tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20363065787528429022024-03-14T03:59:49.335-04:00AC's Animated CornerThis is my off-topic blog area. I discuss mostly cartoons and TV programs and some politics, too.ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.comBlogger212125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-59220416312191476302024-01-21T23:31:00.001-05:002024-01-21T23:31:52.665-05:00Benny Hill: A Centenarian Celebration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj66LYI52jf5lUi-OdLBjNgGhyd84tYgNqT4ezMi4ESTU1UCl9m_6fJmZ2rxUyw_erSEsR5RtbyVNyaRUVyCT8sMdtcFFfl6pSGYLhhOB_GmraTCqzlhWahajnKWBtroKAYEKaKy0J8NqTZlpv6BIpck9VL2H7gc6-vndqRZ_cQr_Y6D_dpcP-YK1F1BzHr/s275/BennyHill%201975.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="188" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj66LYI52jf5lUi-OdLBjNgGhyd84tYgNqT4ezMi4ESTU1UCl9m_6fJmZ2rxUyw_erSEsR5RtbyVNyaRUVyCT8sMdtcFFfl6pSGYLhhOB_GmraTCqzlhWahajnKWBtroKAYEKaKy0J8NqTZlpv6BIpck9VL2H7gc6-vndqRZ_cQr_Y6D_dpcP-YK1F1BzHr/w158-h231/BennyHill%201975.JPG" width="158" /></a></div>January 21, 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of Benny Hill's birth. Now, of course, when you do the math that means he was born January 21, 1924. His name at birth was Alfred Hill but he changed it when he got into show business and began going by the name of Benny Hill. It's long been reported that he chose that first name because it was associated with one of his comedy idols, Jack Benny. I've written numerous blog entries over the years about Benny Hill and my appreciation of his comedy and the television programs for which he starred in. This blog entry is a bit different because it happens to deal with the remembrance of his birth 100 years ago. Benny's half hour edited programs which first saw airing in the United States in 1979 have been running on Antenna TV for over a year now. The current schedule has them airing from 12:30am until 2am early Sunday morning. The programs had aired on Antenna TV in the past. When the episodes began airing on Antenna TV, originally, it marked the first time that those episodes had aired on American television since the early 1990s. The half hour, edited Benny Hill episodes had become a phenomenon in the United States through local syndication. The programs were syndicated by Don Taffner and by the early 1980s those fast paced half hour episodes were airing all over the country. The most common time of the day in which local television stations were airing the programs were in the late night time slots but mostly they aired at various times in the over-night time slots. As cable TV was starting to become more and more commonplace with 24/7 time slot offerings there needed to be something to place in those over-night time slots. Some local stations chose to air movies...other stations aired long form commercials or reruns of sitcoms...and a large number of the stations that didn't choose either of those options opted to air, instead, Benny Hill. <div><br /></div><div>Benny Hill had been entertaining British audiences on television since the mid 1950s. He was with the BBC for over a decade prior to moving on to Thames Television in 1969. The relationship with Thames TV lasted almost 20 years... from November 1969 until April 1989. I come across an article about Benny's 100th and it's so good that I decided to share a link to it in this blog entry. You can read the remembrance/celebration when you click <a href="https://www.comedy.co.uk/features/comedy-rewind/the-benny-hill-show/?fbclid=IwAR11tbDn1epzmkUIOejfI7nlvZcltt4K1K9JPHsrnNbftosm3a7RrJw0wgs" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's a very good overview of his career.. and something that should never be forgotten is that Benny's fans have never, ever, stopped loving his style of comedy and entertainment even during the time in the mid 1980s when the British media didn't hide their feelings about his TV specials. The "suits", in other words the executives, turned their backs on Benny Hill in 1989 but the fans never did. The attacks by the British media and those within the alternative comedy scene, with most of their criticisms laced with innuendo and ignorance, played itself out in the newspapers and magazines of the day. Ironically the most well known and massively popular comic export from Europe, Benny Hill, had become toxic in his home country...yet the international market, especially the United States, continued airing the half hour programs even while the British media was on the attack. </div><div><br /></div><div>Benny Hill passed away in April of 1992. He had previously starred in a TV special titled <b><i>Benny Hill's World Tour: New York!</i></b>. The special aired on the USA Network in 1991 but it had been recorded in 1990 at his usual studio in London. The exterior shots and some other footage of Benny in New York City were taped on location here in the United States but the sketches and songs were all recorded in London. The 'World Tour' series of TV specials was meant to be a comeback for him where Benny would focus on the culture and entertainment of select cities across the globe and satirize, celebrate, or spoof the culture of those cities but unfortunately only the first special was ever recorded and aired. Among the mail found at his house on the day his body was discovered was a contract for a series of comedy specials for Central Independent Television. This contract, it's been speculated, would certainly have been for the remaining 'World Tour' series of comedy specials that never materialized due to his death. </div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLI9aHaDPMNiaih3xG2hpd2sv9q3nH5skis4gAw00kn9UuYdIshJPN6yjyfh2aYdcwdhDvHR08_9qH1fMH66-w3_4IqVjhsyPGGpbijS9YvMmxCcsQsnui2yQOYZQ7ZMOCiNXFTU3zcZn3s1g4C7DZDnAAFTSv1T9UFZp5pPsIadJEVQD8OlzIxy7CGEq/s267/BennyHill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="231" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLI9aHaDPMNiaih3xG2hpd2sv9q3nH5skis4gAw00kn9UuYdIshJPN6yjyfh2aYdcwdhDvHR08_9qH1fMH66-w3_4IqVjhsyPGGpbijS9YvMmxCcsQsnui2yQOYZQ7ZMOCiNXFTU3zcZn3s1g4C7DZDnAAFTSv1T9UFZp5pPsIadJEVQD8OlzIxy7CGEq/s1600/BennyHill.JPG" width="231" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Benny Hill: 1924 - 1992</td></tr></tbody></table></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-8342222450061552862023-10-31T02:59:00.001-04:002023-10-31T02:59:33.452-04:00Vincent Price Remembrance...30 Years<div style="text-align: left;">We are 6 days removed from the sad anniversary of the October 25th death of Vincent Price. I decided to write this blog entry on Halloween Day, on purpose, because for several generations of people Vincent was synonymous with Halloween. While it's true that horror movies became increasingly gory and eye shocking as the 1980's dawned...and Vincent appeared in several of those kind of horror movies in the 1980's...the legacy of his film career is tied to the wide appeal of the style of horror film he was often cast in. The films almost always were set in historical time periods...the 15th century, 16th century, 17th century, etc. He appeared in films set in contemporary times as well but if you were to ask fans of Vincent Price to randomly select their top 10 favorite movies chances are 90 percent of those films will have been set in past centuries rather than in contemporary times. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Vincent Price passed away on October 25, 1993...and as I've always made mention of and as countless others have made mention, his passing away during the Halloween season sounded like something straight out of a satiric horror movie script. The ironic fact of when it took place made his death even more surreal. Local television stations were still airing his Halloween/horror movie themed television commercials for Tilex mildew remover. He had been making those commercials for a number of years but since they weren't dated and it was for a product still available in stores the commercials continued airing even after the production of new commercials had ended. His horror movies were airing on late night television. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I have my share of Vincent Price movies...almost all of them are on VHS tape. A few are on DVD. His movies are widely available online and so I've moved to video hosting sites if ever I'm wanting to see one of his movies. So many of his best known movies were based on poems and short stories from the pen of Edgar Allan Poe...and a series of those movies were directed by Roger Corman...although Vincent would continue starring in Poe-related films for other directors into the early 1970s. The official "Poe cycle" under the direction of Roger Corman included nearly every fan's favorite Vincent Price movies:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. The Fall of the House of Usher</div><div style="text-align: left;">2. The Pit and the Pendulum</div><div style="text-align: left;">3. The Raven</div><div style="text-align: left;">4. The Masque of the Red Death</div><div style="text-align: left;">5. The Tomb of Ligeia</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now, in addition to those, there were other highly entertaining Vincent Price fan favorites: Shock, House of Wax, Dragonwyck, The Story of Mankind, House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler, Return of the Fly, Tales of Terror, Twice Told Tales, The Haunted Palace, The Comedy of Terrors, Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General, Cry of the Banshee, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Theatre of Blood, and Madhouse. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Vincent holds a rare distinction of appearing in two films utilizing the same title but taking on different roles in each. Vincent co-starred in the film, Tower of London, in 1939 and played the role of the Duke of Clarence. The stars of the film were Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff...then, more than 20 years later, Roger Corman directed Vincent in a quasi-remake in 1962. In 1939 Basil Rathbone played the role of Richard III...but Vincent took the role in the 1962 release. Vincent had one of the longest careers in the entertainment industry...from his earliest supporting roles in the late 1930s to his starring roles beginning in the mid to late 1940s. He became a drive-in movie attraction, specifically in the 1960s, and throughout it all maintained a genuine appreciation for practically everything he was involved in. He had clashes with only a few co-stars and a director or two in his multi-decade career. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcj1VtLgkFzqes3kZ52dqMyVMcE46uJQQ1Oaz9a3kjtmYalu4jQYocIw2iExBF-t1-ua0AAZoPUjrYvkGEiVbKcJzToRq_QlqNa9TOUh7enM1psNyyss3ozhuax9qxTv0-wG5YCT1DFGVSaQBbbFDKY_9bJR3nNb5srs-pdllzQTZQuX-sCl69ckgasylQ/s201/VincentPrice1952.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="201" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcj1VtLgkFzqes3kZ52dqMyVMcE46uJQQ1Oaz9a3kjtmYalu4jQYocIw2iExBF-t1-ua0AAZoPUjrYvkGEiVbKcJzToRq_QlqNa9TOUh7enM1psNyyss3ozhuax9qxTv0-wG5YCT1DFGVSaQBbbFDKY_9bJR3nNb5srs-pdllzQTZQuX-sCl69ckgasylQ/w178-h157/VincentPrice1952.JPG" width="178" /></a></div>Vincent Price was a one-of-a-kind performer/entertainer. He was not confined to just one style although horror films are what his lasting legacy continues to be. He had very prolific careers on the theatrical stage, on radio, and on television. In fact, Vincent has two stars on the <i>Hollywood Walk of Fame</i> for his Film and Television careers. In addition to his acting in the theater, on radio, in movies, and on television he also had a long time passion for the arts and did lectures on art as well as on gourmet cooking. There were several cookbooks published and he had a long time association with the East Los Angeles College where paintings that he purchased and donated to the college were put on display beginning in the early 1950s. This eventually morphed into the much larger Vincent Price Gallery and decades later it became the Vincent Price Art Museum which is operational to this day at the East Los Angeles College. In my opinion Vincent Price should also have a Star for his radio work...not only for his guest starring work in numerous dramatic anthology programs and sitcoms but also for his starring role as Simon Templar in "<i>The Saint</i>". Vincent portrayed the character the longest on radio...starring as Simon Templar, on and off, from 1947 until 1951. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiu5z19OUkh5qbGuQ172U2yscMGWD2ypHxYHqOKmr8IdRIVCiEpqzlIpo53ww_9EpeBW9mGI7GP6KWjg-5rTV-hlDsD8yGbqvj1m1UuInb8ZaljJWkQPx1lfsroNzav48u1YqInDgGQX9j34XVIYNGs3vGAPz55fDAjRZdaFdM-3lE3CCbAzgr1Ja_Gbae/s484/VincentPriceWalkOf-FameCollage.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="243" data-original-width="484" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiu5z19OUkh5qbGuQ172U2yscMGWD2ypHxYHqOKmr8IdRIVCiEpqzlIpo53ww_9EpeBW9mGI7GP6KWjg-5rTV-hlDsD8yGbqvj1m1UuInb8ZaljJWkQPx1lfsroNzav48u1YqInDgGQX9j34XVIYNGs3vGAPz55fDAjRZdaFdM-3lE3CCbAzgr1Ja_Gbae/w406-h204/VincentPriceWalkOf-FameCollage.JPG" width="406" /></a></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-78499580905213904722023-09-03T01:30:00.001-04:002023-09-03T01:30:50.909-04:00Jimmy Buffett: 1946 - 2023<div style="text-align: left;">Now, I'll say at the start of this blog entry, I happened to be familiar with the songs of Jimmy Buffett that he and his fans dubbed 'The Big Eight'. I wasn't a dedicated fan but I was well aware of him and his music and I liked his songs. Most of the things you're going to be reading will be information I came across online throughout the process of my research for this blog entry but the wording/text is all mine. A pet peeve of mine is reading a blog and it's nothing but a copy/paste job.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In my region of the country Jimmy was treated almost like royalty. Throughout the years, as long as I can remember, he played Cincinnati, Ohio annually at the River Bend concert venue. On local news there were always heavy media reporting and interviews with fans before and after his concerts. I do not know if this kind of attention was commonplace in other areas of the country but it's something I remember happening here every year in the summer. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">If you're not familiar with his music it's long been described as escapist Island music.. tropical rock.. or gulf and western. He made a living writing and performing songs that often had the listener wishing they were there and one of the under reported aspects of his career is how he was able to achieve considerable longevity as a touring act rather than your conventional "one album a year performer". Oh, sure, he put out his share of albums but it's his concerts, in my opinion and in the opinion of others online, that will be his lasting legacy. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It's in his concerts where he turned his recorded songs into epics and where he emotionally connected with the audience. Precious few in the music industry actually emotionally connect with an audience and he did so on such a level that it comes as no surprise, to me, the level of outpouring of feelings of sadness and sorrow that filled up social media sites all day long yesterday when the news broke. In fact, fan and music industry memorials and memories of him continue to come in from all over the world. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Earlier I mentioned 'The Big Eight'. What were those songs? It was dubbed this because they were the most requested and most loved songs in Jimmy's career and his fans expected/wanted to hear them in every concert. In no particular order here are those songs:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. Margaritaville</div><div style="text-align: left;">2. Fins</div><div style="text-align: left;">3. Cheeseburger in Paradise</div><div style="text-align: left;">4. Come Monday</div><div style="text-align: left;">5. Why Don't We Get Drunk</div><div style="text-align: left;">6. A Pirate Looks at Forty</div><div style="text-align: left;">7. Volcano</div><div style="text-align: left;">8. Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">On albums and in concert he could be very unpredictable and he also had a flair for comedy and could come off like a practical joker. That was simply his personality coming through in a concert setting. His party persona and Island escapism was financially rewarding and beloved by those who actually lived on the Islands or wish they could escape to some tropical Island somewhere. In the image below, the album cover of his 1988 release, Hot Water, we see him acting out the album's title. The water being hot it's caused the shark to jump out. The hand signal above his head represents a fin...and if you're familiar with his concert performances of the song, "<i>Fins</i>", he did that gesture several times throughout the song. To clarify, though, "<i>Fins</i>" isn't on that 1988 album. That song came out in 1979.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pz4nsJyVlx7NOHggCGRXmKE_QuLZ1WjvPYDfEepQaTW6MF2Z9rSX9f2ageWTAPFmWRRlbd8uUCt4MqaFvjr68KuPThBCk7cWcbPAI2e4u-vSFRvLyu7Uby6c-abmTRruJIGrSahaoH3SwlEXZpeSmxJ4m0sma6tnDUABVXfI4_kUuOCAij9pJLUz6TzR/s407/Buffett%20HotWater%201988.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="407" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pz4nsJyVlx7NOHggCGRXmKE_QuLZ1WjvPYDfEepQaTW6MF2Z9rSX9f2ageWTAPFmWRRlbd8uUCt4MqaFvjr68KuPThBCk7cWcbPAI2e4u-vSFRvLyu7Uby6c-abmTRruJIGrSahaoH3SwlEXZpeSmxJ4m0sma6tnDUABVXfI4_kUuOCAij9pJLUz6TzR/w225-h220/Buffett%20HotWater%201988.JPG" width="225" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Historians report he sold millions of albums based almost entirely on the strength of his personal appearances and concert tours rather than through the traditional method of radio airplay and in the modern era the practice of well placed ads on social media websites. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Something I read online yesterday is one of his albums, titled <b>License to Chill</b>, hit number one on the Country Album chart in 2004...becoming the first chart topping album of his career...followed by another Country Album number one in 2006 titled <b>Take the Weather With You</b>. He would hit number one on the Country Album chart a third time in 2020 with an album titled <b>Life on the Flip Side</b>. The <b>License to Chill</b> album also hit number on the Pop Album chart...marking the only number one album of his career (to date) on the pop chart. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">His flair for humor was not only visible in some of his songs and concert patter but quite a few of his albums had pun titles. A couple of examples being an album he issued in 1973 titled <b>A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean</b>. The album title was a pun/parody of the Marty Robbins song "<i>A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation</i>". Later on, in 1985, he released an album called <b>Last Mango in Paris</b>, the title derived from the movie <i>Last Tango in Paris</i>. It reached the Top-10 on the Country Album chart. <b>Havana Daydreamin'</b>, released in 1976, was a pun on the phrase 'having a daydream'. The previously mentioned <b>License to Chill</b> was a pun on the phrase 'license to kill' which was also the name of a James Bond movie years before the album was released. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6UVXlj4IYVs47ND931Ow2osRrpJdnvelk-aBkkBRjeAkTx75irGFos6uUlp3PxZIundkGZX30sHbMQ8tiTz-GznzNW51a6LXV2fWlha0F7T0XpLxyrFmnoI12bEA1OGGsCt8sgTIDSszQam-NJrI1R2bzo8DcTa7HbaEzo_c2a2UmXWK6ZLMU-TzYA_e/s220/Buffett%20Mango%20In%20Paris.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="218" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6UVXlj4IYVs47ND931Ow2osRrpJdnvelk-aBkkBRjeAkTx75irGFos6uUlp3PxZIundkGZX30sHbMQ8tiTz-GznzNW51a6LXV2fWlha0F7T0XpLxyrFmnoI12bEA1OGGsCt8sgTIDSszQam-NJrI1R2bzo8DcTa7HbaEzo_c2a2UmXWK6ZLMU-TzYA_e/w241-h243/Buffett%20Mango%20In%20Paris.JPG" width="241" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">One of the most revealing aspects of his albums is that quite a few of them performed much better with country music audiences in spite of the fact that people who worked in country radio didn't necessarily embrace him as a 'country' artist. Albums he released in the 1970's charted higher country than pop. In the 1980's 6 of his albums reached Top-40 status and 4 of the 6 were Top-40 with country audiences. Ironically, the role was reversed with his single releases. His single releases charted the most frequently on the pop chart (Hot 100) but he did have a handful of country music entries, too.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now, everybody and their parrot has shared audio of 'The Big Eight' throughout Saturday and into the early morning hours of Sunday and rightfully so, those were indeed his biggest and best-known recordings outside his fan base, but instead of being another in a million miles long list of bloggers that'll share those particular audio tracks I instead have picked out this bouncy, comical song called "<i>Pencil Thin Mustache</i>". How many songs do you know that reference Errol Flynn, Desi Arnaz/Ricky Ricardo, and Andy Devine of all people!? It's from the 1974 album <b>Living and Dying in 3/4 Time</b>. On the photo that accompanied some of the single releases you can't help but notice his thick mustache as you hear him singing of wishing he had a "<i>Pencil Thin Mustache</i>". </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="309" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H8W82ZdPfdo" width="372" youtube-src-id="H8W82ZdPfdo"></iframe></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-49914675073326068132023-09-02T23:00:00.000-04:002023-09-02T23:00:18.856-04:00Bob Barker: 1923 - 2023<div style="text-align: left;">You'd had to have been living under a rock to not have heard of the recent death of Bob Barker at age 99 on August 26th. Born on December 12, 1923 he was several months shy of reaching the 100 milestone.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOJUnL19RmG0EdtRCuCWP9nQMqPCbpqT67CeBgOPaPd9nqmEDMj2_BcGGX6I9ESfTwKFlhkcc96rIAiqkfDYfdUv6ZcnN9FXgaoyxErNJwi3BPFxVUZW_l3irwKQUfmZKqOrFxPRYZ3cLwHvAw8Nlvy25GdjrnwFsS4WHrEjUd6D4kwoXf5V3hxz8Uvrq_/s322/BobBarkerPublicityPhoto.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="228" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOJUnL19RmG0EdtRCuCWP9nQMqPCbpqT67CeBgOPaPd9nqmEDMj2_BcGGX6I9ESfTwKFlhkcc96rIAiqkfDYfdUv6ZcnN9FXgaoyxErNJwi3BPFxVUZW_l3irwKQUfmZKqOrFxPRYZ3cLwHvAw8Nlvy25GdjrnwFsS4WHrEjUd6D4kwoXf5V3hxz8Uvrq_/w181-h256/BobBarkerPublicityPhoto.JPG" width="181" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1923 - 2023</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: left;">When I was a kid, literally, when I was in Kindergarten is when I say that was the first time I'd heard of Bob Barker. When I was in Kindergarten we had what they called AM and PM Kindergarten. I went to PM which began around 12:30pm. It was the early 1980s and I walked to school myself. Anyway, why I'm saying all of that, is I watched "<b><i>Price is Right</i></b>" every week day at 11am before having to leave for school. I'd watch often during summer break from school and for the rest of my school life, of course, the only time I'd get to see the game show or ANY weekday daytime programming happened to be during summer break from school. As a kid I developed a fondness for some of the pricing games that were played. I'm sure like most other people that loved the show we couldn't wait to see if one of those games would be on an episode. My favorites were Plinko, Cliff Hangers, Hole in One, Any Number, Safe Crackers...and the game where you punch your fist into a plastic covering to reveal a piece of paper with a dollar amount. I was always forgetting it's title.. Punch a Bunch? Then there was One Away where the contestant would have to say "Do I have at least one number right?" and you'd hear a car horn or not. There were so many games that were favorites but the one everybody loves is Plinko. