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Today, 9th December 2008, is the fourth anniversary since lovely Lea De Mae left this world.

Lea's charm and elegance lives on here forever.

Thank you Lea for letting us share in your world even for such a short time.

In Loving Memory of an adventurous and brave young lady.
 
The eyes are the light of the soul.

"Time on My Hands" - music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Harold Adamson and Mack Gordon published in 1930 and introduced in the Ziegfeld Theatre musical "Smiles" by Marilyn Miller and Paul Gregory.

Here is the music played by the Ray Noble Orchestra in 1931 featuring singer Al Bowlly as the vocalist.

From the Web:

"Someone to Watch Over Me" is a song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin from the musical Oh, Kay! (1926), where it was introduced by Gertrude Lawrence.

It has been performed by numerous artists since its debut and is a jazz standard as well as a key work in the Great American Songbook. The song was memorably performed by Frank Sinatra in the 1954 movie starring Doris Day "Young At Heart"

From the Web: 

The film City Lights was released in 1931, and the main female character is a blind girl, for whom Charlie manages to raise the money for an eye operation. It is thought that this song was composed with this film in mind, but the theme is not used in the City Lights score.

As usual with Chaplin's projects, the story went through many changes. From the start he decided it would be about blindness. His first idea was that he himself should play a clown who loses his sight but tries to conceal his handicap from his little daughter.

From this he moved to the idea of a blind girl, who builds up a romanticised image of the little man who falls in love with her and makes great sacrifices to find money for her cure.

Once this was decided, he had - unusually - a clear idea of how the film would end - the moment when the blind girl, her sight restored, finally sees the sad reality of her benefactor. Even before he shot it, he had a sense that if it succeeded this would be one of his finest scenes.

The gala premiere took place on January 30, 1931, at the Los Angeles Theater, USA.  The famous scientist Albert Einstein and his wife were the guests of honor, and the film received a standing ovation.  At the première, Einstein cried at the ending of the movie.

"Memories of You" is a popular song written by Andy Razaf and Eubie Blake and published in 1930.


Song History: The song was introduced by singer Minto Cato in the Broadway show: 'Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1930'. However, the first well-known recording of the song was done by the Benny Goodman orchestra. A great version was recorded in 1956 by the Benny Goodman Trio with Rosemary Clooney singing. A version of the song recorded by The Four Coins (from a movie biography of Goodman) reached #22 on the Billboard chart in 1955.

Robert Wyatt's version appears on his single "Shipbuilding" released in 1982.

A version recorded by Louis Armstrong featuring Lionel Hampton is also the first known recording of the vibraphone in popular music.

Notable cover versions
* Duke Ellington (1930)
* Ethel Waters (1931)
* Lionel Hampton (1937)
* Anita O'Day (1942)
* Earl Garner (1945)
* Billy Eckstine (1947)
* Art Tatum (1953)
* Thelonious Monk (1955)
* Judy Garland (1956)

 

 

"You Stepped Out Of A Dream"  - the song gloriously performed by Tony Martin in the movie "Ziegfeld Girl" (Black & White 1941) to the Ziegfeld girls descending the huge staircase.  The movie clip used to be on You Tube.

The trailer for the movie is here (see Lana Turner wink at us and also there is a short clip of the big song with Tony Martin singing to lovely Lana Turner:

The movie is well remembered for the performance of the young and gorgeous Lana Turner, some photos of whom are below...

What a beauty!

 

In Monica's responses to the Interview she kindly gave us, this was one of the questions/answers..

Q23  Photos of you travelling with Lea and Daniella, also Sue Diamond are on the Web. Can you tell us about some of the journeys? Were there any funny or dramatic incidents?

A23  We were really like a family, no kidding.. It was so great to be together.. very interesting I don't remember any conflicts...  still can't believe how it ended, but I guess all the good things have to end one day.... but we have the memories, right??  We were friends also back home, not only in work time...  we spent a lot of free time together too..   

There is a line in David Gates's 1976 song "Lost Without Your Love" that reminds me of what Monica wrote above.

I have missed a few lines of the song out in the wallpaper below, but you can hear the whole song at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxgzlDClVuc 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gates

David Gates was best known as the leader of the 70s soft rock group Bread. During High school, David formed a band called David Gates and the Accents with a piano player by the name of Russell Bridges-later to be known as Leon Russell. After leaving the University of Tulsa and traveling to Los Angeles, he played the club circuit with Leon. Besides being a great session player proficient on several instruments, Gates could also write charts, lead sheets and sing background. He arranged, wrote and produced for Glen Campbell, Ann-Margret, Bobby Darin, Glen Yarbrough and Rod McKuen before forming the Group Bread. He made 16 albums and earned several gold records. Bread broke up and David launched a solo career recording "Good-bye Girl" for a Neil Simon film. He rejoined Bread for another album, but has not written much or per- formed since. David lives in California with his high school sweetheart and wife Jo- Rita and their two children.



http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/David-Gates-Biography/22B8D7C18BC6AC3F48256DE400281DBE


from "Goodbye Girl"...

So remember goodbye doesn't mean forever
Let me tell you that goodbye doesn't mean
We'll never be together again
Though we may be so far apart
You still will have my heart
So forget your past my goodbye girl
'Cos now you're home at last

The whole song can be heard at:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2e2h9_david-gates-goodbye-girl_music

From Wiki:

Bread reunited in 1976 for one album, Lost Without Your Love, released late in 1976. The title trackagain written and sung by Gates reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bread then disbanded again, and at the end of 1977, Gates released what would be his most successful single as a solo artist, "Goodbye Girl," from the 1977 film of the same name. It peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978.

The reunion of the group in 1976 came about after Elektra Records expressed serious interest in another Bread album. Initially, Gates had mixed feelings about such a project. But he was on good terms with the label and could understand their position. Gates, Griffin, Botts and Knechtel returned to the studio that year and recorded the album Lost Without Your Love, released in January 1977. The title trackagain written and sung by Gates was the band's last top-ten hit, peaking at #9 on the singles chart. This comeback record reached #26 on Billboard's album chart and was Bread's seventh consecutive album (including the two best-ofs) to be RIAA-certified gold. 

Thanks very much Bernd.  Have you visited the "Old Town Square" yourself and the Cathedral ? I showed the wallpaper to a friend who travelled a lot when he was a student and I said it was Prague Castle (as I had thought).  He said it wasn't the castle and that was a mile or two away, but it was the Old Town Square and the Church!


There seems to be a fence with another building to the right in front of the Cathedral.  Can you identify the buildings on the left and right?  Did you visit the Castle wherever it is?  Are they used for Government purposes or maybe it's a hotel now?


Thanks again for writing.

Addendum:  I checked out Nelly Furtado (who I'd never heard of) and see that she is a successful Canadian-based singer from 2000 onwards. I noticed this slide show of her with lots of posters/wallpapers, which you might like too at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I127xuPguE


There is also a very powerful Olivia Newton John performance which is sad but it is an excellent short film song. It's called "Shaking You". It may be on the Web? By the way, Elvis said he liked Olivia's music  - although at that time, most of her big hits were still to come.