"Windy" is a pop music song written by Ruthann Friedman and recorded by The Association.^[1] Released in 1967, the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July of that year. Later in 1967, an instrumental version by jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery became his biggest Hot 100 hit when it peaked at #44. "Windy" was The Association's second U.S. number-one, following "Cherish" in 1966.

According to rumor, the original lyrics by Ruthann Friedman were about a man and The Association changed them to be about a woman.^[2]

"There are many explanations of who Windy actually was in Ruthann's life. She would have you know, she being me, Ruthann Friedman, that none of them are true. Windy was indeed a female and purely a fictitious character who popped into my head one fine day in 1967...

During the recording session the Association members, sure that they were in the middle of recording a hit, called the song writer, me again, in to sing on the fade at the end. I can be heard singing a blues harmony as the song fades out..."

Session musician Hal Blaine was brought in to play drums.^[3]

Covers[link]

Gary Lewis and the Playboys released the song in 1968 on their album, Gary Lewis Now!

The band Betty covered the song on their 1996 album Limboland.

Barry Manilow and The Association covered this song as a medley with "Cherish" on the 2006 album The Greatest Songs of the Sixties. This song was also recorded by Astrud Gilberto on her album Windy.

The band Go Kart Mozart recorded an instrumental version of the song under the title "Today" for their debut album Instant Wigwam and Igloo Mixture

In popular culture[link]

A version of the song was used as the theme tune on the nightly Today program broadcast on Thames Television from 1968 to 1977.

On March 25, 2009, Life on Mars (U.S. TV series) featured this song in the episode "Everyone Knows It's Windy."

On June 6, 2010, television show Breaking Bad, at the start of the episode "Half Measures" (season 3, episode 12), has Wendy the prostitute turning tricks at the Crossroads Motel to the sounds of "Windy."

Brad Garrett sang a version of the song (replacing 'Windy' with 'Brad') in a commercial for 7-Up.

See also List of recordings of songs Hal Blaine has played on

References[link]

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The Association
The group in 1968. Top row, from left: Jim Yester, Brian Cole, Ted Bluechel; bottom row, from left: Russ Giguere, Larry Ramos, Terry Kirkman
Background information
Origin	California, United States
Genres	Sunshine pop, baroque pop, folk rock, psychedelic folk
Years active	1965–1978; 1979-present
Labels	Jubilee, Valiant, Warner Bros., Columbia, Mums, RCA, Elektra
Website	The Association Official website
Members
Russ Giguere Larry Ramos Jim Yester Bruce Pictor Del Ramos Jordan Cole
Past members
Jules Gary Alexander Terry Kirkman Brian Cole Ted Bluechel Jr

The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival. As of 2011^[update], they are still performing.

History[link]

Beginnings[link]

Jules Alexander (born September 25, 1943, Chattanooga, Tennessee) was in Hawaii in 1962 serving a stint in the Navy when he met Terry Kirkman (born December 12, 1939, Salina, Kansas), a visiting salesman. The two young musicians jammed together and promised to get together once Alexander was discharged. That happened a year later; the two eventually moved to Los Angeles and began exploring the city's music scene in the mid-1960s. (Kirkman played in groups with Frank Zappa for a time before Zappa went on to form The Mothers of Invention). Eventually, at a Monday night hootenanny at the LA nightclub The Troubadour, in 1964, an ad hoc group called The Inner Tubes was formed by Terry, Jules and Doug Dillard, whose rotating membership contained, at one time or another, Cass Elliot, David Crosby and many others who drifted in and out. This led, in 1965, to the forming of The Men, a 13 piece folk-rock band. This group had a brief spell as the house band at The Troubadour.

After a short time, however, The Men disbanded, with six of the members electing to go out on their own (some of the remaining players continued on as Tony Mafia's Men, one of the others, Mike Whalen, joined The New Christy Minstrels). At the suggestion of Kirkman's then-fiancée, Judy, they took the name The Association. The original lineup consisted of Alexander (using his middle name, Gary, on the first 2 albums) on vocals and lead guitar; Kirkman on vocals and a variety of wind, brass and percussion instruments; Brian Cole (born September 8, 1942, Tacoma, Washington) on vocals, bass and woodwinds; Russ Giguere (born October 18, 1943, Portsmouth, New Hampshire) on vocals, percussion and guitar; Ted Bluechel, Jr. (born December 2, 1942, San Pedro, California) on drums, guitar, bass and vocals; and Bob Page (born May 13, 1943) on guitar, banjo and vocals. However, Page was replaced by Jim Yester (born November 24, 1939, Birmingham, Alabama) on vocals, guitar, and keyboards before any of the group's public performances.

The new band spent about five months rehearsing before they began performing around the Los Angeles area, most notably a regular stint at The Ice House in Pasadena and its sister club in Glendale.^[1] They also auditioned for record labels but faced resistance due to their unique sound. Eventually, the small Jubilee label issued a single of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" (a song originally recorded by Joan Baez, later popularized by Led Zeppelin) but nothing happened. Finally, Valiant Records gave them a contract, with the first result being a version of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings".

The Men were first managed by Doug Weston, owner of the Troubador, before switching to actor Dean Fredericks, who remained onboard when the Association was formed and helped get them the Valiant deal. In 1966 Fredericks turned the reins over to Pat Colecchio, who managed the group for the next eight years.

First success[link]

Their national break would come with the song "Along Comes Mary", written by Tandyn Almer.^[1] Alexander first heard the song when he was hired to play on a demo version and persuaded Almer to give The Association first crack at it. The recording went to #7 on the Billboard charts, and led to the group's first album, And Then... Along Comes the Association, produced by Curt Boettcher. A song from the album, "Cherish", written by Kirkman,^[1] would become The Association's first #1 in September 1966.

