Charlie Louvin Dies at 83

Grand Ole Opry member Charlie Louvin has died at 83.

Charlie Louvin longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry died at 83 at his home in Wartrace, Tennessee on January 26 from complications due to pancreatic cancer.

Louvin teamed with his brother Ira to form the Louvin Brothers and  sing gospel music but they later switched to secular music and would become part of the Grand Ole Opry in 1955. The Louvin Brothers broke up in 1963. They were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 but Ira was admitted posthumously having been killed by a drunken driver in 1965.

Charlie was still a member of the Grand Ole Opry at the time of his death having been a Grand Ole Opry member for 56 years.

Charlie Louvin singing Just Between the Two of Us.

The world of country music has lost another pioneer that I grew up listening to. Charlie still sang for 46 years after the death of his brother. Both the Louvin Brothers have died and the following obituary in the N.Y. Times tells how much Emmy Lou Harris enjoyed listening to their music and gives more information about his life and death.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/arts/music/27louvin.html

Know the Face, Not the Name: Burt Mustin

1884-1977

Burt Mustin was born February 8, 1884 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Pennsylvania Military College in 1903 with a degree in civil engineering. He was an auto salesman at one point in his life.

It would be 28 years after graduating  before Mustin made his entry into show business working for KDKA radio station in Pittsburgh.

1951 would be the year he first appeared in a film which was named The Last Outpost at the age of 67.

Mustin would make his television debut the same year in an episode of the Adventures of Kit Carson.

According to radiogoldindex.com he only was in only one episode of Lone Ranger in 1955  before the death of old time radio in 1962.

One of his best known roles was as Gus the Fireman in Leave it to Beaver from 1957-1962. He was 78 when he made his last appearance on the show.

He also was seen in 14 episodes of the Andy Griffith show portraying several different characters including Jud, Old Geezer, Mr. Crowley, Sam Benson, Judd with 2 d’s, Jubal, Jud Fletcher and a townsman. He was in the first six years of the series from 1960-1966 and was 82 when he left the show.

For the next 10 years he appeared in a variety of television programs ranging from the Monkees to All in the Family to Laugh-In to Dragnet to Gunsmoke and ended his acting career in 1976 in three episodes of Phyliss with his last episode being the December 6, 1976 episode. He died about two months later on January 28, 1977 in Glendale, California at the age of 92 just short of his 93rd birthday which would have been on February 8.

Burt Mustin appearing on the Tonight show with Johnny Carson on March 5, 1976 less than a year before his death.

His acting career was relatively short spanning from 1951-1976 but he probably appeared in more different television shows than most actors did in a much longer span.

My favorite memory of Burt Mustin was when he portrayed Gus the Fireman on Leave it to Beaver.

Western Stars of the Past: Lash LaRue

Alfred "Lash" LaRue 1921-1996

Lash LaRue was born on either June 14, 1921 according to Wikipedia and on June 15, 1917 according to the Internet Movie Database and there is a question about his birthplace but he is generally listed as having been born in Gretna, Louisiana but Michigan has also been mentioned as a possible birthplace for LaRue.

He was known for using a bullwhip in his movies although his first attempts to use one resulted in several lash marks on his body before he was trained by Snowy Baker an expert with the bullwhip.

He had been told by director Robert Tansey who looking for an actor for his movie Song of Old Wyoming that he needed someone that knew how to use a bullwhip so LaRue lied and said he had been using one for years while in fact he had never used one in his life.

When Tansey saw the scars from LaRue futile attempt to learn on his own was when the PRC studio hired Baker to teach LaRue the tricks of the trade.

He was credited as Al LaRue in Song of Old Wyoming and Jennifer Holt the sister of western star also appeared in the movie with LaRue playing the Cheyenne Kid in the movie.

First Movie Credited as Lash LaRue

Three movies later in Law of the Lash he was credited as Lash LaRue for the first time. He once stated that he changed his name to Lash and his mother called him Lash.

LaRue did his own stunts since the PRC studio was famous for its penny pinching so they were paying LaRue for being an actor while probably not paying him any extra for doing his own stunt work.

Re-Used Scenes From Previous Movie

Scenes from Frontier Revenge were re-used in his next movie The Black Lash saving the studio money. He continued to star in movies until 1952.

He then portrayed seven different characters in seven episodes of the Judge Roy Bean television show in 1956.

Then from 1958-59 he played Sheriff Johnny Behan on the Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp television show. That would be his last appearance on television in a series.

Like most actors LaRue had a couple of movies he would rather not have appeared in like Alien Outlaw and Dark Power. He used the bullwhip to fight zombies in Dark Power which influenced one reviewer of the movie at Amazon.com to toss their DVD of the movie into Tampa Bay.

The movie’s claim to fame, the casting of Lash LaRue, was yet an additional painful addition. It was as if someone found a washed out drunk at a biker bar (no offense to Harley enthusiasts), threw a whip in his hand and said “go nuts”–and he did, with no attention to content, directive or acting. But then, he was tied for worst actor in the film…with every other actor involved.

It’s not that this movie was bad. It’s that it was so bad that it made me want to take the chopsticks (with which I was eating while suffering through this film), jam them in my eyes, swirl them all around, and force them through to my brain to end the suffering.

