PlanetBarberella's Bipolar express

In praise of the Crew....an Easter Sunday Rowing Pictorial...Be good...no jokes about Ivy League "endowments" please ;)

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 23:56:00 +0000

(views courtesy of The Bain Collection, my collection, varied online sources, and Shorpy.com)

No matter what you row...1, 2, 4, or 8...whether coxed, or coxless......this is for you. May the winds be warm and in your favor ;)

We start with a tad bit of the schematic for orientation purposes for the non-aficionado...... :)

And now onto the pictorial, posthaste !! :)

Cambridge Crew ca. 1910-15

Saturday Evening Post-June 7, 1902

Collier's June 21, 1915

Yale Varsity Panorama ca. 1910 (click to enlarge on desktop)

Ca. 1871-Halifax Nova Scotia rowers

1919-Potomac Boat Club Eight w/ Coxie

1923-H.A. Bowles-Anapolis Crew Captain

Harvard Varsity Eight

Harvard -Yale singles

European Fours

Late 19th Cent.

1876-International Fours guide

Oxford-Cambridge Eights -1841

Ahhh...Manly, yes, but I like it, too..... ;)

Cornell ca. 1902

1898-The National Association of Amateur Oarsmen (NAAO) regatta

The colors and flags of Cambridge's College Teams

A fine sentiment that I quite agree with, though by my time our uniforms differed
considerably ;)

1908-Anapolis Eight

1872-Atlanta

Capital Athletic Club Women's Eight-1926

Capital Athletic Club Women's Eight 1926

Columbia Varsity practice-1910s.......

Coach Jim Rice-Columbia

Columbia practice 1910

Columbia practice 1914

Cornell Eight 1911

Cornell Varsity 1911

Cornell 1914

D.C. Central H.S. Eight-1927

As true now as then......it's ALL about the inches :)

Eadweard Muybridge-study of a rower

Harvard Varsity 1911

Harvard Varsity (undated)

Yale Varsity (undated)

Harvard Varsity Eight 1913

Harvard Varsity Eight 1915

1908-Harvard-Yale

1905 Harvard-Yale Regatta program

1958 Program

The 1929 program

Two great views of a Multi-sport European candy tin with Women's One and Two's

Penn Varsity 1914

Undated unidentified Women's crew

Potomac Boat Club Eight-1919

Wisdom Eternal.........

Smith College Women's practice 1922

Stanford Varsity ca. 1914

A view of the full moon over Stanford ca. 1907......... ;)

Stanford-undated

A great view of the Stanford Crew......

Syracuse 2nd Varsity 1914

Syracuse Varsity 1914

Syracuse Varsity 1908

The Syracuse Frosh dine in '08

Saturday Evening Post-June 29, 1907-J.C.Leyendecker cover

"The Eight"-Cyril Power-1930

"The Guide" ca. 1908

1920s-30s

U Penn ca. 1890

U Penn 1893

U Penn 1899

U Penn undated

UK Vesta RC Christmas greeting WWI -1914

Washington Varsity Eight 1913

Wisconsin 1909

Wisconsin 1914

Yale 1913

Vintage Harvard

1938 Princeton

Unknown-1860s

Dartmouth ca 1040

Women's Octopede Furnivall Sculling Club, London 1907

Georgetown 1930

Harvard postal card 1910s

Princeton 1874

Princeton 1913

Princeton 1945

The Women of Smith in 1907

Wisconsin Freshman 1901

Yale-Penn 1911

San Diego State Normal College-Women-1917

Lane Tech High School-Chicago-1956

Lincoln Park Lagoon-Chicago 1910s

And......last, but certainly not least: The Coxie has the final word:

Part 2...The 1940 Music Project......EVERYTHING, not just the hits... :)

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:25:00 +0000

Part 2....the REAL 1940 music project.........

A handful of stars- Glenn Miller v=Ray Eberle

Anything that's part of you -Village Boys

Bogo Jo -Lionel Hampton

Concerto for Cootie (Do Nothin' til You Hear) -Duke Ellington

Crying the blues again -Ted Daffin's Texans

Elegie -Art Tatum

Everything depends on you -Earl Hines

Ferryboat Serenade -Andrews Sisters

Five O'Clock Whistle -Erskine Hawkins

Flining A Whing-Ding -Horace Henderson

Fools rush in -Glenn Miller v=Ray Eberle

Frenesi -Artie Shaw

Friendship -Kay Kyser

Gone with the gin -Hot Lips Page

Good old New York -Jelly Roll Morton's Seven

Goody Goodbye -Ted Weems

He's My Uncle -Abe Lyman's California Orch.

Herman at The Sherman (Byfield stomp) -Woody Herman

Hit that jive Jack -Skeets Tolbert and His Gentlemen Swing

Hot dogs -The Three Peppers

House Of Morgan -Lionel Hampton

How 'bout that mess -Sam Price's Texas Bluesicians

How can I ever be alone -Mildred Bailey

How High The Moon -Benny Goodman

I don't stand a ghost of a chance -Frankie Trumbauer

I Don't Worry -Bar X Cowboys

I never knew -Teddy Wilson

I'll never smile again -Tommy Dorsey v=Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers

i'm falling for you -Earl Hines

I'm nobody's baby -Benny Goodman v= Helen Forrest

I've Got My Eyes On You -Tommy Dorsey v=Alan DeWitt

If I had you -Una Mae Carlisle

If it's you-Artie Shaw

Imagination -Glenn Miller v=Ray Eberle

In The Mood -Glenn Miller

Indian Summer -Tommy Dorsey

It's A Blue World -Glenn Miller v=Ray Eberle

It's A Hap, Hap, Happy Day -Eddie Duchin w/ The Three Earbenders

It's the Same Old Shillelagh -Harry's Tavern Band v=Billy Murray

https://rapidshare.com/files/1265072018/1940-2.zip

And, meanwhile....while we were driving Susie and Johnny to Grandma and Grandpa's farm in our 1940 Chevrolet.........Paris fell to the Nazi's.....

Just a reality check, being that a fair number of Americans were still pretty anti-intervention at the time. We weren't exactly convinced that anything happening "over there" would ever have anything to do with us........

My 1940 music project..Part One....Not a "Billboard-type" list (but, then..Y'all know how I roll.....)

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:43:00 +0000

1940 wasn't just Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman, so as usual this won't just be a feel good "In the Mood" list.......

There was a lot more released in all genres of music....a LOT more.

I believe in covering the music that EVERYONE listened to.....not just what we're TOLD that real people were hearing in 1940.....

So, doing things the way we do around here.......firing on all cylinders and forward we go......here's MY 1940 music list.....Part One:

Aberdeen Mississippi Blues-Bukka White
Abi gezunt -Ozzie Nelson v=Rose Ann Stevens (from radio)
About Rip Van Winkle -Don Redman
AC-DC Current -Charlie Christian with Benny Goodman
Adios, Mariquita Linda -Artie Shaw
All Star Strut -Charlie Christian/Goodman
All the things you ain't-Tommy Dorsey
All The Things You Are -Tommy Dorsey
All The Things You Are -Ozzie Nelson
And So Do I -Jimmy Dorsey v=Bob Eberle
Andiology -Charlie Shavers/John Kirby Orch.
Baby Won't You Please Come Home -Ella Fitzgerald
Ballad For Americans -Paul Robeson
Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar -Andrews Sisters
Beer And Skittles -Louise Massey and The Westerners
Blue Afterglow -Jimmie Lunceford
Blueberry Hill -Gene Autry
Boogie Woogie -Django Reinhardt w/ Philippe Brun and his Jam Band
Bugle call rag -Glenn Miller
Bugs Parade -Jimmie Lunceford
Cabbage greens -Champion Jack Dupree
Cabin In The Sky -Ella FItzgerald
Can't get Indiana off my mind -Bing Crosby
Cant We Be Friends -Buster Bailey/John Kirby
Careless -Glenn Miller
Chop chop Charlie Chan -Gene Krupa
Cocoanut Grove -Teddy Wilson
Cottontail -Ben Webster
Darn That Dream -Benny Goodman v=Mildred Bailey
Deed I do- (v Mary Ann McCall) -Charlie Barnet
Did your mother come from Ireland -Bing Crosby/King's Men
Dinah Part 2 -Jimmie Lunceford
Do You Care -Bob Crosby v=Johnny Desmond
Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Never No Lament) -Duke Ellington
Down Argentina Way -Gene Krupa
The Breeze and I -Jimmy Dorsey

https://rapidshare.com/files/1360356030/1940-1.zip

Much, much much more to come..................much more :)

The 1940 U.S. Census images are now released!

