Eddie Lawrence - The Visitor

Eddie Lawrence will always be best remembered for his hit 1956 comedy recording of "The Old Philosopher" and perhaps its many follow-ups.
("...Is that what's bothering you, bunkie?")

In his long career, Lawrence was a Borsht Belt comic, an actor on stage, screen and television, a comedy writer, lyricist, and director.

In the early 1960's he hosted a TV kiddie show in New York, and also provided the voices in several cartoons for Paramount's Famous Studios - - some of which were based on material from his comedy LPs.

He recorded at least seven albums between the mid-fifties and the late-sixties, all of which contained 'Old Philosopher' tracks, as well as many other lunatic monologues and rapid-fire characterizations.

Decades later, he released 'The Jazzy Old Philosopher' in 1994, at the age of 75. It's a CD that came seemingly out of the blue, and other than a few updated cultural references it adheres completely to the form established on his earlier albums. For all I know, he's still lurking out there with more surprises. (keep a good thought)

The pearls from his old LPs that I keep coming back to are his routines of 'The Visitor', which for me conjures up perhaps the image of a brief and precious audience with a beat guru in a smoky coffeehouse.

"More maxims, Max!"
"Adages! Adages!"

For your listening pleasure and further eddie-fication , here's the 'visitor' tracks from two of his late-1950's LPs on the Coral label, plus another favorite.

From 'The Kingdom of Eddie Lawrence'...

Listen to: Eddie Lawrence - The Visitor (click for audio)
Listen to: Eddie Lawrence - The Hi-Fi Blues (click for audio)

...And from 'The (side)Split(ting) Personality of Eddie Lawrence'...

Listen to: Eddie Lawrence - Visitor From Inner Space (click for audio)

(link: after link: after link:) MoOM; The Museum of Online Museums

Holey Jumpin' Crabcakes On A Crutch! This is cool!

It's The Museum of Online Museums, and I'm quite certain I could spend days following their myriad links to diverse and fascinating gallery websites waiting for me out there in the aether.

Especially considering the 'overflow' of listings on the museum's ANNEX page.

The twists and turns of googling for information is of course something that so many of us deal with every day. Sometimes you're led to exactly the thing you want, other times it's just not there, and so often you can be led astray by something off-topic that unexpectedly catches your eye.

Such was the case here. I was hoping to find a graphic design gallery dealing with cigarette packaging (long story). Found a few that were close to what I wanted, but not quite.

I DID find this curious thing - - Candy Cigarettes: The Big Candy Smokin' Thumb Page...

...anyway, then I happily stumbled onto this 'MoOM' page. Their 'Museum Campus' and 'Permanent Collection' listings contain some great 'respectable' links to real brick-and-mortar museums around the world, graphic design sites and more. For example, it reconnected me to a fabulous mid-century advertising design site I used to visit...

- Plan 59: The Retro Graphics Archive

...also, forget about my own piddly galleries of vintage paperback covers, check THIS out:

- Vintage Pulp Paperback Covers

...And the museum's listings just get more wild, wooly and wonderful as you navigate into the 'Galleries, Exhibitions and Shows' section, and then into the Terra Incognita of that ANNEX page.

I should just point you on your way and be done with it, but I feel the need to list just a TINY SAMPLE of the things I found...

- Roadside and Outsider Art
- Pre-and-Post War American Advertising Galleries
- The Virtual Absinthe Museum
- The Airline Bag Lounge
- Der Virtuelle Lederhosenmuseum
- Airline Spoons of the World (973 photos!!)
- Museum of Batman Onomatopoeia
- Vintage Hi-Fi Brochure Gallery
- Whistling Records Collection
- Nebraska Payphones Gallery
- The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum
- Car brochure covers
- Paper Money Gallery
- Collection of 78rpm record labels 1900-1960
- The BBC Test Card and Tuning Signal Gallery
- The Logos on the Sides of Vintage VW Microbusses Gallery
- The Stewardess Uniform Gallery
- Vintage Condom Package Design Gallery
- Collection of Radio Spots for Exploitation Movies
- Directory of Old Telephone Book Covers
- Vogue Picture Records 1946-47
- Stock Certificates Museum
- All about Tiki Mugs
- The Casino Carpet Gallery
- Vintage Wallpaper Gallery
- Fire Hydrants
- A few thousand science fiction covers
- Rolling Papers Collected
- The Moist-Towelette Museum
- The Chopsticks Wrapper Gallery
- Discount Stores of the '60s Gallery
- German Travel Brochure and Related Materials Gallery
- Transportation Futuristics
- Electricity Pylons Around The World
- Maritime Timetable Images
- The Candy Wrapper Museum
- The American Package Museum
- The International Central Services Toaster Museum
- Foreign Groceries Museum
- 1940's Czechoslovakian matchbox covers with a child safety theme
- Gallery of Vintage Saxophone Ads
- Roadside Advertisements
- Gallery of Gas Station Signs
- British Beer label Collection
- Drug products from the preprohibition era
- Vintage 45 r.p.m. record labels
- The International Gallery of Beer Coasters
- Cold War Era Civil Defense Art Gallery
- The Gallery of Girls Posing With Mandolins