I will offer one olive branch to those who may disagree with me. I am someone who knows that, when watching B-movies, one should surround himself with friends and adult beverages. I did not do this (a rookie mistake for which I would normally scold others) and, as a result, I side-armed this dvd like a discus off my balcony into Tampa Bay. To my credit, however, normally I can identify those which would be good drinking movies under any circumstances and there are simply too many other options to consider Dark Power. (I guess I just stomped on that olive branch–sorry)

Baptized in Shreveport, Louisiana

This paragraph from Wikipedia tells about how LaRue came to be baptized in Shreveport, Louisiana and also about him being in Alexandria:

He was a born-again Christian who was baptized at Shreveport Baptist Tabernacle by pastor Jimmy G. Tharpe. Tharpe initially met La Rue inAlexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish, when LaRue was visiting the home of his daughter. He and another minister, Don Chelette of Alexandria, were at the time knocking doors to win souls to Jesus Christ, when they met LaRue and his daughter. Tharpe thereafter declared a “Lash LaRue Day” at his church at which LaRue gave his Christian testimony: “He came, and we had a wonderful service in our gymnasium. There were thirty-seven people saved in the gym that day. He cut paper from the mouth of Debbye, my daughter, with his whip. We all rejoiced over Lash LaRue and his testimony. I introduced Lash to others, and several churches invited him to give his testimony, and he accepted.”^[3]

New York Times Obituary

The New York Times obituary for Lash LaRue stated that he had died on May 21, 1996 at Burbank California and that he had recently undergone triple bypass surgery and had suffered from emphysema. The obituary also noted that when he took a screen test for Warner Brothers that he been rejected because he too closely resembled Humphrey Bogart who was already signed by Warner Brothers.

The article also tells of how he was arrested in 1966 for vagrancy with only 35 cents in his pocket. His wife at the time of his death Frances Bramlet LaRue said that he didn’t the names of his family disclosed upon his death but he did claim at one time that he had been married ten times.

For those interested in learning more about  the life of Lash LaRue can find more information and photos at:

http://www.b-westerns.com/lash.htm

Western Stars of the Past: Sunset Carson

Sunset Carson 1920-1990

Sunset Carson was born Winifred Maurice Harrison on November 12, 1920 in Gracemont, Oklahoma. Having been stuck with a first and middle name that could only bring grief he couldn’t have been too heartbroken to have his name changed to Sunset Carson after being signed to a contract with Republic Pictures.

The date of his birth is questionable since no birth certificate has been found but the family Bible lists the Nov.12, 1920 as of above but when he applied for a Social Security card he listed his birthdate as Nov. 12, 1918 while his death certificate lists his birthdate as Nov. 12, 1926.

It is still a mystery as to his true birthdate since other publications and documents have also listed 1922, 1924 and 1927 as the year of his birth with 1927 on his driver’s license. So with a total of six different years being called his year of birth it is very questionable as to which is the correct year.

In 1940 he traveled to South America to ride in rodeos for two years after having earlier appeared in a western show owned by the first king of the cowboys Tom Mix.

Those who have seen the 1943 movie Stagedoor Canteen may remember Carson playing a soldier named “Dakota” in the part where soldiers spend some time at the local stagedoor canteen before shipping out for overseas duty.

His first western was Call of the Rockies which was released in 1944. He played the part of Sonny “Sunset” Carson. He appeared in five movies in 1944 and six more in 1945.

Republic executive Herbert G. Yates personally fired Carson when he showed up for a party of the studio’s western stars inebriated and with an underage girl.

Smiley Burnette appeared in some of the early Sunset Carson movies playing Frog Milhouse the name he used in many different movies. It is strange he used the same character’s name in movies with Gene Autry and Sunset Carson but used his own name for many of his other movies.

Carson last film for Republic was Red River Renegades released in 1946. Another cowboy star Bob Steele played Carson’s brother in the film.

His career was all but over after leaving Republic with his leading role coming in the 1950 movie Battling Marshal.

Carson wouldn’t appear on the big screen again till 1972 in the Marshal of Windy Hollow which also starred western stars Tex Ritter and Ken Maynard but Carson did appear on television in an episode of Tales of Wells Fargo portraying the legendary Kit Carson in 1957.

 

His last movie was Alien Outlaw released in 1985 which ended Sunset Carson’s 42 year movie career. Somehow aliens and Sunset Carson just don’t mix well.

The film is currently being sold new at Amazon by a dealer for $2.63 for those that would want to see the extra added feature of Sunset Carson interviewing western star Lash LaRue who was also in the film.

This reviewer at Amazon minced no words while stating their opinion of the movie:

 

This review is from: Alien Outlaw (DVD)

 

HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE!! QUITE POSSIBLY THE WORST PIECE OF JUNK I HAVE EVER SEEN. DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY, YOU CAN HAVE MINE FOR FREE!!

The reviews get worse but you get the idea.

Sunset Carson appeared in wild west shows and bwesterns.com relates how good of a shot Carson was:

Sunset was introduced by his driver (assistant/manager?), and he essentially talked to the audience about his movie experiences. His act consisted of placing a safety background in front of the screen and then moving back about 20 rows in the aisle (there was only the middle aisle in this theatre) and having someone hold a piece of chalk between his fingers whereupon Sunset would shoot the chalk out of the holder’s fingers with a .22 calibre rifle. I can assure the kind readers that this was not a trick shot of any kind. He actually shot a standard piece of chalk out of my hand — the only negative aspect was that as the chalk exploded, my front of my “black outfit” was covered with chalk dust. There is no question that he was a “crack shot”. The show was a success in that the people loved him and his act, and I still have all my fingers.

Carson died May 1, 1990 in his hotel room in Reno, Nevada at the age of 69 assuming the birth year of 1920 found in the Carson family Bible is correct.

For Sunset Carson fans who want to read several more pages of information and photos at bwesterns.com:

Click on next at bottom of front page of Sunset Carson page at bwesterns.com. It may not show up on some screens so pull scroll bar to bottom of page and it can be seen.

http://www.b-westerns.com/sunset.htm

Gene Autry, Roy Rogers in The Old Corral

Gene Autry and Roy Rogers both appeared in the 1935 movie The Old Corral. According to imdb.com it was only the second movie Roy Rogers appeared in.

The movie is unusual in that Autry is the good guy while Rogers is reportedly a bandit in the movie. The following summary of the plot tells about Rogers robbing a bus.

From the clip it seems like Chicago gangsters are fighting with cowboys.

Western Stars of the Past: Gene Autry

 

Gene Autry 1907-1998

I have been following the career of Gene Autry for many years but only today did I know his first name was Orvon and that he was Orvon Eugene Autry when he was born on September 29, 1907 in Tioga, Texas.

His family moved to Oklahoma in the 1920′s and after becoming a telegrapher for a railroad company he would practice singing especially after midnight. Will Rogers overheard him singing and told him he should be a professional singer.