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:16:00 +0000

The 1940 U.S. Census images are now released!

https://the1940census.com/

On April 2, 2012, NARA released the digital images of the 1940 United States Federal Census after a 72 year embargo. These census images are uploaded and have been made available on:

http://www.archives.com/1940census

http://www.findmypast.com/

https://www.familysearch.org/1940census/

Additionally, the entire 1940 census will be indexed by a community of volunteers and made available for free. The free index of the census records and corresponding images will be available to the public for perpetuity.

The "Greatest Generation"

The 1940 U.S. Federal Census is the largest, most comprehensive, and most recent record set available that records the names of this who were living in the United States at the time the census was taken.

132 million people were living in the 48 Continental United States in 1940.

Tens of millions of people livening in the United States in 1940 are still living today, making this a record set that connects people with recent family records.

Many of these individuals are a part of what has been called the Greatest Generation.

These are people who:

-Survived the Great Depression
-Fought in the Second World War
-Innovated technology (TV, Microwave)
-Sacrificed in the name of freedom
-Practiced thrift and compassion
-Understood hard work and industry

The people in the 1940 census deserve to have their records preserved and made available online.

Rich and unique information

The 1940 census included several standard questions, such as: name, age, race, gender, education, and place of birth. But the census also introduced some new questions. One example is that the enumerator was instructed to mark (with a circled X) who in the household responded to the census questions. Other questions included whether the person worked for the CCC, WPA, or NYA the week of March 24-30, 1940, and the income for the 12 months ending December 31, 1939.

New, interesting questions were asked:

-Where people lived 5 years before
-Highest educational grade achieved
-Detailed income and occupation

As part of the census, 5% of respondents (two names per page) were asked supplemental questions. which included the birth place of the person's father and mother, the respondent's usual occupation (not just for the week of March 24-30), and questions related to marriage for all women who were or had been married. The enumerators asked women if they had been married more than once, the age at first marriage, and the total number of children to whom they had ever given birth.

Now you can go and find your family information. More importantly, you have the opportunity to be part of history by volunteering some of your time to help assist in the endeavor of indexing information to make even more of the census available to everyone.

I spent several hours yesterday looking through records and locating information about my immediate and extended family. The release of this census is a significant occasion for any genealogist, both professional and amateur. A fair amount of the information was quite familiar to me, but a number of interesting bits of until now unknown information were also revealed that provided for some great conversation with a few family members. I urge you to check it out.....either just for personal information on your family, or possibly even to volunteer your time. You'll be making history by participating at any level.

Roy Hamilton.....The Golden Boy of Song, Mr. Rock 'N Soul, The Gentle Giant...Regardless of the nickname, He was THE voice....And he should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....Jest sayin'

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:53:00 +0000

Roy Hamilton

Roy Hamilton (April 16, 1929 – July 20, 1969) was an American singer , who achieved major success in the US R&B andpop charts in the 1950s. He is best known for his recordings of "You'll Never Walk Alone ", "Unchained Melody " and "You Can Have Her".

Born in Leesburg , Georgia , Hamilton moved to Jersey City in 1943, studied commercial art , had operatic and classical voice training, and was a heavyweight Golden Gloves boxer, before joining the gospel quartet, The Searchlight Singers. In 1947, he entered and won an amateur talent show at the Apollo Theater with his rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone ". However, he did not record commercially until 1953, when he was discovered singing in a New Jersey club by a local DJ Bill Cook, who became his manager. Columbia Records saw him as a possible "crossover" singer with a foothold in both pop and R&B, and signed him to their subsidiary label Epic . His first single, "You'll Never Walk Alone", became an R&B number 1 for eight weeks, and a national US Top 30 hit in 1954, and shot Hamilton to fame.

He followed up with a string of singles that reached both R&B and pop audiences, many of which were popular show tunes of the day. These included "If I Loved You So" (#4 R&B), "Ebb Tide " (#5 R&B), "Hurt" (#8 R&B), "Unchained Melody " (#1 R&B, #6 pop), and "Don’t Let Go" (#2 R&B, #13 pop). His style and sound directly influenced later artists such as Elvis Presley, Jackie Wilson and the Righteous Brothers .

In mid-1956, Hamilton announced his retirement due to illness and exhaustion, but returned the following year. When he came back, he adopted the harder gospel sound of his youth, to compete with rock and roll and the emerging soul sound. Hamilton appeared in the film , Let's Rock , in 1958. His last hit record , "You Can Have Her" (#6 R&B, #12 pop), came in 1961, and was followed by the album Mr. Rock And Soul (1962). The Epic label treated Hamilton as a major star and issued sixteen albums by him. However, by the mid 1960s, his career declined while recording with MGM and then RCA .

His final recordings were made in Memphis , Tennessee , at record producer Chips Moman 's American Group Productions studio , at the same time that Elvis Presley recorded there in early 1969. Songs released from those sessions were versions of James Carr 's "The Dark End of the Street ", Conway Twitty 's "It's Only Make Believe ", and "Angelica", a Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil song that had been submitted to Presley, but which he then turned over to Hamilton.

Hamilton died later in 1969, not long after suffering a stroke , at age 40, in New Rochelle, New York . Hamilton's "You'll Never Walk Alone" disc was brought in from the US by a sailor friend of Gerry Marsden . As a result, Gerry & the Pacemakers recorded the track to further success.

Hamilton was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

Another bio from online:

Roy Hamilton, during his illustrious 15-year singing career, was known by many nicknames: Mr. Rock and Soul, The Gentle Giant, and, most notably, The Golden Boy of Song. But few of these nicknames fully encompass the majesty of his voice, the influence he had on the artists of his generation, or the legacy his music has left behind. He was idolized by Elvis Presley, emulated by Jackie Wilson and Brook Benton, and covered by the Righteous Brothers. And his voice and legacy have earned him a place in the annals of history for years to come.

Born on April 16, 1929 in Leesburg, Georgia, Roy began his journey into music history singing in his local church choir at the tender age of six. He continued molding his voice within church when his family moved to Jersey City, New Jersey when Roy was 14, becoming a feature soloist in the Central Baptist Church Choir. In high school, believing his destiny set for singing, he soon turned his path towards the performing arts. He also became a boxer, and attained six victories as an amateur heavyweight before becoming put off by the violence of the sport.

In 1948, Roy continued to perfect his signature baritone as a member of a gospel quartet called The Searchlight Singers. Soon, however, he yearned for the solo spotlight, and began performing in clubs throughout New Jersey and New York. It was there that he met his future manager, Bill Cook, a DJ who hosted a live radio program at the Caravan Club in Newark, NJ in 1953. Roy tore down the house with the song that would become his first hit, "You'll Never Walk Alone". From there, Bill took Roy under his wing as his manager, and Roy was signed to Columbia Records, his first major label, in December of that year.

During his career, Roy spawned over 50 singles, eight of which crossed over to the pop charts. His bevy of hits included the aforementioned "Walk", released in 1954, which went to number one on the R&B chart and was a pop hit, "Unchained Melody", another number one R&B hit as well as a top ten pop hit the following year, and the up-tempo hits "Don't Let Go" in 1958 and "You Can Have Her", in 1961, both top ten hits. He also berthed a great deal of minor hits, such as his version of "Ebb Tide", "Hurt", "If I Loved You", "Forgive This Fool", and "Without a Song". He rigorously toured and performed all over the world, his rich voice and prolific repertoire fitting in at the supper-clubs and cocktail lounges just as easily as on the Chitlin' Circuit. His bona fide status as a Rock and Roll, star, however, got him a featured spot in the 1958 Columbia Pictures movie "Let's Rock".

Unfortunately, Roy's star was tragically extinguished when he suffered a stroke in New Rochelle, New York. Despite surgery, he died soon after on July 20, 1969, leaving behind his wife Myrna, and two sons, Roy Hamilton Jr. and Ray Hamilton. However, Roy's memory is left alive by the countless volumes of work he left in his stead, his influence on the countless artists he inspired and the ones who followed in their footsteps, and his family, who tirelessly work to ensure that the legend of The Golden Boy will never be forgotten. As of January,2009, Roy Hamilton has been Inducted into, "The Hit Parade Hall Of Fame", "Reflections In Black Museum Hall Of Fame" and "The Georgia Music Hall Of Fame". He has also been granted a Honorary Laureate Degree at Morris Brown University, Atlanta, GA.

A great article on the influence that Hamilton had on Elvis Presley:

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/presley_hamilton_spotlight.html

Roy with Elvis, shortly before his death

Roy with Jackie Wilson

A truly underrated singer. Listening to this you hear just how much of an influence he had on so many singers, from Elvis to Jackie Wilson, and more. Roy Hamilton is one of those rare voices that ranks up there with Walter Jackson..right up at the very top.....it doesn't get much better than that.

