What an amazing amount of music has been written and printed. Going back through the years I find the not only are the words simpler and more innocent, but the music is less complicated, more predictable in structure. You can anticipate where the tune is going, and while I cannot play without written music, I am not surprised most of the time with the path and pattern. I wish I could play the left hand as written but I have to rely on "fake" music, or music with the chords indicated above the melody. That's fine. I didn't begin this journey until rather late and am happy with what i can do. Well, no, I'm not. I just said I wished I could play the music and written, and that's the truth. But I know I don't have time enough to accomplish that so I am satisfied, if not happy. As my son said recently, contentment or satisfaction is a nice state of being but "happy" is for special events. I took some liberty with his words, but that's the gist of them.
The song this week is a little on the naughty side, and doesn't make a lot of sense.
While the words claim Harry got sued for "breach of promise" there is no expansion on that subject. The song was written in 1912 and the music composer was the publisher. It took two men to write the lyrics, Alfred Bryan and Sam M. Lewis.
Mr. Bryan was born in 1871 and died in 1958. He worked as an arranger in New York, and wrote for several Broadway shows in the 1900s. In the '20s he moved to Hollywood to write lyrics for screen musicals. Among is hits which are more familiar than "Daisy" are: Peg o' My Heart, Come Josephine in My Flying Machine, I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be a Soldier (which sold 650,000 copies during the first three months and describes the American public's anti-war sentiments); We'll Be Together When the Clouds Roll By and Who Paid The Rent For Mrs. Rip Van Winkle?
Mr. Lewis, whose real name was Levine, was born in 1885 and died in 1959. His musical career began by singing in cafes in New York, and began writing songs in 1912. He collaborated with some of the well known songwriters of the time (many of those names appear on numerous sheet music copies over and over): Harry Warren, Walter Donaldson, Victor Young, Peter DeRose to name a few. He wrote for some Broadway productions and screen musicals. He was a charter member of ASCAP.
Some of his songs: Dinah, For All We Know, Gloomy Sunday (English version)
Has Anybody Seen My Gal, I'm Sitting On Top Of The World, Laugh, Clown, Laugh.
Some people buy sheet music to use the covers for wrapping paper. I am offended by that careless destruction of the really lovely artwork and interesting pictures of the celebrities. "Daisy" has (what else) a random bunch of yellow eyed daisies, really very attractive. In the corner there is an inset picture of Reine Davies, the vocalist who became known as "The New American Beauty" in the early 1900s. Her friends called her "The True Blue Girl". She was the oldest girl in the Douras family and when driving through Brooklyn one day saw the office sign of Valentine Davies, liked the name, adopted it. Her sisters followed by taking the name also. Marion Davies was one of her younger sisters.
Reine married twice: to George Lederer with whom she had a son, writer/director Charles Lederer; and a daughter,Josephine Rose. After her divorce in 1912 she married Goerge Regas, an actor. Reine died in 1938 in her swimming pool of a heart attack. Both children are also deceased.
She is featured on many sheet music covers, always in elaborate dress of the times, wonderful fancy hats setting of her truly beautiful face. Some of her songs were Meet Me Tonight IN Dreamland, The Reine Waltz, When I Kissed Your Tears Away, Leaf By Leaf the Roses Fall to name a few.
Many of the songs named above are still available to listen to on the internet.
"Always Take A Girl Named Daisy (Cause Daisies Won't Tell).
Handsome Harry, handsome Harry Thomas, He was sued yes, sued for breach of promise.
He took Mary walking through the dell,and said, "Now don't you dare to tell,
Mary went right home and told her mother,
Ma told P and Pa then told her brother.
Brother told the preacher and the preacher went and tolled the wedding bell ---
Never take a walk with Mary, Never take a walk with Sue
Never take a walk with Maud or Carrie,
That's the kind of girl you'll have to marry.
If you take a girl out walking,
Down a little shady dell
Always take a girl named Daisy
'Cause Daisies don't tell.
Harry's married life was pure and simple,
Till he met a girlie with a dimple.
She said "Dear, I'm not acquainted here, I just came down from Beaver Fall,
Harry went and said, why silk and satin
To this girl would be like Greek and Latin,
Harry felt like fainting when he missed his little dollar Ingersol -
Never take a walk with Mary --etc. etc.
You can hear a recording of this typical vaudeville song on the internet. It's from an old cylinder machine so it's a little gritty. But it was quite an invention all the same.
You might also come across a visual and recording of an opera production done in 1903. It's not great, but near the end there is a picture of the equipment and the man recording the production. Even if you don't think the sound is great, I think you will agree that 1) it was a marvelous feat of technology and 2) it's amazing it is still in tact and playable.
Wouldn't it be great to find a few people who would put together a musical program singing and playing these long forgotten songs! Now where can I find a tenor, a baritone, a contralto and bluesy alto who would love to work for a song? Just another cockeyed notion.
Next weekend is the annual community yard sale event in which the Maine Music For LIFE Players is participating. Some of the 700 pieces of music I have been housing is going to go out for sale. But I am keeping those with special meaning, and those with beautiful covers - whether I can play them or not.
jan major
janice.major@iCloud.com (please put MUSIC in the subject line.
Ack: Bing Search
wikipedia
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Sunday, June 1, 2014
One of the nice things about sheet music is it usually has a verse, sometimes two, as well as he melody/refrain we are all familiar with. Today I was looking at a song called THE GIRL IN THE LITTLE GREEN HAT. The credits are given to Jack Scholl, Bradford Browne, and Max Rich and Bibo-Lang, Inc. published it. I found very little information about any of these writer/composers.
JACK SCHOLL was born in 1903 and died in 1988. He collaborated with Eubie Blake, a wonder pianist. Another of Scholl's songs might be familiar to you, "Throw Another Log On The Fire."
MAX RICH was born in 1897 and died in 1970
BRADFORD BROWNE - his bio was nonexistent.
Apparently the song, The Girl In The Little Green Hat was part of the production of "Mrs. Henderson Presents" which featured Judi Dench .
THE GIRL IN THE LITLE GREEN HAT
Listen to the breezes in the tresses,
Harken to the grass upon the lawn,
Listen to the mices in the pantry,
Harken to the breaking of the dawn.
