#1950s color comedies are my jam

[ploridafanthers]

don’t you love it when a deadly viper solves all of your terrible-relative problems?

#we're no angels #we're no angels 1955 #this movie is fantastic #1950s color comedies are my jam

[thatbanjobusiness]

I want to briefly talk bluegrass fashion.

I appreciate and enjoy bluegrass from its roots to its present. I think creative growth over the decades has allowed for incredible and diverse music. Whether it’s disco influenced jamming, rock-bluegrass fusions, or classical music inspiration, there’s cool stuff to be had anywhere in the timeline. That said, one thing I wish contemporary bluegrass bands did more of was take fashion tips from the first generation bands.

In the 1920s, barn dance type radio programs featuring hillbilly music and rural style entertainment became popular. Some of these radio shows like the WLS National Barn Dance and WSM Grand Ole Opry had stage shows where you could watch the program in person. Costuming and presentation of the performing cast tended to be rough rube depictions, even caricatures, of rural people. George D. Hay, who founded and hosted the Grand Ole Opry, himself named the bands things like “The Gully Jumpers” and “The Possum Hunters.”

But when Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys auditioned and were made members of the Grand Ole Opry in October 1939, Monroe detested this rough presentation that could quickly engender degrading opinions of hillbilly stereotypes. He opted instead to dress in a more classy manner. His band came out in white shirts, ties, jodhpurs, and boots.

This is something Bill Monroe bragged about even as the decades went on. For Monroe, it was important to dress well and in dignity when you got onstage. You respect yourself and you respect audiences when you come out in your best.

By the mid-1940s Bill Monroe’s band had accumulated a number of musical features that today our ears would recognize as bluegrass. It’s interesting to notice that bandmembers who left Monroe and went on to do their own bluegrass music often... took with them some of Bill’s ideas about stage presentation. Flatt & Scruggs, when they left Monroe and started their own band, are sometimes seen in early images wearing jodhpurs.

Early bluegrass bands on occasion might have had an “exception” to the rule. At the very least, you see this in Flatt & Scruggs in the late 1940s and first half of the 1950s. But I believe what they were doing reflected a trend that existed in the broader hillbilly music industry. I’d like investigate that more later to understand better. Unlike today’s concerts that involve music and only music, in those times, comedy was a more expected part of a show. White banjo performers, prior to bluegrass, were essentially all comedians; and in ensembles, someone (as I’ve often seen, the bass player) might take a comedy role. So you could’ve gotten a well-dressed band... and then the bassist dressed in comic rube garb.

That said, each first generation bluegrass band ended up creating their own unique presentation. It’s variation around a theme: dress up nice to respect audiences and put your best foot forward. How you present yourself onstage has impact. Audiences aren’t coming out to see some tattered everyday person; they’re coming out here to listen to music stars.

And so you see bands and acts coordinating their outfits in classy ways like...

(The 1958 screencap above doesn’t 100% evoke this, but I’ve noticed Flatt & Scruggs in the mid-50s through mid-60s would often do a 2-2-2 coordination. Everyone would wear hats. The band leaders would wear matching jackets and string ties. Two band members would wear the same collared shirts and the same string ties as the leaders. The last two band members, who were a duet and comedy team, would wear vests or different hats or some other distinguishing marker. Everyone’s clothes would carry the same overall color theme. Very well-thought out wardrobe presentation.)

SEE? EVERYONE IS DRESSED UP AND LOOKS GOOD.

You can tell they’re an act. You can tell they’re professional. You can tell, the second they step up to perform, they mean business. It helps elevate them into STARS.

As new generations took up bluegrass, the social context of how to dress changed. The Folk Revival of the 1960s brought many Northerners, urban people, and hippies into the bluegrass world. I haven’t read up as much on this part of bluegrass history, but I believe it was starting here that new bluegrass ensembles quit thinking about dressing up to be onstage. I’ve certainly seen photos of the early bluegrass festivals of the late 60s and 70s, and some second generation bluegrass groups would wear extremely casual things onstage. Other groups would coordinate by wearing the same collared shirt, which meant they were matching, but also (to me) making less of a “statement.”

It makes sense. First generation bluegrass performers were seeking to dress to impress and get away from crappy hillbilly stereotypes. Later generations of bluegrass performers might not have been from the South or a country lifestyle at all, and would feel more inclined to try to evoke a “working class” vibe by wearing everyday or ragged clothing. Today, I feel many bands do this to evoke their own form of an authentic stage presentation.

This means that today, many groups wear rather casual clothing. I feel I see this especially in jamgrass. And for the record, these are all VERY talented, well-known ensembles; I’m not comparing pros to locals or something.

And they’re dressed better here than what I’ve seen for bands at concerts.

I think it’s ironic that Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass, sought to escape tattered clothing that actual country people wouldn’t wear on the fields, let alone onstage... only to have bluegrass musicians half a century later revert to costuming concepts Monroe had rejected. Today’s clothes of course aren’t the torn-up straw hat and single-strapped overalls of the early Opry, but it’s the same idea: dress down to look “country.” I don’t think there’s any objective disrespect to bluegrass’s history to dress like that, but I do think there’s a point that everyday clothes don’t make as much of an impression for your band.

Now of course not all groups have gone this route. In any generation of bluegrass, you still see bands that dressed more “traditionally.” But it’s certainly been a trend—since at least the 70s—to see bluegrass groups, either at the local or professional level, wearing everyday clothes. Get jeans, maybe some flannel, and you’re good to go. I see it oh-so-often now.

It doesn’t resonate as much to me. I get the point of their presentation, trying to evoke a casual non-mainstream working class image, but I feel there’s other ways you can set a vibe for your ensemble that doesn’t come off as lazy, everyday, or unnoticeable.

I’d be much more interested seeing:

YEAH!!!!! YOU GO RHONDA VINCENT AND THE RAGE!

I think it’s interesting to see this mindset about proper bluegrass performance attire recur in interviews. I’ve watched a number of 2000s and 2010s interviews for first and early second generation bluegrass performers, and one common thing the old-timers complain about is how people don’t dress up anymore. They feel it doesn’t respect the audience or make a good impression for the ensemble. How you present yourself onstage is half of the performance; it can be an effective means of enhancing a show when you do it well.

And I’ve seen it in conversations with people like Steve Martin, showing how in the 2010s, there’s still negative “hillbilly” images to butt against:

INTERVIEWER: Does it bother you that quite possibly the most famous banjo song in pop culture is "Dueling Banjos" from "Deliverance"?

MARTIN: It doesn't bother me at all. Actually I might argue with that because another most famous song would be the theme from "The Beverly Hillbillies" or "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," the song from "Bonnie and Clyde." So there are a couple of 'most famous' banjo songs.

