Happy Anniversary! Where’s The Snow? – The Great Blizzard of 1888

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The Great Blizzard of ’88

For New Yorker’s who were able to obtain a newspaper on March 13, 1888, this is what they saw:

(click image to enlarge)

Starting very late in the evening of March 11 and continuing throughout March 12 and into March 13, 1888, modern New York City was paralyzed with its first stupendous blizzard.   The weather forecast for March 12 called for mild weather!

Over a little more than a 24 hour period mostly between March 12 and 13 New York City received 25 inches of snow, bringing virtually Continue reading →

What Goes Around Comes Around – Cheer Up! Smile! Nertz!

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Nertz?!

Sometimes the songs of yesteryear are apropos for today.  The lyrics of a song from the 1920’s or 30’s can translate very well in today’s economic tumult, with millions of Americans still out of work in the midst of our “economic recovery.”  I see many of the same things happening today that transpired during the Great Depression.

Bread Line 1930’s Brooklyn, NY

Current events played a bigger role in the writing of songs back then, including this gem from composers Wesley and Mischa Portnoff and lyrics by Norman Anthony, performed by Eddie Cantor in 1931, Cheer Up! Smile! Nertz! The song was featured in the 2005 film Cinderella Man.

Eddie Cantor was one of the great entertainers of all time. He was a humanitarian and optimist.  His rags to riches story is one that I shall elaborate on at another time.  He was usually among the first choices for many songwriters to showcase their work.

Is the current recession over? I don’t believe it.

And what does nertz mean? — nonsense or nuts or (a polite way at the time of saying) B.S.

Here for your listening pleasure an mp3 with lyrics below of Cheer Up! Smile! Nertz!

Cheer Up! Smile! Nertz!

Cheer Up, Smile, Nertz!

Sure, business is bunk,
And Wall Street is sunk,
We’re all of us broke, and ready to croak.
We’ve nothing to Continue reading →

Mia Kovacs

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Here is Mia Kovacs in 1961, the only daughter of actress Edie Adams and television and movie star Ernie Kovacs. Mia is fast asleep on Edie’s lap. It is one of my favorite pictures. There is something especially touching about it. To me this captures a beautiful scene of the innocence of childhood.

Ernie Kovacs was one of the sharpest wits in Hollywood and his TV and film career was still flourishing when he was unfortunately killed in an automobile accident at the age of 42 on January 12, 1962 while on his way home from a party at Milton Berle’s house.  His wife Edie was left a widow with an enormous tax bill and debts that Ernie had run up.

Rather than default, declare bankruptcy or accept money from friends, Edie worked and worked in television, on Broadway,  commercials and in films such as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; Love With The Proper Stranger; The Best Man; Under The Yum Yum Tree; and others  until the debts were paid off – nearly $500,000.

Mia Kovacs inherited talent from both of her parents.  She was following in their footsteps and was beginning to work in the entertainment industry.

Tragically, in an eerie twist, on May 8, 1982 Mia Kovacs was driving with a friend on Mulholland Drive when she drifted onto the shoulder of the road. The car flipped, killing her instantly.  She was 22.

Carole King, Tapestry & The Art Of The Album Cover

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The Story Of The Tapestry Photo Shoot And Some Out-takes

One of the best selling albums of all time is Carole King’s Tapestry from 1971. The appealing cover image of Carole King sitting in the living room of her home in Laurel Canyon, CA was taken by rock n’ roll photographer Jim McCrary. An interesting sidenote was that King’s cat Telemachus was moved while sitting on the pillow from across the room by McCrary to be used in the final cover shot.

We identify famous covers and just accept that is the cover. The conclusion is “it’s the right cover!”  In Tapestry’s case, McCrary’s use of the cat definitely helps draw the viewer in.

Tapestry

What if a different cover had been used?

Here are four other photos from The Tapestry shoot

   

March 2 is the premiere of PBS’s “American Masters” which features Carole King in Troubadors: Carole King / James Taylor & The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter.

A Comedian Unlike Any Other

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The Man Who Pushed Johnny Carson, Charlie Callas Dies at 83

For many people under a certain age (probably 40), the passing of Charlie Callas on January 27, 2011, will be met with indifference or “who was he?” But for anyone who had seen Callas interviewed on his numerous appearances on the late night talk shows or seen his cameos in movies, it marks the end of one the last true eccentrics in Hollywood.

Charlie Callas was bizarre.

He could do strange things with his voice and get laughs out of things that were not necessarily funny. It was Callas himself that was funny and there was that underlying danger that an appearance by Callas on a show could go in an unintended direction at any second.  That unpredictability would nearly end his show business career when he shoved Johnny Carson during a 1982 Tonight Show appearance and in front of the studio audience Carson subsequently banned him from ever appearing on the show again.

Charlie Callas will always be remembered for one of the strangest performances in Mel Brooks’ send-up of Alfred Hitchcock films, 1976’s High Anxiety. Callas plays a man who has been committed to an asylum because he thinks he is a cocker spaniel.  It is 1 minute and 40 seconds of sheer silliness.

Here is the link to Charlie Callas in High Anxiety:

http://youtu.be/_WEVmVKUk7s?t=4m32s

(UPDATE – 2013 High Anxiety clip- all copies removed from youtube)

A staple of 1970’s TV, The Dean Martin Roasts, where celebrities were insulted and joked about mercilessly by other Hollywood celebrities, Callas has comedian Don Rickles and the rest of the attendees laughing hard as he delivers Don Rickles’ eulogy.

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHDU2jhLE-Y[/tube]

The appearance may not be as funny to today’s audience as Callas is doing an impression of George Jessel, who made a living it seemed at delivering eulogies of many of the entertainment world’s luminaries from the 1920’s right until Jessel’s own demise in 1981.