Rock & Roll

[landtuna]

60-years ago, Rock 'n Roll's earliest critics took offense to the pelvic gyrations of it's performers.

Not only "Elvis the Pelvis" (who astounded my grandmother) but The Beatles (oh, the hair!, THE HAIR!!!) and the Rolling (Rock) Stones who looked as if they'd taken the cheap flight from Old Blighty.

Just when we'd gotten over Elvis and found he was pretty normal after all the Beatles and the Stones showed up in their little pointy shoes, their skinny lapels and their pegged pants (which had already been something of the rage in the S.F. area for a couple of years).

Yup, my parents went through hell. ;D

 

[Thomps2525]

Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on September 9 1956 and October 28 1956. Millions of adults and church members were outraged at Presley's gyrations. Marlo Lewis, Sullivan's co-producer, apparently believed the rumors that Presley performed with a soda bottle (or, in some versions, a toilet-paper tube) in his shorts so it appeared that Presley had a large...umm...part. (I'm trying to not embarrass myself or anyone else here.) Even though Presley performed only ballads on his third Sullivan Show appearance on January 6 1957, he was televised only from the waist up. And J. Francis's grandmother wasn't quite so shocked.

 

[landtuna]

60-years ago, Rock 'n Roll's earliest critics took offense to the pelvic gyrations of it's performers. Today, (C)Rap detractors (like me) point more to the war mongering, street thug lyrics of it's so-called "performers".

Apparently with good reason. From the recent street shootings on the Las Vegas Strip:

Las Vegas rapper Kenneth Cherry, known as Kenny Clutch, was identified as one of the victims, police told the Las Vegas Review Journal.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/21/vegas-strip-gun-shooting/1935319/

The fools are still at it.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Even though Presley performed only ballads on his third Sullivan Show appearance on January 6 1957, he was televised only from the waist up. And J. Francis's grandmother wasn't quite so shocked.

Actually, it would have been my mother, not my grandmother, but your point is well taken. And your errant shapshot of my "grandmother" flatters me; you must not realize how old I am.

As I remember, my mother indeed threw her lot in with those expressing contempt for, and even suspicion of, Elvis, and his first two Sullivan Show appearances only reinforced such distrust. And I don't think that Sullivan's remedial cutting-off at the hipline of Elvis' third performance changed many minds, not my mother's anyway. Interestingly, I have found that the hostility she and her peers showed toward Elvis has softened very little over the years, in spite of more recent redeeming press exposure about his love of country and his dutiful devotion to his mother. Yet many in this same group seem to have walked back from their outrage of 50-years ago toward the Beatles and their lengthy, rebellious hairstyles. Nearly everyone in my mother's circle, including my mother herself, wax fondly over one or two Beatles songs they actrtually liked. How do you figure?

 

[davideduardo]

The fools are still at it.

Just like Sinatra's buddies...

 

[landtuna]

The fools are still at it.

Just like Sinatra's buddies...

I seem to remember they did their work in dark alleys or down at the docks - not on the main drag in front of tons of witnesses.

 

[RicoGregg]

The fools are still at it.

Just like Sinatra's buddies...

I seem to remember they did their work in dark alleys or down at the docks - not on the main drag in front of tons of witnesses.

Then there was the night when, in a drunken folly, Frank Sinatra Himself and Ava Gardner drove up and down the main drag in Palm Springs and shot out all the street lights.

Sinatra wound up replacing the shot-out lights with even better ones at his own expense, but neither he or Gardner were arrested for drunk driving, vandalism, or any crime whatsoever.

Disregard for the law ("I'm a celebrity, I'm above it!") by entertainment types began long before rappers' social dissings.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Then there was the night when, in a drunken folly, Frank Sinatra Himself and Ava Gardner drove up and down the main drag in Palm Springs and shot out all the street lights.

This is a new one for me. I submitted a condensed bio/tribute back in '98, shortly after Sinatra's death. The column, or parts of it, ran in two small town newspapers. My own research, such as it was, turned up nothing about this incident. Daughter Tina's bio, "My Father's Daughter", said nothing on this as I recall (I've since misplaced MFD thanks to moving, so please correct me if I'm wrong). Tina's book received acclaim for it's courageous revelations. I'm not arguing whether this happened. Just scratching my head that I could have missed an incident like this.

 

[RicoGregg]

jfrancis-

Reference to the incident can be found in James Bacon's 1978 book, Hollywood is a Four Letter Town.

Bacon was not only a longtime Hollywood observer and writer, but he was a friend of Sinatra's.

 

[Thomps2525]

In 1956 when Elvis Presley appeared on The Steve Allen Show. Steverino had him wear a tuxedo and sing Hound Dog to a top-hat-wearing basset hound. Elvis said afterwards that he never should have done such a silly stunt. (He probably used stronger language than that...but that's the gist of it.) The sound and picture quality are not the best but here is the film clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoG3oSka_QI

 

[davideduardo]

The fools are still at it.

Just like Sinatra's buddies...

I seem to remember they did their work in dark alleys or down at the docks - not on the main drag in front of tons of witnesses.