So enjoy yourself, it's been nice knowing you. You might leave a trail of breadcrumbs...

Link to: The Museum of Online Museums

- - and also link to: the museum's ANNEX.

78s fRom HeLL: Alvino Rey - Sepulveda (1946)

Sepulveda Boulevard is the longest street in the the city and county of Los Angeles, running from the north end of the San Fernando Valley to the south end of San Pedro, a distance of almost 43 miles.
If you've spent any significant amount of time driving in L.A., you've spent time on Sepulveda.

Alvino Rey (born Alvin McBurney in Oakland, California) was often described as the 'father' of the pedal steel guitar. He began playing in dance bands in the late 1920's, when he was also studying guitar with performer Roy Smeck.
In 1929 he adopted his stage name, hoping to cash in on the Latin music craze of the era.
By the 1940's he was leading his own big band.

'Sepulveda' was written by the Oscar-winning songwriting team of composer Jay Livingston and lyricist Ray Evans, whose many other notable credits include: 'Mona Lisa', 'Buttons And Bows', 'Silver Bells', 'Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)', and lest we forget -- The TV theme songs to Mr. Ed and Bonanza.

Recorded in 1946, 'Sepulveda' was released on the Capitol label as the flipside to Alvino Rey's guitar arrangement of 'Bumble Boogie'. Members of the orchestra's brass section on the session include Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, and Johnny Mandel.

NOTE: This song is NOT to be confused with 'Pico and Sepulveda', released the following year on the Ambassador label, and recorded under the name 'Felix Figueroa and His Orchestra' by a contingent from Freddy Martin's big band.


Listen to: Alvino Rey & His Orchestra (vocal by Jo Anne Ryan) - Sepulveda (click for audio)


ADDENDA, 5.10.09: For more of Alvino Rey, follow link to a recent post of music he recorded in 1959 under his pseudonym Ira Ironstrings.

Reasons To Be Cheerful: week of 04/20/07

1. Keeping abreast of the current news stories is not mandatory.
Did you know that?

In the words of Jim Ignatowski: "...the really great thing about television? If something important happens, anywhere in the world, night or day... you can always change the channel."

2. Turns out that it's never too late to reconnect with old friends, acquaintances, and family.
Very gratifying to know.

3.Wikipedia is our friend, and *might* be the best thing about the intra-net.

4. It would seem that the typical span of time between the theater release of a film and its DVD release continues to grow shorter.
Or I'm getting older.
Either way, just about the time that I can finally commit to going out to see that new movie is right around the time it shows up on video.
Good thing. One less reason to leave the house.

That being said, I'm hoping to get out to the megalo-plex to see 'Hot Fuzz' this weekend, if not sooner...

***ADDENDUM, 4/21: 'Hot Fuzz' is brilliant, don't miss it. Halfway through I was prepared to say that it was milder and more sedate than 'Shaun Of The Dead', but no, its intensity builds in a wonderful way. 'Shaun' is perhaps the better of the two films, but part of that feeling may be due to it having arrived as such a surprise here in the US. As evidenced by the presence of some A-list Brit actors in the cast of 'Hot Fuzz', the film's creators are more of a known entity now, so there may be expectations that didn't exist previously. As it happens, 'Hot Fuzz' is a perfect addition to my 'reasons to be cheerful' list for this week!

Shawn Elliot - Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

I found a sealed copy of this curious LP during last week's record safari.

These days, Shawn Elliot is known primarily as a stage actor, but back in the 1960's he was a New York night club singer. He recorded a calypso single for Roulette records, 'Shame And Scandal In The Family', which eventually became a hit outside of the U.S.

