The Intimate Lives & Loves of Violet and Daisy Hilton³

Daisy and Violet Hilton are conjoined twins and talented musicians who became successful vaudevillians before going off to Hollywood where they made several films. In the tradition of Helen Morgan Cubed, the ladies' lives have been represented in an autobiography (a WORLD INTERNET PREMIERE* downloadable from this blog in PDF format), a movie and a musical.

• Movie: Chained For Life
• Book: The Intimate Lives and Loves of the Hilton Sisters
• Musical: Side Show
• Freaks and Facts
• Music Clips from Chained For Life

Film: Chained For Life

Chained For Life is a vanity project designed as film noir that was released in 1951. I hesitate to call it exploitation because people exploit themselves. (Isn't that what we do?) It's not a very easy movie to watch as the sisters are ... um ... exploited with many of the plot points fictionalized from experiences in their real lives including a sham marriage and private paeans for love.

The story revolves around the vaudevillian Hamilton Sisters and Vivian's (Violet) murder of Dorothy's (Daisy) husband. The husband/nuptials are a sham having been perpetrated by (and on) the sisters for promotional purposes - although Dorothy does fall in love with the fellow. In one particularly fascinating scene, Dorothy dreams of being separate from her sister, dancing and cavorting with her lover in a garden.

Aped 47 years later by the creators of Side Show

Chained For Life begins as a cautionary tale with the judge who presides over the movie's murder trial introducing the story; it then flashes back to the events that lead up to the murder. Along the way, the film captures the singing talents of the Hilton sisters in three sweet duets: Every Hour of Every Day, Never Ever Fall In Love, and Love Thief. (Music clips are below and on YouTube.)

Best public copy; Amazon Prime version is good too

Book: The Intimate Lives and Loves of the Hilton Sisters

The Intimate Lives and Loves of the Hilton Sisters is also a vanity project - a slight autobiography written by Daisy and Violet Hilton to coincide with the release of Chained for Life. The first seventeen pages of the $2 trade-sized paperback are devoted to the Hilton's story with both sisters taking the pen; the concluding 33 pages are a novelization of the tale told in Chained For Life. Takeaways from the autobiographical section include:

• The sisters were born in Brighton, England.* No birth year is mentioned but there is a sentence that reads In 1929 we became legally of age. If this means 21, they were born in 1908. The twins early years were also documented in a medical journal article published in 1911 called The Brighton United Twins (PDF will download.). It discusses the medical details of the infant twins (they shared an anus, separation would cause death). Again, no birth year is given but a photo of the toddlers captioned Present day confirms their birth year as 1908.

• At two weeks old, the sisters were given to Mary Williams (Auntie) who raised (and beat) them. They lived above the Queens Head Pub in Brighton before moving to San Antonio, Texas. Auntie had five husbands and daughter Edith.
• During their youth, Daisy and Violet were trained to read and play music, recite, dance, and sing. Auntie (and Edith when the former died) managed their performing career which took off internationally and in the United States. They were headliners and played vaudeville with luminaries of the day like Harry Houdini, Sophie Tucker and Jimmy Durante.

• In 1927, unbeknownst to the sisters, Edith and her husband enslaved them in a guardianship. The Hiltons went to court in 1930 to get their freedom and dissolve any business arrangements that had been (illegally) put into place. This is when they found out about their birth home in the UK.
• The case was decided in the sisters' favor. All existing contracts were dissolved and they were given $67,000 in bonds, $12,000 in cash and $20,000 in personal effects.
• They crafted a revue in which they played violin, piano, and saxophone, did ballet and adagio dancing, and performed in sketches.

• Violet married as a publicity stunt in Texas (after 21 other states denied request for a marriage license). They were still married (at the time of publication) although Violet acquiesced that the marriage had no meaning and Jim could have a divorce anytime he asked.
• Daisy married a few years later for love. The sisters awoke on the tenth day and found the groom was no longer there. Daisy initiated divorce proceedings and they never saw him again.

Their story trails off in a few paragraphs following the second marriage disclosure but the tome is illustrated with stills from Chained For Life and, as mentioned, a quite detailed and well-written novelization of the movie's plot. The film and book could arguably be called one of the first film and book tie-ins.

WORLD INTERNET PREMIERE: I found a copy of The Intimate Lives and Loves of the Hilton Sisters, bought it (for 60 times $2) and scanned it. You can download the PDF from the Hilton Sisters folder on 4Shared. (The folder also contains a PDF of the Brighton United Twins medical journal article.)

Musical: Side Show

In 1997, Side Show opened on Broadway with Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley starring as Daisy and Violet (respectively). This musical version of the sisters' story has book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger, played 91 performances, and was nominated for five Tony awards (Best Musical, Book, Score and actresses). The New York Library for the Performing Arts Theatre on Film Archives has an archival video recording of the show.

Despite some soaring ballads, the lyrics often tread the same ground and the book has taken very great liberties with too many life points - including a puzzling swap of their side-by-side physical placement. (See Freaks and Facts below.) Their story is musicalized around love - something of which they didn't have (or get) so the story ultimately feels forced. The audience is asked to believe that not one but TWO men were capable of falling in love with the sisters prompting:

• A scene in which the musical Daisy dreams of being separated from her sister, dancing and cavorting with her lover in a garden. (Did they really just ape that scene from Chained For Life?)
  
  Norm Lewis played Porgy on Broadway in 2012
• A scene in which the phenomenally talented Norm Lewis electrifies (us and) the musical Violet with You Should Be Loved (soaring ballad), a juxtaposition which not too subtly equates the Hilton's struggle with the African-American struggle.

Who Will Love Me As I Am and I Will Never Leave You are two more soaring ballads, these sung by Skinner and Ripley as the Hilton sisters. They are both powerful songs and riveting performances. All of these songs were captured for an original cast recording which is still available. Last year director Bill Condon spearheaded a revival of the musical. This new version played in La Jolla, California and will be on the boards in Washington, D.C. in 2014.

Pretty fuckin' incredible

Freaks and Facts

Interestingly, the sisters' autobiography has only one sentence that refers to the performance for which they are most remembered. As Terry figured, the [marriage] stunt paid off. We went to Hollywood and made several films. One of those films was Tod Browning's film Freaks.

My assumption is that when the book was published and sold, Freaks had not yet taken its proper place in the cannon of American popular culture. The 1932 MGM film, based on the short story Spurs (available in PDF), concerns freaks in a circus side show and the normal circus entertainers who work with them. The sisters undoubtedly had no idea that Freaks would later (and further) cement their celebrity.