He signed his first recording contract with Columbia Records in 1929 and three years later he recorded his first hit song  That Silver-Haired-Daddy of Mine. Back in the Saddle Again was another of his early hits.

Autry not only received a Gold Record for That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine but it was the first Gold Record received by any recording artist according to his official website.

Although Autry is known for singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer he wrote the Christmas standard Here Comes Santa Claus.

He would make his movie debut in 1934 in the movie In Old Santa Fe with Smiley Burnette who would be his sidekick portraying Frog Milhouse and Burnette also wrote many of the songs sung in the Autry films. He appeared in 80 of the Gene Autry westerns.

Pat Buttram would later replace Burnette in his movies when Autry returned from fighting in World War II since Burnette had found other employment. However, Burnette played a lot of different characters in the Autry films having different names in most of the movies.

Burnette did return to appear in the last six Gene Autry films which were released in 1953 after being in 56 films with western star Charles Starrett in the Durango Kid movies.

Not only was Gene Autry a recording star and western movie star but he also served in the Army Air Force from July of 1942 till October of 1945 during the height of his movie career. He was a flight officer flying planes in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Autry also was  an old time radio star appearing on his Melody Ranch radio program from 1940 to 1956. His horse Champion also had a radio show Adventures of Champion.

He wrote the Cowboy Commandments for his young listeners of the radio program:

1. Never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage;
2. Never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him;
3. Always tell the truth;
4. Be gentle with children, the elderly and animals;
5. Not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas;
6. Help people in distress;
7. Be a good worker;
8. Keep himself clean in thought, speech, action and personal habits;
9. Respect women, parents and his nation’s laws;
10. Be a patriot.

Autry’s films were loaded with action and singing and he was one of the first of the singing cowboys in the movies.

The town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma was named for him in 1941 and the 2000 census shows a population of 99 for the town. He bought a 1,200 acre ranch named the Flying A Ranch in 1939 near Berwyn, Oklahoma.

He also appeared on television on the CBS network and even had a Golden Book for children written about him.

Another first for Autry is that he was the first recording artist to sell out Madison Square Garden. He also received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his accomplishments in five categories with stars in five different locations.

Dell Published printed a million copies of Gene Autry comic books in 1948 showing again how popular Gene Autry was in radio, television, movies, childrens books, comics and later as a baseball owner.

Even with all that was going on with his career Autry he also found time to provide stock for rodeos and was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame for his participation as a stock contractor.

He bought several radio stations and television stations and owned the broadcast rights to the Los Angeles Angels baseball team and became the owner of the team. He not only was the first owner of the Angels was the vice president of the American League.

Among his other accomplishments were his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969, the Angels retired No.26 in his honor even though he never played professional baseball and was honored for his work to preserve the memory of the old west days. Major league teams have 25 player rosters so that is how the No.26 became his number since he was regarded as the 26th man.

His entry into the restaurant business was short-lived when he refused to pay the Chicago mafia a fee to open his business. Gangsters showed up on opening night and ordered the staff to leave and then destroyed the restaurant. That ended Autry’s foray into the restaurant business.

However money was never a problem for Autry as he was on the list in Forbes magazine of the 400 Richest Americans for many years and his fortune was valued at $320 million in 1995 which by then was not enough to be in the top 400 richest.

Surprisingly Gene Autry was the musical inspiraton for Beatle Ringo Starr who made this quote about his interest in Autry:

Gene Autry was the most. It may sound like a joke – Go and have a look in my bedroom, It’s covered with Gene Autry posters. He was my first musical influence.
Ringo Starr

Gene Autry’s life ended on October 2, 1998 due to lymphoma dying at his home in Studio City, California. His death came less than three months after the death of his contemporary singer-cowboy Roy Rogers.

It can said that Gene Autry was a success at everything he attempted in life except for the restaurant business but nobody could have succeeded under those conditions.

 

 

 

Gene Autry died extremely rich but was buried in a grave with a simple marker with all the others in the cemetery. This tells me he never thought he was special but he will be special to those of us who remember seeing his movies and listening to his recordings especially the Christmas songs.

 

 

 

This memorial at the Find A Grave website reminds me of how much I loved him singing Christmas songs:

Santa Claus comes tonight! Thanks, Gene for all you did for us kids of yesteryear. May you rest in peace, and may God be with you always.
- K. Williams
Added: Dec. 24, 2010

What a tribute to a great man who was such a great role model for kids and adults alike.

Western Stars of the Past: Johnny Mack Brown

Johnny Mack Brown was born on September 1, 1904 in Dothan Alabama. He was an All America running back for the University of Alabama in the 20′s and was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1957.

He had been a featured actor in movies with the leading females stars of that time such as Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford but is best known for his westerns.

By 1935 Brown appeared almost exclusively in western films until his last movie Apache Uprising in 1965. His popularity extended to appearing in a series of Johnny Mack Brown comic books.

He died of heart failure on November 14,1974 at the age of 70 due to heart failure.

For those wanting to read more about Johnny Mack Brown this link will take you to one of the most extensive websites I have seen on the internet for anyone. It includes many photos.

http://www.b-westerns.com/brown.htm

Do We Need a 87 Tool Knife?

Swiss Army knife with 87 tools and 141 functions.

I can still remember the good old days when knives had one blade and didn’t have a lot of tools included. Those days are gone forever as there is now a Swiss knife with 87 tools and 141 functions.

The knife weighs 2 pounds and 11 ounces and is 8 3/4 inches wide.

It has to be hard to find a particular tool when all the tools are in the closed position. It does have some useful tools yet also has some tools which are not often needed often like:

Golf club face cleaner

Golf shoe spike wrench

Cupped cigar cutter

Chisel point reamer

There are too many tools to list them all. The Wenger company is the manufacturer of this monstrosity and their website lists the retail price of $1,400 but out of the goodness of their hearts are selling it for only $1,099.95.