The group followed with their second album, Renaissance, released in early 1967. Somewhat surprisingly, the band changed producers, dumping Boettcher in favor of Jerry Yester (brother of Jim and formerly of The Modern Folk Quartet). The album did not spawn any major hits (the highest charting single, "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" stalled at #35) and the album only reached #34, compared with a #5 showing for its predecessor.

Changes[link]

In late 1966 Warner Bros. Records, which had been distributing Valiant, bought the smaller label (and with it, The Association's contract). In 1967, Jules Alexander left the band to study meditation in India and was replaced by Larry Ramos (born Hilario Ramos on April 19, 1942, Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii) on vocals and guitar. Ramos had previously performed with The New Christy Minstrels and recorded solo singles for Columbia Records. He would later sing co-lead (along with Russ Giguere and Terry Kirkman) on two of The Association's biggest hit singles, "Windy" and "Never My Love".

With the lineup settled, the group returned to the studio, this time with Bones Howe in the producer's chair. The first fruits of this pairing would be the single "Windy" ( sample (help·info)) written by Ruthann Friedman, topping the Hot 100 in July 1967 and preceded by the album Insight Out, which reached #8 in June. On June 16, 1967, The Association had the unique honor of being the first act to perform at the Monterey Pop Festival. (The Criterion Collection DVD of the festival includes their performance of "Along Comes Mary" on disc 3.)

The group's winning streak continued with their next single, "Never My Love", written by Don and Dick Addrisi; it went to #2 in Billboard and #1 in Cash Box in October 1967. It became the group's only double-sided charted record as its B-side, "Requiem For The Masses", made a brief showing on the Billboard chart. Like "Cherish" and "One Too Many Mornings", "Never My Love" had a vocal arrangement that was provided by Clark Burroughs, a former member of the Hi-Los.

"Never My Love" has been accredited by BMI as the song with the second most US airplay in the 20th century.^[2]

After rejecting the recording of an entire cantata written by Jimmy Webb, which included the song "MacArthur Park", the group, in early 1968, produced its fourth album, Birthday, with Bones Howe again at the controls. This album spawned "Everything That Touches You", the group's last Hot 100 top 10 hit, and the more experimental "Time for Livin'", the group's last Hot 100 top 40 hit. Later that year, the group released a self-produced single, the harder-edged "Six Man Band". This song would also appear on Greatest Hits, released in November.

Comings and goings[link]

In early 1969, Jules Alexander returned to the group, which now made The Association a seven-man band (they acknowledged by changing the title and lyric of "Six-Man Band" to match.) The first project with the seven-piece band was music for the soundtrack of Goodbye, Columbus, the film version of Philip Roth's best-selling novel. The title track, written by Yester, rose to #80. John Boylan, one third of the unknown Hamilton Streetcar, and who would become one of the most important record producers of the '70s and '80s, worked with the group on the soundtrack and stayed on board for the next album, The Association. Not surprisingly, many of the tracks have a decidedly country-rock feel. None of the singles made any impact, so the group re-teamed with Curt Boettcher for a one-off single, "Just About the Same", a reworking of a song Boettcher had recorded with his group, The Millennium. This failed to hit as well.

Despite all this, the band remained a popular concert draw and on April 3, 1970, a Salt Lake City performance was recorded for The Association Live. In 1971 Russ Giguere left the band; he would release a solo album, Hexagram 16, that same year. The Association replaced him with keyboardist/singer Richard Thompson (no relation to the English singer-songwriter/guitarist), who had contributed to previous albums and would go on to be known primarily in jazz circles. 1971 also saw the release of Stop Your Motor. Despite some good tracks (notably a cover of Jimmy Webb's "P.F. Sloan" with Brian Cole imitating Roy Rogers in the bargain), the album was their worst selling to date, reaching only #158 on the Billboard chart.

Stop Your Motor also marked the end of The Association's tenure at Warner Bros. In early 1972, they resurfaced on Columbia with Waterbeds in Trinidad!, produced by Lewis Merenstein (best known for producing Van Morrison's Astral Weeks). The album fared even worse than Stop Your Motor, reaching #194, while a single of The Lovin' Spoonful's "Darlin' Be Home Soon" failed to break the Hot 100.

Breakup and re-formation[link]

For their 1972 tour, the group expanded to nine members, bringing in session players Wolfgang Meltz and Mike Berkowitz on bass and drums respectively to add more musical versatility on stage and free up Brian Cole and Ted Bluechel to concentrate on singing only. But on August 2, 1972, 29-year-old Cole was found dead in his Los Angeles home of an overdose of heroin. For the rest of the 1970s, The Association was in a state of flux, releasing singles now and then along with sporadic touring.

At the end of 1972, Kirkman departed, as did Meltz and Berkowitz. The group was then moved over to the CBS distributed Mums label (which had been formed by Bobby Roberts^{[disambiguation needed ]}, formerly of Dunhill Records) and put out a new single "Names, Tags, Numbers & Labels". It failed to make much of an impression, though, and Mums folded by the end of 1974.

Thompson left at the beginning of 1973 and the remaining foursome of Alexander, Bluechel, Yester & Ramos brought in new members Maurice Miller (vocals, drums, percussion), Art Johnson (vocals, guitar) and David Vaught (vocals, bass, and later a member of the Lopez Beatles) and continued touring. Jim Yester was briefly replaced by his brother Jerry later this same year, only to return in 1974. When Jules Alexander left soon after to join Russ Giguere in a new vocal outfit, Bijou, Jerry again came in to play with the group until the end of that year.