In what can be assumed was an attempt to avoid 'putting all his eggs in one basket', his first LP contains a few calypso numbers, mixed together with a smattering of Cole Porter songs, show tunes, and pop.



(click on image to ENLARGE liner notes in new window)

Bob Dylan's 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues' was released on his Highway 61 Revisited album in 1965. Over the years there've been several cover versions recorded, notably by Judy Collins and Nina Simone among many others, but in my opinion this one stands out like a sore thumb in a punch bowl.

I don't think I've *ever* before heard anyone take this type of upbeat and loungy approach to this particular Dylan tune.
- - and certainly not back in the sixties, when the 'easy listening' acts were so much more likely to latch onto one of his earlier, folkier, 'easier' songs - - you can't swing a dead cat without hitting Mr. Tambourine Man or Blowin' In The Wind or Don't Think Twice, It's Alright gone pop.

The part of Shawn Elliot's choice that I find the most interesting is that it works SO well. Toe-tapping 'cha-cha' beat and all. This is hot!

- - Makes me yearn to stumble onto other such unlikely choices; Lou Rawls crooning Desolation Row. Della Reese with Ballad Of A Thin Man. Sam Cooke belting out It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding). Y'know, stuff like that.

In my dreams...


Listen to: Shawn Elliot - Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (click for audio)

(link:) Make your own record, cassette, ticket stub, church sign...

Last night I found the link to Says-It.Com while taking a peek at All About Nothing.

Just way too much fun!

Put your message on an image of a 45 label (or 78), cassettes, ticket stubs, church signs, etc.

I'm certain there are some perfectly useful and practical applications for these, but - - wheee! - - good silly free kicks, sez I.

- - And they let you futz with design elements, colors and styles, and so forth.

Oh, okay, practical: Take your finished jpeg for free, or there are options to pay to have it transfered on to a fridge magnet or sticker.



























Be sure to also check out their links page for other similarly fun generators out there. Headstone, anyone? Street Sign?

Link to: Says-It.Com, record label generators and more

Question Time: 'Venus' by Shocking Blue; 1969. - - 'The Banjo Song' by The Big Three; 1963. - - So, What's The Story Here Anyway?

I don't have an answer for this. Maybe you do. Maybe you can help find one.

Or maybe you can assure me that it's not worth pursuing, and tell me to get a life.

Many people are familiar with the song 'Venus', recorded by the ever-so-super-cool Shocking Blue.
It was the one big chart hit for the Dutch group, peaking back around 1970.



Here's a video clip from 'back in the day' of the band performing the song...


...That's the late Mariska Veres on vocals. Robbie van Leeuwen, the band's lead guitarist, receives writing credit for the song.

You know the tune, right? You've heard it a jillion times, maybe the first time was the 1980's cover version by Bananarama.

BUT - - Have you heard THIS - - ? Based upon the traditional 'Oh Susanna', the writing credit goes to Tim Rose, released in 1963 on the Roulette record label...

Listen to: The Big Three - The Banjo Song (click for audio)


In the U.S., 6 or 7 years PRIOR to Shocking Blue's success, there was The Big Three.

Tim Rose, along with Cass Elliott and
Jim Hendricks formed a trio in the midst of the folk revival as that sound was just beginning to morph into folk-rock.

The band came about during a period of mix-and-match shuffling of different musicians in that scene, different combinations forming a variety of short-lived groups, alliances changing in an 'incestuous' search for a winning equation.

Following the dissolution of The Big Three, that shuffling would lead 'Mama' Cass Elliot into The Mugwumps, and then to The Mamas And The Papas. (While some of her fellow Mugwumps went on to The Lovin' Spoonful)

The songs are not identical, but the similarities are so close that I can't believe that they're only coincidence. (Is it just me?) If it was only one or two elements, maybe, but...

...Somehow it also seems unlikely to me that it's a simple case of Shocking Blue copping the arrangement.

Was there any connection between these two very different bands from very different backgrounds? Is that basic song arrangement coming from a common source predating BOTH songs? Is this a pathetic thread to pull?

I've idly toyed with this stumper on occasion for several years now. It just bubbles up to the surface every now and then. I've looked around a bit for answers, but I've not found any. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.

Any thoughts? Any insights?

ADDENDUM 4/27/07: Check out 'comments' for this post (below) to read a VERY helpful bit of info!

