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— next to his old home, the new (and much larger) Louis Armstrong Center has opened in Queens, New York: containing many more recordings, photos and memorabilia.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay by Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect— analyzing the referendum vote in Ohio, for the city/suburb versus small town/rural breakdown.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the Texas-born playwright Tom Jones — who along with the late Harvey Schmidt wrote the longest-running Off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks— who has died at the age of 95.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Bruno the Cat— who chased away a bear from his family’s home in northern New Hampshire.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this essay by the Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland — here, writing in the Jewish Chronicle— on how the situation in Israel calls for more international attention, not less.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named …. actually, needs a name. The Seattle mounted police unit has chosen a barn cat (to keep down the rodent population in its stable) … and is holding a contest to the end of the month for name suggestions.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
OLDER-YOUNGER BROTHERS?— Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) and law professor John Bessler, husband of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… in searching the DK archive for this band: I was unable to find a detailed profile for them (other than what the intrepid Denise Oliver Velez noted in brief). Suffice-it-to-say, there are three aspects of the Ink Spots that merit notice: they were the forerunner to many doo-wop and R&B vocal groups (and also appealed to white audiences), they were an early troupe using a high tenor voice (coupled with a bass voice, often in spoken mode) and are perhaps Exhibit A for bands whose name is appropriated by successor groups (often with little-or-no-connection to the original).
Founded in 1934 by Jerry Daniels, Charlie Fuqua, Orville “Hoppy” Jones and Ivory “Deek” Watson, they started out in Cincinnati and later performed at the Apollo Theater. Contrasted with their contemporaries, the Mills Brothers (who often imitated musical instruments), the Ink Spots vocal harmonies set the stage for later performers such as Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters. Yet they struggled financially, with Jerry Daniels leaving in 1936. He was replaced by Bill Kenny — whose high tenor voice made him the lead singer.
Still, the band’s fate was uncertain (and were considering a split-up) … until 1939, when they recorded a ballad written by the Broadway tunesmith (and future inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame) Jack Lawrence— and If I Didn’t Care launched the group’s career.
Stylistically, the combination of Bill Kenny and bass vocalist Hoppy Jones (in a style referred to as Top & Bottom) became their trademark, along with a signature guitar lick. From 1940-1949, they had eighteen Top Ten singles. Among their hits were I’m Making Believe, To Each His Own and The Gypsy— which all reached #1 in the charts. They also had hits with When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano and the Duke Ellington standard I’m Beginning to See the Light. They even achieved success with white audiences, amazingly at a few venues in the Jim Crow South. They were the first Black performers to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show, also singing on shows hosted by Milton Berle and Steve Allen.
Yet by the dawn of the 1950’s: their sound began to seem formulaic, and the newer performers they had inspired took their place in the charts. In the interim, Hoppy Jones had died in 1944, and there began a series of personnel changes that diluted the band’s appeal and they splintered apart: with what amounted to a final break-up circa 1954. Some began to lead their own groups.
And this led to the prolific number of bands incorporating the words Ink Spots in their title: Fabulous Ink Spots, Amazing Ink Spots, Dynamic Ink Spots, etc. There has been legislation about having a legacy band needing to have at least one original member to be able to use the word “Original” in their advertising (Otis Williams is such a linchpin for The Temptations).
A business law professor I had told us the #1 reason to incorporate is not to limit liability (which insurance and the use of limited partners can manage). Rather, it is transfer-ability: one can simply sell their shares and leave the remaining firm still a going-concern. This was an issue with the Ink Spots: as a judge in 1955 noted that the Ink Spots were a legal partnership: and the death of Hoppy Jones had rendered the partnership agreement (and thus, exclusive use of the name) null and void. In 1967, a federal judge ruled that the name “Ink Spots” was public domain, as so many bands used it.
Regardless, the group’s legacy is still immense. They were featured vocalists in a 1941 Alice Faye film and the next year in Abbott & Costello’s Pardon My Sarong. The original quartet (plus Bill Kenny) were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (as an Early Influence) in 1989, with original singer Jerry Daniels then the only surviving member (before his death in 1995). That same year, their break-out hit If I Didn’t Care became a Grammy Hall of Fame recording (plus making the Library of Congress National Registry in 2017) and ten years later in 1999 they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Finally, an acetate recording of two songs the Ink Spots made popular (My Happiness and That’s When Your Heartaches Begin) — which were recorded in 1953 at the Sun Records Studio in Memphis — was discovered … sung by a young Elvis Presley.
Of all of their work, I have to choose Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall. The Doris Fisher/Allan Roberts 1944 song title — taken from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem Rainy Day— is followed immediately by a melancholy line that most people can relate to (at one time or another in their lives). The Top & Bottom section is there …. and, adding Ella Fitzgerald is the crowning glory.
Into each life, some rain must fall But too much is falling in mine Into each heart, some tears must fall But someday the sun will shine
(Spoken) — Into each and every life, some rain is bound to fall But too much of that has started falling into mine Now into each and every heart, some tears are gonna fall But I know and you know, someday the sun is gonna shine
Some folks can lose the blues in their hearts But when I think of you: another shower starts Into each life, some rain has gotta fall But too much is falling in mine