I’m writing this blahg which will be incomplete. I’ve been trying to find more information about the subject but my research has come up short. Be forewarned, this is yet another blahg inspired by continued interest and research on Frank Sinatra. This harkens back to 1939 and forward in time but I can’t find an end date. Confused? So am I.
Yes, the topic at hand today is Miss Regina Hassock of 1947 but her true name is Marie Carroll or Margie Carroll or Marion Carroll depending on what you read and when you read it. I’ll get into a bit of an explanation soon enough but after almost two months of research here are the bullet points I’ve managed to put together:
Marie Carroll (aka Marion Carroll and Margie Carroll)
from Charleston, WV
sang with Jan Savitt, Johnny Long, Bob Strong, Bob Chester
March 1939 torch singer
1939 limited time with Harry James
December 3, 1943 married Jack Cancelmi – she was with Art Farrar Orchestra
March 1944 with Maurice Spitalny’s Orchestra & married to Jack Cancelmi (drummer in Brad Hunt’s band) but separated by June 1944
March 14, 1944 Marie Carroll no longer with Spitalny but article on March 21, 1944 said they had patched up differences and were together again
June 1944 no longer with Spitalny
October 1944 solo
December 1944 with Bob Strong
January 1945 with Bob Strong – Victory Spotlight of Bands
April 1946 still with Bob Strong
March 1947 voted Miss Regina Hassock
So, how did I get onto Marie Carroll? Part of it starts with a photo. This photo:
That photo is really just an illustrated version of this photo:
(At right: Frank Sinatra sings on a James broadcast from Roseland Ballroom in New York – July 1939. The girl seated on the bandstand is vocalist Margie Carroll.) (2)
Note the (2) after the description. Here’s what that references:
(2) Identification of the girl singer, Margie Carroll, who is also in the picture with James and Sinatra from Roseland Ballroom comes from George T. Simon’s review of the James band at Roseland in Manhattan in the summer of 1939. That review appeared in the September 1939 issue of Metronome. Bernice Byers, sang with the James band before Ms. Carroll, and Connie Haines, who joined the James band in early May of 1939, performed in that role after that. Ms. Carroll was evidently subbing for Ms. Haines at the time this photo was taken.
George T. Simon had referred to her again as “Margie” Carroll. The following excerpt is from the book “Simon Says The Sights And Sounds Of The Swing Era 1935-1955″ The Best Writing of George T. Simon”:
MONDAY – Interesting visitors at the office today. Guy Smith and Jimmy Campbell of Jan Savitt’s band dropped in to say hello. Then came Terry Allen, who’s now singing with Clinton, with a very pretty Miss Parker. Romance Dept.? Wonderful guy, modest as they come, that Allen! Just before closing Bud Elliot and Dave Faulkner of the Modem Rhythm Corp. stepped in with some ideas anent a radio show. Sounds good. Discussions of records, etc., on small stations. . . . Then supper and to a preview of Columbia Record Corp. radio show. Harry James featured. Some good ideas. Johnny Hammond supposed to m. c., but he was on coast making Goodman records. Afterwards a whole bunch of us went to Roseland to catch more of Harry. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a gal got up on the stand and started to sing with the band. Sounded fine. Everybody impressed. Found out her name was Margie Carroll; she’d been singing with Paul Martel at the Arcadia. Wouldn’t be surprised if Harry took her. That Harry Gomez name, by the way, is beginning to stick! . . . Before going to bed I dropped in at the New Yorker to see Seger Ellis and wife (Irene Taylor) and band, there on a one-nighter. That Choir of Brass idea is fine. Banifs rhythm section was weak, but Seger was already looking for a new drummer and pianist.
The fact that Simon referred to her as Margie Carroll doesn’t help us. I wanted to learn more about Marie or Margie Carroll but information is very sparse. I tried turning to the BandChirps website, https://bandchirps.com/, but they have no entry for Marie Carroll. The only mention of Marie Carroll on the BarndChips site is in the entry on Harry James, https://bandchirps.com/band/harry-james/:
James and his new orchestra debuted in February 1939 at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel in Philadelphia. Bernice Byres served as its first female vocalist. Byres remained with the band until at least early April, with Connie Haines having taken over by June. James had heard Haines rehearsing at a music publishing office and hired her. He soon became dissatisfied with Haines, however, and she was gone by September, replaced by Marie Carroll, who herself was gone by the end of that month. James didn’t immediately hire anyone to replace Carroll, telling Down Beat magazine “we do not use a girl singer because everyone we’ve had yet has been unsatisfactory, and until we find one who stacks up as strong as the band, we won’t worry.”
So who was Marie Carroll? Where did she come from? What happened to her? Those are questions that remain to be answered. All of the bullet points I listed earlier come from newspaper and magazine articles. We know she was with Harry James in the summer of 1939 at the Roseland Ballroom in New York and for a short period of time with James at the New York World’s Fair in August of 1939. The only listing I could find for her prior to being with Harry James in 1939 was an entry in The Miami Herald from February 15, 1939 where she was appearing at the Sweepstakes Club and being billed as a “Torch Singer”:
I’m assuming that the Torch Singer is the same Marie Carroll. There was also an actress and a dancer around that time with the same name but are definitely not the same person. I couldn’t find any other entry for Marie Carroll for 1939 or even before that year.
Details such as her having sung with Jan Savitt, Johnny Long, Bob Strong came from later articles in 1943, 1944 and 1946. The following article references an appearance of Marie Carroll with King Cole’s Orchestra in Shamokin, Pennsylvania in March of 1946. It mentions some of the other bands she has been with before that :
I had to work backwards from this article and try to pick up even earlier threads. From March of 1944, I found a reference to Marie Carroll getting married:
So she was married and was with the Maurice Spitalny Orchestra. I worked back a little more and found reference to the marriage and a few more details:
The above article was from December 2, 1943 and at that time she was with Art Farrar’s Orchestra and we learned that she’s from Charleston, West Virginia. Obviously, Marie left Art Farrar after that to take the position of singer with the Maurice Spitalny Orchestra. Here’s an article from January 31st, 1944 that explains how she ended up with Spitalny:
The marriage to Jack Conselmi and her association with Spitalny ended by summer of 1944. By June 26th, 1944 it was being reported that Conselmi and Marie Carroll had separated and she was no longer with Spitalny’s band:
Two articles ran a week apart in March of 1944, the first on the 14th and the second on the 21st, suggesting there was a problem in the Spitalny Orchestra with Marie Carroll. The first detailed the split:
The second article, the following week, suggests they’ settled their differences:
As we know, from the June 1944 article announcing her separation from Cancelmi, she was also gone from Spitalny’s orchestra.
We next pick up Marie Carroll’s information in December of 1944 with an advertisement for the Bob Strong Orchestra at Lakeside Park in Dayton, Ohio on December 9th of that year. And guess who his female vocalist is?
Her stint with Bob Strong can be tracked from this December 1944 advertisement to listings with Bob Strong into April of 1946. It’s with the Bob Strong orchestra that we are able to now hear Marie Carroll sing. A month after the December 9th appearance at Lakeside Park, the Bob Strong Orchestra, with Marie Carroll, appear on the The Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands broadcast of January 9, 1945. This radio program survives and from it are three vocals of Marie Carroll with Bob Strong’s band, “Strange Music”, “Her Tears Flowed Like Wine”, and “Embraceable You”:
Strange Music:
Her Tears Flowed Like Wine:
Embraceable You:
I do not believe that Marie Carroll went into the studio and recorded any vocals with Bob Strong or any other orchestra with which she had been associated over the years. At least I couldn’t find any. In addition to The Victory Parade of Spotlight Band broadcast there are some other remotes that have survived of Marie Carroll with Bob Strong. These have been collected on the CD “Bob Strong & His Orchestra 1944-45” on the Circle Records label:
I have ordered a copy of this CD but it hasn’t arrived yet so I don’t have any liner notes to post here. Someone has posted Marie Carroll’s tracks on YouTube but they are referenced to “Marion Carroll,” which is how she might have been listed on the CD. Marie/Marion’s songs are “You Was Right, Baby!”, “This Is It”, “Love Letters”, “I Wish I Knew”, and “Out of This World”:
The above five songs plus the three from The Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands are all of the available vocals I have discovered for Marie/Margie/Marion Carroll. It’s really a shame because she has a nice voice and really sells her ballads and can really swing on songs like “This Is It.”
The only other highlight of her time with the Bob Strong Orchestra was that she married again in July of 1946. DownBeat magazine noted her marriage:
I could find nothing else about Marie Caroll’s marriage to Al Yost. The only other significant item about Marie Carroll during her time with Bob Strong was a report in the February 15, 1945 DownBeat that Marie Carroll was being courted by Hollywood:
I tried to run this down but there’s no reference to any Hollywood activity our output by Marie Carroll. Maybe the screen test didn’t amount to anything.
The next, and final piece of information, that I could find about Marie Caroll was a report that she had become Miss Regina Hassock of 1947. This article appeared in the Radio & Appliance Journal of April 1947. You can click on it to view a larger article.
In March of 1947, the Radio Retailing magazine had also mentioned that Marie Carroll was Miss Regina Hassock for that year:
That same edition of Radio Retailing also featured a full page spread with a photo of Marie Carroll as Miss Regina Hassock:
The only other take away from this is that at some point she had been with the Bob Chester Orchestra.
That’s it! Any other information I could find related to advertisements of appearances with the Bob Strong Orchestra but nothing to say what happened after being crowned Miss Regina Hassock! I could find no obituary or anything else detailing her later life. I even tried searching for Al Yost who we know was a tenor saxophone player. There was an Al Yost who ran Yost Home Improvements in Pittsburgh after retiring as a tenor saxophone player. Is this the same Al Yost? You can learn about Al and his company, which continues on, even after his death, from the following website: https://yosthomeimprovements.com/yost/our-story/?utm_source=al%20yost%20music%20page&utm_medium=our%20story%20link&utm_campaign=yosthomeimprovements.com. Here’s a significant excerpt:
Our story first began in 1961 when Albert Yost Sr. retired from the Coast Guard Band after playing the tenor saxophone for 20 years. Albert, originally from Pittsburgh, and his wife Catherine, from Brooklyn, decided to stay in the area and grow roots for themselves and their five children. With Albert’s knack for home repairs, opening a home improvement company was a natural choice.
The Yosts quickly turned their home into company headquarters. During the early days, Albert oversaw projects while Catherine fielded calls and stayed on top of paperwork. It also wasn’t unusual for Catherine to prepare full course meals for the crew. Soon the Yost’s two sons Albert Jr. and George joined the company, eventually taking it over in 1983.
I use the word “significant” because these notes say his wife’s name was Catherine and she was from Brooklyn. If this is the same Al Yost then Marie Carroll had moved on from him at some point and Al Yost made a great life with Catherine.
So what happened to Marie Carroll? I don’t know!!! Maybe the CD I’ve ordered might have some details in the liner notes but beyond that, I’ve exhausted myself trying to find out what happened to her. If anyone knows or if anyone wants to take up the search and continue where I left off, please let me know. If I find out more, you know there’s going to be another blahg.
If this blahg has a title then I must have figured out what I was going to say. I’ll offer up a warning right at the beginning that this is going to be another one of those Sinatra related entries. I’d been working on it for a while in my mind and through emails with other Sinatra fans but I think I’m ready to start typing this out. If the title doesn’t say, “To Be Or Not To Be” or “Did That Really Happen?” or “Sylvan Beach to Crystal Beach and Schenectady In-between” then I’m ready to post this. Maybe it will have one of those titles because a couple sound intriguing. Read on.