In Freaks, the ladies essentially play themselves. Daisy is on the right when watching the film (and looking at pictures of the sisters) and Violet is on the left. In most adult pictures, Daisy is blonde. This fact is altered in Side Show although I'm not sure what was gained by switching the placement of the twins in the minds of the audience. (Is it easier to remember which twin is which when their names are in alphabetical order?) Several times in the musical the girls sing the following patently false verse:

Daisy: I'm Daisy
Violet: I'm Violet
Daisy & Violet: We're nothing alike
Violet: I'm to your right as you watch our show
Daisy: She thinks she's always right. Not so. I'm Daisy
Violet: I'm Violet

According to The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins by Dean Jensen, the Hiltons' last public appearance was in 1961 at a drive-in cinema in Charlotte, North Carolina where their tour manager abandoned them. With no means of transportation or income, they took a job in a grocery store as a bagger and a checker. On January 4, 1969, after they failed to report to work, the grocery store called the police. The twins were found dead in their home, victims of the Hong Kong flu. The autopsy reported that Daisy died first; Violet died between two and four days later. They were buried in Forest Lawn West Cemetery.

I've mentioned how uncomfortable it is to watch the sisters but that's not because they were conjoined. The exploitative (there's that word!) nature of the people around them is horrifying and uncomfortable to watch. Freaks is different because they are portrayed as normal - which is how Daisy and Violet Hilton might've liked to be remembered.

Music Clips from Chained For Life

Every Hour of Every Day

Never Fall In Love

Love Thief

POSTSCRIPT: More photos can be found at the Daisy and Violet Hilton Petit Photo Gallery. During research, I discovered that Leslie Zemeckis made a biographical documentary in 2012 called Bound By Flesh. I couldn't find that the film is available so I wasn't able to see it.

*In England, the sisters' home was above the Queens Head pub; their manager chose this location for its proximity to the Brighton Train Station. They were born in a house on Riley Road on the outskirts of Brighton.

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A Two-Dimensional Biopic About Marilyn Monroe

Reviewed In An Open Letter to Julia Houston about BOMBSHELL

Dear Julia,
When Peter compared the script of BOMBSHELL, the new Marilyn musical from SMASH, to a two-dimensional biopic of Marilyn Monroe's life, I almost dropped my clam-feta-spinach pizza on my jeans. Honey, I have been to a two-dimensional biopic of Marilyn Monroe's life and that is one place you don't want to go. But I decided to revisit a two-dimensional biopic of Marilyn Monroe's life anyway. I'm going in, Julia - so you don't have to!

The Sex Symbol purports to tell the story of Monroe's life through its tale of Kelly Williams (Connie Stevens in a career-halting performance). It details her marriages (teenage, sports figure, creative figure), affairs (politician, movie studio heads) and the erratic behavior (alcohol, drugs) that leads to death, naked and alone, in the bedroom of her Hollywood home. The Sex Symbol aired on September 17, 1974 as an episode of The Movie Of The Week, ABC's anthology series of 73 minute world premiere television movies. The screenplay was based on The Symbol, a roman à clef novel by Alvah Bessie so, although technically not a biopic, it's close (and two-dimensional) enough for our purposes here.

Connie Stevens, in what I recall being touted as her finest acting achievement to date, cries, coos, snots and coddles her way through this one, trying to elicit sympathy but only succeeding in being disagreeable. Like the most enduring over-the-top performances, Stevens thought she was on to something; well I'm not sure what she was on to but it doesn't feel like acting. Her decision to go nude though (with strategically crossed legs) cements this as one that will be remembered in the dankest cobwebs of the Internet.

The movie takes place the night of Williams' death as the symbol drinks, drugs and ruminates about her circumstances, sometimes speaking with her psychiatrist or other persons on the telephone. Flashbacks detail her triumphs (cement breasts at Grauman's Chinese Theatre) and tragedies (a dad who won't talk to her on the phone) with these vignettes filling in the gaps missed while laughing at Ms. Stevens' frizzy hair and one note emote. In all fairness, I must admit to having a lump in my throat at the ACTUAL death scene; she kind of grew on me.

Aside from documenting the major Monroe life points, the focus of the movie is a grudge match between the symbol and gossip columnist Agatha Murphy, played by Shelley Winters. Aggie is a mashup of Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper - and considering this was the '70s, Rona Barrett. Aggie hates Kelly and does everything in her power to destroy her. Many of the movie's scenes are comprised of Williams and entourage watching Aggie destroy her on television - which does not make for exciting television watching for those of us on this side of the box.

The Sex Symbol was über controversial in the '70s. Two versions of the film were released. The first in which Stevens is clothed in a negligee during her climactic death was filmed for American television. The second in which the negligee drops to the floor early on was filmed for European theaters. The European theatrical version runs 108 minutes - that's 35 more minutes of, among other things, boobies, lesbianism, rape and a bedroom scene in which Williams and her artist husband discuss her frigidity (without actually using the word). Upon announcing plans to air The Sex Symbol, ABC was threatened with legal action although nothing came of the talk.

The Sex Symbol is, what they call in the biz, timeless. The movie was made in 1974 for probably $500,000. The clothes are decidedly 70s but the business of Hollywood is decidedly 50s. Throw that in with the gossip columnist wielding so much power being more of a 30s-40s concept and we have the history of show business. That's quite an accomplishment for such a tiny movie.

So Julia if the script for BOMBSHELL is anything like this movie, listen to Peter!!! Although by the time you've read this, you'll probably be sleeping with him thus, undoubtedly, listening to him. I would.

xoxo
michael

The Sex Symbol has never been released for home sale on any digital media format. I have an MP4 of the European version. Leave a comment or email me if you'd like a copy.

See my Pinterest page for a slew of
pictures of Connie Stevens from throughout her life and career.

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The Dolls Less Taken: Valley of the Dolls 1981

A Critical Analysis of Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls "1981"

The mythology of the 1967 film Valley of the Dolls is documented on Wikipedia but in short, Jacqueline Susann writes a novel about three gals (and the dolls with which they play) that sells more copies than The Bible. 20th Century Fox buys the rights to make a film. Judy Garland is hired. Judy Garland is fired. Patty Duke. Barbara Parkins. Sharon Tate. Helen Lawson. Barely Pink lipstick. Cross your heart beads. A wig. A toilet. A jukebox. An alley. A rousing financial (if not critical) success. Two deaths. (Tate and Susann.) Cult status. Immortality.

But the saga didn't end with Susann's death from cancer in 1974.


James Coburn, Catherine Hicks and Lisa Hartman
On October 19, 1981 (9-11 PM ET), CBS Television aired the first two hours of a miniseries (four hours total) purporting to be a remake of the iconic story containing material author Jacqueline Susann omitted from her original novel. This project was produced by 20th Century Fox and Irving Mansfield, and is called Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls "1981" (henceforth VOTD81).


"1981" cause it's special
The October 19, 1981 issue of People Magazine mentioned VOTD81 in Picks and Pans:

Susann's widower, producer Irving Mansfield, has made a new, updated version of her '60s bestseller that is even trashier than the 1967 movie — and better. Veronica Hamel is a porno star-turned-movie queen, Lisa Hartman a drugged-out rocker and Catherine Hicks an ingenue learning that, hey, movieland glamor is not a pretty business. The conclusion airs tomorrow.