Ooh! Ooh! Heavens above! Aah! Aah! I'm in love.
Harken to the breaking of the dawn.
There's a lake in the park,
There's a house by the lake,
There's a girl in the house in the park by the lake;
And the girl in the house by the lake in the park,
Is THE GIRL IN THE LITTLE GREEN HAT.
And tonight after eight, that's when I've got a date
When the moon's riding high and the stars light the sky,
With the girl in the house by the lake in the park,
THE GIRL IN THE LITTLE GREEN HAT.
There's no water in the lake, there's no roof upon the house,
No tresses in the park at all
But she'll wait beside the lake,
I'll be welcome at her house
I'll meet her by the garden wall.
There's a ship on the lake
There's a sailor on the shore
There's a girl in his arms,she's the girl I adore,
So goodbye to the house by the lake in the park
And THE GIRL IN THE LITLE GREEN HAT.
There's a storm on the lake,
There's a ship in the storm
There's a girl on the ship in the storm on the lake
And the girl on the lake on the ship in the storm is
THE GIRL IN THE LITTLE GREEN HAT
As the ship starts to dip, she is losing her grip,
Ev'ry dip makes her tip, not the girl but the ship,
But the girl on the ship has the pip from the trip
THE GIRL IN THE LITTLE GREEN HAT.
She's been sailing quite enough, she's been clinging to the rail,
She's dying to be home once more,
'Cause the lake is rather rough, And the girls is rather pale,
She's glad to ger her feet on shore.
Ah, she gave up the ship
And the captain and his men
For a round ticket trip to my arms once again.
Now I'm back in the park at the house by the lake,
with THE GIRL WITH THE LITTLE GREEN HAT.
A lot of the music in the thirties was "fox trot-y" . (A lot more was 3/4 time)
I hope you'll go to your search engine and listen to this bouncy tune. The words are kind of silly, but we had been through WWI and the depression, were not yet envisioning WWII.
Scholl and Schenck (pronounced Shank" were engaged to perform for Florenz Ziegfeld and Charles B. Dillingham when their original entertainment, a "trained but temperamental" chimpanzee failed to show up. Following that they were featured in Zeigfeld shows. They were well know and successful recording artists with such songs as "Hawaiian Sunshine", "Yaddie Kaddie Kiddie Koo", For Me And My Gal" and "Dance And Grow Thin". The wrote and performed a lot of their own music including "Mulberry Rose", "The Red Headed Gal", Promise Me Everything, Never Get Anything".
After Schenck died Sholl worked solo in vaudeville and radio; was on Broadway in a musical comedy with W. C. Fields. He did some movie work, and eventually starred in "Gus Van's Garden Party" which was a ten minute comedy He was president of the American Guild of Variety Artists.
Gus Van died injuries after being struck by a car.
JACK SCHOLL was born in 1903 and died in 1988. He collaborated with Eubie Blake, a wonder pianist. Another of Scholl's songs might be familiar to you, "Throw Another Log On The Fire."
MAX RICH was born in 1897 and died in 1970
BRADFORD BROWNE - his bio was nonexistent.
Apparently the song, The Girl In The Little Green Hat was part of the production of "Mrs. Henderson Presents" which featured Judi Dench .
THE GIRL IN THE LITLE GREEN HAT
Listen to the breezes in the tresses,
Harken to the grass upon the lawn,
Listen to the mices in the pantry,
Harken to the breaking of the dawn.
Ooh! Ooh! Heavens above! Aah! Aah! I'm in love.
Harken to the breaking of the dawn.
There's a lake in the park,
There's a house by the lake,
There's a girl in the house in the park by the lake;
And the girl in the house by the lake in the park,
Is THE GIRL IN THE LITTLE GREEN HAT.
And tonight after eight, that's when I've got a date
When the moon's riding high and the stars light the sky,
With the girl in the house by the lake in the park,
THE GIRL IN THE LITTLE GREEN HAT.
There's no water in the lake, there's no roof upon the house,
No tresses in the park at all
But she'll wait beside the lake,
I'll be welcome at her house
I'll meet her by the garden wall.
There's a ship on the lake
There's a sailor on the shore
There's a girl in his arms,she's the girl I adore,
So goodbye to the house by the lake in the park
And THE GIRL IN THE LITLE GREEN HAT.
There's a storm on the lake,
There's a ship in the storm
There's a girl on the ship in the storm on the lake
And the girl on the lake on the ship in the storm is
THE GIRL IN THE LITTLE GREEN HAT
As the ship starts to dip, she is losing her grip,
Ev'ry dip makes her tip, not the girl but the ship,
But the girl on the ship has the pip from the trip
THE GIRL IN THE LITTLE GREEN HAT.
She's been sailing quite enough, she's been clinging to the rail,
She's dying to be home once more,
'Cause the lake is rather rough, And the girls is rather pale,
She's glad to ger her feet on shore.
Ah, she gave up the ship
And the captain and his men
For a round ticket trip to my arms once again.
Now I'm back in the park at the house by the lake,
with THE GIRL WITH THE LITTLE GREEN HAT.
A lot of the music in the thirties was "fox trot-y" . (A lot more was 3/4 time)
I hope you'll go to your search engine and listen to this bouncy tune. The words are kind of silly, but we had been through WWI and the depression, were not yet envisioning WWII.
Scholl and Schenck (pronounced Shank" were engaged to perform for Florenz Ziegfeld and Charles B. Dillingham when their original entertainment, a "trained but temperamental" chimpanzee failed to show up. Following that they were featured in Zeigfeld shows. They were well know and successful recording artists with such songs as "Hawaiian Sunshine", "Yaddie Kaddie Kiddie Koo", For Me And My Gal" and "Dance And Grow Thin". The wrote and performed a lot of their own music including "Mulberry Rose", "The Red Headed Gal", Promise Me Everything, Never Get Anything".
After Schenck died Sholl worked solo in vaudeville and radio; was on Broadway in a musical comedy with W. C. Fields. He did some movie work, and eventually starred in "Gus Van's Garden Party" which was a ten minute comedy He was president of the American Guild of Variety Artists.