1975 saw the band now on RCA and they put out another single, "One Sunday Morning". An album called The Association Bites Back was to follow but never got released. Membership was a bit fluid in 1975-1976. Dwayne Smith (vocals, keyboards) joined and appeared on the above single but was replaced by Andy Chapin by the end of 1975. Ramos departed as well in mid-1975 and was replaced by Larry Brown (vocals, guitar), who came in for three years. Art Johnson stayed onboard for a short while longer but was likewise gone by the end of 1975. The increased tour schedule led to Chapin's departure in 1976. (He later played for artist Rick Nelson and perished along with Nelson and his band when his plane crashed on December 31, 1985.) Chapin was replaced, first by Jay Gruska, who had just finished a stint with Three Dog Night, and then by David Morgan in mid-1976.

During this period the band was offered a production deal with Mike Curb who wanted them to record a disco version of the prior hits, "Cherish", "No Fair At All" and an original song which Larry Brown wrote and sang entitled "It's High Time To Get High". Reportedly, Curb was dissatisfied with the drum tracks and wanted to bring in session drummer Jim Gordon to play and the band refused, sinking the deal.

In 1978 Brown left to concentrate on session work and was replaced by Cliff Woolley. However, the prime gigs were fewer and far between by this time and Yester left, leaving Bluechel as the only original member. Keyboardist Ric Ulsky stepped in at this point and the group had two keyboardists for a short time. Russ Levine (who had played with Bobby Womack, Donna Summer and Ultimate Spinach) also arrived to replace Miller on drums but the band then dissolved shortly afterwards, leaving Bluechel with a huge debt. To help clear away some of it, on November 1, 1978, he leased the group's name to another company who put a fake Association out on the road.

In 1979 the surviving key members: Terry Kirkman, Jules Alexander, Russ Giguere, Ted Bluechel, Jim Yester & Larry Ramos, along with Richard Thompson and new bassist Joe Lamanno, reunited at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles for an HBO special called Then and Now (Kirkman was working for HBO at the time) and a charity show hosted by Ed McMahon in Dallas called Ed McMahon and Company. This led, in the early '80s, to a few singles on Elektra Records (one of which, "Dreamer", made the Hot 100 with virtually no promotion) and more touring.

In 1980 the originals (with Ric Ulsky returning in place of Thompson and Alexander taking over the bass) went back on the road for a concert tour. With the genuine article back out touring, the bogus band was eventually put out of business.

Jim Yester left again in 1983 and the group added Keith Moret (bass, backing vocals) as Alexander went back to playing guitar. Moret stayed only briefly until Joe Lamanno returned in 1984. That same year the group was invited to appear on the Happy Together Again tour, a multi-bill of 60s acts produced by David Fishof, headlined by the Turtles, and also including Gary Puckett and Spanky McFarlane of Spanky & Our Gang. Gary's brother, Brian Puckett, played drums in the show for Gary and Spanky and likewise joined the Association for their set as well. But by the end of the year, there was a mass exodus as Kirkman, Bluechel, Ulsky, Lamanno, and Brian Puckett all departed.

In 1985 the band carried on as Alexander, Giguere, and Ramos recruited new members: Paul Beach (vocals, bass, who'd also played in the Happy Together Again show band), Bruce Pictor (vocals, drums, percussion) and Donni Gougeon (vocals, keyboards). Gougeon was briefly replaced in 1986 by Chris Urmston, but was back by the following year. Paul Holland took Gougeon's place in 1988 before moving over to bass in 1989 when Beach quit. Gougeon then rejoined for a ten-year stint from 1989–1999, succeeded by Bob Werner, who had been the band's light man and road manager in 1974-75 and fill-in member, as needed, from 1994 on. Jules Alexander turned in his notice in early 1989. Larry Ramos's brother Del, who was doing sound for the group, then began adding his voice to the mix from that point on. Eventually, he was promoted to full onstage membership as bassist for the group.

During the 1980s & 1990s the group's recorded output was minimal. They recorded a few new tracks and some covers of popular 60s songs for a few compilation albums on the Hitbound label made through Radio Shack's Tandy Corporation in the mid-80s, re-recorded some of their older material for another album, Vintage, for CBS in 1983 and put out another album full of cover tunes, The Association '95: A Little Bit More, in 1995. But most of what has been released from the 80s on have been various collections of their hits.

In September 2003, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, joined by former members Yester, Alexander, Kirkman and Bluechel at the induction ceremony at Cafaro Field, a Cleveland Indians Minor League Baseball Stadium in Niles, Ohio. Yester, Alexander, Kirkman, and Bluechel again rejoined the others for the taping of a PBS 60s rock music special 60s Experience on December 9, 2004 at Dover Downs Showroom in Dover, DE.