He NEEDS to be in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...........

Some tunage:

My Prayer
(All Of A Sudden) My Heart Sings
A Great Romance
Ain't it the truth
And I Love Her
Angelica
At the end of the rainbow
Blue Prelude
Cheek To Cheek
Crackin' Up Over You
Crazy Feelin'
Cuban Love Song
Deep River
Don't come cryin'
Don't Let Go
Earthbound
Earthquake
Ebb tide
Forgive This Fool
Go Down, Moses
Hang ups
Heartache
Hurt
I believe
I Get The Blues When It Rains
I need your loving
I'm Gonna Lock You In My Heart (and lose the key)
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry Over You
If I Loved You
It's Only Make Believe
let go
Let The Music Play
Lips
Midnight Town, Daybreak City
Mona Lisa
My Chickadee (Here Comes Love)
My One And Only Love
My Peaceful Forest
One hundred years
Only You
Please Louise
Pledging My Love
Reach out for me
She make me wanna dance
She's Got A Heart
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
Star Spangled Banner
Stormy Weather
Take it easy Joe
The Aisle
The Dark End of the Street
The Golden Boy
The impossible dream
The panic is on
The Secret Path Of Love
The Sinner
There She Is
Time marches on
To The One I Love
Too Young
Tore up over you
Unchained Melody
Walk along with kings
Walk hand in hand
You Can Count On Me
You Can Have Her
You shook me up
You'll Never Walk Alone

https://rapidshare.com/files/1615352185/royhamilton.zip

Eureka! Antiques and Collectibles | Chicago Tonight | WTTW

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:58:00 +0000

If you're in the neighborhood...go!! You won't be disappointed! Bindy has the best taste, the best items....a wonderfully knowledgable woman, warm, and welcoming.

I consider her a friend and an inexhaustible font of knowledge on antiques and collectibles.....very highly recommended!!

http://www.eurekaevanston.com/

a great video from WTTW-Chicago-from the "Chicago Tonight" show:

Eureka! Antiques and Collectibles | Chicago Tonight | WTTW

Tuesday Pictorial: "Our Bess"-Miss America 1945-Bess Myerson

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:43:00 +0000

Bess Myerson

Bess Myerson (born July 16, 1924 in the Bronx, New York) became the first Jewish woman to win the Miss America pageant in 1945. She appeared on various television shows in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, she was involved in New York City politics.

While competing in beauty pageants, Myerson refused, despite entreaties, to use a pseudonym that "sounded less Jewish." She faced prejudice even after winning the Miss America title, with many sponsors and events long associated with the pageant refusing to deal with her. She later campaigned for civil rights, in particular, working with the Anti-Defamation League.

In 1954, Myerson was a panelist on The Name's the Same, a television game show. From 1958 through 1967, she was a panelist on I've Got a Secret. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Myerson enjoyed a successful television career as a TV personality, actress and commercial pitchwoman for a myriad of popular products.

She survived ovarian cancer after being diagnosed with the disease in 1973. She also suffered a stroke many years later.

She married Allen Wayne, a doll company executive, in October 1946. They had one daughter, Barbara, before divorcing. Her second marriage was to Arnold Grant, a tax lawyer, in 1962. That marriage ended in divorce in 1967, but Myerson and Grant remarried in 1968, before divorcing again in 1971.

Myerson was New York City's first Commissioner of Consumer Affairs (under Mayor John Lindsay), later serving as Commissioner of Cultural Affairs under Mayor Ed Koch. Throughout the late 1970s and the beginning of his mayoral ambitions, Myerson was a frequent public companion of Ed Koch.

In 1980, Myerson ran for the Democratic nomination for New York's U.S. Senate seat against Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, Queens District Attorney John J. Santucci, and former NYC mayor John Lindsay. Myerson lost to Holtzman by a slim margin.

In the 1980s, Myerson's life was darkened by a legal controversy (colloquially known as "the Bess Mess"). Her lover, sewer contractor Carl Andrew Capasso, who had been convicted of tax fraud, was accused of bribing Judge Hortense Gabel by arranging for a job for Gabel's daughter in Myerson's department. Myerson was also indicted and resigned her positions with the City of New York. She was ultimately acquitted.

On May 27, 1988, Myerson was arrested for shoplifting in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, after she left the Hills Department Store with multiple items for which she had not paid. On July 15, 1988, she pleaded guilty to retail theft and was fined. The arrest occurred while she was believed to be visiting Mr. Capasso at the Allenwood Detention Camp.

Myerson has promoted social causes and engaged in philanthropy. She has recorded public service announcements about ovarian cancer awareness for broadcast in the area of her home in South Florida.

An interesting 1995 article from EMILY D. SOLOFF, Chicago Jewish News:

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/1739/bess-myerson-reflects-on-fame-miss-america-and-judaism/

I imagine that it must be a bit difficult in 2012 to understand the significance of Bess Myerson winning the title of Miss America 1945. Bess Myerson was the first (and ONLY, mind you) Jewish Miss America. Bess was the daughter of immigrants. She spoke only Yiddish until she started public school. Her talent in the pageant was classical piano. It was 1945....the very year that WWII ended. An America just learning of the horrors of the Holocaust.....an America still incredibly Anti-Semitic and Racist at every level of society. The war didn't change the horrible prejudices of a significant percentage of Americans, not by a long shot. Remember that it took Pearl Harbor to even get us to help join the effort to defeat Fascism, we had a lot of citizens who were very Nationalist and very much against intervention in the conflict at all.

Bess Myerson...an intellectual, college graduate, classical pianist, a proud Jew.....not your typical Miss America by any means.

It is NOT hard, however, to imagine the significance of her win to the Jewish community, even in this day and age. She remains one of the only memorable Miss America winners, with the exception of only a few other women. She faced both subtle and incredibly blatant Anti-Semitism during her reign, yet managed to transcend both that AND the ridiculously sexist nature of the pageant. She did not just fade back into domestic life, unlike many other winners of the title. She built a career in the public life in music, television, and later in politics. Highs and lows followed, as is the nature of life.

She has always fascinated me, because she didn't follow the "Party Line" of pageant winners. Sponsors didn't want her for the most part, because of her being Jewish, she didn't play into the "cheesecake" angle of the title, either. She was too serious, too intelligent, too aware of her "significance", if you will......she was proud of her heritage, and wasn't planning to let anyone down or change in any way to play the games expected of her upon winning the title. When the sponsors abandoned her, she took her newfound fame and channeled it into the battle against intolerance and racism, joining with the Anti-Defamation League, and using her fame and popularity with youth as an educational tool during a very tense time in our country. Very Impressive, indeed.

Enough already......pictures......pictures.... :)

The official 1945 Program

Bess is on the far right in the below pic

a Fitch endorsement

a few later pics

Dreadful music, but brief footage of Bess being crowned

A link to an audio story on: http://www.spokenword.org/program/1127254

As I turn into an episode of "Hoarders".........sigh....more Bert Ambrose

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 18:35:00 +0000

Soooo.....I just posted a whole huge set of several tunes from Bert Ambrose and The Hotel Mayfair Orchestra, right? What do I find the next day? Several hundred more tunes on another external hard drive.....Here's two more LONGGGGGG sets. Enjoy!

Oh, and if you read of a middle aged woman who was buried 'neath a massive stack of old LPs, 78s, phonographs, and computer equipment in your local news......that would be me. ;)

On to the Ambrose.......

Set FOUR

A Fine Romance

A Girl Friend of a Boy Friend

a Japanese dream

A Little Steeple Pointing To A Star

Adolf

After You, Who

Ain't that a grand and glorious feeling

All Through The Night

Amapola

At Last

Because It's Love

Beware Of Love

Bluebell

Breathless

Broadway Rhythm

Bye bye blues

Careless

Champagne cocktail

Cinderella Stay In My Arms

Cinderella Sweetheart

Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer

Cupid

Dinner At Eight

Don't Put Your Daughter On The Stage

Eleven Pounds Of Heaven

Fit As A Fiddle

Goodnight Children Everywhere

Grandma Said

Happy and Contented

Happy Days Are Here Again

Hick Stomp

Ho Hum

I Can't Believe It's True

I Have Eyes

I Never Mention Your Name (Oh, No!)