One reviewer who has bought the knife has this to say about it at the website:

Okay…I have had many different Swiss products in my days and this one just makes me laugh. I got this as a gift because I collect knives and this just kinda blows. Sure it has every top notch tool that any Swiss tool has ever had, but it is just stupid. I can barely pick the thing up to transport it, never-mind use it to carve something or use one of the tools on it. Right now, it is just sitting in my Swiss display case…

After reading about this knife I can see only very affluent people buying it. I am not even sure if these tools couldn’t be purchased cheaper separately rather than buying this gigantic knife.

This is the perfect gift for someone who has everything but after reading the review above am not sure it is even a practical knife in which the tools could actually do the tasks they are designed to accomplish because of the unwieldy size of the knife. The part of the review that is most revealing is when the reviewer listed under cons that the knife included tools.

To see the knife and more info about the tools included the link to the website is at the end of this article. It is safe to assume from my comments that I do not have any financial connection with the Wenger company.

http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=WR16999

Tom Mix: First King of the Cowboys

Western movies were often seen on television in the afternoon when school kids arrived home. On our local television station KALB-TV the first show to come on in the afternoon was Howdy Doody followed by the Pinky Lee Show.

Then western movies which had been made in the 30′s and 40′s were telecast and we grew up watching western stars like Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and many lesser known stars.

This is not a complete listing of those stars since there were too many western stars to include them all but this article will bring back memories of the ones we still remember 60 years later.

These movies led to 26 western television series being shown during prime time hours at the height of their popularity in 1959.

Tom Mix was an early pioneer in television westerns but only appeared in nine talkies since he appeared in his first movie short in 1909 in The Cowboy Millionaire. His last movie was released in 1935 which was 26years after his film debut.

Despite appearing mostly in silent films Mix earned $6 million during his movie career. If he had been born 10 to 20 years later he may have been one of the best known western actors and he appeared in 315 films during his career.

He reportedly was a pallbearer at Wyatt Earp’s funeral.

His own life ended tragically when he was reportedly driving 80 MPH in his 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton between Tucson and Phoenix in Florence, Arizona when he couldn’t brake in time to avoid construction barriers and rolled into a gully.

An aluminum suitcase filled with money, traveler’s checks and jewels slid off a shelf behind him and hit him in the back of his head killing him instantly.

Tom Mix may not be mentioned much today since he died 70 years ago but he was the first king of the cowboys.

Today’s article starts a series profiling western movie stars and will include singing cowboys like Roy Rogers, Rex Allen, Tex Ritter and Gene Autry plus will include articles on western stars of the past like William Boyd better known as Hopalong Cassidy, Johnny Mack Brown, Ken Maynard and Sunset Carson.

Going Home Again To Pineville, Louisiana

Pineville, Louisiana may not have dilapidated buildings like this still standing on Main Street but after being away from Pineville since October of 2007 there weren’t as many changes as I thought there would be when returning to the city I have spent close to 60 years of my life.

One of the biggest changes in Pineville was the new Lowe’s store that was built where the old Wal-Mart store had been unoccupied for many years.

The new football stadium at Louisiana College probably was the most striking new structure in Pineville. After sharing D.C. “Bill” Bates Stadium with Pineville High School for many years Louisiana College finally has a stadium which is on campus and the football team no longer has to ride a bus to Pineville High School for their games.

There were some cosmetic changes to some stores like the KFC restaurant on Highway 28 but for the most part there were very few noticeable changes that caught my eye. Since I didn’t see some parts of Pineville there may be some changes that readers may want to inform me about.

Pineville will always be home for me even though I am living in south Louisiana now after having lived in Tennessee for the three years and four months prior to moving to Sulphur, Louisiana.

My memories of Pineville go back to the first day of the first grade at Pineville Elementary in 1950 and playing Little League baseball for Bates Insurance, Jimmie Walker and RC Cola and then later playing for Bert Dennis Realty in the Pony League at the Sandy Canyon baseball field.

One tragic memory was the night we were playing in a game when someone yelled “that plane is going to crash” and we saw a plane crashing in downtown Pineville into the National Cemetery grounds.

Another tragic event was seeing Pineville Elementary destroyed by fire in 1958 and seeing Tommy Kohara the photographer climbing the fireman’s ladder to take photos of the fire from above.

Four years later after graduating from Pineville High in 1962 I said goodbye to Pineville to join the Army and started basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Will never forget marching to this song in basic during the height of the October missile crisis:

I don’t know but I believe

I’ll be in Cuba by Christmas Eve

After returning home for a couple of weeks after basic training ended once again it was time to bid farewell to Pineville again as I boarded a train for Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana for postal training in January of 1963.

When ending the six months duty for the Army Reserve I decided to go ahead and join the regular Army in May of 1963 and boarded a plane for San Francisco and landed in Hawaii in June of 1963.

After serving in Hawaii from June of 1963 to January 1966 I boarded a troop ship heading toward Vietnam and four months later when I fulfilled my service obligation in May of 1966 it was exciting to gain altitude over Saigon knowing we were safe from enemy groundfire and on the way to Pineville as my ultimate destination.

It would be eight years later after working those years for the Alexandria Town Talk before moving from Pineville to Monroe, Louisiana in April of 1974 to work for the Monroe Morning World for a couple of years returning in March of 1976 to Pineville.

For the next 31 years Pineville would be home till moving again in August of 2007 to Knoxville, Tennessee and living there till December 20, 2010 when we moved to Sulphur, Louisiana.

While this visit was a very short one I hope there will be many more in the future and hopefully for a longer duration.

David Ruffin: Temptations 1964-1968

David Ruffin singing the lead on My Girl the first No.1 song for the Temptations which was written by Smokey Robinson but was recorded by the Temptations instead of his own group Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

David Ruffin singing  Walk Away From Love on American Bandstand after he had left the Temptations and was singing as a solo artist.

David Ruffin who is most famous for his rendition of My Girl while with the Temptations.

Ruffin was born on January 18, 1941 in Whynot, Mississippi and was a solo artist before joining the Temptations in 1964.

