Art-For-Art’s-Sake Theatre: Shirley Temple (1928-2014)

Time once again for our usual midday Wednesday feature.

The pre-eminent child actress of the classic movie era, Shirley Temple, died on Monday at her home in Woodside, California, surrounded by family and loved ones. She was 85 years old.

Beginning her movie career in 1931 at the age of three, Temple went on to star in over ninety films in the three decades that followed. As an actor, dancer, and singer, her career peaked as she reached adolescence, for reasons undetermined at this writing, although she did marry for the first time at seventeen, and was a stay-at-home mother when her children were growing up. Even so, she managed to continue performing on stage and screen into the television years. Temple also participated in numerous charitable causes, and became a diplomat, serving as United States Ambassador to Ghana, Czechoslovakia, as well as Chief of Protocol.

The little girl known as "America's Sweetheart" appears in this video clip as she might best be remembered, tap dancing with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson in a scene from the 1935 film The Littlest Rebel.
 

Art-For-Art’s-Sake Theatre: Remembering Pete Seeger (1919-2014)

Time once again for our usual midday Wednesday feature, which is running later than usual. Then again, there is little that is usual about this segment.

There is much that could be said (most of which cannot be done justice in this venue) about the American folksinger-activist Pete Seeger, who died peacefully in his sleep last Monday evening at New York's Presbyterian Hospital, surrounded by members of his family. He was 94. Seeger had just been out chopping wood only ten days before, and a few days after that was admitted. We should all be so active right up to the end.

Seeger's American roots can be traced back to the Colonial era, and a prominent New England family. His father was an eminent musicologist, his mother a prolific classical violinist, and nearly all of his siblings were involved with music in one form or another, most of it in the Anglo-American folk tradition. He was among the first of a long line of upper-crust bourgeois bohemians assuming the hard-scrapple appearance of the downtrodden, and who were the staple of the early- and mid-20th century folk revival (which preceded the over-commercialized "folk scare" of the late-1950s and early-1960s). Most people are aware of Seeger's advocacy of communism, and of his blacklisting for defying the American political system, which to some extent made possible the very way of American life about which he sang. Some might even remember how he visited North Vietnam in 1972, and extolled the virtues of their way of life, even as American servicemen were being held prisoner there. Very few people would remember that he equally despised the variety of communism promoted by Soviet Russia (his dalliance with Hanoi notwithstanding), that he regretted his association with the movement in later years, and that he performed at a 1982 benefit concert for the decidedly anti-communist Polish Solidarity labor movement.

On a personal note, this writer first taught himself to play the banjo in 1979, using Seeger's classic instruction book “How To Play The 5-String Banjo” first published in 1954 by Folkways, and revived in 1992 by Music Sales America.

The music that Seeger made popular, whether his own, or picked up along the way, experienced a resurgence in later years, especially at the behest of Bruce Springsteen and his famous “Seeger Sessions” in 2006. The first clip is one of Seeger singing "Michael Row The Boat Ashore" for college students in Melbourne, Australia, in 1963, a time when he was rarely seen on American television. The second is a one-hour live performance by Springsteen and his Seeger Sessions Band at the London Symphony Orchestra's Music Education Centre ("LSO St Luke's") in London.

This man who despised injustice in America was prophetic in some respects, and hopelessly naive in others. In the end, he was only a man, who returned to the dust of the earth, as will all of us who remember him, and who appreciate what he left us.

Rest in peace, old traveler. May God have mercy on you.
 

George Glenn Jones (1931 - 2013)

One of the most prolific artists of country music died this morning, from complications related to irregular blood pressure. He was 81.

Born in a log cabin in Saratoga, Texas (a town outside of Beaumont), George got his first guitar when he was nine, and was playing for change on the streets shortly thereafter. From there he went on to local radio shows. His first recorded hit in 1955, “Why Baby Why” made it to number four on the country charts, the first of many in a recording career that included 119 singles under his own name, 68 albums, 26 collaborative albums, 24 compilation albums ... one could go on. In 1956, he became a member of the Grand Olde Opry.

