mentions:
Doris Day - Love Me or Leave Me
Mario Lanza ~ The Great Caruso
Joe Pasternak - 1957
publicity photo
Showing posts with label Doris Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doris Day. Show all posts
January 31, 2024
Joe Pasternak articles/mentions
mentions:
Doris Day - Love Me or Leave Me
Mario Lanza ~ The Great Caruso
August 27, 2023
Spencer Tracey articles/mentions
February 7, 2021
Oscar Brand ~ A man of varied tastes
~
Oscar Brand - ca. late 70’s - early 80’s
He wrote the lyrics to the song A Guy is a Guy, which was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald in 1951 and became a hit for Doris Day in (1952). His score for the 1968 Off-Broadway show, How to Steal An Election sent up the current belief that charisma would help a candidate win. You think? 
Styrous® ~ Sunday, February 7, 2021
Today is the birthday of Oscar Brand, a Canadian-born American folk
singer-songwriter and author with a career spanning 70 years. He
composed at least 300 songs and released nearly 100 albums, among them
Canadian and American patriotic songs. Brand's music ran the gamut from novelty songs to serious social commentary and spanned a number of genres from folk music to Doris Day to Ella Fitzgerald.
His
music was not for everyone. You had to be a person who loved the rich
variety of the music traditions, history, language and sounds of
different cultures and countries from Appalachia to Zimbabwe. He was known for composing catchy and themed folk songs.
Brand also wrote a number of short stories. And for 70 years, he was the host of a weekly folk music show on WNYC Radio in New York City, which is credited as the longest running radio show with only one host in broadcasting history.
Oscar Brand - 1960
photographer unknown
He hosted the radio show Oscar Brand's Folksong Festival on Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. on WNYC-AM
820 in New York City,
which ran into its 70th year. The show ran more
or less continuously since its debut on December 10, 1945, making it the
longest-running radio show with the same host, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Over its run it introduced such talents to the world as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, Huddie Ledbetter, Joni Mitchell, Peter, Paul & Mary, Judy Collins, the Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger and the Weavers. In order to make sure that his radio program could not be censored he refused to be paid by WNYC for the next 70 years.
date & photographer unknown
He played with such legends of folk music as Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Josh White, Jean Ritchie, the Weavers and Pete Seeger. He wrote various books on the folk song and folk song collections, including The Ballad Mongers: Rise of the American Folk Song, Songs Of '76: A Folksinger's History Of The Revolution and Bawdy Songs & Backroom Ballads, the latter comprising four volumes (link below).
date & photographer unknown
Oscar Brand was born to a Jewish family in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
His father was a Romanian-born flooring contractor, Isidore Brand. His
mother was named Beatrice. In 1927, the family moved to Minneapolis,
then to Chicago and ultimately to New York City. As a young man, Brand lived in Borough Park, Brooklyn and graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and later from Brooklyn College with a BS in psychology.
Although Brand was anti-Stalinist and was never a member of any Communist party, the House Committee on Un-American Activities referred to his show as a "pipeline of communism", because of his belief in the rights under the First Amendment of blacklisted artists to have a platform to reach the public. Accordingly, in June 1950, Brand was named in the premier issue of Red Channels as a Communist sympathizer, along with Paul Robeson, Josh White and Pete Seeger. A few years before Mr. Brand was targeted by Red Channels, he had been accused of playing Nazi music by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, whose third and last term was ending around the time Brand’s radio career was beginning. Called to the mayor’s office, Brand explained that the German songs he had played were actually centuries old. As pleased as the mayor was to hear that Nazis had not infiltrated the
municipal radio station, he was even more delighted to learn that Mr.
Brand worked without pay.
While Brand was not as well-known or radical an activist as some
of his contemporaries, he was a long-standing supporter of civil rights.
He told stories of buying food for Leadbelly when the two traveled
together in segregated areas, and participated in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.
Brand was given the Peabody Award for broadcast excellence in 1982 for his broadcast The Sunday Show on National Public Radio, and was awarded the Personal Peabody Award in 1995 which he shared with Oprah Winfrey.
On February 7, 2010, CBC Radio Sunday Edition celebrated Brand's life on the occasion of his 90th birthday.
Oscar Brand died of pneumonia on September 30, 2016, at his home in Great Neck, New York. He was 96 years old.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Brand among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire (link below).