He was part of a family gospel group while growing up that opened for the one of the most well known gospel singers of that time Mahalia Jackson.

His meeting Gwen Fuqua who was the sister of music mogul Berry Gordy and he worked with Berry Gordy’s father in actually constructing the building that would be known as Motown.

On January 9, 1964 Ruffin recorded for the first time with the Temptations after they needed a tenor when founding member Elbridge “Al” Bryant was fired from the group.

He was a background singer for the group until Smokey Robinson wrote My Girl especially for Ruffin and after his success with that song he alternated with Eddie Hendricks singing lead vocals.

Ruffin invented the four headed microphone used by the Temptations which picked up the voices of the four Temptations who weren’t singing lead.

Then he would distance himself from the other Temptations when he and his girlfriend  would travel in a customized limousine. He also wanted to change the name of the group to David Ruffin and the Temptations which didn’t go over well with Otis Williams who was the one who put the group together in its most well known configuration of Ruffin, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, Otis Williams and the other lead singer Eddie Hendricks.

It was also during this period that he became addicted to cocaine.

The end for Ruffin came when he missed a show to see his new girlfriend sing. After being fired he would get up on the stage and sing some of the songs he had made famous which wasn’t well received by the Temptations on the stage.

Ruffin would go on to have a decent career as a solo artist but it paled in significance to his days with the Temptations.

He was found dead in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania crackhouse on June 1, 1991 due to an overdose. It has been claimed that a money belt with $40,000 was stolen from Ruffin after his death.

Ruffin had a tumultuous life that had seen him go from the heights of fame to a crackhouse in Philadelphia where his life ended.

Still we can enjoy his music both with the Temptations and as a solo artists today as his memory lives on.

Internet Services Worth Paying For?

Many internet websites are still free but how long will the free ride last with rumors of free sites becoming pay sites?

With media moguls like Rupert Murdoch clamoring to charge for his newspaper websites will it be the precursor to other websites charging for their content?

Murdoch is finding out it is not easy to implement charges for what has been free content for years. It was 2009 when he first mentioned charging for content but it is now 2011 and as far as I know it hasn’t been instituted in the United States.

However his News Corporation is charging for the online editions of Times of London and News of the World newspapers in the UK.

Murdoch hopes to start charging .99 cents a week for his new digital paper The Daily which is targeted at I Pad users. Latest plans are for the paper to go online in the next two weeks.

The one service that internet users might pay for would be email if the day comes when MSN, Yahoo, G-Mail email services begin charging for their email services.

As much as internet users may like Facebook and My Space they would likely desert the social network websites in droves if they began charging to enter their websites.

It may be financial suicide for the owners of these sites to begin charging since their current advertisers would surely ask for a reduction in their advertising rates since there would be millions of less visitors to those sites plus there would be a huge reduction in sales for the advertisers.

Free email service providers would be the most likely to lose the least if they start charging since so many consumers are so accustomed to having the convenience of email that they would agree to pay a nominal fee to avoid going back to sending letters via the postal service for almost 50 cents a letter.

Only the most ardent and more affluent sports fans would pay for sports websites like MLB.com, NFL.com and NBA.com.

The only other website that may be able to survive charging user fees is a search engine like Google.

Hopefully owners of most websites will understand that the economics of the internet does not bode well for the websites that charge for their services.

Personally the only service I would pay for is for email service as long as there are no free email services still available.

The Temptations: Can’t Get Next to You

The Temptations singing Can’t Get Next to You after David Ruffin had left the group. Dennis Edwards sings lead but all five Temptations sing a verse in the song while dancing in a stop motion kind of dance in which they would dance then freeze in place at certain parts of the song.

The song went to No.1 on the Billboard charts in 1969. However fouryears after the release Paul Williams would commit suicide after health problems from sickle cell anemia, a drinking problem and bad financial investments that left Williams owing $80,000 in taxes.

Williams apparently ended his life on August 17, 1973 with a gunshot to the left side of his head. His family to this day questions whether it was suicide since he used his right hand to inflict the wound according to the coroner. He was 34 at the time of his death.

Eddie Hendricks who sang the high parts in this song would die at the age of 52 on October 5, 1992 of lung cancer. He sang lead on The Way You Do the Things You Do, Get Ready and Just My Imagination.

He left The Temptations when they had changed their music to a more psychedelic style while breaking away from the ballads they had sung in the past.

The Temptations were not the same group once David Ruffin who developed a cocaine habit, Paul Williams who had choreographed much of the dancing for the group left and then lost Eddie Hendricks.

The group has had many configurations over the years and Otis Williams is the only survivor of the group. To me the real Temptations ended in the 70′s after Ruffin and Hendricks left to pursue solo careers since they sang lead on so many of their hits.

The Temptations DVD featuring videos of their music from 1965-1972 with narration by Otis Williams shows them at the height of their popularity. I have played this video many times since it brings back those special days when the classic group was still singing.

Rock and Roll Graffiti 50′s and 60′s: Memories of an Era

I found a five VHS tapes version of this rock and roll reunion in which 37 singers got together to reminisce and sing the songs they made famous.

 

I went to a garage sale a few months ago and found a set of five VHS tapes that had been unopened for only $3. Since we were off the internet for over a week lately I watched the videos and enjoyed hearing 37 rock and roll stars of the 50′s and 60′s talk about their experiences and sing the great songs many of us grew up with over those two decades.

One of the singers told about singing to an audience in the south with a rope dividing the blacks and whites into two sections. They returned a year later and the rope was gone and the blacks and whites were sitting side by side and high fivin’ each other.

Carl Gardner the only surviving member of the Coasters told about a friend of his who saw two water fountains with one labeled color and one was designated as being white. There was a policeman guarding the water fountains to make sure that no blacks drank from the fountain for whites. Carl’s friend was fascinated about the two kinds of water fountains and said ” I’m going to try this white water first” and then tried the colored water and said “They both taste the same to me.” The policeman saw the humor in the situation and didn’t arrest him.