By 2010, the band included Russ Giguere, Larry Ramos, Jim Yester (who rejoined again in 2007 as Bob Werner departed after an eight year stint), Del Ramos, Bruce Pictor, and Jordan Cole (son of Brian) on keyboards, who joined in 1999. The Association continued to tour, mostly on bills with similar styled acts of the late 1960s, like The Grass Roots, The Buckinghams, Tommy James of Tommy James and the Shondells, and Gary Puckett. During the summer of 2011, The Association appeared in a heavy touring schedule throughout the U.S. as part of the "Happy Together: 2011" tour, along with The Grass Roots, Mark Lindsay, The Buckinghams, and The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie.^[3]

The Happy Together appearances featured only Yester, Giguere and Ramos, who were backed up by the Happy Together show band.^{[citation needed]}

Million sellers[link]

The following songs were certified as having sold over one million copies, and were each awarded a gold disc: "Cherish", "Windy", and "Never My Love".^[4]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• And Then... Along Comes The Association - Valiant VLM-5002/VLS-25002 (#5, 1966)

Reissued in 1967 on Warner Bros. W-1702/WS-1702

• Renaissance - Valiant VLM-5004/VLS-25004 (#34 1967)

Reissued in 1967 on Warner Bros. W-1704/WS-1704

• Insight Out - Warner Bros. W-1696/WS-1696 (#8, 1967)
• Birthday - Warner Bros. W-1733/WS-1733 (#23, 1968)
• The Association - Warner Bros. WS-1800 (#32, 1969)
• Stop Your Motor - Warner Bros. WS-1927 (1971)
• Waterbeds in Trinidad! - Columbia KC-31348 (1972)
• New Memories - Hitbound Records 51-3022 (1983)
• Vintage - CBS Special Products BT-19223 (1983)
• The Association 95: A Little Bit More - Track Records (1995)

Other releases[link]

• Greatest Hits - Warner Bros. WS-1767 (#4, 1968)
• Goodbye, Columbus (Soundtrack) - Warner Bros. WS-1786 (#99, 1969)
• The Association Live - Warner Bros. 2WS-1868 (#79, 1970)
• Just the Right Sound - The Anthology 1966-1981 (Double CD, released in 2002 as Warner Bros. / Rhino R2 78303, including two previously unreleased outtakes ('The Machine', 'Better Times') from 1966. An import variation also includes the outtake 'Caney Creek')

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website of The Association
• 'The Association' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page
• Cite from Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, Billboard, 1988
• Liner notes for Birthday by Richie Unterberger
• Official Website of Jim Yester
• Special Radio Show tribute to Curt Boettcher
• The Association interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969).

Brad Garrett
Garrett in April 2011
Birth name	Bradley H. Gerstenfeld
Born	(1960-04-14) April 14, 1960 (age 52) Woodland Hills, California, US

Bradley "Brad" Garrett (born Bradley H. Gerstenfeld; April 14, 1960) is an American actor, voice-actor, stand-up comedian, and professional poker-player. He has appeared in numerous television and film roles.

Garret was initially successful as a stand-up comedian in the early 1980s. Taking advantage of that success in the late 1980s, Garrett began appearing in television and film, in minor and guest roles. His first major role was Robert Barone on the CBS series Everybody Loves Raymond. The series debuted September 13, 1996 and ran nine seasons.

Garrett's film roles include Stuart Little 2, Finding Nemo, Garfield, The Amateurs, The Pacifier, Night at the Museum 2, Tangled, and Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil. Garrett also played the leading role of Eddie Stark on the FOX television series 'Til Death from 2006 to 2010.

Garrett has won three primetime Emmy awards, with three other nominations. Garrett is still prominent within stand-up comedy and is also a professional poker player. Garrett's trademarks are his height (6 feet 8½ inches; 204 cm) and deep voice.

Early life[link]

Garrett was born Bradley H. Gerstenfeld^[1] in Woodland Hills, California, the son of Barbara (née Colton), a homemaker, and Al Gerstenfeld, a hearing aid salesman.^[2] He has two older brothers, Jeff and Paul. He attended George Ellery Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills and graduated from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills. He attended UCLA for less than two months before dropping out to pursue his comedy career.

Career[link]

In one of his earliest public appearances, Garrett can be seen as the menacing palace guard on the back cover of the Electric Light Orchestra album Discovery released in 1979. In this, Garrett is seen dressed in middle-eastern traditional clothing, akin to that of the fictional character Aladdin, drawing his scimitar.

Garrett started out at various improv clubs in Los Angeles, including The Improv in Hollywood and The Ice House in Pasadena. In 1984, he became the first $100,000 grand champion winner in the comedy category of the TV show Star Search. This led to his first appearance, at age 23, on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, making him one of the youngest comedians ever to perform on the show. His appearance with Carson brought Garrett a lot of national attention, and soon he was appearing as an opening act for such headliners as Diana Ross and Liza Minnelli. He also opened in Las Vegas for Frank Sinatra, David Copperfield, Smokey Robinson, Sammy Davis, Jr., the Beach Boys, the Righteous Brothers and Julio Iglesias.

After achieving a strong measure of success with stand-up comedy, Garrett decided to change gears and try his luck with performing on TV. He was the voice of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan for the cartoon series Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling, He was featured on Family Feud during Ray Combs's tenure in a "Funny Men vs. Funny Women Week" during November sweeps. He also appeared for a week on the game show Super Password in 1987. He also appeared on Hollywood Squares including a memorable moment when he impersonated Bill Cosby during a question about Jell-o. He then appeared in the short-lived summer comedy First Impressions (CBS, 1988), in which he was a divorced father who makes a living doing impressions, in a one-time spot as a bank loan officer on Roseanne (ABC), and The Pursuit of Happiness (NBC, 1995–96), in which he was the hero's gay best friend. Though prior to these roles, Garrett had also had a minor part on Transformers, voicing the Decepticon base Trypticon in season three and as an ill-fated thug in Suicide Kings. He soon won the role of Ray Romano's brother Robert Barone on the long-running family-oriented comedy hit Everybody Loves Raymond. Garrett has also made an appearance on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air playing a hitman who attempts to kill Will Smith's character.