INTERVIEWER: But still… the theme song from "The Beverly Hillbillies"?

MARTIN: It's just something we have to face. And everything changes. That's why I always wear a suit and tie when I play bluegrass.

INTERVIEWER: Do you feel like you're helping changing the face of bluegrass?

MARTIN: I don't know. That's what I do when I go on stage. I don't make hillbilly jokes or things like that. I'm just playing it as the person I am, not pretending to be anything else. The band I play with, we all dress in suits and ties.

One of my favorite contemporary bands also has one of my favorite wardrobes. What they choose to wear is a huge element of their stage presentation, amplifies their show powerfully, and contributes to the entire vibe of their music product. Good costuming can be part of marketing, and they market themselves spectacularly.

The Dead South almost marries the best of both worlds between “dress up” and “dress as the everyday man.” Their clothes aren’t “formal” in the sense of suits and ties. There’s more casualness to it. At the same time, what they wear—blatantly Southern and Western gear that matches with variation across the band—isn’t something everyday Joe or Janet would put on to go to Walmart. It’s got a little more of a “period” feel to it while also being modern enough to feel authentic. Altogether, it makes them classy without being formally classy.

It’s perfect for them. This is a “controversially” bluegrass band who knows that, while they play string band music, its creative reach extends beyond what you’d expect of something labeled “bluegrass.” They have called themselves “a rock band without a drummer, a bluegrass band without a fiddler.” Elsewhere, they’ve marketed themselves as “a gold rush vibing four-piece acoustic set from Saskatchewan [that] infuse[s] the genre's traditional trappings with an air of frontier recklessness, whiskey breakfasts and grizzled tin-pan showmanship.” This is a band I’ve always said plays to a “degenerate” image, songs filled with cowboy shootouts, barfights, gun-wielding robberies, alcoholic nights, and more.

And doesn’t their wardrobe evoke that spotlessly? There is CLASS and INTENTION with how they present themselves, to the point the band almost always stands in that order left-to-right, and has used their unique wardrobe choices for album covers and stage design.

Check out how the stage’s stained glass window lights behind them evoke both images from their songs, and have the tie, beard, skull, string tie theme on them. Every band member stands in front of his respective window.

That is *WAY* cooler, more effective, more impacting, more resonating, more memorable, more vibing, than simply tossing on my latest t-shirt. 

(And yes, the last photos are from when I went to their concert last year. One of the best concerts I’ve EVER been to, and it’s because they knew how to put on a SHOW.)

Performance entails everything from the sounds you make to the personality you evoke to the clothes you wear. It’s why I prefer the first generation bluegrass bands’ approach to “dress well” over some modern string band trends. And again, bands like The Dead South show alternate ways you can dress up and rock out.

#long post #that banjo business #thatbanjobusiness #Country Music History #Haddock Deep Dives #General Banjo Business #The Dead South #Bill Monroe #daddy boi billiam #Flatt & Scruggs #bluegrass #first gen bluegrass

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

Joseph Evans Brown (July 28, 1891 – July 6, 1973) was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his amiable screen persona, comic timing, and enormous elastic-mouth smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 1930s and 1940s, with films like A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Earthworm Tractors (1936), and Alibi Ike (1935). In his later career Brown starred in Some Like It Hot (1959), as Osgood Fielding III, in which he utters the film's famous punchline "Well, nobody's perfect."

Brown was born on July 28, 1891, in Holgate, Ohio, near Toledo, into a large family of Welsh descent. He spent most of his childhood in Toledo. In 1902, at the age of ten, he joined a troupe of circus tumblers known as the Five Marvelous Ashtons, who toured the country on both the circus and vaudeville circuits. Later he became a professional baseball player. Despite his skill, he declined an opportunity to sign with the New York Yankees to pursue his career as an entertainer. After three seasons he returned to the circus, then went into vaudeville and finally starred on Broadway. He gradually added comedy to his act, and transformed himself into a comedian. He moved to Broadway in the 1920s, first appearing in the musical comedy Jim Jam Jems.

In late 1928, Brown began making films, starting the next year with Warner Brothers. He quickly became a favorite with child audiences, and shot to stardom after appearing in the first all-color all-talking musical comedy On with the Show (1929). He starred in a number of lavish Technicolor musical comedies, including Sally (1929), Hold Everything (1930), Song of the West (1930), and Going Wild (1930). By 1931, Brown had become such a star that his name was billed above the title in the films in which he appeared.

He appeared in Fireman, Save My Child (1932), a comedy in which he played a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, and in Elmer, the Great (1933) with Patricia Ellis and Claire Dodd and Alibi Ike (1935) with Olivia de Havilland, in both of which he portrayed ballplayers with the Chicago Cubs.

In 1933 he starred in Son of a Sailor with Jean Muir and Thelma Todd. In 1934, Brown starred in A Very Honorable Guy with Alice White and Robert Barrat, in The Circus Clown again with Patricia Ellis and with Dorothy Burgess, and with Maxine Doyle in Six-Day Bike Rider.

Brown was one of the few vaudeville comedians to appear in a Shakespeare film; he played Francis Flute in the Max Reinhardt/William Dieterle film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) and was highly praised for his performance. He starred in Polo Joe (1936) with Carol Hughes and Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, and in Sons o' Guns. In 1933 and 1936, he became one of the top 10 earners in films.

He left Warner Brothers to work for producer David L. Loew, starring in When's Your Birthday? (1937). In 1938, he starred in The Gladiator, a loose adaptation of Philip Gordon Wylie's 1930 novel Gladiator that influenced the creation of Superman. He gradually switched to making "B" pictures.

In 1939, Brown testified before the House Immigration Committee in support of a bill that would allow 20,000 German-Jewish refugee children into the U.S. He later adopted two refugee children.

At age 50 when the U.S. entered World War II, Brown was too old to enlist. Both of his biological sons served in the military during the war. In 1942, Captain Don E. Brown, was killed when his Douglas A-20 Havoc crashed near Palm Springs, California.

Even before the USO was organized, Brown spent a great deal of time traveling, at his own expense, to entertain troops in the South Pacific, including Guadalcanal, New Zealand and Australia, as well as the Caribbean and Alaska. He was the first to tour in this way and before Bob Hope made similar journeys. Brown also spent many nights working and meeting servicemen at the Hollywood Canteen. He wrote of his experiences entertaining the troops in his book Your Kids and Mine. On his return to the U.S., Brown brought sacks of letters, making sure they were delivered by the Post Office. He gave shows in all weather conditions, many in hospitals, sometimes doing his entire show for a single dying soldier. He signed autographs for everyone. For his services to morale, Brown became one of only two civilians to be awarded the Bronze Star during World War II.