I Still Get A Thrill Thinking Of You

I'll Step Out Of The Picture

I'll Walk Alone (with Anne Shelton)

I'm Sending You The Siegfried Line

I'm Stepping Out With A Memory Tonight

I've Got A Note

I've Got A Pocketful Of Dreams

I've Got You On My Mind

If I Had You

Isn't this a lovely day

It can't be wrong

It's An Old Southern Custom

Johnny Zero

Kiss each morning

Kiss The Boys Goodbye

Lilli Marlene

Little Sir Echo

Love Bug Will Bite You

https://rapidshare.com/files/2367800860/ambrose4.zip

Set FIVE

A pair of silver wings

A Precious Little Thing Called Love

I don't want to set the world on fire

Moon Or No Moon

My Devotion

My Hat's On the Side Of My Head

My Kid's A Crooner

My Old Flame

My Wubber Dolly

My Yiddishe Momme

Night And Day

Only Forever

Out of nowhere

Pu-Leeze! Mister Hemingway!

Rain on the roof

Robin Hood

Room-Five-Hundred-Four

Russian Rose

Scatter Brain

Sergeant Sally

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Stay As Sweet As You Are

Stealing through

sugar Is Back in Town

Sweetheart

Swing high swing low

Sympathy

Taking A Chance On love

Tenement Symphony

The Booglie Wooglie Piggy

The clouds will soon roll by

The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot

The Object Of My Affection.mp3

The organ,the monkey and me

Top Hat, White Tie and Tails

Unless

Waltzing In The Clouds

We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)

Wedding waltz

When Gimble Hits The Cymbal

When The Poppies Bloom Again

When your lover has gone

While The Music Plays On

Whistling In The Dark

Who's been Polishing the Sun

Wishing

You'd be so nice to come home to

You're Blase

https://rapidshare.com/files/926716445/ambrose5.zip

"Cuz everybody needs a little Candy sometimes.......

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 02:51:00 +0000

Candy Johnson, that is!! :)

Today's OTR: Teddy Powell-AFRS Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands 11-04-1943

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:24:00 +0000

A nice little OTR for today....Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands on AFRS--11-03-1943, featuring Teddy Powell and band. Gene Howard and Peggy Mann on vocals, Dick Main on trumpet, and Charley Ventura on Sax.

Enjoy.

Teddy with Abe Lyman holding the inevitable cigar :)

https://rapidshare.com/files/2832462453/OTR__Remote-TeddyPowell_Limehouse_Blues.mp3

Charlie Ventura

Gene Howard

Another little special project: Part 2 of BBC-"The 1940s House"

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:11:00 +0000

Here is the remaining part of BBC-"The 1940s House"....Enjoy!

Feedback on your reaction to this project would be ever so greatly appreciated. Thank You in advance! -Laura

Another little special project: Part 1 of BBC-"The 1940s House"

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:53:00 +0000

I've been trying to do a few different things lately. Not just the music as usual, but a few more pictorials and such. I recently re-watched the BBC reality series, "The 1940s House". Now I'm not normally a fan of reality TV...or really ANY television, unless it's current events/news related. but I loved the show, and felt I needed to view it again.

Being nearly 50, I grew up on the tales of my parents, and grandparents....life in the Great Depression, and life during the war years on the American home front. Being an avid student of history and growing up in a family that was great on talking and teaching about the past, I often feel that I know quite a bit of how life and culture was....from both the major timeline events, music, fashion, and technology.....to even the most mundane of the daily aspects of the lives we led many years ago.

Don't get me wrong, I'm addicted to technology, and would find it awfully hard to live without all of it. I certainly won't deny that I'm as lazy as the next person when it comes to modern material comforts, but I do know enough about how to "get by".....knowing many of practical tools that most of us have forgotten, and which most of us used to learn as a matter of course from our elders. Can you bake a pie from scratch? darn a sock?, lay a fire? that sort of thing. I feel that I can safely say that I know many who can't, as I'm sure that many of you could say the same also.

I mention this because I try my damndest to teach as many of these things as possible to my 13 year old, as my mother did for me. Trust me, she WILL learn the secret to my Great-Grandmother's famous lard and ice water pie crust!! I'm amazed at the ignorance of some of the most basic things that were daily parts of the lives of our elders. No wonder our grandparents worried for us, as we really couldn't make it a day without the modern conveniences that we've come to depend upon.

My daughter was freaked out a bit by this series when first she saw it. I do think she was a bit young to take in all of it at the time, and frankly was a bit bored by all of it. She's a teen now, and I feel it's time for her to watch it again. They've studied WWII and the Holocaust in Middle School, and have a basic understanding of the politics and effects of the war as an result.

That being said, she only knows of what the Americans on the home front experienced during the war. She has no idea how different it was for Europeans, especially the British, and just what they had to live with daily in the 6 months leading up to the Blitz and the war.....also the hardships of wartime deprivation and the constant presence of possible death being always a part of ones life. My daughter's best friend has one parent who lives in London, and she spends each summer over there with her father and her grandparents. I've heard that she has been told something of what life was like during that time for them, but I don't really know if the girls really understand just of life was actually like. I'm hoping that maybe if they watch this, it will give them an idea just a bit of what it was like....a world completely removed from anything that they now experience in our cushy, comfortable, disposable existence......

Yes, this IS reality TV, but I do feel there is much to be learned from this, IMHO.

The show:

Assembled by the same team responsible for the reality series 1900 House and Frontier House, this three-episode endeavor challenges a 21st century British family to live under the same conditions experienced by their countrymen during the WWII years (1939-1945). Three generations of the Hymers family are crowded into an old-fashioned London flat, where they must endure such deprivations as food rationing and air-raid blackouts, as well as conduct their lives within the moral and cultural parameters of the early '40s. How well the Hymers clan fares under these restrictions is determined by a "war cabinet" made up of historians and sociologists. Originally broadcast in the U.K. in January of 2001, all three episodes of 1940s House were later broadcast on a single evening by America's PBS network.

Here 'Tis......Enjoy. (Part 2 to come in the next post)

Bert Ambrose...Swinging London in the '20s-30s...The Mayfair Hotel Orchestra and more.....

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:04:00 +0000

Bert Ambrose

Benjamin Baruch Ambrose (15 September 1896 – 11 June 1971), known professionally as Ambrose or Bert Ambrose, was an English bandleader and violinist. Ambrose become the leader of a highly acclaimed English dance band, the Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra, in the 1930s.

Ambrose was born in the East End of London; his father was a Jewish wool merchant. He began playing the violin while young, and soon after he was taken to the United States by his aunt he began playing professionally — first for Emil Coleman at New York's Reisenweber's restaurant, then in the Palais Royal's big band. After making a success of a stint as bandleader, at the age of twenty he was asked to put together and lead his own fifteen-piece band. After a dispute with his employer, he moved his band to another venue, where they enjoyed considerable popularity.

In 1922, he returned to London, where he was engaged by the Embassy Club to form a seven-piece band. Ambrose stayed at the Embassy for two years, before walking out on his employer in order to take up a much more lucrative job in New York. After a year there, besieged by continual pleas to return from his ex-employer in London, in 1925 he was finally persuaded to go back by a cable from the Prince of Wales: "The Embassy needs you. Come back — Edward".

This time Ambrose stayed at the Embassy Club until 1927. The club had a policy of not allowing radio broadcasts from its premises, however, and this was a major drawback for an ambitious bandleader; this was largely because the fame gained by radio work helped a band to gain recording contracts (Ambrose's band had been recorded by Columbia Records in 1923, but nothing had come of this). He therefore accepted an offer by the Mayfair Hotel, with a contract that included broadcasting.

Ambrose stayed at the Mayfair for six years, during which time the band made recordings for Brunswick Records, HMV and Decca Records. He teamed up withRichard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, and an American harmony song trio, the Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce (aka,Three X Sisters) to record songs "My Heart Stood Still" and other tunes. This period also saw the musical development of the band, partly as a result of Ambrose's hiring of first-class musicians, including Sylvester Ahola,Ted Heath, Joe Crossman, Joe Jeannette, Bert Read, Joe Brannelly, Dick Escott and trumpeter Max Goldberg.

In 1933, Ambrose was asked to accept a cut in pay at the Mayfair; refusing, he went back to the Embassy Club, and after three years there (and a national tour), he rejected American offers and returned to the Mayfair Hotel in 1936. He then went into partnership with Jack Harris (an American bandleader), and in 1937 they bought a club together (Ciro's Club). For 3 months they even employed Art Tatum^[1] there, some think the greatest jazz pianist who ever lived. Ambrose and Harris alternated performances in Ciro's until a disagreement led to the rupture of their partnership. Ambrose then worked at the Café de Paris until the outbreak of World War II, when he again went on tour. His major discovery in the years leading up to the war was the singer Vera Lynn (b. 1917), who sang with his band from 1937 to 1940 and, during the war, became known as the "Forces' Sweetheart". Lynn married Harry Lewis, a clarinettist in the band, in 1939. Other singers with the Ambrose band included Sam Browne, Elsie Carlisle, Denny Dennis (who recorded a number of duets with Vera Lynn), and Evelyn Dall.