I can't figure out if this makes VOTD81 a pick or a pan but it certainly makes it seem a lot better and steamier than, upon viewing, it actually is. In fact, VOTD81 is so mundane and sanitized I am convinced Ms. Susann rolled over in her grave when news of this travesty reached it. (Mansfield died in 1988.) Thank god, they kept the abortion!

• Drummed Right Off Broadway
• The Veronica Hamel Controversy
• Neely O'Hara
• The Cat Fight
• Quotables
• The New Material
• Crawling Back To Hollywood
• The End

VOTD81 Commercial

Drummed Right Off Broadway

Not surprising in a remake, the locale and industry for VOTD81 have been changed from New York and a theatrical milieu to Los Angeles and the movie business. Helen Lawson (proudly played by Jean Simmons in spite of it all) is now causing problems on her new FILM, Fanfare. Ann Welles (Catherine Hicks in a prickly performance) is a junior lawyer in the legal department of the studio that is producing the flick. That film studio is owned by Henry Bellamy (James Coburn doing his job).


Catherine Hicks, Lisa Hartmann and Veronica Hamel
Welles and Neely O'Hara (Lisa Hartman) are roommates. We find out they were BOTH raised in the mythical town of Lawrenceville (filmed so lovingly in VOTD67 with snow and Judith Lowry and everything but in VOTD81 only as a Hollywood set). Through this small town connection, the unknown Neely get's a supporting role in Lawson's big-budget musical.


The infamous plank and construction dolly
I'm not sure why anyone would make a musical like Fanfare - which WILL be nominated for several prestigious National Film Awards despite the caliber of costumes and songs we as viewers must endure. Let's Be Lovers Tonight (which seems to sample melodically from The Way You Do The Things You Do) is performed by Neely in the shadow of a huge cruise ship - first as a dance with tens of dancers and then with vocal which is abruptly stopped by Miss Lawson's entrance mid-toilette. It is a big bloated production of the type that Hollywood didn't make in 1981 except as a segment of The Love Boat. And why a film director of any distinction (in this case, the distasteful and misogynistic Lyon Burke played by David Birney) would use a construction dolly and a plank of wood to carry his musical star center stage is puzzling.
We Were Meant To Be Lovers is a frightening duet sung by Helen Lawson and Tony Polar (Broadway singer and Tattletales game show host Bert Convy who can't develop a character). It ties up the plot which in some way deals with the hardships the May-December couple has overcome, and seemingly solidifies Fanfare's status as an award caliber musical judging from the kudos when the film wraps.


Bert Convy is a dork.
Midnight Celebration is Tony's solo with eye candy provided by Veronica Hamel as Jennifer North. Convy lacks charisma and can't keep the beat in what is an uptempo number. Plot-wise, this is the number that incites Helen's determination to see Jennifer fired from the picture - as opposed to Neely from the musical in the original movie. Interestingly, I had that same determination when I first heard of VOTD81.

The Veronica Hamel Controversy

In 1981, Hill Street Blues was a huge success and Veronica Hamel, one of its stars, was hired to play Jennifer North. When the first television commercial for VOTD81 was aired, I was dumb-founded by her appearance and why she would be chosen? My guess is the producers didn't want to raise the specter of Sharon Tate so they hired this skinny brunette woman with a bust that wouldn't droop if she tied a weighted rope to each one and dropped the weight off a building.


Jennifer North as the NOW Woman
Turns out that thirty years later, Ms. Hamel gives the best performance in the film. She beautifully takes the high road when Miriam disses her centerfold and, partially because of Camilla Sparv (providing a nice, understated performance as the French woman who falls in love with Jennifer), Hamel makes the Jennifer North story most poignant. In more than a few scenes, Ms. Hamel showed grace and intelligence. And just as Sharon Tate did in VOTD67, Veronica Hamel brings humanity to Jennifer's final moments.

Neely O'Hara

Valley Of The Dolls IS Neely O'Hara, the premiere musical attraction in America today. Neely O'Hara is the part that any actress would relish. Tuneful songs, fabulous fashion montages, breakdowns, award-winning performances, sanitariums and the depths of degradation are all part of Neely O'Hara's oeuvre. It's no wonder that both Patty Duke AND Barbara Parkins auditioned for the role in VOTD67. (The former got the part; the latter played Ann Welles.)


Oy vey
For VOTD81, Lisa Hartman was hired to bring Neely O'Hara to life. Some might remember her as Tabitha on the eponymous Bewitched spin-off. Others might remember her attempts at rock stardom with early 80s LPs like Letterock and Hold On. But to see Lisa's perky facade attempt to reach Neely's personal degradations is just flat. She never reaches them. (To be fair, Patty Duke was a sitcom actress and recorded a few LPs but she was also an Academy Award winner for her powerful portrayal of Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker.)


Let's Be Lovers Tonight
One measure of a great Neely is the intensity of her breakdowns. There are two. In VOTD81, the first is Neely's high wire act on Wilshire Boulevard (after being told by Ted Casablanca that she disgusts him). The second is shortly after Jennifer's death when she leaves the stage mid-song and begins to hear voices backstage. (It is during this performance Hartman sings However Dark The Night, a credible song copped from the 1980 movie The Idolmaker.)


The schizophrenic Breakdown #2 puts Neely in a sanitarium where she meets Tony Polar, now a vegetable (sic), and reprises We Were Meant To Be Lovers, the treacly duet Polar had done did with Helen Lawson in Fanfare. After the high wire act, she just got better quickly and dyed her hair back to blonde. Neither breakdown is believable as Hartman is just not that deep of an actress but I did enjoy this exchange between Lyon and Neely regarding Ted Casablanca during Breakdown #1.

Lyon: Was he that good in the sack?
Neely: He's not bad.
Lyon: Best in the world huh?
Neely: I haven't done it with the whole world.

I just prefer the depths of degradation reached by Patty Duke in VOTD67.

The Cat Fight

The cat fight between Neely O'Hara and Helen Lawson (when Ms. O'Hara pulls Ms. Lawson's wig off and throws it into the toilet) is by far the most iconic scene in the Valley Of The Dolls legacy. Played for purpose by Patty Duke and Susan Hayward in the original film, that same scene in VOTD81 is mundane and anticlimactic. The irony of the cat fight in VOTD81 is that, although trouble between Neely and Helen is alluded to, we never see anything between them until the cat fight. (To that point in the film, Helen's issues had been with Jennifer.) The audience with no knowledge of the original could realistically wonder why Helen and Neely were angry at each other in the first place.


Not so classic
In the VOTD81 cat fight, after sundry belabored insults have been thrown, Ms. Lawson walks away and a red-headed Hartman pulls off the wig from the back. When the wig is removed, Simmons's hair is coiffed as perfectly as the wig - albeit with silver streaks. It's hard to tell if this was a second wig and for a moment I wondered if we would see the Russian nesting doll of wigs.


