I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Laramie, Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES #1— an exhibition entitled Go Figure: Contemporary Painters and the Human Form will be at the Amarillo, Texas Museum of Art through March 28th.
YOUR WEEKEND READS are two short treatises: the New America Foundation’s Statement on the Principles of Democracy as well as the Democracy Docket’s belief that Resistance to Trump was not futile, but it was not enough … and proposing Five Democracy Reform Essentials.
ART NOTES #2— the landmark Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy has re-opened to the public after a seventy-seven day closure (due to Covid) — its longest closure since World War II.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Dewy the Cat— a Canadian kitteh who went missing on a Toronto layover (during a flight to Winnipeg): and still missing.
FOOD NOTES— world-renowned for cattle that feed on the rich grass of the Pampas, the nation of Argentina has seen its per capita consumption of beef reach only ½ of what it was in 1956 — and besides long-term trends (towards chicken and pork), more recent reasons include Covid and high inflation.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Cupid the Cat— an English kitteh who went missing just after Christmas …. and was found twenty-four miles away in his hometown.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz (no common questions).
SEPARATED at BIRTH— TV political host Mika Brzezinski andHouse of Cards political star Claire Underwood (as portrayed by Robin Wright).
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… someone who is among the more prolific composers of the Great American Songbook, yet not as well known as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Johnny Mercer nor Richard Rodgers and his lyricists ….. is Jimmy Van Heusen, who had a prolific career working (primarily) with three lyricists, and besides his four Oscars for songs is best remembered by Frank Sinatra devotees (as Jimmy became great friends with him). For someone (from the 1930’s-1960’s) who had over eight hundred songs (with arguably fifty standards) and which are heard in over two hundred films: let’s have a look.
Born as (Edward) Chester Babcock in Syracuse, New York in 1913 (with close friends throughout his life addressing him as Chet), he began writing music as a high school student, and even managed to land a radio show in his teens (adopting the name of the shirt-maker Van Heusen as his public persona).
While a student at Syracuse University (where he contributed music for the school’s musicals) he had the good fortune to befriend fellow student Jerry Arlen— whose older brother Harold was able to later help him get started in the music world (writing for the Cotton Club revue, most notably with “Harlem Hospitality”).
Jimmy moved to NYC at age twenty in 1933 and while writing at night: had a day-job as an elevator operator. After landing a job with Remick Music publishing as a part-time pianist, he had a 1938 hit with “It’s the Dreamer in Me”— with lyrics by none other than Tommy Dorsey. This led to Remick Music hiring him as a full-time writer, where he found his first regular songwriting partner, Eddie DeLange— with two classic tunes of theirs being “Heaven Can Wait” and “Darn that Dream”.
Two years later in 1940, he began working with the lyricist Johnny Burke— and their collaborations flourished (with Van Heusen estimated to have written sixty songs just that year). They began writing for the Broadway stage (with their major hit being “Here’s that Rainy Day”) before moving to Hollywood under contract for Paramount Pictures.
Over the next sixteen years, they achieved great success, with classics such as “It Could Happen To You”, “Polka Dots and Moonbeams”, “But Beautiful”, “Like Someone in Love” and “Moonlight Becomes You”— many of which were recorded as instrumentals by famous jazz performers — plus vocal hits like “Personality” and the Oscar-winning “Swinging on a Star”— that Bing Crosby made famous.
Johnny Burke went into semi-retirement for health reasons in 1956 (he died eight years later) leading Jimmy Van Heusen to partner with lyricist Sammy Cahn… and their collective output did not miss a beat, well into the 1960’s. Among their hits: “Only the Lonely”, “The Second Time Around”, “All My Tomorrows”, “My Kind of Town (Chicago)” and “Come Fly With Me”. “Love and Marriage” won an Emmy, and they earned two Oscars for “Call Me Irresponsible” and “All the Way”. If much of that sounds like the Sinatra songbook … well, it is.
Jimmy Van Heusen was a bon vivant, with more of a public persona than many of his peers: he often ran with Sinatra and the Rat Pack, frequently appearing on television. Less well known is that he was an experienced aviator (even a part-time test pilot for Lockheed during WW-II) and quite a hypochondriac: injecting himself with vitamins and painkillers and keeping a Merck manual at his bedside.
The duet with Cahn had one more hit in the late 60’s (the theme to “Thoroughly Modern Millie”) and two other tunes Van Heusen is known for with other lyricists are “I Thought about You” (w/Johnny Mercer) and “Nancy (With the Laughing Face)” — with lyrics by Phil Silvers — which, it turns out was not intentionally written for Frank Sinatra’s daughter. Originally it used the name “Bessie”, yet when Van Heusen, Johnny Burke and Phil Silvers sang it at Nancy Sinatra’s second birthday party, they sang it as “Nancy” — leading Frank to cry, believing it had been written for his daughter … which the trio … did not try to correct.
Jimmy Van Heusen retired in the 1970’s and died in February, 1990 (after a stroke) at the age of seventy-seven. He was buried in the Sinatra family plot— one of only two non-family members that Frank wanted to be buried near (which he was eight years later) — Jilly Rizzo and Jimmy Van Heusen.
Jimmy Van Heusen won four Best Song Oscars (out of ten nominations) and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.
His fourth Best Song Oscar came for High Hopes— sung by Sinatra (and child actor Eddie Hodges) in the 1959 film A Hole in the Head (directed by Frank Capra).
The following year, the lyrics were adapted with Sinatra singing it as a campaign song for the 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy… > sixty years ago.
Everyone is voting for Jack Cause he's got what all the rest lack Everyone wants to back -- Jack Jack is on the right track 'Cause he's got high hopes He's got high hopes Nineteen Sixty's the year for his high hopes Come on and vote for Kennedy Vote for Kennedy And we'll come out on top! Oops, there goes the opposition - ker - Oops, there goes the opposition - ker - Oops, there goes the opposition - KERPLOP!K--E--DOUBLE N--E--D--Y Jack's the nation's favorite guy Everyone wants to back -- Jack Jack is on the right track
'Cause he's got high hopes He's got high hopes Nineteen Sixty's the year for his high hopes. Come on and vote for Kennedy Vote for Kennedy Keep America strong Kennedy, he just keeps rollin' - a - Kennedy, he just keeps rollin' - a - Kennedy, he just keeps rollin' along