Gus Van died injuries after being struck by a car.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED
What wonderful music they used to write, those old lyricists and melody makers.
People who knit have skeins of yarn in boxes, bags, closets and even whole rooms full. People who collect stamps carefully wear gloves and keep them in little plastic covers lest any dust or human contaminants find them. People who collect coins do the same, with tweezers, in fact. There are collectors who collect all different things; and there are collectors who collect all things. Those poor people find them selves buried in oddments that eventually become trash. I am not quite that afflicted, but I admit to being a collector. I have collected butter knives; small china animals, coins and currency. My focus is on music now, of course, and I have just been blessed (or cursed) with a whole new stash. And this is how it came about: A man went to a flea market and saw a big lot of music which he bought for his wife, a piano teacher. She went through it and took out what she could use. put an ad in a wonderful little booklet published every month with stuff people want to get rid of. I happened on that booklet, and I then drove to Woolwich, Maine, about an hour away, and took it off their hands. It had been stored in a shed all winter and some of it was damp and moldy and beyond rescue. Most was at least slightly tainted with the mold, but I am working to abate that. So for the next few weeks and maybe months I will be doing some "blogs" about some of music of another age, vocalists, composers, instrumentalists and lyricists. I'm having such fun I just have to share.
TITLE: FARE-THEE - WELL TO HARLEM, music by Bernie Hanighen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, "featured" by Leon Belasco.
BERNIE HANIGHEN was born in 1908 and died in 1976. His first hit was "When A Man Loves A Woman" which he wrote with Gordon Jenkins, the lyrics are by Johnny Mercer. He continued to write, sometimes with Mercer, sometimes with "Cootie" Williams or Thelonious Monk. His music written with Monk was reasonably successful. Hanighen wrote for Broadway shows. Being a supporter of Billie Holiday, he put together some material for her (most of the best material was being given to the white vocalists at that time) and eventually wrote a song with Paul Coates titled "If the Moon Turns Green" in 1952 which was a success.
JOHNNY MERCER was truly a wordsmith in the music world. His name appears on the covers of more songs than I would have ever imagined. I am of the opinion that to get him to write lyrics for your composition would have been a "big deal." Mercer was born in 1909, in Georgia and died in Los Angeles in 1976, of a brain cancer. He started out as a singer for Paul Whiteman and began writing songs for movies around 1935. He had a few parts in musicals but his fame is really his ability to write the words to fit the music. His biography is lengthy and interesting but I will only use the bare facts for economy of space. He co-founded Capitol Records, sold it, paid off his father's debts from a Florida real estate bust, and founded Cowboy Records in 1942. Some of his familiar tunes are Skylark, One For My Baby, "Days of Wine and Roses" and "Charade". You will note
Fare-Thee-Well to Harlem is not among his "best known" songs. (Which is precisely why I chose it. Anyone can talk about the best known music of the ages, I want to talk about the ones of which we might never have heard.)
LEON BELASCO was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1902 and died in 1988. His birth name was Leonid Simeonovich Berladsky. He attended St. Joseph College inYokohama, Japan; trained as a musician in Japan and Manchuria and for several years was first violinist with the Tokyo Symphony. His family moved to Hollywood and he found work occasionally in films including the silent film "The Best People". He continued to play violin, and formed a band which performed in hotels around New York City. The Andrews Sisters were introduced through his band. Returning to Hollywood on an engagement break, he got a part in "Broadway Serenade" and "Topper Takes a Trip" and subsequently appeared in 13 other films including the Marx Brothers last film together, "Love Happy" in 1949. His Russian language got him a job as dialect director in the 1966 comedy "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming." He got comic roles as a befuddled character, was in a cold war espionage film, and a thief in Man Called X. (I loved that program with Herbert Marshall). In "My Sister Eileen" he was Appopopious the landlord. He appeared in Man from U.N.C.LE., Beverly Hillbillies, Trapper John, My Three Sons, I Love Love Lucy and many other sitcoms. If you watched any of them and you can recall the foreign-appearing dark man playing a small role, you maybe saying, "Oh, I remember him! He was so funny."
He died in Orange, CA and according to his wishes was cremated and his ashes were scattered.
FARE-THEE-WELL TO HARLEM
Mister Jackson you sho'look cute, - You must have on your trav'lin' suit.
It looks as if you're really gonna go somewhere.
Mister Budly, yo' spoke a book. Yo' just got time for one more look,
'Cause Mister Jackson is leaving you for fair - for fair - for --
Fare-thee-well to Harlem! Fare-thee-well to night life!
Goin' back where I can lead the right life.
Fare-thee-well to Harlem.
Things is tight in Harlem.
I know how to fix it,
Step aside, I'm gonna Mason Dix it.
Fare-thee-well to Harlem!
Lately here my soul is reaching' for the Bible's kinldy teaching.
Wants To hear the Rev'ren' preachin'
"Love each other!" Wants to hear the organ playin'
Wants to hear the folks a-prayin' "
There's a voice within me saying'
"Ease off, brother!"
So, Fare-thee-well to Harlem
All this sin is "fright-eous!"
Goin' back where every body's right-eous.
Fare-thee well to Harlem!
It has been said that music, specifically lyrics, reflect the times. I leave it to you to draw your conclusions about Harlem, circa 1934.
Submitted for your enjoyment
Jan Major
jmajor2@maine.rr.com
Comments appreciated.
People who knit have skeins of yarn in boxes, bags, closets and even whole rooms full. People who collect stamps carefully wear gloves and keep them in little plastic covers lest any dust or human contaminants find them. People who collect coins do the same, with tweezers, in fact. There are collectors who collect all different things; and there are collectors who collect all things. Those poor people find them selves buried in oddments that eventually become trash. I am not quite that afflicted, but I admit to being a collector. I have collected butter knives; small china animals, coins and currency. My focus is on music now, of course, and I have just been blessed (or cursed) with a whole new stash. And this is how it came about: A man went to a flea market and saw a big lot of music which he bought for his wife, a piano teacher. She went through it and took out what she could use. put an ad in a wonderful little booklet published every month with stuff people want to get rid of. I happened on that booklet, and I then drove to Woolwich, Maine, about an hour away, and took it off their hands. It had been stored in a shed all winter and some of it was damp and moldy and beyond rescue. Most was at least slightly tainted with the mold, but I am working to abate that. So for the next few weeks and maybe months I will be doing some "blogs" about some of music of another age, vocalists, composers, instrumentalists and lyricists. I'm having such fun I just have to share.