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Bob Barker became the host of "<b><i>Price is Right</i></b>" while being the host of "<b><i>Truth or Consequences</i></b>". He had been the host of the latter game show since December 31, 1957. Bob became the host of "<b><i>The Price is Right</i></b>" on September 4, 1972. It was a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production. It was a revamped version of the original hosted by Bill Cullen (1956-1965). The revamp originally aired half an hour but it was expanded to it's familiar hour long format several years later due to the unprecedented ratings it was receiving. When it expanded to an hour in 1975 it introduced the concept of the Showcase Showdown. This segment featured the use of a large spinning wheel with money amounts up to $1.00 and whichever contestant got closest to a $1.00 without going over would appear in the showcase near the end of the show. There were two showdown segments per show to determine who appeared in the final segment. The game made catchphrases out the simplest sayings. Bob, after hearing all the bids in contestants row for an item, would pull out a card from his envelope and say one of the catchphrases: "Actual retail price...". Whichever bid was closest to the actual retail price without going over won the item and then got to come up on stage and play a pricing game. "Without going over" was another catchphrase of the show. Another phrase happened to be Bob's sign-off "help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered". Now, although those were iconic catchphrases attached to the show, the one that tops them is "Come on Down!!!". That phrase is heard by the announcer after calling a contestant's name from the audience. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Bob's run on "<b><i>Truth or Consequences</i></b>" was 19 years (1957-1975). That series was created and previously hosted by Ralph Edwards. When "<b><i>Price is Right</i></b>" returned in 1972, as you could guess, millions of people were so used to seeing him on the other show that it took some viewers a little getting used to seeing Bob hosting pricing games instead of presiding over wild stunts. As a child of the '80s I was familiar, of course, with "<b><i>Price is Right</i></b>". Once I saw episodes of the other game show I was tickled to see him in a different setting even though it was the same guy. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Bob was also familiar to viewers of beauty pageants and bake-off's...hosting nationally aired beauty contests (Miss USA), parades, and bake-off's for about as long as he hosted game shows. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In addition to everything else he also became known all over the world for his animal rights advocacy and in a more light-hearted recognition was his cameo appearance in Adam Sandler's movie, <i>Happy Gilmore</i>, and the hysterical scene on the golf course. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Bob and "<b><i>Price is Right</i></b>" became an institution. He hosted the show for 35 years (1972-2007) and it completely overshadowed and towered over the 19 years he hosted "<b><i>Truth or Consequences</i></b>" (1957-1975) but it didn't matter which game show you enjoyed the most or the least... it was Bob Barker presiding over it all... and that's who we're remembering. </div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-22376158610430441842023-01-16T02:40:00.000-05:002023-01-16T02:40:42.221-05:00Remembering Jerry Clower once again...<div style="text-align: left;">Nearly 10 years ago (February 2013) I wrote a blog entry about the late entertainer, Jerry Clower. You can read that blog entry when you click this <a href="https://accountryfan-acsanimatedcorner.blogspot.com/2013/02/jerry-clower-1926-1998.html" target="_blank">LINK</a>. In that blog entry I provided some detail about his life and career in addition to remarking that I have a copy of all of his albums in one format or another (vinyl, cassette, CD). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Earlier today I purchased three books that he wrote...yes, you read that correctly...he was an author/co-author of several entertaining books. The books featured his commentary and recollection of his past, partial copies of some of the humorous expressions/catchphrases from his comedy stories, and how life in America dramatically changed...some for the good but some aspects of progress changed the country in a negative way. His religious convictions were interwoven into his comedy stories and can be found in each of his books...particularly the first one. The books with Jerry Clower's name as author/co-author are:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. Ain't God Good? (1975)</div><div style="text-align: left;">2. Let The Hammer Down! (1978)</div><div style="text-align: left;">3. Life EverLaughter (1987)</div><div style="text-align: left;">4. Stories from Home (1993) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The first book was a massive success and sold so strong that it had at least 3 reprintings...and it inspired a documentary. Jerry Clower recorded all of his comedy albums for MCA Records...except for one...a 1977 release on Word Records (a religious imprint) titled <b>Ain't God Good?</b>. The album was a follow-up to the 1976 documentary and the 1975 book. In addition to comedy records Jerry was also a consistent presence on syndicated radio and television programs...and local/regional television commercials. As an entertainer he toured all over the South and Midwest heavily. In a separate career he was indeed a major radio and television personality. On radio he was a co-host on the <b><i>Country Crossroads</i></b> program...a syndicated radio series with a religious overtone created by Bill Mack. In fact, Bill Mack hosted the series solo in it's early years. Jerry Clower and Leroy Van Dyke came on board as co-hosts and interviewers. Jerry's debut on the series happened in 1973...and he stayed with the program for several decades. In addition to the local/regional TV and radio commercials he also found time to co-host the syndicated country music television show, <b><i>Nashville on the Road</i></b>. He co-hosted this travel show with Jim Ed Brown for 6 seasons, 1975-1981. Jerry Clower was a member of the <b>Grand Ole Opry</b> from 1973 until the year he passed away in 1998. He recorded a 1978 album on the stage of the Opry. The publishers/editors and readers of various country music magazines awarded him Country Comic of the Year throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaJmm8UKISPo9KnfZV8ZaxcLNp3pUrVzhV3LE3AG4nwhFMoGqTkCosyHx8HTLuT9-7yDSXpA93N6yzcD1GrHJLoschS95je6TGEAuVEqW5I1xNQ8qARGy4pxmcjxgDUP1RwsI1paRMLv2bDob3u7Mfqv4WV_Ggm8PrDGiNXpoqIW5SN1PEk8BE7QDOyw/s288/JerryClower-PeachesAndPossums.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="283" data-original-width="288" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaJmm8UKISPo9KnfZV8ZaxcLNp3pUrVzhV3LE3AG4nwhFMoGqTkCosyHx8HTLuT9-7yDSXpA93N6yzcD1GrHJLoschS95je6TGEAuVEqW5I1xNQ8qARGy4pxmcjxgDUP1RwsI1paRMLv2bDob3u7Mfqv4WV_Ggm8PrDGiNXpoqIW5SN1PEk8BE7QDOyw/w331-h325/JerryClower-PeachesAndPossums.JPG" width="331" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">He always remarked that he backed into show business...that he would have been perfectly content making a living working for the Mississippi Chemical Corporation...had it not been for some of his sales pitches for the chemical been recorded and sent to radio stations and record companies. He inserted comical stories into his sales pitches and recordings of those stories began surfacing...and eventually one thing led to another. Ralph Emery played Jerry's comical story of racoon hunting and, as Jerry Clower often recalled, that one airplay turned this chemical/fertilizer salesman into a stand-up country comic seemingly overnight. Born in 1926 as Howard Gerald Clower, the nickname Jerry was derived from his middle name, he was 44 going on 45 when Decca Records came calling on his services...or "how I backed into show business" as he would say. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Lemon Records issued a comedy album on Jerry in 1971...and this was picked up by the much larger Decca company (eventually retitled MCA). From 1971 until 1978 Jerry released one comedy album per year. Following a 1979 <b>Greatest Hits</b> release he launched another string of releases in which one comedy album per year was released from 1980 until 1995. I was never able to find out why but he didn't release a comedy album in 1996 but what turned out to be his final comedy album shown up in 1998...released after he passed away. It was an album recorded, mostly, in Clanton, Alabama. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here's the Jerry Clower album discography. I don't include any of the greatest hits compilations to surface after 1998. Charlie Douglas introduces Jerry on the 1975 album. Charlie, at the time, was a fixture of WWL radio before moving to WSM radio. Ralph Emery does the introduction on the 1986 album...recorded in McEwen, Tennessee on 'Ralph Emery Day'. I include the 1979 release because it's a Gold selling album as are his first two albums. His 1988 album is a live album from Ocilla, Georgia where the selections are newly recorded performances of some of his previously told stories. The 1994 album commemorates Jerry's military service and features a photo of him from 1944 in his Navy uniform. He served in the Navy during WWII (1944 to 1946) and received multiple service medals including an Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In 2010, more than a decade after he passed away, he was included in a list of dozens of other Mississippi-born performers to receive a historical marker. His marker was unveiled in 2011 in Liberty, Mississippi (his birthplace). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Howard Gerald "Jerry" Clower</div><div style="text-align: left;">September 28, 1926 - August 24, 1998 </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1971: From Yazoo City, Mississippi Talkin'**</div><div style="text-align: left;">1972: Mouth of Mississippi**</div><div style="text-align: left;">1973: Clower Power</div><div style="text-align: left;">1974: Country Ham</div><div style="text-align: left;">1975: Live In Picayune</div><div style="text-align: left;">1976: The Ambassador of Goodwill</div><div style="text-align: left;">1977: On the Road</div><div style="text-align: left;">1977: Ain't God Good? (Word Records; religious testimony)</div><div style="text-align: left;">1978: Live from the Stage of the Grand Ole Opry</div><div style="text-align: left;">1979: Greatest Hits**</div><div style="text-align: left;">1980: Ledbetter Olympics</div><div style="text-align: left;">1981: More Good 'Uns</div><div style="text-align: left;">1982: Dogs I Have Known</div><div style="text-align: left;">1983: Live at Cleburne, Texas</div><div style="text-align: left;">1984: Starke Raving!</div><div style="text-align: left;">1985: An Officer and a Ledbetter</div><div style="text-align: left;">1986: Runaway Truck</div><div style="text-align: left;">1987: Top Gum</div><div style="text-align: left;">1988: Classic Clower (a live album in which Jerry re-tells some of his classic stories)</div><div style="text-align: left;">1989: Let There Be Light!</div><div style="text-align: left;">1990: The Mouth of the Mighty Mississip' (this was his 20th album on MCA)</div><div style="text-align: left;">1991: Racoonteur</div><div style="text-align: left;">1992: Sidewinder</div><div style="text-align: left;">1993: Stories Told Funny</div><div style="text-align: left;">1994: Jerry Joins the Navy</div><div style="text-align: left;">1995: Fish 'n Frogs, Hawgs 'n Dawgs</div><div style="text-align: left;">1997: Live at Dollywood</div><div style="text-align: left;">1998: Peaches and Possums (this was his the last album he recorded) </div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-62624376857523076262022-10-04T15:27:00.001-04:002022-10-04T15:27:37.540-04:00Loretta Lynn: 1932-2022<div style="text-align: left;">I just woke up about 20 minutes ago (I work nights) and I went to a news feed on my home page and seen the news that country music icon, Loretta Lynn, passed away earlier this morning at the age of 90. I first knew of Loretta, by face, before I knew her name. She used to do television commercials for Crisco. As a little kid I'd see those commercials...sometimes there would be a guy in them that I later found out was her husband...but at the time I didn't pay much attention to screen detail so if her name appeared on the screen identifying her I didn't notice. I only noticed her and the overall commercial for Crisco and how she reminded me of some of my relatives with her mannerisms and the way she spoke. She'd end the commercials with a catchphrase, too. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As I got older I began to learn more and more about country music...Loretta, in addition to the Crisco commercials, would pop up on <b><i>Hee Haw</i></b> frequently. There are, and will be, numerous new websites and blogs that will show up on the internet beginning today that will detail Loretta's life and career. In an effort to not look like a carbon copy of all of those memorial sites, I'm inserting my own thoughts/opinions, in addition to looking back at her career, as a way to come off different. The thing to know about Loretta, if you're familiar with her career at all, is how she kept the roots of her origins alive within the songs she either wrote or recorded. Her earlier successes in the 1960s, prior to her major breakthrough, are all tied into an association with The Wilburn Brothers. She was part of their touring ensemble (1960-1968) and a cast-member of their long running syndicated television series, 1963-1971. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Loretta made a name for herself by the mid 1960s...she'd been releasing singles since 1960. "<i>I'm a Honky Tonk Girl</i>" reached the Top-20 in 1960. She signed to Decca in 1961...teaming up with record producer Owen Bradley for the first time. This artist-producer relationship would last nearly 20 years. Loretta's first Top-10 hit soon followed...a single called "<i>Success</i>". The song had been recorded by Loretta in the fall of 1961 but wasn't released as a single until the spring of 1962. Loretta had a couple more Top-10 hits ("<i>Before I'm Over You</i>" and "<i>Wine, Women, and Song</i>") before teaming up with Ernest Tubb for the first time in 1964. Their first duet recording, "<i>Mr. and Mrs. Used to Be</i>", was a major hit which spawned a duet album in 1965. In addition to the The Wilburn Brothers it was Ernest Tubb that also played a major, major role in Loretta's eventual launch into super-stardom. "<i>Blue Kentucky Girl</i>" hit right around the time of her duet with Ernest Tubb, "<i>Our Hears Are Holding Hands</i>". That song was written by Bill Anderson. "<i>Blue Kentucky Girl</i>" became Loretta's first signature song after it became a hit in the summer of 1965. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Loretta was on her way to becoming a country music super-star everything was set in motion, in hindsight, in early 1966. She released a topical single in January called "<i>Dear Uncle Sam</i>". She wrote the song and it's about a woman's thoughts when it come to watching her husband have to go off to war. It reached the Top-10 but it was her next single, "<i>You Ain't Woman Enough</i>", that introduced an assertive side to Loretta's songs. This song is about a woman (Loretta) confronting the other woman in her husband's life. The song spawned a self-titled album which reached number one on the Country Album chart. It was Loretta's first number one album on Billboard's Country Albums chart. In November 1966 came the song, "<i>Don't Come Home a Drinkin'</i>". This song, and it's immediate predecessor, began to establish Loretta as a sort of feminist icon of the era. Women singers of all music formats had never had much success with the types of songs Loretta was writing and that Owen Bradley was finding for her. Loretta's solo recordings from this point onward became massive hits...and she continued a duet partnership with Ernest Tubb for the remainder of the decade. Some of her iconic country music hits in the late '60s included "<i>Fist City</i>", "<i>Your Squaw is on the Warpath</i>", "<i>You've Just Stepped in From Stepping Out on Me</i>", and in this era of feminist anthems Loretta issued "<i>Woman of the World Leave My World Alone</i>" which hit number one. A few months later she and Ernest Tubb issued a comical duet, "<i>Who's Gonna Take the Garbage Out</i>", and it's reached the Top-20.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the 1970's Loretta Lynn was the super-star of country music female artists...with two close rivals during most of that decade being Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton. In 1970, her third single release, happened to be an autobiographical song called "<i>Coal Miner's Daughter</i>". This recording became her new signature song and her lifetime anthem. It also became her professional nickname...introduced as "The Coal Miner's Daughter, Loretta Lynn!!" in a lot of her TV appearances. The song would inspire an Oscar winning movie. In 1971 she teamed up with Conway Twitty and the two of them became a powerful duet for the next 10 years. The duo was often referred to as 'Conway and Loretta' and they enjoyed dozens of hits together as well as several duet awards from the CMA, ACM, and the Music City News organization. As a duo she and Conway had 12 Top-10 hits during a 10 year period (1971-1981) ...6 of those singles reaching number one including "<i>After the Fire is Gone</i>", which won a Grammy; "<i>Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man</i>", and "<i>As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone</i>". Her solo recordings were also hitting the Top-10 with regularity. "<i>You're Lookin' At Country</i>", "<i>One's on the Way</i>", "<i>Love is the Foundation</i>" were massive hits...and she had a pair of controversial hits (at the time) called "<i>Rated X</i>" and "<i>The Pill</i>". In 1977 she had what turned out to be her final number one, "<i>Out of My Head and Back in My Bed</i>". She would continue reaching the Top-10 the rest of the decade. She had her final Top-10 hit with "<i>I Lie</i>" in 1982. The previous year she and Conway had their final Top-10 hits as a duo: "<i>I Still Believe in Waltzes</i>" and "<i>Lovin' What Your Lovin' Does to Me</i>". </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In 1979 Loretta began appearing in television commercials for Crisco...and this is where I first knew of her. As a child of the 1980s I'd see her grace the TV screen advertising Crisco, appearing on <b><i>Hee Haw</i></b>, and showing up on other country music programs. She did commercials for Crisco for practically the entire 1980s decade. Her touring never decreased. She became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1962 and she remained a member until today. Once an Opry member passes away they're no longer a member of the organization. She joined the Opry roster in September 1962...and so she was a member for a full 60 years. Loretta's career and her impact in country music and on the people she knew and the fans of country music was enormous. She was one of the last surviving members of country music royalty in my opinion. There aren't too many left. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2b8lDMWAznn5j7Gd-r1JfT6i3laM3-OeCJAqgLzzu8SCV5-gzYxmSFpXR_mBk1gi69ze2ojwXUa0hCcAyM1CSVsTHJSnQ6xs-UvldvaUlEO2TgKytWxD6sJlXS2DUNKGkJhR0PTluNZXzOKlXRxVX_X2gh-4Vvbqdt6xvfOkP-jqWZMjqSAXt82PRXA/s288/LorettaLynn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="288" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2b8lDMWAznn5j7Gd-r1JfT6i3laM3-OeCJAqgLzzu8SCV5-gzYxmSFpXR_mBk1gi69ze2ojwXUa0hCcAyM1CSVsTHJSnQ6xs-UvldvaUlEO2TgKytWxD6sJlXS2DUNKGkJhR0PTluNZXzOKlXRxVX_X2gh-4Vvbqdt6xvfOkP-jqWZMjqSAXt82PRXA/w358-h317/LorettaLynn.JPG" width="358" /></a></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-89089399275870026242022-08-08T04:00:00.000-04:002022-08-08T04:00:14.132-04:00Vin Scully: 1927-2022<div style="text-align: left;">It's been several days since the news broke on the death of legendary broadcaster Vin Scully at age 94. He was born <b><i>Vincent Edward Scully</i></b> on November 19, 1927 in the Bronx, New York. Now, unless you do not like the game of baseball or simply don't pay much attention to broadcasters, Vin Scully's voice was an iconic symbol of broadcasting...and he set a record for play-by-play baseball broadcasting with his 67 seasons with the Dodgers baseball team. The team was in Brooklyn, New York at the time of Vin's hiring in 1950. He moved West with the team when they settled in Los Angeles. He was a play-by-play broadcaster for the Dodgers from 1950 until his retirement in 2016, his 67th season. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu84ftE3fvK7T37moxNBoCVbg05RZTX1W8qJyM-5ONwyg-lvhbM2BNyAkOX73aj51JR4MYsDAVV8C_E7l-z2rrPcNx3IsA4wQzaX5D_-5VSADuzBX8-Z1zmFoubGhsc38Vbb9gtssZTUCM7yfuzqaknIEaEnD_h9rdvOtraFBgcQaaG3olMkVS_3utzQ/s344/VinScully.