Lou Waters was one of the original anchors of Cable News Network an American cable news station when it first aired in the summer of 1980. He remained one of the network's primary anchors until September 2001, adding to a journalism career spanning nearly 40 years. For much of his tenure with the network, Waters anchored CNN Today with Natalie Allen. Additionally, he co-anchored Early Prime and hosted special editions, including Coming of Age, a series on aging in American society. Waters spoke to expert scientists and people of all ages about their views on aging for this series.

Waters was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota School of Architecture. Before joining CNN, Waters was a disc jockey and newscaster in Tucson, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Buffalo and New York City.^[1] After his career at CNN, Waters became managing editor and host of NewsProNet's "Investing in America" consumer money reports, seen on more than 80 television stations across the U.S.^[2][3]

Waters recently turned to writing after authoring a book about San Francisco radio legend Bobby Dale. The book, titled Have I Got a Song for You, chronicled the life of Dale. ^[4]

References[link]

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (February 2009)

Water Lou (劉智偉) is a Hong Kong software programmer graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He developed the first PDA software, CHOS to enable the reading of Chinese in Palm's PDA in the around 1998 and marked the beginning of PDA culture in Hong Kong and Taiwan in late 1990s.

He is also the developer of Expression, a vector-based drawing software later sold to Fractal Design Corporation, a former owner of Painter. Expression is currently owned by Microsoft.

External links[link]

• Waterworld

Spike Jones
Spike Jones (left) with Marilyn Monroe and Ken Murray, 1952
Born	Lindley Armstrong Jones (1911-12-14)December 14, 1911 Long Beach, California, U.S.
Died	May 1, 1965(1965-05-01) (aged 53) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Musician
Years active	1937–1964

Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in performing satirical arrangements of popular songs. Ballads and classical works receiving the Jones treatment would be punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, and outlandish vocals. Through the 1940s and early 1950s, the band recorded under the title Spike Jones and his City Slickers and toured the United States and Canada under the title The Musical Depreciation Revue.

Biography[link]

Jones' father was a Southern Pacific railroad agent. Young Lindley got his nickname by being so thin that he was compared to a railroad spike. At the age of 11 he got his first set of drums. As a teenager he played in bands that he formed himself. A railroad restaurant chef taught him how to use pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as musical instruments. He frequently played in theater pit orchestras. In the 1930s he joined the Victor Young orchestra and thereby got many offers to appear on radio shows, including Al Jolson's Lifebuoy Program, Burns and Allen, and Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall.

From 1937 to 1942, he was the percussionist for the John Scott Trotter Orchestra, which played on Bing Crosby's first recording of White Christmas.^[1] Spike Jones was part of a backing band for songwriter Cindy Walker during her early recording career with Decca Records and Standard Transcriptions. Her song "We're Gonna Stomp Them City Slickers Down" provided the inspiration for the name of Jones’s future band, the City Slickers.^[2]

The City Slickers developed from the Feather Merchants, a band led by vocalist-clarinetist Del Porter, who took a back seat to Jones during the embryonic years of the group. They made experimental records for the Cinematone Corporation and performed publicly in Los Angeles, gaining a small following. The original members included vocalist-violinist Carl Grayson, banjoist Perry Botkin, trombonist King Jackson and pianist Stan Wrightsman.

The band signed a recording contract with RCA Victor in 1941 and recorded extensively for the company until 1955. They also starred in various radio programs (1945–1949) and television shows (1954–1961) on both NBC and CBS.

During the 1940s, other prominent band members included:

• George Rock (trumpet, and vocals from 1944 to 1960)
• Mickey Katz (clarinet and vocals)
• Doodles Weaver (vocals — specialized in playing sports commentators and absent-minded singers who persistently scrambled their lyrics into malapropisms and digressed into stand-up comedy)
• Red Ingle (sax and vocals)
• Carl Grayson (violin and vocals)
• Country Washburne (tuba)
• Earl Bennett, a.k.a. Sir Frederick Gas (vocals)
• Joe Siracusa (drums)
• Joe Colvin (trombone)
• Roger Donley (tuba)
• Dick Gardner (sax and violin)
• Paul Leu (piano)
• Jack Golly (trumpet and clarinet)
• John Stanley (trombone)
• Don Anderson (trumpet)
• Eddie Metcalfe (saxophone)
• Dick Morgan (banjo)
• George Lescher (piano)
• Freddy Morgan (banjo and vocals)
• A. Purvis Pullens, a.k.a. Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath (tuba, bird calls, dog barks)

The band's 1950s personnel included:

• Billy Barty (vocals)
• Gil Bernal (sax and vocals)
• Mousie Garner (vocals)
• Bernie Jones (sax and vocals)
• Phil Gray (trombone)
• Jad Paul (banjo)
• Peter James (vocals)
• Marilyn Olson Oliveri (vocals & stand up bass)

The liner notes for at least two RCA compilation albums claimed that the two Morgans were brothers (the 1949 radio shows actually billed them as "Dick and Freddy Morgan"), but this is not true; Freddy's real name was Morgenstern.^[3] Peter James (who was sometimes billed as Bobby Pinkus) and Paul "Mousie" Garner were former members of Ted Healy's vaudeville act and had replaced Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard as Healy's "stooges" in the 1930s.

