Once Again, A Drummer Kicks Things Off
A Geezer’s Notebook, By Jim Foster
This is almost embarrassing; a while back I was trying to remember the lyrics to Aretha Franklin’s This Could Be The Start Of Something.
I knew that part, but I couldn’t remember the rest of it. I found it of course on the Internet, anything you ever need to know is out there somewhere. I belted out the song until the neighbourhood dogs started to howl and the OPP showed up. But by then my mind had wandered back to the 40s, 50s and 60s. I started to think of the great musical and TV stars back then and immediately thought of one of my favourite singers of all time, but… I couldn’t remember her name.
(As you can see my memory, once the envy of all the great thinkers of the world, occasionally goofs off when a name is needed, which, fortunately, is only seven or eight times a day.)
I could see her; I could hear her; but her name just wouldn’t come to me. Now here is where it gets a bit weird, I remembered her husband’s name. She was married to Louis Bellson, one of the greatest jazz drummers, composers, arrangers and band leaders of all time. As a matter of fact, Louis was so good he was the only white musician in Duke Ellington’s band. Actually his name really wasn’t Louie Bellson, but being musical scholars like myself, you probably knew that. He was christened Luigi Paolino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni (sounds Irish) but who was his wife? You got it, the great Pearl Bailey.
If you are a geezer, you must remember her from the Ed Sullivan Show. Only Bob Hope was on Ed’s Sunday night show more often than Pearl. Not only could she sing and dance, she was also a comedienne and a good one. I went looking for and found a duet with Ed and Pearl singing You’re Nobody Til Somebody Loves You on his show. It was hilarious. I was really surprised, Ed wasn’t bad, not exactly Luciano Pavarotti but not bad.
Pearl Bailey had a style all her own. I never knew if her comments while singing some number were scripted or just tossed out as the mood struck her, maybe a bit of both, but she was a joy to watch and listen to whenever she was on the stage.
I am going to sound like I am living in the past but I’m not, well maybe a little bit. The variety shows were much better back then, certainly not as flashy and for a long while, just in black and white. Well it was unless you had one of the tinted plastic sheets, blue for sky, red for whatever, and green for the grass stuck to the screen. That was colour TV in the early 50s. I watched a ball game once at Terry Callon’s house and except for all the pink faces I could have been right there in Yankee Stadium.
The stand-up comics were better and there were so many good ones, Jack Carter, Henny Youngman, and best of all your kids could watch them. I tune in to a lot of Netflix comedians and they are funny but I cringe when they cross over the decency line and most of them do. A few don’t at all, but they are rare. I watched Louis CK a few nights ago and I wondered why the men in the audience took their wives or girl friends to his show. Louis is just too raw, but it takes all kinds I guess. You never know about the American public and I guess, ours as well.
I watched Russell Peters, a Canadian from Toronto, one night. He can get a little over the top too, but what bothered me that night was some bozo took his eleven year-old son to his show. Russell was interviewed after about it and his answer explained it quite well. Five thousand people came to see him and they paid to see his show. They knew his humour was raunchy but what was he supposed to do, cut the rough stuff because some jerk brought his kid? I’m sure the guy’s wife went at him when he got home… unless she was as bent as he was.
Maybe it is a generational kind of thing. I mentioned this in a column years ago, but one afternoon my Dad and I were watching something on TV and a bare bosom popped up, I forget the show and don’t remember what it was all about or why the aforementioned breast was there, but Dad changed the channel and started looking for a hockey game (a bit of a lost cause since it was July).
I said later ‘I wanted to watch that.’ and he said, “So did I, but you were there.” I was 46 years old.
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