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="295" data-original-width="344" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu84ftE3fvK7T37moxNBoCVbg05RZTX1W8qJyM-5ONwyg-lvhbM2BNyAkOX73aj51JR4MYsDAVV8C_E7l-z2rrPcNx3IsA4wQzaX5D_-5VSADuzBX8-Z1zmFoubGhsc38Vbb9gtssZTUCM7yfuzqaknIEaEnD_h9rdvOtraFBgcQaaG3olMkVS_3utzQ/w187-h160/VinScully.JPG" width="187" /></a></div>This is one of the later photos of Vin Scully taken at the ballpark. He worked with several broadcasters over his many decades. One of the longest lasting pairings happened to be with Jerry Doggett for 32 seasons (1956-1987) but there was also Ross Porter (1977-2004), Don Drysdale (1987-1993), and Rick Monday (1993 until Vin's retirement). The pairings weren't formatted as a bantering duo like the type of commentary you hear on sports broadcasts today...Vin called the baseball innings solo, split with whoever happened to be his on-air partner, and the on-air partner called his innings solo, too...there wasn't any conversation going on between Vin and whichever broadcaster was sharing the play-by-play duties. In other words Vin, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter, or Rick Monday worked solo as broadcasters and didn't utilize a color commentator/analyst. I happen to live in the Midwest and so I wasn't born into a West Coast sports culture...and I didn't know of Vin Scully until I got older (around my middle teenage years). I grew up on the baseball broadcasting team of Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall with the Cincinnati Reds. I'd heard Marty talk about Vin Scully's talents a lot during Reds games and Marty often cited Vin Scully and Red Barber as major influences. Marty was play-by-play broadcaster for Cincinnati Reds games for 46 seasons (1974-2019). <div><br /></div><div>Vin's broadcasting career wasn't limited to Dodgers baseball, though. Even though he was part of the organization for 67 seasons he expanded his reach and stepped into national broadcasting in by the mid 1970s. Vin worked for <b>CBS Sports</b> from 1975 until 1982. In his assignments from CBS he was most often placed inside the broadcasting booth for NFL games...rather than Major League Baseball games. It's with CBS that Vin branched out into NFL play-by-play and he also had assignments covering <b>PGA Tour Golf</b>, the <b>Masters Golf Tournament</b>, and <b>Tennis</b> games. His Golf assignments had him broadcasting the <b>Skins Game</b> for NBC (1983-1989) and then for <b>ABC</b> (1991-1996) as well as the <b>Senior Skins Game</b> on ABC (1992-2000). Vin's on-air partner for PGA Tour golf at NBC (1983-1990) was Lee Trevino. Vin also did Golf broadcasts for TBS. </div><div><br /></div><div>Like Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg, Vin was now becoming nationally known as a multi-sportscaster...going beyond the local radio and television markets that covered Dodgers baseball. However, Vin's NFL play-by-play career was short lived by comparison to his baseball broadcasting. Vin called his final NFL game in January 1982...it was the NFC Championship Game. In his NFL broadcasting career at CBS he was paired with a wide array of broadcast partners during his 7 years with the network. Some of them happened to be: Hank Stram, Alex Hawkins, Jim Brown, Paul Hornung, and a relative newcomer to the NFL booth, John Madden. </div><div><br /></div><div>While Vin did a lot of NFL games for <b>CBS Television</b> he wasn't completely kept out of baseball broadcasting. He did All-Star Game broadcasts for <b>CBS Radio</b> every year from 1977 until 1982. His on-air partner, according to research, was Brent Musburger. Vin also called the World Series games for <b>CBS Radio</b>, along side Sparky Anderson, from 1979 until 1982. </div><div><br /></div><div>Vin moved to <b>NBC Sports</b> beginning in 1983 and was hired to do the play-by-play of the network's <b>Game of the Week</b>. This nationally televised baseball game aired every Saturday on NBC stations. He was with NBC Sports until 1989. In that 6 year time period (1983-1989) he not only called the <b>Game of the Week</b> broadcasts but he also was the lead play-by-play broadcaster for NBC's World Series coverage (1984, 1986, and 1988); The NLCS (1983, 1985, 1987, and 1989); and the All-Star Game (1983, 1985, 1987, and 1989). His on-air partner for the national NBC baseball games was Joe Garagiola. </div><div><br /></div><div>A remarkable broadcasting feat arrived in June 1989 where Vin pulled off an unheard of accomplishment...calling a combined 23 innings of baseball in two different cities...in one day's time. He called a 10 inning game in St. Louis for the NBC <b>Game of the Week</b>...and later that day flew into Houston and ended up relieving the Dodgers broadcasters who themselves were beginning an extra inning game just as he chose to visit the Astrodome instead of going to his hotel room. That Dodgers game against the Astros went 22 innings...and Vin broadcast the final 13 innings...which gave him the unusual accomplishment of calling 23 innings of a baseball game in two different cities on the same day. Joe Buck, decades later, did something similar when he broadcast an NFL game for FOX in the afternoon and then went across town to do the national baseball <b>Game of the Week</b> for FOX that evening...however, Vin's accomplishment has much more awesome flavor to it because he flew from St. Louis after calling a 10 inning baseball game and arrived in Houston and called the final 13 innings of a 22 inning game.</div><div><br /></div><div>Vin left the NBC baseball booth at the conclusion of the 1989 season and departed <b>NBC Sports</b> altogether in 1990. From 1990 until 1997, in addition to his Dodgers broadcasts, he'd returned to <b>CBS Sports</b> and called the World Series games for CBS radio until 1997. His broadcast partners were Johnny Bench (1990 through 1993) and Jeff Torborg (1995 through 1997). There wasn't a World Series in 1994 due to a player's strike. </div><div><br /></div><div>In 1982 Vin Scully was elected to the <b>National Baseball Hall of Fame</b> in Cooperstown, New York. He was inducted into the <b>National Radio Hall of Fame</b> in 1995. He won numerous broadcaster awards from local organizations all over California...including 33 awards as California Sportscaster of the Year. </div><div><br /></div><div>Vin Scully retired at the conclusion of the 2016 baseball season. His 67th season as the play-by-play broadcaster for the Dodgers. He kept an intentional low profile in retirement. He and fellow play-by-play broadcaster, Dick Enberg, both retired in 2016. The two iconic broadcasters had reached similar heights in their profession...each became noted as multi-sportscasters on a national level and each had long-held ties to Major League Baseball, particularly on the West Coast. Dick Enberg spent a decade as the voice of Major League Baseball's California Angels, the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, the UCLA Bruins...and then he become a national broadcaster known more for the NFL and College Basketball and College Football. After Dick Enberg retired from national broadcasting he remained the voice of the San Diego Padres baseball team (2010-2016). He and Vin Scully appeared together in October 2016. Dick Enberg had announced his retirement from broadcasting in 2016 followed soon after by Vin Scully's announcement of his own retirement. Dick Enberg would pass away on December 21, 2017...and Vin Scully passed away on August 2, 2022. </div><div><br /></div><div>In 2016, when Dick Enberg announced his upcoming retirement, Vin Scully taped this message...this shows you the kind of character and modest man Vin Scully happened to be...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="295" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tJAnrfnr0S0" width="355" youtube-src-id="tJAnrfnr0S0"></iframe></div><br /><div>Here is the footage of Vin Scully and Dick Enberg from October 2016 in the final weeks of their broadcasting careers. The two had made their retirement announcements public by this time.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="337" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y2qZQZgznCc" width="406" youtube-src-id="y2qZQZgznCc"></iframe></div><br />Here is Rick Monday's announcement, during a Dodgers game, breaking the news of Vin Scully passing away...and I felt this would be a fitting video embed to close this overview of Vin Scully's broadcasting career...</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="373" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R45l8BY--r8" width="450" youtube-src-id="R45l8BY--r8"></iframe></div></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-76101029141126577262022-05-07T20:18:00.001-04:002022-05-07T20:18:23.563-04:00Mickey Gilley: 1936 - 2022<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaIb7QQ9M-pYxdzhtvzS15gs-8mxMXyKkMAnIq7vJ1Xi_bzNiIp0NPbxsVcpGk4_RTaX8OdQ4YRvGoBbiRnjkvomj4JbyerQwfrfFuhADpfMk3wFJwHGavferDnWMKy30qJl9s23oZ71juydUKSYOTg4zawuQmfq8MvX6S0-H79MHhxQtBGUe3-wOxwQ/s307/MickeyGilley.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="266" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaIb7QQ9M-pYxdzhtvzS15gs-8mxMXyKkMAnIq7vJ1Xi_bzNiIp0NPbxsVcpGk4_RTaX8OdQ4YRvGoBbiRnjkvomj4JbyerQwfrfFuhADpfMk3wFJwHGavferDnWMKy30qJl9s23oZ71juydUKSYOTg4zawuQmfq8MvX6S0-H79MHhxQtBGUe3-wOxwQ/w137-h158/MickeyGilley.JPG" width="137" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1936 - 2022</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">The news was released within the last hour that the country music community has lost another legendary figure. Mickey Gilley passed away today at the age of 86. <b><i>March 9, 1936 - May 7, 2022</i></b>. I like his singing and if I knew he was going to be on a TV show I'd always watch his performance. I saw him in concert only one time. He appeared at the Clark County Fair in 1990. My grandparent's and I went to the Fair and we sat next to a long-time fan of Mickey's who told us a lot of information about his career as well as her favorite songs. We were familiar with Mickey's songs but the more dedicated of fan told us a lot more about him. My grandparent's were aware that Mickey was a cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart. I had no idea about it, at the time, until the fan told us. I recall that Mickey sang practically all of the songs of his that I was familiar with. "<i>Paradise Tonight</i>", the duet he did with Charly McClain, was performed with one of Mickey's harmony singers. I don't want to definitively say that he closed the show with "<i>Don't The Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time</i>" but I think he did. He did a lot of boogie-woogie piano solo's in between the songs. The photo that I chose to include in this blog post shows Mickey Gilley in what a general audience might remember. Mickey had a successful string of country music hits throughout the 1970s, including several number one hits, but the <b>Urban Cowboy</b> movie shot his career into the pop music mainstream. The movie was mostly set inside Mickey's huge bar, Gilley's, in Pasadena, Texas. Mickey appeared in the movie and contributed songs to the movie's soundtrack. Johnny Lee, a frequent performer at Gilley's, was catapulted to stardom in 1980 as a result of his participation in the <b><i>Urban Cowboy</i></b> soundtrack with "<i>Lookin' For Love</i>" and "<i>Cherokee Fiddle</i>". The soundtrack included a 1978 hit from Mickey titled "<i>Here Comes the Hurt Again</i>" and a new recording, "<i>Stand By Me</i>". </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Mickey's rendition of that particular song (a previous pop/rhythm and blues hit for Ben E. King) become his biggest cross-over hit. In addition to hitting the top of the country chart in 1980 it reached the Top-30 on the pop driven Hot 100 and the Top-10 on the Adult-Contemporary chart. In fact, four of Mickey's single releases appeared on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart. After "<i>Stand By Me</i>", his second highest charting Hot 100 pop single is his rendition of "<i>You Don't Know Me</i>", which hit number one on the country chart in 1981 and reached the Top-20 on the Adult-Contemporary chart as well. Mickey had 6 consecutive number one country hits on the Billboard country chart during the 1980-1981 time frame. His first single release of the decade, in 1980, was "<i>True Love Ways</i>" and he followed that chart-topper with 5 more. The single that broke the string, "<i>Tears of the Lonely</i>" peaked in the Top-5 here in America but it did reach number one on Canada's country music chart. Mickey would have three additional number one country hits on Billboard taking us through the second half of 1982 and into 1983: "<i>Put Your Dreams Away</i>", "<i>Talk To Me</i>", and "<i>Fool For Your Love</i>". The latter being his final solo single to reach number one on Billboard's U.S. country music chart, with his duet with Charly McClain in the late summer of 1983, "<i>Paradise Tonight</i>", becoming his final chart-topper on Billboard's U.S. country music chart. "<i>You've Really Got a Hold on Me</i>" and "<i>Too Good To Stop Now</i>" hit number one for Mickey in Canada in 1984. Mickey's final Top-10 hits arrived in 1985 and 1986...with the nostalgic "<i>Doo Wah Days</i>" becoming the final Top-10 of his career. He had a Top-20 country hit in 1987 with "<i>Full Grown Fool</i>" and a Top-30 country hit in 1988 with "<i>She Reminded Me of You</i>". </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVkzXOSwjh5ltnugUjYqIrRLGSivgki-5zO_vu5zAsuhbADhEzMPy2ge3PBgkFHoVogu96xuYDw2J6aEBidJun7LNGVdgg7T8T4hKngTMi-KPqS4FmbZJWxJyrt4fCWq9I5fRjZgRsCH1qLMgksPan5w3lCir5l7f7uNOh3Uub-MZ1ywgB3n9UxLSA2Q/s303/MickeyGilleyENCORE%20LP.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="303" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVkzXOSwjh5ltnugUjYqIrRLGSivgki-5zO_vu5zAsuhbADhEzMPy2ge3PBgkFHoVogu96xuYDw2J6aEBidJun7LNGVdgg7T8T4hKngTMi-KPqS4FmbZJWxJyrt4fCWq9I5fRjZgRsCH1qLMgksPan5w3lCir5l7f7uNOh3Uub-MZ1ywgB3n9UxLSA2Q/w173-h169/MickeyGilleyENCORE%20LP.JPG" width="173" /></a></div>Epic Records, in 1980, released this compilation album on Mickey titled <b><i>Encore</i></b>. The Encore series of albums were label-wide...all recording artists signed to Columbia's various record labels had an album titled <b><i>Encore</i></b> released on them. The <b><i>Encore</i></b> album they released on Mickey, as you can see, heavily promoted his night-club without using it's name on the front of the album. On the back of the album Mickey is surrounded by mostly cowboy hat wearing girls. A couple of them are wearing tops that state: "I rode the bull at Gilley's". The bull, of course, is the mechanical bull...shown prominently on the front of the album. The mechanical bull became a staple in all kinds of country-oriented bar room's and night clubs attempting to emulate the ambience of Gilley's place. It was called the world's largest Honky-Tonk. Mickey co-owned the club with Sherwood Cryer. The club opened in 1971 and once <b>Urban Cowboy</b> hit theaters and became a massive box-office hit Gilley's night club in Pasadena, Texas became a super destination for locals and out of State tourists. The club branched out into television and radio productions...numerous country music singers stopped by and recorded concert performances for a local radio series tied to the nightclub and there was also a television program that originated from Gilley's for awhile. Gilley's became part of most tour stops for Country and Adult-Contemporary performers. The night-club burned to the ground in 1989 leaving some music critics and historians to point out that a night-club so synonymous with 1980's country music should happen to burn to the ground at the close of the decade. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Mickey, following this period of his career, moved on and opened up a theater in Branson, Missouri...and he remained a fixture in Branson for the next several decades. An accident while helping move furniture in 2009 impacted his performing career and he spent a year or more recovering and in physical therapy. The accident left him paralyzed and although he did the rehab and physical therapy there were lingering effects for the rest of his life. In January 2018 Mickey and his son were involved in a car accident while traveling from Texas to Missouri. They never made it out of Texas, though, and neither were seriously injured. Mickey and Johnny Lee, during this point in time, had been on something of a national reunion tour with an <b>Urban Cowboy</b> theme. The movie, in 2015, turned 35 and by 2020, of course, it hit 40. The two had performed an extended reunion series of shows at Mickey's Branson theater for the last several years. The news of Mickey passing away today at the age of 86 seems surreal. He released numerous singles...and among my many, many favorite Mickey Gilley recordings is the cleverly titled "<i>The Power of Positive Drinking</i>". It was a Top-10 hit for him but it wasn't one of his signature songs and so it's sort of fallen into obscurity. I saw him sing it on an episode of <b>Hee Haw</b> and it became an instant favorite...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="318" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iTG_0c8fYsk" width="382" youtube-src-id="iTG_0c8fYsk"></iframe></div></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-53367270876767374242022-04-18T04:13:00.002-04:002022-04-18T04:13:30.925-04:00Benny Hill: Going Back to April 20th 1992...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XB8gVrJRxmXRQeCv-IaFjpgaTTRt5O7mNqll56J-CDurAEPCtYB62r-hAd77vOjUlEC0tDHaxqkXW6BYGyBMG8VSKx_cw75Z2ro4pBZTNSHfVKIMC5N8GsefA7CV9UJRwYQcMjS9JixPINDzBr6FYJ20AYnMJdw4--EiqpIz-eQKMnbWmLrWx5fPCw/s275/BennyHill%201975.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="188" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XB8gVrJRxmXRQeCv-IaFjpgaTTRt5O7mNqll56J-CDurAEPCtYB62r-hAd77vOjUlEC0tDHaxqkXW6BYGyBMG8VSKx_cw75Z2ro4pBZTNSHfVKIMC5N8GsefA7CV9UJRwYQcMjS9JixPINDzBr6FYJ20AYnMJdw4--EiqpIz-eQKMnbWmLrWx5fPCw/w127-h186/BennyHill%201975.JPG" width="127" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div>I was going to begin this blog entry with a familiar greeting by Fred Scuttle, one of Benny Hill's famous characters, but I don't know if the phrase is copyrighted or not. We're a few days away from April 20, 1992...a sad day for millions of Benny Hill fans around the world. It was on that day Benny Hill passed away. Those who knew him personally may have expected it...but in the years since a lot of us fans have become aware of Benny's final weeks. There's been a lot of essays and commentary about his death in the last 30 years...and I'd say there's been a heavy dose of commentary circulating about him within the last 10 years. The video hosting site, YouTube, came along in 2005 and within 5 years video content from around the world had been accessed tens of millions of times, combined. Benny Hill videos...specifically his comedy sketches, comedy monologues, and Hill's Angels features...gained an entirely new audience. There had been a market established for Benny's comedy on VHS tape and on DVD...but with YouTube it enabled the content from those VHS and DVD releases as well as full episodes of his hour long television specials to be readily available. All a person needed to do is simply type in Benny's name in a YouTube search box and the results are nearly endless. Benny was chased off of television in 1989...after 20 years at Thames TV. Prior to his association with Thames he worked at the BBC. His television specials at the BBC were titled <b><i>The Benny Hill Show</i></b>. Highlights from his BBC programs have been issued on VHS and DVD...they're in black and white and can be accessed online. In the BBC episodes some of his supporting players were usually Jeremy Hawk, Patricia Hayes, and Rita Lloyd. <div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQBvXB0_j6DgZppxojEkLXfiVGrkDvqkhGi-uqPnJUmJjMyMI64sQVks7TMhKghAtAYZGRY-qQ_R3QmUwzeLBz9OW6SdRBIPUh4QTnXDrzsFDmjr6w8_y7TlB7DvQGM5grC-7f3XpZqcChKslyF6pp0mrohQWODKgPILx-h_JtPbe_Y0eoZRWD5isuA/s647/BennyHill%20MagazineCollage.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="471" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQBvXB0_j6DgZppxojEkLXfiVGrkDvqkhGi-uqPnJUmJjMyMI64sQVks7TMhKghAtAYZGRY-qQ_R3QmUwzeLBz9OW6SdRBIPUh4QTnXDrzsFDmjr6w8_y7TlB7DvQGM5grC-7f3XpZqcChKslyF6pp0mrohQWODKgPILx-h_JtPbe_Y0eoZRWD5isuA/w178-h245/BennyHill%20MagazineCollage.JPG" width="178" /></a></div>It's been reported that his first performance to a mass audience was on a radio series, <i><b>Variety Bandbox</b></i>, in 1947. Benny made his television debut in 1950. He appeared regularly on the BBC airwaves throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In 1956 he starred in the comedy movie, "<i>Who Done It?</i>". He had a radio series, <i><b>Benny Hill Time</b></i>, for 2 years (1964-1966) and 26 episodes in total. He headlined a couple of television specials for ITV and ATV during his long association with the BBC but the most significant change happened in 1969 when he joined Thames Television. It's with this company that Benny became an international comedy star. His hour long television specials would be sprinkled throughout a calendar year...in most years he would deliver 3 or 4 one hour specials. His television specials became events and much anticipated. His supporting cast in the first decade of the Thames specials were Henry McGee, Bob Todd, Jackie Wright, and some faces familiar from his BBC years like Patricia Hayes and Rita Lloyd. In 1979 the syndicator, Don Taffner, brought Benny Hill to American television screens...and from America to television screens all over the world. Taffner conceived the idea of selling half hour installments of Benny's comedy to local television stations across America. An editing team carefully pieced together numerous half hour episodes using the footage from Benny's hour long television specials for Thames TV.</div><div><br /></div><div>These half hour episodes aired practically all over the world in late-night time slots or in pre-dawn, early morning time slots. Benny also added a collection of female dancers to his show around this same time and he called them Hill's Angels. The dancers also doubled as comedic foils for Benny. As the 1980's progressed and the edited half hour Benny Hill programs were spiking local television ratings, becoming increasingly popular in various non-English speaking territories (thanks to a lot of pantomime sketches), the comics in his <i>own</i> homeland were on the verbal attack...and by 1989 with mounting pressures from British comics, critics, and feminist groups (collectively a very loud minority of people), Thames TV canceled the Benny Hill television specials. The last television special aired on May 1, 1989. The half hour episodes were still airing around the world...including America. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKGc9MTXsYbF4x4XjuVaAYGKJ1x9mzX7kLUswMZWNVSMNiSvcgq240ZjcGlp_2PvbiUyHHpzNUBnWWmXrKetfETaltW-iE9g-28M9DYvWy5uUAVm1XKDyyqZ7hST3YfT21O9UeKzmdzCasviprCCkLDXshyCiwEN1itQQT-SBqvyfAMvJ5nJJ4IrscGQ/s405/BennyHill-1991.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="405" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKGc9MTXsYbF4x4XjuVaAYGKJ1x9mzX7kLUswMZWNVSMNiSvcgq240ZjcGlp_2PvbiUyHHpzNUBnWWmXrKetfETaltW-iE9g-28M9DYvWy5uUAVm1XKDyyqZ7hST3YfT21O9UeKzmdzCasviprCCkLDXshyCiwEN1itQQT-SBqvyfAMvJ5nJJ4IrscGQ/s320/BennyHill-1991.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Due in large part to the success that the half hour shows were still having in America the syndicator, Don Taffner, asked Benny if he would do another television special and that he'd handle the distribution. They hit on a concept called <b><i>Benny Hill's World Tour</i></b>. The television specials would spotlight a different major city/town in nearly every country on the planet. The first, in this proposed <i>World Tour</i> series of specials, spotlighted New York City. The USA Network bought the broadcast rights and <i><b>Benny Hill's World Tour: New York!</b></i> hit the airwaves on May 30, 1991. It was his first comedy special since 1989. Unfortunately, Benny's health began to decline as the year went on...in February 1992 he suffered a mild heart attack. He declined further medical treatment (a bypass) and experienced kidney failure and he passed away on April 20, 1992. His body was discovered by his long-time television producer, Dennis Kirkland, several days later. Several people had called Benny's house and there were no answers for several days. The lack of reply caused great concern, obviously, and with the help of the police Dennis Kirkland was able to get inside Benny's locked house where they found him sitting in front of the television in his favorite chair, non-responsive. </div><div><br /></div><div>The memorials and outpouring of grief was almost immediate once the news broke. It was revealed that among the mail in Benny's living room was a contract awaiting his signature...a contract for a series of new television specials for Central Independent Television. Apparently, and I'm just guessing, but this was the company Benny would've worked for on the <i>World Tour</i> series of television specials...with syndication rights perhaps held by Don Taffner. Nobody outside of a few has ever seen the actual unsigned contract so any number of us over the decades have made wild speculations as to what it may have contained. Benny Hill reruns have been scarce on television since the early 1990s. In the last 20 plus years BBC America and Antenna TV have aired variations of Benny's show. BBC America aired edited hour long episodes whereas Antenna TV in 2011, and added again to the line-up this year, air edited copies of the half hour edited programs. Antenna TV has been airing the half hour episodes in program blocks from 12am to 2am early Sunday morning. So, as I mentioned earlier, Benny Hill is always going to be there...ready to be discovered by successive generations of people. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH5UEZP85Cdtk1_o7Aw6-iqt9nencza9WY8uSL5wbuLCTjQlyQnGUr99LCeftwEvfN0WzRH155ObuY6HiXNSlna-fcdBMNZmAwK_ALvNUvBjLb_8Rab7HuLWsrOYcvuOzrGk5GdiRjF7Pej6_uBGML36_r5AS-mn_aRIkGujSb-L-zE3lTY6RtUPxLuQ/s563/BennyHillShowTitleCard.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="563" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH5UEZP85Cdtk1_o7Aw6-iqt9nencza9WY8uSL5wbuLCTjQlyQnGUr99LCeftwEvfN0WzRH155ObuY6HiXNSlna-fcdBMNZmAwK_ALvNUvBjLb_8Rab7HuLWsrOYcvuOzrGk5GdiRjF7Pej6_uBGML36_r5AS-mn_aRIkGujSb-L-zE3lTY6RtUPxLuQ/w383-h279/BennyHillShowTitleCard.JPG" width="383" /></a></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-14470290465371259582022-04-05T03:10:00.003-04:002022-04-05T03:12:21.651-04:00C.W. McCall: 1928 - 2022<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY384o-BieCXcObtOkMyJaryg-l4jx7hfI4_csPUv5hsxDmvm5HpSuRtUA5IE9uyrOicBtaaEvfB8BiALU3WpBGRyDcsATbFdMUC5WoBm3i4dqgyQqo2cj2opSRZNTsyJPSkKArWltWHkksDAcCOKQU25WEpPptPFYGVgnS1AHDAswyPq90XcM0f39rg/s238/C.W.%20McCall.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="178" data-original-width="238" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY384o-BieCXcObtOkMyJaryg-l4jx7hfI4_csPUv5hsxDmvm5HpSuRtUA5IE9uyrOicBtaaEvfB8BiALU3WpBGRyDcsATbFdMUC5WoBm3i4dqgyQqo2cj2opSRZNTsyJPSkKArWltWHkksDAcCOKQU25WEpPptPFYGVgnS1AHDAswyPq90XcM0f39rg/w176-h132/C.W.%20McCall.JPG" width="176" /></a></div>A few months ago news was released that C.W. McCall had been placed under the care of hospice. The news was abrupt and matter of fact without too much information given as to the reason why. Then, out of the blue, news surfaced that C.W. had passed away on April 1st at the age of 93 from cancer. He was born Billie Fries, according to most websites, and later legally changed his name to William Fries, Jr.. He was born November 15, 1928 in Audobon, Iowa. He had a career in the advertising business when he created the character, C.W. McCall. He didn't portray the character in the television commercials but the product, Old Home Bread, became something of a major sales hit in the Omaha, Nebraska area in 1973. The commercial won a Clio Award, which is the Oscar of the advertising world, in 1974. The commercials spawned professionally recorded songs with emphasis on the sights and culture of the Plains States (Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado). Bill Fries became C.W. McCall on recordings. He wrote the lyrics to his recordings while Chip Davis wrote the music. His first single release, "<i>Old Home Filler Up and a Keep on a Truckin' Cafe</i>", was a direct tie-in with Old Home bread and it became a Top-20 country music hit and landed on the Hot 100 pop chart as well. "<i>Wolf Creek Pass</i>" was his second single and it, too, reached the Top-20 on the country music chart and reached Top-40 status on the Hot 100 pop chart. In 1975 "<i>Classified</i>" reached the country Top-20 followed by the chart hit, "<i>Black Bear Road</i>". <div><br /></div><div>His style was narration...meaning that he didn't sing too much on his single releases. He wasn't sad in his recitations like Red Sovine famously happened to be but given the narration approach and the mostly up-tempo, rollicking music arrangements it gave McCall a style and sound that set him apart. The massive hit single in his career came along later on in 1975... the iconic "<i>Convoy</i>". This recording was massively popular...a monster hit...a million selling country and pop hit. It was officially released in November of 1975 and it, as I said, was a monster hit. </div><div><br /></div><div>It reached Number One on the country and pop charts here in America. It was number one for 6 weeks on the country chart. It hit number one on the pop chart in Canada early in 1976 and the Top-10 on their country chart. It also hit number one in Australia and New Zealand. The single popularized the C.B. fad that swept the entire country and Canada. The recording cemented C.W. McCall's long-lasting popularity as a 'truck driver singer'. There are many compilation albums filled with songs specializing in the truck driving industry...and there's almost always inclusion of "<i>Convoy</i>" or several other singles from his career. The single, being incredibly popular and spearheading a national fad, ultimately had it's share of detractors/critics. The critics were definitely in the minority opinion, however. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now, as it turned out, 1976 turned out to be the peak year for C.W. McCall's recording career. There wouldn't be another recording by him that would match the phenomenal popularity of "<i>Convoy</i>" but he continued recording and releasing singles. He would have several chart hits during the remainder of the decade but nothing else reached the charts as the new decade began. Some of those latter day recordings that hit happened to be "<i>There Won't Be No Country Music</i>", a country Top-20. "<i>Crispy Critters</i>", "<i>Four Wheel Cowboy</i>", and "<i>Round the World with the Rubber Duck</i>" all reached the country charts in 1976. </div><div><br /></div><div>In 1977 he issued a couple of recordings...first up is "<i>Audubon</i>", a recording about his hometown in Iowa which serves as something of a prequel to his first single release. It's mid-tempo and highly entertaining...he mentions Mavis Davis, a character from the Old Home bread commercials and there's a refrain of his first single's chorus heard in this recording. For whatever reason it didn't register as high on the Country singles charts as his previous releases. The follow-up, the mellow "<i>Roses for Mama</i>", was his last major hit single...reaching the Top-10 on the country music charts here in America and in Canada early in the fall of 1977. Red Sovine recorded a version of the recording, too. McCall would have one final chart hit...a commentary on country music titled "<i>Outlaws and Lone Star Beer</i>" in 1978. It clocks in at just under 2 minutes and it features him singing...a departure from his recitations. In the song he laments that most people see country music as nothing but what the song's title says...so he decides to reveal there's more to country music. "<i>Convoy</i>", in the meantime, inspired a truck driver movie starring Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw, Ernest Borgnine, and Burt Young among others. The movie was released in 1978 and it featured a revised recording of the song by McCall. </div><div><br /></div><div>C.W. McCall officially 'retired' from country music following his 1979 album containing "<i>Outlaws and Lone Star Beer</i>". There is the existence of two rare single releases by him in the 1980's...the first being "<i>Kidnap America</i>" in 1980. A social/political commentary on the Iran Hostage crisis. The other is 1983's "<i>Pine Tar Wars</i>", commenting on the charged use of excessive pine tar on the bat of Major League baseball player, George Brett. Living in Colorado he ran for and was elected the mayor of Ouray, Colorado in 1986...a small town/hamlet in the mountains...and he remained mayor of the town until 1992. </div><div><br /></div><div>He maintained a low profile and kept out of the spotlight until just this year...soon after news broke that he was in hospice care he was asked about the Freedom Convoy that was taking place in Canada and the potential for it to move into the United States. The organizers received McCall's consent to use his "<i>Convoy</i>" song during the protests and he was quoted as being enthused and energized in the knowing that there was a revival of interest in his song and it's overall message. His quoted statements are from a February 9th conversation. He passed away on April 1, 2022 at the age of 93!</div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-70677680267695312122022-01-16T04:26:00.002-05:002022-01-16T04:26:59.511-05:00Ralph Emery: 1933-2022<div style="text-align: left;">It's been such a sad couple of weeks in the world of country music. On New Year's Eve (December 31, 2021) the wife of legendary entertainer/comic Ray Stevens, Penny Ragsdale, passed away at age 78. The two had been married since 1961. Songwriter, musician, music executive/record producer, Jerry Crutchfield, passed away on January 11th at 87. Legendary songwriter, Dallas Frazier, passed away on January 14th at age 82 and the news broke yesterday afternoon that legendary country radio and television broadcaster, Ralph Emery, passed away at age 88.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgm_Ruj9wFwyCKkOhXshAmYVk_CIpBbEiKtxESWINUDUgNxt0OwfzTmUC7xi9udpLo61MciNJ4bIYkxXGFk9mAZHDswjGBu0HmKUyivY5IZnmRRwEB4wfdiG6s8N9U5cYxipFsKozRcz_HqiZ3aaRmD4jYXaxxsCxiozrPdg1xZunNV6E-7rrw0Tqq4mw=s319" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="285" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgm_Ruj9wFwyCKkOhXshAmYVk_CIpBbEiKtxESWINUDUgNxt0OwfzTmUC7xi9udpLo61MciNJ4bIYkxXGFk9mAZHDswjGBu0HmKUyivY5IZnmRRwEB4wfdiG6s8N9U5cYxipFsKozRcz_HqiZ3aaRmD4jYXaxxsCxiozrPdg1xZunNV6E-7rrw0Tqq4mw=w122-h137" width="122" /></a></div>Born Walter Ralph Emery on March 10, 1933. Ralph, according to his memoir, became infatuated with radio as a way to escape the realities surrounding his childhood. He cites WLAC radio personality, John Richbourg, known on-air as John R, as a major influence. Ralph has often cited sportscaster, Curt Gowdy, as an influence, too. Ralph's broadcasting career began in 1951, first on regional small watt radio stations, and then onto larger radio stations. The early radio stations that Ralph Emery called home between the years of 1951 and 1957 were WTPR, WNAH, WAGG, WSIX, and WMAK. In 1957 he joined WSM radio and he became the all-night disc jockey there. The all-night show, as it was informally called, was officially titled <b><i>Opry Star Spotlight</i></b>. The focal point of the show was to play a majority of songs from Grand Ole Opry members, take requests/calls from listeners, deliver weather reports and other information. Truck drivers made up a lot of his listeners even though he didn't specifically tailor the show as a "truckers show". Eventually country music artists began to call-in. One thing led to another and Ralph's all-night radio show became must-hear conversation. Country music artists not only called in to Ralph's show but many of them stopped by in person to talk one on one with Ralph. He'd play their latest recordings or their most recent...if it happened to be a legendary performer Ralph more than likely played that artist's best known songs in between the conversation. On Ralph's programs he preferred to focus on conversation rather than act as a promoter. I've seen quotes from him stressing how didn't want his program to become an arm of a record label's publicity department and that publicity for a singer's latest product would be secondary to the interview/conversation. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">While at WSM Ralph became one of the announcers on the Grand Ole Opry in 1961. It was not too long after this that he ventured into television in a big way. In 1963 he became the host of an early morning local television show called "<i>Opry Almanac</i>" which aired 6-7am Central time. Now, keep in mind, Ralph was hosting the all-night radio program on WSM. This show aired from 12am until 5am Central time, Monday-Friday. This meant that an hour after his all-night show ended he'd have to be in the television studio awaiting his cue to go on the air. This schedule eased up considerably by 1966 when the morning show moved to the afternoons and was re-titled "<i>Sixteenth Avenue</i>". This series ended in 1969. In 1971 he began a brand new syndicated radio program. This show would feature a different guest co-host each week. The co-hosts were country music artists. The program ran 1 hour, five days a week. Ralph recorded 5 hours worth of shows in recording blocks. Those 5 hour recordings were edited down into 5 separate hour long radio programs. This syndicated radio series was in production for more than 15 years. In 1972 Ralph retired from the all-night radio program on WSM after a run of 15 years. The same year he returned to local morning television with "<i>The Ralph Emery Show</i>" in the same 6-7am time slot. <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Ralph's next major career move was becoming the host of the nationally syndicated country music show, "<i>Pop! Goes the Country</i>". This show, due to it airing nationally, is the program that introduced Ralph Emery to most of the television viewers in the United States. In the decades before this show came along Ralph was regionally popular/famous on local radio and television. "<i>Pop! Goes the Country</i>" aired all over the United States. The program debuted in 1974 and Ralph hosted it until midway through 1980. After Ralph stepped down as host in 1980 the show remained in production for another two years...hosted by Tom T. Hall. Cable television station, TBS, went country and hired Ralph to host it's talk/performance show, "<i>Nashville Alive!</i>". This program aired for a season, 1981-1982. The same year it was announced that a brand new cable television station was in the works...called The Nashville Network...it became known by it's initials, TNN. This channel went live in 1983...and Ralph hosted the nightly talk show, "<i>Nashville Now</i>", during the station's first 10 years (1983-1993). This program brought Ralph a lot of Cable Television awards and nominations during this era in his career. He became known as the Johnny Carson of Cable Television. Ralph's other industry nick-names were The Dick Clark of Country Music; The Mike Wallace of Country Music; and Dean of Country Music Broadcasters. He co-authored four books: <b>Memories</b>, <b>More Memories</b>, <b>The View from Nashville</b>, and <b>50 Years Down a Country Road</b>. The last book, published in 2000, was in reference to Ralph's broadcasting career nearing it's 50th anniversary. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Ralph's career as a broadcaster brought him numerous awards. In 1989 he was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2010 he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. He married his wife, Joy, in 1967. They remained married until his death...a union of nearly 55 years. He had previously been married to country singer, Skeeter Davis, for four years (1960-1964). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There hasn't been any information released about Ralph's funeral or what he passed away from. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In 2019 Ralph was among those who spoke at the election of Ray Stevens into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ralph and Ray were great friends...he was one of Ray's strongest supporters within the music industry. Ray appeared as a guest on every radio and television show Ralph hosted from the early 1960's to the early 2000's. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheqqfToUKWakbdjf-hqucFGHeluis1AGfX7I4QzLirpaIdKM04DVFrfRvRNLAtLE0mZN7Hg_5SUIz853tyg0iJN58Vxq3TIZEIZs4cuPdhW9uEwT4yEi31S6RuDMltR7ccE8priwdqKKiGy-jRHjEDv1WDo4LZbEwGLe9xvL0Jwk2h2JYn2tgplHwCpA=s412" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="412" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheqqfToUKWakbdjf-hqucFGHeluis1AGfX7I4QzLirpaIdKM04DVFrfRvRNLAtLE0mZN7Hg_5SUIz853tyg0iJN58Vxq3TIZEIZs4cuPdhW9uEwT4yEi31S6RuDMltR7ccE8priwdqKKiGy-jRHjEDv1WDo4LZbEwGLe9xvL0Jwk2h2JYn2tgplHwCpA=w250-h229" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ralph Emery: 1933 - 2022</td></tr></tbody></table>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-49809382553534532672021-08-21T03:47:00.000-04:002021-08-21T03:47:22.744-04:00Tom T. Hall: 1936-2021<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbmjxtRrm4f4DipGSGyMedG8FAvpRxT9A-V-RcOXUAg10cXxJnrqBBSoH1FiIyLUACqDbSZNa8dEi6BJc1QySPzh6MK-kuGAGLYE6ZcCsHMmQxdjAb5mOI_GLsMGsKase0TSqzSD1f2K0c/s417/TomT-Hall-CMHOF.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="312" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbmjxtRrm4f4DipGSGyMedG8FAvpRxT9A-V-RcOXUAg10cXxJnrqBBSoH1FiIyLUACqDbSZNa8dEi6BJc1QySPzh6MK-kuGAGLYE6ZcCsHMmQxdjAb5mOI_GLsMGsKase0TSqzSD1f2K0c/w163-h218/TomT-Hall-CMHOF.JPG" width="163" /></a></div>I found out the news that Tom T. Hall passed away when I arrived from home in the latter half of yesterday. It was by pure luck that I decided to check the internet Friday evening after spending most of yesterday watching national news. I went to the social media sites I frequent and learned that Tom T. Hall had passed away at age 85. It's eerie because I had recently watched a vintage clip on YouTube of Tom T. from the late '60s on an episode of <b><i>The Del Reeves Show</i></b>. I've always liked the songs of Tom T. Hall and I've known of his music for more than 30 years. I first heard of him through television. On the weekends there used to be a lot of country music television shows that aired on a local channel...and I'd see him in television commercials for Tyson products. I also think I saw him doing a commercial for Purina as well...but I'm for certain I've seen commercials he did for Tyson in the early 1980s. If you are familiar with his songs then you're very, very familiar with his speaking voice. Ralph Emery once described the vocal performances of Tom T. Hall as being the closest thing to sung narration. Tom T. had a style all his own...it was like rhythmic narration. No, I'm not saying it was primitive rap music, but it was definitely a narration set to music. As I struggle to find a proper description let's simply say, as I previously stated, he had a style all his own. His songs were not filled with a lot of instrumentation and almost all of the songs he wrote were based on something that had happened in his life. He once had an album out called <b>I Witness Life</b>. His songs had such descriptive storylines that he was nicknamed <i>The Storyteller</i>...and it's a nickname that remained with him throughout his career and into retirement. If you are of a certain age, or, like myself, you love hearing classic country music...well, once you hear the nickname <i>The Storyteller</i> you know it's a reference to Tom T. Hall. He was born in Olive Hill, Kentucky on May 25, 1936.<div><br /></div><div>Some of Tom T.'s classic songs run the gamut from heartbreak, aspiration, inspiration, social comment, good fortune, misfortune, and the simplicity of living simply without a lot of trappings and grandeur. "<i>I Love</i>" is the song that had the biggest commercial impact in pop music for Tom T., the singer, as it crossed over from country to pop in late 1973 / early 1974. "<i>I Love</i>", statistically, was his biggest hit as it reached number 1 on the country music chart here in the U.S., for 2 weeks, and it the top in Canada on their country music chart while it peaked just outside the Top-10 on the pop music charts here in the U.S. and in Canada. </div><div><br /></div><div>Tom T. Hall was, of course, equally known as a songwriter. While "<i>I Love</i>", written by Tom T., spent several weeks at number 1 country and was a Top-20 pop hit, therefore becoming his biggest hit as a singer, his biggest overall hit came with a song he'd written but was a hit for Jeannie C. Riley. That hit, "<i>Harper Valley, P.T.A.</i>", was massive. It hit the country and pop music charts here in the U.S. in 1968 and it was a smash hit nearly all over the globe. Sales reportedly reached 6,000,000. Tom T. had been a pretty successful songwriter throughout the early and mid 1960s. Mercury Records, in 1967, issued "<i>I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew</i>". The song became a Top-40 country hit...his first chart appearance as a singer. It was followed up by two more chart hits in the first half of 1968 and then, perhaps in the aftermath of Jeannie C. Riley's massive success with "<i>Harper Valley, P.T.A.</i>", Tom T.'s name was elevated to a more higher profile and when Mercury Records issued their fourth single on Tom T. late in October of 1968, "<i>Ballad of Forty Dollars</i>", it became a Top-10 hit early in 1969. </div><div><br /></div><div>Tom T.'s albums were produced by Jerry Kennedy throughout the latter half of the '60s and into most of the '70s. Tom T. would eventually move to RCA Records...releasing an album referencing the change in record labels: 1978's <b>New Train Same Rider</b>. He released several albums and singles for RCA during a three year period, until 1980, when television took up a lot of his time. Ralph Emery had retired from hosting the syndicated country music show, <b><i>Pop! Goes the Country</i></b> following the 1979-1980 season. Tom T. became the program's new host...unlikely selection some may have thought...but he remained the host of the series for two seasons, 1980-1981 and 1981-1982. Did you know Tom T. Hall recorded a duet album with Earl Scruggs? Oh yes he did! Columbia Records released the album, <b>The Storyteller and the Banjo Man</b>, in 1982. </div><div><br /></div><div>Tom T. returned to Mercury Records and released his first solo album in three years in 1983: <b>Everything From Jesus to Jack Daniels</b>. The album reunited him with record producer, Jerry Kennedy. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPTIgTH78rMkTbopJdIGw6y49IMFtsfsmgEx5No5MYlSLgmsnVae5fzlnAYwFr0LRz93N07gj7hHMK7NiM12CwODwOcII6WK_7BxQi2iNkgKZUkK9VDmFFAay6IDz6_hl6Ra0TcCz1Ddi/s482/MeAndTomT-boxSet.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="482" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPTIgTH78rMkTbopJdIGw6y49IMFtsfsmgEx5No5MYlSLgmsnVae5fzlnAYwFr0LRz93N07gj7hHMK7NiM12CwODwOcII6WK_7BxQi2iNkgKZUkK9VDmFFAay6IDz6_hl6Ra0TcCz1Ddi/w225-h142/MeAndTomT-boxSet.JPG" width="225" /></a></div>In the photo off to the left it's me and the box set that Mercury Records released in 1995 on Tom T. Hall called <b>Storyteller, Poet, Philosopher</b>. When I began purchasing my own music in the mid and late 1990s Tom T. Hall was more or less out of print and there was hardly anything available at retail stores. This 1995 box set is something I came across at a larger music store in a shopping mall several dozen miles away. I bought the box set, as you can see, and I immediately discovered a whole lot of Tom T. Hall recordings that I'd never heard before. The booklet gave me a lot of information about him beyond what I'd already knew. In the beginning of this memorial blog entry I mentioned that Tom T. had written and sang so many songs...and nearly all of them are based in real life experiences he'd had. You can hear the reality hit home on so many of his songs. One of the many wonderful songs from Tom T. is "<i>The Ballad of Bill Crump</i>". The song is simply about a man who was a great craftsman and Tom T. had this ability to make you, the listener, care for the people he was telling you about in his songs. If you're a Tom T. fan then you'll all recall the name, Clayton Delaney. Tom T. told us about "<i>The Year Clayton Delaney Died</i>". Although none of us I suspect have ever seen or met Clayton Delaney...or have met the person that the song is actually based on...Tom T., through his songwriting talents, has us mourning the loss when we listen. The songs he wrote and directed toward children such as "<i>I Care</i>", "<i>Sneaky Snake</i>", "<i>One Hundred Children</i>", and "<i>The Mysterious Fox of Fox Hollow</i>" just to name three, are intelligent and they lack a lot of the other ingredients that populate songs that were 'written for kids'. In other words Tom T. didn't talk down to kids or give lengthy, moral lectures. "<i>One Hundred Children</i>" could be seen as social commentary but I always took it as being aspirational. Speaking of social commentary...Tom T. could infuse contemporary happenings into his songs if he wanted to. There are several that leap to mind: "<i>Watergate Blues</i>", "<i>The Monkey That Became President</i>", and a song that Dave Dudley had a big hit with, "<i>What We're Fighting For</i>". Tom T. had previously written another social commentary recording, "<i>Hello Vietnam</i>". That song spent three weeks at number one for Johnny Wright in 1965. <div><br /></div><div>A lot of Tom T.'s early songwriting hits came from recordings released by Dave Dudley...and the two of them eventually released a duet together, "<i>Day Drinking</i>", which Tom T. wrote. Some of the songs Tom T. wrote that became hits for Dave Dudley: "<i>Mad</i>", "<i>Listen Betty I'm Singing Your Song</i>", "<i>George and the North Woods</i>", "<i>This Night Ain't Fit for Nothin' But Drinkin'</i>", and "<i>The Pool Shark</i>". Bobby Bare had hits with Tom T. songs "<i>Margie's At the Lincoln Park Inn</i>" and "<i>That's How I Got to Memphis</i>". Jimmy C. Newman had a hit with "<i>D.J. for a Day</i>". A song Tom T. wrote in 1967 would become a hit for George Jones in 1980, "<i>I'm Not Ready Yet</i>". In addition to all of the songs that Tom T. wrote for himself as well as for other recording artists he was also an author of books. A couple of his books were <b>The Storyteller's Nashville</b> and later, <b>The Laughing Man of Woodmont Coves</b> and <b>What a Book!