Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York.

Don Grady Through the Years

Don Grady My Three Sons Don Grady, who played Robbie Douglas on My Three Sons (1960-1972), passed away June 27, 2012 at the age of 68. Another actor who guest starred on the show, Doris Singleton, passed away around the same time.

My Three Sons

I remember watching My Three Sons when I was growing up. Because of my age, I did not originally watch the early seasons when Robbie was the middle son of Fred MacMurray’s character.  But I remember watching the later years when Grady was the oldest son after actor Tim Considine departed the show.

A few years ago, though, I went back and watched the first season of the series and found it fascinating in the way it differed from the later years. Many find that the show was innovative in its early years, and it is too bad that there are only a couple complete seasons that officially are available on DVD now.

Here is part of an early episode of My Three Sons featuring Don Grady.

USA Today reports that Barry Livingston, who played youngest son Ernie Douglas in the later seasons, was the person who confirmed Grady’s death to the Associated Press. Livingston noted how he saw Grady as a real older brother and had learned a lot from him.

In addition to his acting career, Grady was a talented musician, and Livingston noted, “I would think Don would love to be remembered for his great music as much as a teen idol and television icon.”

So, in remembering Don Grady, here are a few different aspects of his career. First, before My Three Sons Grady appeared in a commercial singing and dancing, although unfortunately that video is no longer available on YouTube.

Don Grady, The Greefs, and Pop Music

Here Grady is singing on Hollywood A Go-Go.

Grady toyed with the idea of being a pop star while still on My Three Sons, where he had the band the Greefs. Below are the Greefs with “Good Man to Have Around the House.”

Grady’s Other Music Career

But after My Three Sons ended, Grady went in another music direction. He wrote music for movies and TV shows, including the opening music for The Phil Donahue Show.

From what I can tell from the Internet, he wrote the theme used in 1979 below (but feel free to correct me if you know of other information). Check it out.

In 2008, Grady released the CD Boomer: JazRokPop, which had a jazzier sound than his early pop music.

Reunion

Finally, we have to return to My Three Sons.  Here is Don Grady in a My Three Sons “brothers” reunion on The Early Show, including the real-life brothers of Barry Livingston (Ernie) and Stanley Livingston (Chip).  The reunion also includes Tina Cole, who played Robbie’s wife, Katie Miller.

Grady was in Los Angeles while the other cast members were in New York for the taping in this video that appears to be from 2009.

Thanks for the memories. RIP.

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    Louis Armstrong’s Genius and “West End Blues”

    louis armstrong west end blues On June 28 in 1928, Louis Armstrong created one of history’s landmark musical recordings in Chicago with “West End Blues.” The composition was written and originally recorded by Armstrong’s mentor, Joe “King” Oliver, but Armstrong established himself as a genius and major influence of American music with the recording he made that day. Among other acknowledgements, NPR lists “West End Blues” as one of the 100 most influential musical works of the twentieth century.

    The 26-year-old Armstrong and his Hot Five that day recorded the piece with a piano solo by Earl “Fatha” Hines and included one of the first recordings of scat singing by Armstrong. Most historians, though, recognize that what made the recording so special was Armstrong’s 15-second trumpet introduction and his eight-bar solo toward the end of the piece.

    Composer and historian Gunther Schuller wrote about Armstrong’s first four notes of “West End Blues” in Early Jazz: Its Roots and Early Developtment (1986): “The way Louis attacks each note, the quality and exact duration of each pitch, the manner in which he releases the note, and the subsequent split second silence before the next note – in other words, the entire acoustical pattern – present in capsule form all the essential characteristics of jazz inflection.” (p. 116)

    Billie Holiday summed up the impact of the song a different way, writing that sometimes “West End Blues” made her so sad, she’d “cry up a storm.” But “[o]ther times the same damn record would make me so happy.”

    Ken Burns’s TV series Jazz features a great discussion of this composition named for the West End on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. While the segment is not available on YouTube, the series is available on Netflix streaming. For a more detailed discussion of the music in the piece and its legacy, check out this excellent post from The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong blog. Or just close your eyes and listen to “West End Blues” again.

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    Nora Ephron and the Screenplay She Almost Never Finished

    The sad news that writer-filmmaker Nora Ephron passed away yesterday at the age of 71 reminded me of one of my favorite stories about her that I read in an essay she wrote in The New Yorker. (Nora Ephron, “My Life As An Heiress,” The New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2010: 54-57.)

    when harry met sally

    In 1987, Ephron was struggling with trying to write a screenplay to make some money. She did not think her work was very good, but she continued working on it because she needed the money.

