Worth 1,000 Words: GENE AUTRY, JOAN CAULFIELD & CHAMPION
BACK IN THE MAKE-UP CHAIR AGAIN is cowboy great GENE AUTRY [Sept. 29, 1907-Oct. 2, 1998], as “The Smartest Horse in the Movies,” CHAMPION, waits his turn. “The Singing Cowboy” Gene, whose real first name was Orvon (Gene was his middle name), sang, acted, and rode the range in 100 movies from 1934-55. His distinct cowboy-country voice was featured in 600 songs that sold in the millions. His best sellers, the biggest being Christmas tunes, include: Back in the Saddle Again (his theme song), That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine (which he wrote), Here Comes Santa Claus (which he also wrote), Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (his biggest hit, still heard every December). Gene Autry is represented by five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the time of his death in 1998, Autry was still eagerly waiting for the baseball team he owned, the Los Angeles Angels, to win a World Series pennant.
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A Trivia Note: The early years of TV’s Gunsmoke were filmed at Gene Autry’s movie ranch, named after one of his films as well as a song: Melody Ranch.
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THIS CBS PUBLICITY STILL is a curio. Dated May 5, 1953 (on back), its headline is: TOUCH-UP. The suggested text to be run in newspapers and magazines nationwide: CBS-TV star Gene Autry and his horse, Champion, receive a final touch-up from Joan Caulfield and make-up artist Joe Schenck, in busy CBS Television City, Hollywood. The world’s largest plant built exclusively for television broadcasting will be the origination point for Miss Caulfield’s starring vehicle, “My Favorite Husband,” when it has its CBS-TV premiere in the fall. [from Steve Crum’s showbiz memorabilia collection]
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More Trivia: Previous to its television run, Joan Caulfield’s sitcom, My Favorite Husband, had a healthy run on radio in the late 1940’s with Lucille Ball as its star. Lucy’s CBS-TV show, I Love Lucy, was #1 in viewer ratings in 1953.
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Gene Autry is back in the saddle again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5F-O_19lSI
Worth 1,000 Words for VETERANS DAY: KATE SMITH
KATE SMITH [May 1, 1907-June 17, 1986] will be forever remembered for singing one song, a super patriotic one, Irving Berlin’s God Bless America. Not that she never sang any other song, not by a long shot. But of the 600+ songs she introduced on stage, radio, records and television, it is God Bless America that endures. Twenty of her records sold over a million, including GBA, There Goes That Song Again, The White Cliffs of Dover, Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree, and When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain (her theme song). Her popular radio program, The Kate Smith Hour, launched the career of Abbott & Costello. In 1982, The First Lady of Popular Song received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan. It was for a lifetime of service to the United States of America, particularly during World War II, when the great Kate used her singing, talking and spirit to sell $600 million in Defense Bonds. That is a huge amount now, but thinking of it in 1940’s reference is overwhelmingly awesome. Thanks to the impact of Kate Smith, there have been serious proposals to replace The Star Spangled Banner with God Bless America as our National Anthem.
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IN THIS RARELY SEEN press photo, Kate signs autographs for admiring soldiers on leave during WWII. No doubt each of them knew the lyrics to God Bless America by heart. [from Steve Crum’s showbiz memorabilia collection]
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Worth 1,000 Words for VETERANS DAY: DANNY KAYE
WHEN UP IN ARMS was released in 1944, WWII was still a grim reality. UP IN ARMS provided musical-comedy entertainment laced with wartime patriotism, and featured Danny Kaye in his first starring role as a hypochondriac drafted into the Army. He sang (or is the better word performed?) The Lobby Number and Melody in 4F. This vintage still features most of the film’s stars: (From left) CONSTANCE DOWLING, DINAH SHORE, DANA ANDREWS, DANNY KAYE, and LYLE TALBOT. [from Steve Crum’s showbiz memorabilia collection]
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In Honor of VETERANS DAY 2009…
PLEASE LET WWII & KOREAN WAR VETERANS KNOW ABOUT THIS WORTHY PROJECT.
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Just weeks before he died, Al Jolson gave his all for our Korean War servicemen and women.
STARSTRUCK/Duke Ellington plays Ft. Polk
By Steve Crum
On October 20 of 1970, my decision was immediate. No deciding, really, it was a given. Duke Ellington and his orchestra were presenting a free concert at our Fort Polk (as in Louisiana) post theater, and I was going. No way would I miss this opportunity to see a music legend. At that point in my two-year military stint, I was by then Specialist 4th Class Crum, having been drafted into the U.S. Army in January. I went to the theater alone, since no one I knew in the barracks was into Ellington, big band, or any kind of music outside The Beatles and Woodstock. Evidently a majority of the entire base had a disinterest in or total lack of knowledge about Duke Ellington, since there were few in the audience–embarrassingly few. Out of the approx. 500 seats, maybe 50 were occupied. I squirmed out of uneasiness. When the curtains parted, and the band began playing, I sank in my seat. Maybe late comers by the hundred would finally arrive and fill the emptiness. But it never happened. On stage, Duke Ellington seemed to care less. He and his band played a 90-minute concert like it was to a standing room only audience.
There were his solid hits Take the “A” Train, Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady, Caravan, and It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got the Swing). His recently published New Orleans Suite was included. Maybe he considered this Ft. Polk gig a rehearsal or warm-up to his European tour, which would begin a couple of weeks later. No doubt The Duke felt a patriotic affinity to entertain us troops, many of whom had returned from or were heading out to Vietnam. The year before, in 1969, he had received The Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon. DUKE ELLINGTON, born Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington [April 29, 1899-May 24, 1974] was a composer, pianist, and big band leader whose influential “American music” (the reference to his music he preferred over “jazz”), continues to be loved and performed throughout the world today. He was accompanied at the Ft. Polk concert by his son, Mercer. Mercer also fronted the band during most of the numbers as his father played piano. Mercer would take over full conducting duties after his father’s death four years later, which he continued doing until his own passing in 1996.
Duke performed in every medium of his day, including radio, records, TV, stage and motion pictures, sometimes solo at the piano, but usually with his orchestra. He composed two great film scores, Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Paris Blues (1961). Toward the end of his life, he wrote and conducted his somewhat controversial Sacred Concerts. As the title implies, they were religiously themed, and not widely heard–even to this day.
I recall Duke Ellington’s polite voice welcoming us as audience members from that Polk stage, his wide and warm smile, and the wonderful, genius-driven, Ellington music he and his orchestra played for us. What those hundreds of absent soldiers missed!
On his deathbed, it is reported that Duke Ellington’s last words were: “Music is how I live, why I live and how I will be remembered.”
How I remember you and your smooth, sophisticated sounds, Duke.
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