After a short period back at the Mayfair Hotel, he retired from performing in 1940 (though he and his orchestra continued to make records for Decca until 1947). Several members of his band became part of the Royal Air Force band, the Squadronaires, during the war. Ambrose's retirement was not permanent, however, and he formed and toured with the Ambrose Octet, and dabbled in management.

In the mid-1950s, despite appearances back in London's West End and a number of recordings for MGM, Ambrose was — in common with other bandleaders — struggling; rock and roll had arrived. He was forced to start performing in small clubs with casual musicians, and his financial position deteriorated catastrophically. His situation was saved, however, by his discovery of the singer Kathy Kirby (1938–2011), whom he heard singing at the age of sixteen at the Ilford Palais; he started a long relationship with her, and promoted her career.^[2]

It was during the recording of one of Kirby's television programmes (at the Yorkshire Television studios) that Ambrose collapsed, dying later the same night in Leeds General Infirmary. His music was kept alive after his death by, among others, the Radio 2 broadcasters Alan Dell (1924–1995) and Malcolm Laycock, the latter continuing to play his records into the 21st century. His records, especially from his many 78RPM discs, still regularly feature on Australian radio 8CCC-FM's long running nostalgia programme "Get Out Those Old Records" hosted by Rufl.

London.......

The music.......(Do, bear with me a bit on these, as some of my sources were in very poor condition, bit rates vary, etc....)

Instead of three volumes, today, I figured I'd put these in sets. These days it seems every time I find a good source to upload to, the site gets yanked down so fast, I'd best make haste and offer them all at one time.....Geesh. I'd understand if I were posting The Billboard Top 40, or whatever. But C'mon.......Bert Ambrose and The Hotel Mayfair Orchestra?? really? The evil pirates here on The HMS Anachronist are such outlaws, aren't we? If this were 1933, perhaps, but I digress........*sigh*

On to the music, already.....

Set 1-

A Bench In The Park

About A Quarter To Nine

Ah, sweet mystery of life

All Of Me

At Eventide

Auf Wiedersehen, My Dear!

Begin The Beguine

Big Ben

Blue Turning Grey Over You

Bom ba diddy bop bop

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

Brighter Than The Sun

Button Up Your Overcoat

Bye Bye Baby

Caravan

College Rhythm

Copenhagen

Cotton picker's congregation

Cryin' For The Carolines

Cuban Pete

Dames

Dance Little Lady

Dancing in the dark

Deep Henderson

Didn't I Tell You

Don't Let That Moon Get Away

Donkey Serenade

El samba

Embassy Stomp

Exactly Like You

Falling Leaves

good evening

Goopy Geer

Half Caste Woman

Hang out the wash on the Siegfried Line

Happy Go Lucky You

Have you met Miss Jones

Hide and seek

Home James, and don't spare the horses

Hors D'Oeurves

How deep is the ocean

The Free And Easy

https://rapidshare.com/files/976007013/Ambrose1.zip

Set 2

'Leven Thirty Saturday Night

I Can Wiggle My Ears

I Dont Want To Go To Bed

I surrender dear

I Want a Little Girl

I Want to Be Bad

I'll Be Seeing You

I'll guess i have to change my plan

I'll Never Smile Again

I'm All In

I'm an unemployed sweetheart

I'm Gonna Wash My hands Of You

I'm In The Market For You

I'm Just Wearing My Heart Out For You

I'm On A Diet Of Love

I'm On A See-Saw

I'm Riding To Glory

I'm Thru' With Love

If I had A Million Dollars

If Love Were All.mp3

If they ever had an income tax on love

Indian Summer

Is I in Love, I Is

It's Just Too Bad For Nasty Uncle Adolf

It's The Talk of The Town

Just One Of Those Things

La Cucaracha

Lambeth Walk

Laughing At Life

Laughing at the Rain

Limehouse blues

Little Old Lady

London on A Rainy Night

Looks like Love

Love Letters In The Sand

Love Locked Out

Lullaby Of Broadway

Lullaby of the Leaves

Makin' Whoopee

Miss Annabelle Lee

Moanin' For You

Mrs. Worthington

My Baby Just Cares For Me

My romance

The longer that you linger in Virginia

https://rapidshare.com/files/3790117920/Ambrose2.zip

Set 3

(Somewhere) Over The Rainbow

Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You)

No Songs About Love

No! No! A Thousand Times No!

Oceans of Time

Okay Toots

Old Man Of The Mountain

One Hour With You

Paradise

Pardon Me, Pretty Baby

Rhapsody in blue (two parts)

Said My Heart

Selection of Hebrew Dances, No. 2

She didn't say yes

She's My Secret Passion

shoo the hoodoo away

Singapore Sorrows

St Louis Blues

Stormy Weather

Streamline Strut

Sweet and Lovely

Sweet Muchacha

Swing is in the air

Take My Heart.

Ten pretty girls

The Penguin

The Punch and Judy Show

The Show Is Over

The Sun has Got His Hat On

Then I'll Be Tired Of You

There isn't any limit to my love

There Ought To be A Moonlight savings time

Till Tomorrow

To be worthy of you

Too Many Tears

Try To Forget

Two Sleepy People

Until the real thing comes along

Wardance of the (for the) Wooden Indians

What Good Am I Without You

When You climb those golden stairs

Willow Weep For Me

With Plenty Of Money And You

Without That Certain Thing

Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey

Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams

Yes, Yes (My Baby Says 'Yes')

You ought to be in pictures.

You Ought To See Sally On Sunday

You try somebody else

You've Got Me Crying Again

https://rapidshare.com/files/2690941514/ambrose3.zip

Chicago in the 1930s...The Sheridan Road Pictorial....(a little 'mash note' to my stomping grounds, if you will)

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:36:00 +0000

Photos courtesy of the excellent IDOT Chicago Traffic Photographs collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/index_uic_idot.php?CISOROOT=/uic_idot

Today I'm going to try a little photographic project just for fun.....

Fellow Chicagoans (and guests, groupies, whatever)....let's imagine that we could travel back in time and see our beloved Sheridan Road exactly as it was in the mid to late 1930s.

We'll start at the "Calvary Curve" (The Evanston border-Calvary Cemetery/Juneway Terrace), and start working our way south, street by street. Today we'll start with just a short drive, just down to the intersection of Sheridan, Devon, and Broadway.....that's still a lot of pictures. :)

Woohoo....

Sound like fun? I thought so.

Soooooo....get your hat on straight, Maude, climb in the Wayback Machine (for the sake of shear comfort we're driving a 1935 Packard Twelve Sedan).....And, Hey.....let's drive South, shall we?

We start our drive at the last curve....the South end of Calvary Cemetery. We're just coming into Chicago from Evanston, Illinois. You're looking north east here....Lake Michigan in front of you, to your left Calvary Cemetery, to your right and south is Eastlake Terrace.....the year is 1936.

Still looking North, we see on our right the beginning of Eastlake Terrace, to our left the HC logo of a Sinclair Gasoline station. (Hey, while you're looking at the Butterfinger Billboard, be careful of that rainy, slippery pavement, as the period "guardrail" on the curve doesn't even remotely look like it would keep us from swan diving into Lake Michigan at even a very slow speed wipeout). And, no.....you can't TEXT AND DRIVE, 'cuz it's 19-FREAKING-36...so BwaHaHaHaHahaaaaa!!!

Let's look north for a moment, from Eastlake Terrace....wow, there's Dino over at the Sinclair Station (Maybe we should get some gas....it's only TEN CENTS A FREAKING GALLON!)

So let's glance south again....Eastlake is off to our left, we're just passing the Sinclair as we 'round the curve south....

Let's take a last glance back up north as we take the big curve on into Rogers Park. We've just passed the Sinclair, so maybe we could grab a BBQ chicken sandwich from the "Demetre from Wilmette #1" (Not to be confused with the #2-Villa Demetre, in "No-Man's Land"-an unincorporated zone-now known as Plaza del Lago, in Wilmette. No-Man's Land was a notorious area of drink and debauchery in a "dry" area. The North Shore was "rather mortified", if you will, by the popularity among students, etc...and it suddenly all "burned down" in a 1932 fire...truly another novel for another time, indeed ;) . Getting that BBQ might be a good idea, 'cause all of this will get torn down eventually....you'll only be able to view the cemetery for several decades, which will then lose most of the beautiful trees to Dutch Elm Disease and eventually there will be this horrid giant condo to obscure your view..I'm rambling on, I know, but, trust me, I'm psychic or whatever... ;)

Right now, we're actually standing on Juneway Terrace, which goes off to the west of southbound Sheridan, and you can still see the Sinclair, and the BBQ Joint, and...(well...a lot of words, but work with me here, and you'll see several views from different directions on the curve....k?)