Dee Dee Sharp of  ”Mashed Potato Time” fame was headed to the front door of a hotel or a restaurant and was 15 at the time. She was told blacks weren’t allowed in the establishment but Len Barry who recorded “1-2-3″ took her inside and made sure she was accepted and Dee Dee Sharp who is now a Ph.D said she would always remember his act of kindness.

Jimmy Clanton told he got out of show business when Alice Cooper was wringing the necks of chickens on stage saying this had nothing to do with singing.

Some of the singers told about the Dick Clark tours that traveled across the United States on busses and that Dick Clark roughed it like they did and slept on a cot and didn’t get any special treatment and how much they respected him for being like them.

Joanie Sommers told of dating Elvis Presley and how she wished she could have been with Elvis alone since he had four of his people along for the date and decided she didn’t want to date him again if it meant they would have chaperones.

Dennis Yost of the Classics IV sang Stormy and it reminded me of the time the Classics IV sang at Louisiana College a Baptist institution in Pineville, Louisiana. When the students started dancing to the music the president of the college had the Classics IV leave the stage since dancing was not allowed at Baptist colleges in that era.

Jimmie Rodgers who was famous for Honeycomb and Kisses Sweeter Than Wine was there and had been through several brain surgeries after a 1967 encounter with the Los Angeles police in which he says he was beaten by the police while the police maintained he fell while intoxicated and had fallen on his head.

The City of Los Angeles did settle out of court for $200,000 but that didn’t begin to compensate him for the inability to perform as he had in the past appearing only sporadically in concerts after the injuries.

Ketty Lester who sang Love Letters at the reunion told about her singing career ending when she returned from a tour and her son wouldn’t come to her but instead went to the babysitter and decided then to stop singing and hadn’t sung in 30 years before the reunion. She also told of Michael Landon offering a role on Little House on the Prairie which she accepted.

Jerry Naylor of the Crickets said he replaced Buddy Holly after the fatal plane crash in 1959 but that nobody could really replace Holly. He also said the Beatles chose their name of Beatles because they were fans of the Crickets.

D.J. Fontana the drummer for Elvis Presley in the early days of Elvis tells how Elvis and the band and all their instruments traveled in a car from city to city and how Elvis since he needed the rest slept under the bass belonging to Bill Black of the band.

Jim Ed Brown and his sisters Bonnie and Maxine also appeared on the program and told about how their dad went to Brinkley, Arkansas to pick up Elvis after his car had broken down on tour. Bonnie told about dating Elvis until she found out he was seeing someone else on the side.

Jackie Wilson stories were told at the reunion with one singer telling  that someone was giving Jackie a rough time and Jackie told him that he had been a fighter long before becoming a singer and on another occasion he had punched out a policeman during a show but wasn’t arrested because Jackie’s fans wouldn’t have allowed him to arrest him.

James Brown was also mentioned with the singers telling how hard a worker he was and that his band would even rehearse after doing the night’s show. If someone in the band messed up he would give them a signal that they would let them know they were in for it when the show ended.

Frankie Ford sang the Ferlin Husky hit Gone which could have been omitted from the tape since it wasn’t really sang in a serious vein but more for laughs but made up for it when he launched into his signature song Sea Cruise showing why it was one of the rockingest rock and roll songs ever.

The British invasion was a topic of conversation about how they took over the record charts and how things weren’t the same for the singers at the reunion after the invasion since few American singers charted Top 10 hits during this time.

Gene Hughes of the Casinos sings Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye at the reunion. Hughes died five years later in 2004 in a car accident.

The great Jimmy Clanton singing his first big hit Just a Dream which he wrote after being jilted by a girl.

Ray Peterson singing The Wonder of You one of the best songs ever written in my book and Elvis Presley also had an excellent version of the song.

Joe Terry of Danny and the Juniors singing their classic hit At the Hop.

Mary Wilson of the Supremes singing Stop in the Name of Love.

Ketty Lester singing Love Letters which was the highlight of the reunion for me singing this song the way only she can sing it. Sad she didn’t sing for 30 years before this reunion.

There are even more songs from this reunion that can be found at YouTube listed under Rock and Roll Graffiti 1999 for anyone wanting to hear more of the music from the reunion.

Tapes of this program are extremely rare with Amazon selling a three tape set of this reunion for $99. The program may or may not have been a commercial success and to my knowledge no program like it has been filmed since 1999 but for those fortunate enough to see the entire series of tapings from this reunion will not only hear some of the great music from the 1950′s and 1960′s  but also hear first person accounts of what it was like to travel on bus tours across the United States, how theatres included rock and roll shows along with the price of a movie on the popcorn circuit and how some of these songs came to be written and how prejudice prevented black singers from staying in the same hotels they sang in.

They also tell about how impostors are pretending to be members of the Coasters and Drifters while not including original members of those groups.

Long live rock and roll!!

Ray Peterson as he appeared early in his career

Ray Peterson looked like this at the reunion looking much different from his rock and roll days but still sang The Wonder of You as well as ever.

David Nelson of Ozzie and Harriet Dies at 74

David Nelson who was the last surviving member of the Nelson family of the Ozzie and Harriet television series has died in Century City, California at the age of 7

David Nelson died at the age of 74 due to complications from colon cancer at his home in Century City, California. He was born on October 24, 1936 in New York City.

The Ozzie and Harriet television series featured Nelson in 432 episodes from 1952-1966. He appeared in various television programs or movies after leaving Ozzie and Harriet including playing a doorman in Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke movie in 1978 and made his last appearance as an actor in 1990 in the Johnny Depp movie Cry-Baby portraying the father of Traci Lord’s character Wanda.

While Ozzie and Harriet was running he was in the 1957 movie Peyton Place in which he played the role of Ted Carter.

Nelson owned a production company after ending his acting career 21 years ago. While his brother Ricky was in the public eye for years after Ozzie and Harriet left the air David Nelson mostly stayed out of the spotlight.

His brother Ricky had died in a plane crash 26 years ago on New Year’s Eve of 1985 near Texarkana, Texas.

Very few of the Adventures of Ozzie Harriet old time radio show remain in circulation with about only 80 shows remaining from the ten year run of the series.