FURTHER UPDATE 5/1/07: Following the 4/26 discussion of this topic on Dutch TV (again, check out the comment I received), this blog has had an increase in traffic from the Netherlands. Today I found that my post has been cited at a Dutch web page:

The Banjo Song vs. Venus (UPDATE, 8/23/07 - Link now dead)

I had fun using Babelfish to translate the page into a comical resemblance to English...

...Very cool! Very gratifying. They've provided a WMV file showing the excerpt from the TV program, as well as a chronology citing other mentions of the 'debate' around the web. They've done their homework!

(UPDATE, 8/23/07 - For the Dutch TV excerpt, LINK here, and scroll down the page to the Leo Blokhuis clip, which you can view on your Windows Media Player)

- - And this is what's so wonderful about the web. This one extraneous bit of pop culture minutae, and there's evidence of the Dutch, the Russians, the Greeks, the Croats and the Americans all taking time to gab about it...

Cover Gallery: Paperback Mysteries, etc. - - 1950's and early '60's (flickr link)

Another stack of cover images from some fun trashy paperback novels.

Such compelling titles!

Click over to flickr, get yourself a little slideshow action going, and enjoy.






Link to my flickr set:
Cover Gallery: Paperback Mysteries, etc. - - 1950's and early '60's



(ADDENDUM, 2/6/08: 2 new cover scans added to set)



(See also my previous set: Cover Gallery: 1940's Paperback Mysteries).

78s fRom HeLL: Erskine Butterfield and his Blue Boys - Foo-Gee

Erskine Butterfield was an East Coast pioneer of the cocktail piano, with his earlier efforts being more rooted in Boogie-Woogie and Jazz.

Full of fine and mellow hep-cat lingo, it looks like his song 'Foo-Gee' was first recorded around 1941, with a successful cover version by the Ink Spots following soon after.

Listen to: Erskine Butterfield and his Blue Boys - Foo-Gee (click for audio)

'Kitten On A Trampoline': A web round-up of illustrations by Robert McGinnis

(post revised on 4/21/08)


In a career spanning several decades, the artwork of Robert McGinnis has appeared on the covers of more than 1,000 paperback books, on dozens of movie posters, and in numerous magazine illustrations.

The image above accompanies the story 'Kitten On A Trampoline', written by John D. MacDonald, as it appeared in the April 8th, 1961 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.

When I first posted this entry in April of 2007, there were some large galleries of McGinnis work available on the net, but unfortunately, since that time several of those sites have shut down, including the artist's own official homepage.

Hopefully that situation will change in the near future, and perhaps some of those pages may be relisted here.

In the meantime, follow the links below for many fine examples of the artwork of Robert McGinnis!

- A set of images at Virtual Pin-ups Art Gallery

- A gallery of movie posters and more at American Art Archives

- A Flickr set posted by Leif Peng

- Some samples from a book collection of McGinnis paperback covers

- A couple of nice blog posts - - one at Stainless Steel Droppings, and one at Ryan's Neat Stuff Blog

ADDENDUM, 6/2/08: As of this writing, advance solicitations have been posted for issue #23 of Illustration Magazine, to be released later this summer and currently slated to contain a feature article on the magazine work of Robert McGinnis.

Nobody Talks About Widowmaker Anymore

Well, okay, almost nobody.

It being the internet, somebody's been discussing most anything you can name.

Headed by Mott The Hoople's lead guitarist, the band's pedigree included a *second* lead guitarist brought in from Hawkwind, a drummer from Lindisfarne, and a bass player from Chicken Shack.

For some great background info on this short-lived mid-1970's British band, please go to Mott the Dog's detailed Widowmaker article.

When I was a teen and immersed in (something approximating) my obligatory 'rocker' years, I thought Widowmaker's 2nd LP, 'Too Late To Cry' was pretty cool.

To my ears it had several memorable rock anthems, songs that I was surprised didn't find much recognition or (to my knowledge) ANY significant airplay on US radio waves.

Here's probably my fave tune from the album, and it's one that doesn't show up on their retrospective CD reissue.

Listen to: Widowmaker - Mean What You Say (click for audio)

Vinyl Archaeology

Before my big move away from the old home town, for something like eighteen years (eek!) I volunteered with their local Friends Of The Library. They'd put on regular fundraiser book sales, primarily using donations from the community. A great cause.

My jurisdiction was to process, sort, price and maintain the 'records & tapes' section, which also included videos, CDs, and books-on-tape, and it all kept me busy enough over the many years. Depending on the flow of donations, it could be sedate or a crazy crunch to keep on top of things. 'Spring cleaning' season was always busy.