As you know, and I have mentioned in previous blahgs like “Down A Rabbit Hole With Linda Keene“, I send out a daily post about what Sinatra was doing for every calendar day. In the Linda Keene blahg I had talked about a post I made for April 17th. On that date I posted the following:
April 17, 1950 Strictly From Dixie Henry Levine Orchestra NBC Blue Network
WJZ
New York City
10:30 – 11:00 p.m.
Monday Evening
Henry Levine Orchestra & Soloists
Martha Lou Harp blues singer Guest Singer: Frank Sinatra
Where this story begins is way back in 1939. In the summer of 1939, Frank Sinatra began touring with Harry James and his Orchestra. By August, they had settled in for a long run at the Fountain Lake Bandshell at the World’s Fair in New York. Their first day was August 19, 1939 and this is what I had listed for August 19:
1939 New York World’s Fair, Fountain Lake Bandshell (August 19 – September 2) Harry James and his Orchestra with Frank Sinatra
Note, that in brackets, I had posted what I thought was the complete run of their engagement at the World’s Fair from August 19th to September 2nd. The September 1st and 2nd dates are what began to be called into question. One of the members of our Sinatra group emailed me the following:
Wondering where you found a listing for 9/2 ? Did not see anything in The Times and there was no listing of a remote on that Saturday night. The band had a date outside of Buffalo on 9/3 and then on to Chicago. A gruelling bus trip in 1939 and they had played 14 consecutive days at The Fair.
Back in 2021, we began to note a conflict regarding September 1st, 1939. Here’s what we listed and below that are some details of the mystery.
1939 Sylvan Beach, New York (One Nighter) Harry James and His Orchestra with Jack Palmer, Connie Hayes, and Frank Sinatra
1939 New York World’s Fair, Fountain Lake Bandshell (August 19 – September 2) Harry James and His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra
Here were some details I provided at the time.
1939 New York World’s Fair, Fountain Lake Bandshell (August 19 – September 2) Harry James and His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra
Here is the listing of James at the World’s Fair (New York Daily News September 1)
But also there’s also adverts for him at Sylvan Beach (Syracuse Herald-Journal, August 30)
Adding to this mystery was the fact that Harry James was also listed at the New York World’s Fair on September 2nd, 1939, his supposed closing night, as well an engagement at The Casino in Bemus Point, New York. Here’s what the September 2nd listing looked like:
1939 New York World’s Fair, Fountain Lake Band Shell (August 19 – September 2) Harry James and his Orchestra w/Frank Sinatra1939 The Casino, Bemus Point, N.Y. (One Nighter) Harry James and His Orchestra with Connie Hayes, Jack Palmer, Frank Sinatra
Here were our details about the two conflicting engagements:
Here is yet another September 1939 mystery: Here is a listing for James at the Worlds Fair on this date (New York Daily News – September 2)
But also there are multiple ads for them at Bemus Point (Warren Times Mirror/Dunkirk Evening Observer/The Kane Republican, August 30; Warren Times Mirror August 31)
So, the question was how could Harry James be at the New York World’s Fair on September 1st and 2nd but also be at Sylvan Beach on the 1st and Bemus Point on the second?
When the question was first asked of me about the September 2nd closing date and its accuracy, I of course set out to defend my listing for the New York World’s Fair by offering more evidence. Here’s what I posted to everyone:
The following is from the New York Daily News, Sat, Sep 2, 1939:
Note that Harry James was listed as playing at the World’s Fair on September 2nd. Here was one of my subsequent posts:
Are we any closer to a consensus on September 2, 1939? The evidence for Beemus Point Casino is compelling but then we also have the listing from the Daily News that James and company were still at the World’s Fair.
This is the list for programs on September 3, 1939 at the World’s Fair
Note that Hal Kemp is in the Band Shell.
Compare that to the September 2nd, 1939 listing:
Note the September 2nd, 1939 listing has the Bunny Berrigan Orchestra at the Fountain Lake Band Shell at 7:30 but there’s no mention where Harry James was playing but the listing below from September 1st has Harry James in the amusement area:
So what does this all mean? I don’t know! There are no reviews of James at Bemus Point. I checked a number of other New York State papers and found the ads for Beamus Point but no review. There’s also no review of James on September 2nd at the World’s Fair.
We do know that Harry James was billed at Olcott Beach on September 3rd.
Olcott Beach is approximately 400 miles from New York City. Bemus Point is also around 400 miles from New York City.
Bemus Point is 103 miles from Olcott Beach. Certainly travelling to Bemus Point on September 2nd and then Olcott Beach for the 3rd would make sense.
That was when I began to believe that the September 2nd, 1939 entry for the New York World’s Fair was probably incorrect and that Bemus Point would have been more accurate. This was also when I began to believe that maybe our listing for September 1st was wrong and I should look more into the Sylvan Beach entry. Here’s what I worked out in my mind and then posted to our group:
Looking at all the articles and news and such, I’m inclined to believe that Harry James and ensemble were not at the World’s Fair in New York after August 31st. That would make the following itinerary more likely to be true:
September 1, 1939 Russell’s Danceland, Sylvan Point, NY
September 2, 1939 Casino, Bemus Point, NY
September 3, 1939 Olcott Beach, NY
If you assume that Harry James finished on August 31st in New York then looking at the map below, it was quite easy to drive to Sylvan Beach for September 1st and then straight across and down to Bemus Point for the 2nd and then up to Olcott Beach for September 3
One of our Sinatra group members took up the challenge and reached out to someone in Bemus Point. Here was his post about it:
I’ve always believed in going to the source when all else fails.
This morning I called the casino in Bemus Point, N.Y. A very polite gentleman listened to my question and then told me to hold on while he checked their records. The casino has the history of all the name acts that played there in the 1930s and 40s. The James band played a one-nighter on 9-2-39.
Well, that confirmed September 2nd, 1939 but what about September 1st, 1939 at Sylvan Beach? Here was my post after hearing confirmation about Bemus Point:
I checked the same newspaper Syracuse Herald Journal that advertised Dorsey at Sylvan Beach in 1941 and found they were advertising Harry James at Sylvan Beach on September 1st , 1939 as tonight only:
Would be odd to advertise as Tonight Only and Harry James wasn’t there. I’m still looking for any other reference.
Eventually, one of our group, the same person who reached out to Bemus Point, resolved the issue with the following post:
Hi Philers,
I contacted the historian of an area that includes Sylvan Beach, N.Y.
Scott was right. The band closed at the World’s Fair on 8-31-39.
They arrived in Rome, N.Y. on the afternoon of September 1st. The big hype locally was the return of Jack
Palmer. He was from Rome. James and Co. had dinner at the Grand Hotel in Rome ( name was changed to Commander Hotel
in the 1980s ). See enclosed photo.
The concert at Russell’s Danceland took place that evening. Jack Henke ( historian ) told me that a color
photo from the stage was displayed for many years at the Pancake House in Sylvan. Front and center was Jack Palmer
playing a trumpet solo. Frank was in the background ( I’ve seen the photo. Never knew the location ). Between sets the
band ate at Eddie’s. He had established the place in 1934 with his wife Phoebe. While the band was eating, she noticed
a skinny little guy was sitting out on the curb smoking. Phoebe went out and told him to come in and have something to
eat. And he did.
Now, there was a remote of the James band broadcast that evening on CBS, from 12:A.M. to 12:30. Jack
assured me that the station in Rome was able to air such a program. It is listed in the New York and Boston papers.
Here are the two images attached to the post:
So what about Crystal Beach, you may well ask. Give me a moment to finish and then you can ask. At one point after the information was posted and confirmed about Bemus Point, I posted some additional information about Sylvan Beach and another Sinatra connection:
As an aside, I was looking into Russell’s Danceland at Sylvan Beach and one website mentions that Sinatra and Dorsey played there on July 17th, 1941 but we’ve never had that in our listings. I’m going to try and run it down to confirm.
Here was the post where I detailed what I found about Tommy Dorsey at Sylvan Beach:
This is the listing I found that mentions Dorsey on July 17, 1941 at Sylvan Beach, NY:
HISTORY OF SYRACUSE MUSIC “OFFICIAL SITE” – CHAPTER 37 – MORE FAMOUS NAMES WHO PERFORMED OR SPOKE IN SYRACUSE BETWEEN 1941-1945
Feb 7-9, 1941 Louis Armstrong RKO Keith’s Theater
Apr 18, 1941 Howard Thurston (Magician) RKO Strand
May 9-11, 1941 Count Basie RKO Strand
May 23-25, 1941 Sally Rand RKO Strand
June 16-18, 1941 Vincent Lopez Orchestra RKO Keiths
June 20-22, 1941 Bill “Bojangles” Robinson RKO Strand
June 22, 1941 Gene Krupa Sylvan Beach
July 17, 1941 Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Sylvan Beach
Aug 24, 1941 Kate Smith N.Y.S. Fair
Jan 6, 1942 3 Stooges (Curly, Larry, Moe) Strand Theater
Here was my follow-up post about Dorsey and Sinatra at Sylvan Beach in 1941:
Here’s the ad and a small article about Dorsey at Sylvan Beach, July 17, 1941:
Note Sinatra not mentioned but the week before he was mentioned in a small article:
So, if it wasn’t for the Harry James at Sylvan Beach mystery, I probably wouldn’t have found out about Tommy Dorsey and Sinatra at Sylvan Beach in 1941.
Now on to Crystal Beach. Ask away. What’s that? What about Crystal Beach? Let me tell you. There had already been another unsubstantiated early Sinatra engagement that I could never verify. It concerned Crystal, Beach, Ontario here in Canada. Here was my follow-up post after the resolution to the Sylvan Beach issue:
Now that you’ve finalized the answer to Sylvan Beach 1939 with Harry James, I’d like some answers about Tommy Dorsey at Crystal Beach in Crystal Beach, Ontario, Canada. I’m not sure of the exact date and I’ve found no article or ads to substantiate the rumors that Sinatra and Dorsey played there. Websites dedicated to Crystal Beach swear they were there but no date given. There’s even a mock poster in circulation, also without a date:
I’ve checked Buffalo newspapers and Toronto newspapers but can’t find anything to suggest they were there. If anyone else wants to take a crack at it, let me know.
Just to give you an idea of where Crystal Beach, Ontario, is, have a look at the following map:
The distance is about 26 miles. Many of the big bands who had played in Buffalo or Fort Erie would also play the Ballroom in Crystal Beach. I have read some of the posts from seniors through memory projects who clearly remember seeing Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey at Crystal Beach and the poster above springs either from someone’s memory or imagination. The poster too clearly featured Sinatra rather than focusing on Tommy Dorsey and of course there was no date attached to it. So, I began my research and the posts began. Here was one of my first posts on the subject :
On a side note, I found this:
July 17, 1965
Not the original Dorsey and not Sinatra Sr. but interesting.
I also added the following post about Tommy Dorsey at Crystal Beach:
So far the only reference I can find to Tommy Dorsey at Crystal Beach was July 14th, 1955 with his brother Jimmy.
Here was another post in response to another member of our Sinatra group:
I’ve read so many posts from people who say they saw Sinatra at such and such a place with or without Dorsey and I haven’t been able to confirm most of them.
There’s a great book called:
“Let’s Dance: A Celebration of Ontario’s Dance Halls and Summer Dance Pavilions”
When I searched through the book I could find no reference to Dorsey at Crystal Beach. Strange though that if you read the section on “Summer Gardens” in Kitchen-Waterloo (pages 86-87), someone who was interviewed, recalls “I shrieked at a skinny Frank Sinatra there.”
Strange, I hadn’t heard the one before and couldn’t prove it.