His concern for the troops continued into the Korean War, as evidenced by a newsreel featuring his appeal for blood donations to aid the U.S. and UN troops there that was featured in the season 4 episode of M*A*S*H titled "Deluge".[5]

In 1948, he was awarded a Special Tony Award for his work in the touring company of Harvey.[1][6]

He had a cameo appearance in Around the World in 80 Days (1956), as the Fort Kearney stationmaster talking to Fogg (David Niven) and his entourage in a small town in Nebraska. In the similarly epic film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), he had a cameo as a union official giving a speech at a construction site in the climactic scene. On television, he was the mystery guest on What's My Line? during the episode on January 11, 1953.

His best known postwar role was that of aging millionaire Osgood Fielding III in Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy Some Like It Hot. Fielding falls for Daphne (Jerry), played by Jack Lemmon in drag; at the end of the film, Lemmon takes off his wig and reveals to Brown that he is a man, to which Brown responds "Well, nobody's perfect", one of the more celebrated punchlines in film.

Another of his notable postwar roles was that of Cap'n Andy Hawks in MGM's 1951 remake of Show Boat, a role that he reprised onstage in the 1961 New York City Center revival of the musical and on tour. Brown performed several dance routines in the film, and famed choreographer Gower Champion appeared along with first wife Marge. Brown's final film appearance was in The Comedy of Terrors (1964).

Brown was a sports enthusiast, both in film and personally. Some of his best films were the "baseball trilogy" which consisted of Fireman, Save My Child (1932), Elmer, the Great (1933) and Alibi Ike (1935). He was a television and radio broadcaster for the New York Yankees in 1953. His son Joe L. Brown became the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates for more than 20 years. Brown spent Ty Cobb's last days with him, discussing his life.

Brown's sports enthusiasm also led to him becoming the first president of PONY Baseball and Softball (at the time named Pony League) when the organization was incorporated in 1953. He continued in the post until late 1964, when he retired. Later he traveled additional thousands of miles telling the story of PONY League, hoping to interest adults in organizing baseball programs for young people. He was a fan of thoroughbred horse racing, a regular at the racetracks in Del Mar and Santa Anita.

Brown was caricatured in the Disney cartoons Mickey's Gala Premiere (1933), Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938), and The Autograph Hound (1939); all contain a scene in which he is seen laughing so loud that his mouth opens extremely wide. According to the official biography Daws Butler: Characters Actor, Daws Butler used Joe E. Brown as inspiration for the voices of two Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters: Lippy the Lion (1962) and Peter Potamus (1963–1966).

He also starred in his own comic strip in the British comic Film Fun between 1933 and 1953

Brown married Kathryn Francis McGraw in 1915. The marriage lasted until his death in 1973. The couple had four children: two sons, Don Evan Brown (December 25, 1916 – October 8, 1942; Captain in the United States Army Air Force, who was killed in the crash of an A-20B Havoc bomber while serving as a ferry pilot)[8] and Joe LeRoy "Joe L." Brown (September 1, 1918 – August 15, 2010), and two daughters, Mary Katherine Ann (b. 1930) and Kathryn Francis (b. 1934). Both daughters were adopted as infants.

Joe L. Brown shared his father's love of baseball, serving as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955 to 1976, and briefly in 1985, also building the 1960 and 1971 World Series champions. Brown's '71 Pirates featured baseball's first all-black starting nine.

Brown began having heart problems in 1968 after suffering a severe heart attack, and underwent cardiac surgery. He died from arteriosclerosis on July 6, 1973 at his home in Brentwood, California, three weeks before his 82nd birthday. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

For his contributions to the film industry, Brown was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 with a motion pictures star located at 1680 Vine Street.

In 1961, Bowling Green State University renamed the theatre in which Brown appeared in Harvey in the 1950s as the Joe E. Brown Theatre. It was closed in 2011.

Holgate, Ohio, his birthplace, has a street named Joe E. Brown Avenue. Toledo, Ohio has a city park named Joe E. Brown Park at 150 West Oakland Street.

Rose Naftalin's popular 1975 cookbook includes a cookie named the Joe E. Brown.[14][15] Brown was a frequent customer of Naftalin's Toledo restaurant.

Flatrock Brewing Company in Napoleon, Ohio offers several brown ales such as Joe E. Coffee And Vanilla Bean Brown Ale, Joe E. Brown Hazelnut, Chocolate Peanut Butter Joe E. Brown, Joe E Brown Chocolate Pumpkin, and Joe E. (Brown Ale).

#joe e. brown #classic hollywood #classic movie stars #golden age of hollywood #old hollywood #1920s hollywood #1930s hollywood #1940s hollywood #1950s hollywood #1960s hollywood #comedy legend

[chiseler]

The Hollywood Anti-Nazi League Presents “Talent in Exile” (WFKB, 1938)

Alfred Leonard in the studio at KFAC in the 1930s

Courtesy of Eleanor Rubin

One of the nice things about publishing a book (since you ask: Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939, out this year from Columbia University Press) is that you often get messages over the transom from people who have a personal investment in the subject—and sometimes a personal story and memento to share.  In the book, I made a passing reference to a radio personality named Alfred Leonard, a member of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League for the Defense of Democracy.  Founded in 1936 and numbering some 5,000 artists-activists from all ranks of the entertainment industry, the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League (HANL) worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the looming menace of Nazism--holding rallies, broadcasting radio shows, and doing its best to inject anti-Nazi sentiments into Hollywood cinema (no easy task given the obstacles set up by the Production Code Administration,  the in-house censors who always sought to denude American cinema of overt political content).  Leonard was one of the stalwart foot soldiers in HANL’s ranks.  

Recently I got a nice email from Alfred Leonard’s  daughter, Eleanor (Leonard) Rubin, of Newton, MA, a graduate of Brandeis University (I’ve been at Brandeis long enough to know that in any game of Jewish geography no one is more than two degrees of separation removed from Brandeis).  Elly politely informed me that Mr. Leonard was much more than a radio personality; he was also a prominent music critic, symphony promoter, and music shop owner.  In 1933, he fled Hitler’s Germany and made his way to Hollywood.  Three years later, his brother Joseph Leonard, a noted pianist and composer who also happened to be blind, followed.

Elly then made a tantalizing offer: she had in her possession a copy of a radio broadcast Joseph Leonard had made for a show called Talent in Exile, produced by HANL and broadcast over the facilities of KFWB, the in-house radio station of Warner Bros. Pictures. Would I like to have a copy?

