cleveland appearance, my parents then appeared on Douglas’s program periodically over the next several years.

In that the 1965 telecast at the War Memorial Auditorium took place not far from our suburban Boston home, I went to the show, with my brother and my maternal grandparents.

After the program ended, I was given autographs by Mike Douglas, Pat O’Brien, and singer Frankie Laine—though I do not recall meeting any of them. I do remember meeting Jayne Mansfield, another guest on the show that day, though the memory is a vague one. I simply recall standing next to her, and remember that she gave me a black and white photograph of herself.

The autograph she gave me can be seen above.

Jo Stafford

Jo Stafford, one of the best known singers of the big band era, passed away on July 16, in California. She was 90.

The obituary from The New York Times can be found here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/arts/music/19stafford.html.

Stafford was a wonderful singer. One of my favorite songs is 1941’s “Let’s Get Away From It All,” by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. The song featured Frank Sinatra, Connie Haines, and the vocal group The Pied Pipers; Jo Stafford was, at the time, a member of The Pied Pipers.

Here is a brief excerpt of the record, featuring Stafford and The Pied Pipers. In the excerpt, Stafford sings both alone, and with the group; she is the first voice heard on the recording.

The excerpt comes from the album "The Dorsey/Sinatra Sessions, Volume 2," RCA Records, 1982.

http://029b257.netsolhost.com/images/Let_s_Get_Away_from_it_All,_segment.wav

S.S. United States, and the Pompton Lakes Library

A new documentary, which has been airing on PBS stations throughout the country, concerns the S.S. United States, the ocean liner which plays a part in The Lucky Strike Papers. The film is called S.S. United States: Lady In Waiting. DVDs of the film can be purchased via the film’s web site:

http://www.bigshipfilms.com/bsf_final/#


***********

I mentioned the S.S. United States, when I spoke about The Lucky Strike Papers on June 30th, at the Pompton Lakes (New Jersey) Public Library. I’ve lived in Pompton Lakes since the fall of 2002.

June 30th was a day of great significance at the Library—the last day at work for the Library’s longtime director, Dr. Margaret Freathy. She had overseen the Library for 18 years.

I enjoyed speaking with a small group of Library patrons and staff members (including Dr. Freathy).

When I referred to the S.S. United States, a gentleman in attendance told me the following: he said he was unsure, but he believed that the S.S. United States was the ship featured in the 1957 film An Affair to Remember, starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.

I had not heard this, and so, last week, I rented the film. There were, in the film, many exterior shots of the ship; the ship plays a prominent part in the film. As one who has seen many photos of the S.S. United States (and took two tours of it, in the year 2000, on the Philadelphia waterfront), I was sure the gentleman at the library was right: it looked, I thought, just like the United States.

However: in an image of the bow of the ship, in the film, one sees the name “Constitution.” I thought, though, that perhaps the liner was still the United States, but that it had been renamed for the purposes of the film.

Yet so often today, of course, DVDs include additional footage and features, and one newsreel-type feature, on the DVD, concerned a 1957 event related to the film’s debut, an event which took place on the S.S. Constitution— the ship, the narrator noted, that had been featured in the film.

Radio shows

From 1995 until 1997, as mentioned in the previous post, I was the host of a talk show on radio station WINA-AM in Charlottesville, Virginia. Last week, I appeared on WINA again, by phone; I was interviewed by Coy Barefoot, the host of the station’s talk show “Charlottesville—Right Now!”

I have wonderful memories of working at WINA, think of Charlottesville with great affection, and it was a delight appearing on Coy’s program.

Coy, by the way, has written a number of books. Here’s a link to one of them, which is about Thomas Jefferson:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Jefferson-Leadership-Executive-Lessons/dp/0452283116/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215400310&sr=1-4

As my thoughts turn regularly to Charlottesville, they also turn very often to New England, where I am from.

And so I was of course so pleased to be able to appear last weekend (Saturday night/Sunday morning) on Jordan Rich’s overnight show on Boston station WBZ-AM. Jordan has a warm and engaging style as an interviewer. I also enjoyed talking with the several callers who phoned in.

Coming up, on July 15th: an interview on “The Sam Greenfield Show,” on northern New Jersey station WVNJ (1160 AM). The interview will begin at 8:30 a.m.