Like anything else, much of the task was tedious and repetetive. Organizing, checking condition, seeing many of the same titles come in over and over and over again. But that's okay, I tend toward that sort of obsessive behavior anyway, and I like records.

It was solitary work, and as so much of the task became like second nature, I would get lost in my thoughts and began to find my enjoyment where I could.

The part of it that I probably grew to enjoy the most was the inevitable 'archaeological' aspects of digging through a box of old records that someone had donated, and piecing together a picture of that person.

Here are some examples.

Let's start with the LPs in this one big cardboard box over here...

- Hmm, so these were all the 'family' records before the divorce, but these 3 or 4 came after.
- Right, and these well-loved few are the remains of Mom's teen-heart-throb fixation from when she was young.
- Here's the beat-to-shit kiddie records...
- The 2 or 3 beat-up Xmas records and the other unfavored clean ones.
- Here's that trip to Portugal in the '60's.
- Here's the autographed steelband album from the '70's Caribbean cruise.
- The incongruous batch of old rock albums that the kids left behind when they went off to college.
- The incongruous batch of old Mario Lanza and Mantovani records from clearing out Granma's house.
- The incongruous Huey Lewis album, because '...our Kenneth went to high school with him.'

Alright, those are sorted, let's see what's in these other random grocery sacks and plastic shopping bags...

- Yep, oddly worn bad late '70's jazz-fusion: The 'too much coke' years.
- The fingerprint-laden disco 12" singles with the owner's name written on them in sharpie from when she taught that aerobics class.
- The big stack of showtunes and complete Streisand & Minnelli catalogs in pristine condition, with specially-purchased 'V.R.P.' inner sleeves, inserted newspaper clippings, and a sheet of typed notations; oh, we SO know his story.
- The self-help cassette series where the final 6 tapes are still sealed in shrinkwrap.
- The unopened gag-gift Slim Whitman album.
- This person was very proud of their Greek heritage.
- Somebody here had tried to learn to play the flute.
- That dude loved to party, maybe a tad too much - - and especially to Willie & Waylon.
- I'm guessing this woman lived alone.
- Yikes, this guy needed to get laid.
- This person wrote their name on the back of every LP cover, just in case anyone ever wanted to borrow the album. But no one ever did, did they? Awww.

- Okay, you've just sold off all your good albums and these leftovers are only the dregs the store wouldn't take.
- You've replaced your old audiophile classical LPs with CDs.
- You've been upgrading your old video collection to DVD.
- You used to summer in New England in the '80's, and would frequent the same little used record shop, with an eye for the bargains.
- You'd buy 'local flavor' cassettes for the car when you were on vacation.
- This artist with the release on the tiny independent label - - He's your cousin, right? And does he know you're giving this away?
- You were a little drunk at that night club when you bought the opening band's CD and had the cute singer sign it, weren't you?

- Yeah - - we don't really have a use for empty jackets or broken records, but thanks...
- ...And I'll bet you had a hard time ever finding what you wanted to hear when you'd put MOST EVERY DISC away in THE WRONG album jacket...
- ...And likewise, y'know it's great that you enjoyed listening to books-on-tape in your car. Really. But, uh, like, if you wanted to pass them on for someone else to enjoy - - ? Just a thought: Some people aren't interested in a book where the middle part is missing.

- Hmmph. Your basement is damp.
- Feh. Your attic is dusty and has spiders.
- Blecch - - Somebody smoked big nasty-ass cigars.
- Ick! You've got rats! Eeew, eeew, eeew, get it off...! Now I gotta go wash my hands...

- Okay, I'm stumped. Why would anyone need 3 identical sealed copies of the same Leo Sayer album?
- Huh. Don't know that I'll be able to find an appropriate price for your boxed and catalogued, personally-recorded, oddly-spliced, reel-to-reel collection of city council meetings from 1964 - 1966. It's a shame, really...
- Jeez, that's a lot of Poco albums - - What, were you IN the band??
- Your Aunt guessed wrong at Xmas again. Nice of her to keep trying, though.
- Aaghhh!! You're a bad, BAD person for not taking proper care of these amazing original jazz albums from the '50's! Are you even ashamed??

...mutter, gripe, wheeze... why i oughta... mutter, mutter... if it was ME... shuffle, mutter... piece of my mind, grumble... Okay, back to work...