Kudos - No kudos
The most exciting moment of the VOTD81 cat fight is seeing a young Nathan Lane as stage manager interrupting the fight to get Ms. Lawson on stage. Personally, I would revel in the opportunity to remake a scene that has become such an iconic moment in the pantheon of gay popular culture. I would think Lane was probably as thrilled despite (or because of) the remake's quality.


Nathan Lane shocked at what women do
Lane's appearance can be looked at as an homage to the small yet pivotal appearance as stage manager by a then-unknown Richard Dreyfuss in VOTD67. How? Hindsight is 20/20.

Quotables

VOTD81 does not take place in a world where people carry fountain pens and order butterfly steaks as does VOTD67. VOTD81 takes place in a world where people wear the same clothes for almost two decades. This permeance of banality is also illustrated by some of its noteworthy quotables.

• He's very able. He hired me. (Ann on the job)
• You're not supposed to be able to find talent like that anymore. (Lyon about Neely)
• You look like a porcupine in heat. (Helen to Neely)
• Ohh! You're driving me crazy. (Jennifer to Tony)
• Good luck to your producer. (Henry to Helen)

Now compare contextually to quotables from the 1967 original:

• A black Siamese should be very pretty. I'm Ann Welles. (Ann on the job)
• Look at that face. It's all puffy. You're eyes are bloodshot. (Lyon about Neely)
• They drummed you right out of Hollywood so, you come crawling back to Broadway. Well Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope. (Helen to Neely)
• When did I ever do anything my mother told me to do. (Jennifer to Tony.)
• I've had it rough before. I'm a barracuda. I don't need pills like Neely. (Helen downing her champagne in one gulp)

A favorite exchange occurred in VOTD81 between Henry and Ann after copulation. It alludes to their sexual practices.

Henry: Somehow I expected more reserve from you.
Ann: Why because I'm a lawyer? Everything we did was legal.

The New Material

This event was advertised as using material that Ms. Susann left out of the original novel. It's hard to tell what's new from Ms. Susann's point of view and what's new because the producers updated the story. Here is a list of some possibilities.

1. Ann mentions that Henry Bellamy had a long-term affair with Helen Lawson.
2. Ann is no longer a nubile virgin. She retrieves her phone messages (in that kicky, 80s type of way) and hears from three men: Paul Weber whom she met at the Ashton's is inviting her to try his hot tub, Warren Fields enjoyed the other evening, and an unnamed man wants his turn.
3. Ann sleeps with Henry Bellamy as well as Lyon Burke.
4. Despite the porno star tag used by People, Jennifer's past in nudies is alluded to but never confirmed. She did a magazine centerfold but, in France, she becomes a drug addict and a painter's model.
5. Helen wants Jennifer fired not Neely. And Jennifer is not fired.
6. Ann does not get hooked on dolls. In fact, she doesn't take one pill throughout the entire film. She's a good girl, she is.
7. Jennifer becomes the successful print model in a nationwide cosmetics campaign upon returning from France and not Ann.

Crawling Back To Hollywood

VOTD81 does retain some things from the original story and film. The most apparent is also the first: Dionne Warwick sings the title theme. This is unfortunate as hearing Ms. Warwick immediately makes one remember the more beautiful original (lyrics by Dory Previn, music by Andre Previn) titled (Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls. Even with lyrics by Sammy Cahn (music by George Barrie), What Becomes Of Love is a pale imitation.


What Becomes Of Love by Dionne Warwick over the title credits
As I mentioned, Jennifer still has an abortion. This gives Ms. North and Maude Findlay the distinction alone of having had an abortion on prime time television. And Tony Polar's sister, Miriam, still does the worrying for both of them because of Tony's congenital degenerative disease that ... was incurable, progressive and that there was not a thing ... they could do about. Of course, this horrible ailment from which Tony's father died in the back ward of a mental hospital - a vegetable is never named; it is just suffered from. In the 1967 original, it was Huntington's Chorea.

The End

Interestingly enough, the Valley Of The Dolls saga continued to continue after 1981. In 1994, a syndicated soap opera aired for 13 weeks (Mon-Fri) in select cities across the United States. It was cancelled after the 65 episodes. There have been umpteen theatrical burlesques that use the original screenplay as a jumping off point. And late last year, it was announced that Lee Daniels, the Academy Award-nominated director of Precious will adapt the novel for NBC, maintaining the original setting and 60s time period. Mad Women anyone?

VOTD81 has never been released for home sale on any media format. I recorded it on VHS tape when TBS ran the program in 1989. With commercials removed, it runs 225 minutes. Leave a comment if you would like a copy.

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The Andrea True Re-Connection

A few years back I wrote about the Andrea True Connection and my search for the Connection leader's final (solo) LP, War Machine. The gist of the article though was how I managed to obtain the Connection's second LP, White Witch digitally.

1. Buy the Andrea True Connection import compilation CD called More, More, More. There are many with this title but it must be this specific one.
2. Import tracks 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 13 into iTunes.
3. Resequence a play list so 13 comes before 3.
4. (Optional) Buy the Right Stuff compilation CD More More More. (I told you.)
5. (Optional) Import tracks 8 and 10.
6. (Optional) Add the single versions of What's Your Name, What's Your Number and N.Y. You Got Me Dancing to the play list as bonus tracks 8 and 9.
7. Burn the play list and you have White Witch (plus bonus tracks) on CD.

This, of course, was written before you could download a rip of the White Witch LP. To date I have yet to find War Machine, True's foray into rock and new wave that was only released in Italy, in any of the usual or non-usual avenues.*

Tracklisting link
Anonymous review link
Following this third release, True had surgery on her vocal cords and was never to sing again. War Machine is the holy grail of record finders (notwithstanding my assertion a few years back that Buckingham Nicks is the holy grail or that Heart's Magazine is the holy grail.)


This month comes the news that Andrea True has passed. 68 years young and she lived in Kingston, NY! I lived in Tillson for a spell but I never met Andrea True (as I had Viola Wills). I always respected True's career though; with a thin voice that didn't exhibit power, Andrea True wrote the rule book on how to capitalize on a sex tape.


Get the cameras rollin'
Get the action goin'
True was a working actress in many pornographic films before a non-pornographic job in Jamaica stranded her with no way to export her compensation. (The island country was going through a period of political upheaval at the time and cash was not allowed to be taken out.) She called her friend Gregg Diamond (of Bionic Boogie disco group) and asked him to come down and help her to record a song. She would pay for it with the cash and could leave the country with the demo. Aren't we all friends with big time disco producers?


More More More on TOTP

More More More was the fruit of their labors (and True's cash). The track was credited to the Andrea True Connection, licensed to Buddah Records, remixed by Tom Moulton, and the rest, as they say, is disco history. Or at least can be read about at Andrea True's entry on Wikipedia. Here is a list of things that aren't on Wikipedia.

• This video for the single War Machine from the elusive War Machine LP has surfaced on my YouTube account.
  
  
  Sounding like Grace Slick in a 70s rock setting
  
  
• Here is a SFW edit of one of Ms. True's 70s flicks called The Seduction Of Lyn Carter.
  