</b>. </div><div><br /></div><div>He was elected to the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2002. He was elected to the <i>Country Music Hall of Fame</i> in 2008. When he was elected he was part of the larger group of country music artists that were going into the Hall of Fame that year. The Class of 2008 included not only Tom T. Hall but Emmylou Harris, Pop Stoneman, and The Statler Brothers. One of the ironies is the B-side of The Statler Brothers hit, "<i>Flowers on the Wall</i>", was a song written by Tom T. called "<i>Billy Christian</i>". </div><div><br /></div><div>Tom T. was elected to the <i>Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame</i> in 1978. He was given the Icon Award from the <i>International Bluegrass Music Association</i> in 2012. He and his wife, Dixie, were elected to <i>The International Bluegrass Hall of Fame</i> in 2018. In 2019 Tom T. was elected to the <i>National Songwriters Hall of Fame</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>What a lot of people might not know about Tom T. is he had a love for Bluegrass music. He actually started out playing Bluegrass, locally, but didn't professionally record Bluegrass until many years into his recording career. He put out an album in 1976 titled <b>The Magnificent Music Machine</b>...an album chock full of Bluegrass flavored songs. "<i>Fox on the Run</i>" leads off that album. The title track was written by his brother, Hillman Hall. The album features a duet with Bill Monroe on "<i>Molly and Tenbrooks</i>". In 1982, as previously mentioned, he released a duet album with Bluegrass legend, Earl Scruggs titled <b>The Storyteller and the Banjo Man</b>. In 1997 Tom T. issued the Bluegrass flavored, <b>Home Grown</b>...and from that album came his single, "<i>Bill Monroe For Breakfast</i>". It was his final studio album for Mercury Records. A decade later, in 2007, he released <b>Tom T. Hall Sings Miss Dixie and Tom T</b>. This became Tom T.'s final studio album of his career...but he remained moderately active within the Bluegrass community as a writer. He passed away at the age of 85 on August 20, 2021.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tom T. Hall had a fascinating career...and he had a fascinating life...and all of us got to hear a glimpse of the things he experienced as he witnessed life. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwbskxYqfo_JFNNlLZ9cdzF5JeXwA_MqbU7rWQZK_bDONWuGBzfj-yK2r_S3nr5Y6UigHDA1C7ToYsKSsMSBcx1YeMnWCGDdrtemme2wwfhOdYIuXOuxbySvFEtPL2MVF2aNX-TmNJocHy/s351/TomT-Hall-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="351" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwbskxYqfo_JFNNlLZ9cdzF5JeXwA_MqbU7rWQZK_bDONWuGBzfj-yK2r_S3nr5Y6UigHDA1C7ToYsKSsMSBcx1YeMnWCGDdrtemme2wwfhOdYIuXOuxbySvFEtPL2MVF2aNX-TmNJocHy/w243-h212/TomT-Hall-2.JPG" width="243" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom T Hall: 1936 - 2021</td></tr></tbody></table>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-20515851331414359442021-07-17T16:47:00.000-04:002021-07-17T16:47:15.645-04:00My Review of "Song of the South"...<div style="text-align: left;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_IIMwF6ecoUCcTQydR55dPZ1EM8IxUf3Z5PD90c2rh5LpvGJ49-efnBYRGpsXUQgghuznbMK_XtRSsdmBr2dkJIpj2Ng0wn_HfK-31So94sXs-SafBSzMsjUCr3_9OKqlltq5l3y0TAfe/s434/MeAndSongOfTheSouthDVD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="434" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_IIMwF6ecoUCcTQydR55dPZ1EM8IxUf3Z5PD90c2rh5LpvGJ49-efnBYRGpsXUQgghuznbMK_XtRSsdmBr2dkJIpj2Ng0wn_HfK-31So94sXs-SafBSzMsjUCr3_9OKqlltq5l3y0TAfe/w242-h169/MeAndSongOfTheSouthDVD.JPG" width="242" /></a></div>I was expecting to get this <b>Song of the South</b> DVD next week sometime...based on the Amazon shipping data the window of delivery was to be somewhere between July 20th and July 21st...but I got it today (July 17th)...well ahead of schedule. I've seen this movie, in bits and pieces, and screen caps on animation history documentaries for several decades. I'm writing this as the DVD is playing on a TV nearby...Uncle Remus has just began singing "<i>Zip-a-Dee Do-Dah</i>" and the animation has become part of the movie. There's still a lot of movie left to go but as of now the DVD is NOT skipping or freezing as a dozen or so customers have mentioned. Perhaps on a repeated play the disc may have a glitch but for now it's playing without a problem. In the beginning of the movie it's made clear, without a whole lot of dialogue, that the kid, Johnny, has apparently never been in the South...he gets wide eyed looking at all of the African-Americans walking around on his grandmother's plantation...suggesting that he'd never seen people of a different color before. Later, as Uncle Remus is telling a story, Johnny peaks out from behind a tree. This is interrupted shortly after by a couple of servants from the mansion seeking Johnny's whereabouts. The film originated in November 1946...having it's premiere in Atlanta, Georgia on November 12, 1946 and the rest of the country on November 20, 1946. </div><div><br /></div><div>The film takes place during the Reconstruction era, after slavery was abolished, although some of the people who call themselves historians have, for decades, mistakenly tied the movie to the American Civil War. </div><div><br /></div><div>There's a comical scene where Johnny and Toby, the son of one of the kids from the plantation, play with a frog and later, the next day, go frog hunting. Toby removes his hat and reveals there's a frog sitting inside it. Johnny later meets a girl named Ginny. Whenever Johnny gets into any sort of dilemma or is feeling depressed he runs to Uncle Remus and is told more stories about Brer Rabbit's misadventures which, in the end, serve as inspiration for Johnny to deal with whatever is going on in his life. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the funniest animated segments is when Brer Rabbit gets into a fist fight with a phony person made of tar, a trick conceived by Brer Fox. In these animated segments the Brer Bear is portrayed as a dopey sidekick of the Fox. Elsewhere in the storyline we're introduced to Ginny's brothers, Joe and Jake, two of the most bratty boys you'll ever see, who infrequently show up to either get Johnny in trouble or taunt him into arguments and fights.</div><div><br /></div><div>The uptight mother and grandmother eventually come between Johnny and Uncle Remus' friendship. Johnny, in their view, had been following Uncle Remus around and listening to his stories so much Johnny forgot to attend his own birthday party. There's some heavier drama later when Johnny gets injured taking a shortcut through a pasture and meets up with a bull. I've tried not to include too many spoilers or stuff like that since I know this is a movie that's rare and is one that's highly subjective.</div><div><br /></div><div>The movie, overall, is absolutely wholesome and the animated segments are cute...the reputation that it's received for decades, in my opinion, is a deliberate assault on the movie itself...sort of like manufactured controversy. The main criticism, as far as I can tell, stems from the way in which the southern African-American characters speak...and based on that flimsy criticism the movie's been forever labeled "controversial, racist..." when the storyline nor the characters have no racist overtones at all. The animated segments are spectacular. The movie, as of this writing, is nearly over. Yes, I've spent close to 2 hours composing this review...adding in things and editing things...and I'm at the scene where Uncle Remus, who'd left at the instruction of Sally, has returned following Johnny's injury and he tells another story. The ending features Johnny and Ginny singing "<i>Zip-a-Dee Do Dah</i>", joined by Uncle Remus and the animated characters, skipping off into the sunset. </div><div><br /></div><div>Uncle Remus (James Baskett) is the co-star of the film along side Johnny (Bobby Driscoll). Hattie McDaniel is a supporting player as Aunt Tempe. Ruth Warrick co-stars as Miss Sally, Johnny's mother. Luana Patten co-stars as Ginny. James Baskett is also the voice of Brer Fox. Nick Stewart voices Brer Bear. Johnny Lee is the voice of Brer Rabbit. </div></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-24055573896858617612021-02-17T19:40:00.000-05:002021-02-17T19:40:58.728-05:00Rush Limbaugh: 1951-2021<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuvTves9fu3M87M6MqSjLnTI1bdE4zTo6EVCzjFnndAbaroBF1ZhBSXwzqcF43lh1GLmg7k48iWj2IUqUHNG5vSj9m5hPSwKlHcApIl-Dek1oIrznnQNkBDMygfeCvJ3oieA5d1rn-GaQK/s243/RushLimbaugh.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="243" data-original-width="206" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuvTves9fu3M87M6MqSjLnTI1bdE4zTo6EVCzjFnndAbaroBF1ZhBSXwzqcF43lh1GLmg7k48iWj2IUqUHNG5vSj9m5hPSwKlHcApIl-Dek1oIrznnQNkBDMygfeCvJ3oieA5d1rn-GaQK/w184-h217/RushLimbaugh.JPG" width="184" /></a></div>This is the Rush Limbaugh, in the photo off to the left, that I became familiar with as a teenager in the early 1990s. I was aware of who he happened to be when a local television station did a story on talk radio. The report stated that talk radio was something of a phenomenon on AM radio and it was pulling in millions of listeners, millions of callers, and millions of dollars. The concept of talk radio wasn't actually brand new but in the report it was said that Rush Limbaugh was the driving force behind it. Until this point in time I hadn't heard of Rush Limbaugh or talk-radio. Whenever I listened to the radio it was usually for music...sometimes I'd listen to a comedian on an AM radio station in Cincinnati, Gary Burbank, but that was about it. I became aware of Rush and discovered that a local radio station in the area carried his show. However, I could never listen to it because I was in school during the time of day it was on and this quite a few years before the internet came along and the advent of podcasts so you either had to live in a town where a radio station was broadcasting his nationally syndicated show live (12pm to 3pm, Eastern) or live in a town where his show was on tape delay and would air at some point in the late afternoon or early evening. The radio station where I found Rush aired the show from 3pm to 6pm, Eastern. I caught Rush in the months leading up to the 1992 Presidential election. He branched out into television in 1992 and the local television stations in my area programmed his show in the late-night hours. In one of his monologues and it became something of a running gag for awhile but whenever he said the name, Bill Clinton, the band would play "<i>Hail to the Chief</i>". <div><br /></div><div>I don't know how long the syndicated television show ran in my area...being a high school student I couldn't stay up late at night unless it was a Friday or Saturday. The official years of production are 1992-1996 but given it was a syndicated television show it didn't mean the local affiliates in my area aired it for it's entire run. I don't remember it airing for 4 years here...but I do remember watching it. He wrote several books...the one out at the time of his television show's debut was <b><i>The Way Things Ought To Be</i></b>. The popularity of his radio show and of conservative politics, in general, spawned a lot of other conservative radio talk shows and his presence on television inspired a sitcom that Henry Winkler starred, <b>Monty</b>. It was also during this time frame when there was an updated version of <b>WKRP in Cincinnati</b>. In one of the episodes they dealt with what the episode described as a 'shock jock' named Lash Rambo. It was an over-the-top spoof of Rush based on how he's perceived by his critics...and oh yes, Rush had his share of critics. </div><div><br /></div><div>Some of those critics are celebrating and applauding that Rush passed away. In their minds they've always seen Rush as a modern equivalent of Hitler or the personification of the Devil. The fact that he popularized conservative talk-radio and that he was described as being the leader of the conservative talk-radio industry, and, the fact that it was a multi-million dollar success meant that the critics were very loud, very vocal, and unapologetically harsh and heartless in their criticism of talk-radio, in general, but more specific: Rush's success. He became the target of the left's wrath simply because he was the most popular conservative on a national platform and never mind the fact that leftists and liberals controlled network television news and the newspaper industry, the fact that conservatives had firm control on talk-radio sent shock and alarm throughout the left-wing and liberal factions of the Democrat party. Ever since Rush's radio program and those that followed became incredibly popular and profitable on AM radio the Democrats have been on a crusade to crush all conservative opinion. For some reason the Democrats think the popularity of conservatism on talk-radio is harmful and dangerous...yet Democrats have controlled the flow of information on broadcast newscasts and in newspapers for decades...but nobody within the Republican party is launching boycotts or attack ads demanding that the Democrats loosen their grip on broadcast newscasts. It's never a two-way street with Democrats...they want to control everything and everyone. </div><div><br /></div><div>Rush popularized conservative talk-radio and he made it successful. He was the recipient of several Marconi Awards for Radio Personality of the Year. Anyone recall the commercial he did for <i>Pizza Hut</i> when the stuffed crust was brand new? His radio show remained the most listened to from the early '90s to the present day. <div><br /></div><div>There hasn't been any announcement as to who takes over that 12pm - 3pm time slot for those out there who may be wondering. Some suggest that the radio show Sean Hannity hosts nationally from 3pm - 6pm should be moved into the 12pm - 3pm slot and that Mark Levin's show, which airs nationally in most markets from 6pm to 9pm, should inherit the 3pm-6pm slot that Hannity currently occupies. I've loved the outpouring of sympathy and remembrances of Rush's life and career that have aired throughout the broadcast day on Fox News Channel. I was listening to Hannity's radio program earlier today and he played audio clips of Rush and the announcement made by Rush's wife, on radio, that Rush had passed away at age 70 of lung cancer. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLR8tfQZPRPmdbeIPeMrUnyyZhys8ObBOG4AK0q3ilaYdfhwvWBhdp_HKhsHX0jZVwP0I87Y0JdVSZ8R-As9T2r1Q_f6o21HuVE0vVv0Xv2RqJ4-TwJglSxjDLUCx3i_lZjFtheu7sOrEg/s354/RushLimbaugh-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="354" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLR8tfQZPRPmdbeIPeMrUnyyZhys8ObBOG4AK0q3ilaYdfhwvWBhdp_HKhsHX0jZVwP0I87Y0JdVSZ8R-As9T2r1Q_f6o21HuVE0vVv0Xv2RqJ4-TwJglSxjDLUCx3i_lZjFtheu7sOrEg/w357-h316/RushLimbaugh-2.JPG" width="357" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1951-2021</td></tr></tbody></table></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-52451468151243560222021-02-02T13:28:00.001-05:002021-07-17T17:10:45.327-04:00Hee Haw: Newly uploaded Interviews...<div style="text-align: left;"><b>**Author's Note</b> <b>(July 17, 2021)</b>: This blog entry originally had two video uploads...one an interview with George Yanok and another with Lulu Roman. They've since been removed from YouTube. The uploader is still on YouTube and so I don't know if the uploader took those videos down or if YouTube removed them. I'm still keeping the blog entry up because it includes my reviews of each of the interviews.<b>**</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Hello all! I've written more than 20 blog entries focusing on the television series, <b><i>Hee Haw</i></b>, over the years. In a lot of those previous blog entries the video clips I embedded have since been removed from the internet. There were clips on-line featuring comic sketches from the obscure 1992 season. There were clips on-line from episodes that aired in 1990. Those video clips are no longer on-line and as a result some of my previous <b><i>Hee Haw</i></b> blog entries show blank video screens. The show, for those new to <b><i>Hee Haw</i></b>, aired in first-run production from 1969 until 1992. The show aired on CBS for it's first two seasons, 1969-1971, but beginning in the fall of 1971 it started airing in syndication on local television affiliates. A majority of the local affiliates were owned by CBS but it wasn't uncommon to see <b><i>Hee Haw</i></b> airing at 6pm Eastern on a local ABC station and then see it airing on a local CBS affiliate at 7pm Eastern. It's official time slot during it's decades in syndication was 6pm Central on Saturday evening. It's home base was in Nashville, Tennessee and during it's first 12 seasons it was taped at the Channel 5 television studios. The production moved to a studio in Opryland in 1980 and it remained there until it's final episode in 1992. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A YouTube channel called Tee Vee Classics has uploaded a couple of interviews with those who worked on the <b><i>Hee Haw</i></b> show. One interview is with cast-member, Lulu Roman. The other interview is with one of the show's main writers for a number of years, George Yanok. The interview is engaging and informative. The writer talks about the complex production of the show and how editing was the driving force behind the series...mentioning that the show won an Emmy in the category of 'Best Electronic Editing of a Primetime Series'. He mentions the show's hosts, Roy Clark and Buck Owens, and makes mention of several other cast members and why it was important to tape the show in Nashville, Tennessee rather than have the cast fly out to Los Angeles. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the interview with Lulu Roman. She speaks about her upbringing and how so far removed she was from the country music scene and the country music world she had no idea, at first, that she was sharing the stage with legends of country music. She tells how it was Buck Owens who 'discovered' her several years before <b><i>Hee Haw</i></b> was even created. Buck had a hit television show that was locally syndicated and for the first several years while co-hosting <b><i>Hee Haw</i></b> he remained host of his own television show. He eventually had to give up his own show because, if I'm recalling correctly, it became competition as <b><i>Hee Haw</i></b> began showing up on local television affiliates that were carrying Buck's television series. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(July 17, 2021): I know it's not the same as having the two video uploads...but this is the big reason why I usually don't want to include video uploads in most of my blog entries. </div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-41046366250563170432021-01-23T16:02:00.000-05:002021-01-23T16:02:14.161-05:00Larry King: 1933-2021<div style="text-align: left;">As a night owl I'm typically beginning my day in the mid-morning or afternoon. I woke up today and after taking my morning medication I got onto the internet and found out Larry King passed away at age 87. My grandfather religiously watched Larry's show on CNN every night. I don't know if he watched it in it's earliest years but he definitely watched it throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. Larry's CNN television show, <b><i>Larry King Live</i></b>, aired 25 years: 1985-2010. I would sometimes watch Larry's television show if he happened to have a guest I was interested in. Larry would sometimes have celebrities on that you wouldn't regularly see on any talk show on cable or network television...by that I mean he would have legendary actors/actresses on. Their appearance was almost always tied to a just released autobiography, some upcoming public event, or a milestone in their career. I'm writing this blog entry through my own point of view and my own interpretation of events. If you read something on here and think to yourself "hey, that doesn't sound right" or "that doesn't make sense" I encourage you to seek out information on Larry King for specifics. This is just my take on Larry King through my own research and through how I remember him.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Larry's career began in radio in Florida in the 1950s. He was interested in sports and political news and spent much of his career interviewing sports, political, and entertainment figures from all time periods and backgrounds. He also interviewed infamous personalities...giving airtime to people that a general audience may view with skepticism or mistrust (psychics, fortune tellers, mind readers) or he'd have exclusive interviews with some sort of public figure that had either just been released from prison or were heading for prison and it wouldn't be uncommon for tabloid-driven figures to show up on Larry's shows. However, for the most part, Larry's programs stayed within the realm of traditional guests (actors/actresses, politicians, authors). Larry's long running radio series, <b><i>The Larry King Show</i></b>, aired in syndication and for much of it's run it aired during an all-night time slot on the Mutual Broadcasting System. The show had started out locally on a Florida radio station and it went national. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The concept of the show was for Larry to speak to the audience and relate his opinions regarding the news of the day; interview a guest; and then take calls from listeners who had questions for the guest and then, after the guest left, Larry would take calls from listeners who discussed any topic. This series ran almost 20 years (1978-1994) and aired Monday through Friday from 12am to 5:30am. In it's final year the show was no longer airing in an all-night slot and was placed in afternoon time slots which, by the early '90s, was becoming increasingly crowded as AM talk radio was expanding. Some local radio stations began to fill their mid-morning, afternoon, and early evening time slots with syndicated talk programs...call-in shows that originated from New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles. Then there were radio stations that preferred to 'keep it local' and have call-in/talk radio shows hosted by local radio personalities and local callers. Larry's syndicated radio series came to an end in 1994...swallowed up by the competitive nature of talk radio and the lack of major market clearances. Larry continued on, of course, hosting the CNN television series <i style="font-weight: bold;">Larry King Live</i>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When he stepped away from the CNN show in 2010 it was played up in the media that he was forced off the network due to his folky, traditional, non-threatening demeanor being in sharp contrast to the bomb throwing, lightning rod personalities that were reshaping the execution of cable news...particularly from the hosts airing prior to and after Larry's 9pm show. Larry's show wasn't a gigantic ratings champion at 9pm anymore because rival network, Fox News Channel, had audience sizes almost doubled that of CNN and MSNBC. His departure from CNN in 2010 was a worldwide news event. He didn't entirely retire in 2010...he got involved with social media/digital media. He had talk shows that were hosted by Hulu, Ora TV, and RT America: <b><i>Larry King Now</i></b> (2012-2020) and <b><i>Politicking with Larry King</i></b> (2013-2021). Ora TV is a company Larry created with his wife, Shawn Southwick. There are 1,000 episodes of <b><i>Larry King Now</i></b> and there's 257 episodes of the weekly series, <b><i>Politicking with Larry King</i></b>. On internet/digital television they're called podcasts rather than broadcasts.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">One of the interesting things that most don't know but I had actually seen on Game Show Network in the early 2000s is Larry appearing on an episode of <b><i>To Tell the Truth</i></b> in the early '80s before he became nationally recognizable. It was hugely funny, to me, to see two people walk out and say "I'm Larry King" and then see the actual Larry King walk out and say that they're Larry King. The announcer's line was: "Only one of these men is the real Larry King and is sworn To Tell the Truth; the other two are imposters.". Larry had been hospitalized since December 2020 with complications from COVID-19. The news of his hospitalization, though, wasn't released to the public until January 2nd. In the press release on January 2nd it was reported that Larry had been hospitalized for the last 10 days...which, as mentioned, would take one back to December 2020. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">He won a lot of industry awards in his career. He won two Peabody Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting (1982 for radio and 1992 for television). He won 10 Cable Ace Awards. That award was handed out between the years 1978 and 1997. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1989 and received induction into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1992. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi__jbv89pdbPe2r_6hnYwGJJ-bPwhRYg9R9Rr2kSdx4_if5Tsh4T8s4kkNPfNhstPY0209DA0GV3PW5LasjRgBQl1y1K1bH20f-S3p_N0Om48TQUrhFmiUNFN86oHx54_m3y8JRHbMEjUg/s352/LarryKing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="249" data-original-width="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi__jbv89pdbPe2r_6hnYwGJJ-bPwhRYg9R9Rr2kSdx4_if5Tsh4T8s4kkNPfNhstPY0209DA0GV3PW5LasjRgBQl1y1K1bH20f-S3p_N0Om48TQUrhFmiUNFN86oHx54_m3y8JRHbMEjUg/s320/LarryKing.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larry King: 1933-2021</td></tr></tbody></table>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-24303773851467260792021-01-21T02:19:00.002-05:002021-01-21T02:19:34.451-05:00Benny Hill: Happy Birthday!!<div style="text-align: left;">Well, now, we've gotten to January 21st and the birthdate of the comedic genius, Benny Hill. Happy birthday to the late Benny Hill!! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Everyone has their idea of what a 'comedic genius' is...I think that Benny is a genius because of his ability to be innovative with visual comedy in the early days of television. Some may shrug that off as irrelevant and take the cynical attitude of "well, it wasn't like someone <i>else</i> wouldn't have figured it out...". As a visual comedian I rank Benny Hill along side the likes of Ernie Kovacs and Red Skelton. I'd say that Benny was like a combination of those two...with a stage name inspired by Jack Benny. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaFJtQVL0eVNCDpzGLYliE_dk5aoFm1BpZxAaCB978M-dZdbqSewSXMYEK9amvgwm6rEMFYvJpEnJNVe5hdmeeW6-14s_6j0y3mdJizJi-WTy0Tfs55pxmu7RatmBbvrWp-KXh-jD7vP-Z/s563/BennyHillShowTitleCard.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="563" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaFJtQVL0eVNCDpzGLYliE_dk5aoFm1BpZxAaCB978M-dZdbqSewSXMYEK9amvgwm6rEMFYvJpEnJNVe5hdmeeW6-14s_6j0y3mdJizJi-WTy0Tfs55pxmu7RatmBbvrWp-KXh-jD7vP-Z/w212-h155/BennyHillShowTitleCard.JPG" width="212" /></a></div>Benny Hill was born Alfred Hill on January 21, 1924. His upbringing was that of most in his era...and for entertainment it was radio or live theater. In numerous on-line biographies and documentaries on Benny it's reported that live theater had a profound influence on Benny...and as a kid he'd see the comedians on stage and loved the idea of causing other people to laugh. He also took note of the emcee's of these theatrical performances and the sea of girls that would come out on stage and dance and have a fun old time. He remarked that the emcee always tended to be surrounded by a lot of beautiful women and that the comic made the people laugh...so, in a lot of ways, Benny combined two of those elements from British Music Hall theater into one and became: Benny Hill! The hallmarks of the Victorian Music Hall traditions that were still being performed during his childhood obviously played a huge role in the style of comedy he would gravitate to. Benny's affinity for this style of comedy put him at odds with 'contemporary' British comedians several decades later...but nevertheless there was an audience for it and millions would tune in to watch his television specials. His television career began in the 1950s and he taped a lot of comedy specials for the BBC.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA85FiYZonEIfay30LiW7nOJlrbH9JX8NiJJYdamaWq23KupimvzGHRwaAUTrZ8vp9Go3T0h9VjuKHcQ10AKBHjnGLok0o74EZ0g4eCiu33Jqr3LVDi7eLRqWVjwG2cPPwjkE4c31o1GYj/s414/BennyAngels-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="414" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA85FiYZonEIfay30LiW7nOJlrbH9JX8NiJJYdamaWq23KupimvzGHRwaAUTrZ8vp9Go3T0h9VjuKHcQ10AKBHjnGLok0o74EZ0g4eCiu33Jqr3LVDi7eLRqWVjwG2cPPwjkE4c31o1GYj/w218-h169/BennyAngels-2.JPG" width="218" /></a></div>This is a publicity photo from one of his early television specials...surrounded by a collection of beauties. It's been documented that television made Benny Hill a legendary entertainer...someone that became a popular entertainer exclusively through television rather than having a lengthy run in the theater or in radio. Benny had a spotty presence on BBC radio...but it's generally viewed that the greatness of his comedy wouldn't arrive until the visual medium and television. He was an under-rated master of pantomime. He could be hilarious with no dialogue whatsoever. So many of his most recognizable sketches are the non-verbal routines. These are largely recognizable for several reasons. The main reason they're recognizable is because of how great they're executed/timed and how they're a throwback to the sped-up silent sketches of the Keystone Kops and silent movie comedy in general. He was a big fan of Charlie Chaplin. It's a legendary anecdote now but when Benny visited Chaplin's residence he was shocked, stunned, and highly emotional upon discovering that within the personal collection of Charlie Chaplin were dozens of Benny Hill recordings on video tape. Benny's visit to the Chaplin estate happened in the late '70s following Chaplin's 1977 death. Benny's television programs on the BBC throughout the '60s featured many sight-gags, patter songs, and topical comedy. His inventiveness with the camera enabled him to appear on screen with himself...not once...but three or more times in the same scene. In the days of early television production this trick was performed through the use of covering part of the camera lens to block out certain areas and then, in post production, splicing all of the separately recorded images together to appear as if all images of Benny are appearing at the same time on screen. <div><br /></div><div>He invented a character named J. Arthur Clinker...world's fastest film maker. Benny once remarked that Clinker wrote the story in the morning, cast it during the afternoon, and filmed it in the evening and it's ready for viewing. The character probably was created as a vehicle for Benny to showcase sped-up or slowed-down camera footage and the haphazard approach of patching unrelated scenes together to create a film. One sketch featured the characters not speaking in-synch with the audio. The Clinker productions were always filled with errors, blunders, bizarre camera edits, and all kinds of other visually jarring activity. Benny may have been spoofing the reputation of Ed Wood.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR4KNa6xDcCYa-bCneiADMdB9O__LYRi2HPfByq12sZP1f1FcPbNz6o2YNxZmfHZiiHR96-tfsWmqpHhs4FcKE1JFpJFPEKNFOlr-LUjk-GIreUUaY3bVoarcx8aQFLOMrms8aMk1S7xCH/s364/BennyAndSue.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="364" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR4KNa6xDcCYa-bCneiADMdB9O__LYRi2HPfByq12sZP1f1FcPbNz6o2YNxZmfHZiiHR96-tfsWmqpHhs4FcKE1JFpJFPEKNFOlr-LUjk-GIreUUaY3bVoarcx8aQFLOMrms8aMk1S7xCH/w208-h163/BennyAndSue.JPG" width="208" /></a></div>Benny Hill's comedic seeds were sown in the brief appearances on BBC radio as well as his semi-regular appearances on BBC television in the early to mid '60s. He hit the 'big time' when he joined Thames Television in 1969. The company would be his home for the next 20 years. His legacy and impact took shape during his decades at Thames Television. He continued his appreciation for silent comedy and tackling British celebrities of the time period...one of his frequent spoofs happened to be newscasters and game show hosts. In the BBC years Benny's main comic foil was Jeremy Hawk. Benny's main character, Fred Scuttle, came with him to Thames Television. Benny's comic foil eventually became Henry McGee. Patricia Hayes appeared in several of Benny's early Thames Television specials. She was a hold over from the BBC era. Rita Webb, another ensemble member from the BBC years, also made some appearances on the early Thames Television specials. Benny's television specials were sporadic...the show wasn't on every week or every other week or every month...the specials would show up whenever they were completed and they were treated as television specials...garnering millions upon millions of television viewers. In the photo above Benny Hill is portraying Oliver Hardy and Sue Upton is portraying Stan Laurel in a sketch from the late 1980s. Benny's core ensemble throughout much of his Thames Television years consisted of Henry McGee, Bob Todd, Jackie Wright, and Jon Jon Keefe. </div><div><br /></div><div>In 1979, during it's 10th year in production, the series got a new producer/director named Dennis Kirkland. The series also added an all-girl dance group called The Hill's Angels. The most notable of the Angels happened to be Louise English and Sue Upton. In addition to the production and aesthetic changes in 1979, Don Taffner, an American television syndicator, began distributing half hour syndicated versions of Benny's television specials. These specials hit the American television airwaves, slowly at first, but the demand was so high that numerous half hour programs were created to fill all of the time-slots on local television stations as cable television and network television stations began popping up and staying on the air all night long rather than signing off at Midnight with a test pattern airing until 5 or 6am. The half hour programs that aired, first, on American television beginning in 1979 were edited versions of his hour long television specials. Some of those half hour episodes featured sketches taken from several of his hour long specials...meaning that in a single half hour episode Benny could age 5 to 10 years from sketch to sketch. These half hour episodes would become internationally popular...heavy emphasis placed on his silent sketches. The non-verbal comedy in those sketches was obviously helpful. </div><div><br /></div><div>Benny's television specials for Thames Television came to an end in 1989. A cave-in to political correctness brought the curtain down on Benny's harmless, whimsical comedy. It was a win for authoritarianism and a loss for comedy. The half hour shows were still airing all over most of the planet...and they continued airing...except in Benny Hill's home country. The accusations of sexism and the condemnation of 'contemporary' British comics in the late 1980's was too much for Thames Television to ignore, apparently. Don Taffner, in the meantime, arranged for Benny and the gang to star in another comedy special. The special, <b><i>Benny Hill's World Tour: New York</i></b>, was taped in 1990. The exterior scenes were shot in New York. USA Network aired the comedy special in May of 1991. Benny's syndicated programs were still airing in many television markets...and there was talk of Benny putting together a series of future television specials using the World Tour concept. He passed away, however, in April of 1992 at the age of 68...and reportedly among the papers found in his house was an unsigned television contract which called for the production of new comedy specials. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is by no means a detailed overview of his life/career...some out there may find my style of writing incoherent and grammatically challenged...be that as it may Benny Hill was a comedic genius...his work is on video hosting sites for millions of people to discover. In a 2007 poll of the Top-50 Greatest Television Stars conducted by ITV, Benny Hill was ranked 17. I think that was an incredible showing particularly in Britain and particularly nearly 20 years <i>after</i> he passed away. So much hate was written about him during the final years of his television career and so much hate-filled rhetoric directed at Benny has spewed forth since 1989 that having him rank at 17 in a public poll of the 50 Greatest British television stars in 2007 was something of a revelation. It shows me that the public, if you really think about it, was never truly offended by Benny Hill's comedy. The hate and criticism came from special interest groups rather than the public at large. Why is it wrong to cater to special interests? It's wrong because special interests only reflect the views of a small group who share a single interest...it's wrong to cater to the whims of a faction but instead try to reflect the interests of a public as a whole. I'm going to close this blog entry with a funny song and dance from Benny Hill and Jackie Wright...it's wonderful...</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="239" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5kYbvvh1YMU" width="327" youtube-src-id="5kYbvvh1YMU"></iframe></div></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-52454105454670275942021-01-20T00:56:00.000-05:002021-01-20T00:56:09.515-05:00Benny Hill: 'National Smile Week' sketch...<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qAyhlteGaEzeckY86uWLX1EWG-1xYBIEBGkaDsTeCnOTyHOuEMGr47K2G1GPM2kihUfwvBIloXw8TSRduo-zYNTMFXNFoolGgcvDC163m5sFTgK8f8Mw6pD_au6WjSTRsHwdAl1pW1Pe/s365/BennyHill-1988-SmileWeekSketch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="295" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qAyhlteGaEzeckY86uWLX1EWG-1xYBIEBGkaDsTeCnOTyHOuEMGr47K2G1GPM2kihUfwvBIloXw8TSRduo-zYNTMFXNFoolGgcvDC163m5sFTgK8f8Mw6pD_au6WjSTRsHwdAl1pW1Pe/w180-h221/BennyHill-1988-SmileWeekSketch.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>As we're a day away from celebrating the birthdate of the legendary Benny Hill I was searching the video clips and came across a sketch uploaded a couple of days ago. It's a sketch from the January 13, 1988 special...it's the closing sketch called <i>National Smile Week</i>. It's one of his sped-up sketches...no voices...the only thing a viewer hears is the accompanying music and the sound effects. In the sketch you'll practically all of Benny's familiar co-stars as well as some of the Hill's Angels. There is also a kid in this sketch...in case you're not familiar, during this point of his television career, he incorporated children of the stage crew and his co-stars and they were billed on-screen as Hill's Little Angels. The concept of the sketch is to take a look at people, at random, going about their day with smiles on their faces regardless of the misfortune and chaos going on around them. This being a 1988 sketch means Jackie Wright, the little bald guy, isn't among the ensemble. He retired due to illness in 1983. Johnny Hutch, a somewhat similar looking actor, filled in for Jackie and you'll see Johnny in this sketch...he, too, doesn't lose his smile in spite of the bad luck that comes his way. As you can see in the screen cap, Benny is all smiles during this particular scene. Earlier in the sketch he encounters an elderly woman, Hill's Angel Sue Upton in disguise, and he gets car exhaust and fumes blown in his face...but he remains smiling. An image from that scene is in the thumbnail below...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="232" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0BTD10bZTCs" width="280" youtube-src-id="0BTD10bZTCs"></iframe></div><br />Tomorrow marks the birthdate of the legendary British comedian, Benny Hill. I don't want to get into a lot of other details too soon...I've posted blog entries about him in the past and no doubt the blog entry I write tomorrow will probably cover a lot of information that can be found in the previous blog entries but with a 2021 time stamp. I'd read one of those blog entries that I'd written...I included several photo collages of Benny and I included my own facial expressions, too...sort of a comparison between the two of us as far as comical expressions for the camera are concerned. I don't think I'll be including any of that this time around but I may. I was snapping photo's of myself with my web-camera the other day and I was making some of the most silly, ridiculous faces I could think of...perhaps they'll be in a future blog entry on Benny Hill's birthday tomorrow!?! I don't have those kind of prop teeth to make it appear I'm forever grinning as Benny's wearing in the sketch. I made a collage a couple of minutes ago while simultaneously writing this blog entry. I multi-task. The collage is a side-by-side photo of Jackie Wright and Johnny Hutch. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDmrha-GDKChiC0yl2uxrGX_605IHOWDmjHXcw8WfhVEycrmDdyYn6PaIJ7omCO5ydWdCOgE8qwVlp53wbt19f5i7-jEEY3FyQxqcoovFGYzsmXWQWHp45MQjG_GRdjhYJEeE1b-n1B1gC/s485/JackieAndJohnny.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="242" data-original-width="485" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDmrha-GDKChiC0yl2uxrGX_605IHOWDmjHXcw8WfhVEycrmDdyYn6PaIJ7omCO5ydWdCOgE8qwVlp53wbt19f5i7-jEEY3FyQxqcoovFGYzsmXWQWHp45MQjG_GRdjhYJEeE1b-n1B1gC/w388-h194/JackieAndJohnny.JPG" width="388" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-13681212248987842292021-01-17T03:11:00.003-05:002021-01-17T03:11:51.445-05:00Benny Hill: The Master of the Sight Gag...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ03_7NkuDQ8WQvhf8l_dLioSfaSfdK2X9mbuYePR9scwQF_yxkB-1c1GKwmEyEOQ1rbmXRU-UIMSzTgLbimpNyYNSMMvMAOnS6SNeHpppoNbnDgzcES4uq8GF_6o7Hl4Yi-9k6JQYENHM/s411/BennyHill-1990.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="411" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ03_7NkuDQ8WQvhf8l_dLioSfaSfdK2X9mbuYePR9scwQF_yxkB-1c1GKwmEyEOQ1rbmXRU-UIMSzTgLbimpNyYNSMMvMAOnS6SNeHpppoNbnDgzcES4uq8GF_6o7Hl4Yi-9k6JQYENHM/w197-h162/BennyHill-1990.JPG" width="197" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Benny Hill; 1990</td></tr></tbody></table>Hello all! I wrote a Benny Hill-themed blog entry back in early January and I'm back with a follow-up. Benny's birthdate is coming up soon...the actual date is January 21. We're a few years shy of celebrating the 100th birthdate of the late Benny Hill in 2024 and if I'm still active on-line in 2024, and why wouldn't I be, I'll be celebrating the occasion on this blog! I title this blog entry not necessarily to do any kind of in-depth dissection of Benny's famous visual comedy but more or less to highlight that how photo's can be powerful and sometimes misleading. In this screen cap we see Benny performing one of his classic routines where he does the dropping of the handkerchief bit. Typically Benny would be walking along minding his own business and he'd see, one by one, "good looking men" drop their handkerchief and some woman would stop, pick it up, and go off walking with the man. Benny, after taking note, would then drop <i>his</i> handkerchief in the hopes a woman passing by would hook up with him but you see how the woman reacted...she picked the handkerchief up, blew her nose on it, and handed it back to him. 😄 <div><br /></div><div>Benny Hill was a master of the sight-gag. He could manipulate the camera, for example, and have his image appear side-by-side-by-side. Camera tricks were also employed when the process of undercranking was used...time lapsed images often appeared on camera...a flower perfectly erect would wilt downward in seconds...he would also use the camera to speed up, edit, or dramatically slow down the pace of a sketch. The most internationally known use of the camera happened to be what's called The Benny Hill Chase. This is something that happened at the end of most episodes of the half-hour syndicated versions of Benny's show. A sketch would begin calmly but through a series of comical blunders and errors Benny would find himself being chased by practically everyone to the tune of Boots Randolph's "<i>Yakety Sax</i>". This sketch was typically sped-up and in pantomime to mirror the silent comedy that Benny was partially influenced by. Benny performed so many non-verbal sketches...typically sped-up with bouncy music...where the humor came with the visual gags. </div><div><br /></div><div>He would have words painted onto buildings that carried on a conversation with each other. A written statement found on the side of a brick wall, in graffiti style, might read: "I've not even begun to fight!!" and then the camera would show a sign just below that reads: "You could've fooled me!" with an image of a beaten up person laying on the ground. One of his recurring jokes happened to be the poster board where there was usually a series of 5 or 6 sentences written on a large poster board next to a door...Benny would then open the door and covering everything on the poster except the first letter in each sentence. It would usually spell out a double-entendre word. One of the ways that photos can be misleading is that they're a snapshot...and based upon the person using the photo it can either be a tool of publicity or a tool of deception.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBL38V8rgU7FnqjNh9zkkLf-YRjxTqLDsfffKGYJE__D6WQW2qS-XEFAbs1gTYS-BBFF2zty-V0LpP7YgDkHTGa9kLRIGbNZM07kdteqnh8idlxNQQW_wCuLjIL80HggtaX4sbIp1Gl8M/s422/BennyAngels.