Silly question.  While researching Hollywood and Hitler, I had looked in vain for episodes of Talent in Exile, a weekly series of anti-Nazi agit-prop showcasing refugee talent.  Even more than 1950s television, 1930s radio is maddeningly difficult to track down.  Before the widespread use of magnetic tape in the 1940s, radio shows were broadcast live over the airwaves and seldom preserved on a transcription discs (a phonograph record similar to though slightly smaller than a 33 1/3  LP) .  Elly’s family lore on the provenance of the recording was a little hazy: her copy came from a reel-to-reel tape recorder.  I assume a technician at KFWB recorded the show on a transcription disc as a keepsake for the artist; years later, someone in the family must have transferred the disc to magnetic tape.

Radio was an important weapon in HANL’s propaganda arsenal: the group understood that the living room medium of the day provided a loud megaphone for anti-Nazi rhetoric. On November 16, 1936, HANL established a committee to devise ways to permeate the radio airwaves and raise the alarm about Nazi Germany. Alfred Leonard, who then hosted a music-themed interview show for KFAC in Los Angeles, was the natural choice to chair the committee, which also included producer Lester Cowan, set designer Harry J. Zutto, and songwriter Jay Gorney.  “Hitler and his head propagandist Goebbels . . . are adepts at the use of radio in their efforts to fool all the people all the time,” HANL reasoned. “We will try to beat them at their own game. We will try to prove that facts can be just as colorful as fraud and fiction over the air.” [1]

Talent in Exile played a prominent role in HANL’s over-the-air outreach. The idea was to showcase refugee talent and condemn the regime that hounded them from their homeland.  “Germany’s loss was the world’s gain,” declared HANL in announcing the series. “Hitler’s organized suppression of all cultural values has achieved its objective.  Today, none of the famous men and women who helped to establish Germany’s reputation as one of the leading nations in the world can or will set foot on German soil.”   The exiled talent—and their American-born kinsmen-- would decry Nazi intolerance, give thanks to America for offering shelter to the persecuted, and celebrate freedom of expression in the beacon of democracy.  Anti-Nazi consciousness-raising animated almost every aspect of the show’s entertainment line-up--musical performances, comedy skits, and dramatic reenactments.   The hands-on producer for the program was stage, screen, and radio actor Elliot Sullivan. (Like many of the core activists for HANL in the 1930s, Sullivan would be called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the Cold War.  In 1956 he was cited for contempt for standing on his Fifth and First Amendment rights.  In 1961, a federal district court acquitted him of all charges.)

Talent in Exile could certainly draw on a deep well of exiled talent: the influx of artists run out of Nazi Germany had already earned Hollywood the sobriquet “Weimar on the Pacific.” “Many of [the talented exiles] have come to this country, have settled in Los Angeles,” HANL noted. “Talent in Exile will bring them before the microphones as material witnesses for Hitler’s crimes against culture and civilization, as warning examples for all who play with the idea of curtailing free thinking, independent scientific research, and unhampered artistic expression.”[2]   A typical thirty-minute episode might be built around a discussion with German composer Ernest Toch; a profile of novelist Thomas Mann; or a dramatization of Savage Symphony: A Personal Record of the Third Reich, a memoir by Eva Lips.[3]  However, not all the featured talent was in exile.  For one jam-packed show, the screenwriter and wit-about-town Dorothy Parker read an anti-Nazi sketch, soprano Sylvia Bagley sang two songs banned by the Nazis, and League members read a dramatization of the life of the imprisoned Lutheran pastor, the Rev. Martin Niemöller.[4] Another intriguing episode featured a comedy skit by RKO screenwriter Violet Brothers Shore imagining a meeting between Hitler and Mother Goose, followed by a more serious entry set in a Nazi concentration camp for women, featuring the Academy Award-winning actress-activist  Gale Sondergaard in the lead role.[5]

Fortuitously, the Talent in Exile show that Elly shared with me is the premiere episode, broadcast on Thursday at 9:00 p.m. on February 17, 1938.  The guest artist, her uncle, Joseph Leonard, certainly fit the bill.  “After Hitler’s rise to power, Joseph Leonard endured for three years the hardships of living in Germany, the loss of his teaching position, the limitation to play only before the `Jewish Culture Organization,’” reported an article in Hollywood Now, HANL’s the newspaper of  record. “But when at last he was subjected to that final curtailment of cultural activities which prohibited his playing of music by `Aryan’ composers, when he could no longer perform the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, he left Germany and accepted the invitation of a Southern California music conservatory [the Pacific Institute of Music and Fine Arts].”[6]

Given the rarity and uniqueness of the archival find, a play by play account might be warranted. Donald Ogden Stewart, the A-list screenwriter who served as HANL’s chairman, introduces the proceedings. “It is my great pleasure as chairman of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League to offer to radio listeners a remarkable new undertaking of the League, a program called Talent in Exile, which will be a weekly feature over this station.  It will present men of talent who have been driven by fascism from their own countries to find refuge here.  Sometimes, as this evening, you will hear their names and sometimes”—here Stewart’s voice takes on an ominous tone—“their names cannot be known.”

Stewart then turns the show over to the Canadian-born composer and lecturer Gerald Strang, director the New Music Society of California and an assistant to Arnold Schoenberg at UCLA.  Schoenberg himself, perhaps the most famous of all musical refugees, had fled the Nazis in 1933.  Strang provides the deep background on the show’s design and animating principles::

When Hitler came to power, almost every cultural leader who helped to make Germany’s name respected the world over has either left that country in protest or has been driven into exile.  They are men like Albert Einstein, Nobel prize winner for his theory of relativity; like Thomas Mann, one of the truly great authors of this century; like the dermatologist Wilhelm Frei, the bacteriologist Carl Lange; the biologist Richard Goldschmidt, who now teach at our universities.  Men like Max Reinhardt, the famous theatrical producer, and Otto Klemperer, formerly director of the Berlin State Opera and now conductor of our Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Men like Arnold Schoenberg and Ernest Toch, recognized leaders among the composers of our time.  Artists of the rank of [violinist and composer] Fritz Kreisler and [pianist and composer] Artur Schnabel, men who are today in exile from Nazi Germany, together with the music of Mendelsohn and the poetry of Heine.

Strang makes clear that the guest for the evening has earned his invitation:  

From the ranks of these famous exiles comes the artist whom it is my great privilege to introduce, the distinguished young pianist and composer Joseph Leonard.  His notable record as a concert pianist, composer, and pedagogue was officially recognized by the United States when he was admitted to this country in spite of his blindness.  Thus the energy and high ideals which have guided him on his way to musical fame have helped him in surmounting the last obstacle in his path toward a new life—a life in exile but in a country where freedom and democracy are still considered cornerstones of human society.

