Samuel William "Sam" Yorty (October 1, 1909 – June 5, 1998) was a politician from Los Angeles, California. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the California State Assembly, but he is most remembered for his turbulent years as the 37th Mayor of Los Angeles from 1961 to 1973. The colorful “Mayor Sam” earned numerous nicknames from both admirers and detractors, such as Travelin’ Sam, Airplane Sam, Shoot-From-the-Lip Sam, the Maverick Mayor, Mad Sam Yorty, Scrappy Sam, Suitcase Sam, Saigon Sam, and the Reform Republican.

Early life[link]

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Frank Patrick and Johanna (Egan) Yorty, he began his political education as the son of a Democratic father in a Republican state, with a mother who also showed a strong interest in politics. The family moved to Southern California when Yorty completed high school. He retained his Midwestern inflection and was known for pronouncing his city's name as “Los Ang-gah-leez.”

Yorty enrolled at Southwestern University and later the University of California at Los Angeles, working for a time at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. He was admitted to the bar in 1939.

Elected as a Democrat to the California State Assembly in 1936, Yorty established himself as a politician with integrity, but watched his popularity plummet when he reported a bribery attempt on a pending bill. Yorty advocated state ownership of public utilities and strong labor unions, showing a liberal approach to politics. His support of the Republicans in Spain's civil war against General Francisco Franco, and his fight against using the California Highway Patrol to end labor strikes helped earn him support of the local Communist Party United States of America organization.

That support haunted Yorty in 1938, when he was branded a communist by Folsom Prison inmate Arthur Kent during testimony before the California Un-American Activities Committee. Kent, who claimed to have been a local membership chairman of the Communist Party, proved to be untrustworthy and Yorty was vindicated. That episode, plus the refusal of the local Communist Party to endorse him for mayor of Los Angeles that year, began a shift of Yorty’s political beliefs.

Samuel William Yorty
Born	Lincoln, Nebraska
Died	June 5, 1998(1998-06-05) (aged 88) Los Angeles, California
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army Air Forces
Battles/wars	World War II (Pacific Theater of Operations)
Other work	Mayor of Los Angeles

Losing a 1940 bid for U.S. Senator, when he ran unsuccessfully as a liberal internationalist against isolationist Republican and longtime incumbent Hiram Johnson, Yorty left politics during World War II to serve in the United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific Theater. He resumed his Assembly seat after his discharge. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1950 and was reelected in 1952, but again lost his race for the U.S. Senate in 1954. In that special election for the two years remaining of the term Richard M. Nixon, Yorty received 1,788,071 votes (45.5 percent) to Senator Thomas H. Kuchel's 2,090,831 (53.2 percent). Kuchel, a liberal Republican, had been appointed to the seat in 1953 by then Governor Earl Warren when Nixon became vice president.

Mayoralty[link]

In 1960, Yorty endorsed fellow Californian Richard Nixon over fellow Democrat, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy for president. This angered many in the Democratic Party.

Although municipal elections in California are non-partisan, the resources of the party were directed against him when he ran for Mayor of Los Angeles the following year against incumbent Republican Norris Poulson. The bitter campaign was marked by Poulson’s claim that Yorty was backed by members of organized crime, a comment that caused Yorty to sue Poulson for $3.3 million.

Yorty prevailed, however, running as a populist. He railed against “a little ruling clique” of “downtown interests” and promised to revise the city charter, which had become unwieldy with the city's growth from a quiet West Coast town to the third largest metropolis in the country. He was a strong advocate of expanding the freeway network. Perhaps his most popular promise, however, was to end residents’ sorting of wet and dry garbage; dry garbage was typically burned in backyard incinerators, contributing to the city’s notorious smog. More accurately, there had been two collections independent of each other: wet garbage (including food waste), and bottles and cans; dry combustible trash was burned in incinerators until Los Angeles County ordered an end to backyard trash burning in 1957, when Poulson was still mayor. After that, there were three collections: wet garbage, bottles and cans, and dry trash and garbage, all independent of each other.

He made good on his waste management and highway promises, and oversaw the emergence of Los Angeles as a major city. He was a backer of the Los Angeles Music Center, business districts such as Little Tokyo, and of the Los Angeles Zoo. He also made frequent appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which boosted his popularity. At the same time, he was a passionate anti-communist, a critic of the Civil Rights Movement, and an outspoken opponent of desegregation busing and feminism.