It was particularly in later years that he was hailed as "the greatest living country singer," with unique facial characteristics that earned him the nickname “Possum.” But it was not only his distinctive voice that lent to his critical acclaim. In the tradition of Hank Williams and other country artists, Jones lived out the songs that he wrote. It was a life of hard living, hard drinking, drug addiction, bouts with the law, and stormy marriages. There were four of the latter, the first when he was 19, which lasted only a year. But he is best known for his third marriage, to country singer-songwriter Tammy Wynette, whom he wed in 1969. Despite a reputation as an abusive and irresponsible husband, their tribulations were often the inspiration for their duets, and a musical collaboration that far outlasted the marriage, which ended in divorce in 1975. Even his failure to show up for performances inspired the song “No-Show Jones.” What's more, his 1996 arrest for riding a lawn mower on an open road was parodied in the music video “Honky Tonk Song.” His cameo appearances in other country music videos also found him riding on a lawn mower.

But it was during his fourth marriage in 1983 to Jenny Johnson, that he cleaned up his act, and she was considered instrumental in his recovery from addiction. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992, and was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2008. In 2012 he was presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award. It was during this latter period that he recorded a song penned by Billy Yates and Mike Curtis entitled “Choices.”

I've had choices
Since the day that I was born
There were voices
That told me right from wrong
If I had listened
No I wouldn't be here today
Living and dying
With the choices I made

Among the many albums he recorded were collections of gospel hymns. Some might have thought him to be a hypocrite for this, but a man at his lowest on a Saturday night can still wish for his highest on a Sunday morning. Russell Moore speaks to this desperation of the heart in his First Things article.

He was the troubadour of the Christ-haunted South. The raw emotion, and even whispers of torture, in his voice can teach American Christianity much about the nature of sin and the longing for repentance ... This is not a man branding himself with two different and contradictory impulses. This was a man who sang of the horrors of sin, with a longing for a gospel he had heard and, it seemed, he hoped could deliver him. In Jones’ songs, you hear the old Baptist and Pentecostal fear that maybe, horrifically, one has passed over into the stage of Esau who, as the Bible puts it, “could not find repentance though he sought it with tears.”

For yours truly, there is a sadness that comes with the news of George Jones' passing, and a longing for days gone by. They were the days when a singer who billed himself as a country or country-western artist, was not of the comfortable suburban middle-class life, that permeated themes of the "countrypolitan" sound in the 1970s, nor the over-styled, stereotypical exurban refined redneck with designer jeans that populates the airwaves today, but one who was truly without pretense, without pre-packaging, who was genuinely “born and bred, cornbread fed.” That generation is passing, one at a time, and we will never see their like again.

If the failings of a man that were so well-published are to be forgiven him, let it serve as a reminder to us all, of the reality of the Divine Mercy, and our own need to call upon Him for ourselves.
 

Jonathan Harshman Winters III (1925-2013)

One of the most hilarious comedians in America, renowned for his unscripted deadpan humor (and one of the comedic influences of yours truly), Jonathan Winters died yesterday evening of natural causes at his home in Montecito, California, surrounded by family and friends. The native of Dayton, Ohio was 87. He was preceded by his wife of over sixty years, Eileen Schauder, and is survived by his two children. In this scene from the early 1970s, Winters plays true to form as a Midwestern hayseed at a Dean Martin roast.

(Hey, I'm from the Midwest, and descended from a long line of hayseeds. I can say that.)
 

Annette Joanne Funicello (1942-2013)

What little boy could possibly forget the girl with the big ... uh, reputation on The Mickey Mouse Club in the 1950s? Annette Funicello passed away yesterday, from complications related to multiple sclerosis. She was 70 years old.

Born to an Italian-American family in Utica, New York, that moved to California when she was four years old, our little starlet first made her mark on the aforementioned children's television show in 1955, when she was only twelve. One thing led to another, including those ridiculous "beach party" movies in the early 1960s co-starring Frankie Avalon. There were several of them, all pretty much alike. Later she became a spokeswoman for Skippy peanut butter. In 1992, she disclosed her MS to the public after several years of hiding it, and then only to combat rumors that she was suffering from ... alcoholism?