Garrett in May 2007

Garrett's distinctive deep voice has landed him prolific work as a voice actor, such as on the animated series the Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, 2 Stupid Dogs, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Project Geeker, Steven Spielberg Presents: Toonsylvania, A Bug's Life as Dim the Rhino Beetle, Asterix and the Vikings, Superman the Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited As Lobo, Finding Nemo, Disney's One Saturday Morning and as Auguste Gusteau in Pixar's Ratatouille. His role on Everybody Loves Raymond won him five Emmy nominations, and the 2002, 2003 and 2005 Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy.

In 1990, Garrett appeared as a semi-regular panelist on the revival of Match Game. On the May 2, 1996 episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, called "The Bottle Deposit", Garrett played a deranged auto mechanic who steals Jerry Seinfeld's car.

In 2003, he was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Gleason. With his Raymond castmates, he won the 2003 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. He won the fifth season championship of Celebrity Poker Showdown, and played in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 World Series of Poker. Garrett was hoping to do a spinoff with his character Robert Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond when the show ended its nine-year run on TV in 2005, but he withdrew in October 2005 due to inaction from CBS that led to a number of the writers from "Raymond" leaving and taking other jobs.

In 2005, Garrett appeared on Broadway playing Murray the Cop in the revival of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. He understudied Lane in the role of Oscar Madison, and substituted for him in January, 2006, during Mr. Lane's illness. In 2006, Fox network announced they would pick up a new sitcom called 'Til Death starring Brad Garrett in the lead role. The plot revolves around a long married couple whose new next door neighbors are a pair of feisty newlyweds. Joely Fisher plays Garrett's wife in the series. He also appeared onstage on American Idol Season 6 during judging on week 11, to which Ryan Seacrest said, "And the next person off American Idol is—Brad, you're out."

In the fall of 2008, Garrett starred and executive produced an online reality show called Dating Brad Garrett. In 2008, Garrett hosted a celebrity roast of Cheech & Chong, which was aired on TBS. In 2009, Garrett entered the main event at the World Series of Poker, losing on the second day of the event. Garrett has starred in commercials for 7-Up, where he portrays a more happy, cheerful version of himself because of the soda.

In June 2010, he opened Brad Garrett's Comedy Club in the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. On December 12, 2011, Garrett closed his club at the Tropicana. He is starting a new club with the same name across the street at MGM.

In December 2010, he was the reader for two day's performances of the Candlelight Processional at Disney's EPCOT.

In June 2011, I Kid with Brad Garrett, a candid kids show, premiered on TLC.

Personal life[link]

In 1998, Garret, who is Jewish proposed to his then-girlfriend, Roman Catholic Jill Diven,^[3] an extra on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond, and they were married on May 18, 1999. Their first child Maxwell Bradley Garrett was born on October 14, 1998; their second child, daughter Hope Violet Garrett, was born in January 2000. Garrett and Diven separated in 2005, and Diven filed for divorce in July 2006.^[4][5]

Although he portrays a very deep, husky voice in Everybody Loves Raymond and most of his voice-acting work, he has a higher-pitched natural voice, as heard in the show Til' Death, during Everybody Loves Raymond outtakes and bloopers, and his various appearances as himself.

In 2007, Garrett struck a TMZ photographer's camera, which the photographer claimed hit him in the face.^[6][7] The Los Angeles District Attorney declined to file assault charges against Garrett for the incident.^[8]

Garrett was the grand marshal for the Auto Club 500 on February 24, 2008.

Garrett appeared on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and played for his charity, the Maximum Hope Foundation (named after his kids). He answered every single question correctly winning $25,000 and walked away with that after being asked to play for $250,000 with the bonus subject being U.S. History.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brad Garrett

• Brad Garrett at the Internet Movie Database
• Brad Garrett at the Internet Broadway Database
• Adweek Article on Brad Garrett
• http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/interviews/2817/brads-movie-pit.html
• http://crackle.com/c/Dating_Brad_Garrett

Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane in 1895 by H.R. Locke
Born	Martha Jane Canary (1856-04-07)April 7, 1856 Princeton, Missouri
Died	August 1, 1903(1903-08-01) (aged 47) Terry, South Dakota
Nationality	United States
Other names	Calamity Jane

Martha Jane Canary (May 1, 1856 – August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans. She is said to have also exhibited kindness and compassion, especially to the sick and needy. This contrast helped to make her a famous and infamous frontier figure.^[1]

Early life: 1856–1876[link]

Marker east of Princeton indicating the most widely believed location of her birth. The site is now occupied by a Premium Standard Farms hog farm

Calamity Jane was born May 1, 1852, as Martha Jane Cannary (or Canary) ^[2] in Princeton, Missouri, within Mercer County. Her parents, Robert W. and Charlotte Cannary, were listed in the 1860 census as living about 7 miles (11 km) further northeast of Princeton in Ravanna. Martha Jane was the eldest of six children, having two brothers and three sisters. In 1865, Robert packed his family and moved by wagon train from Missouri to Virginia City, Montana. Charlotte died along the way in Black Foot, Montana, in 1866 of "washtub pneumonia." After arriving in Virginia City in the spring of 1866, Robert took his six children on to Salt Lake City, Utah. They arrived in the summer, and Robert supposedly started farming on 40 acres (160,000 m²) of land. They were there only a year before he died in 1867. Martha Jane took over as head of the family, loaded up the wagon once more, and took her siblings to Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory. They arrived in May 1868. From there they traveled on the Union Pacific Railroad to Piedmont, Wyoming.