The Ozzie and Harriet television series to my knowledge has not been shown on television for many years but Radio of Yesteryear website says it is currently running on the Ion Network but the Ion website doesn’t show Ozzie and Harriet on their current schedule.

Those of us that grew up in the 40′s and 50′s have lost the last member of the Nelson family but they will all remain in our hearts as long as we live after listening to and watching them for 24 years on radio and television.

http://www.originaloldradio.com/show_history_for_ozzie_and_harriet.html

Beverly Kenney Sings for Playboys (1958) album review by David Gasten

 

Beverly Kenney on the album cover of Beverly Kenney Sings For Playboys which was released by Decca Records in 1958.

BEVERLY KENNEY
Beverly Kenney Sings For Playboys
Decca Records, 1958

Beverly Kenney Sings For Playboys is available as an MP3 download from Amazon.com and iTunes for $7.99.

“A word to Playboys: I would not recommend this album as Music to Make the Romantic Approach By. You’re apt to get more interested in Beverly than the girl you’re trying to impress.” —Steve Allen

1950’s lady jazz vocalist Beverly Kenney looked like she had it all going for her. She had performed with many of the jazz greats of her day, and was even part of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra for a time. The musicians and artists in New York City’s Greenwich Village scene respected her musical talent, and jazz fans from the period perceived her to be an heir apparent to Billie Holiday. She had even appeared on national American television, rounding out a May 18, 1958 episode of The Steve Allen Show. But on the evening of April 13, 1960, this promising and lovable vocalist committed suicide by ingesting a lethal mixture of Seconal and alcohol. She was only 28 years old.

To this day, jazz enthusiasts still ask amongst themselves: why did she do it? It’s a question that we still don’t have a complete answer to. But what we do have is a body of recordings that provide a whole new way to hear the vocal jazz genre. And of Beverly’s six LP’s, the true masterpiece is Beverly Kenney Sings for Playboys (1958), an almost perfect album that everyone who loves Vintage music needs to own.

Imagine a calm evening when you are up late, wrapped in a cozy blanket, with a book, the glow of a reading lamp, a crackling fireplace, and the moon peeking through a window as your only companions. You are thinking about someone you love, who is away and cannot be with you, and you wish so much that they could be there at your side. Beverly Kenney Sings for Playboys is this situation’s unofficial soundtrack. The melancholy solitude, the disarming warmth, the romantic longing—they’re all here on this album. And the album gently spills it all forth as effortlessly and quietly as the night itself.

The instrumentation is sparse—Beverly Kenney on vocals, Ellis Larkins on piano and celeste, and Joe Benjamin on bass (there are no drums or percussion). But there may not be a better example in the world of “less is more”. Beverly Kenney’s voice is so uninhibited and human, and as delicate as a fine crystal figurine. She does not worry about singing notes perfectly, or at least not in the way that we are trained to think “perfect” to be. While other jazz artists obsess over perfection and technique, Beverly lets you fall in love with the vulnerable, fragile, and slightly sad little girl that she is, and makes you want to wrap your arms around her and keep her safe from the world. No amount of perfectly sung notes stand a chance next to something—someone—this soft, this gripping, this tender—this real.

Listening to Beverly Kenney Sings For Playboys for the first time may end up being the longest and shortest 35 minutes of your life, all at the same time. The album opens with a playful, light-hearted version of the Gershwin standard “Do It Again”. Then track two, “A Woman’s Intuition”, unleashes the stilling, arresting intimacy that dominates the album. The song grips you like a kiss or touch that comes at just the right time and in just the right way—or rather the memory of this kiss or touch from someone who has since left your life. The album continues to grip you in silence, leaving you bordering on tears from the gently aching romantic void that it opens up. Occasionally another light, playful track gives you a slight break before Beverly and her accompanists go in for the kill—a soft, gentle kill, but a kill nonetheless—all over again. As another famous standard (which she covers on this album) says, “It’s Magic.” Unbelievable, absolute magic.

After many years of being available solely as an expensive Japanese import, Beverly Kenney Sings For Playboys is finally available in the US as an inexpensive MP3 download from Verve Reissues. Beverly Kenney and Beverly Kenney Sings For Playboys have together changed this writer’s life to the point that he will never be able to hear lady jazz vocals in the same way again. He will wager that Beverly Kenney may end up becoming one of your favorites as well. So do as yet another track on the album suggests, and “Try A Little Tenderness” by downloading a copy of this record and letting it work its magic on you. You’ll never forget it.

Track List:

Do It Again

A Woman’s Intuition

You’re My Boy

Mama, Do I Gotta?

What Is There to Say?

A Lover Like You

_____

A Summer Romance

Life Can Be Beautiful

It’s Magic

A – You’re Adorable (The Alphabet Song)

Try A Little Tenderness

It’s A Most Unusual Day

David Gasten is the producer of the upcoming compilation This is Vintage Now, which features the track “Tea For Two” by Beverly Kenney.

 

Life in the 1940′s

A young Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower is shown in the above photo as the Louisiana Maneuvers involving 400,000 U.S. soldiers took place north of Pineville, Louisiana in 1941. Four years later Col. Eisenhower would be a general commanding the D-Day invasion as the U.S. would enter the European theater of World War II on June 6, 1944. Less than a year later the war would be over in Europe when Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. Three months later on August 15,1945 the Japanese would surrender.

The war was just part of 1940′s history but affected the daily lives of those who stayed home during the war. In 1943 automobile production was halted so those materials could be used in the war effort.

American citizens experienced rationing of food supplies in 1943. Travel was limited in order to make tires last longer and drivers were told to not drive over 35 MPH to extend the life of tires.

Interesting Facts From the 40′s

The U.S. population was 122 million in the 1940′s and is as of this moment at over 311 million an increase of  189 million since the 1940′s.