In 1965, Yorty was reelected over Democratic Congressman James Roosevelt, son of the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt's campaign put up hundreds of billboards, handed out bales of bumper stickers and buttons, appeared often on television with 15-minute and half-hour shows, plus so many other spots that his electronic omnipresence became irksome. Roosevelt's campaign cost around $450,000. Yorty spent less than half that amount. Roosevelt called Yorty a stooge of Democrat Jesse ("Big Daddy") Unruh, the controversial California Assembly Speaker. He attacked Yorty's membership in a segregated private club, endlessly criticized Yorty for having a bad temper. Yorty was certainly irascible, but he held his temper throughout the campaign, seeming almost cool in contrast to Roosevelt. He pointed to the fact that he had cut city taxes, streamlined city government and improved garbage pickups. He outpolled Roosevelt 392,775 to 247,313, picked up 57.9% of the vote to Roosevelt's 36.5%, with the rest going to six other candidates on the ballot.

Although he was the first mayor to have a female deputy, and the first to have a racially integrated staff, his appeal did not extend to most of the city's large African-American population. Disaffection with high unemployment and racism contributed to the Watts Riots of August 11–17, 1965. Yorty’s administration was criticized for failing to cooperate with efforts to improve conditions in neighborhoods such as Watts, but he accused other leaders of raising false hopes and of action by communist agitators, having always categorically rejected any criticism of the city's police or fire departments.

After the riots, Yorty challenged incumbent Democratic Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown in the 1966 gubernatorial primary. He received 981,088 votes (37.6 percent) to Brown's 1,355,262 ballots (51.9 percent). Yorty’s politics shifted toward the right. This change became evident when he joined the election night celebration of Brown's successful opponent, Ronald W. Reagan. Yorty went to Vietnam to support the American troops and was thereafter dubbed "Saigon Sam" by his liberal opponents.

In 1967, Yorty was forced to deal with scandal after the Los Angeles Times published an expose on the city's harbor commission. The investigation led to the indictment and conviction of four city commissioners for bribery, while another was found dead in Los Angeles Harbor. The newspaper, which had long feuded with the mayor, noted that all of the individuals had been appointed by Yorty.

Support among the Anglo middle classes fell after he was embroiled in the controversy following the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel after outraging prosecutors in the Kennedy case by freely commenting on the evidence. Ironically, Yorty's place in the history books had been assured when Kennedy had told his supporters only moments before he was shot, "Mayor Yorty has just sent me a message that we've been here too long already." During the fall of 1968, Yorty refused to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey. The strategy behind this approach was that Yorty would be rewarded with a Cabinet post by Richard Nixon for his non-support of Humphrey, but Nixon declined to offer him a position in the new administration.

In the 1969 mayoral primary, his popularity slipped well below that of Los Angeles City Council member Tom Bradley. The ensuing campaign between Yorty and Bradley, directed for Yorty by Henry Salvatori,^[1][2] proved one of the most bitter in the city's history. Yorty painted his opponent as a dangerous radical, alternately of the black power or communist revolutionary varieties. The charges were not plausible since Bradley had spent much of his career in the Los Angeles Police Department, but they resonated among fearful voters, and Yorty was re-elected.

Despite winning another four years, Yorty showed obvious signs of boredom in his position. He ran again for governor in 1970 but was handily defeated for the Democratic nomination by state House Speaker Jess Unruh, 1,602,690 (61.4 percent) to 659,494 (26.3 percent). Unruh in turn was defeated by Reagan, who secured his second term as governor by a smaller margin than his 1966 plurality over Pat Brown. Yorty began to leave all but the most important decisions to his staff.

After spending almost 40 percent of his time away from Los Angeles during the last half of 1971, Yorty announced on November 15 of that year that he was running for the Democratic nomination for President in 1972. Yorty had received strong support from influential New Hampshire publisher William Loeb, stating that President Nixon had “caved in” to anti-war senators and that he had never agreed with the government's policy on the war. In response to what he would do, he noted that Dwight Eisenhower had helped bring an end to the Korean War by threatening to use nuclear weapons.

However, Yorty received just six percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary and was never able to gain any momentum in his bid for the nomination. He finally ended his bid shortly before the California primary in June 1972, asking voters to support Humphrey because of the “radical” nature of anti-Vietnam War candidate George McGovern. Yorty picked up the support of a young Louisiana delegate to the Democratic convention, Louis E. "Woody" Jenkins, who subsequently served for twenty-eight years in his state's legislature but lost three bids for the United States Senate, the last as a Republican.

After McGovern won the Democratic nomination for President, Yorty began to support Republicans. But by then he was increasingly seen as a relic. His previous race-baiting demagoguery backfired when he was soundly defeated in his 1973 rematch with Bradley.