I finally decided to reach out to someone in Fort Erie and they sent a contact for the archivist with Fort Erie Times. I asked them to look into Dorsey playing Crystal Beach sometime between 1940 and 1942. Those were the years that Sinatra was touring with Dorsey. While waiting for a response, I received this post from a member of our group:
Charlotte Nielsen interview with Mr. Truckenbrodt
April 23, 1985
F.T. They used to advertise ••• it was a quarter million dollar ballroom. Well of course in nineteen twenty-five, that’s a lot of money. And of course, interestingly, like the boat, I’ve been involved in the ballroom all my life because I went to work in the ballroom when I was twelve taking tickets and we used to say working on the ropes because it used to be five cents a dance, later on ten cents a dance like the song says. But you’d pay five cents for a ticket and then we would go out with the ropes. we had long long ropes and we would then sweep the people off the back of the floor, you see, at the end of the dance. The new people with the new five cents would come on in the front and dance their .•. There was ..• I think three minutes was a dance .•• After the first two minutes we would begin to work out with the ropes and push the people off and then we’d have to see that everybody got off because they had to pay their next ten cents before they could get on again.
C.N. So you worked at this Crystal Beach Ballroom as a child?
F.T. Yes, yes. Well, I worked there from twelve until I was twenty.
C.N. Could you describe it? Tell me about the bands, the people .•.
F.T. Well, it was unbelievable. As I said, when you try to tell about Crystal Beach you can’t. You can’t make people believe how wonderful it was because there were two bands that played: A Canadian band (12) ( ( ( and an American band. and they were what we knew as, in those days, as the bands, right. And in my time essentially it was Bert Niosi, who I watched on television two years ago, when he had his fiftieth anniversary at the Palais Royale in Toronto. He used to play the Palais in the winter and Crystal Beach in the summer. And I knew all the Niosis Johnny and Joe and Burt and my sister used to babysit Burt’s children when she was a little girl. Joe Niosi was in the airforce with me so we used to see each other in Ottawa. He was the number one airforce band during the war. But at any rate .. • And Harold Austin was the orchestra that came over on the boat. and you see with union rules, they had to have a Canadian band or the American couldn’t play. So the Canadian band started at eight o’clock and the boat came in at nine fifteen and at nine thirty Harold Austin played. And Harold Austin played from nine thirty until eleven and then Burt Niosi and his band would come on at eleven and play through till twelve. Now can you imagine what a joy this was, because Harold Austin left Buffalo at eight o’clock every night, seven days a week from Decoration Day till Labour Day and all the people of Buffalo would come out at eight o’clock, you know, people who had worked during the day, and they’d dance to this eighteen piece orchestra all the way across on this beautiful maple dance floor on the back deck of the Canadiana on a hot summer’s night, moon over the water, and land at Crystal Beach and walk just over to the ballroom and then dance away the night at the ballroom and then get back on the boat and dance their way back to Buffalo till twelve fifteen at night. I can remember seeing still the Harold Austin orchestra coming down the covered walk from the bridge with their bass fiddles and their saxaphones. They looked like the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra coming out after a concert. And then at eleven o’clock you’d see them all packed up with their bags going down to get on the boat again. Well, can you think what excitment this is with the boat and the dance hall and all this sort of thing.
C.N. No, I don’t quite understand.
F.T. And you see, the whole village, the whole place in the summer turned around the boat, because it was like Martha’s vineyard or (13) Nantucket. In the early days, everybody came on the boat because they didn’t have cars particularly during the depression in the early nineteen twenties. People might have had a car but they didn’t take it to Crystal Beach. But everybody in Buffalo could take the streetcar down to the dock at the end of Commercial Street and take the hour ride to Crystal Beach and be there for the day or for the evening and have their swim and go back. But it was always a different crowd, an adult crowd, that came on the. late boat at night, eight o’clock, and then go back and dance there.
C.N. Are you saying the band played both on this boat, the Canadiana
and at the ballroom at Crystal Beach? But you were in the ballroom working?
F.T. Yes, and in the ballroom. Taking tickets, yes.
C.N. You said, “Everybody could do this.” These were’nt rich people? They were everyday people? Oh yes! Sure. Oh!
F.T. And young people. Marvelous young people. We had such great gangs of people here. And we all went to the ballroom at night. Everybody did. And we all went to the beach in the afternoon. You know, it was just a wonderful time. And then of course, we began to have the name bands at the ballroom too as the big bands became famous. And we would have •.• Almost all summer, Saturday night there’d be a big band. And my favourite orchestra was Jimmy Dorsey. And I was absolutely in love with Helen O’Connell. And I had all the records, you know, my old poor old seventy-eights on this scratchy Victrola that I played all these things. And then suddenly Jimmy Dorsey was coming. Can you imagine the excitement? So I met Helen O’Connell and Bob Everly and got their autographs on my poster. I was just so thrilled. And we had Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. Oh, it’s so hard to do it all at once. But there was hardly a name band that we didn’t have. Larry Clinton. You name me some and they were probably here. And I can’t tell you the name of the orchestra. I just remember the girl singer was Louise King who I was terribly proud of. And then we had a terrible, terrible time one Labour Day. And I was working on the door (14) ( ( and Artie Shaw was corning. Well that was after .•• Like each year one of the big bands would become the band of the year. We had Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra and Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller of course, and then suddenly there was Artie Shaw playing.
It was a fascinating memory but it didn’t narrow down a firm date for Sinatra Dorsey at Crystal Beach. Here was part of my reply:
Assuming Dorsey played a Saturday night, I checked gaps in our listings and every Saturday night from April to September in 1940, 1941, and 1942 are all accounted for in our listings.
I gained access to Ontario, Canada newspaper archives today and searched for Tommy Dorse or Sinatra for those years and nothing comes up except the Canadian National Exhibition dates for those years.
The post brought this response from one of our members:
But how do we account for all the people bearing witness ?
Dorsey’s name comes up again and again in the history of the Crystal
Lake Ballroom. I’m sure the band would have been welcomed any day
of the week. As Frank was fond of saying: Dorsey was the General
Motors of the big band era. Last week I read about an eye witness
describing how the young women were hovering near the stage and
squealing as Frankie crooned away.
Here’s how I responded:
I can’t account for it. One person with no evidence to back it would convince me it didn’t happen but several people remembering it makes no sense. This is like Sylvan Lake with Harry James. It made no sense compared to the other evidence that he was still advertised at the World’s Fair and live remotes for a September 1st, 1939 for the World’s Fair were still being listed. In the end, we know how that worked out with Sylvan Lake actually occurring. I also found a previously unlisted Sylvan Lake in 1941 with Dorsey and Sinatra because of the research into Sylvan Lake. So, anything’s possible.
The fact that the mock-poster for Crystal Lake exists is obviously based on someone’s belief or knowledge that Dorsey and Sinatra were there. I’ve heard nothing from the contact I was given for the Fort Erie Times so I’ve reached out to them again. Maybe my initial request went into someone’s spam.
I haven’t given up on Crystal Lake and I’m still trying to run down Schenectady. The fact that Sinatra himself once said he played there with Dorsey is enough to send me searching.
Ok, so now I’ve thrown in Schenectady. I’ll explain that in a bit. My comment that my first inquiry to the archivist at the Fort Erie Times might have gone into spam was probably correct because I received the following email:
Hello Scott,
I didn’t get your previous email but the Museum can provide you with some background.
In 2009, William Kae wrote a book called “Crystal Beach Live – Buffalo and Toronto Entertainers & More”. There is information in that book regarding Tommy Dorsey playing at Crystal Beach Park. The following is taken from that book:
Page 199
“Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey had bands together and separately … Jimmy’s band came to Crystal Beach, as did Tommy’s, and after the brothers reconciled, the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra also played at the park. The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under Warren Covington played Crystal Beach twice during the big band era and returned in 1988.”
Page 202
“Old Blue Eyes sang with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra from 1939 through 1942. Tommy Dorsey, however, never played at Crystal Beach during those years. This poster has to be one of the biggest faux-pas on record.” [ A photo of a poster is in the book and is and exact match to the poster that you attached to your email.]
We hope this helps your research project.
Regards,
Jane Davies
Manager
Fort Erie Museum and Cultural Services
Box 339, Ridgeway, ON
L0S 1N0
Thank you Jane Davies. So much, for all those people who remember Sinatra being there.
So what about Schenectady? One of our group, during the Sylvan Beach search had posted the following:
The search for this date reminded me of a tape I listened to many years ago.
As the vamp started on “N.Y.,N.Y.,” Frank would sing out “Milwaukee” or “Alamogordo” or some other city
decidedly not measuring up to the Big Apple. On the night in question, he let out with “Schenectady.” Then Frank said
he had played there with Dorsey many years ago. Another time I received a call from the office of the writer William
Kennedy. They had heard Sinatra once played in our area with the Dorsey band. “Was it Schenectady ? or Albany?
or . . .” I told them I didn’t know.
That band played a lot of one-nighters more than 80 years ago. And newspaper coverage was very meager
Inside the expansive back room in the northwest corner of the old Kenmore Hotel hangs a drab, grey curtain concealing the last piece of history tied to the space.
The curtain protects a mural called “The Court of Cleopatra,” painted on the wall above a modest stage on which Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington played. It’s a depiction of the Queen of Egypt, whose beauty was unparalleled and whose intelligence matched that of the powerful men she seduced, most notably Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. It’s placement high upon the wall implied that this was the room in which the masters of the universe was expected to frolic.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find any information to pinpoint a date or even prove that Dorsey and Sinatra were together at the Kenmore Hotel. Of course Sinatra would sing at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany on January 30th, 1990 and November 13th, 1991. Sinatra was the first act to open the new Knickerbocker Arena when he played there in 1990 but earlier appearances with Dorsey remain a mystery.
There are also other Sinatra concerts that people have alleged to have seen or heard about but never happened. I recently came across the following website that mentions Sinatra at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto in 1948: https://www.vintageinn.ca/tag/cne-history/. That never happened. Here’s what they posted:
In 1948 Frank Sinatra performed under the big tent.
I found this GREAT post on a Sinatra family forum page about his visit thru the eyes of an attendee, which I will share with you now.
I was able to retrieve a couple of memories from my Mom about the 1948 Concert held under the big tent at the CNE in Toronto.They are wonderful memories of a time totally lost. I asked her to try and write everything down when she feels up to it.
The tent was jammed to the limit with fans, and not one speck of trouble occurred. My mom remembers the wood floor that was layed out for the dancing. Can you imagine trying to pull that off nowadays? If we could only have times like that today!
She remembers his famous bow tie, and how all the girls were just swooning at the front of the stage.She had the best time. My parents’ seats (they were newly engaged at the time), along with my Uncle and Aunt were quite a distance from the stage, but the minute Frankie came on my Mom and Aunt were off like a shot, my Dad and Uncle following. As I mentioned before, she was right up to the stage, and loving every minute.You can imagine her excitement, as she’d been a bobby soxer through and through, buying every magazine, and record. And here she was FRONT AND CENTRE STARING UP AT HER IDOL! Hopefully she’ll be able to write her memories of this great time down.
Take Care,from the Second Generation of Sinatra Fans-Ann
I had a bit of a laugh last night, as my Mom recalled another interesting fact about the concert in Toronto.
There was a dance floor put up in front of the stage, and the guys were wanting to dance. The girls on the otherhand were just standing there staring at their beloved Frankie!!!! But then again what else would one expect! He was sooooo cute!!!
Here was my comment, which you can read in the comment section:
Hello,
I have done extensive research on Sinatra’s appearances in Canada and there’s no record of a 1948 CNE concert. He was with Dorsey at the CNE in 1941 in Toronto and then the Mutual Street Arena in 1949 in Toronto. He did not return to Toronto until 1975.
I think the guy’s mother is misremembering ( I know, it’s not a real word).
You can flip through images for the whole 1948 program for the CNE and the big draw was Olsen & Johnson. The program does not mention Sinatra:
I have access to the Toronto Star newspaper archives as well and I checked the daily listings for the CNE in August/September 1948 and Sinatra was not listed.