TITLE: FARE-THEE - WELL TO HARLEM, music by Bernie Hanighen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, "featured" by Leon Belasco.
BERNIE HANIGHEN was born in 1908 and died in 1976. His first hit was "When A Man Loves A Woman" which he wrote with Gordon Jenkins, the lyrics are by Johnny Mercer. He continued to write, sometimes with Mercer, sometimes with "Cootie" Williams or Thelonious Monk. His music written with Monk was reasonably successful. Hanighen wrote for Broadway shows. Being a supporter of Billie Holiday, he put together some material for her (most of the best material was being given to the white vocalists at that time) and eventually wrote a song with Paul Coates titled "If the Moon Turns Green" in 1952 which was a success.
JOHNNY MERCER was truly a wordsmith in the music world. His name appears on the covers of more songs than I would have ever imagined. I am of the opinion that to get him to write lyrics for your composition would have been a "big deal." Mercer was born in 1909, in Georgia and died in Los Angeles in 1976, of a brain cancer. He started out as a singer for Paul Whiteman and began writing songs for movies around 1935. He had a few parts in musicals but his fame is really his ability to write the words to fit the music. His biography is lengthy and interesting but I will only use the bare facts for economy of space. He co-founded Capitol Records, sold it, paid off his father's debts from a Florida real estate bust, and founded Cowboy Records in 1942. Some of his familiar tunes are Skylark, One For My Baby, "Days of Wine and Roses" and "Charade". You will note
Fare-Thee-Well to Harlem is not among his "best known" songs. (Which is precisely why I chose it. Anyone can talk about the best known music of the ages, I want to talk about the ones of which we might never have heard.)
LEON BELASCO was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1902 and died in 1988. His birth name was Leonid Simeonovich Berladsky. He attended St. Joseph College inYokohama, Japan; trained as a musician in Japan and Manchuria and for several years was first violinist with the Tokyo Symphony. His family moved to Hollywood and he found work occasionally in films including the silent film "The Best People". He continued to play violin, and formed a band which performed in hotels around New York City. The Andrews Sisters were introduced through his band. Returning to Hollywood on an engagement break, he got a part in "Broadway Serenade" and "Topper Takes a Trip" and subsequently appeared in 13 other films including the Marx Brothers last film together, "Love Happy" in 1949. His Russian language got him a job as dialect director in the 1966 comedy "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming." He got comic roles as a befuddled character, was in a cold war espionage film, and a thief in Man Called X. (I loved that program with Herbert Marshall). In "My Sister Eileen" he was Appopopious the landlord. He appeared in Man from U.N.C.LE., Beverly Hillbillies, Trapper John, My Three Sons, I Love Love Lucy and many other sitcoms. If you watched any of them and you can recall the foreign-appearing dark man playing a small role, you maybe saying, "Oh, I remember him! He was so funny."
He died in Orange, CA and according to his wishes was cremated and his ashes were scattered.
FARE-THEE-WELL TO HARLEM
Mister Jackson you sho'look cute, - You must have on your trav'lin' suit.
It looks as if you're really gonna go somewhere.
Mister Budly, yo' spoke a book. Yo' just got time for one more look,
'Cause Mister Jackson is leaving you for fair - for fair - for --
Fare-thee-well to Harlem! Fare-thee-well to night life!
Goin' back where I can lead the right life.
Fare-thee-well to Harlem.
Things is tight in Harlem.
I know how to fix it,
Step aside, I'm gonna Mason Dix it.
Fare-thee-well to Harlem!
Lately here my soul is reaching' for the Bible's kinldy teaching.
Wants To hear the Rev'ren' preachin'
"Love each other!" Wants to hear the organ playin'
Wants to hear the folks a-prayin' "
There's a voice within me saying'
"Ease off, brother!"
So, Fare-thee-well to Harlem
All this sin is "fright-eous!"
Goin' back where every body's right-eous.
Fare-thee well to Harlem!
It has been said that music, specifically lyrics, reflect the times. I leave it to you to draw your conclusions about Harlem, circa 1934.
Submitted for your enjoyment
Jan Major
jmajor2@maine.rr.com
Comments appreciated.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Let it SNOW
I was working it another direction for a blog and allowed myself to make it so complicated I have sidelined it for another time. Since it is winter, and SNOW is the topic of the times - yes, Portland, Maine got a record 39.1" (but they knew exactly what needed to be done, and did it!), I am looking at CLARENCE EUGENE SNOW, aka: Hank, born in Brooklynn, NS, Canada in May of 1914.
Hank was the 5th of 6 children in the family. The first two babies died while still in infancy. These were hard times for the Snow family. Father George was a lumber mill worker, frequently absent from the home. Mother, Marie Alice took in laundry and did cleaning for wealthier families.
She was an accomplished piano player and singer who performed in local theaters during silent films and at minstrel shows. The Snow family was separated when the parents divorced. The Overseer of the Poor in his or her wisdom deemed the children should be taken from Marie. One of the girls moved in with an aunt, the two other girls were sent to separate foster homes, and Clarence went to live with his father's mother, where he was admonished to "never speak his mother's name again."
Grandma was an abusive woman both physically and psychologically, and attempted to have him sent to reform school. Maria was living in Liverpool (Canada not England) so Clarence began to sneak visits with her and eventually moved in with her.
Now, Marie remarried a local fisherman. He was jealous of Clarence and thus began the beatings and abuse again. Clarence was now known as Jack, a frail, 80- pound 12-year old whose bully step-father once raged at him, "Why in hell don't you get out and find a job somewhere?"
Jack's mother ordered a Hawaiian steel guitar which she saw in a magazine, which came with 12 free lessons and some 78rpm gramophone records. This was HER prized possession, and Jack was not allowed to touch it. But when the time came that she finally allowed him to use it, she was awed by the way he took to it, and mastered it. She even allowed him to play for her to sing along. Once word got around about his music, he was busy nearly every night playing somewhere.