We're looking north at the curve (Juneway to your left) , and now....four more views looking south and west...Fine, I know that The Fireside Theater isn't on right now, but we CAN set the radio to WGN.......Hey, is that Leo Reisman? I just lovvve "It ain't necessarily so"...yeah, do keep that radio on, babes....

Here's a last view looking from Juneway toward the lake and Sheridan.

Ok...let's drive 'round that curve and go south, already...

The next street south off Sheridan is Jonquil Terrace, that's it off to your left as you look north back at the Bowman Dairy sign....

And here's a view looking east to Sheridan from Jonquil....

Next south is Rogers, it actually runs from west of Sheridan to east, ending at Eastlake and Rogers Beach Park. Here's a view looking east toward Sheridan and the lake....

And looking back north from Rogers on Sheridan...

So now we're at Howard Street....It's really considered the dividing line between Evanston and Chicago....the first major cross street in the North Pole of Chicago....this is the view looking east on Howard to the lake across Sheridan: (We COULD go west on Howard, Ya know.....TONS of bars, there. Evanston is still "Dry", being home to the WCTU and all. In fact, it will stay "dry" 'til about the '70s. Howard is incredibly "Wet"....great music, too....just sayin'). Fine, you don't get to TEXT, so I can't have a DRINK....*sigh*.....fair enough. Onward, Jeeves.......

If you look in your rear view mirror, you can see north from Howard all the way back to the Bowman Dairy sign!

It looks like we're finally south of Howard.....next up is Birchwood Ave. Here's a view east to the lake:

Meh...maybe you're getting tired of looking behind you, but here's the view north from Birchwood....

Now Fargo Ave....looking east...

Looking west on Fargo...

And (of course) looking back north from Fargo on Sheridan.... ;)

Now we're south to Jarvis Ave.....this is the east view...

Et Voila!!!! ......north from Jarvis (of course)...Teehee.... ;)

Next on our journey south is Sherwin Ave....Here's east to the lake:

And two views looking back north on Sherwin..

Next to the south is Chase Avenue.....here's a view east toward the lake:

Another view to the east...less leaves on the trees...easier view :)

Here's the view from Chase looking north....

Touhy Avenue...really next large east/west cross street you encounter going south on Sheridan. Here's a view going toward the lake and what is now Leone Park and Beach.

And the view North on Sheridan from Touhy:

Next South is Estes Avenue. Here's a view east to the beach:

And here's a view looking north up Sheridan:

Here's the next southbound Sheridan cross street: Greenleaf Avenue. This is a view east toward the lake and beach:

And......yeah.....NORRRTTTTHHH....lol!!

Lunt Avenue....another of the larger streets of the Rogers Park area of Chicago as it meets Sheridan. An Eastward view..

A view north:

Morse Avenue....next up, and here's a view to the east:

And a view from Morse Ave. to the north:

The next street to our south is Farwell Avenue....a view east:

And a view from Farwell to the North:

The next large cross street going south on Sheridan is Pratt Avenue. Here's a view looking north up Sheridan from Pratt:

Wow...just a couple more streets and we'll be at Devon Avenue. That's where Rogers Park ends, and the Chicago neighborhood that we call Edgewater begins.

Sooo.....this is Columbia Avenue. Here's a great view looking east: Oh, and by the way....Walgreens.....so there! Not that damn Starbucks we now have on the corner. Sorry, but you'll just have to live with the CHASE AND SANBORN'S from my damn Percolator back at Chez Laura......Come to think of it.....there's no fast food OR Starbucks on this drive....I really HAVE died and went to heaven!!

And now two views looking north....both show the wonderful "400 Theater" to the left. It was originally built as the Regent Theater for vaudeville and movies, in 1912. It was renamed the "400" in 1930, just a few years before our pictures were taken (1936-37)

Next up: North Shore Avenue.....a view east (Bowman Dairy is stalking us, methinks...Meh, I prefer soy milk, personally).....

A view north from North Shore:

Now we're at Albion Avenue. Here's a view east:

Two views south on Sheridan from Albion: the first in 1938, the second in 1936...(Thanks for the correction, emerald772!!)

Lastly, here's a view north from Albion, again from 1936...

Ok....Loyola Avenue.....ALMOST the last street before Devon Avenue. It's Loyola, as in Loyola University, and St. Ignatius Church, which is just over to the west on Glenwood Avenue. You're in JESUIT LAND, now, Kiddo....put your Thinking Cap on.....Jesuits like thinking....just sayin'.....trust me ;)

Here are two views looking north up Sheridan....the Elevated line crosses Sheridan just south of us. Loyola University and Loyola Academy (well back in '36, anyway..the academy is now co-ed, and in Wilmette, Illinois) are to your right/east.

Here's a view very similar, and north of the elevated, looking west:

Now, lastly....two views of Sheridan, first one of Loyola Ave. looking southeast onto Sheridan (note the Grenada Theater in the upper right of the pic), and next a view looking back north at the elevated line from Sheridan to Loyola Ave.

Here we are at Arthur Avenue.....the last street before Devon. Just a spit from Loyola Ave. to the south, and kinda hard to notice if you don't know the neighborhood around the university. The views are very similar to the two pics just above this one. First, a view east:

And here's a view to the north:

Ok.....the end of today's ride: Devon Avenue. A large cross street. Sheridan Road branches off east, and then south again along the lakefront. Broadway continues directly south from where Devon Avenue ends as it turns into Sheridan going east.

Here are two views looking north from Broadway just before crossing Devon, and turning into Sheridan Road. (Note the Balaban and Katz -Grenada Theater, once one of Chicago's grandest movie palaces, unbelievably demolished in 1988, still structurally sound, at least until halfway demolished and left to decay....You can blame the Senior Life Styles Corporation, they demolished it to build a hideous apartment/commercial structure they insultingly named "The Grenada Center". It was later purchased by Loyola University for student apartments).

The glorious Grenada:

Here's two views looking west toward Devon Avenue (the first in 1937, the second in 1943):

Here are two views looking east, as Devon becomes Sheridan (the first in 1937, the second in 1943):

Here's the last view on our ride today. This is Sheridan as it turns off east toward the lake. To your right it becomes Devon Avenue, and if we keep going south, it's now Broadway.....we'll officially pass out of the Rogers park neighborhood into what we call Edgewater.

This is a view from 1943.

Wow....that seemed like a really long drive... Must've been rush hour ;)

Thus ends my little experiment in time travel. I had fun, I really hope you did, too.....(even if you aren't a Chicagoan and know the journey, let me know if my experiment worked for you).

Maybe we can drive farther south next time!!!!!

Gas is cheap (well, use your imagination, we are time traveling after all).

And.....NO.....you can't borrow the Packard Twelve for your date this weekend !!

The St. Patrick's Wayback Machine: The Greatest Irish Tenor: John McCormack

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:24:00 +0000

John McCormack

(from Wikipedia)

John Count McCormack, in full, John Francis Count McCormack (14 June 1884 – 16 September 1945) was a world-famous Irish tenor singer, celebrated for his performances of the operatic and popular song repertoires, and renowned for his diction and breath control. He was also a Papal Count.

McCormack was born in Athlone, Ireland, the fourth of eleven children of Andrew McCormack and Hannah Watson on 14 June 1884, and was baptised in St. Mary's Church, Athlone on 23 June 1884. His parents were employed at the Athlone Woollen Mills.

McCormack received his early education from the Marist Brothers in Athlone, and later attended Summerhill College, Sligo. In 1903 he won the coveted gold medal of the Dublin Feis Ceoil. He married Lily Foley in 1906 and they had two children, Cyril and Gwen.

In March 1904, McCormack became associated with James Joyce, who at the time had singing ambitions himself. Richard Ellmann, in his biography of Joyce, states that, "Joyce spent several evenings with him" (i.e. McCormack), practising; along with Joyce's acquaintance Richard Best, McCormack persuaded Joyce to enter theFeis Ceoil that year.