In Piedmont, Martha Jane took whatever jobs she could to provide for her large family. She worked as a dishwasher, a cook, a waitress, a dance-hall girl, a nurse, and an ox team driver. Finally, in 1874, she found work as a scout at Fort Russell. During this time period, Jane also began her on-and-off employment as a prostitute at the Fort Laramie Three-Mile Hog Ranch.^[3]

From her autobiography of 1896, Martha Jane writes of this time

"In 1865 we emigrated from our homes in Missouri by the overland route to Virginia City, Montana, taking five months to make the journey. While on the way, the greater portion of my time was spent in hunting along with the men and hunters of the party; in fact, I was at all times with the men when there was excitement and adventures to be had. By the time we reached Virginia City, I was considered a remarkable good shot and a fearless rider for a girl of my age. I remember many occurrences on the journey from Missouri to Montana. Many times in crossing the mountains, the conditions of the trail were so bad that we frequently had to lower the wagons over ledges by hand with ropes, for they were so rough and rugged that horses were of no use. We also had many exciting times fording streams, for many of the streams in our way were noted for quicksands and boggy places, where, unless we were very careful, we would have lost horses and all. Then we had many dangers to encounter in the way of streams swelling on account of heavy rains. On occasions of that kind, the men would usually select the best places to cross the streams; myself, on more than one occasion, have mounted my pony and swam across the stream several times merely to amuse myself, and have had many narrow escapes from having both myself and pony washed away to certain death, but, as the pioneers of those days had plenty of courage, we overcame all obstacles and reached Virginia City in safety. Mother died at Black Foot, Montana, 1866, where we buried her. I left Montana in Spring of 1866, for Utah, arriving at Salt Lake City during the summer."

Accounts from this period described Martha Jane as being "extremely attractive" and a "pretty, dark-eyed girl." Martha Jane received little to no formal education and was illiterate. She moved on to a rougher, mostly outdoor adventurous life on the Great Plains.

Acquiring the nickname[link]

1885 photos of Calamity Jane^[4]

Martha Jane was involved in several campaigns in the long-running military conflicts with Native American Indians. Her unconfirmed claim was that:

"It was during this campaign [in 1872–1873] that I was christened Calamity Jane. It was on Goose Creek, Wyoming where the town of Sheridan is now located. Capt. Egan was in command of the Post. We were ordered out to quell an uprising of the Indians, and were out for several days, had numerous skirmishes during which six of the soldiers were killed and several severely wounded. When on returning to the Post we were ambushed about a mile and a half from our destination. When fired upon Capt. Egan was shot. I was riding in advance and on hearing the firing turned in my saddle and saw the Captain reeling in his saddle as though about to fall. I turned my horse and galloped back with all haste to his side and got there in time to catch him as he was falling. I lifted him onto my horse in front of me and succeeded in getting him safely to the Fort. Capt[.] Egan on recovering, laughingly said: 'I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains.' I have borne that name up to the present time."

As reported in the Anaconda Standard (Montana, Apr. 19, 1904): Captain Jack Crawford, who served under both Generals Wesley Merritt and George Crook, stated, Calamity Jane "...never saw service in any capacity under either General Crook or General Miles. She never saw a lynching and never was in an Indian fight. She was simply a notorious character, dissolute and devilish, but possessed a generous streak which made her popular."

However, it may be that she exaggerated or completely fabricated this story. Even back then not everyone accepted her version as true. A popular belief is that she instead acquired it as a result of her warnings to men that to offend her was to "court calamity". It appears possible that Jane was not part of her name until the nickname was coined for her.^[5]

She certainly was known by that nickname by 1876, because the arrival of the Hickok wagon train was reported in the Deadwood newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer, on July 15, 1876, with the headline, "Calamity Jane has arrived!"^[6]

One verified story about "Calamity Jane" is that in 1875 her detachment was ordered to the Big Horn River, under General Crook. Bearing important dispatches, she swam the Platte River and traveled 90 miles (145 km) at top speed while wet and cold to deliver them.^{[citation needed]} Afterwards, she became ill. After recuperating for a few weeks, she rode to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and later, in July 1876, she joined a wagon train headed north, which is where she first met Wild Bill Hickok, contrary to her later claims.

Deadwood and Wild Bill Hickok: 1876–1881[link]

Calamity Jane accompanied the Newton-Jenney Party into the Black Hills in 1875, along with California Joe and Valentine McGillycuddy. By this time (or shortly thereafter) her youthful good looks were gone; her skin was leathery and tanned from sun and wind, she was muscular and unfeminine, and her hair was stringy and seldom washed.^[7]

In 1876, Calamity Jane settled in the area of Deadwood, South Dakota, in the Black Hills. There, she became friends with, and was occasionally employed by, Dora DuFran, the Black Hills' leading madam. She became friendly with Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter, having travelled with them to Deadwood in Utter's wagon train. Jane greatly admired Hickok (much later others alleged to the point of infatuation and also claimed she was obsessed with his personality and his life). After Hickok was killed during a poker game on August 2, 1876, Calamity Jane claimed to have been married to Hickok and that Hickok was the father of her child (Jean), who she said was born on September 25, 1873, and whom she later put up for adoption by Jim O'Neil and his wife. No records are known to exist which prove the birth of a child, and the romantic slant to the relationship might have been fabrication. During the period that the alleged child was born, she was working as a scout for the army. At the time of his death, Hickok was newly married to Agnes Lake Thatcher.