Later career[link]

After leaving office, Yorty hosted a talk show on KCOP-TV for five years, later complaining that he was cancelled in favor of the lowbrow television program Hee Haw. After leaving work on the small screen, he returned to the political arena, but failed in a comeback bid for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1980, having been defeated by the conservative Paul Gann, who in turn was badly beaten by incumbent liberal Democrat Alan Cranston. In 1981, Yorty failed again in a bid to unseat Bradley.

Afterwards, Yorty retired from public life, aside from being a rainmaker for several law firms. He suffered a stroke on May 24, 1998, then contracted pneumonia. After treatment at the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center, he was sent to his Studio City, California home, where he died on the morning of June 5.

In 1997, a survey of urban historians and political scientists conducted by Melvin Holli at the University of Illinois at Chicago rated Yorty the third worst U.S. big-city mayor since 1960.

Yorty died on June 5, 1998, the thirtieth anniversary of Robert Kennedy's assassination and three months before Yorty's old rival, Tom Bradley, died. Prior to his death, Yorty had told his wife that he wanted no funeral service.

See also[link]

• Eighty-second United States Congress
• Eighty-third United States Congress
• Membership discrimination in California social clubs
• Norris Poulson
• Tom Bradley
• Watts Riots
• City Council President L.E. Timberlake, often the acting mayor while Yorty was away from the state

References[link]

1. ^ "Yorty Campaign Reorganized; Henry Salvatori Takes Charge," KENNETH REICH, Los Angeles Times, Apr 15, 1969
2. ^ "Will Be Glad to Meet Bradley to Heal Any Wounds, Yorty Says," KENNETH REICH, Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1969

External links[link]

• Time: Mayor Yorty Cover, September 2, 1966
• "Yorty's Chortle", Time Magazine. April 16, 1965
• Author, Jennifer. "Sam Yorty Dead At 88", CNN, June 5, 1998
• Meyerson, Harold. "Sam Yorty, 1909-1998", LA Weekly, June 12, 1998
• Pearson, Richard. "Combative Politician Sam Yorty Dies at 88", The Washington Post, June 7, 1998
• Sam Yorty at Find a Grave

v t e Mayors of Los Angeles, California S. Foster · Hodges · Wilson · Nichols · Coronel · S. Foster · T. Foster · S. Foster · Requena · Nichols · Marchessault · Mellus · Woodworth · Marchessault · Mascarel · Aguilar · Turner · Aguilar · Toberman · Beaudry · MacDougal · Cohn · Toberman · Thom · Spence · Workman · Bryson · Hazard · Bonsall · Rowan · Rader · Snyder · Eaton · Snyder · McAleer · Harper · Stephens · Alexander · Rose · Sebastian · Woodman · Snyder · Cryer · Porter · Shaw · Bowron · Poulson · Yorty · Bradley · Riordan · Hahn · Villaraigosa

Chevalier in 1920

Maurice Auguste Chevalier (September 12, 1888 – January 1, 1972) was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond. His trademark attire was a boater hat, which he always wore on stage with a tuxedo.

Born in Paris, he made his name as a star of musical comedy, appearing in public as a singer and dancer at an early age before working in four menial jobs as a teenager. In 1909, he became the partner of the biggest female star in France at the time, Fréhel. Although their relationship was brief, she secured him his first major engagement, as a mimic and a singer in l'Alcazar in Marseille to which he received critical acclaim by French theatre critics. In 1918 he discovered jazz and ragtime and went to London, where he found new success at the Palace Theatre.

In 1917, he discovered jazz and ragtime and toured the United States. Whilst there, he met the American composers George Gershwin and Irving Berlin and brought Dédé to Broadway in 1922. He also developed an interest in acting, and had success in the operetta Dédé. When talkies arrived, he went to Hollywood in 1928 where he played his first American role in Innocents of Paris. In 1930 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his roles in The Love Parade (1929) and The Big Pond (1930), which secured his first big American hit, Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight.

In 1957, he appeared in Love in the Afternoon which was his first Hollywood film in more than 20 years. In the early 1960s, he made eight films, including Can-Can in 1960 and Fanny the following year. In 1970 he made his final contribution to the film industry where he sang the title song of the Disney film The Aristocats. He died in Paris, on January 1, 1972, aged 83.

Early life[link]

He was born in Paris to a house painter father and a mother of Belgian descent. He made his name as a star of musical comedy, appearing in public as a singer and dancer at an early age.