Fundraising activities on his behalf enabled McCormack to travel to Italy in 1905 to have his voice trained by Vincenzo Sabatini (father of the novelist Rafael Sabatini) in Milan. Sabatini found McCormack's voice naturally tuned and concentrated on perfecting his breath control, an element that would become part of the basis of his renown as a vocalist.

In 1906, he made his operatic début at the Teatro Chiabrera, Savona. The next year he began his first important operatic performance at Covent Garden in Mascagni'sCavalleria rusticana, becoming the theatre's youngest principal tenor. In 1909 he began his career in America. Michael Scott ("The Record of Singing" 1978) writes that at this stage of his career he should be considered a tenor of the Italian style—and he sang (and recorded) French operatic arias in the Italian language. Steane ("The Grand Tradition" 1971) stresses that, for all his later devotion to the concert platform (and his Irish identity), he was (for albeit a relatively brief period) in essence an Italian operatic tenor.

In February 1911, McCormack played Lieutenant Paul Merrill in the world premiere of Victor Herbert's drama Natoma with Mary Garden in the title role. Later that year he toured Australia after Dame Nellie Melba engaged him, then at the height of his operatic career aged 27, as a star tenor for the Melba Grand Opera Season. He returned for concert tours in subsequent years.

By 1912, he was beginning to become involved increasingly with concert performances, where his voice quality and charisma ensured that he became the most celebrated lyric tenor of his time. He did not, however, retire from the operatic stage until after his performance of 1923 in Monte Carlo (see biography below), although by now the top notes of his voice had contracted. Famous for his extraordinary breath control, he could sing 64 notes on one breath in Mozart's Il mio tesoro from Don Giovanni, and his Handelian singing was just as impressive in this regard.

McCormack made hundreds of recordings, the first on phonograph cylinder in 1904. His most commercially successful series of records were those for the Victor Talking Machine Company during the 1910s and 1920s. He also broadcast regularly by radio and performed in a few sound films, among them the first British colour film, Wings of the Morning (1937), and Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941), where he had a small uncredited part.

McCormack was the first artist to record the famous World War I song "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" in 1914. He also recorded the song "Keep The Home Fires Burning" in 1917, though he was not the first to do so. He also sang songs expressive of Irish nationalism: his recording of "The Wearing of the Green", a song about the Irish rebellion of 1798, encouraged 20th century efforts for Irish Home Rule, and endorsed the Irish Nationalist estrangement from the United Kingdom. McCormack was associated particularly with the songs of Thomas Moore, notably "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls", "The Minstrel Boy", "Believe Me If All (Those Endearing Young Charms)", and "The Last Rose of Summer". Between 1914 and 1922, he recorded almost two dozen songs with violin accompaniment provided by Fritz Kreisler, with whom he also toured. He recorded songs of Hugo Wolf for the Hugo Wolf Society in German.

In 1917, McCormack became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In June 1918, he donated $11,458 towards the USA's world war effort. By now, his career was a huge financial success, earning millions in his lifetime from record sales and appearances, though he never was invited to sing at La Scala in Milan.

By 1920, Edwin Schneider had become McCormack's accompanist and the two were "inseparable." McCormack would spend the next 25 years traveling and working with Schneider.

In 1927, McCormack moved into Moore Abbey, Monasterevan, County Kildare and lived an opulent life by Irish standards. He had apartments in London and New York. He hoped that one of his racehorses, such as Golden Lullaby, would win the Epsom Derby, but was unlucky.

McCormack also bought Runyon Canyon in Hollywood in 1930 from Carman Runyon. McCormack saw and liked the estate while there filming Song o' My Heart(1930),^[10] an early all-talking, all-singing picture. McCormack used his salary for this movie to purchase the estate and built a mansion he called 'San Patrizio', afterSaint Patrick. McCormack and his wife lived in the mansion until they returned to England in 1938.

McCormack toured often, and in his absence the mansion was often rented to celebrities such as Janet Gaynor and Charles Boyer. The McCormacks made many friends in Hollywood, among them Will Rogers, John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone, Charles E. Toberman and the Dohenys. After his farewell tour of America in 1937, the McCormacks deeded the estate back to Carman Runyon expecting to return to the estate at a later date. World War II intervened and McCormack did not return.

McCormack originally ended his career at the Royal Albert Hall in London, during 1938. However, one year after that farewell concert, he was back singing for the Red Cross and in support of the war effort. He did concerts, toured, broadcast and recorded in this capacity until 1943, when failing health finally forced him to retire permanently.

Ill with emphysema, he bought a house near the sea, "Glena", Booterstown, Dublin.^[12] After a series of infectious illnesses, including influenza and pneumonia, McCormack died in September 1945. He is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery.

He was much honoured and decorated for his musical career. In 1928, he received the title of Papal Count from Pope Pius XI in recognition of his work for Catholic charities. He had earlier received three papal knighthoods, Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great and Knight of the Order of St. Sylvester. He was also a Knight of Malta and a Privy Chamberlain of the Sword and Cape, an honour which is known now as a Gentlemen of His Holiness.

One of the most famous acts of McCormack's Irish career was his singing of César Franck's Panis Angelicus to the thousands who thronged Dublin's Phoenix Park for the 1932 Eucharistic Congress.

A life-sized bronze statue of McCormack, by sculptor Elizabeth O'Kane, was established in Dublin, on 19 June 2008.

The statue stands in the Iveagh Gardens, close to the National Concert Hall.

In his hometown of Athlone, he is commemorated by the Athlone Institute of Technology who named their performance hall after him, the John Count McCormack Hall.

So, today being St. Patrick's Day.....One of the greatest of the early Irish Tenors....John McCormack

Barefoot trail

Beautiful Isle Of Somewhere

Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms

Bless This House

Cloths Of Heaven

Come back to Erin

Come Into The Garden, Maud

Dawning Of The Day

Down by the Sally Gardens

Drink To Me Only

Eileen Allanna

Garden Where The Praties Grow

Green Bushes

Green Isle Of Erin

I Know of Two Bright Eyes

I'll Walk Beside You

Kathleen Mavourneen

Kerry Dance

Linden Lea

Little Silver Ring

Little town in county down

Macushla

Meeting Of The Waters

Mother Ireland

Mother Machree

O Could I But Express in Song

O Mary Dear

Off To Philadelphia

Oft in the Stilly Night

Passing By

Rose Of Tralee

She is Far From the Land

She Moved Thro' the Fair

Star of the County Down

Terence's Farewell To Kathleen

The Bard Of Armagh

the foggy dew

The Gentle Maiden

The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls

The Irish Emigrant

The Magpie's Nest

The Minstrel Boy

The Old House

The Wearing Of The Green

Tis' An Irish Girl I Love

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Where The River Shannon Flows

https://rapidshare.com/files/631305499/john_mccormack.zip

Possibly the most wonderful invention in the history of humankind.... ;)

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:13:00 +0000

Oh, and a GIANT list of Bert Ambrose and the Mayfair Hotel Orchestra is coming up.....soooo why not start with a Victrola and a wonderful couple fox-trotting to "Dames" by Ambrose, no? :)

An election year OTR.....CBS -November 6, 1944...."Roosevelt for President"...ALL STAR packed with EVERYONE...not to miss!

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:47:00 +0000

(AUDIO FILE FROM "SAME TIME, SAME STATION-THE BEST OF OLD TIME RADIO", HOSTED BY JERRY HAENDIGES)

In an election year so deep in in superfluous SH*T that it would overflow a fly fisher's waders.....let's take a break and have a listen, shall we? ;)

The Presidential Election of 1944....FDR and Truman (Democratic incumbents), against Thomas Dewey and John Bricker (Republican).

This is a CBS broadcast Sponsored by the One Thousand Club of The United States of America, for the re-election of FDR, from November 6, 1944.

Bring the peace...win the war...keep Dewey in Albany....pretty straightforward message for a difficult time. Well, at least at a time when Democrats had a spine, principles, and a message they stood by and didn't constantly compromise on....also amazing how much of what was said about the Republicans then still fits them today......

EVERYONE is in this......Hollywood--represented by Judy Garland, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Keenan Wynn, Groucho Marx, Talullah Bankhead, Joan Bennett, Irving Berlin, Virginia Bruce, Claudette Colbert, Joseph Cotton, Linda Darnell, John Garfield, Paulette Goddard, Susan Hayward, Rita Hayworth, Walter Houston, Rex Ingram, George Jessel, Danny Kaye, Gene Kelly, Evelyn Keyes, Paul Muni, George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, Gale Sondergaard, Lana Turner, Monty Woolley, Jane Wyman, Keenan Wynn, June Richmond, Earl Robinson and Clarence Muse. New York--represented by Gertrude Berg, Milton Berle, Franchot Tone, Frank Sinatra, Quentin Reynolds, Averell Harriman......A Speech by FDR.......AND a host of Americans...regular Americans who were informed voters. Informed voters??