I am certain there was no performance by Sinatra at the CNE in 1948. The Grandstand opened that year and all the big draws were at the Grandstand and not in a tent.
I also wrote a blog about some of Sinatra’s Canadian appearances, including his CNE concerts:
Of course, I had to get a plug in for one of my blahgs. If you read through the other comments on that page you will also find this comment:
Hi Liz, do you know if there’s any evidence of Sinatra visiting or performing at the Brant inn in Burlington in the late 40’s? My grandmother worked there and claimed he ‘stole a kiss’ from her.
That never happened either. I’ve done a comprehensive study of all of Sinatra’s performances in Canada and the CNE in 1948 in Toronto certainly wasn’t among them nor have I ever seen another mention of a possiblity of Sinatra at the Brant Inn in Burlington. The only other reference to Sinatra in Canada that is left unanswered is a reference to The Curlu in Toronto. From the Wikipedia entry for The Curlu, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carlu, you will find this:
Itself a highly regarded work of Art Moderne the Eaton’s Seventh Floor was at the heart of Toronto’s cultural life for many years. The Auditorium played host to the major performers of its day, including Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra.
That’s one I don’t even know where to begin to try and verify. I think I’ll leave it for now. Maybe someday I’ll resolve the Schenectady/Albany question but I’m happy at least I had a hand in solving the Sylvan Beach and Crystal Beach mysteries. There may be other mysteries but I’m taking a break for now…maybe for at least the next five minutes.
Today is the last day in 2021. I’m not sorry to say I’ll be glad to see it gone. 2021 wasn’t a bad year but any year, especially the second in a row, where we’re all still dealing with Covid 19, isn’t anything to brag about. I thought I would take a moment to look back on this year and list some of my accomplishments. So here’s another self-serving blahg but really a blahg to help remind me what I did do this year and what might be left to be done in 2022.
Well, I wrote 21 blahgs in 2021, 22 if I manage to get this one posted today, so that’s pretty good. I looked at my blahg situation and realized back in January that if I doubled down, I could reach the 100 blahg mark by the fall. I did even better by publishing the 100th blahg, THIS IS 100, PART ONE, on August 25th and if you include this blahg, again pending it’s publication today, this will be number 107. I posted my first blahg, THE BLAHG & THE MOST HAPPY SOUND, on August 2nd, 2011 and ten years later I’m still writing. If you want to know more about me or what I’ve been up to in the past 10 years then read the previous 106 blahgs or at least the recaps THIS IS 50, PART ONE., THIS IS 50, PART TWO, THIS IS 100, PART ONE, and THIS IS 100, PART TWO.
In addition to the 100 blahg goal, I had set some other tasks for myself. If you check out the first blahg I posted in 2021, THE FALSE DUCKS VIDEO BLAHG #4: OH, DIDN’T I RAMBLE, I detailed some other things I wanted to do this year. The corresponding blahg, THE RAMBLE UNPACKED, updated details on some books I wanted to read, some albums I wanted to listen to, some movies I wanted to watch, and a cuckoo clock I wanted to repair. I accomplished all of that and more. I also continued on a goal to watch all of Bette Davis’ films in chronological order. I think I had started this goal in 2020 and it continued this year. I had started with Bad Sister from 1931 and worked my way through to “Pocketful of Miracles” from 1961, which is a Christmas movie, before taking a break for the Christmas holidays. That’s a total of 71 films and it would have been 72 if I could have found a place to watch her second film, “Seed”, from 1931. If anyone knows where I can view this film, please let me know.
I also got back to collecting all of the volumes in The Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak. I had previously purchased Volume One because it contained the release of “I had no head and my eyes were floating way up in the air” which was submitted in the 1970s for publication in Harlan Ellison’s “The Last Dangerous Visions”. That anthology has never been published but that lost Simak story is available in the new Simak anthology “I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories: The Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak, Volume One”. I began to purchase all of the other volumes because they also included his War and Western stories in addition to his short Science Fiction stories. Open Road Media Science & Fantasy who publish these volumes usually will release four volumes at once in electronic format then months later will release them in paperback format all on the same date. I had purchased the first eight in paperback and was waiting for the publication of volumes 9-12. The electronic versions of these last four volumes have been available for a few years but only Volume Eleven, “Dusty Zebra And Other Stories”, was released in October this year. Why skip nine and ten and also omit twelve? It boggled my mind. My wife got me Volume Eleven for Christmas. Here’s hoping in 2022 we see the other three missing volumes in paperback.
Looping back to the topic of Covid 19, I am proud to say I have both vaccines and a few days ago on December 27th, I got my booster shop. My arm was sore for a day and I was tired the day after receiving the booster but everything else was fine. My message for everyone for 2022: GET A VACCINE OR GET YOUR BOOSTER! My brother and his wife and children didn’t get to come up to Canada for Christmas this year because the family came down with Covid 19. I know my sister-in-law was pretty sick for a few days but I shutter at the thought of how worse it could have been if she hadn’t had her vaccines. That’s all I’ll say about Covid for the rest of this blahg.
Just before Christmas, my daughter Abbie and I were able to attend the Transformers Convention in Mississauga, December 10-12. The convention in 2020 had to be cancelled due to, I’m not saying it because I promised, and this past July’s convention was moved to this December. My daughter and I usually have a blast at these conventions and we had a good time this year as well. Here are a couple of YouTube videos of the dealer room. They’re not mine but it gives you an idea of how much product is to be found.
My daughter found some treasures and so did I. The convention also has panels with artists and voice talent and Saturday night of the convention usually features a script reading. All attendees can audition for the script reading and Abbie was chosen for the script reading in 2019 but I had never been chosen. I wasn’t going to audition and we were just hanging around in our hotel room when I decided to go down and watch others audition. At the last minute, I did an audition for a character called Tripredacus. The audition line they gave me made it sound like this character was a gangster but everyone auditioned with loud booming voices. I decided to try out with an Edward G Robinson public enemy number one gangster type voice and I was selected. I had to text Abbie and she managed to get down in time to see me do the reading with the others who had been selected. She took some audio or video and when I get it from her, I’ll post it here.
I was very pleased to be selected for Tripredacus even though I didn’t know who that was. Later research from the Transformers Wiki for Tripredacus, https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Tripredacus, explains that he’s a character from Transformers Beast Wars. Here’s their explanation:
Tripredacus is a slimy “Battle Master” who prefers to emerge from underground to attack Maximal fortresses in the dead of night, tenaciously crushing all before him, spreading plague-like destruction wherever he goes. The weapons of his composite members form a slashing mega-missile launcher that he uses to tear his way into battle.
Tripredacus is composed of the three-member Tripredacus Council:
Ram Horn
Sea Clamp
Cicadacon
I don’t know if that is clear to you but that Transformers Wiki entry also detailed that in 1997 the three figures of Ram Horn, Sea Clamp, and Cicadacon were released separately and all three could be combined together to make the Tripredacus figure. After my script reading triumph, I was determined to find these three figures to combine into my own Tripredacus. On Sunday, Abbie and I returned to the Dealer Room to search for the three figures. I had set a price point of $60 for my Tripredacus but if you check that out on Ebay, it’s way too low. One dealer did have a Ram Horn complete for $40:
I decided to keep looking. Eventually Abbie found a dealer with an assortment of bagged figures. In one bag, in a box on the floor, we found the other two figures, Sea Clamp and Cicadacon
The figures were complete except their weapons and the dealer wanted $40 for the bag containing the pair. Abbie and I were looking them over and wondering what the odds were that we’d find these two together when the dealer offered to sell me the pair for $20. This was a no-brainer! I decided that these two for $20 plus the Ram Horn from the other dealer for $40 would match my price point of $60 for all three figures. Below is an image of my Tripredacus that Abbie combined for me this week from Ram Horn, Sea Clamp, and Cicadacon:
Another accomplishment from this year was the work I have done with Fresh Sound Records for the upcoming 2022 release of the complete recordings of Linda Keene. I can’t talk more about it and I can’t share the booklet mock up that was sent to me but stay tuned. The release is going to be spectacular.
In my last blahg, THE 2021 DEAD FROM THE NECK UP CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, I posted the new Christmas special I completed with my friend Stephen Dafoe and our announcer, my other friend, Bryan Dawkins. That deserves re-posting because it too was another accomplishment for me in 2021:
I think I’ll quickly end this blahg before it becomes a brag fast. Some of my blahgs this year introduced or reintroduced some forgotten bands, especially Bob Scobey, as well as some forgotten songbirds. I was thinking about doing another blahg on some more forgotten songbirds, which I may yet do in 2022, but I’ll end this blahg with a song by one I recently discovered. Her name is Dottie Reid and she only did a handful or recordings with bands led by Buddy Rich, Benny Goodman, and Muggsy Spanier. There are also some live remotes available of recordings she did with these bands. I’ll save those recordings and her biography for another blahg but I came across a V-Disc recording she did with Johnny Blowers and Gang in 1948. Here’s an image of that V-Disc:
Here’s her version of “Born To Be Blue”:
What a beautiful version of that song from a forgotten songbird. More on her, in a later blahg.
Tomorrow is New Year’s Day and the start of 2022. Let’s hope it’s special for all of us and we find ourselves healthy and happy. Celebrate every day and all your accomplishments. In 2013 I closed a blahg with the following quote and it too bears repeating: “After wishing everyone health and hugging and kissing, Frank Sinatra would always close with “In the next year, may we find peace in the world and peace among ourselves.” That’s an accomplishment I’d gladly toast to! Happy New Year!
Well, it happened again. Another milestone snuck up on me. No, it’s not my birthday. It’s also not my wife’s birthday which is this Saturday and yes, before anyone asks, I’m already prepared for that. The milestone I’m talking about is my 100th blahg. If you checked out my first blahg of this year, THE FALSE DUCKS VIDEO BLAHG #4: OH, DIDN’T I RAMBLE, I mentioned that it was possible to complete the 100th blahg sometime in September if I doubled down and started writing two blahgs a month. I did that but I still came out ahead. I guess I didn’t count correctly back in January. Don’t worry, I know how to count and I’m not stupid enough to count out the corresponding number of candles for my wife’s birthday cake and then put them on there. I want to stay happily married.
The first blahg that I wrote was THE BLAHG & THE MOST HAPPY SOUND, which I published on October 2nd, in 2011. I reached the 50 blahg mark on December 12th, 2015. Here’s what I said back then about reaching the 50 blahg mark:
Fifty blahgs in 4 years? I’m sure that’s not a record to boast about. I remember when I started this blahg that I had high ambitions. I deluded myself into thinking I could write two blahgs a week. I then amended that goal to write 50 blahgs before I turned 50. I turned 50 in September of 2012. I guess I missed that goal as well. To tell the truth, I’m just glad that I’m still writing; even if I don’t know if anyone is reading.
I know for a fact that someone is reading because in the past few months I’ve been contacted about two different blahgs. I don’t want to talk about those because there’s a big project in the works and I’m hoping to be a part of it. More, hopefully, on that later.
So, 100 hunh? What do I write about to commemorate that triple digit accomplishment? When I wrote the 50th blahg, it was long enough that I had to split it into two blahgs: THIS IS 50, PART ONE. and THIS IS 50, PART TWO, I reviewed a number of topics I had covered in the first 49 and then added a few. It took me just over four years to reach the 50 mark and it’s taken just over five and a half years to get to 100. That’s almost ten years cumulatively to get to this point. If anyone is asking, I guess I’ve strove for quality and not quantity. I think this blahg should be another retrospective of this second set of 50 blahgs. Of course, I’ll leave off number 51 because that was THIS IS 50, PART TWO and was a summary of the previous 49 or 50. So let’s see how I do encapsulating the past blahgs in so many words.