  
  This is part 1. Part 2 is here.
  
  
  The VHS cover is misspelled.
  
  
• Here is a NSFW JPG of Andrea True performing in Dance Of Love, her 1974 opus.
  
  
• A musical entity named Magna sampled True's Party Line (from the More More More LP) in a song called Power Supply.
  
  
  Sampled? It's a remix.
  
  
• Contrary to urban legend, the Andrea True Connection is not a one hit wonder. NY, You Got Me Dancing was released before, but included on, White Witch, the second LP; it hit the top thirty.
  
  
  
  Andrea name-checked the most famous gay discos in New York
  (Barefoot Boy, 12 West and the suspect, Regine's)
  in this dance club smash
  
  
• Andy P samples What's Your Name, What's Your Number on Name & Number. True's original track was also released before, but included on, White Witch, the second LP; it hit the top sixty.
  
  
  Sampled? Just another remix
  
  
• True appeared in the 2005 documentary Inside Deep Throat about the infamous porn flick. She appears in its 1974 sequel Deep Throat Part II.
  
  
  2005
  
  
• Of course, there's the rightly ubiquitous More More More-sampled top 10 smash Steal My Sunshine.
  
  
  Loved hearing this rediscovered in 1999
  
  

RIP White Witch. You are remembered as someone who gave pleasure - with your music.


Dabblin' in reggae



Looking fetching!

*Now, you too can have a digital version of War Machine. Email me for a link to this rarity - if none of the options in the comments below are available anymore.

More More More has been covered by many artists over the ensuing years including Rachel Stevens and Bananarama. Babes In Toyland took the song in a rockin' direction. Take a listen.

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No Applause for Lauren Bacall

For many years I have wondered about Applause, the late 1960s musical sourced from the classic film All About Eve. Listening to the Broadway cast recording is a mundane experience at best. The lyrics are simplistic and the melodies non-existent. My guess is that for a rasping vocalist like Lauren Bacall a melody would just get in the way.

The title tune is the most memorable song on the record but it's sung by Bonnie Franklin, not star Bacall. Fasten Your Seat Belts (alluding to the film's most quotable quote) is the horrifying first act closer with vocal "honks," if you will. And Bacall's plaintive ballad Hurry Back pains MY throat when I hear it. Bacall might have been good as Margo Channing (the grande dame of the theater famously played by Bette Davis on celluloid) but the cast recording does not give one much reason to hope.

So it was with trepidation that I watched the 1973 television adaptation of Applause. This special aired once on CBS, never to be seen again - and now I know why. It is not pretty. But for a television broadcast it was groundbreaking:

• It portrays older woman Bacall in a relationship with younger man Larry Hagman. Hagman lip syncs to some vocal and does a little dance. His mother, after all, is...
• The first big musical number But Alive is at a bar in Greenwich Village that only has male customers and where Bacall does her best dancing.
• Ms. Channing and Eve are taken to said bar by Dwayne, Ms. Channing's openly homosexual assistant.

We get progressively cattier as the items continue.

• According to the television title cards, there are six acts in this musical. SIX!
• Fasten Your Seat Belts is still a horrifying number with vocal "honks," if you will, but with six acts it was no longer the first act closer.
• Eve Harrington (you all know all about Eve) is portrayed devilishly by Penny Fuller who, with Bacall, originated the part on Broadway. Her big number One Hallowe'en is good despite the fact that it is just the opening number But Alive with some extra lines about her dad and Halloween. I don't even know why they had to use the apostrophe in Halloween.
• Bonnie Franklin is NOT the Broadway dancer (or gypsy) who sings the title song Applause in the special although she was the gypsy who sang the song on Broadway. The girl who sings it on television was never heard from again and Bonnie Franklin went onto great success as the star of CBS' own situation comedy, One Day At A Time.
• The movie is so much better.
  
  
• This retelling of Eve's story paints her as a literal whore - thanks to the permissive 1970s television standards.
• In one scene, Ms. Bacall as Ms. Channing is having pictures taken for a coffee advertisement; Ms. Bacall was famously paid (in the 1970s) for her High Point Decaffeinated Coffee television commercials.
• They dropped a bunch of songs but not the sappy, lesbianic anthem The Best Night Of My Life.
• Ms. Bacall's solo performance of Something Greater is one for the annals of histrionics.
• Why wasn't Margo Channing (the character in the musical) made a musical comedy star rather than a dramatic actress? She speaks throughout Applause of the play she is in, the writer's new play, the play in which Eve wants the part, the play, the play, the play. Then why bring gypsies into it for one scene? Gypsies are in musicals.
• The show ends with a very surrealistic curtain call.

Well, this 1973 television production does not give one much reason to hope that the Broadway production was any better. To be fair, Ms. Bacall was the least of this shows problems which began with Betty Comden, Adolph Green (I know!), Charles Strouse and Lee Adams (I know.)

But you can watch this television version of Applause right now and see for yourself. MikeyG0901 has edited the recording into ten minute clips. The first one is below. Just click through to the YouTube page and follow the part numbers.

Or email me for a download URL to an WMV file that contains the complete almost two hour special.

Here's the original review of the theatrical production reproduced from the New York Times. Clive Barnes loved it. Maybe it loses something on the small screen - or maybe he's tone deaf.

Right click to enlarge

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Two Stale Farts or, The Night I Met Madonna

I was in a Goodwill store recently and found a copy of the 7-inch single Two Of Hearts by Stacy Q. Two Of Hearts was a huge hit in 1986, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Seeing the single reminded me of the night I met Madonna and Sandra Bernhard. Here's how it went down.
Being more of a rocker Two Of Hearts never impressed me. The song was Madonna-esque and Stacey Q had unfortunately shucked her career as lead singer for the excellent synth-pop band SSQ for this piffle. My friend Russell was of the same mind and we made up lyrics that we sang whenever we heard the song - which in 1986 happened a lot. Two stale farts
Two farts that stank the room
Two stale farts
We passed 'em, we passed 'em
Two stale farts
Two farts that stank the room
Two stale farts
Ka-boom, ka-boom That year, Russell had participated in the Los Angeles AIDS walk and thus was invited to the after party; I was his plus one. At some point in the evening we found ourselves on stage standing behind Madonna and Sandra Bernhard. We were schmitten and wanted to say something but didn't know what that might be. (I was a huge Sandra Bernhard fan having experienced her oeuvre in July of 1984 when she walked on stage at The Bottom Line - to thunderous applause - and regaled the audience by saying Don't pull a Madonna on me. Don't push me over the borderline.) As Russell and I poked, prodded and nudged each other, mouthing things like Go ahead and You say something, the ubiquitous Two of Hearts started blaring out of the speakers. The crowd on the dance floor roared its approval but Madonna leaned over to Sandra and said I hate this song. Russell and I looked at each other and when the chorus started, so did we. Two stale farts
Two farts that stank the room
Two stale farts
We passed 'em, we passed 'em
Two stale farts
Two farts that stank the room
Two stale farts
Ka-boom, ka-boom As we finished, Madonna and Sandra turned to look at us and busted out laughing. We hate this song, I said. Russell, ever the charmer, thanked Madonna for lending her support to the fight against AIDS. I leaned into Sandra and said I'm gonna pull a Madonna on you. I'm gonna push you over the borderline. Sandra cracked up while Madonna looked at her quizzically. I'll explain later, Sandra said. We then had a group hug, sang It's A Long Way To Tipperary, and disappeared separately into the night.