Strang’s reference to Leonard being “admitted to this country in spite of his blindness” was a diplomatic way of calling attention to the restrictive immigration policies that, throughout the 1930s, barred so many refugees from Nazism from entry into the United States.  He continues:

Joseph Leonard will first play a work by Beethoven who is not only a musical genius but also a true democrat, a champion of human rights.  In this age of dictators it is well to remember that Beethoven tore the dedication page to Napoleon from his Eroica Symphony when he heard that Bonaparte had made himself dictator of his people.  Joseph Leonard will play Beethoven’s Sonata in G Major, Opus 14, Number 2.

Leonard plays the piece magnificently.  Before his next performance, from the pen of Franz Schubert, Strang asks Leonard to say a few words about the reasons for his selection.  “Well, Mr. Strang, there are two reasons why I have chosen this piece,” he says in accented but perfectly understandable English. “First of all, I think that Schubert belongs to us, the talent in exile, because most of his famous songs are written on Heine poems and therefore can no longer be performed in Germany.”  (Heine’s poetry like so much Jewish art and literature was decreed “entartete  Kunst” [degenerate art] by the Nazis. ) “But my second reason is that I feel free again in this free country to play whatever I please under no punishment.  And so, I happily present to you Schubert’s Impromtu 90, Number 3, in the original G-flat major. “

After Leonard’s performance of Schubert, Strang comes on the air again to introduce the third musical selection, a composition by Joseph Leonard himself entitled Five Small Pieces for the Piano.   Strang notes that “As a composer [Leonard] is in the same boat as [Felix] Mendelssohn, Gustav Maher, Schoenberg, Toch,  [Paul] Hindemith, [Bela] Bartók, and Alban Berg, whose works can no longer be played in Germany  today.” Strang repeats the wry compensation: “Germany’s loss is our gain.” Leonard then plays his own Five Small Pieces for the Piano.

After the final performance, an unidentified announcer wraps up the show with the station’s call sign and a final reminder: “You have been listening to the first in a new series of programs, Talent in Exile, presented by the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.”

As a regular weekly program, Talent in Exile only aired for a few months in 1938.  It was an unsponsored “sustaining program” that took enormous time and effort, all volunteer, to mount—hence too why its scheduling bounced around on the dial, from Thursday at 9:00 p.m., to Friday at 6:30 p.m., or at 7:00 p.m., or at 8:30 p.m.  Hollywood Now was often reduced to advising readers “to telephone the League office at Hillside 7391 to find out the exact time” of the broadcast.[7]  As far as I can determine, the last regularly scheduled broadcast occurred on May 27, 1938.  However, HANL kept up its campaign over the airwaves—due to the generosity and staunch support of Jack and Harry Warner--with anti-Nazi news and entertainment shows throughout the 1930s.  Also, the Talent in Exile brand was used other forums, such as a massive “Talent in Exile” benefit held on December 3, 1938, at Philharmonic Auditorium, an event held to raise money for the victims of the Nazi pogrom of November 9-10, 1938, now known to history as Kristallnacht.  

Thanks to Eleanor Rubin, one fascinating episode of Talent in Exile has surfaced.  Perhaps, somewhere out there, another descendent of an exiled talent might have a copy stashed away in the attic?  

by Thomas Doherty

Endnote

[1]“Big Names Set for Broadcasts,” Anti-Nazi News, February 20, 1937: 1, 4.

[2] “Joseph Leonard Opens League Radio Series,” Hollywood Now, February 2, 1938: 1, 3.

[3]  “Savage Symphony Set on Exile Program,” Daily Variety, April 28, 1938: 4.

[4] “Dorothy Parker Reads,” Daily Variety, February 22, 1938: 6.

[5] “Hitler, Mother Goose On KFWB Bill--,” Daily Variety,  April 13, 1938: 6; “Air Dr. Mann Career,” Daily Variety, May 5, 1938: 7..

[6]  “Joseph Leonard Opens League Radio Series,” Hollywood Now, February 2, 1938: 1, 3.

[7] “Helen Gahagan, Milt Gross On Air Show,” Hollywood Now, March 26, 1938: 1.

[x-enter]

Everything Coming to and Leaving Netflix March 2020

It’s that time of the month when Netflix reveals all the new titles that are being added to the streaming service. This month we can look forward to watching great content like Space Jam and Castlevania’s third season. We’ll also see the new interactive show Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal.

Available March 1

Go! Go! Cory Carson: Season 2 -- NETFLIX FAMILY

Driveway dance parties, birthday treasure hunts — and going to the doctor to fix a flat tire. Whatever life brings, Cory's gassed up and ready to go!

Always a Bridesmaid

Beyond the Mat

Cop Out

Corpse Bride

Donnie Brasco

Freedom Writers

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

GoodFellas

Haywire

He's Just Not That Into You

Hook

Hugo

Kung Fu Panda 2

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Life as We Know It

Looney Tunes: Back in Action

Outbreak

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Resident Evil: Extinction

Richie Rich

Semi-Pro

Sleepover

Space Jam

The Gift

The Interview

The Shawshank Redemption

The Story of God with Morgan Freeman: S3

There Will Be Blood

Tootsie

Valentine's Day

Velvet Colección: Grand Finale

ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas

Available March 3

Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis -- NETFLIX COMEDY SPECIAL

Now halfway through her twenties, Taylor Tomlinson is ready to leave her mistakes behind her. Following her Netflix debut on The Comedy Lineup Part 1 (2018), Taylor divulges the lessons she's learned in her first hour-long comedy special, Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis. Premiering globally on March 3, Taylor talks about working on yourself, realistic relationship goals, and why your twenties are not actually “the best years of your life.”

Available March 4

Lil Peep: Everybody's Everything

Available March 5

Castlevania: Season 3 -- NETFLIX ANIME

Belmont and Sypha settle into a village with sinister secrets, Alucard mentors a pair of admirers, and Isaac embarks on a quest to locate Hector.

Mighty Little Bheem: Festival of Colors -- NETFLIX FAMILY

From surprising stage performances to spraying colors with friends, join baby Bheem for all his Holi hijinks during the special spring festival.

Available March 6

Guilty -- NETFLIX FILM

When a college heartthrob is accused of rape by a less popular student, his girlfriend navigates various versions of the story in search of the truth.

I am Jonas -- NETFLIX FILM

A turbulent past haunts Jonas, who recalls his teenage love affair with the impulsive, twisted and yet irresistible Nathan.