Going on 13, Jack ran away from home and joined a fishing schooner crew as a flunky. No wages, just living aboard and serving. He was allowed to cut cod tongues, and fish from the deck. Those fish and tongues he could sell on shore for himself. He earned $58 with which he purchased a guitar and a chord book and began to practice. He had heard Veron Dalhart and Carson Robinson on the radio while on shipboard and recalled later, "These songs gave me a great lift." He admitted trying to sound just like them.
In August of 1930 the schooner he was sailing on encountered a "ferocious" storm and got blown off course toward the Sable Island - "Graveyard of the Atlantic". Snow wrote "....the Good Lord reached out His Hand and changed the wind. Saved by the Grace of God!" Snow later learned six other ships had been lost that day and 132 men had drowned. Thus ended his seafaring career.
Snow went back to live with his mother and stepfather, contributing to the family expenses by peddling fish and taking work as available driving a horse and buggy to and from the train station, unloading ships of coal and ice, raking scallops, hauling loads of dried cod into a warehouse for processing and shipping. And reuniting with his father, he cut pulpwood and firewood on his farm in the town of Pleasantville NS.
Snow saw a catalog guitar for $12.95 which he longed to buy, but figured he could only get about $5 for his old one, which left him $7.95 short of the price. Along came a storeowner with a brand new car. He offered Snow $2 per wheel to paint yellow pinstripes on the wooden spokes of the wheels. (Pretty fancy!) Now Snow ordered the new guitar and with Jimmie Rodgers chord progressions for his goal, he began playing and singing in an old fish house where fishermen stored their gear.
From there to a charity minstrel show in Bridgewater where he appeared with his face blackened with polish, eyes and mouth ringed with white, he played and sang "I Went To See My Gal Last
Night" which was such a hit he got a standing ovation.
In 1935 he married Minnie Blanch Aalders and together they had one son, Jimmy Rodgers Snow*. In 1936 after appearing on Halifax radio station CHNS, he signed with RCA Victor in Montreal, and was with them for 45 years. While doing a weekly CBC program, he became known as Hank, the Yodeling Ranger. He toured Canada until the late '40s when American radio stations began to play his recordings on country music shows. In 1945 Nashville called and the Snows moved. Hank began performing as "Hank Snow, the Singing Ranger and was invited to perform at Grand Ole Opry in 1950. Seven songs hit the country charts, the first in 1950 was "I'm Moving On", followed by "The Golden Rocket" and The Rhumba Boogie". Then came "I've Been Everywhere" which became a signature song. (that song was originally written by Austaian Geoff Mack, rewritten with American place names.)
In 1954 Hank Snow persuaded Grand Ole Opry officials to allow young Elvis Presley be his opening act, and introduced Presley to Tom Parker. Snow and Parker formed a management team called Hank Snow Attractions and Presley was signed on. Later, many years after the partnership broke up, Hank Snow said, "I have worked with several managers over the years and have had respect for them all except one. Tom Parker was the most egotistical, obnoxious human being
I've ever had dealings with." Snow refused to accord Parker the title Colonel.
Hank Snow performed in glitzy suits studded with sequins, in all sorts of places, and became a naturalized American Citizen in 1958, but he never forgot his Canadian beginning. In 1968 he recorded an album, "My Nova Scotia Home". And that same year he performed for George Wallace's political campaign.
An unschooled but talented song writer, Hank Snow was elected to Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was voted Canada's top music performer ten times. In 1979 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, The Nova Scotia Music Hall of Fame, and also the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985.
He published his autobiography in 1994 and later opened The Hank Snow Country Music Centre next to his ancestral home in Liverpool NS. A victim of child abuse, he established the Hank Snow International Foundation for Prevention of Child Abuse.
In one of my several searches for information I found a small picture of the schooner Bluenose, which says Snow painted it on cardboard and won 1st prize at the Lunenberg Fisheries Exhibition. I couldn't find any other reference to his artistic ability.
Hank Snow died of heart failure in December 1999 at his Rainbow ranch in Madison TN, and is buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, TN. Minnie died in May of 2003 in Madison, and is also buried at Spring Hill.
Hank Snow's song "Hello Love" was sung by Garrison Keillor to open each broadcast of his Prairie Home Companion radio show. It was Snow's seventh and final #1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles in 1974. At nearly 60 years of age, Snow was the oldest artist at that time, to have a top song on the chart. That record was broken by Kenny Rogers after 26 years with "Buy Me A
Rose".
Hank Snow is an example of making a good life from a difficult beginning. It must have seemed to him at times in his early years that nothing would ever be right. He claims his mother was his constant support and encouraged him in his music, but a mother who allows a step-father to abuse her son doesn't seem very supportive to me. Among his other attributes he was obviously a forgiving and charitable man.
*Jimmie Snow, who preached in a Nashville church to the country stars, resigned as pastor of the church and went on the road to preach in 2000. He has done an album of gospel music with Grand Ole Opry members.
Janice.major@iCloud.com
Comments and corrections welcomed.
Ref: Wikipedia
The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Charles)
In 1954 Hank Snow persuaded Grand Ole Opry officials to allow young Elvis Presley be his opening act, and introduced Presley to Tom Parker. Snow and Parker formed a management team called Hank Snow Attractions and Presley was signed on. Later, many years after the partnership broke up, Hank Snow said, "I have worked with several managers over the years and have had respect for them all except one. Tom Parker was the most egotistical, obnoxious human being
I've ever had dealings with." Snow refused to accord Parker the title Colonel.
Hank Snow performed in glitzy suits studded with sequins, in all sorts of places, and became a naturalized American Citizen in 1958, but he never forgot his Canadian beginning. In 1968 he recorded an album, "My Nova Scotia Home". And that same year he performed for George Wallace's political campaign.
An unschooled but talented song writer, Hank Snow was elected to Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was voted Canada's top music performer ten times. In 1979 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, The Nova Scotia Music Hall of Fame, and also the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985.
He published his autobiography in 1994 and later opened The Hank Snow Country Music Centre next to his ancestral home in Liverpool NS. A victim of child abuse, he established the Hank Snow International Foundation for Prevention of Child Abuse.