He worked a number of jobs; a carpenter's apprentice, electrician, printer, and even as a doll painter. He started in show business in 1901. He was singing, unpaid, at a café when a member of the theatre saw him and suggested he try for a local musical. He got the part. Chevalier made a name as a mimic and a singer. His act in l'Alcazar in Marseille was so successful, he made a triumphant rearrival in Paris.

In 1909, he became the partner of the biggest female star in France, Fréhel. However, due to her alcoholism and drug addiction, their liaison ended in 1911. Chevalier then started a relationship with 36-year-old Mistinguett at the Folies Bergère where he was her 23 year old dance partner; they eventually played out a public romance.

World War I[link]

When World War I broke out, Chevalier was in the middle of his national service, already in the front line, where he was wounded by shrapnel in the back in the first weeks of combat and was taken as a prisoner of war in Germany for two years. In 1916, he was released through the secret intervention of Mistinguett's admirer, King Alfonso XIII of Spain, the only king of a neutral country who was related to both the British and German royal families.

In 1917, Chevalier became a star in le Casino de Paris and played before British soldiers and Americans. He discovered jazz and ragtime and started thinking about touring the United States. In the prison camp, he studied English and had an advantage over other French artists. He went to London, where he found new success at the Palace Theatre, even though he still sang in French.

Hollywood[link]

After the war, Chevalier went back to Paris and created several songs still known today, such as "Valentine" (1924). He played in a few pictures, including Chaplin's A Woman of Paris (a rare drama for Chaplin, in which his character of The Tramp does not appear) and made a huge impression in the operetta Dédé. He met the American composers George Gershwin and Irving Berlin and brought Dédé to Broadway in 1922. The same year he met Yvonne Vallée, a young dancer, who became his wife in 1927.

When Douglas Fairbanks was on honeymoon in Paris in 1920, he offered him star billing with his new wife Mary Pickford, but Chevalier doubted his own talent for silent movies (his previous ones had largely failed).^[1]. When sound arrived, he made his Hollywood debut in 1928. He signed a contract with Paramount Pictures and played his first American role in Innocents of Paris. In 1930 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his roles in The Love Parade (1929) and The Big Pond (1930). The Big Pond gave Chevalier his first big American hit songs, "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" with words and music by Al Lewis and Al Sherman, plus "A New Kind of Love" (or "The Nightingales").^[2] He collaborated with film director Ernst Lubitsch. He appeared in Paramount's all-star revue film Paramount on Parade (1930).

While under contract with Paramount, Chevalier's name was so recognized that his passport featured in the Marx Brothers film Monkey Business (1931). In this sequence, a little more than halfway through the film, each brother uses Chevalier's passport, and tries to sneak off the ocean liner where they were stowaways by claiming to be the singer—with unique renditions of "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" with its line "If the nightingales could sing like you". In 1931, Chevalier starred in a musical called The Smiling Lieutenant with Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins. Despite the disdain audiences held for musicals in 1931,^[3] it proved a successful film.^[4]

In 1932, he starred with Jeanette MacDonald in Paramount's film musical, One Hour With You which became a success and one of the films instrumental in making musicals popular again. Due to its popularity, Paramount starred Maurice Chevalier in another musical called Love Me Tonight (also 1932), and again co-starring Jeanette MacDonald. It was about a tailor who falls in love with a princess when he goes to a castle to collect a debt and is mistaken for a baron. Featuring songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, it was directed by Rouben Mamoulian, who, with the help of the songwriters, was able to put his ideas of the integrated musical (a musical which blends songs and dialogue so the songs advance the plot). It is considered one of the greatest film musicals of all time.^[3]

In The Merry Widow (1934)

In 1934, he starred in the first sound film of the Franz Lehár operetta The Merry Widow, one of his best-known films. In 1935, he signed with MGM and returned to France later that year.

During his years in Hollywood, Chevalier had a reputation as a penny-pincher. When filming at Paramount, he balked at parking his car in the Paramount lot at ten cents a day. After bargaining, he managed to get five cents per day. Another story is told of Chevalier (a smoker) having a conversation with someone who offered him a cigarette. He took it, said "Thank you", put it in his pocket, and continued with the conversation. But in Hollywood he seemed to be a divided character. When not playing around with young chorus-girls, he actually felt quite lonely, and sought the company of Adolphe Menjou and Charles Boyer, also French, but both much better educated than Chevalier. Boyer in particular introduced him to art galleries and good literature, and Chevalier would try to copy him as the man of taste. But at other times, he would 'revert to type' as the bitter and impoverished street-kid he basically was. When performing in English, he always put on a heavy French accent, although his normal spoken English was quite fluent and sounded more American.