Paradise PD: Part 2 -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

As the diabolical Kingpin tightens his grip on Paradise, the squad contends with bitter feuds, dirty schemes, kinky fetishes and a nuclear threat.

The Protector: Season 3 -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

As chaos descends on Istanbul, Hakan faces a formidable Immortal who seeks to possess the key to destroying the city.

Spenser Confidential -- NETFLIX FILM

Just out of prison and investigating a twisted murder, Spenser is sucked back into Boston’s underbelly. Based on the popular books; Mark Wahlberg stars.

Twin Murders: The Silence of the White City -- NETFLIX FILM

A detective inspector is pushed to the edge while he hunts the ritualistic murderer that has been terrorizing a city in Spain's Basque Country for two decades.

Ugly Delicious: Season 2 -- NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

Ugly Delicious returns for a second season from James Beard Award-Winning Chef David Chang and Academy Award-Winner Morgan Neville. The second season of the hit series continues to challenge both our taste buds and our minds as Chef Chang travels the world with writers and chefs, activists and artists, who use food as a vehicle to break down cultural barriers, tackle misconceptions and uncover shared experiences. And this season ventures into more of the unknown, including the world of parenting as Chang gears up to become a first time father. Special guests include Nick Kroll, Aziz Ansari, Padma Lakshmi, food writers Helen Rosner and Chris Ying, Danny McBride, Bill Simmons, and Dave Choe among others.

Available March 8

Sitara: Let Girls Dream -- NETFLIX FILM

Sitara: Let Girls Dream is an animated short film that follows the story of Pari, a 14-year-old girl with dreams of becoming a pilot, while growing up in a society that doesn’t allow her to dream.

Available March 10

Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal -- NETFLIX FAMILY

You drive the action in this interactive adventure, helping Carmen save Ivy and Zack when V.I.L.E. captures them during a heist in Shanghai.

Marc Maron: End Times Fun -- NETFLIX COMEDY SPECIAL

Available March 11

The Circle Brazil -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Be yourself -- or someone else? The players must choose while chasing a cash prize when this lighthearted, strategic competition show comes to Brazil.

Dirty Money: Season 2 -- NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

The critically-acclaimed investigative series Dirty Money, from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions, returns for a second season. Dirty Money provides an up-close and personal view into untold stories of scandal, financial malfeasance and corruption in the world of business. This season offers a look inside Jared Kushner’s real estate empire, the Wells Fargo banking scandal and Malaysia’s 1MDB corruption case.

Last Ferry

On My Block: Season 3 -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

They thought life was about to return to what passes for normal in Freeridge, but the stakes just got even higher. On My Block, co-created by Lauren Iungerich (Awkward) and Eddie Gonzalez & Jeremy Haft (All Eyez On Me), is a coming of age comedy about four bright and street-savvy friends navigating their way through the triumph, pain and the newness of high-school set in the rough inner city.

Summer Night

Available March 12

Hospital Playlist -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Five doctors, whose friendship goes back to their days in med school, band together at one hospital as colleagues in the VIP wing.

Available March 13

100 Humans -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

One hundred diverse volunteers participate in experiments that tackle questions about age, gender, happiness and other aspects of being human.

BEASTARS -- NETFLIX ANIME

In a world where beasts of all kinds coexist, a gentle wolf awakens to his own predatory urges as his school deals with a murder within its midst.

Bloodride -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

A Norwegian anthology series that blends horror with dark Scandinavian humor, setting each distinct story in its own realistic yet weird universe.

Elite: Season 3 -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

When another classmate is killed, a new investigation ensues. The students look toward their future, while the consequences of the past haunt them.

Go Karts -- NETFLIX FILM

After moving to a new town with his mom, a teen discovers the high-speed sport of go-kart racing, learning from a former driver with a secret past.

Kingdom: Season 2 -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

The zombie period drama set in Korea's Joseon era returns for Season 2.

Lost Girls -- NETFLIX FILM

A mother's quest to find her missing daughter uncovers a wave of unsolved murders in this drama based on a true story. Amy Ryan and Gabriel Byrne star.

The Valhalla Murders -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

An ambitious Icelandic detective teams up with a cop from Norway to investigate a series of murders that may be connected to a heinous trauma.

Women of the Night -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Haunted by a shadowy past, the wife of a rising star in Amsterdam's mayoral office finds herself drawn into the city’s underworld of sex and drugs.

Available March 15

Aftermath

Available March 16

The Boss Baby: Back in Business: Season 3 -- NETFLIX FAMILY

After losing his job at Baby Corp, Boss Baby goes freelance and turns his playgroup into a makeshift field team. Cue the critical mission!

Search Party

Silver Linings Playbook

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

The Young Messiah

Available March 17

Bert Kreischer: Hey Big Boy -- NETFLIX COMEDY SPECIAL

Comedian Bert Kreischer is back, and shirtless once again, in his second Netflix Original comedy special, Bert Kreischer: Hey Big Boy. Bert candidly shares hilarious stories about his daughter’s period party, a pushy arms dealer, and an inside joke with a Starbucks barista.

All American: Season 2

Black Lightning: Season 3

Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom -- NETFLIX FAMILY

Clever sheep Shaun, loyal dog Bitzer and the rest of the Mossy Bottom gang cook up oodles of fun and adventure on the farm.

Available March 18

Lu Over the Wall

Available March 19

Altered Carbon: Resleeved -- NETFLIX ANIME

Dai Sato, the creative mind behind “Cowboy Bebop,” further explores and expands upon the “Altered Carbon” universe in this anime adaptation.

Feel Good -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Mae Martin stars as herself, a Canadian comedian living in London while navigating a new relationship and dealing with sobriety.

Available March 20

A Life of Speed: The Juan Manuel Fangio Story -- NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

Juan Manuel Fangio was the Formula One king, winning five world championships in the early 1950s — before protective gear or safety features were used.

Archibald's Next Big Thing: Season 2 -- NETFLIX FAMILY

From outdoor adventures to shopping extravaganzas, Archibald can't wait to experience everything this great, big world has to offer.

Buddi -- NETFLIX FAMILY

Following the day-to-day adventures of five best "Buddis," this colorful and entertaining series is targeted at children under 4.

Dino Girl Gauko: Season 2 -- NETFLIX FAMILY

Naoko and her friends have more strange adventures with aliens, robots and dinosaur girl Gauko. Their ordinary town has its share of oddities!

Greenhouse Academy: Season 4 -- NETFLIX FAMILY

The teen drama based on the award-winning Israeli series "Ha-Hamama" returns for Season 4.

The Letter for the King -- NETFLIX FAMILY

A young boy holds the fate of the kingdom in his hands when he embarks on a quest to deliver a secret message in this sweeping fantasy series.