Spike Jones's second wife, singer Helen Grayco, performed in his stage and television shows. Jones had four children: Linda (by his first wife, Patricia), Spike Jr., Leslie Ann and Gina. Spike Jr. is a producer of live events and television broadcasts. Leslie Ann is the Director of Music and Film Scoring at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in Marin County.

Record hits[link]

Der Fuehrer's Face[link]

In 1942, a strike by the American Federation of Musicians prevented Jones from making commercial recordings for over two years. He could, however, make records for radio broadcasts. These were released on the Standard Transcriptions label (1941–1946) and have been reissued on a CD compilation called (Not) Your Standard Spike Jones Collection.

Recorded days before the record ban, Jones scored a huge broadcast hit late in 1942 with "Der Fuehrer's Face", a song ridiculing Adolf Hitler that followed every use of the word "Heil" with a derisive razzberry sound, as in the repeated phrase "... Heil, (razzberry), Heil (razzberry), right in Der Fuehrer's face!".

The song was originally written for Walt Disney's 1943 Oscar-winning propaganda cartoon, first titled Donald Duck in Nutzi Land according to the Disney Archives. The success of the record prompted Disney to re-title the animated cartoon after the song.

More satirical songs[link]

	Spike Jones and His City Slickers: Cocktails for Two noicon 16-second sample, as the musical mayhem begins
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink" (reissued in 1949 as "The Clink! Clink! Polka").

The romantic ballad "Cocktails for Two", originally written to evoke an intimate romantic rendezvous, was re-recorded by Spike Jones in 1944 as a raucous, horn-honking, voice-gurgling, hiccuping hymn to the cocktail hour. The Jones version was a huge hit, much to the resentment of composer Sam Coslow.

Other Jones satires followed: "Hawaiian War Chant", "Chloe", "Holiday for Strings", "You Always Hurt the One You Love", "My Old Flame", referring to Peter Lorre's voice (impersonated on the recording by Paul Frees) and eerie scenes in contemporary movies, and many more.

Ghost Riders[link]

Spike's parody of Vaughn Monroe's "Ghost Riders in the Sky" was performed as if sung by a drunkard and ridiculed Monroe by name in its final stanza:^[4][5]

CHORUS: 'Cause all we hear is "Ghost Riders" sung by Vaughn Monroe.
DRUNK: I can do without his singing.
FRIEND: But I wish I had his dough!

The official American release edited out the dig at Monroe, because Monroe, a popular RCA Victor recording artist and also a major RCA stockholder, demanded it.^[6] The original version was released on the European market in 1949. (A few pressings containing the first ending were mistakenly released on the West Coast and are a prized rarity today.)

All I Want for Christmas[link]

Jones' recording, "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth", with a piping vocal by George Rock, was a number-one hit in 1948. (Dora Bryan recorded a 1963 variation, "All I Want For Christmas is a Beatle".)

Murdering the Classics[link]

Among the series of recordings in the 1940s were humorous takes on the classics such as the adaptation of Liszt's Liebesträume, played at a breakneck pace on unusual instruments. Others followed: Rossini's William Tell Overture was rendered on kitchen implements using a horse race as a backdrop, with one of the "horses" in the "race" likely to have inspired the nickname of the lone SNJ aircraft flown by the US Navy's Blue Angels aerobatic team's shows in the late 1940s, "Beetle Bomb". In live shows Spike would acknowledge the applause with complete solemnity, saying "Thank you, music lovers." A collection of these 12 "homicides" was released by RCA (on its prestigious Red Seal label) in 1971 as Spike Jones Is Murdering the Classics. They include such tours de force as Pal-Yat-Chee (Pagliacci), Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours, Tchaikovsky's None but the Lonely Heart, and Bizet's Carmen, besides the two above.

In December 1945 Spike released his version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, arranged by Joe "Country" Washburne with lyrics by Foster Carling. An abridged version is also included in the aforementioned album, with a complete version available in Spiked: The Music of Spike Jones.

Radio[link]

After appearing as the house band on The Bob Burns Show, Spike got his own radio show on NBC, The Chase and Sanborn Program, as Edgar Bergen's summer replacement in 1945. Frances Langford was co-host and Groucho Marx was among the guests. The guest list for Jones's 1947-49 CBS program for Coca-Cola (originally The Spotlight Revue, retitled The Spike Jones Show for its final season) included Frankie Laine, Mel Torme, Peter Lorre, Don Ameche and Burl Ives. Frank Sinatra appeared on the show in October 1948, and Lassie in May 1949. Jones's resident "girlsinger" during this period was Dorothy Shay, "The Park Avenue Hillbillie." One of the announcers on Jones's CBS show was the young Mike Wallace. Writers included Eddie Maxwell, Eddie Brandt and Jay Sommers. The final program in the series was broadcast in June 1949.

Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra[link]

The very name of Spike Jones became synonymous with crazy music. While he enjoyed the fame and prosperity, he was annoyed that nobody seemed to see beyond the craziness. Determined to show the world that he was capable of producing legitimate "pretty" music, he formed a second group in 1946. Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra played lush arrangements of dance hits. This alternate group played nightclub engagements and was an artistic success, but the paying public preferred the City Slickers and stayed away. Jones wound up paying some of the band's expenses out of his own pocket. Some of the City Slickers band members appeared and recorded with the Other Orchestra, but most of the Other Orchestra personnel consisted of "serious," accomplished studio musicians from the Los Angeles area.

The one outstanding recording by the Other Orchestra is "Laura," which features a serious first half (played exquisitely by the Other Orchestra) and a manic second half (played hilariously by the City Slickers).

Movies[link]

In 1940, Jones had an uncredited bandleading part in the Dead End Kids film Give Us Wings, appearing on camera for about four seconds.

In 1942 the Jones gang worked on numerous Soundies, musical shorts seen on coin-operated projectors in arcades, malt shops, and taverns. The band appeared on camera under their own name in four of the Soundies, and provided background music for at least 13 others, according to musicologist Mark Cantor.

As the band's fame grew, Hollywood producers hired the Slickers as a specialty act for feature films, including Thank Your Lucky Stars and Variety Girl. Jones was set to team with Abbott and Costello for a 1954 Universal Pictures comedy, but when Lou Costello withdrew for medical reasons, Universal replaced the comedy team with look-alikes Hugh O'Brian and Buddy Hackett, and promoted Jones to the leading role. The finished film, Fireman, Save My Child, is a juvenile comedy that turned out to be Spike Jones's only top-billed theatrical movie.

Television[link]

As a shrewd businessman, Jones saw the potential of television and filmed two half-hour pilot films, Foreign Legion and Wild Bill Hiccup, in the summer of 1950. Veteran comedy director Eddie Cline worked on both, but neither was successful. The band fared much better on live television, where their spontaneous antics and crazy visual gags guaranteed the viewers a good time. Spike usually dressed in a suit with an enormous check pattern and was seen leaping around playing a washboard, cowbells, a suite of klaxons and foghorns, then xylophone, then shooting a pistol. The band starred in variety shows, such as The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951, 1955)^[7] and their All Star Revue (1952) before being given his own slot by NBC, The Spike Jones Show, which aired early in 1954, and Club Oasis on NBC, in the summer of 1958; and by CBS, as The Spike Jones Show, in the summers of 1957, 1960, and 1961. Jones and his City Slickers also appeared on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford in the episode which aired on November 15, 1956.^[8] In 1990, BBC2 screened six compilation shows from these broadcasts; they were subsequently aired on PBS stations.

Later years[link]

The rise of rock-'n'-roll and the decline of big bands hurt Spike Jones' repertoire. The new rock songs were already novelties, and Jones could not decimate them the way he had lampooned "Cocktails for Two" or "Laura." He played rock-'n'-roll for laughs when he presented "for the first time on television, the bottom half of Elvis Presley!" This was the cue for a pair of pants — inhabited by dwarf actor Billy Barty -- to scamper across the stage.^[9]

Jones was always prepared to adapt to changing tastes. In 1950, when America was nostalgically looking back at the 1920s, Jones recorded an album of Charleston arrangements. In 1953 he responded to the growing market for children's records, with tunes aimed directly at kids (like "Socko, the Smallest Snowball"). In 1956 Jones supervised an album of Christmas songs, many of which were performed seriously. In 1957, noting the television success of Lawrence Welk and his dance band, he revamped his own act for television. Gone was the old City Slickers mayhem, replaced by a more straightforward big-band sound, with tongue-in-cheek comic moments. The new band was known as Spike Jones and the Band that Plays for Fun.The last City Slickers record was the LP Dinner Music for People Who Aren't Very Hungry. The whole field of comedy records changed from musical satires to spoken-word comedy (Tom Lehrer, Bob Newhart, Mort Sahl, Stan Freberg). Spike Jones adapted to this, too; most of his later albums are spoken-word comedy, including the horror-genre sendup Spike Jones in Stereo (1959) and Omnibust (1960). Jones remained topical to the last: his final group, Spike Jones's New Band, recorded four LPs of brassy renditions of pop-folk tunes of the 1960s (including "Washington Square" and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett"). One of his New Band tracks in 1964 was a cover of "Dominique", a hit by The Singing Nun, in which he not only plays part of the melody on a banjo but melds the melody successfully with "When the Saints Go Marching In!"