In 1937, he married the dancer Nita Raya. He had several successes, such as his revue Paris en Joie in the Casino de Paris. A year later, he performed in Amours de Paris. His songs remained big hits, such as Prosper (1935), Ma Pomme (1936) and Ça fait d'excellents français (1939).

In 1957, Chevalier was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.

World War II[link]

During World War II, Chevalier kept performing for audiences. In 1941, he performed a new revue in the Casino de Paris: Bonjour Paris, which was another success. Songs like "Ça sent si bon la France" and "La Chanson du maçon" became hits. The Nazis asked Chevalier to perform in Berlin and sing for the collaborating radio station Radio Paris. He refused but did perform for prisoners of war in Germany at the camp where he was interned in World War I, and succeeded in liberating ten people in exchange.^[5]

In 1942 he returned to Bocca, near Cannes, but returned to the capital city in September. In 1944 when Allied forces freed France, Chevalier was accused of collaborationism. Even though he was acquitted by a French convened court, the English-speaking press remained hostile and he was refused a visa for several years.^{[citation needed]}

After World War II[link]

In his own country, however, he was still popular. In 1946, he split from Nita Ray and started writing his memoirs, which took many years to complete.

Chevalier in 1959.

He started to paint and collect and acted in Le silence est d'or (1946) by René Clair. He still toured throughout the United States and other parts of the world and returned to France in 1948.

In 1944, he had already participated in a Communist demonstration in Paris. He was therefore even less popular in the U.S. during the McCarthyism period; in 1951, he was refused re-entry into the U.S. because he had signed the Stockholm Appeal.

In 1949, he performed in Stockholm in a Communist benefit against nuclear arms. Also in 1949, Chevalier was the subject of the first official roast at the New York Friars' Club, although celebrities had been informally "roasted" at banquets since 1910.^[6]

In 1952, he bought a large property in Marnes-la-Coquette, near Paris, and named it "La Louque",^[7] as a homage to his mother's nickname. He started a relationship in 1952 with Janie Michels, a young divorcee with three children. In 1954, after the McCarthy era abated Chevalier was welcomed back in the United States. His first full American tour was in 1955, with Vic Schoen as arranger and musical director. The Billy Wilder film Love in the Afternoon (1957) with Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper was his first Hollywood film in more than 20 years.^[8]

Chevalier appeared in the movie musical Gigi (1958) with Leslie Caron and Hermione Gingold, with whom he shared the song "I Remember It Well", and several Walt Disney films. The success of Gigi prompted Hollywood to give him an Academy Honorary Award that year for achievements in entertainment. He also appeared as himself in the 1958 Lucy Goes to Mexico television episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.

Final years[link]

In the early 1960s, he toured the United States and between 1960 and 1963 made eight films, including Can-Can (1960) with Frank Sinatra. In 1961, he starred in the drama Fanny with Leslie Caron and Charles Boyer, an updated version of Marcel Pagnol's "Marseilles Trilogy." In 1962, he filmed Panic Button; (not released until 1964); playing opposite blonde bombshell/sex symbol, Jayne Mansfield. In 1965, at 77, he made another world tour. In 1967 he toured in Latin America, again the US, Europe and Canada. The following year, on October 1, 1968, he announced his farewell tour.

Historical newsreel footage of Chevalier appeared in the Marcel Ophuls documentary The Sorrow and the Pity. In a wartime short film near the end of the film's second part, he explained his disappearance during World War II (see the "World War II" section in this entry) as rumors of his death lingered at that time, and emphatically denies any collaboration with the Nazis. His theme song "Sweepin' the Clouds Away" from the film Paramount on Parade (1930) was one of its theme songs and was played in the end credits of the film's second part.

In 1970, several years after his retirement, songwriters Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman got him to sing the title song of the Disney film The Aristocats, which ended up being his final contribution to the film industry.

He died in Paris, on January 1, 1972, aged 83, and was interred in the cemetery of Marnes-la-Coquette in Hauts-de-Seine, outside Paris, France.

Chevalier has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1651 Vine Street.

