Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Photographs from Dallas, 1963, by H. Warner King, published in 2013

In 2013, there was a story in Time magazine, regarding previously unpublished images of President Kennedy's motorcade in Dallas, Texas, in 1963 (fifty-three years ago today, as a friend reminded me, in an e-mail; I had not realized it was the anniversary).

The pictures were taken by an amateur photographer, H. Warner King, a Dallas jewelry wholesaler.  Mr. King died in 2005.  His daughter Sonia, an artist, said the following, in the piece in Time, about the aftermath of her father's death:

"As we were going through his possessions, I didn't want all his old slides at first, because I worried it might be some giant burden and I'd never look at them again.  But I took them, anyway."

She said, in the article:  "Recently, I began to sort through them, and came across a long red box labeled 'November/December 1963 Kennedy.' I found these pictures right away."  She said: "Now, fifty years later, his photographs of the Kennedys finally see the light of day."

Ms. King said that her father had photographed the motorcade near the Turtle Creek section of Dallas, as it headed toward Dealey Plaza.  Mr. King then drove to the Dallas Trade Mart, where the President was scheduled to speak, to take additional pictures; the speech, of course, never took place.

A couple of the pictures by Mr. King, seen here, are startling, in their sense of intimacy, and proximity--how close the onlookers appear to have been, in relation to the presidential limousine.

Here is the 2013 article, from Time, which includes additional pictures by Mr. King:

http://time.com/3430022/never-before-seen-photos-of-jfks-final-minutes-in-dallas/

(Photographs, above, by H. Warner King)

Monday, November 21, 2016

Billy Preston, "My Sweet Lord," and the "Concert for George," 2002

This is a video I really enjoy.  It is of a live performance of the George Harrison song "My Sweet Lord," with the lead vocal by Billy Preston.  Preston, as is well known, played with the Beatles at the end of their career--and he was one of the musicians on Harrison's original recording of "My Sweet Lord," released in 1970.
  
The performance in the video--at the "Concert For George," at London's Royal Albert Hall--took place on November 29, 2002, the first anniversary of Harrison's death, at 58.  Next Tuesday will mark the fifteenth anniversary of his death. 

Billy Preston's vocal is vibrant, rich, wonderful. The three female backup vocalists-- who, according to Wikipedia, are Katie Kissoon, Tessa Niles, and Sam Brown--are terrific (and they are accompanied, vocally, by some of the musicians). 

The musicians performing on the song include Preston (on organ), Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Ringo Starr, Dhani Harrison (Harrison's son), and Paul McCartney.

Here is the video, from YouTube:
 

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

The election

So, evidently (despite what President-elect Trump charged, during the campaign), the election wasn't rigged against him after all.

Monday, November 7, 2016

Independence Mall, Bruce Springsteen, and Secretary Clinton

I love Philadelphia--lived there for many years.  One of the great pleasures of living in the city was seeing/walking by/driving by Independence Hall, regularly--as well as the nearby pavilion, on Independence Mall, housing the Liberty Bell. 

On television, tonight, I watched part of the election-eve rally for Secretary Clinton, taking place on Independence Mall.  Seeing Independence Hall--shown, most often, in the distance--made me miss being in Philadelphia.  

I did not see all of Bruce Springsteen's performance, at the rally, but saw him sing "Long Walk Home," and "Dancing in the Dark." His band wasn't with him--he simply accompanied himself on the guitar--and his low-key performance was, I thought, moving and beautiful. 

After his performance, there were fine speeches by First Lady Michelle Obama and President Obama--and a nice speech by Secretary Clinton.  It is a precarious moment, in America's history--and I wish the Secretary the very best, in Tuesday's voting.

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Kay Starr, and "Wheel of Fortune"

Kay Starr--who sang the very popular song "Wheel of Fortune," a number one hit in 1952--died on Wednesday, in Los Angeles.  She was 94.  

Here is an obituary, from The Washington Post:


"Wheel of Fortune" remained Ms. Starr's signature number, for many years.

The story in The Washington Post noted that she "never wearied — even decades later — when aging audiences requested that she trot out  'Wheel of Fortune.' "

The story, quoting Ms. Starr, continued: " 'Wheel of Fortune' has been good to me.  How could I get tired of it? That's like saying you get tired of the person who gives you everything in the world,' she said. 'And when I see the expressions on the faces of the audience, as they remember, maybe, the first time they heard the song...the pure, unadulterated pleasure it gives them makes it all worthwhile." 

The song was recorded by many other singers, but Ms. Starr's version is certainly the best known.  Here is a link to her recording of it, on YouTube:  


Also, from Ms. Starr:  the song "(The) Rock and Roll Waltz," recorded in 1955, and which reached number one, on the charts, in 1956.