Death[link]

Jones was a lifelong smoker. He was once said to have gotten through the average workday on coffee and cigarettes. Smoking may have contributed to his developing emphysema. His already thin frame deteriorated, to the point where he used an oxygen tank offstage, and onstage he was confined to a seat behind his drum set. He died at the age of 53, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.

Influence[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

There is a clear line of influence from the Hoosier Hot Shots, Freddie Fisher and his Schnickelfritzers and the Marx Brothers to Spike Jones — and to Stan Freberg, Gerard Hoffnung, Peter Schickele's P.D.Q. Bach, The Goons, The Beatles, Frank Zappa, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, Mr. Bungle and "Weird Al" Yankovic. Billy Barty appeared in Yankovic's film UHF and a video based on the movie.

Syndicated radio personality Dr. Demento regularly features Jones' music on his program of comedy and novelty tracks. Jones is mentioned in The Band's song, "Up on Cripple Creek". (The song's protagonist's paramour states of Jones: "I can't take the way he sings, but I love to hear him talk.") Novelist Thomas Pynchon is an admirer and wrote the liner notes for a 1994 reissue, Spiked! (BMG Catalyst). A scene in the romantic comedy I.Q. shows a man demonstrating the sound of his new stereo to Meg Ryan's character by playing a record of Jones' music.

In 1997, singers Artie Schroeck and Linda November directed a production in Atlantic City entitled "The New City Slickers Present a Tribute to Spike Jones", with a band that attempted to re-create the style and humor of Jones' music.^[10][11]

Discography[link]

• Dinner Music For People Who Aren't Very Hungry (1956)
• Spike Jones in Stereo (1959)
• Omnibust (1960)
• Washington Square (1963)
• Spike Jones New Band (1964)

Popular recordings[link]

• "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"
• "Black Bottom"
• "The Blue Danube"
• "Bottom's Up"
• "By the Beautiful Sea"
• "Chloe"
• "Cocktails for Two"
• "Dance of the Hours" (Ponchielli)
• "Der Fuehrer's Face"
• "Down In Jungle Town"
• "Flight of the Bumblebee" (Laughing Record)
• "Hawaiian War Chant"
• "Holiday for Strings"
• "Hotcha Cornia"
• "The Hut-Sut Song"
• "I Want Eddie Fisher For Christmas"
• "I Went to Your Wedding"
• "Mairzy Doats"
• "The Man on the Flying Trapeze"
• "Never Hit Your Grandma With A Shovel"
• "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"
• "Omnibust, (LP Album of spoken-word comedy)"
• "Powerhouse" by Raymond Scott (Recognizable as the 'industrial factory' music from cartoons.)
• "The Sailor With The Navy Blue Eyes"
• "The Sheik of Araby"
• "The Sound Effects Man"
• "Spike Jones in Stereo (A Spooktacular in Screaming Sound, LP album)"
• "(Mono version: Spike Jones in Hi-Fi - A Spooktacular in Screaming Sound, LP album)"
• "That Old Black Magic"
• "Pal-Yat-Chee"
• "William Tell Overture"^[12]
• "Yes, We Have No Bananas"
• "You Always Hurt the One You Love"

References[link]

Sources[link]

Notes by Peter Gamble from Clink Clink Another Drink CD by Audio Book & Music Company, ABMMCD 1158.

Further reading[link]

• Corbett, Scott C. (1989) An Illustrated Guide to the Recordings of Spike Jones. Monrovia: Corbett. No ISBN.
• Mirtle, Jack. (1986) Thank You Music Lovers: A Bio-discography of Spike Jones. Westport; Greenwood Press ISBN 0-313-24814-1

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Spike Jones

• Spike Jones at the Internet Movie Database
• Red Hot Jazz
• Allmusic
• Phillywire article with added links

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (June 2008)

James F. Hawkins (born November 13, 1941), known as Jimmy Hawkins, and later, Jim Hawkins, is an American actor and film producer whose career began as a child actor to such Hollywood stars as Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, and Donna Reed. His acting career spans the time frame from 1944–1974, after which he devoted his energies to the production of films and later to his construction/contracting business. Hawkins had starring roles in several television series: The Ruggles (1949–1952), Annie Oakley (1954–1957, syndicated), The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966, ABC), and Petticoat Junction (CBS, the first four seasons, 1963–1967). He also had recurring roles as (1) a friend of the Nelson brothers on ABC’s The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and (2) as Jonathan Baylor on CBS's Ichabod and Me sitcom with Robert Sterling and George Chandler in the 1961-1962 season. He guest starred in many other programs during his childhood and young adult years.

