Vincent Price Remembrance...30 Years

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. 

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. 

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:

1. The Fall of the House of Usher

2. The Pit and the Pendulum

3. The Raven

4. The Masque of the Red Death

5. The Tomb of Ligeia

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. 

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.    

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 Hollywood Walk of Fame 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 "The Saint". Vincent portrayed the character the longest on radio...starring as Simon Templar, on and off, from 1947 until 1951. 

Jimmy Buffett: 1946 - 2023

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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:

1. Margaritaville

2. Fins

3. Cheeseburger in Paradise

4. Come Monday

5. Why Don't We Get Drunk

6. A Pirate Looks at Forty

7. Volcano

8. Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

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, "Fins", he did that gesture several times throughout the song. To clarify, though, "Fins" isn't on that 1988 album. That song came out in 1979.

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. 

Something I read online yesterday is one of his albums, titled License to Chill, 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 Take the Weather With You. He would  hit number one on the Country Album chart a third time in 2020 with an album titled Life on the Flip Side. The License to Chill album also hit number on the Pop Album chart...marking the only number one album of his career (to date) on the pop chart. 

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 A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean. The album title was a pun/parody of the Marty Robbins song "A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation". Later on, in 1985, he released an album called Last Mango in Paris, the title derived from the movie Last Tango in Paris. It reached the Top-10 on the Country Album chart. Havana Daydreamin', released in 1976, was a pun on the phrase 'having a daydream'. The previously mentioned License to Chill 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. 

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.

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 "Pencil Thin Mustache". 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 Living and Dying in 3/4 Time. 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 "Pencil Thin Mustache". 

Bob Barker: 1923 - 2023

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.

1923 - 2023

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 "Price is Right" 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. 

Bob Barker became the host of "Price is Right" while being the host of "Truth or Consequences". He had been the host of the latter game show since December 31, 1957. Bob became the host of "The Price is Right" 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. 

Bob's run on "Truth or Consequences" was 19 years (1957-1975). That series was created and previously hosted by Ralph Edwards. When "Price is Right" 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 "Price is Right". 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. 

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. 

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, Happy Gilmore, and the hysterical scene on the golf course. 

Bob and "Price is Right" became an institution. He hosted the show for 35 years (1972-2007) and it completely overshadowed and towered over the 19 years he hosted "Truth or Consequences" (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. 

Remembering Jerry Clower once again...

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 LINK. 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). 

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:

1. Ain't God Good? (1975)

2. Let The Hammer Down! (1978)

3. Life EverLaughter (1987)

4. Stories from Home (1993) 

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 Ain't God Good?. 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 Country Crossroads 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, Nashville on the Road. He co-hosted this travel show with Jim Ed Brown for 6 seasons, 1975-1981. Jerry Clower was a member of the Grand Ole Opry 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. 

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.  

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 Greatest Hits 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. 

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. 

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). 

Howard Gerald "Jerry" Clower

September 28, 1926 - August 24, 1998  

1971: From Yazoo City, Mississippi Talkin'**

1972: Mouth of Mississippi**

1973: Clower Power

1974: Country Ham

1975: Live In Picayune

1976: The Ambassador of Goodwill

1977: On the Road

1977: Ain't God Good? (Word Records; religious testimony)

1978: Live from the Stage of the Grand Ole Opry

1979: Greatest Hits**

1980: Ledbetter Olympics

1981: More Good 'Uns

1982: Dogs I Have Known

1983: Live at Cleburne, Texas

1984: Starke Raving!

1985: An Officer and a Ledbetter

1986: Runaway Truck

1987: Top Gum

1988: Classic Clower (a live album in which Jerry re-tells some of his classic stories)

1989: Let There Be Light!

1990: The Mouth of the Mighty Mississip' (this was his 20th album on MCA)

1991: Racoonteur

1992: Sidewinder

1993: Stories Told Funny

1994: Jerry Joins the Navy

1995: Fish 'n Frogs, Hawgs 'n Dawgs

1997: Live at Dollywood

1998: Peaches and Possums (this was his the last album he recorded)