The national debt in the 40′s was $43 billion but the national debt today stands at over $14 trillion. The minimum wage was 43 cents an hour and in 1966 when I started work at the Alexandria Town Talk in Alexandria, Louisiana the minimum wage was $1.40 an hour an increase of about a dollar an hour over what American workers were earning in minimum wage in the 40′s. The minimum wage today is $7.25

Many Had No Indoor Plumbing

Only 55 percent of  American homes had indoor plumbing in the 1940′s and outhouses were still being widely used.

The first commercial television stations went on the air in the 1940′s. The first digital computers weighed 30 tons.

Big Band Music Dominated

Big band music dominated the music scene during the 40′s as the bands traveled across the U.S. entertaining fans of big name bandleaders like Glenn Miller, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman.

The 1940′s would be the last decade in which old time radio ruled  the airwaves as television began to convert radio listeners into television viewers.

1945 would see the development of the first TV dinner. At the end of World War II there were only 5,000 television sets in existence. In 1951 that number would increase to 17 million sets being used.

Window Air Conditioners Gained Popularity

Only 74,000 window air conditioners were sold in 1948 and that number increased to 1.45 million by 1953.  We didn’t buy our first air conditioner till about 1967 so was 9 years old when we first bought a television and 23 when we bought our first air conditioner.

I don’t ever remember being hot though since that was all we knew and didn’t have anything to compare it with.

The following website has even more details about the 1940′s and the events and entertainment from that decade.

http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html

No Modern Electronics in the 40′s

Back in the 1940′s the cell phone,  MP3 players, HD televisions, DVD players, laptops, notepads and electronic readers were not yet in use leaving time for other activities. Life was simpler then with no ringtones being heard from a cell phone when a phone call or message was being sent.

The 40′s saw the birth of my oldest brother in 1941, my birth in 1944, the birth of a younger brother in 1947 and a younger sister in 1947.

No War at End of Decade

The decade ended without another major war but June of 1950 would see the start of the Korean War the war which has been more of a forgotten war except for the veterans of that war and their family members.

You seldom see any television documentaries about the Korean War while you can always find film from World War II and the Vietnam War on television programs.

The 1940′s ended 62 years ago but for those of us who lived during that decade it will be forever etched in our memories.

No. 1 Song of 1941: Frenesi

Frenesi was the No.1 song on the 1941 Billboard charts. It was a year that songs with Spanish titles and foreign themed songs would do well on the charts. Frenesi was No.1 from December 15, 1940 till March 8, 1941. It is a catchy tune but to me is not the kind of song I would want to rush to a record store to buy.

Glenn Miller would take over No.1 for the next week with Song of the Volga Boatmen. Then Frenesi returned to the No.1 spot for one more week before giving way to Jimmy Dorsey’s Amapola which held the No.1 spot till the end of May.

It would be June before a non-foreign named or themed song would reach No.1 in Dorsey’s My Sister and I took the top spot in the charts ending a 37 week run of No.1 songs with foreign names or themes dating back to December of 1940.

Big Band music dominated the music charts in 1941 with all 11 No.1 songs recorded by big band leaders Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey, Freddy Martin and Sammy Kaye.

It is hard to believe this recording by Freddy Martin of  Piano Concerto in B Flat Minor was No.1 66 years after being written by Pyotr Tchaikovsky  in 1875 would remain at the top of the charts for eight weeks in 1941. Can you imagine a piano concerto being No.1 on the pop music charts some 70 years later in 2011? Only 13 years later Bill Haley and the Comets a former country swing band would record Rock Around the Clock more or less ending the era of big bands and many vocalists of that era would not sell their records as they had in the 40′s and early 50′s.

Concerto in B Flat Minor to Rock Around the Clock. Popular music would never be the same again.

The biggest surprise to me was that Freddy Martin’s Concerto in B Flat was No.1 for eight weeks. Glenn Miller ended Martin’s reign with 10 week run of Chattanooga Choo Choo which was No. 1 during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

70 years later the only song I can remember more than a verse of is Chattanooga Choo Choo.

One last note is that 1942 would not have a foreign song title or foreign themed song the entire year.

Most Famous Pineville, Louisiana Resident: Faith Ford

Faith Ford the most famous Pineville, Louisiana native attended Pineville High School.

I have tried to think of a Pineville, Louisiana native that is better known nationally than actress Faith Ford who portrayed Corky Sherwood on Murphy Brown for nine seasons from 1988-1998 and have not come up with another name.

Readers of this article may think of someone from Pineville better known than Faith Ford but in my opinion she is the best known Pinevillian.

Ford was born in Alexandria, Louisiana on September 14, 1964 as Alexis Ford.

She garnered some modeling jobs as a teenager in New York City until she could find an acting job.

Her big break was when she landed jobs in soap operas Another World as Julia Shearer in 1964 and as Muffy Critchlow in One Life to Live in 1968.

Her first primetime series The Popcorn Kid lasted only six episodes in 1983 before being removed from the CBS network schedule.

Ford next appeared in five episodes of Thirty Something from 1987-1988. That same year she won the role of Corky Sherwood on Murphy Brown which lasted for nine years on the CBS network.

Ford almost immediately went back to work in 1998 as the star of Maggie Winters on the CBS network but the show left the air after only 16 episodes in 1999,

She found work again in 2000 as a co-star in Norm’s World in which she portrayed Shelly Kilmartin in 32 episodes of the ABC network comedy which left the air in 2001.

Two years later Ford surfaced again on prime time television in 2003 co-starring with Kelly Ripa on Hope and Faith. She appeared in all 59 episodes before the show which ran on ABC network from 2003-2006 was canceled.

The next year 2007 found Ford at work again in The Carpoolers an ABC network show which debuted on October 2, 2007 and the last episode aired on March 4, 2008.

She hasn’t appeared as a regular in a television series since 2008 but has two movies currently in post-production with her portraying detective Alison Jenkins in Escapee which will be released later this year. The film was written by her husband Campion Murphy who also is directing the film.

Her other movie The Prom will be released in theaters on April 11 so she seems to be concentrating more on becoming a film actor currently.

She made her first television appearance 28 years ago at the age of  19 and is now 46 years old.

After reading about her success as an actress it is easy to see why she would be the most famous Pineville native.