The McCormick claim[link]

However, on September 6, 1941, the U.S. Department of Public Welfare did grant old age assistance to a Jean Hickok Burkhardt McCormick (her third husband), who claimed to be the legal offspring of Martha Jane Cannary and James Butler Hickok, after being presented with evidence that Calamity Jane and Wild Bill had married at Benson's Landing, Montana Territory, on September 25, 1873, documentation being written in a Bible and presumably signed by two ministers and numerous witnesses. (However, McCormick's claim has been vigorously challenged because of a variety of discrepancies.^[8])

After the death of Wild Bill Hickok[link]

Jane also claimed that following Hickok's death, she went after Jack McCall, his murderer, with a meat cleaver, having left her guns at her residence in the excitement of the moment. However, she never confronted McCall. Following McCall's eventual hanging for the offense, Jane continued living in the Deadwood area for some time, and at one point she did help save several passengers in an overland stagecoach by diverting several Plains Indians who were in pursuit of the stage. The stagecoach driver, John Slaughter, was killed during the pursuit, and Jane took over the reins and drove the stage on to its destination at Deadwood.^[9] Also in late 1876, Jane nursed the victims of a smallpox epidemic in the Deadwood area.

Final years: 1881–1903[link]

In 1881, she bought a ranch west of Miles City, Montana, along the Yellowstone River, where she kept an inn. After marrying the Texan Clinton Burke, and moving to Boulder, she again tried her luck in this business. In 1887, she had a daughter, Jane, who was given to foster parents.

In 1893, Calamity Jane started to appear in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show as a storyteller. She also participated in the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. At that time, she was depressed and an alcoholic. Jane’s addiction to liquor was evident even in her younger years. For example, on June 10, 1876, she rented a horse and buggy in Cheyenne for a mile-or-so joy ride to Fort Russell and back, but Calamity was so drunk that she passed right by her destination without noticing it and finally ended up about 90 miles away at Fort Laramie.^[10]

By the turn of the century, Madame Dora DuFran was still going strong when Jane returned to the Black Hills in 1903. For the next few months, Jane earned her keep by cooking and doing the laundry for Dora’s brothel girls in Belle Fourche. In July, she travelled to Terry, South Dakota. While staying in the Calloway Hotel on August 1, 1903, she died at the age of 51 (or 53 or 56).^[11] It was reported that she had been drinking heavily on board a train and became very ill. The train's conductor carried her off the train and to a cabin, where she died soon after. In her belongings, a bundle of letters to her daughter was found, which she had never sent. Some of these letters were set to music in an art song cycle by 20th century composer Libby Larsen called Songs From Letters. (These letters were first made public by Jean McCormick as part of her claim to be the daughter of Jane and Hickok - but the authenticity of these letters is not accepted by some, largely because there is no non-McCormick document supposedly written by Jane and there is ample evidence that Jane was functionally illiterate.)^[8]

Calamity Jane was buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery (South Dakota), next to Wild Bill Hickok. Four of the men who formed a self-appointed committee and so planned her funeral (Albert Malter, Frank Ankeney, Jim Carson, and Anson Higby) later stated that since Wild Bill Hickok had “absolutely no use” for Jane while he was alive, they decided to play a posthumous joke on Wild Bill Hickok by giving Calamity an eternal resting place by his side.^[12] There is insufficient documentary evidence to support the truth of this rather callous claim, or to disprove it. It is possible they made the cruel jibe to deflect attention away from the dubious legality of their self-appointed funeral committee and its questionable actions in having her buried next to Hickok at all, possibly for ignoble reasons. By the time "Calamity Jane" died in 1903, Hickok had been dead nearly 30 years and his tourist-draw power was on the wane. Jane's death in nearby Terry fortuitously presented an opportunity to boost the local profile by giving visitors the chance to see, as it were, two legends of the Old West at the same time. These men may therefore have overridden more decorous plans - and even Jane's own wishes - for their own profit, though this cannot be proven. Although there is little unbiased documentary evidence either way, it may be inferred that they covering their own backs rather than exposing any genuine feelings towards Cannary on Hickok's part by the fact that the US Department of Welfare, as mentioned previously, an organisation not noted for its largesse or generosity, did accept the claim of Jean McCormick to be Jane's elder daughter by an 1873 marriage to Hickok, since the marriage lines she produced as evidence would have had to have been signed by two verifiable ministers of religion and several verifiable witnesses, a group of people unlikely to deliberately lie.

Calamity Jane was a frequent visitor to and sometimes resident of Livingston, Montana, and towns in the Paradise Valley (Montana).^[13]

She came up from a very hardscrabble life, unacquainted with bourgeois notions of decorum, she probably never knew financial security but even in poverty she was known for her helpfulness, generosity, and willingness to undertake demanding and even dangerous tasks to help others. She was afflicted with alcoholism and wanderlust (and, perhaps, promiscuity), but, as someone remembered her, "Her vices were the wide-open sins of a wide-open country -- the sort that never carried a hurt."^[14]

Autobiography[link]

"Calamity Jane", as she became known, lived a very colorful and eventful life but often claimed questionable associations or friendships with notable famous American Old West figures, almost always posthumously. For example, years after the death of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, she claimed that she served under him during her initial enlistment at Fort Russell, and that she also served under him during the Indian campaigns in Arizona. However, no records exist to show that Custer was assigned to Fort Russell, and she did not take an active part in the Arizona Indian campaigns; she was given the task of subjugating the Plains Indians.

In 1896 she joined the traveling Kohl & Middleton Dime Museum as a performer, and a 7-page souvenir booklet was sold by that circus, titled The Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane by Herself; it was almost certainly written by someone else, as there is no reliable evidence that Jane could read and write. It is this booklet that is described, rather generously, as her autobiography. The booklet misstates her birth name (as "Marthy Cannary"), her birthdate, misspells "Missourri" repeatedly and refers to "Wm. Hickok". Several of the stories in the booklet are unsupported, or even contradicted, by reliable evidence.