Famous songs[link]

• "Madelon de la Victoire" (1918)
• "Dans la vie faut pas s'en faire" (1921)
• "Valentine" (1924)
• "Louise" (1929)
• "(Up On Top Of A Rainbow) Sweepin' The Clouds Away" (1930)
• "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" (1930)
• "Living In the Sunlight, Loving In the Moonlight" (1930)
• "Mimi" (1932)
• "Prosper (Yop La Boum)" (1935)
• "Quand un Vicomte" (1935)
• "Ma Pomme" (1936)
• "Le Chapeau de Zozo" (1936)
• "Mimile (un gars du Ménilmontant)" (1936)
• "Ça Fait d' Excellents Français" (1939)
• "Paris sera toujours Paris" (1939)
• "Ça sent si bon la France" (1941)
• "La Chanson du Maçon" (1941)
• "Notre Espoir" (1941)
• "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" (1957)
• "I Remember It Well" (1957)
• "Enjoy It!" (1967)
• "The Aristocats" (1970)

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Chevalier, Maurice (1949). The Man in the Straw Hat, My Story. New York: Crowell. 
• Chevalier, Maurice; Eileen and Robert Pollock (1960). With Love. Boston: Little, Brown. 
• Chevalier, Maurice (1970). Schoffie met wit haar. Utrecht/Antwerpen: A.W. Bruna & Zoon. ISBN 90-229-7116-3. 
• Chevalier, Maurice (1970). I Remember It Well. Macmillan. 
• Gene Ringgold and DeWitt Bodeen (1973). Chevalier. The Films and Career of Maurice Chevalier. Secaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-0354-8. 

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maurice Chevalier

• Maurice Chevalier at the Internet Movie Database
• Maurice Chevalier at the TCM Movie Database
• Maurice Chevalier at the Internet Broadway Database
• Photographs of Maurice Chevalier

Bud Green (19 November 1897 – 2 January 1981) was an Austrian-born songwriter. Bud Green (Buddy) grew up in Harlem at 108th & Madison Ave. at the turn of the century, the eldest of seven. He dropped out of elementary school to sell newspapers and help the family. While selling papers, he decided to become a songwriter and started keeping a notebook of poems and rhymes that he thought would be useful someday. He was the brother of writer Hannah Russell (Song About the Sky who also wrote scores for children's film in London in the late '50s) see who's who in American women b.1913 d.2002. He was also the brother-in-law of the great lyricist Bob Russell, also see, b.1914 d.1970 who wote Brazil, Frenisi, Don't get around Much anymore and He Ain't Heavy, He's my Brother & many more. He's also the granduncle to Luther Russell a singer songerwriter in his own right (www.lutherrussell.com). Bud Green at 21, married a girl from the Ziegfeld Follies, Nan Hinken, they were together until her death in the early 60's. They had two sons, both deceased. Bud worked as a salaried writer for music publishers. By 1928 he had written "Alabamy Bound, & "That's My Weakness Now" which became a huge hit for Ukelele Ike and Helen Kane. Kane's version including a suggestive scat phrase "boop boop ba doo." This line and Kane's stage persona made the song synonymous with the flapper era; Kane and the song became the inspiration for the Betty Boop cartoons which debuted in 1930.^[1] The song was self-published by Green and Stept. They were in the Brass Rail Bldg. at 745, 7th Ave. They then went to Hollywood to work for the movie industry. He and Sammy eventually sold their company to Warner Bros. and returned to New York. He moved his family to Yonkers, New York where he lived the rest of his life commuting to NYC everyday.

He has collaborated with many artists and fellow songwriters, including Les Brown, Buddy De Sylva, Al Dubin, Ella Fitzgerald, Slim Gaillard, Ray Henderson, Ben Homer, Raymond Scott, Sam H. Stept, and Harry Warren.^[2]

Biography[link]

Green was born in Austria and immigrated to the United States as an infant.^[2] In his early career he wrote material for vaudevilles.^[2] He was a staff writer for music publishers and wrote Broadway stage scores as well as songs for other musicals.^[2] Green died in Yonkers, New York in 1981.^[2]

Songs[link]

Bud Green has written or co-written a number of songs, including:

• "Alabamy Bound" (Dean Martin on Swingin' Down Yonder, 1955; Bing Crosby on New Tricks, 1957; Ray Charles on The Genius Hits the Road, 1960; Van Morrison on The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast 1998, 2000)
• "That's My Weakness Now" (Helen Kane, 1928)
• "I Love My Baby" (Ottilie Patterson, 1957)
• "Oh Boy, What a Girl"
• "In My Gondola"
• "Away Down South in Heaven"
• "I'll Always Be In Love With You" (Ella Fitzgerald on Rhythm Is My Business, 1962; The Beatles on The Beatles Complete Home Recordings, 1962)
• "Do Something"
• "Congratulations"
• "Good Little, Bad Little You"
• "My Mother's Evening Prayer"
• "Simple and Sweet"
• "Dream Sweetheart"
• "Moonlight on the River"
• "Swingy Little Thingy"
• "Blue Fedora"
• "More Than Ever"
• "You Showed Me the Way" (Ella Fitzgerald; Billie Holiday; Tony Bennett on Here's To The Ladies, 1995)
• "Tia Juana"
• "Once in a While"
• "The Man Who Comes Around"
• "Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy)" (Mills Brothers and Louis Armstrong; Slam Stewart, 1938)
• "Sentimental Journey" (Doris Day and Les Brown's band, 1944)
• "Speed Limit"
• "Who Can Tell"
• "All the Days of Our Years"
• "My Number One Dream Came True" (Doris Day, 1946)
• "On Account I Love You"

