Sunday, August 10, 2025

FORGOTTEN ONES: HENRY THIES

Forgotten bandleader Henry Thies led a popular dance orchestra throughout the 1920's. Thies (born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1893) became known in Detroit, Michigan, as a "boy wonder" on the violin and rapidly rose to lead his own orchestra in one of the city's top hotels. In 1926, the orchestra leader brought his stylish brand of symphonic jazz to Cincinnati where appearances at the Chatterbox Club led to a devoted following on local radio. Well, known on the Ohio hotel circuit, Thies also toured on vaudeville and performed in theatres.Starting in Chicago he came to Cincinnati for a short gig at Castle Farms mid-decade. That gig stretched to where the orchestra found a permanent home at the Hotel Sinton.

Henry and his band recorded for a time at Victor Records and made some nice recordings in the late 1920s and early 1930s. With vocalist Don Dewey and a young Jane Froman, the Thies band had some nice recordings of songs of the day like - "When You're Smiling" and "Rose Of Mandalay". 


Unfortunately, his life ended tragically. While his wife and son and a musician waited for Henry to show up for dinner, Thies ended his life with a bullet at his home. Thies, who was 41 years old left no notes. Alvin Miller, Thies' trumpet player, found the body. According to Miller, the band leader had been in good spirits.

In the past however, Henry Thies had nervous problems. Two years before his death, he had tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose of pills. After that attempt, Thies was a patient in a mental hospital for nearly 15 months.

He had new performances and radio shows scheduled and was a very successful bandleader. If he hadn't ended his life, his band would have continued to hit greater heights of fame and stardom. It's sad that he died from a self inflicted gunshot wound on June 12, 1935. His wife, his son (who was 19), and a mother and a sister survived him...



Thursday, August 7, 2025

MUSIC BREAK: HENRY THIES - ROSE OF MANADALAY

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

RIP: JANE MORGAN

Jane Morgan, a singer, nightclub entertainer, Broadway performer and ubiquitous TV presence in 1950s and ’60s, died Monday of natural causes in Naples, Florida. She was 101.

Her family announced her death, saying, “Our beloved Jane passed away peacefully in her sleep.”

As Jane Morgan, the singer was a popular and ubiquitous presence on television variety shows from the Golden Age of the 1950s well through the 1960s and even into the early 1970s. She appeared on The Johnny Cash Show, where she answered the Man in Black’s “A Boy Named Sue” with “A Girl Named Johnny Cash,” which was written for the show by Martin Mull. The song was a minor hit on country radio.

She is thought to hold the record for female singers appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show — 50 times in all.

On Broadway, Morgan appeared in Ziegfeld Follies of 1957, The Jack Benny Show (1963) and in the title role of Mame (1968-69).

Born Florence Catherine Currier on May 3, 1924, in Newton, Massachusetts, Morgan raised by a musical family in Florida and started singing onstage at age 7. In 1948 she was training as a lyric soprano at the Juilliard Conservatory in New York. Singing in nightclubs and small restaurants to help pay her tuition, Morgan was spotted at one such venue by French bandleader Bernard Hilda. Recognizing her unique talents, he took her to sing at clubs in France where she quickly became “The Toast of Paris.”


From there, Morgan’s popularity and career continued to ascend. Having taken Europe, she returned to America, signed with Kapp Records and released a string of albums including The American Girl from Paris and All the Way. In all, she would ultimately earn six gold records.

Among her single hits was one that would become a signature tune for her: “Fascination” (1957). Featured in the Gary Cooper-Audrey Hepburn movie Love in the Afternoon, it went Top 10 and was the title track from her biggest stateside album, which reached No. 13. Her recording of “Fascination” also has been used in the soundtracks of Diner, The Next Karate Kid, Call The Midwife and Fallout.

Her U.S. chart career was spotty, but the international hits would keep coming through the ’50s and ’60, including recordings of such traditional pop standards as “The Day The Rains Came” — which topped the UK chart in 1959 — “With Open Arms,” “To Love and Be Loved” and “Blue Hawaii,” among many others.

In 1962, Morgan had found a new manager, Jerry Weintraub, who would become one of the entertainment industry’s more formidable music managers with clients including Elvis Presley and John Denver. Weintraub also would become a prolific film producer, responsible for such hits as The Karate Kid and Ocean’s Eleven.

Morgan married Weintraub in 1965 and she became stepmother to Weintraub’s son Michael. Morgan and Weintraub would add to their family by adopting three daughters, Julie, Jamie and Jody.


Over the course of her career, Morgan performed for presidents and toured with the popular comedians of the day. She made numerous appearances on television specials and hosted three of her own including The Jane Morgan Hour (1959). A sampling of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s TV variety shows and specials she appeared on include The Colgate Comedy Hour, Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall, The Jack Benny Program, The Hollywood Palace, The Dean Martin Show, The Kraft Music Hall and The Jackie Gleason Show.

She also did a few TV guest shots during her career including Peter Gunn and It Takes a Thief.

Morgan received a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.

She is survived by her son Michael Weintraub (Maria), daughters Jamie Weintraub and Jody Weintraub, six grandchildren and eight grandchildren. She was pre-deceased by husband Jerry and daughter Julie. Memorial Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Jane and Jerry Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology at UCLA...