In one of my several searches for information I found a small picture of the schooner Bluenose, which says Snow painted it on cardboard and won 1st prize at the Lunenberg Fisheries Exhibition. I couldn't find any other reference to his artistic ability.
Hank Snow died of heart failure in December 1999 at his Rainbow ranch in Madison TN, and is buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, TN. Minnie died in May of 2003 in Madison, and is also buried at Spring Hill.
Hank Snow's song "Hello Love" was sung by Garrison Keillor to open each broadcast of his Prairie Home Companion radio show. It was Snow's seventh and final #1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles in 1974. At nearly 60 years of age, Snow was the oldest artist at that time, to have a top song on the chart. That record was broken by Kenny Rogers after 26 years with "Buy Me A
Rose".
Hank Snow is an example of making a good life from a difficult beginning. It must have seemed to him at times in his early years that nothing would ever be right. He claims his mother was his constant support and encouraged him in his music, but a mother who allows a step-father to abuse her son doesn't seem very supportive to me. Among his other attributes he was obviously a forgiving and charitable man.
*Jimmie Snow, who preached in a Nashville church to the country stars, resigned as pastor of the church and went on the road to preach in 2000. He has done an album of gospel music with Grand Ole Opry members.
Janice.major@iCloud.com
Comments and corrections welcomed.
Ref: Wikipedia
The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Charles)
Friday, January 18, 2013
GUY HOVIS," Ralna's Ex"
It's a little hard for me to not take sides in a divorce. Try as I will not to, I often find myself assigning guilt. In the case of Ralna English an GUY HOVIS, they really did a great job keeping their personal life out of the public domain. They each chose not to speak ill of the other, to their credit, whether for the sake of their only daughter, or for their public personnae, or their job as the ideal couple on Lawrence Welk's Show I couldn't decide. It doesn't really matter and it's none of my business.
Guy was born in Tupelo Mississippi in September of 1941. His father was one of the original Mississippi State Highway Patrol members and his mother was a secretary, mom, and according to Guy, "the best cook in the world." That's a nice tribute to be sure. He began, like so many successful musicians, singing in church at age five. And from then on he was asked to sing at weddings, parties, clubs and school productions. After high school he enrolled at Mississippi State University, choosing accounting for his career path. He also became a member of the R.O.T.C., making a commitment to serve a "hitch" eventually. But, with a degree in hand he went to work for a prestigious accounting firm until duty called.
With a rank of Lieutenant he served as an instructor in the Artillery Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The Viet Nam war was heating up and Hovis was sent to paratrooper school at Fort Benning Georgia. At some point he entered a talent show and won, and as a result became a performer and officer in charge of a six-week tour of U.S. Army bases, an assignment he really enjoyed.
But, on mustering out, he re-entered college to study for his CPA exam. After one semester he left to reconsider his choice of career and headed for Hollywood. A friend told him to try to get into the nightclub "The Horn" where young aspiring musicians were known to get started. Guy got a real break when he was asked to appear on Art Linkletter's House Party. Although the time line is a little unclear to me, it was during this period that Guy and Ralna English met and married, and also that Guy and David Blaylock formed a duo called - not much imagination here - Guy and David.
Ralna became a regular on the Lawrence Welk Show and when Guy and David parted ways, she was instrumental in getting Guy into the Welk stable of vocalists. As a husband and wife team, I believe they became the darlings of the Welk fans. We all love a good romance.
WE ARE NOW UP TO THE '70s. In 1977 Julia Hovis was born to everyone's delight. In 1982 the
Welk Show was cancelled, but the cast continued to do live performances until 1988. I read the Hovis couple was in trouble, but Lawrence was against couple breaking up, so they continued together until 1984 when they officially divorced.
In 1989 Guy returned to Mississippi to work for his long time friend, Trent Lott as State Office Director. He remained in that post until 2007. In 2005 Guy sang "Let the Eagle Soar", for George W. Bush's second inaugural. The song was written by John Ashcroft, U. S,. Attorney General,
Guy married Sarah Lundy and they have three children and three grandchildren. They reside in Mississippi. He still performs at the Welk Resort in Branson, and he and Ralna still do live performances (recently at the University of New Hampshire).
Guy Hovis starred in "Mississippi Rising" a fund raising effort after hurricane Katrina. He has earned many awards for his charitable works for the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes and Childhelp, USA. His work with the veterans and their families in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have been widely acknowledged.
Ever the romantic I am among those who believe in forever after. But divorce happens. Much of America will always think of Guy when they hear Ralna; and Ralna when Guy's name comes up.
This blogger wishes all long and musical lives.
janice.major@iCloud.com
ref: Wikipedia
Offiicial Hovis website
Mississippi Musicians
Guy was born in Tupelo Mississippi in September of 1941. His father was one of the original Mississippi State Highway Patrol members and his mother was a secretary, mom, and according to Guy, "the best cook in the world." That's a nice tribute to be sure. He began, like so many successful musicians, singing in church at age five. And from then on he was asked to sing at weddings, parties, clubs and school productions. After high school he enrolled at Mississippi State University, choosing accounting for his career path. He also became a member of the R.O.T.C., making a commitment to serve a "hitch" eventually. But, with a degree in hand he went to work for a prestigious accounting firm until duty called.
With a rank of Lieutenant he served as an instructor in the Artillery Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The Viet Nam war was heating up and Hovis was sent to paratrooper school at Fort Benning Georgia. At some point he entered a talent show and won, and as a result became a performer and officer in charge of a six-week tour of U.S. Army bases, an assignment he really enjoyed.
But, on mustering out, he re-entered college to study for his CPA exam. After one semester he left to reconsider his choice of career and headed for Hollywood. A friend told him to try to get into the nightclub "The Horn" where young aspiring musicians were known to get started. Guy got a real break when he was asked to appear on Art Linkletter's House Party. Although the time line is a little unclear to me, it was during this period that Guy and Ralna English met and married, and also that Guy and David Blaylock formed a duo called - not much imagination here - Guy and David.
Ralna became a regular on the Lawrence Welk Show and when Guy and David parted ways, she was instrumental in getting Guy into the Welk stable of vocalists. As a husband and wife team, I believe they became the darlings of the Welk fans. We all love a good romance.