**Sigh**......You mean voters not "informed" by Fox News? My oh, my.........

https://rapidshare.com/files/3423995256/OTR_Special_Election_Show_-_Roosevelt_for_President.mp3

Today's OTR: Rudy Vallee-The Royal Gelatin Hour-12/03/1936 on NBC

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:48:00 +0000

Today's lovely little OTR......The Rudy Vallee Show on The NBC Royal Gelatin Hour-Thursdays at 8-9pm

December 3, 1936.....Rudy's guests were Noel Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, Ed Wynn, Eddie Peabody, The Don Cossacks, and John Gunther.

Soooooo, as Rudy would say: "Heigh-Ho, Everybody......." Enjoy! :)

https://rapidshare.com/files/262175374/OTR_RudyVallee-36-12-03-wNoelCoward-GertrudeLawrence-EdWynn.mp3

Noel and Gertie in "Private Lives"

Noel

Gertrude

Eddie Peabody

Ed Wynn

The Don Cossacks

John Gunther

Not a lot more that I can add to the Rush LIMPbaugh controversy....well, maybe just this LITTLE 'toon....;)

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:58:00 +0000

NUFF 'SED..... ;)

(cartoon courtesy of Taylor Jones @ Caglecartoons.com)

Doris Day-Solo recordings 1947-50 Part 3......

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:41:00 +0000

Here's Part 3, the final of all the solo recordings up to the end of 1950....enjoy! :)

01. It's Better To Conceal Than Reveal

02. Canadian Capers (Cuttin' Capers)

03. The River Seine.

04. Bluebird On Your Windowsill

05. (It Happened at the) Festival of Roses

06. The Three Rivers (The Allegheny, Susquehanna and the Old Monongahela)

07. I'll Never Slip Around Again

08. Game of Broken hearts

09. Quicksilver

10. Crocodile Tears

11. Save a Little Sunbeam (For a Rainy, Rainy Day)

12. Mama, What'll I Do

13. I Don't Wanna Be Kissed by Anyone But You

14. With You (Anywhere You Are)

15. bewitched

16. Imagination

17. I Said My Pajamas (And Put On my prayers)

18. Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than you think)

19. Hoop-Dee-Doo

20. Marriage Ties

21. I Didn't Slip, I Wasn't Pushed, I fell

22. Before I Loved You

23. Darn that dream

24. I've Forgotten You

25. A Load of Hay

26. Orange Colored Sky.

27. A bushel and a peck

28. The Best Thing for You

29.The Everlasting Arms

30. David's Psalm

31. If I Were a Bell

32. I've Never Been in Love Before

33. Silver Bells

34. Christmas Story

35. Nobody's Chasing Me

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?3timgnk63ingkkz

OR

https://rapidshare.com/files/1015449004/dodosolo3.zip

Pertaining to All Creatures Great and Small....a little Critter list for a Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:51:00 +0000

Here's a fun little list for today....just animals...nothing but :)

Nat Shilkret Orch. w/ Chick Bullock-A little robin told me so
Jack Hylton Orch. w/ Jack Jackson,Billy Ternent, Chappie Damato-Bluebird sing me a song
Thomas Morris Past Jazz Masters-Bull Blues
Lonnie Johnson- Bull Frog Moan
Gene Austin-Bye Bye Blackbird
Joe Manone's Harmony Kings w/ Wingy Manone-Cat's Head
Georgia Pot Lickers-Chicken don't roost too high
Paul Whiteman-Felix the Cat
John William's Synco jazzers w/ Mary Lou Williams-Goose grease
Harlem Hamfats-Growling dog
W.C. Handy-Hooking Cow blues
Ipana Troubadors-Just like a butterfly that's caught in the rain
Valaida Snow with the Billy Mason Orch-Poor butterfly
Original Memphis Five-That barking dog woof woof
The Three Peppers-The duck's yas yas yas
Roy Smeck-Tiger Rag
The Mills Brothers-Tiger Rag
King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band-Tom Cat Blues
Hoagy Carmichael's Collegans-Walkin' the dog
Whispering jack Smith-When the red red robin comes bob bob bobbin' along
Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang-Wild Cat
Johnny Noble's Hawaiians-Yellow dog blues

https://rapidshare.com/files/3828523370/Animals1.zip

Oh, Good Lord, did she actually post something NEW?? :0 The Rockin' Connie Francis list part 2...........

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:16:00 +0000

Part 2.....Connie ROCKS!

Mommy, your daughter's fallin' in love
Mr. Twister
My best friend Barbara
My real happiness
Robot man
Send for my baby
Souvenirs
Stupid cupid
Teach me how to Twist
Telephone lover
Vacation
Valentino
Whatever happen to Rosemarie
You were only fooling (while I was falling in love)
You, my darlin' you

https://rapidshare.com/files/1551546836/conniefrockin2.zip

More of the underappreciated, but superb, Buddy Clark.....Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:23:00 +0000

Here's part 2........

Merry Christmas Waltz-
Midnight Blue-
My Highland Fling- w/ Dinah Shore-
Nothing but you-
On your toes-
She shall have music-
The rhythm of the rhumba-
We could make such beautiful music-
(The Treasure of) Sierra Madre-
10 O'Clock town-
Matinee-
May I have the next dance with you-
Moon over Miami-
My buddy-
My darling, my darling-w/ Doris Day
Now is the hour (Maori farewell song)-
On the air-
Peg O' my heart-
Powder your face with sunshine-w/ Doris
Smiles-
South America take it away-
Spring is here-
Take my heart-
That certain party-w/ Doris
Those things money can't buy-
Velvet lips-
Walt Disney's Melody Time (Introduction)-
When I write my song (Mon coeur sour a ta voix)-
Where the apple blossoms fall-
You are never away (from Allegro)-
You call it madness, I call it love-
You was-w/ Doris
You're breaking my heart-
You're too dangerous, Cherie (La Vie En Rose)-

https://rapidshare.com/files/2562976316/buddyc2.zip

Sooo....FINALLY a new post!!

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:14:00 +0000

ADHD Girl has lifted the veil of self pity over the Megaupload debacle....here's a NEW post of OLD music, as I set to work on reloading old links to Rapidshare (starting with all the reload requests from all of you dear hearts and gentle people)...enjoy!

Here's part 2 of the Durium Hit of the Week Records....By no means complete (there are some promo and unreleased things around, especially on the excellent Archeophone records series...here's what I have for your listening pleasure. Consider this an introduction, and do really consider checking out the series, if you enjoy these....do)

Cheer Up Good Times Are Comin'—Phil Spitalny's Music 1930
Anchors Aweigh—Phil Spitalny's Music 1930
Singing A Song To The Stars—Hit of the Week Orchestra 1930
Swingin' In A Hammock—Phil Spitalny's Music 1930
You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me—Hit of the Week Orchestra 1930
Old New England Moon—Phil Spitalny's Music 1930
Just A Little Closer—Hit of the Week Orchestra 1929
Confessin' That I Love You—Phil Spitalny's Music 1930
Little White Lies—Vincent Lopez Orchestra 1930
Here Comes The Sun—Vincent Lopez Orchestra 1930
Bye Bye Blues—Bert Lown & His Hotel Biltmore Music 1930
Go Home And Tell Your Mother—Don Voorhees Orchestra 1930
I Still Get A Thrill —Hotel Pennsylvania Orchestra 1930
What's The Use—Phil Spitalny's Music 1930
Betty Co-Ed—Phil Spitalny's Music 1930
Somewhere In Old Wyoming—Hit of the Week Orchestra 1930
I’ll Be Blue Just Thinking Of You—Hit of the Week Orchestra 1930
My Baby Just Cares For Me—Ted Fio Rito’s Orchestra 1930
When The Organ Played At Twilight—Fio Rito’s Music 1930
My Bluebird Was Caught In The Rain—Hit of the Week Orchestra 1930

https://rapidshare.com/files/1962840620/durium2.zip

Geez, I've been gone for awhile.......

noreply@blogger.com (barberella) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:15:00 +0000

Kinda been staying away....burned out by the prospect of having to reload so much after the Megaupload debacle, and just the daily grind. Also a creative dead zone....kinda thinking about what direction to take the page. I'll be back though. Just trying to generate the enthusiasm and energy required. Thanks for your patience. :) You'll be seeing a few things very soon...on Rapidshare....and continuations of other posts, reloads, etc. Thanks...really. :)