OK, so there was no group hug but I've often wondered if, in the limousine on their way home that night, Madonna turned to Sandra and asked What did that tall guy say to you?

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Heart's Magazine: The SPARTY 1024 LP

It was spring, 1977, I was just 18, and walking down 7th Avenue to Penn Station. It had been a rough week. Magazine; the long player (LP) that Mushroom Records had released without the cooperation of the group Heart, had been pulled off the shelves. No doubt, despite being their biggest fan, I wouldn't be seeing a copy of this LP any time soon.


As had been my wont when traversing this stretch of 7th Avenue, I stopped into a small record store I knew on the way to the train depot. (It might have been a J&R Music Annex on the west side maybe at 36th Street.) While nonchalantly browsing through the rock bin I happened upon the Heart divider, looked inside and was taken aback as there was a copy of Heart's Magazine.


But the cardboard used for the album jacket felt thin? And there was a little white sticker on the jacket back that was blank? And the jacket itself was unwrapped but placed in a plastic sleeve? After a moment of consternation, I realized it was different from what I was accustomed to in the United States - plus the jacket back mentioned something about London. I've since found out that 50,000 copies of Mushroom's original release of Magazine had been pressed for North America. Some of these were sold in stores, mostly in Los Angeles and Hollywood, Florida. But the album was also briefly released in Europe through Arista Records (under catalog identifier SPARTY 1024). What I had found was an imported copy of this European release - my first store-bought import. I refer to this LP as Magazine (The SPARTY 1024 LP) when it comes up in casual conversation.


Heart had a contract with Mushroom Records for two albums. Magazine was originally intended to follow-up their 1976 Mushroom debut Dreamboat Annie. The group began recording 5 songs that would have been part of this second album. Then, Shelly Siegel took out an ad in Rolling Stone to congratulate the respective successes of the group and his company. The ad showed a picture of Heart group members (and sisters) Ann and Nancy Wilson bare-shouldered with the suggestive caption, It was only our first time.

According to legend, after one live appearance when a reporter suggested that the sisters were sexual partners, Ann returned to her hotel room and wrote the lyrics to Barracuda to relieve her frustration.

None to pleased with this advertisement, Heart also felt that they had now proven themselves as hit-makers and expected Mushroom to act accordingly and raise their contracted royalty rate. To the surprise of the group and their producer, Mike Flicker, the label refused to pay and decided not to release a second Heart album. Flicker ended his relationship with the label and Heart followed, believing they had no obligation to stay without their producer. They accepted a more lucrative offer from CBS Records (now Sony BMG) subsidiary, Portrait Records and began preparing Little Queen - seemingly breaching the contract with Mushroom.

Shelly Siegel though believed Mushroom had the legal right to release a second Heart album so he compiled the rough mixes of the 5 studio recordings (Devil Delight, the single Heartless, the Badfinger chestnut Without You, Magazine and Just the Wine), B-side Here Song and three live songs recorded in 1975 at the Aquarius Tavern and released the collection as Magazine. The back cover of the LP carries a disclaimer.

Mushroom Records regrets that a contractual dispute has made it necessary to complete this record without the cooperation or endorsement of the group Heart, who have expressly disclaimed artistic involvement in completing this record. We did not feel that a contractual dispute should prevent the public from hearing and enjoying these incredible tunes and recordings.

Unhappy with the demo-like-quality of the release, Heart took Mushroom to court to stop the sale of the album. The Seattle court ruled that Mushroom had to recall the album and unsold copies were reportedly destroyed. When the dust settled, the judge found in Mushroom's favor and required that Heart honor their contract and provide a second album. Heart chose to fulfill this obligation by working with the original Magazine tapes: remixing the songs, adding new lead vocals and editing. Reportedly, Mushroom employed a security guard to make sure that the group didn't try to erase the multitrack master tapes while in the studio.

The official revised version of the album was released with a different track sequence (and no disclaimer) in April 1978. Heart was never particularly happy with the album's sound but nevertheless it peaked at number 17 on the Billboard album chart and sold over a million copies. Heartless was a Top 40 hit. In the early 1980s Mushroom Records went out of business, and Heart's two albums for the label were purchased and re-issued by Capitol Records.

Which brings us back to the spring of 1977 and me holding the now rare long player Magazine, the SPARTY 1024 LP with disclaimer. I ran to the cash register, ran out the store, ran to Penn Station, ran up and down the aisles of the train as it chugged along past Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford and Massapequa to stop at Massapequa Park. I made it home and dropped the platter on the turntable. Those very tunes I heard that day are the very same ones I've digitized and posted as Heart_Magazine_SPARTY_1024_Vinyl.

These files are uploaded for historical purposes only as part of the multimediacal musings of A Man And A Mouse. Please don't hurt me.

Track listing - 1977 Release

"Heartless" (Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson) – 5:00
"Without You" (Peter Ham, Tom Evans) – 4:44
"Just The Wine" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 4:30
"Magazine" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 6:55
"Here Song" (A. Wilson) – 1:35
"Devil Delight" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 4:58
"Blues Medley" – 7:11 
(Mother Earth) (You Shook Me Babe)
(Peter Chapman, Lewis Simkin, Willie Dixon)
"I've Got The Music In Me" (Bias Boshell) – 6:01

Track listing - 1978 Remixed Release (not included in download)

"Heartless" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 5:02
"Devil Delight" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 5:00
"Just The Wine" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 4:16
"Without You" (Ham, Evans) – 4:42
"Magazine" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 6:22
"Here Song" (A. Wilson) – 1:34
"Mother Earth Blues" (Chapman, Simkin, Dixon)
– 5:59
"I've Got The Music In Me" (Boshell) – 6:18

Performers

Ann Wilson: vocals, guitar, keyboards, 
violin, flute
Nancy Wilson: vocals, guitar, piano
Michael DeRosier: drums
Roger Fisher: guitar, steel guitar
Steve Fossen: bass guitar, percussion
Howard Leese: guitar, keyboards, 
synthesizer, vocals

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Totie Fields: A Blography

Being one myself, I've always been enamored of Jewish comediennes. But while Sarah Silverman, Roseanne, Sandra Bernhard, Gilda Radner, Bette Midler, Joan Rivers, Belle Barth, and Pearl Williams all make me laugh none have made me laugh longer than the too soon, too gone Totie Fields. Historically, Totie was more than a comedienne. She was arguably the first women to attract a national following as a comic.