51. This is 50, Part Two. I said I wasn’t going to look back on that one but I did add a few extra topics to round that one out. One of those was “Donald Trump”. Little did we know that five and half years later we would finally be rid of him. Let’s hope, like Covid 19, we don’t see a second wave of him. If there is a big new wave then hopefully he’s standing in front of it.
52. The Balancing Act. I had started a new job and was trying to balance a work and home life. I wasn’t doing so well. I was letting my wife pick up my slack. I hope I’ve done better since then. Ask me again after her Birthday. At least I wrote a new poem for it, “the balancing act”:
the balancing act
take a boy in a tree legs akimbo aware of sky and ground trying to be somewhere in the middle years pass boy becomes older bigger maybe taller maybe just bigger around the middle maybe married maybe children maybe job trying to stay balanced on his limb his own limbs flying flying objects in the air trying not to let anyone or anything come crashing down
there’s no prize to keep your eyes on you can’t look away or everything falls away maybe steal a glance here or there at other boys in the tree more likely other girls but don’t let anyone catch you looking certainly not the wife sometimes you get a glimpse of another part of the tree the branch not taken and you wonder
and in that instance you drop something your guard your focus and you shift direction maybe weight to another foot and you pick up someone else’s load maybe that parent who climbed up after you and now there’s things on your shoulders more to bear bear down stay centered
some boys jump walk way from the jumble around the trunk see the brass ring maybe a selfish one a way down hide among the bushes and be someone else another boy
can’t be that way this boy’s staked a spot defend it cherish it wave off birds other intruders other boys those other girls glimpsed from a distance
the balls are still in the air plates spinning head erect eyes forward no longer balancing part of the tree maybe the tree rooted beckoning to the other boys catching their kites so they have to come nearer see this boy’s foliage
reaching out
calling out
climb up climb up
stay awhile
53. It’s Never Too Late. I finally got the Micronauts Rocket Tubes I always wanted. That was in early 2016. I haven’t pulled them out since. I guess I didn’t want it all the much. Still, there’s the Canadian version from Sears that had the gliders. I’d really like that. Maybe it’s still not too late.
54. If I’d Be A Superman. I’ve always had a fascination with Superman. That blahg was not inspired by the film “Batman V. Superman, Dawn of Justice” which came out around the same time as that blahg. Nor is this blahg inspired by “Justice League – The Zack Snyder Cut.” Earlier this year I watched the 2015 documentary, “The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?” Fascinating story of what might have happened if Nicholas Cage and Tim Burton had got together to make a Superman film. Unlike my last blahg, it’s far too late for that project.
55. A Class Act. That blahg was primarily about my experience with the band “I Fight Dragons” and trying to purchase some of their music for my daughter Abbie. Their lead singer Brian emailed me personally and made the transaction happen in time for Abbie’s birthday. Later this year, “I Fight Dragons” will release a new album “Side Quest: B-Sides And Rarities.” You can bet I’ll get that for my daughter’s birthday unless she buys it first. She’s still waiting for them to do a concert in Toronto but she’s still waiting on that. It might happen. It’s never too late. Sorry, I just had to put that in.
56. R.I.P. Jerry Lewis 2017. Jerry Lewis also had a blahg in the first 50, I SHINED JERRY LEWIS’ SHOE. This second blahg was another homage to a great comedian. We are lucky that a few more of his films have been released since his passing in 2017. In 2013, Jerry Lewis starred in the film “Max Rose”. It has yet to be released on DVD in North America. Here’s a trailer:
Come on people, RELEASE “MAX ROSE”!
57. Bridge City Again, Pirates, And Happy Birthday To Canada! It was Canada’s 150th Birthday in 2017 but the focus of that blahg was more about the music; specifically The Bridge City Dixieland Jazz Band and the Pat Riccio Quartet. Neither of those bands played together but it would have been truly thrilling if they had. Tom Caldwell, son of Bob Caldwell, the leader of The Bridge City Dixieland Jazz Band had read one of my blahgs where I had mentioned the band and he reached out to let me know how much Bob had enjoyed knowing there was someone still listening to the band. Bridge City only put out one album with 10 tracks but Tom Caldwell sent me a homemade CD of 21 tracks from the Band. Here’s one of those extra tracks, “Hindustan”:
Another portion of that blahg was dedicated to the Pat Riccio Quartet and I posted a YouTube video of them performing in the 1960s. It deserves to be reposted:
58. Happy Birthday To Me, 2017. I had an accident around my 55th Birthday. I had been riding my daughter’s scooter and wiped out. I don’t want to dwell on that. The last half of that blahg presented some tracks from a newly acquired copy of the album “The Pat Riccio Quartet Featuring Teddy Wilson” put out by Canadian Talent Library. Someone has posted the entire album on YouTube. You have to give this one a listen:
By the way, my Birthday is next month on September 23rd. I think I’ll avoid any scooter rides.
59. Celebrating Paul Quarrington. A great writer and a great musician who died too soon. He is missed. Back to YouTube for another tribute. I sing this song sometimes when I talk about my old body. It’s “This Old Body” by Paul Quarrington:
60. Being Sick On Christmas Is No Fun. True story. I was incredibly sick on Christmas Day 2017. I had to break my previous 55 year record of not going to the hospital on Christmas Day. Lots of meds and days of rest took away the worst sore throat I ever had. I lost Christmas that year. Last year we had to scale back Christmas due to Covid 19 and my daughter Emily and her husband Charlie couldn’t be with us. I’m hoping everyone will be home for Christmas this year. I think I’ll have to double down on the Fireworks for this year.
61. Goodbye 2017, The Year That Tried To Kill Me. It didn’t. There was that scooter accident and being sick on Christmas. There was also a strange back pain that sent me to a chiropractor. I’ve had worse since then. Did I mention that I fell and hurt my neck two weekends ago and was in the hospital overnight? I guess that story’s for another blahg.
62. A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Election. That was about the spring 2018 provincial election. Little did I know that Doug Ford would be elected Premier. When pigs fly or a cold day in July. Put on your parkas and watch the skies. Next year we vote him out.
63. Have You Read Any Good Books Lately? Yes, I have. I won’t review the books again that I reviewed back then. Instead, I’ll mention two that I recently read, “The Bigger They Come” and “The Knife Slipped” by Erle Stanley Gardner writing as A.A. Fair. Gardner is famous for creating and writing about Perry Mason. Cool and Lam is a fictional American private detective firm run by Bertha Cool with Donald Lam as her main operative. Gardner published 29 books in the series from 1939 to 1970. I first became interested in the Cool and Lam series due to my interest in Frank Sinatra. The second book in the series “Turn On the Heat” was adapted for the June 23, 1946, broadcast of Hour of Mystery with Frank Sinatra as the first actor to portray Donald Lam. Unfortunately that broadcast does not appear to circulate. I always thought about reading the book from the series, “Turn On The Heat”, that the broadcast was based on. That meant starting with the first book, which you can see to the left, “The Bigger They Come.” I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s the late 1930s into the 1940s gritty detective novel.
I was then going to turn my attention to “Turn On The Heat” which was the second published book in the series. I discovered, however, that this wasn’t the second book written in the series because Gardner had written “The Knife Slipped” after “The Bigger They Come.” Here’s what Wikipedia says about it: “Originally written to be the second book in the Cool and Lam series but rejected by Gardner’s publisher, The Knife Slipped was found among Gardner’s papers and published for the first time in 2016.” Hard Case Crime published “The Knife Slipped” and after reading it, and enjoying it even more than “The Bigger They Come”, I was drawn back in again to that gritty thirties Los Angeles noir. Hard Case Crime also republished “Turn On The Heat” and that’s the copy I have to read next. I took a bit of a break after reading the first two because I already know the basic plot of “Turn On The Heat.” In 1958 there was a pilot filmed for a “Cool and Lam” TV series and the plot of the pilot was taken from “Turn On The Heat.” I’ve watched the pilot but I’ll get around to reading the book. Below is that pilot for what could have been a fascinating series. I still think Cool and Lam would be a good TV or movie series.
64. What Happened To Mr. Henderson? Pass. That was the start of my Dad’s health problems and a battle with Belleville General Hospital Dad died as a result of their negligence. To the left, is a picture of my Father in 2015 when he had better care from that hospital.
65. “16 Inches Of Trouble” Or “Like Father Like Son”. This was one I enjoyed writing. It was about purchasing a 16 inch transcription record of Frank Sinatra and learning how to eventually play it and record it. You should read the whole blahg, “16 INCHES OF TROUBLE” OR “LIKE FATHER LIKE SON”, because it explains everything step by step. If you just want the introduction and then the finished solution, check out the two videos below.
In the last part of the blahg, the “Like Son” refers to my son Noah and his fascination and continued career in producing videos about analog film technology through Super 8mm, 35mm photo, and Polaroid instant film and into other forgotten film technologies. You can check out his YouTube channel here at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL9A6v7YSOOVXwCpao6Bszg. You can also find links to sponsor him at Patreon. I make a cameo or two.
66. The Jazz Band That Wasn’t…But Was! This is also another of my post 50 blahgs that I really like. It’s all about The Left Bank Bearcats who were a mysterious french band doing New Orleans style jazz recorded after hours at the Maison Diabolique in Paris. The truth was the albums actually were recorded in Philadelphia by American musicians. The three albums were Dixieland played by the Left Bank Bearcats, The Left Bank Bearcats Take George M. Cohan to Dixieland, and The Left Bank Bearcats in ‘Stereo’ (or The Left Bank Bearcats in “Hi-Fi” depending on what edition you had). I had found Dixieland played by the Left Bank Bearcats at a thrift store and that’s what started me into researching the band. It’s a fascinating story and in the blahg, THE JAZZ BAND THAT WASN’T…BUT WAS! you can find more information and links to download all three albums. Here’s the first song from that first album, “Monsieur Redwing” and it’s a swinger:
67. Some Christmas Stories. If you can’t figure out what that blahg is about by the title then maybe I shouldn’t tell you. Okay, twist my arm, I’ll tell you. For the past number of years I’ve written a new Christmas story. From that blahg, and from my Christmas collection “Proof For Believing”, here’s “Billy Built A Robot Christmas Morning.” I wrote this around 2005 and the reason I posted it in the Some Christmas Stories blahg was because I was thinking about writing a sequel Christmas story about Billy and what happened to him when he got older. I did write that sequel but I’ll get to that later.
Billy Built A Robot Christmas Morning
The first thing Billy did was to build a robot. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. The first thing Billy did was to wake up Christmas morning, open all of his presents, and express his extreme dissatisfaction at not getting the Grim Reaper 4 video game.
“It’s too violent,” his parents said. “You need something educational,” said his mother, “not something that’s all about killing and destroying stuff.”
So Billy built a robot. At first it was difficult. He didn’t grasp all of the principles of building the robot. He didn’t understand how to connect certain elements or to build a self-contained renewable energy pack to power the robot. And then there were the principles of motor control and incorporating a simulated brain with cognitive features allowing it to understand and carry out specified instructions. What did Billy know about any of these things? He was only ten.
So Billy used the Internet. There were numerous websites explaining certain codes and how to enable certain features. He even went to a chat room and talked for an hour with a guy in Canada who had managed to build a fleet of robots capable of recreating other robots in their own image. “Robots who built robots,” Billy thought. “That’s cool.”
It took quite some time for Billy to build his own Robot but when it was completed he was very pleased with himself. This Robot would be better than any others he had researched. It would obey only Billy and do his bidding.
So Billy set the Robot loose. At first it fumbled around and crashed through a few walls. It was bulky and its weight was considerable enough to cause extensive damage wherever it went. “Cool,” Billy exclaimed.
