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Bette Davis
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Here's a campy favorite of mine for your bizarre viewing pleasure. Bette actually gives quite the theatrical performance. Listen, I'm truly not one to cut down Giants, but there is something reassuring to know that even The Greats don't always bat a thousand. It takes the pressure off the rest of us just a bit. Personally I love her singing voice and I've been known to bust out a little Bette at a party or two myself. But I'll admit it's an acquired taste.
It reminds me of a Jerry Lewis Just Sings album that I've had since I was a teenager (not Jerry Lee Lewis, but The Nutty Professor himself). I used to blast his record to torture my parents. It would drive them crazier than the Sex Pistols or Ian Dury and the Blockheads. The story goes that when Dean and Jerry broke up, Dean had quite a few hits and Jerry (always the competitor) just had to sing! Sometimes you just have to ....go along with it.
The Spin I'm In: Goin' Along With It |
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Napster |
AMG |
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Theme from "Valley of the Dolls" |
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Helicopter |
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Baby Don't Go |
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Stormy Weather |
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I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You) |
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Cheek to Cheek |
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Life Is a Lonely Thing |
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fitz me baby.
hey everyone out there and especially donita, go to youtube and check out a band from japan called CSS doing a killer cover of L7’s “pretend we’re dead”. loads of fun.
Everyone is going to want to be sure to visit that link to the Jerry Lewis Just Sings! album on CD Universe. There are short samples there, My Mammy is worth the trip alone!
eric the great @ 2
I did that video and they’re from Brazil, not japan… enjoy!
i love it, diva doesn’t even stand! hush hush sweet charlotte!!!!
Bruno @ 4
I dig the homage to Mexican Radio with that video.
Let me just say that I love Jerry Lewis. Not only is King Of Comedy one of my favorite movies, but I also saw him on stage twice in Damn Yankees. He busted into a vaudeville routine in the middle of it that was so precisicely executed and hilarious that my jaw was on the floor.
sorry, bruno! can’t tell that from just the video. now i’ve given credit where credit is due and given a brother his props. good job, even for a dirty little monkey(only bruno, donita and i know that one, and i’m not telling youuuuuu all! ha, ha!)
Donita Sparks @ 7
King of Comedy is my brother Tom’s and my favorite DeNiro movie of all time. Sandra Bernhard is so awesome and I once had a band in the 80s I played keys in called The Rupert Pupkin Experience.
How bouts some “Roses and Lollipops”?
Jack Jones
This Bette Davis clip from the Dinah Shore show reinforces my opinion that the Dinah Shore show was the best show of the 70s. Everything on YouTube that is awesome comes from that show. She had the best of the best and the worst of the worst guests!
you’ve outdone yourself donita!
i had never seen that clip!
however, my fave bette davis “hit”
still has too be: “i’m sending a letter to daddy”
from the classic “whatever happened to baby jane?”
by the way, GREAT show at Safari Sam’s!
love,
nora
Bruno @ 4
I like it! Very cute.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 9
I have been on both sides of the Rupert Pupkin experience. For some reason, I don’t think that Scorcese or DeNiro like that film. I thnk it’s one of their best for sure.
Scorsese apparently disowned the film for a time and I think DeNiro has always just hated that role. It forced him into a weird space as an actor, but thats what I find so compelling about his role - it forced him to play a non standard Bobby D type of character. The other role similar to this one he had trouble with was the escaped convict role in We’re No Angels he did alongside Sean Penn. I think he hates that role he did too.
i love scorsese and de niro too, but i never could bring myself to enjoy that one. can’t put my finger on exactly why. i think that the best de niro /scorsese collaboration was “goodfellas”.
I love that she clutches a Kleenex while on the Dinah show
And she’s not lipsinc-ing (sp?) she’s “going along with it”.
I really enjoy these old videos… I liked this one from Bette Davis, especially the audio, I mean that oldschool sound is nice… I spend a lot of time on youtube listening old videos from Loretta Lynn…
Here’s a short clip of Scorsese and Marty Feldman on Jerry Lewis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIFRZ7XPHi0
now I must take exception with part of what you say. (not having heard this record) I have been a singer all my life and where I agree with you that Jerry isn’t exactly what we would typically call a lead vocalist, his duets with Dean were pretty well done and he did a credible job on difficult harmonies. with as many cats as I have worked with that can sing lead and can’t sing harmony at all, that makes someone a singer. he had a solid voice and could hold pitch longer than a lot of folks that are famous
styles change, but talent rides.
YouTube has recaptured American culture like no other resource ever has. I want to see Presidential Medals of Freedom for the team that developed that site!
Jesus, put a fork in it. Nevermind the “song” what the hell was she chewen on? I like the black Betty Davis much better!
Tommy
ok, kiddies, i promise to come back to our original topic. donita has said that her exaggerated stage makeup that she wore for L7’s concert film “the beauty process” was inspired by bette d’s in “whatever happened to baby jane?”. the only thing missing was her cover of “i’m writing a letter to daddy”.
gotta go to work, folks. enjoy your weekend. donita, pleeeeease respond to me or i’ll break out the razor blades .
Hi Donita…
A little O/T here, but I saw Jello speak last Friday night and I thought it was great! He spoke for over 3.5 hours and every bit of it was so enthralling I didn’t even feel the time going by.
I’ve always loved Jerry Lewis. His timing, antics, expressions, and delivery made him a favorite of mine growing up.
That’s great clip of Bette Davis. I do recall seeing that when it was broadcast. As a gay man, I got double the Bette Davis gene. She’s such an icon. I do believe it explains why I didn’t get the show tune gene.
‘Cheek To Cheek’, eh? Just the thing for the new hawt political celebrity couple…
That “My Mammy’ is OK for a parent annoyer, but it’s no Al Jolson for overwrought pathos, lemme tell ya.