I went into a department store and tried on a girdle that was
decorated with tiny rosebuds. When I got it on,
the roses opened up in full bloom.
In the 60s when her career really began its trajectory, women were still considered eye candy and not expected, or even allowed, to offer up opinions and ideas. Totie broke that glass ceiling by assuming a comic persona built on her weight and, pride in her shape - polar opposites. She might have been a zaftig yenta but rather than espousing self-pity she was confident in her appeal and sweetly brimming with self love. She explained that bringing up the subject of weight herself deprives the wise alecks from mouthing loud asides all night but, she was also teaching women of the era how to act.


Totie on The Ed Sullivan Show in the early 60s
Totie Fields was born Sophie Feldman, daughter of a shopping center owner, on 7 May 1927 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. She started singing as a child, making appearances on local radio stations by the time she was 4. She toured the Borscht Belt at 14 and before she reached 20 years, worked as a tummler in Boston area strip clubs. Even then Sophie was breaking the glass ceiling: tummlers entertained guests as a master of ceremonies between acts and, at the time, were generally male. It was during this period that Sophie took her stage name - Totie being the way she pronounced her given name as a child.


I've been on a diet for two weeks,
and all I lost was two weeks.
Totie married George William Johnston, Jr. in 1950. Georgie (as he came to be known) was a fellow comic in Boston who, over time, worked solely with Totie as her musical director. The couple soon moved to Brooklyn, NY and became the parents of two daughters—Jody was born in 1952 and Debbie was born in 1955. The Admiral's Inn in Ogunquit, Maine, now a bed and breakfast, was the family's private summer vacation residence during this period into the early 1960's.


It was after her pregnancies that Totie began to gain weight. She tried dieting but nothing worked. The only way to lose weight, really, she concluded, is to have someone put you in a bed where you can't get to the refrigerator. Ever the optimist though, Totie decided to incorporate her size into her act. Her broad accent, self-deflating jokes and extroverted kvetching helped to endear her to audiences whom she treated like friends AND lovers. It was after making this decision that her celebrity and work increased twofold.


Shirley Temple had charisma as a child.
But it cleared up as an adult.
In the early 60s, Ed Sullivan gave Totie her first national break when he booked her on his show after seeing her perform at the Copacabana in New York. She made multiple additional appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, topping out at almost 20!


WORLD INTERNET PREMIERE: Totie released Totie Fields Live on Mainstream Records and
wrote I Think I'll Start on Monday: The Official 8 1/2 oz.
Mashed Potato Diet published by Hawthorn Books.
See Experience Totie Fields Live to listen.

Totie also made a name for herself on the talk show circuit during the 60s and 70s. There were multiple appearances on The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Mike Douglas Show (on which she famously helped Mike introduce KISS to the American public when she co-hosted the 1974 episode that was their first television appearance.)

The Tarzan reunion show with Mike Douglas, Johnny Weissmuller,
Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney, Buster Crabbe,
Denny Miller, and Jim Pierce.
Other notable appearances included Here's Lucy and a well-received dramatic turn on Medical Center. Totie played multiple roles in the 1972 television special Fol-de-Rol, a filmed version of Sid and Marty Krofft's live puppet show.

Totie visits with Jerry Lewis on his annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon
Totie was diabetic and plagued with other health problems the last years of her life, having almost as many major medical procedures as television appearances. It has been rumoured that some of these problems stem from plastic surgery. This rumor is unsubstantiated although, interestingly, here is a link to 1972 episodes of The Merv Griffin Show on which guest Totie applauds plastic surgery as she questions Dr Kurt Wagner, the plastic surgeon to the stars. (Scroll to clip 4.)

In April 1976, Totie's left leg was amputated above the knee when surgery to remove a blood clot failed. Even with that traumatic experience, Totie fitted herself with an artificial leg and returned to work saying, "I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me." (Link to 1977 article from People Magazine)


Raquel Welch - a moron with less on.
In June 1977, Totie starred in the Home Box Office special series Standing Room Only, beginning her show seated. As the audience (filled to brimming with celebrity friends) welcomed her, she stood up, causing the cheering audience to stand with her. Said Fields: "I've waited all my life to say this... I weigh less than Elizabeth Taylor!" Totie was back and the audience was immediately at ease; if Totie could still laugh at herself, then it was all right to laugh with her.


While still recovering from the amputation, Totie suffered two heart attacks. In October 1977, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and her right breast was removed. Nevertheless, Totie continued to perform and in 1978, the last year of her life, she was voted Entertainer of the Year and Female Comedy Star of the Year by the American Guild of Variety Artists.



Totie was scheduled to appear at the Sahara Hotel when she suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism in her Las Vegas home on August 2, 1978; she was 51. She was buried in Las Vegas and later moved to the Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles to be buried next to Georgie, who died in 1995.


Totie Fields: Inspirational, Outrageous, and Still Funny.

Totie performing in the early 1960s

Totie and Merv 1966

Additional information:

• Some sources speculate that Georgie had refused to release films, tapes, and other recordings of Fields after her death thus, explaining the dearth of material available. Can we then hypothesize that Georgie was crushed by her early death and felt it crass to capitalize on her body of work? They were so much in love - just look at the TattleTales clip - that it's a reasonable assumption.
• Burial: Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA - Plot: Gardens of Heritage, Main Level, Crypt 60C
• Totie appeared on The Glen Campbell Show playing a night-club bunny, a cheerleader, a minskirted stewardess and a ballerina.
• Adorable Me, A Musical Based on the Life of Totie Fields
  

  Adorable Me! The Totie Fields Story (1990)
  A New Musical Based on the Life of Totie Fields
  Conceived by Nancy Timpanaro-Hogan
  Book by Bobby Pearce & Nancy Timpanaro-Hogan
  Are You Happy?
  Flat Tire, One Headlight Out
  Someone To Notice
  Weaver High School
  He Likes...Me!
  Holding On
  The Taste
  Look, But Don't Touch
  Me, Myself And Cane
  Don't Remind Me
  I'm Not Ready
  With Friends Like Mine
  On Top Of The World/Years
  Big
  Papa Is A Nice Man
  One Day At A Time
  Heat Up The Pot
  Workshopped at Long Beach Civic Light Opera (1991)
  Produced by American Jewish Theatre, Inc., Stanley Brechner, Artistic Director (1993)
  Four-month run at The Ballroom, New York (1994)
  Four-month run at Tropworld, Atlantic City (1996)
  Also played in regional theaters and performing arts centers across the country, 
  including Seven Angels Theatre, Northridge Performing Arts Center, Bailey Concert Hall

• 
  http://www.alleewillis.com/index.html
• Sophie, Totie and Belle : Sophie, Totie & Belle is a play based on a fictional meeting of the late entertainers Sophie Tucker, Totie Fields and Belle Barth. It was written by Joanne Koch and Sarah Blacher Cohen, with original music by Mark Elliott and songs associated with these entertainers. It opened in New York City at the off-Broadway Theater Four on March 15, 2000 after sold-out runs in Queens, NY Theatre in the Park, Boca Raton, Florida, Miami, Philadelphia, New Hope, Albany, and the Forum Theater in New Jersey, the Drama Center in Deerfield Beach, the Wilton Theater in Ft. Lauderdale, Theatre Works in Sarasota. Another review.
• A list from “I Think I’ll Start on Monday”

  Five Practical Reasons For Not Going On A Diet
  1. It’s very impolite to leave food on your plate.
  2. America is supposed to be the best fed nation in the world. Why make us look bad?
  3. Fish, meat and vegetables maybe chemically polluted. The U.S. Government has NEVER found mercury in a chocolate layer cake.
  4. Food is synonymous with love. If you diet, you are depriving yourself of much needed affection.
  5. Sara Lee, Laura Scudder, Betty Crocker and Mr. Hershey are sincere, hard working Americans. Check your conscience. 
  Do you really want to take a living away from these people?