WE ARE NOW UP TO THE '70s. In 1977 Julia Hovis was born to everyone's delight. In 1982 the
Welk Show was cancelled, but the cast continued to do live performances until 1988. I read the Hovis couple was in trouble, but Lawrence was against couple breaking up, so they continued together until 1984 when they officially divorced.
In 1989 Guy returned to Mississippi to work for his long time friend, Trent Lott as State Office Director. He remained in that post until 2007. In 2005 Guy sang "Let the Eagle Soar", for George W. Bush's second inaugural. The song was written by John Ashcroft, U. S,. Attorney General,
Guy married Sarah Lundy and they have three children and three grandchildren. They reside in Mississippi. He still performs at the Welk Resort in Branson, and he and Ralna still do live performances (recently at the University of New Hampshire).
Guy Hovis starred in "Mississippi Rising" a fund raising effort after hurricane Katrina. He has earned many awards for his charitable works for the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes and Childhelp, USA. His work with the veterans and their families in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have been widely acknowledged.
Ever the romantic I am among those who believe in forever after. But divorce happens. Much of America will always think of Guy when they hear Ralna; and Ralna when Guy's name comes up.
This blogger wishes all long and musical lives.
janice.major@iCloud.com
ref: Wikipedia
Offiicial Hovis website
Mississippi Musicians
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Ralna English, Going Single
It's been a really long time since I posted a blog on any musician. A new computer has kept me struggling to find things, and it seems to me the format has changed.
The Lawrence Welk Show produced a lot of good musicians. Maybe they would have been good musicians without Lawrence, but he certainly provided a broad showcase. The upside of that sort of opportunity is name face recognition and lot's of exposure. The downside, so says Ralna English, is that once you are a Welk performer, you are always a Welk performer. Not a direct quote, but close.
Ralna English was born In Texas in 1942. As a youngster of five she sang "Daddy's Little Girl" at Spur Texas High School. She said she remembered it clearly in a short dress with a sash, knees shaking and thinking, "Can they see my knees?" She formed her first band in junior high school called Ralna and The Ad-Libs and entertained around Texas. In a "Battle of the Bands" competion, she beat out Buddy Holly, who was also from Lubbock. She sang backup for a Waylon Jennings recording. After high school Ralna went to Texas Tech University, and participated in the Campus Revue at Six Flags Over Texas . Her career also included singing jingles for television ads. Clearly she was talented and headed for a career in vocal performance.
Ralna moved to California in the late 1960's and became a club vocalist around the Lake Tahoe area. One biography says it was there that Welk's son saw her and suggested to his father that she get an audition. At that time she was singing at The Horn* in Santa Monica. It was there that she met her future husband Guy Hovis. (I'll do a separate blog on Guy. Ralna deserves one of her own.)
In 1969 certainly was a life-changing year for Ralna. She and Guy Hovis got married. She was contacted by the Welk company, auditioned and was hired as a solo performer doing Christian standards, and other Welk styles. She persuaded Welk to bring her husband, Guy into the troupe and everyone fell in love with the beautiful couple who were so much in love there was no hiding it.
Ralna was drawn to jazz ala Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Morgana King, but that was not the Welk sound, nor was it Guy's.
Ralna was married to Hovis for about fourteen years. They have one daughter Julie. Neither discussed their differences in public. The most Ralna said was that they were totally compatible on stage, but in life they just couldn't handle being together. (Again, not a direct quote but close.)
During the hard times, in 1980, Ralna was hospitalized for two weeks. Welk had her placed on a quiet floor where only a few doctors knew who she was. She was in a mental ward, it was night, and she she said that night changed her life. She said she prayed, and felt the comforting hand of Jesus and a love and assurance she could not describe.
She had an opportunity to do some recording for Capitol Records, but when her manager went to the Welk people, the opportunity was lost. Ralna accepts that God has a plan for her and is guiding her. She considers herself very fortunate to have had a steady career in a fairly unsteady business. She does not live in the past, nor does she fret about what might have been. She and Guy, who remarried, have a compatible working relationship and have raised their daughter with equal responsibility. They continue to perform as a duo, traveling to clubs, colleges and theaters.
Larry Welk has said the Welk program did not do Ralna justice, that she was capable of doing a lot of songs that would not have been acceptable on the program.
Ralna says, "I have a feeling in five or ten years, I'll be sitting on a barstool in Phoenix some place with a trio, just singing jazz." (Will the Welk fans accept that?) "Some will," she says, "some won't."
Good luck, Ralna, may 2013 find you doing just that if that's what you want.
*The Horn was also a launch pad for such stars as Jack Jones, Vikki Carr and Steve Martin
Thanks to Wikipedia;
and other internet biographical sites for musicians
janice.major@iCloud.com
Comments and corrections welcomed
Ralna moved to California in the late 1960's and became a club vocalist around the Lake Tahoe area. One biography says it was there that Welk's son saw her and suggested to his father that she get an audition. At that time she was singing at The Horn* in Santa Monica. It was there that she met her future husband Guy Hovis. (I'll do a separate blog on Guy. Ralna deserves one of her own.)
In 1969 certainly was a life-changing year for Ralna. She and Guy Hovis got married. She was contacted by the Welk company, auditioned and was hired as a solo performer doing Christian standards, and other Welk styles. She persuaded Welk to bring her husband, Guy into the troupe and everyone fell in love with the beautiful couple who were so much in love there was no hiding it.
Ralna was drawn to jazz ala Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Morgana King, but that was not the Welk sound, nor was it Guy's.
Ralna was married to Hovis for about fourteen years. They have one daughter Julie. Neither discussed their differences in public. The most Ralna said was that they were totally compatible on stage, but in life they just couldn't handle being together. (Again, not a direct quote but close.)
During the hard times, in 1980, Ralna was hospitalized for two weeks. Welk had her placed on a quiet floor where only a few doctors knew who she was. She was in a mental ward, it was night, and she she said that night changed her life. She said she prayed, and felt the comforting hand of Jesus and a love and assurance she could not describe.