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="350" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBL38V8rgU7FnqjNh9zkkLf-YRjxTqLDsfffKGYJE__D6WQW2qS-XEFAbs1gTYS-BBFF2zty-V0LpP7YgDkHTGa9kLRIGbNZM07kdteqnh8idlxNQQW_wCuLjIL80HggtaX4sbIp1Gl8M/w204-h246/BennyAngels.JPG" width="204" /></a></div>Benny's comedy is all over the internet. If you look for it you're going to find a lot of his comedy sketches from all time periods of his career. The bulk of the sketches that appear on the internet were uploaded by fans and those who are simply curious or intrigued by Benny Hill. The material has all been issued on DVD and so there's rarely anything that shows up on-line that hasn't already appeared on a DVD somewhere. I like the fact that his comedy continues to be discovered. A photo like the one off to the left is of Benny and what were billed as the Hill's Angels. This dance group shown up in Benny's television specials in 1979. In the half-hour syndicated episodes that aired all over the world there are some installments where it's heavy with Hill's Angels dance numbers. Benny's half-hour syndicated programs, which aired all over the world starting in 1979, were edited versions of his hour long television specials from England. <b><i>The Benny Hill Show</i></b> that we seen on American television throughout the '80s and into the early '90s during the late-night/over-night hours were half-hour glimpses into Benny's comedy. If you have his full, hour length programs on DVD or if you've seen them on-line you'll see a lot more variety than what's on the half-hour versions. However, those half-hour versions of his show are what brought Benny Hill international fame. The photos of Benny and the Hill's Angels are used as a tool of deception. They're designed to make you think that's all Benny's show was all about...and it wasn't. If you know your Benny Hill history and are familiar with the various documentaries and taped remarks from Benny himself then you'll know how much he loved the British Music Hall tradition of entertainment. In a lot of his shows he put on large, highly choreographed song and dance presentations not unlike the kind one would find taking place in the music hall venues at the turn of the century. A big production and lots of dancing women and the comedy of it all were heavy influences on his distinctive style. Benny's use of dancing women, songs, patter, and sight gags, goes back to his years at the BBC and even prior to that on his earliest of television specials in the '50s. The Hill's Angels, however, weren't officially christened until 1979. Benny joined Thames Television in 1969. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8gyJcIz5vKM8fkq3jS8uWSe7qKtUN6gnghbkvQ5mVc0SQ2PbxHnkIvajdk5qLh4dSHIoP4YCsdpEpjflvJUt-f0EijM8B_3YaoB8rFRrOs6AXxDm6bwndKLnuE2YO6UpiZODzFhsokJT/s414/BennyAngels-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="414" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8gyJcIz5vKM8fkq3jS8uWSe7qKtUN6gnghbkvQ5mVc0SQ2PbxHnkIvajdk5qLh4dSHIoP4YCsdpEpjflvJUt-f0EijM8B_3YaoB8rFRrOs6AXxDm6bwndKLnuE2YO6UpiZODzFhsokJT/w263-h204/BennyAngels-2.JPG" width="263" /></a></div><br />I know why those Hill's Angels photos are used...it draws a person's eyes...and in television as well as the internet you want the viewer's/reader's eyes. Those photos are like hundreds that are all over the internet. Do I think some people watched his shows just for the Hill's Angels? Probably! Do I think that there's some people who think that's what his show was all about? I'm sure there are those who think that way and having so many publicity photos on the internet of Benny surrounded by a collection of women goes a long way at further perpetuating that image. Am I going to set people straight once and for all and admonish those who misunderstand Benny's comedy? </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqli4aMzHuSEgc0Y4vm7HlMq6UQXxAaXAWwi07oOuTmWZJFVKpJ4HWrfQGk2nf5anddXZ2hk9Ck80xaC2fOeEx6cIkwqGzOyLjIC4S_C_ekmBDdxk5OB2JSMYczguy_VTimsuwHd8FBLoe/s406/BennyHillAndFriends.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="406" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqli4aMzHuSEgc0Y4vm7HlMq6UQXxAaXAWwi07oOuTmWZJFVKpJ4HWrfQGk2nf5anddXZ2hk9Ck80xaC2fOeEx6cIkwqGzOyLjIC4S_C_ekmBDdxk5OB2JSMYczguy_VTimsuwHd8FBLoe/w212-h180/BennyHillAndFriends.JPG" width="212" /></a></div>Let's look at this rationally. Do those four guys really look that terribly threatening or controversial? Come on...take a look. We have Henry McGee standing next to Benny Hill. In front we have Jackie Wright and Roger Finch. Bob Todd was also a familiar presence but isn't in the photo. The show's producer, the late Dennis Kirkland, had that sentiment that I'm echoing. I, too, don't feel that those four entertainers should send anyone into fits of anger, rage, and hostility. They're perfectly harmless. Jackie Wright, as you can see, became famous for the sped-up sketches where he'd get the top of his head patted on and in many cases, slapped, to the sound of rapidly strung together tapping sound effects. He was part of Benny's Thames TV specials until 1983. Health problems caused his 'retirement' from Benny's show and he passed away in 1989, ironically, the same year Thames TV canceled Benny's show following a 20 year run with the company. Anyway, after Jackie stepped away from the show in 1983, they tried a look-a-like for several television specials. Henry McGee was the straight man and the show's announcer. Henry had a flair for comedy, though, and would get a chance to play bizarre characters, too. Henry's talent was being able to have a perfect reaction to whatever Benny happened to be doing. There are numerous routines where Henry is acting as the interviewer to one of Benny's characterizations and in a decent number of those sketches Henry could get laughs by just holding a facial expression or get a laugh with a twitch or raise of an eye. Benny's television specials were much more than eye candy. <div><br /></div><div>I'll be writing another blog entry spotlighting Benny Hill in the days ahead...most likely on his birthdate. I'll close this blog entry with a clip of Benny and one of those sight gags I was explaining earlier in the blog. This one is the poster board gag where a series of lines are shown on a board and the visual punchline at the conclusion...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="239" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i_qIKRaZYBs" width="289" youtube-src-id="i_qIKRaZYBs"></iframe></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-46105428886122332662021-01-09T05:22:00.000-05:002021-01-09T05:22:19.919-05:00Benny Hill is still one of Comedy's Masters...<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMsMfYjoxx-0HOlzAFQQL0kQI_KSFffCbToY7SSOKO4GTwIFmllA_69ifSbbbWZq7lOaA1AepcM69RWfTjvlclN23p0atfnvsmD0VujKc-tlbkTIXRjpdkIvRJN6_sf9ExVn2CTzGt3vdn/s267/BennyHill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="231" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMsMfYjoxx-0HOlzAFQQL0kQI_KSFffCbToY7SSOKO4GTwIFmllA_69ifSbbbWZq7lOaA1AepcM69RWfTjvlclN23p0atfnvsmD0VujKc-tlbkTIXRjpdkIvRJN6_sf9ExVn2CTzGt3vdn/w167-h193/BennyHill.JPG" width="167" /></a></div>I've written several blog entries about one of my all-time favorite British comedians, Benny Hill. I continue, every so often, to watch video clips on YouTube from his various television specials. I feel that my discovery of Benny Hill in the late 1980s mirrors a lot of other people my age...if they're like myself I discovered him in the summer months when I'd watch television in the late night hours. School was out in the summer months and so I didn't have to go to bed in order to wake up in the morning for school...and so I discovered one of Benny's television shows at some point after midnight. Later this month is Benny's date of birth. He was born January 21, 1924. His comedy programs go back to the 1950s on the BBC...at one point he was appearing on BBC radio. His longest tenure arrived in 1969 when he joined Thames Television. He remained with Thames Television for 20 years! His comedy was rooted in the British Music Hall tradition. His comedy relied heavily on wordplay, patter songs, and costume/visual humor. He was not a "sexist" nor is his comedy "offensive". He is a genuine comedy master. When you find yourself laughing at the funny or silly things he does in his television specials then he's done his job! As mentioned I often watch clips from his television specials on YouTube and I have some VHS tapes of his BBC sketches. Arts and Entertainment issued a 6-volume DVD collection titled <b><i>Benny Hill: Complete and Unadulterated</i></b>. I have Volumes 1, 2, 5, and 6. Those DVD's contain complete episodes of his Thames Television specials which aired from 1969 until 1989.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Benny's programs that aired in England were a series of hour long television specials. He would typically do a handful of television specials per year. In 1979 a syndicator, Don Tafner, brought Benny's comedy to America's television sets. Don's idea was to create a syndicated series featuring half hour episodes of sketches edited from Benny's hour long television specials. The syndicated, half hour series aired on American television during late night and eventually, over-night timeslots, once cable television expanded to all-night service. Once upon a time television channels used to sign-off near Midnight or just after the 'late night movie' ended. These syndicated half hour programs officially aired from 1979 until 1989 on many local television stations across America...however, some local TV stations continued airing the half hour sketch-filled show on into the early 1990s. Some of the members of Benny's supporting players included Jeremy Hawk, Patricia Hayes, Bella Emberg, Rita Webb, Henry McGee, Bob Todd, Jackie Wright, Louise English, Sue Upton, Jenny Lee Wright, Diana Darvey, and others. Some of the women were character actresses but others were part of a larger ensemble collectively referred to as Hill's Angels. This ensemble appeared in their own segment...typically a dance routine. Now, of all the Hill's Angels, the two that appeared more frequently in comedy sketches, too, were Sue Upton and Louise English. The two of them remain the most popular of the Hill's Angels to this day. Henry McGee was Benny's straight man and the announcer of the Thames Television show...often heard introducing Benny as "here he is...that lad himself...Benny Hill!!" or "Yes!! It's the Benny Hill Show!!". Jackie Wright was the short, bald headed guy that always got his head slapped in rapid fashion from Benny. In some of the later episodes following Jackie's 1983 retirement they had a fill-in take over that characterization due to the rapid head slapping sight gag being so hysterical. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I know I can't speak for all fans of Benny Hill but I'm getting tired of seeing video clips pop-up from time to time bashing his comedy or seeing video where the uploader of the video is trying to insist that Benny was somehow "lonely" or lived a "sad, lonely life". That description of Benny is inaccurate. He enjoyed his life and he had a close circle of friends. Yes, it's true he lived alone and by most people's accounts anyone "who lives alone" must therefore be "lonely"...but I reject that assertion. Benny Hill was a master at what he did...and the fact that in the year 2021 there's so many video clips of him on the internet and the fact that I'm writing my third or fourth blog entry about him just goes to show anyone that Benny Hill is still one of comedy's masters!</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq0IewJ32GESfhR4rJ-HUoP3rgYnR_J7hu_iwSLYQvV9N6kxHRtTDJ3Ailjr45v9p9QSyfqXzT7fDW8Jvb7SP8EzI0lCGaww-IABeRgcDaslC2vXMIwMLb3rXZM8_pvaKZCkfUZAkzmg9j/s267/BennyHill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="231" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq0IewJ32GESfhR4rJ-HUoP3rgYnR_J7hu_iwSLYQvV9N6kxHRtTDJ3Ailjr45v9p9QSyfqXzT7fDW8Jvb7SP8EzI0lCGaww-IABeRgcDaslC2vXMIwMLb3rXZM8_pvaKZCkfUZAkzmg9j/w179-h207/BennyHill.JPG" width="179" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Benny Hill: 1924-1992</td></tr></tbody></table></div>ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-6332533005224603362020-08-01T01:12:00.001-04:002020-08-01T01:12:20.349-04:00John Stephenson at BotCon 2001...In my recurring quest to find video footage of the late voice actor, John Stephenson, I came across a video last month on YouTube that I have yet to spotlight in a blog entry...but that's being taken care of in this blog. Video surfaced last month of BotCon2001...which is notable, for me at least, as being the edition of that event in which John Stephenson made a rare public appearance. He was part of a three person panel discussing not only their careers in animated cartoons but their time spent on the <b><i>Transformers</i></b> series of the 1980s. Michael Bell and Gregg Berger are the other voice artists on the panel. BotCon is the name of the convention celebrating all things <b><i>Transformers</i></b>.<br />
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If you know your classic Hanna-Barbera history then you'll know that both Michael Bell and John Stephenson worked on the animated series, <b><i>Super Friends</i></b>, at different points in that program's history. John was actually part of the first season of that series in the role of Col. Wilcox. He would also lend his voice to a villain, Sculpin, in a second season episode. Michael Bell became a cast member of that series beginning with Season Two in the roles of both Zan and Gleek.<br />
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As soon as John begins speaking you should recognize the voice immediately. He used his natural speaking voice in a lot of the cartoons because it lent itself perfectly to characters of authority. He voiced all kinds of policemen, doctors, scientists, and military officials...but he could also deliver evil versions of those professions, too...with just a growl or snarl of the voice. In the opposite extreme he could be silly, too. In <b><i>Wacky Races</i></b> he voiced Luke and the forever whining Blubber Bear. He did impressions of Paul Lynde's voice, for example. A lot of internet sites mistakenly credit Paul Lynde as the voice of Mildew Wolf in the 1977 animated series, <b><i>Scooby's All Star Laff-a-Lympics</i></b>, but in fact it was John Stephenson voicing that character. The confusion arises from Paul Lynde having originally voiced the character in an animated series called <b><i>It's The Wolf</i></b>, a segment of the animated <b><i>Cattanooga Cats</i></b> series. Mildew Wolf appears as a co-host on the 1977 Scooby series so I guess a lot of people just assume Paul Lynde voiced the character in that series, too. Several years later John resurrected the Paul Lynde vocal impression for another wolf...this time Wilfred Wolf on Tex Avery's <b><i>Kwicky Koala</i></b> series. Tex passed away in 1980 during the development/production of the series and didn't see it hit the airwaves in 1981. Wilfred's catchphrase is "Gotcha!!" whenever he goes to capture the quick-to-vanish koala. Kwicky twitches his ears in order to disappear from Wilfred's clutches. In the <b><i>Top Cat</i></b> series John could be heard as the suave Fancy-Fancy as well as Officer Dibble's superior in the police precinct. John's most publicized role is Mr. Slate in <b><i>The Flintstones</i></b>. When watching the video keep alert for John's Mel Blanc story, his recollections about voice director Wally Burr, Joe Barbera, and later in the clip John informally re-creates the cries of Blubber Bear while telling a story of his bleeding hand...oh, and John does a roar of a Dinosaur. He referenced a series, not by name, in which he was vocally cast as a Dinosaur and in the clip he demonstrates a roar!<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="265" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1cqSBM8T4k8" width="330"></iframe><br />ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-60325146704908154002020-07-10T15:41:00.000-04:002020-07-10T15:41:42.022-04:00A list of books for and against Trump...This isn't going to be some kind of political essay of the Trump Administration. It dawned on me one day that this President has had so many books written about him while being a sitting President that I decided to look up some of the book titles that have been released since January 2017...and some that have yet to surface. I'm not providing a definitive list...but to even say that should go a long way at explaining just how many books have been written about the President in a little over 3 years time. Obviously considering that Trump had been in the public eye for decades before running for President meant that most of the books that surfaced in 2017 were speculative...filled with information and often hearsay based on his past but had very little factual information on what a Trump Administration would look like.<br />
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Here's a list of books that have or <i>will</i> be released. Some of these books were written by Trump defenders, and for those books I'll feature the author's name, but the rest were written by what I call unhinged liberals on the attack who shall go anonymous. Search on-line stores for the books written by anti-Trump authors if you're interested in purchasing those. As a Trump supporter I find their books offensive which is why I'll provide the titles but not the author's name.<br />
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1. Trump Revealed: The Definitive Biography (January 2017)<br />
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2. The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump (March 2019)<br />
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3. Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency (Andrew C. McCarthy; August 2019)<br />
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4. United States of Trump (Bill O'Reilly; September 2019)<br />
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5. Fear: Trump in the White House (September 2019)<br />
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6. The Plot Against the President (Lee Smith; October 2019)<br />
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7. Resistance at All Costs: How Trump Haters are Breaking America (Kimberly Strassel; October 2019)<br />
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8. Inside Trump's White House (November 2019)<br />
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9. Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Destroy Us (Donald Trump, Jr.; November 2019)<br />
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10. Revolution: Trump, Washington, and We The People (K.T. McFarland; February 2020)<br />
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11. The MAGA Doctrine (Charlie Kirk; March 2020)<br />
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12. The Case for Donald Trump (Victor Davis Hanson; March 2020)<br />
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13. Hiding in Plain Sight (April 2020)<br />
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14. Downfall: The Demise of a President and His Party (April 2020)<br />
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15. Donald Trump and His Assault on the Truth (June 2020)<br />
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16. The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump (June 2020)<br />
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17. The Room Where It Happened (June 2020)<br />
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18. Trump and the American Future (Newt Gingrich; June 2020)<br />
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19. How Trump Stole 2020 (July 2020)<br />
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20. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man (July 2020)<br />
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21. Trump on Trial (August 2020)<br />
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22. Trump Women (September 2020; re-release of 2018 book, 'Golden Handcuffs')<br />
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23. Trump Century (Lou Dobbs; September 2020)<br />
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24. Obsession: Inside the Washington Establishment's Never Ending War on Trump (Byron York; September 2020)<br />
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I'll stop at 24!! That's just scratching the surface. The point of these books is to fight for or against the Trump Administration. I know there have been books published about presidents while they were in office and of course once they leave office but I don't know if any sitting President has ever been the subject of so many books from all sides of the political spectrum before!!<br />
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Newt Gingrich has written a couple of other books about Trump: "<i>Trump vs. China: Facing America's Greatest Threat</i>" (October 2019), "<i>Trump's America: The Truth About Our Nation's Greatest Comeback</i>" (June 2018), and "<i>Understanding Trump</i>" (June 2017).ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-68688479339340792932020-05-04T05:45:00.000-04:002020-05-04T05:45:15.241-04:00Red Skelton on RFD-TV...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjtqvabgiR-8qKqf_iC_AcoJeKxWMF403j9RbYC5Jn4fm_icxF6cbJd3s7KJkg0KTiKZUfXOB1KGDlAKV1xCEwYaDWZHFrqpbdhYcHkeviJcPOa9v5T9rcO_3FM7xCvFjULpXflfQ5l1dh/s1600/MeAndRedSkeltonVHS-3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="373" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjtqvabgiR-8qKqf_iC_AcoJeKxWMF403j9RbYC5Jn4fm_icxF6cbJd3s7KJkg0KTiKZUfXOB1KGDlAKV1xCEwYaDWZHFrqpbdhYcHkeviJcPOa9v5T9rcO_3FM7xCvFjULpXflfQ5l1dh/s200/MeAndRedSkeltonVHS-3.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and a Red Skelton VHS</td></tr>
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I don't know how long it's been part of their line-up but I happened to be searching my on-screen program guide yesterday evening and seen where <i><b>The Red Skelton Hour</b></i> was airing at 7pm on RFD-TV. The episode's description included a title, '<i>The Fastest Crumb in the West</i>'. I looked up that episode and found that it originally aired September 21, 1965 on CBS. The airing of Red's television series is a rarity...let alone the hour long version...and so with the news that his program is being re-aired on cable/satellite channel, RFD-TV, I thought it only necessary to provide a general overview of Red's career. This by no means is a definitive essay...only a general overview filled with information that you'll more than likely find all over the internet but perhaps not presented in a conversational style which is how I prefer to write. A lot of bloggers simply provide information, bullet points, or images...but I prefer to present my blog entries in a personal/conversational way so it doesn't come across overly technical (unless the topic calls for in-depth/technical information). Red's career path began at the age of 10. He was born July 18, 1913 in Vincennes, Indiana. Now, having been born in a river town, it was only natural for someone with a zeal for entertaining that he would eventually find himself on showboats of that time period. Red's earliest years in 'show business' included not only appearing on showboats, traveling in medicine shows, and reportedly was part of a traveling circus (in later years he was known for his paintings of clowns). His rise into show business found him branching into the burlesque circuit and then switching over, in 1934, to Vaudeville.<br />