• 
  From Fol-der-ol
• You can now listen to the Totie Fields Live LP on YouTube. See the Experience Totie Fields Live blog entry for links.
• You can still download the Totie Fields Live MP3 files but you need to email me for the link.
• 6/15/11 UPDATE: I received the following information in an email from a reader:
  

  Just read your blog......interesting stuff! I only knew her because my dad, Harry Morton, was her booking agent. The stories I heard growing up as a kid, in Oceanside, NY, were all about what a pain in the butt she was to work with. She spent many evenings in the den, with other comics that my Dad either handled or knew. Harry was one of the top agents for the Catskills, as well as Miami, and Lakewood, NJ. His clients, just to name a few, consisted of: Henny Youngman, Phil Foster, Buddy Hackett, Alan King, Mac Robbins, Pat Henry, Norm Cosby, Harvey Stone, Jan Murray, and more. I have googled his name [Harry], only to find a sentence or two and nothing more. He was funnier than most of the guys he handled, He cut an album, "Look Out For Harry Morton" back in the 60's. I started to write a book with him, but we only wrote about 100 pages. He's gone now 8 years. He was married to Billie Lorraine, a nite club singer.

• In this interview of Phyllis Diller from The View, Rosie O'Donnell brings up Totie and Phyllis mentions that Totie did not like Joan Rivers. Interesting.

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Surprisingly Moved by Viola Wills

When I first got in my new car I turned on the stereo to find that I had Sirius satellite radio stations. I perused the manual and found that Sirius would be provided for the first year of the vehicle's operation. Since the car was actually used, I have four months of Sirius left. I'm serious.



I was listening to channel 81 Cinemagic Jazz Standards on my way home from Safeway. This station, strangely enough, played classic dance and disco before the Studio 54 channel. I was minding my own business when the familiar strains of the 1980 recording If You Could Read My Mind came wafting through the six (count 'em, six) speakers. Viola Wills. I opened the car windows and belted that tune out with the lady. It's a beautiful, uplifting production of a song whose subject matter is not quite beautiful and uplifting. In fact, a controversy surrounding the rearrangement of this Gordon Lightfoot paean to dance was brewing around the same time as the Disco Sucks movement hit a full head of steam. I didn't care then or now because Disco Don't Suck. I got home, opened my laptop, and searched Viola and If You Could Read My Mind.



The first link that came up was a news story reporting that Viola Wills had died on May 9, 2009, two months prior. I was surprised at the news and SHOCKED that I hadn't heard it before as I pride myself on my knowledge of the minutiae of pop culture. Many links later I accepted her death to be true.



I was surprisingly moved by Viola's death. Surprisingly because I didn't feel that way when Vicki Sue Robinson died. But Viola and I had a number of tunes, and a meet and greet, in common. I remember bopping to Stormy Weather, Up on the Roof, and Gonna Get Along With You Now as I came out of the closet and onto the dance floor. Viola Wills was the disco cover queen.



Viola was discovered in the late 1960s by Barry White but it wasn't until a decade later that she hit it big with her cover of Gonna Get Along Without You Now which reached the top 10 in 1979. (The 1959 original was sung by Patience & Prudence.) The hit started a string of dance covers including Both Sides Now, (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me, Stormy Weather, Up On The Roof, Secret Love, Love Pains, Climb Every Mountain, Midnight Blue, If You Leave Me Now and the aforementioned If You Could Read My Mind. Stormy Weather topped out at #4 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1982. She continued to release records into the late 1980s although there were not many hits among them. These were mostly released on the RVA record label which she formed with her husband Robert Ashmun in 1983.

Wills was extremely popular among the nation's gay community with her singles always spun in gay dance clubs. IN fact, that's where I met Viola. I hired her to perform at Torpedo, a gay dance club in South Beach, Florida in 1991. She was, as the nightclub business deemed her, a track act; she brought instrumental tracks with her to which she performed live vocals. Viola packed the floor on one of our biggest dance nights and was very sweet and unassuming. That's about all I remember. It was a night club, for Christ's sake.

In reading about Viola I found out that she was 53 when we met seventeen years ago. (She was born December 30, 1939.) I was 35. She looked great. So did I. And now I learn she recorded singles as early as 1966! I hadn't heard any of her non-dance oriented work so I decided to look for some of this stuff. Unfortunately, there was nothing but the aforementioned tunes in disparate disco compilations.



Since I found no audio files I searched YouTube for video and hit gold. But I wanted an audio collection - you know to blast in the car with the windows open. So I downloaded high-quality videos from YouTube, extracted the audio and converted it to 192 bkps using SWITCH. Not sure what that makes it technologically but it's still music. Below is a list of the songs I compressed into a ZIP file. Email me if you'd like the URL to download the ZIP.

Rest with peace, Viola.

I Got Love (1966) - excellent
Lost Without the Love (1966) - nice
You're Out of My Mind (1967) - excellent but not good quality
I Believe in Miracles (1975) - beautiful
Let's Love Now (Disco Version) (1977) - not a highlight
Gonna Get Along Without You Now (1979) - reminds me of Bette Midler's You're Moving Out Today
(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me from If You Could Read My Mind LP (1980)
If You Could Read My Mind from If You Could Read My Mind LP (1980)
Let Me Be Your Rock from If You Could Read My Mind LP (1980)
Midnight Blue from If You Could Read My Mind LP (1980)
Secret Love from If You Could Read My Mind LP (1980)
Up On The Roof from If You Could Read My Mind LP (1980)
If You Leave Me Now (1981) - very nice version of the treacly Chicago hit
The More I See You (1982) - nice take on the classic
Stormy Weather (1982) - ahhhhh
Climb Every Mountain (1983) - another remix version is on YouTube
Both Sides Now (1989) - surprisingly acceptable
Dare to Dream (1989) - excellent and written by Vi
Love Pains (1989) - was another version really necessary?
Gonna Get Along Without You Now (Single Version) (1980)
If You Could Read My Mind (extended) (1980)
Bonus Track - Gonna Get Along Without You Now (Patience & Prudence) (1959)

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