Maska -- NETFLIX FILM

A young man sets out to become a movie star, until a summer romance shows him the fine line between dreams and delusions. Starring Manisha Koirala.

The Platform -- NETFLIX FILM

In a prison where inmates on high floors eat better than those below, who get the scant scraps, one man tries to effect change so everyone gets enough.

Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

This limited series is inspired by the incredible true story of Madam C.J. Walker, who was the first African American female self-made millionaire.

Ultras -- NETFLIX FILM

A story of intergenerational friendship and coming of age, set in the world of ultras culture during the last five weeks of a soccer championship.

Tiger King -- NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

A rivalry between big cat eccentrics takes a dark turn when Joe Exotic, a controversial animal park boss, is caught in a murder-for-hire plot in this limited docuseries where the only thing more dangerous than a big cat is its owner.

Available March 23

Sol Levante -- NETFLIX ANIME

An experimental project between Netflix and Production I.G, one of the leading anime production companies in Japan, to produce the world's first 4K HDR native hand-drawn anime short.

Available March 25

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution -- NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

In the early 1970s, teenagers with disabilities faced a future shaped by isolation, discrimination and institutionalization. Camp Jened, a ramshackle camp “for the handicapped” in the Catskills, exploded those confines. Jened was their freewheeling Utopia, a place with summertime sports, smoking and makeout sessions awaiting everyone, and campers felt fulfilled as human beings. Their bonds endured as they migrated West to Berkeley, California — a promised land for a growing and diverse disability community — where friends from Camp Jened realized that disruption and unity might secure life-changing accessibility for millions.

Co-directed by Emmy®-winning filmmaker Nicole Newnham and film mixer and former camper Jim LeBrecht, this joyous and exuberant documentary arrives the same year as the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, at a time when the country’s largest minority group still battles daily for the freedom to exist. CRIP CAMP: A DISABILITY REVOLUTION is executive produced by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama; Tonia Davis and Priya Swaminathan; Oscar® nominee Howard Gertler (How to Survive a Plague) and Raymond Lifchez, Jonathan Logan and Patty Quillin; LeBrecht, Newnham and Sara Bolder produce.

Curtiz -- NETFLIX FILM

Driven and arrogant, film director Michael Curtiz deals with studio politics and family drama during the troubled production of "Casablanca" in 1942.

The Occupant (Hogar) -- NETFLIX FILM

An unemployed executive is forced to sell his apartment. When he discovers that he still has the keys, he becomes obsessed with the family that lives there and will do anything to go back to the life he had before.

Signs -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

When a young woman's murder shows similarities to a decade-old cold case, a new police commander must break the silence permeating an Owl Mountain town.

YooHoo to the Rescue: Season 3 -- NETFLIX FAMILY

It’s time to take flight again! Join YooHoo and his adorable crew as they travel the world to help animal friends, one marvelous mission at a time.

Available March 26

7SEEDS: Part 2 -- NETFLIX ANIME

The world they knew is long gone. Their new environment is dangerous, but not as deadly as their fellow humans. Based on the award-winning manga by Yumi Tamura, "7SEEDS" returns for Part 2.

Blood Father

Unorthodox -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

A young woman flees to Berlin from an arranged marriage in Brooklyn. Then her past catches up to her.

Available March 27

Car Masters: Rust to Riches: Season 2 -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Classic cars get massive makeovers courtesy of Gotham Garage, a skilled California crew dedicated to upgrading and trading sweet vintage vehicles.

The Decline -- NETFLIX FILM

As a way to prepare for disasters, family man Antoine attends a training program on survivalism given by Alain, at his self-sufficient retreat. Planning for a natural, economical or social breakdown, the group goes through drills meant to prepare them for apocalypses of all types. But the catastrophe waiting for them is nothing like what they anticipated.

Dragons: Rescue Riders: Hunt for the Golden Dragon -- NETFLIX FAMILY

It's the treasure hunt of a lifetime for the Rescue Riders, who must race to find a precious golden dragon egg and keep it safe from evil pirates.

Il processo -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

The murder of a teen girl impacts a public prosecutor linked to the victim, a lawyer seeking a career-making case and a suspect who says she's innocent.

Killing Them Softly

Ozark: Season 3 -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL

The Emmy-winning series about a suburban family laundering millions in the Missouri Ozarks returns for Season 3.

There's Something in the Water

True: Wuzzle Wegg Day -- NETFLIX FAMILY

When searching for the perfect Wuzzle Wegg, Bartleby thinks he sees a monster. Will the Rainbow King have to cancel Wuzzle Wegg Day — or will True come to the rescue?

Uncorked -- NETFLIX FILM

A young man faces his father's disapproval when he pursues his dream of becoming a master sommelier instead of joining the family's barbecue business.

Sadly, every month content also leaves the service. This is the last call for several titles including Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Lord of the Rings, and Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Leaving March 3

Marvel Studios' Black Panther

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Leaving March 4

F the Prom

Leaving March 7

Blue Jasmine

The Jane Austen Book Club

The Waterboy

Leaving March 9

Eat Pray Love

Leaving March 14

Men in Black

Men in Black II

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection : Classic: Collection 3

Leaving March 15

Coraline

Leaving March 17

Being Mary Jane: The Series: Season 1-4

Leaving March 19

The L Word: Season 1-6

Zodiac

Leaving March 24

Disney's A Wrinkle in Time

Leaving March 30

Batman Begins

Charlie's Angels

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

Death at a Funeral

Drugs, Inc.: Season 5

Hairspray

Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Kill Bill: Vol. 2

New York Minute

P.S. I Love You

Paranormal Activity

Small Soldiers

The Dark Knight

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Wild Wild West

source https://geektyrant.com/news/everything-coming-to-and-leaving-netflix-march-2020

#Entertainments

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

Clifton Avon "Cliff" Edwards (June 14, 1895 – July 17, 1971), nicknamed "Ukulele Ike", was an American musician, singer and actor, who enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standards and novelty tunes. He had a number one hit with "Singin' in the Rain" in 1929. He also did voices for animated cartoons later in his career, and he is best known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's Pinocchio (1940) and Fun and Fancy Free (1947), and Dandy (Jim) Crow in Walt Disney's Dumbo (1941).