Hawkins was born in Los Angeles to Thomas J. Hawkins (1913–1993) ^[1] and Bette C. Hawkins (born ca. 1916). His first roles—as a two-year-old—were uncredited – Spencer Tracy’s The Seventh Cross and Lana Turner’s Marriage Is A Private Affair at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. His mother was the force behind his early childhood acting. He graduated from the Roman Catholic-affiliated Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.^[2]

Hawkins and Donna Reed[link]

Hawkins starred in December 1946 as four-year-old Tommy Bailey, the son of George and Mary Bailey, in the nostalgic blockbuster It’s a Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, an actress for whom young Hawkins developed a lifelong admiration.^[3] In 1958, he worked again with Reed in her sitcom, having portrayed Scotty, a persistent and loyal boyfriend of Donna’s television daughter Mary Stone, played by Shelley Fabares. He became personally close to Fabares and Paul Petersen, who played Reed’s son, Jeff Stone, on the series.^[2]

Hawkins recalls having visited Reed for the last time at Christmas 1985, just days before her death of cancer: "I really loved that woman . . .[There is a scene in It’s A Wonderful Life] where she touched my cheek. Well, flashback to the eighties, Donna was really ill, it was around Christmas time, and I went to visit her at her home, I brought her an "It's A Wonderful Life" Christmas ornament for her tree. She asked me to put it on her tree, and we visited, but it was hard for her to expend any energy; so I wished her a Merry Christmas and told her I had to go, and then she reached her hand up to touch my cheek just like she did when I was in that scene with her when she drew me in, and in just two weeks, she died."^[4]

Hawkins is a mainstay of the Donna Reed Foundation. Each June, he, Shelley Fabares, and Paul Petersen travel to Denison, Iowa (Reed’s hometown), for an annual celebration. During the week, classes in theatre arts are taught by professionals from Hollywood and New York City.^[5]

Hawkins and Jimmy Stewart[link]

Hawkins was also close to It's a Wonderful Life star Jimmy Stewart, who signed for various charities six copies of a commemorative 50th anniversary book on the classic film. Hawkins picked up the books at Stewart's Beverly Hills home on July 2, 1997, the day after Stewart's death at the age of eighty-nine.^[6]

Hawkins also worked with Stewart again in the 1950 film Winchester '73, which was partially filmed at Old Tucson Studios in Tucson, Arizona. And Stewart wrote the foreword to Hawkins' previous It's a Wonderful Life Trivia Book. Hawkins said that Stewart's willingness to sign the books showed that the veteran star was "giving to the end."^[6]

Hawkins added that Stewart's public image as a friendly, caring man was indeed an accurate characterization: "He was just as people thought he was. He was a gentleman. He was a gentle man."^[6]

Other acting roles[link]

From 1949-1952, Hawkins was cast as young Donald Ruggles in the early ABC sitcom, The Ruggles.^[2] Hawkins’ other film roles included Caught (February 17, 1949), Love That Brute (May 26, 1950), The Blue Veil (October 26, 1951), and two films with Elvis Presley: Girl Happy (April 7, 1965) and Spinout (October 17, 1966).^[2]

On Annie Oakley, he portrayed Tagg Oakley, the younger brother of a fictionalized Annie Oakley in the ABC Western of the same name, a Gene Autry production. In one episode, however, the part of Tagg was played by Billy Gray, who then was cast as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in the sitcom Father Knows Best. Hawkins' costars were Gail Davis (1925–1997) as Annie and Brad Johnson (1924–1981) as Deputy Lofty Craig. Hawkins starred in all but one of the eighty-one episodes of the series, now available on DVD and a favorite of western television buffs. In the series, Hawkins rode a Pinto pony called Pixie and often used the childhood expression "Holy Toledo".^[2]

From 1963-1967, Hawkins was Orville Miggs in the first four seasons of Petticoat Junction, starring Bea Benaderet and Edgar Buchanan.

Jimmy starred in various TV pilots and won the role of Andy Hardy in the MGM/NBC pilot. He went on to star in the MGM/NBC pilot See Here, Private Hargrove, also based on an MGM motion picture.

Hawkins guest starred in many series, particularly comedies, including Margie with Cynthia Pepper, Leave It to Beaver with Jerry Mathers, My Three Sons with Fred MacMurray, Bachelor Father with John Forsythe and Noreen Corcoran, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Fugitive with David Janssen.^[7] His last role on television was on November 1, 1974, as Father James Jay Remy on NBC’s Kolchak: The Night Stalker starring Darren McGavin.^[8]

Producing films[link]

After his acting career, Hawkins produced films, a number for ABC Theatre Productions, including Evel Knievel, based on the late motorcycle daredevil, and Don’t Look Back: The Life of Satchel Paige (1981), starring Lou Gossett, Jr., as the legendary African American baseball pitcher Leroy “Satchel” Paige. He also produced Gary Coleman in Scout’s Honor, the idea he developed from a 1952 film Mister Scoutmaster in which Hawkins, as an eleven-year-old, had starred. He produced a Walt Disney film, Love Leads the Way, based on the first seeing-eye dog trained in Morristown, New Jersey. He produced an updated version of The Little Rascals for the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City.^[2]

In 1961, Hawkins was voted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In the fall of 1968, Hawkins entertained American troops in South Vietnam in a 22-day United Service Organization tour.^[9]