Awards[link]

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bud Green at the Internet Movie Database

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2010)

Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993) was a French actor who achieved worldwide recognition for his role as Mr. Roarke's assistant, Tattoo, in the television series Fantasy Island (1978–1984). He was also well known for playing the evil henchman Nick Nack in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, and was an acclaimed painter.

Early life[link]

Villechaize suffered from proportionate (as opposed to disproportionate) dwarfism likely due to an endocrine disorder, despite his surgeon father's attempts to cure the disease in several institutions. In later years, he insisted on being called a midget, rather than "little person".

Villechaize was born in Paris to English-born Evelyn (Recchionni) and raised there by her and his stepfather André Villechaize, a French surgeon who adopted him. He also had Filipino ancestry.^[1] Villechaize was bullied at school for his condition and found solace in painting. After studying art at Beaux-Arts college, he left for the USA in 1964. He settled in a Bohemian section in New York, taught himself English by watching television, and continued his career as an artist, painter and photographer. He began acting in Off Broadway productions, including The Young Master Dante by Werner Liepolt and a play by Sam Shepard, and also did some photo shoot modeling for National Lampoon, before moving on to film.

Career[link]

His first movie appearance was in Chappaqua in 1966, which was followed by several films including Christopher Speeth's and Werner Liepolt's Malatesta's Carnival of Blood, Crazy Joe, Oliver Stone's first film, Seizure, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, and The Forbidden Zone. He was then asked to play a part in the film Dune, which had originally begun pre-production in 1971; however, the project was cancelled. Hervé also was a minor character in Airplane II: The Sequel.

His big break was getting cast in The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974, by which time he had become so poor he was living out of his car in Los Angeles. Prior to being signed up by Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, he made ends meet by working as a rat catcher's assistant near his South Central home. From what his co-actor Christopher Lee saw, The Man with the Golden Gun filming was possibly the happiest time of Hervé's life: Lee likened it to honey in the sandwich between an insecure past and an uncertain future. In addition to being an actor, Villechaize became an active member of a movement in 1970s and 1980s California to deal with child abuse and neglect, often going to crime scenes himself to help comfort abuse victims. Villechaize's former co-workers recalled that despite his stature, he would often confront and chastise espousal and child abusers when he arrived at crime scenes. In the 1970s, on Sesame Street, Villechaize performed Oscar the Grouch as a pair of legs peeping out from a trash can, for scenes which required the Grouch to be mobile. These appearances began in the second season and included the 1978 Hawaii episodes.

Though popular with the public, Villechaize proved a difficult actor on Fantasy Island, where he continually propositioned women and quarrelled with the producers. He was eventually fired after demanding a salary on par with that of co-star Ricardo Montalbán. The show's popularity waned after this move, and it was soon cancelled. According to his former butler in an episode of E! True Hollywood Story,^[2] Villechaize never got over losing his job, and for the remainder of his life practised an often nightly ritual of drinking in a darkened room while screaming obscenities at an episode of Fantasy Island playing on his television.

He starred in the 1980 cult classic movie Forbidden Zone. He also appeared as himself, parodying his Fantasy Island role, in episodes of Diff'rent Strokes and Taxi.

In the eighties, he became largely popular in Spain due to his impersonations of the former Prime Minister of the Government, Felipe González, in the TV show Viaje con nosotros ("Travel with us") with showman Javier Gurruchaga.

He made his final appearance in a cameo as himself in an episode of The Ben Stiller Show.

Personal life and death[link]

As a consequence of his health problems and troubles in his professional career, Villechaize began to abuse alcohol and suffered from clinical depression in the last few years of his life, which led to erratic and sometimes violent behavior, including an incident in which he allegedly held his agent at gunpoint in a booth at a restaurant in Los Angeles.