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The time-line in Red's professional career shown that he established himself in the waning stages of Vaudeville considering that most performers had, by 1934, made the professional leap onto radio. His career as a Vaudeville performer, however, was short-lived due to the fact that radio was quickly replacing Vaudeville as a viable form of entertainment. Red's first forays into radio were in the form of guest appearances on Rudy Vallee's radio program, <i><b>The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour</b></i>, in the fall of 1937. He went on to guest star a second time and then, in November 1937, he guest starred a third time on Rudy's influential program.<br />
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Research shows that Red began his film career in 1938 at RKO in a film titled <b>Having Wonderful Time</b> which starred Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Ginger Rogers. Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, and a host of other established radio/movie stars appeared in it. On the movie poster Red is billed as Richard (Red) Skelton. His film career is largely tied to MGM and he appeared in films as a star, supporting player, or in cameo roles. One of his films is titled <b>The Clown</b>, released January 16, 1953, and it's a dramatic movie. It was reported that early on when Red was doing screen tests in his attempt to get into films that he often had trouble reading dramatic parts due to his natural tendency to want to lighten a mood or be humorous. He eventually became one of the most dramatic performers you'd ever hope to see, if the story called for it, with most of the characters he portrayed in those type of films being sentimental or on the verge of mental or emotional collapse. In his pantomime sketches he was often fond of portraying those kinds of characters and could effectively convey a sense of sadness/tragedy through facial expressions alone. A lot of the films that Red appeared in for MGM fell under light entertainment/musical or broad comedy/slapstick. Some of his films are: <b>I Dood It</b> (1943), <b>The Show-Off</b> (1946), <b>The Fuller Brush Man</b> (1948), <b>Neptune's Daughter</b> (1949), <b>The Yellow Cab Man</b> (1950), and <b>Public Pigeon Number One</b> (1957). Those particular films came later in his career...after he had established himself as a radio star...but let's back up several years...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Red Skelton VHS collection</td></tr>
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Those guest appearances on Rudy Vallee's radio series in 1937 led to his hosting a radio series titled <i><b>Avalon Time</b></i> which had originally been hosted by country music singer, Red Foley. There is a lot of conflicting information surrounding the hosting time-line of this series but I'm quoting information I found while researching for this blog entry. On the Radio Spirits <a href="https://www.radiospirits.com/AVALON-TIME.php" target="_blank">WEBSITE</a> for <i><b>Avalon Time</b></i> it gives Red's hosting tenure as January 7, 1939 to December 20, 1939. Red's biggest success came later on when he starred on The <i><b>Raleigh Cigarette Program</b></i> beginning October 7, 1941 on NBC. He created Clem Kadiddlehopper and Junior on this series. This series featured Red Skelton as it's star until June 6, 1944...Red was drafted into the military! He was in the military for over a year...discharged in September 1945 for medical reasons (he had suffered a nervous breakdown). Red returned to the NBC airwaves in December 1945 as host of <i><b>The New Raleigh Cigarette Program</b></i>. The bulk of Red's other characters emerged during this point in his career: Bolivar Shagnasty, Deadeye, San Fernando Red, Cauliflower McPug, and Willie Lump Lump. The good times with the Raleigh company came to an end in 1948 (the usual reason: budgetary concerns) and Red found himself hosting the self-titled <i><b>Red Skelton Show</b></i> for Tide, at the time, a relatively brand new detergent company. This series ran until the spring of 1949 on NBC radio. Afterward Red switched networks...joining the CBS radio line-up...following in the footsteps of Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Amos 'n' Andy, and the ventriloquist/dummy duo of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. In the fall of 1949 <i><b>The Red Skelton Show</b></i> debuted on CBS with Tide remaining his sponsor until a switch to the Norge company. Red remained on CBS radio until June 25, 1952.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLSMuKT8KSGqVhXN9BeJW78ZKnXnTSM7_taCQWS-6ooUKtoyytdR2kbjJukFBfWMLc3E3msAsmt2vuXPMbxLT1wvBO1wY3zdPwGRbD_VV3U8k-DIYsBq2K7PKAiMsUwDL8kUey-uz41c09/s1600/MeAndRedSkeltonDVD2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="296" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLSMuKT8KSGqVhXN9BeJW78ZKnXnTSM7_taCQWS-6ooUKtoyytdR2kbjJukFBfWMLc3E3msAsmt2vuXPMbxLT1wvBO1wY3zdPwGRbD_VV3U8k-DIYsBq2K7PKAiMsUwDL8kUey-uz41c09/s200/MeAndRedSkeltonDVD2.JPG" width="197" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Red Skelton DVDs</td></tr>
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In the meantime, though, Red was one of the few radio performers who couldn't wait to get onto television. A lot of his contemporaries eased into a television schedule. Jack Benny, for example, continued his radio program for five years concurrent with his infrequent appearances with early television specials. Jack's final network radio series aired in May 1955...a full five years after debuting on television...but Jack never appeared in a weekly television series until 1960. Some radio performers, notably Fred Allen, attempted television programs but none of them caught on with a <i>viewing</i> audience even though, if you turn off the visual and just listen to the audio, his attempts at hosting television programs <i>sound</i> like his radio programs...but his television legacy is tied to his years as a regular panelist on <i><b>What's My Line?</b></i>. Red's television series debuted September 30, 1951 on NBC television...but his radio series was still airing on CBS. The radio series moved back to NBC in the fall of 1952 and Red's network radio career ended on May 26, 1953. The television series, in the meantime, moved to CBS in the fall of 1953 and it became one of the longest running variety/entertainment television shows on the network. It was part of the CBS television schedule until it's abrupt cancellation in the summer of 1970. The network was amidst it's re-programming where a concentrated effort was underway to re-brand the network and attract younger audiences and generate advertising revenue from the urban market...cancelling popular programs whose appeal was determined to be for those over 40, rural, conservative, and more strict with their money. Red went back to NBC and starred in his last regularly scheduled television series during the 1970-1971 season. His 20 year television series came to an end on NBC, ironically, the network he began his professional radio career with.<br />
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In quoted interviews from Red in the early '70s and later he often remarked that the CBS cancellation of his series must have had something to do with his political leanings (Republican) and pro-Military positions more than the overall age of his audience. It's been documented that he played to packed college campuses for years after CBS cancelled his show in 1970 and he'd often cite this as a way to show that he had appeal with younger audiences.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnLTrY2rYdr9FxJPHMnmeQ07aRfHrFNemob4pbmQeQQZDUALlZqPs9zTaPz54oIeyywEgFCBvNmGA6Y_z1v5qXhVqzn7yZNALElQucGrREdgCeOb6_o9zIfon88mqeSRS1Rq7TcfmKc9TK/s1600/MeAndRedSkeltonVHS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="377" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnLTrY2rYdr9FxJPHMnmeQ07aRfHrFNemob4pbmQeQQZDUALlZqPs9zTaPz54oIeyywEgFCBvNmGA6Y_z1v5qXhVqzn7yZNALElQucGrREdgCeOb6_o9zIfon88mqeSRS1Rq7TcfmKc9TK/s200/MeAndRedSkeltonVHS.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Red Skelton VHS tapes</td></tr>
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A lot of Red's television shows were never aired in syndication. This lack of syndicated exposure, of course, caused his series to become a 'lost' series to each generation of television viewers. Although a lot of the early television programs that featured former radio stars aren't as heavily played, even on classic TV outlets, Red's show was played even less frequently. Repeats of Jack Benny, by comparison, had a rather lengthy run on local PBS stations as well as the national CBN channel throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. Jack's television show is currently airing on niche channel, Antenna TV, as is the television series, <i><b>Burns and Allen</b></i>, starring George Burns and Gracie Allen. Red's series had a limited run in repeats in the latter half of the 1990s on PBS...and a lot of his television programs and sketches were becoming increasingly available on VHS home video. As you can see I have a lot of those VHS tapes and I've got several DVDs of his material. However, the release of his programs became infrequent on VHS, DVD, Blu Ray as time went by. The television series is currently airing on the RFD-TV line-up...one of those rare times where his television show is getting reran...but I don't know for how long it'll be on their line-up.ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-77722340436698137202020-04-29T21:22:00.000-04:002020-04-29T21:22:15.442-04:00Larry's Country Diner: Quarantine Version...If you watch much of RFD-TV then you're familiar with the series, <i><b>Larry's Country Diner</b></i>. It's been on the air/in production for quite a long time. It's hosted by Larry Black and it features a regular cast of characters in a diner setting. Some of their episodes, prior to COVID-19, were taped inside the Ray Stevens CabaRay whereas most of their episodes are taped on a sound stage in Nashville in a diner setting. There's a small audience that the host and regular cast entertain with one liners and conversational jokes. The audience is served food and beverages. The show prides itself on it's realistic, live feel and each episode closes with the on-screen announcer, Keith Bilbrey, asking viewers to tune in next week "where the camera's keep rolling..." and then the cast, in unison, shouts out "...and we don't care!!". It's their way of saying that you'll see anything and everything, bloopers and all.<br />
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On an episode that aired not too long ago one of the guests happened to be Buddy Kalb. The episode was billed as the quarantine version due to Tennessee law prohibiting mass gatherings. The show featured all the cast members on tape from remote locations (most of them from their own house) and the guest, Buddy Kalb, was seated with a guitar inside the recording studio located inside the CabaRay. You can watch the episode <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=914724882290556&ref=watch_permalink" target="_blank">HERE</a>. The link takes you to the Facebook Watch-Live page. The show aired on-line and viewers left commentary throughout the episode by way of Country Road TV. I caught the episode when it aired on RFD-TV. Anyway, Buddy Kalb spoke about his career and sang several songs. He is part of the Ray Stevens Music group and has assisted Ray in many endeavors over the decades. He is first and foremost a writer...he either writes or co-writes with other collaborators...or writes songs himself and most of them are recorded by Ray Stevens. In music videos Buddy is often seen as the straight man or the comic foil depending on Ray's performance. Buddy plays the role of "<i>The Blue Cyclone</i>" in the music video of that song. In "<i>Surfin' U.S.S.R.</i>" Buddy is seen as the cigar smoking woman from Moscow U.<br />
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In the "<i>Mississippi Squirrel Revival</i>" music video, a song Buddy and his wife, Carlene, wrote, Buddy can be seen as Harv Newland. I'd read where his wife, Carlene, is playing the role of Sister Bertha but I thought it was the late Janice Copeland who appeared as Sister Bertha. Buddy appears in the music video for "<i>It's Me Again, Margaret</i>". He's playing the policeman with the binoculars. Buddy's sidekick in that scene is Ray's late brother, John. The woman playing Margaret looks like Sister Bertha...some sources say it's Carlene Kalb but I could swear it's Janice Copeland playing those two roles. Buddy's name on songwriter credits is C.W. Kalb, Jr. One of the recent Ray Stevens music videos featuring Buddy is "<i>The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore</i>"...he plays the TSA agent.ACcountryFanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14445878735424575807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2036306578752842902.post-37905637964728775922020-04-25T20:48:00.002-04:002020-04-25T20:48:34.388-04:00Harold Reid: 1939 - 2020<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9X3lnMowPAi42sEbrpNfjur9G3ZeIvXCH1q1Gh9NZJdxDuB585By-YUl7HH9_-D2FoQ_ZdIdWdO3eI1E1F1XUAeqDZF0OBmx_3x5MsQtTT9DrNFb62jhhyKOlYSos8PWfeIeZxLpNX_i/s1600/HaroldReidPublicityPhoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9X3lnMowPAi42sEbrpNfjur9G3ZeIvXCH1q1Gh9NZJdxDuB585By-YUl7HH9_-D2FoQ_ZdIdWdO3eI1E1F1XUAeqDZF0OBmx_3x5MsQtTT9DrNFb62jhhyKOlYSos8PWfeIeZxLpNX_i/s1600/HaroldReidPublicityPhoto.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harold Reid: 1939-2020</td></tr>
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A founding member of the superstar group, The Statler Brothers, has recently passed away. Harold Reid, the bass singer of the retired group who also doubled as the group's resident comic, passed away on Friday (April 24th) at the age of 80 from kidney failure. He was born August 21, 1939. If you're not too familiar with the group's history it all started in 1955. The group originally consisted of Harold Reid (bass), Phil Balsley (baritone), Lew DeWitt (tenor), and Joe McDorman (lead vocals). The four members of the group were all natives of Virginia and they called their high school group The Four Star Quartet. They were all born in the late '30s and so by the mid '50s when they formed their gospel group each of them were still teenagers. In 1960 lead vocalist, Joe McDorman, exited the group and in to take his place was Harold's younger brother, Don (born June 5, 1945). The group had by this time changed it's name to The Kingsmen which proved to be short-lived, too. In addition to several other gospel acts with similar names there happened to be a rock music group that emerged called The Kingsmen. Seeking a new name to avoid confusion with other similarly titled gospel acts and from confusion with the mainstream rock music group a third group name was formed: The Statler Brothers. The name was inspired by a brand of tissue paper, Statler. The group made it's initial commercial impact with the line-up consisting of Harold, Phil, Lew, and Don. The group became part of the Johnny Cash touring ensemble for 8 years (1964-1972) and in that time period they established themselves as a country music group. The songs that the group recorded were largely written by Harold and Don as co-writers or were songs that Harold or Don wrote on their own. The group was signed to Columbia Records in 1964 upon the suggestion/recommendation of Johnny Cash.<br />
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Lew DeWitt composed the group's first big hit, 1965's "<i>Flowers on the Wall</i>", which went on to win a Grammy. The song is also their only single to land within the Top-40 of the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart where it peaked at number four. In the world of pop music The Statler Brothers are routinely cited as a 'one hit wonder' because they only had one single make it into the pop Top-40.<br />
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Harold and Don wrote the group's second Grammy winner, "<i>Class of '57</i>", but that came later into their career.<br />
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When Johnny Cash hosted his own television show for two seasons, 1969-1971, regular cast members included not only June Carter Cash but The Statler Brothers. Ironically, the year that Johnny's television series debuted, in 1969, the Statler Brothers left Columbia Records for Mercury Records.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harold, Don, Phil, and Lew</td></tr>
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"<i>Bed of Rose's</i>", one of the group's many hits, came from the pen of Harold Reid. This deep and complex story is something you probably wouldn't associate with Harold given his image of being a comic and quick with one-liners but it shows the talent hidden behind his comical reputation. It was the group's first release on Mercury Records. In those earlier Mercury albums the group issued some comical material under the alias of Lester 'Roadhog' Moran and His Cadillac Cowboys. Harold played the lead role of Roadhog in those comedy routines.<br />
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They began a lengthy producer-artist relationship with Jerry Kennedy while at Mercury. Harold and Don wrote "<i>Class of '57</i>", which hit the Top-10 on the country chart in 1972. As previously mentioned this song won a Grammy in early 1973 in the category of Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Harold and Don wrote so many of the songs...the group's first number one hit was written by the Reid brothers, "<i>Do You Know You Are My Sunshine</i>", in 1978. One of their greatest recordings came from the pen of Harold and Don, "<i>Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?</i>". In that recording Harold sings the lead vocals...and later on he sang the main lead vocals on 1984's "<i>Atlanta Blue</i>", from the pen of Don Reid...but let's back up a couple of years... <br />
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The group went through a major change in 1982 when long-time tenor and founding member, Lew DeWitt, retired due to health issues. His replacement, Jimmy Fortune, almost immediately added to the on-going success of the group and within the next several years had written some of the group's most sentimental songs. The group had become known for their close harmonies, comedy, and their nostalgic-themed albums and single releases and while they wrote and recorded a lot of love songs it was not their main avenue...but most of Jimmy's material was rooted in emotional complexities and feelings. The final album to feature Lew DeWitt was 1982's <b>The Legend Goes On</b>. The two hit singles from that album, "<i>Whatever</i>", was written by Harold and Don while "<i>A Child of the Fifties</i>" was written by Don. The first album to feature Jimmy Fortune was 1983's <b>Today</b>...and it is on that album which introduced country music audiences to "<i>Elizabeth</i>", a song from the pen of Jimmy Fortune, who titled it after seeing Elizabeth Taylor on a classic movie...and although the song is not about the movie actress countless country music media publications often say it's a tribute to her. The song was the group's second number one hit. The album also contains the hit recording "<i>Guilty</i>" from the pen of Harold and Don as well as their wonderful version of "<i>Oh Baby Mine</i>". <br />
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The group continued to rack up hit songs and receive numerous awards...the fan voted Music City News Country Awards named The Statler Brothers their Favorite Group well over a dozen times throughout the 1970s and 1980s...dominating that category in other country music awards programs, too. The group began their famous television series in 1991...both Harold and Don were the head writers and it was the highest rated television show on The Nashville Network for it's entire seven year run (1991-1998). The group retired from the road in 2002 and were content to remain out of the spotlight. In 2008 The Statler Brothers were elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame along with Tom T. Hall and Emmylou Harris.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Statler Brothers; Emmylou Harris; Tom T. Hall; 2008</td></tr>
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The Hall of Fame plaque for The Statler Brothers also includes Lew DeWitt. It was a classy move to include him due to the fact that he was not only a founding member but he was the writer of the song that put the group on the mainstream map, "<i>Flowers on the Wall</i>", and his high tenor was distinct and memorable on all of the Statler recordings through 1982...as was the bass of Harold Reid and the vocalizations of Don Reid and Phil Balsley. Jimmy's addition to the group after Lew retired added to their legacy. The group retained their small town roots throughout their career and from 1970 until 1995 they hosted an annual birthday for America in Staunton, Virginia (their base of operations). The event was officially titled Happy Birthday U.S.A. and in the same year that they hosted what turned out to be their final Independence Day celebration Mercury Records issued a box set career retrospective to celebrate the group's 30th Anniversary as country music artists. The son of Harold Reid as well as the son of Don Reid have been recording and performing show dates for a number of years. The duo's original name was Grandstaff but they have since changed it to Wilson Fairchild.<br />
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One of Statler Brothers final hit songs came from the pen of Harold and Don Reid, "<i>Let's Get Started If We're Gonna Break My Heart</i>". It hit in the fall of 1988 and peaked early in 1989 in the Top-20. The group's final Top-10 hit arrived in the summer of 1989 from the pen of Jimmy Fortune, "<i>More Than a Name on a Wall</i>". As their music career began to fade on radio they unexpectedly became television stars as mentioned above. Their television show ran for 7 years and many feel it could have ran even longer but my guess is the group, in the latter stages of their television show, was already thinking about retirement and so they perhaps decided to end the show after it completed the 1997-1998 season for those reasons. The old saying 'always go out on top'. The group, as mentioned, officially retired from the road in 2002. Their Farewell Concert was released in audio format in 2003. In 2010 the Gaither Music Group issued two volumes of gospel recordings from the Statler Brothers and each release reached the Top-20 on the Country Album chart. In 2013 the Gaither company issued a compilation featuring highlights from the Statler's final concert in 2002 and that 2013 release reached the Top-30 on the Country Album chart. It was the group's final charting album.<br />
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Here they are collecting one of their many Music City News Country Awards as Vocal Group of the Year. Harold Reid left an incredible mark on gospel and country music and his comedy was infectious and a main attraction in the Statler Brothers performances...on and off the record.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWJAw9wWjeMik6bFFdGN4auvoe0EqtcN1p4TyZi9KVvMV7IZ9FMex9A6oWsfxGYY8krztqDjlmA94J12bcCblvj87TUZvTrqK2Q3LCnpmwTzRW2mA1G_ZaPZiTw4wVApOg2HjoNEdX5oT/s1600/StatlerBrothersVocalDuo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="524" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWJAw9wWjeMik6bFFdGN4auvoe0EqtcN1p4TyZi9KVvMV7IZ9FMex9A6oWsfxGYY8krztqDjlmA94J12bcCblvj87TUZvTrqK2Q3LCnpmwTzRW2mA1G_ZaPZiTw4wVApOg2HjoNEdX5oT/s400/StatlerBrothersVocalDuo.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phil Balsley, Don Reid, Jimmy Fortune, and Harold Reid</td></tr>
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