It’s still a wonderful life[link]

In 1994, Hawkins was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award for his role as little "Tommy Bailey" in the 1946 classic, It's a Wonderful Life,^[10][11] and during the Christmas season of 1997, he produced a holiday special for the Public Broadcasting Service. During the late 1990s, as It’s a Wonderful Life enjoyed a revival of interest nationally, Hawkins and Paul Peterson wrote the "It’s a Wonderful Life Trivia Book".^[11] Hawkins explains the durability of It’s a Wonderful Life:

“Well, the reason it caught on was that the film fell into public domain. Somebody at the studio let the copyright go, and television stations all over the country could pick it up and show it for free. They took full advantage of that. It kind of caught on with people . . . More and more stations picked up on it. It was shown hundreds and hundreds of times at stations all across the country. I remember back in the early 1990s it was played fourteen times in Los Angeles between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Fourteen times!” ^[12]

Recent activities[link]

Hawkins still finds time to promote his show business interests, particularly It's a Wonderful Life. He has written five popular-selling books on the classic film.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jimmy Hawkins 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. (July 2007)

Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls (December 1, 1935^[1] – January 6, 2006) was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game".^[2] Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records,^{[citation needed]} appeared as an actor in motion pictures and on television, and voiced-over many cartoons. He was also known for his frequently used expression,"Yeah buddy!"

Career[link]

Rawls was born on December 1, 1933 in Chicago and raised by his grandmother in the Ida B. Wells projects on the city's South Side. He began singing in the Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church choir at the age of seven and later sang with local groups through which he met future music stars Sam Cooke, who was nearly three years older than Rawls, and Curtis Mayfield.^[3]

After graduating from Chicago's Dunbar Vocational High School, he sang briefly with Cooke in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a local gospel group, and then with the Holy Wonders. In 1951, Rawls replaced Cooke in the Highway QC's after Cooke departed to join The Soul Stirrers in Los Angeles. Rawls was soon recruited by the Chosen Gospel Singers and himself moved to Los Angeles, where he subsequently joined the Pilgrim Travelers.^[4]

In 1955, Rawls enlisted in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He left the "All-Americans" three years later as a sergeant and rejoined the Pilgrim Travelers (then known as the Travelers). In 1958, while touring the South with the Travelers and Sam Cooke, Rawls was in a serious car crash. Rawls was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital, where he stayed in a coma for five and a half days. It took him months to regain his memory, and a year to fully recuperate. Rawls considered the event to be life-changing.^[4]

Alongside Dick Clark as master of ceremonies, Rawls was recovered enough by 1959 to be able to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. He was signed to Capitol Records in 1962, the same year he sang the soulful background vocals on the Sam Cooke recording of "Bring It On Home to Me" and "That's Where It's At," both written by Cooke. Rawls himself charted with a cover of "Bring It On Home to Me" in 1970 (with the title shortened to "Bring It On Home").

Rawls' first Capitol solo release was Stormy Monday (a.k.a. I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water), a jazz album, in 1962. On August 21, 1966, he opened for The Beatles at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

Though his 1966 album Live! went gold, Rawls would not have a star-making hit until he made a proper soul album, appropriately named Soulin', later that same year. The album contained his first R&B #1 single, "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing". In 1967 Rawls won his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, for the single "Dead End Street." In 1967, Rawls also performed at the first evening of the Monterey International Pop Music Festival.^[6]

Rawls performing with Frank Gorshin in 1977

In 1969, the singer was co-host of NBC's summer replacement series for the Dean Martin Show along with Martin's daughter, singer Barbara Gail Martin.

After leaving Capitol in 1971, Rawls joined MGM, at which juncture he released his Grammy-winning single "Natural Man" written for him by comedian Sandy Baron and singer Bobby Hebb. He had a brief stint with Bell Records in 1974, where he recorded a cover of Hall & Oates' "She's Gone." In 1976, Rawls signed with Philadelphia International Records, where he had his greatest album success with the million-selling All Things in Time. The album produced his most successful single, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", which topped the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts and went to number two on the pop side, becoming Rawls' only certified million-selling single in the process.

Subsequent albums, such as 1977's When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All yielded such hit singles as "Lady Love". Other releases in the 1970s included the classic album Sit Down And Talk To Me.

Rawls' 1977 Grammy Awards performance of "You'll Never Find" was disrupted by a coughing fit.

In 1982, Rawls received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Sang the lyrics to WGN-TV's 1983 "Chicago's Very Own" ad campaign, a slogan that the station still uses to this day.

On January 19, 1985, he sang Wind Beneath My Wings at the nationally-televised 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala the day before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. He was introduced by Patricia Neal.

In 1989, he performed vocals for "The Music and Heroes of America" segment in the animated television miniseries This is America, Charlie Brown.