This video clip is a scene from her cameo appearance in the 1968 pseudo-psychadelic movie, Head, no doubt having established a reputation for experience with pointless excuses for movies. But we know better, don't we? Our little Mouseketeer used to appear in stories with a discernible plot. Stay tuned to this part of the blogosphere for our short-run series, Annette Funicello Theatre, beginning next week. Until then, stay tuned, and stay in touch.
 

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (1925-2013)

The only female ever to serve as prime minister of the United Kingdom is dead at the age of 87. Many tributes have been written about her during this day, but this writer found the most inspiration in the following statement from Hillsdale College President Lawrence Arnn:

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Lady Thatcher, born Margaret Roberts in 1925, was one of the most important and beneficial statesmen of the twentieth century. When she came to power in 1979, her nation was held in the grip of unions that had command of the largest political party in the state. They used that power to shut down industries and even sections of the country at will to make employment demands. Rather than resist, the government would collude in crippling strikes. Margaret Thatcher was elected with a promise to stop these practices, and in a series of dramatic confrontations in her first year she was successful. She did not seek, she said, to adjust the power from labor to capital, but rather to return the government to serving the whole people and the public interest.

In 1982, she sent British forces to war against the junta in Argentina, which had invaded the Falkland Islands, a British protectorate. Britain won that war with the help of the United States and its president, her friend, Ronald Reagan. The Falklands are in dispute between Britain and Argentina today, and the current administration in Washington is less friendly to Britain. The people of the Falklands, whenever they are asked, still indicate in overwhelming numbers that they wish to remain as they are.

The only statue of Lady Thatcher in North America stands on the Hillsdale College campus. She visited the campus in 1994 and spoke at college events on several occasions. We are proud to have known her. At our spring convocation on Thursday we will say prayers of thanksgiving for her life and service.

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Lady Thatcher is survived by two children; journalist Carol Thatcher and businessman Mark Thatcher, and two grandchildren by her son Mark.
 

Roger Joseph Ebert (1942-2013)

One of the two greatest film critics of all time has passed away after an eleven-year battle with thyroid cancer. He was a few months shy of 71.

As movie reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, Roger Ebert and his counterpart at the Chicago Tribune, Eugene Kal “Gene” Siskel (1946-1999), hosted a popular television program, Opening Soon at a Theater Near You, later known as Sneak Previews, and later still as Siskel and Ebert At The Movies, from 1975 until Siskel's passing in 2000.

Roger once described his relationship with Gene:

Gene Siskel and I were like tuning forks. Strike one, and the other would pick up the same frequency. When we were in a group together, we were always intensely aware of one another. Sometimes this took the form of camaraderie, sometimes shared opinions, sometimes hostility.

... resulting in a love-hate relationship (or at least the pretense of one) that is the focus of a tribute at Slate.com.

As he knew the end was near, this was Roger's final blog entry, written earlier this week:

“So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies.”

Movie critics on television have long been best described as the comic relief characters of a local or network news team or morning show, wearing their personality quirks on their sleeves. Then along come two regular guys from Chicago that look as if they might be your neighbors, and proceed to redefine their own profession. Yes, we still have court jesters for movie critics, but only because only Siskel and Ebert could ever have been Siskel and Ebert. And the cinematic world is poorer for their loss.

But we'll still save them the aisle seats, don't you think?

Or don't you?
 

Michael Schwartz (1950-2013)

Michael Schwartz, a leader in the pro-life movement, and a tireless advocate for pro-family issues in Washington, fell asleep in the Lord this past Sunday, after a two-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was 63.

Michael was one of a handful of faithful Catholics who brought the unique presence of the True Faith to the rise of the so-called "religious right" during the Reagan years. This writer met him when he was a leader of the "Carroll Group," a consortium of Catholic leaders who met monthly, under the auspices of the Free Congress Foundation in Washington, a conservative think tank founded by political strategist Paul Weyrich, to discuss matters of mutual concern. Over the years, Michael had been active with the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Concerned Women for America, Operation Rescue, among other endeavors. For the better part of over a decade, until the illness was in its final stages only recently, he was chief of staff to Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at Mother Seton Church in Germantown, Maryland. He is survived by his wife, Rose Ann, and their children and grandchildren.