In the early morning hours of September 4, 1993, Villechaize shot himself at his home. He was found by his longtime girlfriend, Kathy Self, and rushed to the Medical Center at North Hollywood, California. He died later that day as a result of his injuries. Villechaize left a suicide note saying he was despondent over longtime health problems.^[3]

Ten years earlier, Haywood Nelson, star of What's Happening!!, had interviewed him about his many suicide attempts for a program entitled That Teen Show, which included messages directed at depressed and suicide-prone teenagers. Villechaize said then that he had learned to love life.^[4]

At the time of his suicide, Cartoon Network was in negotiations for him to co-star in Space Ghost Coast to Coast, which was in pre-production at the time. Villechaize would have voiced Space Ghost's sidekick on the show.^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Hervé Villechaize at the Internet Movie Database
• NNDB Biography
• New York Times obituary

Robert Miles (born Roberto Concina, November 3, 1969) is a Swiss-born Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ in electronica and alternative music.^[1]

Biography[link]

Robert Miles was born to Italian immigrants Antonietta Lauro and Albino Concina in Fleurier, Switzerland.

Miles became proficient at playing the piano during his youth in Friuli, Italy, in the small town of Fagagna, where his family moved when he was still a young boy, and has been in the music scene since 1984. He worked as a DJ in some Italian clubs and private radio networks and in 1990, he used his savings to establish his own recording studio and a pirate radio station.

In 1994, Miles wrote a house/chill-out piece based on acoustic guitar chords and soft synthesizer effects, "Children", which was later developed into a dream trance track featuring a piano theme on top. The single picked up sales slowly, but within two weeks of its official release in 1995, it had sold more than 350,000 copies all over Europe and topped the charts in many countries. After occupying the Euro Top 100 chart number 1 spot for thirteen consecutive weeks,^[2] by 1997, "Children" had sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. It earned Miles platinum records^[3][4] in many countries, a Brit Award (Robert Miles is, to date, the only Italian artist who has received the award) as Best International Male Newcomer 1997,^[5] a World Music Award as World's Best Selling Male Newcomer and various other awards.

Miles' next single was "Fable". Part of this song was used in the theatrical trailer for the U.S. movie Ever After^[6] starring Drew Barrymore and Dougray Scott. His debut album Dreamland was released on June 7, 1996 in Europe, and released in the United States about a month later, with a new track, "One and One". This new track became very popular (it reached number 1 in the Euro Top 100 Singles Chart during the Christmas period and remained in the top spot for six consecutive weeks)^[7] and was later released as a single in Europe and the U.S.

In November 1997, Miles released another track, "Freedom", which was one of the key tracks on his second album 23am featuring vocals provided by Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge. Containing a different feel from the previously more club-oriented Dreamland, 23am incorporated more lyrics-driven songs than its predecessor while maintaining Miles' trademark piano sound from the first album.

After splitting from BMG/Deconstruction and his former management in London, he set up his own independent record label S:alt Records (with S:alt being short for suitably:alternative) in 2001 and released his third album, Organik,^[8] featuring the new single "Paths" with vocals provided by Nina Miranda of Smoke City. Guests on the album included Trilok Gurtu, Bill Laswell and Nitin Sawhney. Music from Organik was used on various movie soundtracks such as The Bourne Identity, Derrida, and City of Ghosts. In 2002, an album containing mainly remixes of songs found on Organik was released. The album, appropriately entitled Organik Remixes,^[9] contained remixes by the winners of the remixing contest held on Robert Miles' website, as well as remixes from well known artists such as The Future Sound of London, Riton, and Alexkid amongst others. The album also had one new track, "Bhairav", which featured the vocals of Amelia Cuni.

In 2004, Miles released Miles_Gurtu,^[10] his fourth album which was a collaboration with percussionist Trilok Gurtu and included jazz and electronica elements. Also guesting on the album were Nitin Sawhney, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Paul Falloon.

His fifth album entitled Th1rt3en^[11] was released worldwide on S:alt Records in February 2011, and featured guests such as Robert Fripp, Dave Okumu, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Davide Giovannini. For this album, Miles produced a blend of alternative and progressive rock with ambient and electronic soundscapes.

Miles is currently working on a soundtrack for the forthcoming movie documentary The Turn of This Century, directed by Peter Beyak and featuring the photography of Life Magazine.

Selected discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• 1996: Dreamland
• 1997: 23am
• 2001: Organik
• 2004: Miles_Gurtu
• 2011: Th1rt3en

Singles[link]

Remix albums[link]

• 1997: In the Mix
• 1997: Renaissance Worldwide — London (with Dave Seaman)
• 2002: Organik Remixes
• 2011: Th1rt3en Remixes

See also[link]

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Robert Miles website
• Robert Miles discography at Discogs
• Robert Miles at Allmusic
• Robert Miles on Myspace