She had an opportunity to do some recording for Capitol Records, but when her manager went to the Welk people, the opportunity was lost. Ralna accepts that God has a plan for her and is guiding her. She considers herself very fortunate to have had a steady career in a fairly unsteady business. She does not live in the past, nor does she fret about what might have been. She and Guy, who remarried, have a compatible working relationship and have raised their daughter with equal responsibility. They continue to perform as a duo, traveling to clubs, colleges and theaters.
Larry Welk has said the Welk program did not do Ralna justice, that she was capable of doing a lot of songs that would not have been acceptable on the program.
Ralna says, "I have a feeling in five or ten years, I'll be sitting on a barstool in Phoenix some place with a trio, just singing jazz." (Will the Welk fans accept that?) "Some will," she says, "some won't."
Good luck, Ralna, may 2013 find you doing just that if that's what you want.
*The Horn was also a launch pad for such stars as Jack Jones, Vikki Carr and Steve Martin
Thanks to Wikipedia;
and other internet biographical sites for musicians
janice.major@iCloud.com
Comments and corrections welcomed
Thursday, December 20, 2012
This is the first blog I have done in a while and it is a little different in that it is more personal, not about a well known band or person. It is about what comes after a door closes.
For about fourteen years (I should be playing a lot better than I am after all that time!) a group of "senior hobby organists" have met every week. We had in the past, several different teachers with different methods and ideas about technique ranging from the Lowrey EZ-Play method to straight piano method. From all of this, the program evolved into a short lesson each week from a really proficient mentor. We were meeting all this time in the Lowrey dealer's store. Recently, changes were brought about at the store and we really had no "home" there. So although the store is still in business, it without with rancor or ill will, that a business decision has been made to concentrate on piano sales primarily, and they will no longer support the Lowrey organ program. At a gathering of the people involved, by consensus it was decided to try meeting weekly and the only place we could consistently be is here at my home. SO, hereon for as long as it works, the fourteen or so members of the organ group will meet here at ten a.m. on Thursdays. We don't have a teacher,but we will work on our skills and help each other improve. There are a few who feel they are satisfied with where they are, but most would like step up their tempo, find chords more easily, sight read and read the base clef.
We decided to choose a song from music arranged by a former teacher who wrote in a lot of double right hand notes, and some interesting left and right hand fills. A Foggy Day is a well recognized piece that doesn't have move very fast. It has a lot of minor chords and Mr. Miller wrote several passages with double notes. He wrote in all the chords, and identified them as in fake music giving us the opportunity to play either way.
A little more about what we will be doing on Thursdays. We will decide on a song, as we did today, and go over it briefly to see if there are any cords or passages that will give us a problem. Someone will run through it by sight reading it, and then we will have it to work on for a week. Next week we will go over it, anyone who wants to will play it, tell us what they chose for sounds and rhythms, and anything else they want to say about it; i.e., they found it boring or beautiful, etc. The learning part of the meeting should take no more than an hour. Following that, we will have a "performance for friends" time during which people who choose to can play something they chose from their music stash, telling us what they are playing, and any other thing they want us to know like did they change sounds from the ones found built in the organs.
I think this is a good way to go, and hope it will work as people get used to it. It's a little more organized than we have been used to, so if it doesn't appeal to people involved they will have a chance to express that opinion as time goes on. The important thing is, we don't want anyone to drop out because they are unhappy with the way things are going.
One of the things we did today was explore "upper and lower drawbars" which change the sounds with almost limitless possibilities. It created a lot of interest so next time we will explore it a little more and I will have some information available from our good friend Dennis.
Check back now and then to see what happens with our organ friends. Next blog will be about a personality. Which one? Well, I am not sure. I have several in mind.
jmajor2@maine.rr.com
Janice.Major@iCloud.com
For about fourteen years (I should be playing a lot better than I am after all that time!) a group of "senior hobby organists" have met every week. We had in the past, several different teachers with different methods and ideas about technique ranging from the Lowrey EZ-Play method to straight piano method. From all of this, the program evolved into a short lesson each week from a really proficient mentor. We were meeting all this time in the Lowrey dealer's store. Recently, changes were brought about at the store and we really had no "home" there. So although the store is still in business, it without with rancor or ill will, that a business decision has been made to concentrate on piano sales primarily, and they will no longer support the Lowrey organ program. At a gathering of the people involved, by consensus it was decided to try meeting weekly and the only place we could consistently be is here at my home. SO, hereon for as long as it works, the fourteen or so members of the organ group will meet here at ten a.m. on Thursdays. We don't have a teacher,but we will work on our skills and help each other improve. There are a few who feel they are satisfied with where they are, but most would like step up their tempo, find chords more easily, sight read and read the base clef.
We decided to choose a song from music arranged by a former teacher who wrote in a lot of double right hand notes, and some interesting left and right hand fills. A Foggy Day is a well recognized piece that doesn't have move very fast. It has a lot of minor chords and Mr. Miller wrote several passages with double notes. He wrote in all the chords, and identified them as in fake music giving us the opportunity to play either way.
A little more about what we will be doing on Thursdays. We will decide on a song, as we did today, and go over it briefly to see if there are any cords or passages that will give us a problem. Someone will run through it by sight reading it, and then we will have it to work on for a week. Next week we will go over it, anyone who wants to will play it, tell us what they chose for sounds and rhythms, and anything else they want to say about it; i.e., they found it boring or beautiful, etc. The learning part of the meeting should take no more than an hour. Following that, we will have a "performance for friends" time during which people who choose to can play something they chose from their music stash, telling us what they are playing, and any other thing they want us to know like did they change sounds from the ones found built in the organs.
I think this is a good way to go, and hope it will work as people get used to it. It's a little more organized than we have been used to, so if it doesn't appeal to people involved they will have a chance to express that opinion as time goes on. The important thing is, we don't want anyone to drop out because they are unhappy with the way things are going.
One of the things we did today was explore "upper and lower drawbars" which change the sounds with almost limitless possibilities. It created a lot of interest so next time we will explore it a little more and I will have some information available from our good friend Dennis.
Check back now and then to see what happens with our organ friends. Next blog will be about a personality. Which one? Well, I am not sure. I have several in mind.
jmajor2@maine.rr.com
Janice.Major@iCloud.com
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