Unlike Annie Oakley, her performances did not involve sharpshooting or roping or riding, merely Jane appearing on stage in buckskins and reciting her adventures - "which metastisized with each telling" - in colorful but clean language; however after about six months her increasing drinking and profanity ended her career as a stage performer.^[15]

Her reputation for embellishing her accomplishments, and the willingness of some others to attribute to her even more fanciful adventures (even during her lifetime she was used as a character in works of Western fiction), have made it very difficult to determine the "true facts" of her life. Historians have been unable to locate sufficient information to determine the truth about disputed events, and in many instances independent sources completely contradict her own accounts.^[16]

Major media representations[link]

Films[link]

• The Plainsman is a 1936 film starring Gary Cooper as Wild Bill Hickok and Jean Arthur as Calamity Jane.
• In Young Bill Hickok with Roy Rogers (1940), she was portrayed by Sally Payne.
• Calamity Jane was played by Jane Russell in the 1948 comedy movie The Paleface.
• Calamity Jane and Sam Bass was a 1949 film; Calamity was played by Yvonne De Carlo, Sam Bass by Howard Duff.
• Calamity Jane was a 1953 musical film from Warner Brothers Studios; starring Doris Day in the title role, and Howard Keel as Wild Bill Hickok. It won the Best Song Oscar for the song "Secret Love", by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster.
• In the 1995 movie Tall Tale she was portrayed by actress Catherine O'Hara as a mythic figure, acquainted with Paul Bunyan and John Henry, and as Pecos Bill's jilted sweetheart and as a sheriff or deputy of some sort.
• In the 1995 film Wild Bill she was portrayed by actress Ellen Barkin.
• Jane was in the 2009 French movie Lucky Luke.

Television[link]

• In the 1963 episode of Bonanza, "Calamity Over the Comstock", Stefanie Powers plays Calamity Jane, who visits Virginia City along with Doc Holliday. In this primarily comedic episode, she is rescued by Little Joe, at first thought to be a male. She becomes infatuated with him and he receives threats from Doc who covets Jane for himself. At her urging (and threat) Doc demurs from facing-down Joe, and Jane and Doc exit town together.
• Season 5 of Have Gun, Will Travel included an episode called "The Cure" (first broadcast on May 20, 1961) with an alcoholic Jane (Norma Crane as "Martha Jane Conroy") seeking revenge from a promoter who had replaced the "real" Jane with a younger woman.
• In 1984, the television movie called Calamity Jane featured her life story including her alleged marriage to Wild Bill & their daughter that she gave up. Actress Jane Alexander portrayed Calamity and was nominated for an Emmy in 1985 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Special. It also featured an early performance of Sara Gilbert as Calamity's daughter, Jean, at age 7.
• Jane is the central character in Larry McMurtry's book Buffalo Girls, played by Anjelica Huston in a 1995 TV adaptation of the same name, with Sam Elliott as Wild Bill Hickok.
• In 1997 a cartoon series on Kids' WB called The Legend of Calamity Jane depicted a young Jane (voiced by Barbara Weber Scaff).
• Jane, portrayed by Robin Weigert, was an important character in HBO's 2004 television series Deadwood.

Books[link]

• Calamity Jane was an important character in the Deadwood Dick series of dime novels beginning with the first appearance of Deadwood Dick in Beadle's Half-Dime Library issue #1 in 1877. This series, written by Edward Wheeler, established her with a reputation as a wild north vacation heroine and probably did more to enhance her familiarity to the public than any of her real life exploits. (There is no evidence that she was consulted by Wheeler or approved the Deadwood Dick stories, so the character in the stories was entirely fictitious - as were the events described, but the fictional adventures were muddled in the public mind with the real Jane.)
• The science fiction writer A. Bertram Chandler included a character named Calamity Jane Arlen in his far future novels taking place on the frontier Rim Worlds, a kind of space analogue of the Old West.^[17]
• A fictitious fight between Calamity Jane and an impostor is depicted in Thomas Berger's 1964 novel Little Big Man.
• Jane is the central character in Larry McMurtry's book Buffalo Girls.
• Jane is a central character in Pete Dexter's 1986 novel Deadwood, which was the basis for the HBO series Deadwood.
• J. T. Edson features Calamity Jane as a character in a number of his books, as a stand-alone character and also as a romantic interest of the character Mark Counter.

Comic[link]

• Calamity Jane also figures as a main character in an album of the same name of the Franco-Belgian comics series Lucky Luke, created by Morris and Goscinny.

Music[link]

• Some of her purported letters were set to music in an art song cycle by 20th century composer Libby Larsen called Songs From Letters.
• Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok are featured in the song "Deadwood Mountain" by the country duo Big & Rich.

Games[link]

• Calamity Jane appeared as a side-main character in the 1996 videogame Wild ARMs.
• She also appeared as a side character in the 1991 computer RPG Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams.
• In the Facebook application FrontierVille there is a suitlike outfit for female characters called the "Calamity Jane Outfit."
• In Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies Mode, the Pack-a-Punched CZ75s are called Calamity & Jane
• In Fallout 3 there is a reference to Calamity Jane by talking with the sheriff in Megaton.

See Also[link]

• List of female adventurers

References[link]

Biography portal

• Griske, Michael (2005). The Diaries of John Hunton. Heritage Books. ISBN 0-7884-3804-2. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Calamity Jane

• Works by Calamity Jane at Project Gutenberg
• Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane at Project Gutenberg