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Billboard ~ Oscar Brand, 'Radio Host, Dies at 96
NY Times ~ Oscar Brand, Folk Singer, Dies at 96
Vintage Music FM ~ Oscar Brand
Washington Post ~ Oscar Brand, folk troubadour, dies at 96
WNYC ~ Oscar Brand YouTube links:
Oscar Brand ~ Bawdy Songs
Doris Day ~ A Guy is A Guy
Ella Fitzgerald ~ A Guy is A Guy
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January 31, 2021
Sammy Cahn articles/mentions
Doris Day - Love Me or Leave Me
July 22, 2020
Bob Crosby articles/mentions
March 12, 2020
20,000 vinyl LP 214: Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans)
~
Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans)
vinyl LP album front cover
album cover photo by Charlie Rotkin
photo of album cover by Styrous®
In 1951, he conducted the orchestra for the song, Shrimp Boats (link below), recorded by Jo Stafford, Weston's wife. I was a kid at the time and loved this song; I drove my mother insane singing the refrain, "Why don't you hurry, hurry, hurry home!", from it over and over while waltzing around the kitchen and living room.
It is a gently, bouncy waltz with a smooth tempo, that stops and gets slow for a lovely description of the women of Louisiana watching their men folk set off to sea in their boats in the evening with a moon guiding their way. In the distance there is an echoey, female vocal singing, "Ils y vont" ("There they go"). It tells of the lonely nights when the men are gone, then the joy when they return. It is a wistful, lovely and rousing song.
In 1952, bandleader Ben Pollack filed a suit against Weston, Howard and the publishers, Disney Music, alleging that the words of the song infringed his rights in relation to a non-copyrighted song, The Cajun Song, which he claimed Weston had heard in 1945.
Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans)
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous® The Crescent City Suite, was composed in 1956 and performed in New Orleans at the Municipal Auditorium in 1957 with Weston conducting. There was enough interest in the composition for a version for school bands to be made available in 1959; a symphonic version was also issued.
The music is what is now known generally as easy listening but was not called that then. Two exceptions that are my favorites are Ferryboat To Algiers and Riverfront Blues.
Ferryboat To Algiers is a moderate speed, with a Dixieland feeling to it song with a great clarinet, a trumpet and, of course, a tuba.
Riverfront Blues starts with lush strings but then picks up with a fantastic swing time mood that features a beautiful trio of a clarinet followed by a mellow trumpet then a smooth sax.
In 1957 Weston was named musical director for NBC-TV, a position he held for five years, a founding member and the first president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Weston and his wife Stafford would do skits at their parties where he would play the role of a simply horrible lounge pianist and she would vocalize in off-key melodies to the tunes he tried to play. They started recording these skits in 1957 under the name Jonathan and Darlene Edwards.
Weston and his wife Stafford would do skits at their parties where he would play the role of a simply horrible lounge pianist and she would vocalize in off-key melodies to the tunes he tried to play. They started recording these skits in 1957 under the name Jonathan and Darlene Edwards.
The
album cover photographer, Charlie Rotkin, had a career that spanned
more than 50 years and his work has been displayed at the Museum of
Modern Art.
He was a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (link below) and was its President from 1955 to 1957.
He was a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (link below) and was its President from 1955 to 1957.
In
a 1992 interview, he was asked, What do you think of the ASMP today? He
replied, "Not very much. I think they’ve become so money-hungry and so
publicity-oriented by the advertising aspects of photography that they
have lost sight of their origins."
Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans)
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
He and his wife, Jo Stafford, retired from performing in the 1970s. Active for many years in charities
helping the developmentally disabled, the Westons gave more of their
time to these groups after their retirement. The AbilityFirst work
center in Woodland Hills, California is named in Weston's memory. Weston died on September 20, 1996, in Santa Monica, California, he was 84 years old. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City. In 2006, Jo Stafford donated her husband's library and her own to the University of Arizona. She died in 2008, aged 90.
Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans)
vinyl LP record labels, side 1 & 2 details
detail photos by Styrous® 
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 Crescent City
A2 Vieux Carre
A3 Riverfront Blues
A4 Storyville
A5 Bayou St. John
A6 High Society
Side 2:
B1 Creole Songs And Dances
B2 Miss Lucy
B3 Ferryboat To Algiers
B4 Esplanade At Sunset
B5 Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
B6 Mardi Gras
Credits:
Photography By – Charlie Rotkin
Notes:
Paul Weston and his Music from Hollywood (Printed on Spine & Back Cover)
This release has cover header with white background with green and orange lettering and COLUMBIA on a blue background. Cover is similar to Canada release of CL 977, but has Printed in U.S.A on front and back. Labels are red Columbia 6 eye with MADE IN U.S.A.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (A-Side Label): (x"Lp"39533)
Matrix / Runout (B-Side Label): (x"Lp"39534)
Matrix / Runout (Stamped Side A): XLP39533-1D II "star"
Matrix / Runout (Stamped SideB): XLP39534-1C "star"
Paul Weston (2) – Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans)
Label: Columbia – CL 977
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released:
Genre: Jazz, Pop
Style: Modern, Classical
Doris Day ~ Day By Day
Side 1:
A1 Crescent City
A2 Vieux Carre
A3 Riverfront Blues
A4 Storyville
A5 Bayou St. John
A6 High Society
Side 2:
B1 Creole Songs And Dances
B2 Miss Lucy
B3 Ferryboat To Algiers
B4 Esplanade At Sunset
B5 Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
B6 Mardi Gras
Credits:
Photography By – Charlie Rotkin
Notes:
Paul Weston and his Music from Hollywood (Printed on Spine & Back Cover)
This release has cover header with white background with green and orange lettering and COLUMBIA on a blue background. Cover is similar to Canada release of CL 977, but has Printed in U.S.A on front and back. Labels are red Columbia 6 eye with MADE IN U.S.A.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (A-Side Label): (x"Lp"39533)
Matrix / Runout (B-Side Label): (x"Lp"39534)
Matrix / Runout (Stamped Side A): XLP39533-1D II "star"
Matrix / Runout (Stamped SideB): XLP39534-1C "star"
Paul Weston (2) – Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans)
Label: Columbia – CL 977
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released:
Genre: Jazz, Pop
Style: Modern, Classical
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
YouTube links:
Doris Day ~ Day By Day
Frank Sinatra ~ I Should Care
Jo Stafford ~ Shrimp Boats
"Why don't you hurry, hurry, hurry home!"
~ Shrimp Boats refrain
Styrous® ~ Thursday, March 12, 2020
February 10, 2020
May 13, 2019
Doris Day ~ A Sentimental Journey
1922 ~ 2019
date & photographer unknown
Doris Day died today. She was born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922. She was an American actress and singer; the very first vinyl LP I bought was her album, Day Dreams (link below). In later life she was an animal welfare activist.
During
recovery after a car accident on October 13, 1937, Day started to sing
along with the radio and discovered a talent she did
not know she had. Day said:
"During this long, boring period, I used to while away a lot of time listening to the radio, sometimes singing along with the likes of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller [...]. But the one radio voice I listened to above others belonged to Ella Fitzgerald. There was a quality to her voice that fascinated me, and I'd sing along with her, trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words."
Aquarium Jazz Club, New York (1946)
photo by
Day once said, " . . . the one radio voice I listened to above others belonged to Ella Fitzgerald.
There was a quality to her voice that fascinated me, and I'd sing along
with her, trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the
casual yet clean way she sang the words."
Doris Day - 1952
photographer unknown
Day had her first professional jobs as a vocalist, on the WLW radio program Carlin's Carnival, and in a local restaurant, Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn. During her radio performances, Day first caught the attention of Barney Rapp, who was looking for a girl vocalist and asked if Day would like to audition for the job. According to Rapp, he had auditioned about 200 singers when Day got the job. While working for Rapp in 1939, she adopted the stage surname "Day", at Rapp's suggestion. Rapp felt thLes at "Kappelhoff" was too long for marquees, and he admired her rendition of the song Day After Day. After working with Rapp, Day worked with bandleaders Jimmy James, Bob Crosby, and Les Brown.
date & photographer unknown
As of January 2014, Day was the oldest living artist to score a UK Top 10 with an album featuring new material. Day received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Pillow Talk, won three Henrietta Awards (World Film Favorite), and received the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Career Achievement Award. In 1989, she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. She made her last film in 1968.
Doris Day
publicity photo - 1960
publicity photo - 1960
photographer unknown
Doris Day died on May 13, 2019, after contracting pneumonia. She was 97 years old. Her death was announced by her charity, the Doris Day Animal Foundation.
Viewfinder links:
Day Dreams
Love Me or Leave Me
Doris Day articles/mentions
Net links:
Doris Day website
Doris Day Animal Foundation
BBC News obit
CBS News obit
NBC News obit
NPR obit
NY Times obit
The Guardian obit
YouTube link:
Doris Day - Sentimental Journey
Doris Day - Sentimental Journey (live)
Doris Day & Les Brown - Sentimental Journey (live) 1985
Tonight Show
What's My Line?
date & photographer unknown
"I never retired"
~ Doris Day
Styrous® ~Monday, May 13, 2019
April 6, 2019
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