Then Billy maneuvered the Robot down the street and had it smash a few cars. People ran in terror when they saw the Robot. Billy didn’t care about the people. He could hurt them if he wanted too. He had learned from the Internet how to bi-pass certain inhibitors that would normally prevent the Robot from causing harm or even damaging things like walls and cars. But Billy would not allow his Robot to hurt any people. His parents wouldn’t like that. But eating cars and smashing buildings was cool and nobody got hurt.
Billy wasn’t sure what he should really do with his Robot. After a while he got bored of just having the Robot walk around and destroy things. He could try and build other robots like that guy in Canada but then what do you do with a bunch of robots other than having them destroy more stuff?
So Billy set his thoughts on world domination. He didn’t think about his parents anymore and he hardly even thought about Grim Reaper 4. This Robot thing was way cooler.
So time passed and Billy built more robots and appointed his first Robot as their leader. But they all followed Billy’s commands. At first they just all walked around destroying stuff but Billy soon commanded them to destroy only really important stuff so that the people would all be really scared of the robots. Sometimes some people shot at the robots but Billy had learned the trick to making his robots invincible. This just made the people angrier and they shot more stuff at the robots and there were explosions and things that made Billy more excited.
Eventually the robots destroyed all of the cities and the people followed the robots through the countryside. Some of them still shot stuff at the robots but most just followed the robots because there was nothing else to do.
The Robot that Billy built first always walked in the front. He was the biggest. Billy had made some changes to him and had given him laser eyes so he could destroy buildings and stuff from a distance. Some of the other robots looked just like the first Robot but they could do different things. Some had saw blades for hands and others had cannons in their chests. There was this one robot that Billy really thought was cool that had treads on the bottom of its feet so it could run through forests and destroy trees and stuff.
Eventually with all of the cities destroyed, there was nothing much left to do but to set up a post from where he could rule the world. That was easy. First he found a city that was all surrounded by water and he had the robots destroy all of the bridges. Then Billy had the robots build a fortress. That was cool. The robots kept anybody from going in there that weren’t robots.
All of the people who were on this new island city ran around and screamed and stuff but Billy didn’t care. He looked over this new island and thought this is probably the best spot where no one could hurt his robots. He could hear the people all yelling and stuff but he didn’t care.
“Billy!” Billy could hear one of the people calling his name. Why would someone be shouting his name?
“Billy!” Billy vaguely recognized the voice. He hadn’t heard it in a while but he was sure it was his mother’s voice.
“Billy!” Billy turned about looking for the source of the voice.
“Billy, shut off that robot video game. You’ve been playing it all day. Now shut it off and come to Christmas dinner.
The End
68. Another Christmas Memory. This one was dedicated to the first time I heard Frank Sinatra’s 1991 version of “Silent Night”. It was probably ten years ago and I was driving and listening to Warm 101.3 FM out of Syracuse, NY. They play Christmas all throughout the month of December and it’s a good way to get into the holiday spirit. I was aware that there was a version of “Silent Night” recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1991 and I didn’t have it. I had never heard it before because it had been released in 1991 on an obscure CD called “The Christmas Album…A Gift of Hope”. Well, sure enough, Warm 101.3 played it and I was amazed by the vocal. It was the elder Sinatra backed by Frank Sinatra Jr. on piano and a choir. A failing voice that was tender and cracked but with emotion that almost made me cry. Give it a listen:
There was another version recorded on the same day in 1991 with just Bill Miller on the piano. It would not be released until 2004 when it was a bonus track on “The Frank Sinatra Christmas Collection”. Thirteen years between releases? Of course, Sinatra had died by then, back in 1998, but we at least had an alternate take on the last song he ever recorded. Here’s that version of Sinatra singing “Silent Night” backed by Bill Miller:
Two Christmas songs on a hot day in August of 2021? Only here folks!
69. Welcome 2019…I’m Ready For You! I wasn’t. I had been lamenting some of my struggles in 2018 and was looking forward to 2019 being a better year. I did the Polar Dip for the first time that year. Unfortunately my Dad died two weeks later. I wasn’t ready for that at all. The only good thing to say about this blahg, was that I finished the sequel to “Billy Built A Robot Christmas Morning” and the sequel had its debut in this blahg:
BILLY’S BEST WORST CHRISTMAS EVER
This is the story of Billy but it’s not really his first story. Let me be clear I’m the author and I’m the one writing this story. I felt I needed to say that because I’m not sure if Billy is a good character or if he’s redeemable or worth redeeming. That’s what this story will determine.
We first met Billy in a story I wrote entitled “Billy Built A Robot Christmas Morning.” I guess he was about nine or ten. I never really gave it any thought. He wasn’t really likeable although I liked the story I wrote. But I’ve been thinking about Billy lately. I got to wondering how he turned out.
I was getting my hair cut not that long ago and I heard two women discussing what you get a 14 year old for Christmas. There were comments about it being a tough age and everything is electronic and gift options were limited. Really? I would think a good swift kick in the pants might be a good option. That last comment, like the good swift kick, should be aimed squarely at Billy.
Let me be clear, I don’t dislike 14 year olds or teenagers in that age range. I don’t even dislike Billy. I just think that all the stories today are about teenagers who get to save the world, as if there weren’t some more suitable older or even senior adults able to do that, or the teens are lost and struggling and you’re not really sure if they’re likeable or capable of redemption. I just would like to know where Billy fits into all of this. He’s going to be 14 in this story and we’ll see what happens.
So, I’m going to give Billy one more chance. He could be a good character but that’s up to him. When you have nothing to lose then you have everything to gain. I didn’t make that up. I’m just remembering that from somewhere. But that fits Billy. Let’s find out.
—————
Billy came home from school on at the start of his Christmas vacation on December 22nd to find a note pinned to the door of his home:
Billy, we’ve gone away for Christmas and we’ve taken Logan with us. Everything you need is at Grandma at Grandpa Thompson’s. Don’t try the door because it’s locked and we’ve armed the alarm with a new code.
Merry Christmas.
Mom & Dad
All Billy could think to say was “they took Logan?” Logan was his dog. Well, it was more the family dog. Billy had whined long and hard about having a dog and when his parents gave in, like they always did, he got a beagle for no particular occasion.
Billy was good with Logan in the beginning and did his best to feed him and walk him and clean up after him but when that became too much for him, or more to the point Billy lost interest, Mom and Dad provided for Logan. But still, “they took Logan?” What was that all about? They went away for Christmas and they took the family dog and left Billy behind?
Of course, I could tell you what that was all about. I am the author after all. Simply put, Mom and Dad had had enough…not with caring for Logan but with Billy not caring at all.
Billy tried the door. It was locked. He wondered if he should try his key. Maybe that part about changing the alarm code wasn’t true. He decided against that. No, this seemed all too real but he thought he’d better look around a bit.
Billy pressed his face up against the window in the door. He couldn’t see anything. It wasn’t dark but his view was only of the entrance hall and there was nothing there. He tried the living room window. Nothing there either. Oh, he could see the Christmas tree and all of the decorations but no sign of Mom and Dad.
“This makes no sense,” he said aloud to no one in particular. It really didn’t make any sense as far as he was concerned. Throughout the month of December his parents had been fools about Christmas. The decorations and the lights came out early and the tree went up and the holiday specials annoyed Billy for the whole month. Of course Billy had nothing to do with any of it. He shook his head at all that holiday nonsense. It had been too much for him and he had retreated to the sanctity of his room and his video games.
Of course, you and I can see it plainer than Billy. His Mom and Dad had tried to make a Christmas but Billy didn’t want to be a part of it. He wanted Christmas day and the presents and the dinner and that was it. No wonder Mom and Dad had split with Logan.
“What about the presents and the dinner?” Billy was getting good at talking to himself.
Mom had been baking all month and there had been cookies and squares and tarts and all kinds of things that Billy did indulge enjoy. He didn’t help bake anything but he really liked sampling them. He always ignored his mother’s pleas to “leave those alone” or “save some for others” or “you’ll spoil your dinner.” It was like a game to Billy. He never thought his mother was really upset. That was just what mothers do or say. The truth is that’s what Billys do or say. And Billys never think. But boy was he thinking now.
“Grandma and Grandpa’s?” His utterings would have been comical to anyone walking by who heard this all coming from a 14 year old boy with his nose pressed against the living room window of a house that was armed and alarmed by owners who took their dog and left for Christmas and left their son to Grandma and Grandpa.
“Grandma and Grandpa’s?” he asked himself again. It was a fate worse than death. They had no internet and no cable television. They had rabbit ears and got three channels and one of those was public broadcasting. Public broadcasting, Billy thought, was for toddlers and old people. He wasn’t any of those. “Great, more Christmas specials,” he said to the window. Billy thought that with his parents gone he’d at least dodge that bullet. He called that wrong.
Grandma and Grandpa’s house was on the other side of town. It was a long walk and it would not help much with Billy’s mood. Maybe they’d be gone too. Maybe there’d be another note pinned to the door passing him on to other relatives until he came full circle back to his own home and it would all have been a cruel joke and his parents with Logan would be there to greet him.
No such luck. Grandma and Grandpa were home.
“Your parents dropped off what they thought you needed. We put everything up in the spare room,” Grandma said. “Oh, and they left this note.”
Great, another note, Billy thought. Here’s where the gag would be revealed and they’d all have a good laugh…at his expense. Again, no such luck.
Billy, listen to Grandma and Grandpa. Their house, their rules. We have left you no electronics. Don’t even try your phone. We’ve cancelled your plan. No texts, no data, no calls. Don’t forget to wear your boots.
Merry Christmas.
Mom & Dad
Billy reeled with the horror. He tried his phone. Nothing worked. Emergency Service only. Would 911 consider his plight an emergency? He dashed up the stairs to the spare room. The note didn’t lie. There were no electronics. No game consoles. No hand-held game systems. No tablet, no laptop. But there were boots.
“I’m not wearing those,” he said to the room. Surprisingly, the room didn’t answer.
The next day, Billy wore the boots.
It had been a rough night. He had pressed Grandma and Grandpa for answers but they gave none. All they would say was that he was there for Christmas and they’d see about New Year’s. Nothing about Mom and Dad and Logan and his cancelled Christmas. Nothing about the presents and the dinner. Nothing about anything. He had hid out in the room. The blankets were wool and itched. Oh, and it snowed.
Overnight the landscape had turned to white and Billy’s expensive running shoes were useless. Two feet of snow and climbing.
“Doesn’t beat the seven feet of snow they had in Buffalo a few years ago,” Grandpa said as he shook Billy awake the next morning.
“What?” was all Billy could manage at seven o’clock. His eyes were hardly open and the room was too cold. “Why do old people always like it so cold”, he thought. He knew better that to at least say that out loud.
“Shovelling first,” Grandpa went on, “and then Breakfast and then shopping. Get a move on.” Grandpa whipped off the blankets before flipping on the lights and leaving the room.
“Could this get any worse?” Billy said to the room. The room was a good listener. It was not much on small talk but it didn’t laugh at him for talking to himself.
Billy struggled out of the bed and into his clothes. At least his parents had provided him with what seemed like enough clothes for a long stay. And he put on the boots and a toque and gloves and a scarf. All provided courtesy of his parents. Bundled that way, no one would recognize him. At least he had his anonymity to cling to if he wanted it…oh and he wanted it.
“This is my grandson, Billy, and he’s going to shovel your driveway. Merry Christmas.” Grandpa didn’t know anything about anonymity.
Not only did Billy have to shovel Grandma and Grandpa’s driveway but they insisted on introducing him to every elderly neighbor on the block and extending them the courtesy of Billy’s free labor. Billy wasn’t one for good deeds but Grandpa kept an eye him until everything was done. Five driveways and aching arms later, it was time for breakfast.