Wednesday, July 30, 2025

STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: KATHERINE HEPBURN & GINGER ROGERS

For this photo, we have two greats of show business - Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers. This was taken on the set of their 1937 movie Stage Door. Directed by Gregory La Cava, the film tells the story of aspiring actresses living in a boarding house in New York City, struggling to make their way in the competitive theater world...




Saturday, July 26, 2025

RECENTLY VIEWED: HAPPY GILMORE 2

 Last night I turned on Netflix for some pure nostalgia and watched Happy Gilmore 2. Watching this sequel is like spending time with an old friend that you haven't seen since 1995. Happy Gilmore 2 is a 2025 American sports comedy film directed by Kyle Newacheck, and written by Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler. It is a sequel to Happy Gilmore (1996). Sandler, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Ben Stiller, and Dennis Dugan reprise their roles from the original film while Benny Safdie and Bad Bunny join the film as new cast members.

In September 2022, Adam Sandler stated that he hoped to eventually make a sequel to Happy Gilmore, saying he had been creating ideas for what a follow-up film would be, while stating the character would be involved in a senior golf tour. In March 2024, Christopher McDonald revealed that a sequel was in development, and that Sandler had shown him a draft of the script to read.

In May 2024, it was announced that Netflix had greenlit the film, taking over for the first film's distributor Universal Pictures. Kyle Newacheck was hired to direct the film, with Tim Herlihy co-writing the screenplay with Sandler. In July, Nick Swardson announced he would star in the film. In August, Sandler revealed Benny Safdie would have a role in the film, with football player Travis Kelce set to make a cameo. In September, McDonald and Julie Bowen were confirmed to be reprising their roles, with Bad Bunny, Margaret Qualley, and Maxwell Jacob Friedman also added to the cast. John Daly would reveal he had filmed scenes for the film. Happy Gilmore 2 premiered at the Lincoln Center in New York City on July 21, 2025. The film was released on Netflix on July 25, 2025.


In order to get the movie at all, you need to see the original movie. This sequel is LOADED with callbacks, and for fans of the original film it is a treasure trove of memories. Some of the high points in the movie are the appearances of Christopher McDonald and Ben Stiller. I love how they brought their characters up to present time. Like I said the movie is a fun romp, full of nostalgia. As a comedy sequel it is definitely no Caddyshack 2, but it is no 1995 Happy Gilmore. The movie has some really serious moments, that I don't want to spoil for you. Also, I think Adam Sandler is using his wife and children too much in his movies, and they are not really good actors. That being said, I recommend this movie. It was a fun 2-hour nostalgic golf comedy movie...

MY RATING: 8 out of 10




Friday, July 25, 2025

RIP: CLEO LAINE

Dame Cleo Laine has died at age 97. Her death was announced by The Stables, the music venue that she and her husband, Sir John Dankworth, founded. Critic Bob Mondello — a longtime fan — offers an appreciation. It was the mid-1970s when a concert-going friend told me he'd just been to Carnegie Hall and heard the greatest pop vocalist alive. "She's coming to DC," he said. "Get tickets."

So I did.

On stage, she wore a diaphanous gown and had an afro that looked like a sunburst mane as the spotlight hit it. And when the applause died away, she sang a capella. Then came the second number — Carole King's "Music," accompanied by Laine's saxophonist husband John Dankworth and his band, in an arrangement designed to establish her jazz credentials. In Britain, she and Dankworth had been playing clubs and concerts since the 1950s, but American audiences were just meeting her.

This song was also designed, I soon learned, to show off her range, from gravelly low notes, to keening ethereal sounds a full four octaves higher. In one particularly glorious passage she went from her lowest note to her highest and back down again in the space of 44 seconds. On her album Cleo Laine Live at Carnegie Hall you can hear her do it live for an audience that's clearly as astonished as mine was.

Now, vocal pyrotechnics are fun. But they're not everything for a pop singer. Laine, I discovered in years of following her, had everything. She excelled at jazz, pop, and classical stylings — among the few vocalists to receive Grammy nominations in all three of those categories — and was so popular in Britain that she was made a Dame in 1997.


Give her a comic number and she'd land every joke, a talent she developed in the theater, where she began her career as an actress, and went on to star in musicals on the West End, regularly stopping such shows as Showboat, and A Little Night Music with ballads. Give her the right one and she could nearly stop your heart.

I remember her holding the last note of "Send in the Clowns" at an outdoor amphitheater many years after I saw that first concert and, I swear, even the crickets stopped for her, the audience so captivated that no one wanted to break the silence.

As she finished that last note, I started counting — one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand ... and got to seven before every hand in the place came together in the only "thunderclap" of applause I've ever heard.

Laine continued performing for six decades — all but the last with her husband. He died hours before they were to give a concert in 2010, and she went on without him, only telling the audience at the end that he'd passed away — because, she said, that's what he'd have wanted.

In recent years her voice had dimmed, but not enough that there was ever reason to argue with the Sunday Times critic who said in the 1970s, that Cleo Laine was "quite simply the best singer in the world."