"The Star Spangled Banner"[link]

On the night of September 29, 1977, Rawls performed the national anthem of the United States prior to the Earnie Shavers-Muhammad Ali title fight at Madison Square Garden. He would be requested to sing the anthem many times over the next 28 years, and his final performance of it came on October 23, 2005. The crowd at that performance may not have known that Rawls was extremely ill with cancer, but he reportedly delivered a well received performance to kick off Game Two of the 2005 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros at U.S. Cellular Field in his hometown of Chicago. He had also sung the National Anthem at two previous World Series games: the 1982 World Series opener between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers and Game Three of the 1985 World Series between the Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals, both at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

Honors and charity work[link]

Lou Rawls at Baltimore's Inner Harbor (1980) being interviewed by local news anchor Curt Anderson, promoting the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon"

In 1980, Rawls began the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon" which benefits the United Negro College Fund. The annual event, known since 1998 as "An Evening of Stars: A Celebration of Educational Excellence", consists of stories of successful African-American students who have benefited from and/or graduated from one of the many historically black colleges and universities who receive support from the UNCF, along with musical performances from various recording artists in support of the UNCF's and Rawls' efforts. The event has raised over US$200 million in 27 shows for the fund through 2006.

In January 2004, Rawls was honored by the United Negro College Fund for his more than 25 years of charity work with the organization. Instead of hosting and performing as he usually did, Rawls was given the seat of honor and celebrated by his performing colleagues, including Stevie Wonder, The O'Jays, Gerald Levert, Ashanti, and many others. His final television performance occurred during the 2005-2006 edition of the telethon, honoring Stevie Wonder in September 2005, just months before entering the hospital and after having been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year. This program, aired in January 2006, contains his final public television performance, where he performed two classics, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," and a final ode to Frank Sinatra with, "It Was A Very Good Year."

At the time of Rawls' death, news and UNCF figures noted the significance of Rawls' final performance, "It Was a Very Good Year." The song is a retrospective of one's life and its lyrics include, "When I was seventeen, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for small town girls and soft summer nights...And now those days grow short, it is the autumn of years, and now I think about life as vintage wine from fine old kegs, from the brim to the dregs, it pours sweet and clear, it was a very good year."

Acting career[link]

Rawls appeared in a segment of the first season of Sesame Street, to sing the alphabet. He dismissed the concept of using cue cards for the performance, but reversed such decision when he forgot the order of the letters.^[7]

Throughout Rawls' singing career, he had the opportunity to appear in many films, television shows, and commercials. He can be seen in such films as Leaving Las Vegas, Blues Brothers 2000, and Angel, Angel, Down We Go. He had a supporting role in the Baywatch spin-off, Baywatch Nights. He also appeared in the western television series, The Big Valley, (starring legend Barbara Stanwyck, along with Lee Majors and Linda Evans) where he played a hired hand. Here, he delivered the memorable line: "Ain't a horse that can't be rode; ain't a man that can't be throwed".

Rawls lent his rich baritone voice to many cartoons, including Hey Arnold! as the voice of Harvey The Mailman, Garfield, and The Proud Family (also appearing in animation form in one episode). For many of the Film Roman Garfield specials, Rawls would often compose songs for them, which he would then sing usually doing a duet with Desiree Goyette, as well as the singing voice of the title character himself.

For many years, he was a spokesperson for the Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company, helping promote the brand on radio and TV to African-American markets much as Ed McMahon did for the white audience (and Alex Trebek continues to do to this day). He was also a spokesman for brewing companies. First appearing in television and radio commercials in the mid-to-late 1960s for Spur Malt Liquor. A Rainier Brewing Company product out of Seattle.^[8] He later appeared in a number of Budweiser advertisements. Budweiser was a key sponsor for the Rawls telethon and UNCF. There was no attempt to avoid the similarity between the title of the 1977 album When You've Heard Lou, You've Heard It All and his corporate sponsor's slogan "When You Say Budweiser, You've Said It All". A track on the 1978 album Lou Rawls Live, features Rawls singing the commercial slogan. Anheuser-Busch, the brewers of Budweiser, also suggested his telethon work to him.

Rawls was also a regular guest host on "Jazz Central", a program aired on the BET Jazz cable channel.

He appears as "Dr. Rawls" in a dream on an episode My Wife and Kids, where he breaks into a parody version of "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", which a frightened Damon Wayans is afraid of having a colonoscopy the following day. Rawls uses the scope as a microphone in the scene. Rawls appears as a commentator in the second half of both the rated and unrated versions of the commentary for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy DVD commentary track, despite having nothing to do with the film itself. During the track, he indulges the commentators' request, participating in a scatting contest with Will Ferrell.

Rawls also appeared in an episode of Baywatch as a bookie.

Rawls was also a guest star during the second season of The Muppet Show. He also made a brief appearance on the series finale of Martin.

Billboard Top 50 hit singles[link]

The following is a list of Rawls singles that made the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. His first Hot 100 entry was "Three O'Clock in the Morning" in 1965, and his final was "Wind Beneath My Wings" in 1983. In addition to those two, nine other singles peaked at positions below the top 50 on the Hot 100, and additional singles reached the R&B, Adult Contemporary and Bubbling Under charts.