Edwards was born in Hannibal, Missouri. He left school at age 14 and soon moved to St. Louis, Missouri and Saint Charles, Missouri, where he entertained as a singer in saloons. As many places had pianos in bad shape or none at all, Edwards taught himself to play ʻukulele to serve as his own accompanist (choosing it because it was the cheapest instrument in the music shop). He was nicknamed "Ukulele Ike" by a club owner who could never remember his name. He got his first break in 1918 at the Arsonia Cafe in Chicago, Illinois, where he performed a song called "Ja-Da", written by the club's pianist, Bob Carleton. Edwards and Carleton made it a hit on the vaudeville circuit. Vaudeville headliner Joe Frisco hired Edwards as part of his act, which was featured at the Palace in New York City—the most prestigious vaudeville theater—and later in the Ziegfeld Follies.

Edwards made his first phonograph records in 1919. He recorded early examples of jazz scat singing in 1922. The following year he signed a contract with Pathé Records. He became one of the most popular singers of the 1920s, appearing in several Broadway shows. He recorded many of the pop and novelty hits of the day, including "California, Here I Come", "Hard Hearted Hannah", "Yes Sir, That's My Baby", and "I'll See You in My Dreams".

In 1924, Edwards performed as the headliner at the Palace, the pinnacle of his vaudeville success. That year he also featured in George and Ira Gershwin's first Broadway musical Lady Be Good, alongside Fred and Adele Astaire. As a recording artist, his hits included "Paddlin’ Madeleine Home" (1925), "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" (1928), and the classic "Singin' in the Rain" (1929), which he introduced. Edwards's own compositions included "(I'm Cryin' 'Cause I Know I'm) Losing You", "You're So Cute (Mama o' Mine)", "Little Somebody of Mine", and "I Want to Call You 'Sweet Mama'". He also recorded a few "off-color" novelty songs for under-the-counter sales, including "I'm a Bear in a Lady's Boudoir," "Take Out That Thing," and "Give It to Mary with Love".

Edwards, more than any other performer, was responsible for the soaring popularity of the ʻukulele.[4] Millions of ʻukuleles were sold during the decade, and Tin Pan Alley publishers added ʻukulele chords to standard sheet music. Edwards always played American Martin ukuleles, favoring the small soprano model in his early career. In his later years, he moved to the larger tenor ʻukulele, which was becoming popular in the 1930s.

Edwards continued to record until shortly before his death in 1971. His last record album, Ukulele Ike, was released posthumously on the independent Glendale label. He reprised many of his 1920s hits; his failing health was however evident in the recordings.

In 1929, Cliff Edwards was playing at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles where he caught the attention of movie producer-director Irving Thalberg. His film company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hired Edwards to appear in early sound movies. After performing in some short films, Edwards was one of the stars in the feature Hollywood Revue of 1929, doing some comic bits and singing some numbers, including the film debut of his hit "Singin' in the Rain". He appeared in a total of 33 films for MGM through 1933. He had a small role as Mike, playing a ʻukulele very briefly at the beginning of the 1931 movie Laughing Sinners (1931), starring Joan Crawford.

Edwards had a friendly working relationship with MGM's comedy star Buster Keaton, who featured Edwards in three of his films. Keaton, himself a former vaudevillian, enjoyed singing and harmonized with Edwards between takes. One of these casual jam sessions was captured on film, in Doughboys (1930), in which Buster and Cliff scat-sing their way through "You Never Did That Before".

Edwards was also an occasional supporting player in feature films and short subjects at Warner Brothers and RKO Radio Pictures. He played a wisecracking sidekick to western star George O'Brien, and he filled in for Allen Jenkins as "Goldie" opposite Tom Conway in The Falcon Strikes Back. In a 1940 short, he led a cowboy chorus in Cliff Edwards and His Buckaroos. Throughout the 1940s he appeared in a number of "B" westerns playing the comic, singing sidekick to the hero, seven times with Charles Starrett and six with Tim Holt.

Edwards appeared in the darkly sardonic western comedy The Bad Man of Brimstone (1937), and he played the character "Endicott" in the screwball comedy film His Girl Friday (1940). In 1939, he voiced the off-screen wounded Confederate soldier in Gone with the Wind in a hospital scene with Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland.

His most famous voice role was as Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's Pinocchio (1940). Edwards's rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" is probably his most familiar recorded legacy. He voiced the head crow in Disney's Dumbo (1941) and sang "When I See an Elephant Fly".

In 1932, Edwards had his first national radio show on CBS Radio. He continued hosting network radio shows through 1946. In the early 1930s, however, Edwards' popularity faded as public taste shifted to crooners such as Russ Columbo, Rudy Vallee, and Bing Crosby.

Arthur Godfrey's use of the ʻukulele spurred a surge in its popularity and those that played it, including Edwards. Like many vaudeville stars, Edwards was an early arrival on television. In the 1949 season, he starred in The Cliff Edwards Show, a three-days-a-week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings) TV variety show on CBS. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he made appearances on The Mickey Mouse Club, in addition to performing his Jiminy Cricket voice for various Disney shorts and the Disney Christmas spectacular, From All of Us to All of You.

Edwards was careless with the money he made in the 1920s, always trying to sustain his expensive habits and lifestyle. He continued working during the Great Depression, but never again enjoyed his former prosperity. Most of his income went to alimony for his three former wives, and paying debts, and he declared bankruptcy four times during the 1930s and early 1940s. Edwards married his first wife Gertrude Ryrholm in 1919, but they divorced four years later. He married Irene Wylie in 1923; they divorced in 1931. In 1932, he married his third and final wife, actress Judith Barrett. They divorced in 1936. He had no children from any of his three marriages.

As well as being a lifelong heavy tobacco smoker, Edwards also struggled with alcoholism, drug addiction and gambling for much of his career.

In his final years, Edwards lived in a home for indigent actors and often spent his time at the Walt Disney Studios to be available any time he could get voice work. He was sometimes taken to lunch by animators whom he befriended and told stories of his days in vaudeville. He had nearly disappeared from the public eye at the time of his death on July 17, 1971, at the age of 76 from a cardiac arrest brought on by arteriosclerosis. Now penniless, Edwards was a charity patient at the Virgil Convalescent Hospital in Hollywood, California. His body was unclaimed and was donated to the University of California, Los Angeles medical school. When Walt Disney Productions, which had been quietly paying many of his medical expenses, discovered this, they offered to purchase his remains and pay for the burial. Instead, it was done by the Actors' Fund of America (which had also aided Edwards) and the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund. Disney paid for his grave marker.

In 2002, Edwards' 1940 recording on Victor, Victor 26477, "When You Wish Upon a Star", was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2000, Edwards was awarded as a Disney Legend for voice-acting.

#cliff edwards #classic hollywood #classic movie stars #golden age of hollywood #old hollywood #disney #pinnochio #jiminy cricket #1930s hollywood #1940s hollywood #1950s hollywood #1960s hollywood