    Then, she got a call that a rich uncle had died. Because he was a widow and did not have children, Ephron and her three sisters began talking about how they would spend the millions of dollars they would inherit. During this time, Ephron put away her screenplay, planning to never work on it again. She no longer needed the money and did not enjoy writing the screenplay she saw as worthless.

    In the next few weeks, though, Ephron and her sisters discoverd that the uncle was not as rich as they thought. He had lost a lot of money in bad investments, and he left half his money to his housekeeper. Ultimately, Ephron and her sisters each received $40,000.

    For Ephron, the money was not enough to retire, of course. So, she went back to working on her screenplay. She eventually finished the screenplay that became When Harry Met Sally… (1989), one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time. While she had already written screenplays for successful movies like Silkwood (1983), the success of When Harry Met Sally changed her life. She went on to work on other films as a screenwriter and/or director such as Sleepless in Seattle (1993), You’ve Got Mail (1998), Michael (1996), and Julia & Julia (2009).

    Her uncle never knew the gift he left to us by not making Nora Ephron a wealthy heiress.

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    Nils Lofgren Helped Write A Classic 1970s Rod Stewart Ballad

    Nils Lofgren added some lyrics to help Danny Whitten finish what became a classic love song, “I Don’t Want to Talk About It.”

    Rod Stewart I Don't Want To Talk About It Nils Lofgren is a great talent who has had a spectacular career, often as a band member in the shadows of other stars like Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. One piece of information I recently discovered is that he contributed to the classic ballad “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” even though he is not in the song’s credits.

    The song is by Danny Whitten and was originally recorded by Crazy Horse. Whitten struggled with finishing the song and Lofgren liked the song and encouraged him to finish it. Eventually Lofgren took the initiative to write a few more lines to finish the song. Crazy Horse released the song in 1971, and then in 1975 Rod Stewart had a hit in both the U.S. and the U.K. with the song, which appeared on his album Atlantic Crossing.

    The song has a typical broken-heart theme, with the singer lamenting lost love. But “I Don’t Want to Talk About It” is one of the great heartbreak ballads of the twentieth century. The melody and the contradictions of the lyrics raise the song to another level, with the singer asking a lover to listen while at the same time saying he does not want to talk about it.

    I don’t want to talk about it, how you broke my heart.
    If I stay here just a little bit longer,
    If I stay here, won’t you listen to my heart, whoa, heart?
    I don’t want to talk about it, how you broke this old heart.

    Stewart rerecorded the song in 1989, and later he performed the song with Amy Belle. Other artists have covered the song too. The Indigo Girls did a nice cover for the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia (1993), and Everything But the Girl had a hit with the song in 1985 when they released it as a single in the UK.

    YouTube used to have a video of Lofgren talking about the song, but it has disappeared. But here is the audio of a live version of Lofgren playing the song with a short introduction.

    What do you think of “I Don’t Want to Talk About It”? Ballad classic? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Moonrise Kingdom follows the exploits of a boy and girl who run away together while parents, a sheriff, and a scout troop search for the two. The colorful movie stars Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the two runaways, along with Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, and Anderson-movie-regular Bill Murray. There are smaller appearances by Harvey Keitel, another Anderson regular Jason Schwartzman, and a funny narrating role by Bob Balaban dressed in red. The movie has the usual Anderson touch of using classic songs to provide mood, and he uses some Hank Williams recordings like “Kaw-Liga.”

    In the interest of full disclosure, I have enjoyed all of Wes Anderson’s movies. I think Rushmore (1998) is a wonderful film, and I also thoroughly enjoyed The Royal Tennenbaums (2001). I also enjoyed his one foray so far into animation and using another author’s story in Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). I liked his debut movie, Bottle Rocket (1996), although he has surpassed that work. For me, Moonrise Kingdom did not exceed Rushmore or The Royal Tennenbaums, but I enjoyed it much more than The Darjeeling Limited (2007) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2001).

    Moonrise Kingdom has a more linear story than some of his movies, like the intertwining The Royal Tennenbaums. So in some ways it may seem like a smaller film than his other works. But it has genuine laugh-out-loud moments while also being a lyrical memory of early 1960s childhood innocence. Overall, it is thoroughly enjoyable.

    Conclusion? Moonrise Kingdom may not blow you away, but it is a welcome entertaining escape from the summer blockbusters. In the following video, Bill Murray takes you on a tour of the film.

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