• "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing" - 1966, #13 (also #1 R&B)
• "Dead End Street" - 1967, #29
• "Show Business" - 1967, #45
• "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)" - 1969, #18 (sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc)^[9]
• "A Natural Man" - 1971, #17
• "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" - 1976, #2 (also #1 R&B and #1 Easy Listening); another certified gold for sales of one million copies
• "Lady Love" - 1978, #24

Personal life[link]

In January 2003, Rawls was arrested in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after getting into an argument with his then-girlfriend, Nina Malek Inman. During the course of the argument, he reportedly shoved her resulting in one charge of battery on a household member. The charge was later dropped. Rawls and Inman married later that same year.

On December 19, 2005, the Associated Press reported that Rawls tried to annul his two-year marriage to wife Inman Rawls, who had been acting as his business manager, after it was discovered she had made unauthorized transfers amounting to nearly $350,000 from his bank account into an account solely controlled by her. She later stated that she had transferred the funds to protect them from one of Rawls' daughters from a previous relationship.

It was also announced in December 2005 that Rawls was being treated for cancer in both his lungs and brain. With his wife by his side, Lou Rawls succumbed to his illness on January 6, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

In addition to his wife of two years and their young son, Aiden Allen Rawls; Rawls left behind adult daughter Louanna Rawls (a wardrobe stylist and future Launch My Line contestant); adult daughter Kendra Smith; adult son Lou Rawls, Jr.; and three granddaughters: Brianna, Katrina, and Chayil.

Lou Rawls's tomb at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)

Rawls is the subject of an upcoming biopic, tentatively titled Love Is a Hurtin' Thing: The Lou Rawls Story. Rawls' son, Lou Rawls Jr., is the author of the script. Rawls will reportedly be portrayed by the actor Isaiah Washington.^[10]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 1962 Stormy Monday (Blue Note)
• 1962 Black and Blue (Capitol)
• 1963 Tobacco Road (Capitol)
• 1964 For You My Love (Capitol)
• 1965 Lou Rawls and Strings (Capitol)
• 1965 Nobody But Lou (Capitol)
• 1966 Live! (Capitol)
• 1966 The Soul-Stirring Gospel Sounds of the Pilgrim Travelers (Capitol)
• 1966 Soulin' (Capitol)
• 1966 Carryin' On (Capitol)
• 1967 Too Much! (Capitol)
• 1967 That's Lou (Capitol)
• 1967 Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! (Capitol)
• 1968 Feelin' Good (Capitol)
• 1968 You're Good for Me (Capitol)
• 1969 The Way It Was: The Way It Is (Capitol)
• 1969 Your Good Thing (Capitol)
• 1969 Close-Up (Capitol)
• 1970 You've Made Me So Very Happy (Capitol)
• 1970 Bring It On Home (Capitol)
• 1971 Down Here on the Ground/I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water (Capitol)
• 1971 Natural Man (MGM)
• 1972 Silk & Soul (MGM)
• 1972 A Man of Value (MGM)
• 1973 Live at the Century Plaza (Rebound)
• 1975 She's Gone (Bell)
• 1976 All Things in Time (Philadelphia International)
• 1976 Naturally (Polydor)
• 1977 Unmistakably Lou (Philadelphia International)
• 1977 When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All (Philadelphia International)
• 1978 Lou Rawls Live (Philadelphia International)
• 1979 Let Me Be Good to You (Philadelphia International)
• 1979 In Concert: Recorded with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra [live] (Dep Entertainment)
• 1980 Sit Down and Talk to Me (Philadelphia International)
• 1981 Shades of Blue (Philadelphia International)
• 1982 Now Is the Time (Epic)
• 1983 When the Night Comes ( Epic)
• 1984 Close Company (Epic)
• 1986 Love All Your Blues Away (Epic)
• 1988 Family Reunion (Gamble-Huff)
• 1989 At Last (Blue Note)
• 1990 It's Supposed to Be Fun (Blue Note)
• 1992 Portrait of the Blues (Capitol)
• 1993 Christmas Is the Time (Manhattan)
• 1995 Holiday Cheer (Cema Special Markets)
• 1995 Merry Little Christmas (EMI Special Products)
• 1998 Unforgettable (Going For)
• 1998 Seasons 4 U (Rawls & Brokaw)
• 1999 A Legendary Night Before Christmas (Platinum Disc)
• 2000 Swingin' Christmas (EMI-Capitol Special Markets)
• 2001 I'm Blesseseek (Malaco)
• 2001 Christmas Will Be Christmas (Capitol)
• 2002 Oh Happy Day (601)
• 2003 Rawls Sings Sinatra (Savoy Jazz)
• 2003 Trying as Hard as I Can (Allegiance)

^[11]

Chart singles[link]