“Oatmeal, there’s nothing like it on a cold morning,” Grandma said as she spooned out a good sized bowl’s worth. Billy glared at it. There was no sugar. The milk was skim or non-fat or something he’d rather avoid. At least they let him have some coffee. It was too strong. There was no sugar. The milk was skim or non-fat…you get the drift.
This was really shaping up to be an awful holiday for Billy. First, no Christmas and now no sugar and some liquid that passed almost as white water. At least he had the shopping to look forward to. He had some money on him and maybe he could buy himself something to make it all passable.
They drove to the Bulk House. Everything was in bulk. Grandma and Grandpa bought fifty rolls each of paper towels and toilet paper. Oh, but there were vegetables. Billy had to heft a fifty pound sack of potatoes out to the car. That didn’t include the 20 pounds of carrots or the big bag of onions. Billy had to huddle in the back with groceries. Grandpa said his summer tires were in the trunk.
That evening, dinner consisted of fish with, you guessed it, boiled potatoes, carrots, and onions. The evening also consisted of watching a Christmas movie with Grandma and Grandpa. They insisted. It was A Christmas Carol. Of course it would be. This story is about redemption and what better tale happens at Christmas about redemption than Ebenezer Scrooge’s own? I don’t mean to hit the reader over the head with this but I thought that Billy might need some poking.
The next morning, being the day before Christmas, Billy did indeed wake to some poking. It was Grandpa again.
“Up and at ‘em, boy, it snowed another foot in the night. You know the routine. Shoveling first, then breakfast, then shopping.” Grandpa jerked the covers back again before leaving the room.
“What time does he even get up?” Billy muttered. Again, the room had no response.
Five more driveways plus Grandma and Grandpa’s. Breakfast was fried potatoes and toast. The margarine was cheap and hard. It tore the toast. Billy flavored his semi-milk with some coffee this time. It wasn’t a welcomed change.
Shopping consisted of another trip back to the Bulk House. This time it was just Grandpa and Billy. They did not go inside. Grandpa bought a Christmas tree from the man who sold them at a corner of the parking lot. There was some haggling between Grandpa and the vendor. Billy tried to hide among the pre-cut forest. Apparently this was a ritual for Grandma and Grandpa. They waited until the 24th before buying their tree. At least Billy didn’t have to suffer that too much.
Billy, however, did suffer. He counted his scratches. Guess who had to help lift it on the roof and drag it in the house and crawl underneath the tree and help balance it in the stand until Grandma declared it was perfect? Not Grandpa, I can tell you that.
You know I hate to see anyone suffer; especially at Christmas. I’d like to say I take no joy in seeing my boy Billy suffer but I don’t want to lie to you reader. Billy has to suffer. Without the suffering there’s no motivation for change. After all, haven’t I caused him enough anguish by cancelling his Christmas and packing him off to his Grandparents and then having him break his back with a shovel only to suffer yet another fruitless trip to the Bulk House where he got nothing for himself again except the scrapes he’s now counting? I thought the message of A Christmas Carol would have been plain enough for him. What’s it going to take?
After the tree decorating, Grandpa delighted in beating Billy twice at Cribbage. Billy hadn’t played in years and Grandpa made sure to collect all of the points for himself that Billy missed in error.
“Your head’s not in the game, boy,” Grandpa stated after the second defeat. At least Billy was only skunked in the second game. The first game had ended in a double skunk with Grandpa declaring that Billy should study harder in school because math obviously wasn’t his strong suit if he couldn’t realize what cards added up to fifteen.
Billy escaped. After the game he wore the boots again and trudged down the block to the corner store. Grandma had sent him there twice the day before for bread and then the watered down milk. Not only did she forget to stalk up on these when she was at the Bulk House, she couldn’t even remember everything she needed so she wouldn’t have to send him out more than once.
This time, Billy went for himself. He still had his money. He bought a soda and rejoiced in the sugar. He eyed the magazines but found he was not old enough for some and the others were nothing he’d care to read. Your corner store doesn’t usually stock in the latest gamer magazines.
While Billy was enjoying the sweetness of the soda he thought about the lack of sugar at Grandma and Grandpa’s. He bought some sugar cubes, a carton of good milk possibly 50 proof, and some coffee creamer. Given the exorbitant prices at the corner store, Billy soon found his spending money well depleted. He bought a Christmas bag with his loose change. He’d put the sugar, milk, and creamer in that and that would be his gift to his Grandparents.
Dinner was cabbage and pork-roll. Oh yes, and baked potatoes and more carrots.
The movie that night was “It’s A Wonderful Life.” It had been a while since Billy had sat through it in its entirety.
Billy lay awake long into the night. You would think that redeeming thoughts of histories of his youth or a life lived by others without him or visions of sugar plums at the very least would have been dancing in his head. No, instead he thought of this Christmas lived without him. Mom and Dad and Logan were probably on some beach somewhere or at some mountain resort thinking of anything but Billy. He began to wallow in his own misery. He piled on everything from the cancelled Christmas to the pine needles he had had to shake from his hair. Grandpa had said that wouldn’t have happened if Billy got a haircut once in a while.
Billy finally drifted off to sleep feeling thoroughly sorry for himself and wondering what type of potato would greet him for Christmas dinner…if there was a Christmas dinner.
The room was very warm when he awoke. No one had whisked away the covers. He had kicked them off himself. And it was still dark.
Billy looked about the room. There was a glow from the street light but he could only see shadows in the room.
“Hey room, Merry Christmas,” Billy called out in the dark. It was meant as sarcasm.
“Merry Christmas yourself Billy,” the room replied.
Billy bolted up in the bed. He reached over and turned on the lamp beside his bed. The light was suddenly too bright in the close darkness. Eventually the shadows became blurs and then shadows again and then he saw it…saw him…Santa Claus
“Merry Christmas Billy,” Santa said.
Billy rubbed his eyes. No, this couldn’t be. He closed his eyes tight for a few seconds and then opened them again. It was no use. He was still there. And it was Santa. Billy knew this right off. It wasn’t Grandpa or anyone else dressed up like Santa. It was the real Santa.
Billy looked Santa over. Red suit and real beard. He looked just like a thousand images of Santa he had seen in print or on television or in the movies. The image was immediately recognizable and true to his own memories of what he thought Santa looked like. Not that Billy ever thought of Santa Claus these days. That was kids’ stuff.
“Merry Christmas Billy”, Santa said again.
“You said that already,” Billy pointed out. Billy didn’t mean to be flippant but what do you say to Santa when he shows up in the middle of the night at your grandparents’ house after you’d been dreaming of your thoroughly miserable Christmas.
“And would it kill you to say it back?” Santa asked. Apparently Santa was not opposed to being flippant.
“Merry Christmas,” Billy replied, “but you can’t be…” Billy trailed off what he was going to say. Why couldn’t he be Santa Claus? Nothing else that had happened to him lately made any sense.
“Oh, but I can be and I am.” Santa looked around the room. “What, no cookies and milk?”
“I’m not a kid you know”, Billy found himself answering. “That stuff’s just for kids.” Again it was the kids’ stuff guiding his thoughts. Substitute Bah Humbug and you will understand what Billy was getting at.
“The cookies aren’t for the kids, they’re for me. I’m for the kids. But I’m not just for children Billy. I came because you need me.” Santa shook a mittened hand in Billy’s direction.
“I don’t need anything”, Billy replied in defiance. “I’ve got everything I need.” Billy shook his own hand back at Santa.
“No Christmas, potatoes galore, scratched up arms, and pine needles in your hair. I guess you do have everything.” Santa was good at stating the obvious.
Billy ran his fingers through his hair. It was true. There were still some pine needles clinging to his scalp. At least he could thank Santa for that.
“You see Billy, you really don’t have anything. Listening to me might just change that. When you have nothing to lose then you have everything to gain.” Santa sat down on the bed. “I heard that somewhere and it bears repeating.” Told you so, reader.
Billy couldn’t think of anything to say. Santa was right…on all accounts.
“You once needed me Billy and I used to come to you every year. You were always a delight when you were sleeping. Still are. I bet your parents would say that about you now. It’s the waking times that need a little polishing.”
“Thanks a lot Santa,” Billy snapped.
“It’s only the truth. Don’t blame the messenger,” Santa replied without buying into Billy’s anger. “Then you grew up. You thought you knew it all. You didn’t want anything. Or if you did, your parents gave it to you. I blame them for expelling me from your life. What do you need me for after they break the illusion? Still, you didn’t have to buy into it all and let it run your life.”
“I thought you said I needed you?” Billy asked. The sarcasm was creeping back in.
“You do. You did and then you didn’t and now you do.”
Billy looked confused.
“It’s like this”, Santa continued. “When you are little you need the magic and the wonder and I’m there for that. When you got older you didn’t need that anymore or maybe you didn’t want it. But boy do you need it now.” Santa was shaking his hand at Billy again. “You’ve lost something and it isn’t just this Christmas. You’ve lost all your Christmases. You gave them up. Thought you didn’t need them. There’s an emptiness in you that you can’t find a way to fill. No video game’s going to give you back that.”
Billy stared at Santa. He had cut Billy to the core; only because it was true. Santa was right. It wasn’t just this Christmas. Billy had walked away from all of that the first Christmas he didn’t get everything he wanted. The memory of not getting the Grim Reaper 4 video game came back to his mind. That was the morning he had built the robot. But that’s the other story.
Santa reached over to pat Billy on the arm. Billy thought about quickly pulling his arm away but he didn’t. Billy felt the touch. It was real. It was true. Everything Santa had said was true. There was truth in the words and Billy knew it. The truth was the one thing that Billy would never have thought to ask for but the one thing he needed most.
“Don’t think on it too much kid”, Santa went on. “I’ve given you a gift. It might not have been anything you wanted but sometimes it’s the things we need that are the best gifts received.”
Santa stood up and stood beside the bed for the moment looking into Billy’s eyes. He reached out to shut off the lamp. Just before he did he turned back to Billy and said “and that was a nice touch about the sugar cubes, milk, and creamer. Now go and find your own Christmas.” The light went out, the room grew colder, and Santa was gone.
Billy lay in the bed trembling for a long time. He wasn’t sure if it was the coldness of the room or what had just happened. He pulled up the blankets and hunkered down. He couldn’t be sure if what just happened really happened or if he’d been dreaming. Soon he slept again.
In the morning Billy woke to a strange sound. He didn’t recognize it right away. It was like bells in the distance and it stirred him. Church Bells? Christmas Bells? No, it was his phone. The chiming signified he had a message.
Billy snatched up his phone. It was working again. The service was back on. There were about a dozen texts from friends wondering where he was or what he got for Christmas or bragging about their own gifts. And there was a text from Mom and Dad:
Billy, there’s a gift for you at the house. We’ve disarmed the alarm and we’ve restored your phone service.
Merry Christmas.
Mom & Dad
Billy practically flew out of bed. It was Christmas and there was a gift. After dressing he ran down the stairs and called out to Grandma and Grandpa. They must have gone out or were sleeping in. He left his gift bag for them on the table. They’d find it.
Billy didn’t care that it was cold out or that it had snowed again. He was just glad he hadn’t been awoken by Grandpa hovering over him with a shovel. There was a spring back in Billy’s step and the walk home didn’t seem half as long as normal.
Billy tried his key in the lock. It opened. No alarm went off to spoil it all. But there was something. Billy smelled bacon. And there was music. Okay, it was Christmas music but he’d take that over alarms ringing. And then Logan was there jumping up at him. And Mom. And Dad.
“What?” Billy started. But it stuck in his throat.
“Merry Christmas son.” Dad was at his side pulling off Billy’s toque.
“Stamp that snow off your boots,” Mom said appearing in the hall with Grandma and Grandpa.