I can't picture Lansky and Siegel on the docks...

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

jfrancis-

Reference to the incident can be found in James Bacon's 1978 book, Hollywood is a Four Letter Town. Bacon was not only a longtime Hollywood observer and writer, but he was a friend of Sinatra's.

Thanks, RicoG. Bacon's book title rings a bell with me, but I never knew of his connection to Sinatra, so I missed the account of shooting up the town. Would have made great reference work for my story. Still, I loved Sinatra, and I miss him dearly. I guess the mischievious Sinatra of old pales in comparison to the man who could later boast, "...did it maaaahhheee waaaaaeeeyy..."

Sinatra had a kind of class to which nobody, not Snoop, nor any other (C)RAP culture character, can ever hope to aspire. Say what we want about his connections to unsavory criminal elements; Sinatra himself never did anything that left behind bleeding bodies lying in the streets.

 

[michael hagerty]

jfrancis-

Reference to the incident can be found in James Bacon's 1978 book, Hollywood is a Four Letter Town. Bacon was not only a longtime Hollywood observer and writer, but he was a friend of Sinatra's.

Thanks, RicoG. Bacon's book title rings a bell with me, but I never knew of his connection to Sinatra, so I missed the account of shooting up the town. Would have made great reference work for my story. Still, I loved Sinatra, and I miss him dearly. I guess the mischievious Sinatra of old pales in comparison to the man who could later boast, "...did it maaaahhheee waaaaaeeeyy..."

Sinatra had a kind of class to which nobody, not Snoop, nor any other (C)RAP culture character, can ever hope to aspire. Say what we want about his connections to unsavory criminal elements; Sinatra himself never did anything that left behind bleeding bodies lying in the streets.

Ah, if only that were true.....though Frank's victims tended to bleed on carpet, not pavement.

Frank beat Francis R. Weisman, president of Hunts Foods, into a coma at the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel on June 8, 1966. Bashed his head in with an old-fashioned heavy telephone that they had in the booths there. Mr. Weisman was having dinner with his wife and asked Frank if he and his party could possibly tone the rude language down a bit. Friends and family of Weisman say they got threatening phone calls even while Weisman was comatose in the hospital. No charges were filed, but accounts of the attack can be found in newspapers of June 9 and June 10, 1966 around the country.

Frank learned the wrong lesson from that...a year later at the Fountainbleau Hotel, a janitor asked Sinatra for an autograph at the wrong moment. Sinatra insulted him loudly and motioned for a couple of his assistants who beat the janitor and left him bleeding on the floor. Tony Bennett and his then-wife were among the eyewitnesses.

Comedian Jackie Mason was beaten severely after making jokes about the age difference between Sinatra and Mia Farrow in his standup act. He credits Sinatra with stopping the beating. "I distinctly heard Frank say "I think he's had enough, fellas"."

Thugs are thugs. Sometimes they sell millions of records.

 

[landtuna]

Thugs are thugs. Sometimes they sell millions of records.

Some people in Australia would agree with that assessment as well. Didn't he get thrown out of there (officially) and asked not to return?

I always thought Sinatra was a pretty good actor but he was crap as a singer. Had to have the big band behind him to cover up the missed notes.

His best work was Nancy. ;D

As for class.....he was the same sort of public persona as were the other vocalists of the day but he played his Joisey connections to the hilt.

 

[michael hagerty]

Thugs are thugs. Sometimes they sell millions of records.

Some people in Australia would agree with that assessment as well. Didn't he get thrown out of there (officially) and asked not to return?

I always thought Sinatra was a pretty good actor but he was crap as a singer. Had to have the big band behind him to cover up the missed notes.

His best work was Nancy. ;D

It wasn't anything legal or governmental. Here's the link to the story: http://www.themonthly.com.au/encounters-shane-maloney-frank-sinatra-bob-hawke--2009

We disagree about Frank (at least in his prime) as a singer. I thought he was tremendous.

 

[firepoint525]

His best work was Nancy. ;D

Whenever I see the video for "These Boots Were Made for Walking," I find myself having to remind myself that she is only about a year younger than my mother!

 

[TheFonz]

[

His best work was Nancy.

Is that the song or the daughter?

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

[

His best work was Nancy.

Is that the song or the daughter?

Daughter. Or, were you jesting?

 

[TheFonz]

[

His best work was Nancy.

Is that the song or the daughter?

Daughter. Or, were you jesting?

Not jesting. Sinatra recorded "Nancy (With The Laughing Face)" back in 1945.

 

[Thomps2525]

Comedian Phil Silvers wrote Bessie With The Laughing Face for Bessie Burke, the wife of songwriter Johnny Burke. (Jimmy Van Heusen wrote the tune.) Because Sinatra recorded it as Nancy With The Laughing Face, most people assume the song was written about Nancy. It wasn't...but who the heck has heard of Bessie Burke?

By the way, a 54-year-old Nancy Sinatra posed nude in the May 1995 issue of Playboy. There was a lot more showing than just her face!