;>)
oldtree @ 20
I won’t argue with you on this, as far as ability goes Jerry Lewis is no slouch as a singer in the talent department. Its how he does My Mammy in the clip on that site that I heard that struck me as funny and worth the trip to check out.
I don’t generally knock people for exhibiting talent unless its godawful and they need to know that what they are doing is harmful to music in general, but those instances are rare, save for American Idol shows. Lewis is an old school performer who had to have chops to pair up with Dean Martin for a time. Sure, he was the comedy half of the act, but he could sing.
eric the great @
23
Hi Eric The Great!
Please don’t get the out the razor blades….again!
Bette’s Baby Jane has been a lifelong inspiration to me.
Thanks for being here.
darkblack @ 26
WOW what sort of black magic ritual do they have going on there?!?! Is that a sacrificial goat?
oldtree @
20
I love everything about Jerry Lewis. I even love Gary Lewis and the Playboys! My parents were the ones who didn’t like his voice. As I said it’s an acquired taste.
Why it’s merely an innocent rural lunch…I’m surprised at you, Fini.
;>)
j.cro @ 24
Jello Biafra is never off topic on FDL. This place might not exist without him honestly. He has become quite the enthralling spoken word artist. Jello for President!
darkblack @ 31
Innocent rural lunch…riiiiiight. And those videos Mr. Sanchez performed in were educational resources, right?
o.k. i won’t kill myself, unless you order me to. by the way, i prefer grape Kool-Aid.
Michelle Malkin looks great holding “11 inches of hot French bread!”
-GSD
Thank you Fini…
I was standing around the lobby of the old theatre (the Baronet in Asbury Park, NJ) before the show began trying to have an engaging conversation with Jello and a few other people about the “rebirth” of Asbury Park and I found him to be a little disinterested.
I thought he’d be into the topic of the town and what the “redevelopers” are doing with the place (gentrification vs. preserving pieces of history) and I got the feeling he wasn’t really listening and then I apologized b/c I kind of felt like I was wasting his time… even though we were standing around waiting for more people to show up so he could start speaking.
Oh well. Sometimes our heroes are best left on those pedestals?
Relax, you’ll all get used to the military and police sweeping-up hundreds of people at a time.
That’s when those Halliburton Camps will come in handy.
Who will speak up when they come for you?
-GSD
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 32
Put a new band behind him, show up these young punk pose-o-philes…perhaps name it NightLeatherWolf, or one of his own suggestions, Earthfart.
And bring back Winston Smith!
GSD @ 35
Uncut…As Perez Hilton might say.
;>)
j.cro @ 36
Try not to take it personally. Performers minds are often racing a mile a minute inside their own heads before a performance, even if it looks like they’re just waiting around. I’ve had many a pre-show conversation that went in one ear and out the other just because the adrenaline was starting to rise.
eric the great @ 34
LOL, I was in college when Jonestown happened. Up until then, grape Kool-Aid was one of the beverages offered at lunch several times a week and was fairly popular. After Jonestown, we didn’t see any grape Kool-Aid at lunch for the rest of the school year.
Donita Sparks @ 40
This is true. That never occurred to me, and I should know that by now considering all the friends I have in bands. Now I feel even more silly.
Donita Sparks @ 40
Sage advice here, and a more likely analysis of what went down pre show. I’ve had the chance to meet a ton of celebrities in the jobs I’ve held and every long good convo I’ve ever had with a celebrity took place AFTER the show. When you have to go out on a stage and live up to the expectations of your fans who put you on those pedestals it creates pressure that is not easy to digest in the moments before a show - especially if you are waiting for folks to arrive before starting a gig. Thats just extra jitters there. Donita’s right, dont take it personally or as a sign he was not interested in the subject, timing is key.
Fini and Donita…
I should have known better from watching my friends before they play and the myriad fans that approach them before stage time. I guess I’ve been on the inside so long I have forgotten what it’s like to be a mere fan myself.
So thank you for reminding me. Sincerely.
I would advise people in general…fans, well-wishers, stalkers, what have you, not to attempt talking to performers immediately before or after gigs.
Up front, you won’t get their full attention, and after (if they’re any damn good) they’ll be either too wiped or too buzzed to deliver the desired coherency.
So check out my MOG for the Spin I’ve been in lately. This is a very cool site/service. You install a little piece of software on your computer and it will log all the music you’ve been listening to automagically and put a bunch of stats on your MOG page for you to share with folks. Stuff like recent tracks added, recent songs played and favorite artists according to what you play.
Jerry Lewis’ record was outselling all of Dean’s recordings after it was released. Dean was not amused!
Ink Spots, Baby!!!
Thanks for the refresher. Donita!
I can definitely manage to be a fan of both Bette and Betty. Interesting that both had a history of, shall we say, marital misperception. Bette Davis remarked after her marriage will Gary Merrill broke up that they each had fallen in love with the other’s character from All About Eve, which of course was not the nature of the true person. As for Betty Mabry Davis, well, her husband Miles Davis recorded the coolly beautiful, acoustic, and reflective “Mademoiselle Mabry” going into their marriage, and the funky, at times disturbing, electric (and equally beautiful imo) Bitches Brew collection, which many say had to do with the marriage and its breakup, coming out of it.
Betty Davis downloads here. They seem to have all her albums, but I linked to her first, which includes “Anti-Love Song,” and “Stepping In Her I.Miller Shoes” (the Blahniks of the 1970s, if you don’t know) featuring the Pointer Sisters on backup.
A side of Bette that will probably stick in my mind for a very long time…..
Aside from that….
Egads!!!
Your poor parents….
Are they still recovering?…