Here, too, is Dorothy Collins, one of the stars of Your Hit Parade, singing "Wheel of Fortune" on a 1952 telecast of the program. (The audio quality, unfortunately, is less than pristine):  


Though my mother was part of the Hit Parade cast, at this time, she did not perform "Wheel of Fortune" on the TV show.  She did, however, sing the song while making a guest appearance, in April of 1952, on the NBC Radio version of the Hit Parade. (While the TV show aired on Saturday nights, and featured bandleader Raymond Scott and the Lucky Strike Orchestra, the radio show, at the time, aired on Thursday nights, and starred Guy Lombardo and his orchestra; each broadcast featured a guest female vocalist.)

Here is an excerpt of my mother singing the song with Guy Lombardo's orchestra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyoo0iHx0jY&feature=youtu.be

Monday, October 24, 2016

Comedian Kevin Meaney

Kevin Meaney has for years been one of my favorite comedians.  He was extremely--and uniquely--funny.

I loved his style, as a comedian, and always loved, in particular, his imitations of his mother--a well-known part of his act, featured in the video below, from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Also featured, toward the end of the video:  Mr. Meaney singing a song, "I Don't Care," another well-known routine he did.  ("I don't care, I don't care, My jokes don't go over I don't care...")  It's just hysterical.

(I don't know what year the video below is from. Mr. Meaney first appeared on The Tonight Show in 1987, and made--according to his website--a dozen appearances on the program after that.  For a moment, at the start of the video, you can see Jay Leno--and so the appearance is either from the late 1980s or early 1990s, when Mr. Leno served as Johnny Carson's regular guest host.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FhBuHi0N8o

Mr. Meaney died last Friday, at age 60, and I was so sorry to learn about it.  

http://deadline.com/2016/10/veteran-comedian-kevin-meaney-dies-at-60-1201840961/

Sunday, October 16, 2016

"Radio Recall," Jack French, Martin Grams, and Mitchell Hadley's "It's About TV"

In August, I began subscribing to the Old-Time Radio newsletter Radio Recall--published six times each year by the Metro Washington Old Time Radio Club.  Its editor is Jack French, who is prominent in the OTR community, and whose books include 2009's Private Eye-Lashes: Radio's Lady Detectives.

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

I learned, in the August issue of the newsletter, that Mr. French, who has edited Radio Recall for more than two decades, will be leaving his position as editor following the April of 2017 issue.

Mr. French announced last week, in an e-mail published in the Internet newsletter The Old-Time Radio Digest, that his replacement as editor will be Martin Grams, Jr.--"diligent OTR researcher," French wrote, "prolific OTR book author, respected blogger, and linch-pin of the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention."  Wrote French: "He promises to maintain the same excellent content, attractive graphics, timely OTR book reviews, with updates on future OTR conventions and events."

I congratulate Mr. French on his tenure at Radio Recall, and also offer my congratulations to Martin (about whom I've written on several occasions, in this blog), regarding his forthcoming editorship of the publication. (In a post last week, I mentioned the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, which Martin co-founded with his wife Michelle.)  Martin is (to echo Mr. French's words) an outstanding OTR researcher, as well as being a researcher of considerable note regarding television. (One of his best-known books is about TV's The Twilight Zone.)  In addition to the many books he's written, he writes regularly for such publications as Radio Recall and Radiogram (the latter being the newsletter/magazine of the group SPERDVAC--the Society To Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy). He also appears throughout the country to speak about his books and his research--in addition to overseeing the yearly Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.

http://martingrams.blogspot.com/

http://www.martingrams.com/

By the way: in this space I've also written, in the past, about the blog "It's About TV," written by Mitchell Hadley.  Here is a September post from "It's About TV"; it's an enjoyable report, by Mitchell, about attending the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention. (Mitchell and I have been in touch by e-mail, over time.  We did not, unfortunately, cross paths at the convention last month; as mentioned in my last post, I was there somewhat briefly.)

http://www.itsabouttv.com/2016/09/adventures-in-nostalgialand.html

In the above post, Mitchell wrote this, about one of the convention's presentations (by author and commentator David Krell):  "David Krell had perhaps the most informative talk, at least in regards to what I do.  He spoke on the year 1962, describing how an original idea to write about that year's baseball season had evolved to discuss the many notable things that had happened that year in politics, pop culture, and history. (The Cuban Missile Crisis, Marilyn Monroe's birthday song to JFK, and John Glenn's flight were only three of that year's events.) Krell's talk helped me solidify the structure of my own upcoming book on the relationship between television and pop culture, and to understand why it takes decades to understand the impact of a particular era."

I was delighted to learn that Mitchell is working on a book about television--and I look forward to reading it, whenever it is released.