In 1965, Mary Martin took a very courageous troupe of actors on a tour of Vietnam with a production of Hello, Dolly! My friend Shelly Goldstein thought it would make a perfect video link here for Memorial Day and she's right. Give a listen to the special lyrics she sings at the curtain call...
Odd to see so many people who thought George Bush did all the right things during Hurricane Katrina now saying that the oil spill is "Obama's Katrina" and therefore the end of his presidency. These folks would say that if Obama ate a hot dog and got mustard on his suit. I have my criticisms of things our prez is doing but aside from making louder, more outraged speeches, I don't see anything wrong with his approach to the Gulf disaster. Clive Crook says it more eloquently than I can.
Back when "Grandpa" Al Lewis passed away, we noted that his date of birth varied wildly from interview to interview. It seemed that at one point, he actually added about fourteen years to his age, which is an odd thing to do. Kliph Nesteroff, who did that nice interview with Woody Woodbury, has looked into some of Grandpa's more colorful tales. Even if you discount all the tales which seem tall, Al seems to have had quite a life.
This is a music video excerpted, I believe, from the 1980 underground cult film, Forbidden Zone. The tune is "Pico and Sepulveda," as originally recorded in 1947 by "Felix Figueroa," which was reportedly a bogus name for some secret configuration of Freddy Martin's band. The record gained fame in the seventies when Dr. Demento featured it often on his popular radio program.
I've heard the song oodles of times but I was somehow unaware of the writer credits on it. The lyrics were penned by Eddie Maxwell, who was a writer and occasional performer with Spike Jones. The music, I was surprised to learn, was by Jule Styne. That's right: Jule Styne. The man who wrote the score for Gypsy, Funny Girl, Bells Are Ringing and so many more. He even wrote the music for Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. How did I not know 'til now that he also wrote "Pico and Sepulveda?" (I don't know when he wrote it but Styne was a very prominent songwriter by 1947. The year before, he had a huge hit when Sinatra recorded, "Five Minutes More." In 1947, Doris Day introduced "It's Magic" in a movie, Sinatra introduced "Time After Time" and Styne and his main lyricist, Sammy Cahn, had their first Broadway hit with High Button Shoes, which introduced "Papa, Won't You Dance With Me?"
And to think: 1947 was also the year he had "Pico and Sepulveda" not climbing the charts...or at least, not climbing very far. Here's the tune itself...
May 30, 2010