Requiescat in pace, Michael.
 

Aaron Swartz (1986-2013)

Everyone who works on or uses the Internet (including yours truly) owes a lot to this man. Today was his funeral.

In 2010 and 2011, Aaron Swartz downloaded a lot of academic documents from JSTOR (the online library of scholarly articles) with the intent to distribute them because he believed more information in more hands would make the world a better place. A noble idea, but the Department of Justice decided to make an example of him. Aaron faced 35 years in jail and $1 million in fines before he decided to commit suicide. Watch this moving talk from 2012 about how he helped stopped COICA and SOPA, two congressional bills that would have essentially created a great American firewall and made it easy to censor the Internet.

Writer and internet advocate Mischa Nachtigal has provided the above content, and has also furnished time-coded highlights of his friend's testimony. If you have 23 minutes to spare, if you use the internet (kinda like you are now), and you prefer that the government not be in your business any more than it absolutely has to, you owe it to Aaron, to Mischa, to say nothing of yourself, to give ear to listen.

Thanks, Mischa. Rest in peace, Aaron.
 

Art-For-Art’s-Sake Theatre: Joe South (1940-2012)

One week ago today saw the passing of a country-crossover singer-songwriter, born under the name of Joseph Alfred Souter, from heart failure, at his home in Buford, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta. He was 72 years of age.

His first major hit was “Games People Play” written and recorded in 1968, and appearing on his debut album that same year, "Introspect." It won a Grammy for Song of the Year in 1970. Dozens of artists have recorded it (some of them badly), including a Scottish folksinger named Dick Gaughan on his album "A Different Kind of Love Song."

“God grant me the serenity to remember who I am ...” till I'm covered up with flowers in the back of a black limousine.
 

Art-For-Art’s-Sake Theatre: Kitty Wells (1919-2012)

“The next young country starlet with a beehive is going straight to the top.” -- Webb Wilder, 2007

Time once again for our usual midday Wednesday feature.

Kitty Wells was one of the few country singers to have actually been born in Nashville, who married at eighteen to the man with whom she stayed married for over seventy years (one of the longest celebrity marriages in history), before his passing last year.

Her 1952 hit recording, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” was a response to Hank Thompson's number one recording, “The Wild Side of Life” ("I didn't know God made honky tonk angels ..."), using the same melody, with lyrics by Jimmy D Miller.* It made her the first female country singer to top the country charts, and ostensibly the first female country star -- yes, even before Patsy Cline (and, as far as this writer is concerned, only if you don't count Mother Maybelle Carter). Wells is shown here performing her signature hit at the Grand Olde Opry, in an undated (probably 1952) recording.

Kitty Wells died this past Monday of complications from a stroke. She was 92.

* The song also shares the melody with two other country classics; The Carter Family's "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes" and Roy Acuff's "The Great Speckled Bird."
 

Andy Griffith (1926-2012)

The man who played a country lawyer on TV in the 80s and 90s, but who was best known as a small-town sheriff in the 60s, died early this morning at his home on Roanoake Island, North Carolina. He was 86.

It was on the show that bore his name that Griffith made his mark on American culture, as the sheriff (and justice of the peace, remember?) of Mayberry, North Carolina, a fictional town said to be based on his own boyhood home of Mount Airy, also in North Carolina. The characters who were the staple of American small town life, the folks who lived "up in them hills," and the unsentimental homespun wisdom he shared with his son, Opie (played by now-producer/director Ron Howard), were among the things that made it to the short list of viewable fare in the Alexander household back in the day.

There will be many tributes to Griffith in the days to come, and so many old clips from which to choose. It is a little known fact, that the instrumental theme song whistled at the beginning of every episode, composed by Earle Hagen (the whistler) and Herbert Spencer, actually had lyrics written by Everett Sloane. We leave you with Andy singing them here.

Hey, Andy ... rest in peace, ya hear?