“Merry Christmas boy,” Grandpa said. “More snow hunh? Still, it doesn’t beat what they got in Buffalo a few years ago.”
“I know, seven feet of snow in Buffalo,” Billy replied. Billy found himself chuckling at what he said.
“You’re just in time for breakfast,” Grandma said. “Bacon and eggs and toast and waffles if you want them.”
“What, no hash browns or home-fried potatoes?” Billy asked. Billy gave off with another laugh.
“Thought you’d had your fill of potatoes?” Grandma replied.
But there were potatoes. Mashed potatoes with dinner. And turkey, And stuffing. And gravy. And just about everything that makes Christmas dinner Christmas dinner. And pie for desert. Mom’s apple and Grandma’s pumpkin. He hadn’t missed them.
Before dinner but after breakfast, there were presents. Billy hadn’t expected anything so no matter what he got, he thoroughly welcomed the presents. There was even the Grim Reaper 4 video game. Dad had found it in a retro game shop. Billy put it away. He didn’t need it right now.
In the afternoon he beat Grandpa two straight games of Cribbage. He loaded the dishwasher. He even walked Logan.
That night, Billy lay in bed and thought back on the day. He hadn’t even asked his parents what it had all been about. Had they been there the whole time? Should he have tried his key that day after school? He didn’t care. He had lost something and now he had got it back. He had found his Christmas.
Billy didn’t really know if Santa Claus had really come to him. It might have been too many potatoes or too many movies with Christmas spirts or angels. He couldn’t be sure.
“Merry Christmas room.” Billy waited for a reply. There was none and that was okay. Still, he wish he knew for sure.
The next year he took no chances and he hung up his stocking and left out cookies and milk. Logan ate them all.
The End.
70. The Passing Of George Arthur Henderson. Hard Pass. I don’t want to talk about it. Here’s a picture of my Father in the years before he died, I’ll just remember his life.
71. Me And My Grief. I still don’t want to talk about it. It took me over a month to write another blahg and two months before I processed my grief by writing a poem about it.
when my father died
when my father died
sorrow eluded me
the anger at an unexpected
yet accepted passing
two day decline
to death
shadowed
by the chaos
of this life
and to do
forcing the stack
higher
pushed to the side
hoping for each thing
to be swallowed
as natural compost
when my father died
there were no services
no prolonged goodbye
no chance at words
an anagram perhaps
of a life summed up
rearranged to a sign post
that way onward for him
or this way for the living
when my father died
I carried on
tackled some things
tossed others to the tower
tried facing forwards
sometimes a sideways glance
to the pile
checking that it was still there
all the things that still bound me
to my father
weeks passed
after he passed
and the pile shifted
fell
trapping me beneath
grief appearing
finally
again unexpected
yet accepted
all consuming
a sad song
purposefully on repeat
all things
that were just things
collapsing over me
grief and I became close
buried together
hating and fighting
biting and scratching
hating mostly
everything and everyone
selfishness and pain
my true friends
nothing else
then someone sat with me
learned of
his death
my struggles
heard the spewing
took it all in
listened
to the stories
and all the grief
given out
in gasping breaths
until it had been shared
and the rubble was just
rubble
flotsam
easier to pick through
sort into importance
or not
when my father died
I had no time
no
made no time
to break
to grieve
to fashion truths
into a grave marker
or a trail marker
when my father died
I accepted
what needed to be done
the list
at once unsurmountable
but somehow
manageable
until that last thing done
releases him from me
and all I have
is memories
and my grief
that guides me
from here to there
this place to that place
where he has gone
and sends his beacon
72. P.M.R. Polymyalgia Rheumatica. Look it up. It’s nasty at any age. I was on Prednisone for two years before weaning off at the end of June this year. I took the initials and made puns. If I had to sum it up, I’d say the Pain’s Mostly Receded but I’m always afraid it Possibly Might Return. If it does call for me again I’ll go into hiding and Post My Regrets. P.M.R. sucks. ‘Nuff said.
73. Emily’s Wedding. A Hell Of A Tether. I was floundering around with my grief and my pain and had forgotten that Emily was getting married. I managed, with the Prednisone, to get my pain under control and with the help of a Grief Counselor I addressed my grief. She suggested I find something to tether myself to and the goal of walking Emily down the aisle became that tether. If you want to see/hear a funny and moving speech from a Father who wrote nothing down, then check this out:
74. Polymyalgia Redux And More Polly Tics. Enough about the Polymyalgia and how it came back in the fall of 2019 with a vengeance. The other part of that blahg was dedicated to the fall 2019 Federal election. Now we’re going to have yet another Federal election next month. Andrew Scheer of the Conservatives is gone but Erin O’toole is leading that party now. I don’t trust him. The Liberals under Justin Trudeau are going to try to change their minority to a majority. Is it the right time to hold an election? There is still that pandemic and some people don’t want to go to the polls. Politicians Might Rally and some Politicians Might Reel. We’ll soon find out.
75. Who I Am. That’s a good question and a good place to leave off with Part 1 of This Is 100. Who I Am isn’t really a question but rather a declaration. I’m a son, a husband, a Father, a Father-In Law, a friend, a writer, a pain sufferer, a griever, a music fan, and a hundred or thousand or million other things rolled into this old body. I tried to encapsulate everything in that one blahg. I think I fell short. I also posted a 2000 video by the singer Jessica Andrews with the title “Who I AM”.
Who I am is defined and undefined. The truth is, however, like this blahg, “This Is 100”, I am a work in progress. Stay tuned.
It’s been three weeks since that little poke in the arm laid me out flat. You can read more about all of that in my previous blahg ASTRAZENECA VACCINE — MY CAUTIONARY TALE. I don’t want to revisit that but now that they’ve halted AstraZeneca, I’m not sure what will be my second dose. Hopefully, whatever it is, it won’t make me ill. I’m moving on.
Recently, I was contacted by a fellow Canadian, currently in England, who had read my AstraZeneca blahg as well as a previous blahg that I wrote in October of 2011 about Frank Sinatra at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in September of 1984. That previous blahg was SINATRA ALMOST GOT ME KILLED and you’ll really have to read that blahg in order to understand the title. The blahg was more about my experience with the concert and not Sinatra’s or Toronto’s experience. My Canadian colleague was doing some research on that concert and had emailed me about some articles from that time period. In responding, I realized there was really more of a back-story to the 1984 concert that had to be taken into consideration. So, I’ve decided that this blahg will be the chance to provide more insight into the 1984 concert and why Sinatra was behind the eight-ball before he even appeared on stage.
In the email, explaining about the back-story, I had only backed up to 1983 and explained some of the events leading up to the 1984 concert. To be fair, I need to back up as far as 1949 so I can provide true context. A quick note about 1940 and 1941 would provide even more insight. This is all about Sinatra in Toronto and his first appearance with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra was at the CNE in September of 1940. The band would play from September 4th-7th, 1940. Sinatra would not receive credit in any of the news clippings during his appearance at the CNE. Here’s one of the ads that ran in the Toronto Star on September 5, 1940. You can click on the advertisement to view a larger image.
A rare 15 minute radio transcription of Sinatra and Dorsey’s performance from September 5th, 1940, the same day as the above advertisement, has recently surfaced. Give it a listen:
The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Sinatra would return to the CNE again in August of 1941. That year, it was only for two days on August 22nd and 23rd, 1941. Again, Sinatra’s name would not appear in local media advertisements. The following ad appeared in the Globe and Mail, Toronto, August 21st, 1941.
By September of 1942, September 3rd, 1942 being his last day, Sinatra had left Dorsey and the band did not play the CNE in Toronto that year. Dorsey and Sinatra would only make one Canadian stop in 1942 and that was on May 6th at the Forum in Montreal.
Are you still wondering about 1949? Wait no longer. The explanation is that Sinatra’s first appearance as solo vocalist in Toronto was at the Mutual Arena on August 7th and 8th, 1949. It had been eight years since his last visit to Toronto at the CNE in August of 1941. Finally, Sinatra would make a two evening performance in the city.
Reviews for Sinatra at the Mutual Arena were good.
One article even mentioned Sinatra’s previous Toronto appearance with Dorsey in 1941:
Sinatra even got his picture in the Globe and Mail newspaper on July 8th, 1949 noting how he flew in to a local airport and was met by fans and still how it had been eight years since he was last in Toronto.
And you’re probably still asking, “what’s the significance about 1949?” Well, I’ll tell you. After the 1949 concert, Sinatra would not return to Toronto until 1975. Yes, 26 years would pass before Sinatra would perform again in Toronto. During those 26 years Sinatra had appeared from February 6th to 15th, 1953 at the Chez Paree in Montreal and gave two concerts at the Vancouver Forum in Vancouver on June 8th, 1957. The 1957 Vancouver concert would be issued on CD on the Acrobat label in 2010, mistaking the venue as the Orpheum, and is a splendid example of the 1950s swinging Sinatra. Toronto missed out on the swinging 1950s Sinatra and the 1960s Summit Sinatra with pals Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. When Sinatra retired in 1971, it probably left Sinatra fans thinking they would never see the great singer perform in their city again. It would be a new generation or maybe the old generation waiting for him to come back.
Jump to 1975 and on January 28th, the Toronto Star runs a two part article announcing Sinatra’s return to Toronto on May 10th. The first part would mention Sinatra’s 25 year absence from Toronto. The second part of the article would talk about the absence and some animosity towards Sinatra.
The Toronto Star ran a full-page spread on Sinatra on May 5th, 1975 and provided some details about the previous 1949 appearance in Toronto. You could tell by the article that some excitement was building regarding his appearance and that it was in part due to his long absence from the city.
The stage was set for an exciting evening.
So what went wrong? It started with an editorial by Gary Lautens in the Toronto Star on February 25th, 1975; less than a month after it had been announced that Sinatra would appear at Maple Leaf Gardens in May.
Mr. Lautens wanted to dig up the whole issue Sinatra had had with the press in the past.
Then there was the issue with tickets. Before tickets went on sale, most of the top seats were already gone:
But that issue was quickly solved by Sinatra agreeing to add another show on May 10th.
Of course there was that “50-cent service charge” added to tickets that made some people angry. It was the issues of service charges and ticket scarcity that made some angry but the press wasn’t finished with Mr. Sinatra.
On the day of the concert, May 10, 1975, an incident of violence was reported in The Toronto Star:
This was the type of press Sinatra didn’t need. Gary Lautens had already taken on Sinatra about violence towards reporters and now it was being alleged that Sinatra’s bodyguards were attacking media persons. So what was Sinatra to do? Well, he gave his concert that people paid to see and hear but he also took the opportunity to call out the media and suggest that the punching incident never happened.
The Canadian Press wire service even picked up the thread and published a picture and article of Sinatra holding a copy of the Toronto Star before ripping it up to cheers from the audience.
Of course, the media took shots at Sinatra as well in their reviews of the two concerts. The Globe and Mail said Sinatra was a “vocal has-been” but acknowledged that he still held sway with his fans:
Two days later, on May 12th, 1975 the Globe and Mail acknowledged even more so that Sinatra was no “has-been” to his fans:
On May 12th, the Toronto Star also finally got around to covering Sinatra’s appearance by publishing a full page with three articles and photos. The articles covered everything from the fan adoration, the press thinking Sinatra’s performance was lacking, and that punch or no punch incident.
Frank Sinatra would return to Toronto later in 1975 to perform at the CNE on August 21st. Just a few months after the May concert and none of the articles make reference to any of the issues that occurred while Sinatra had appeared at Maple Leaf Gardens.
There was no mention of the earlier 1975 concerts or the problems associated with Sinatra’s appearance at Maple Leaf Gardens. This was the first time that Sinatra had appeared at the CNE since his 1941 performances with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Even the reviews of Sinatra at the CNE in 1975 were better. The Toronto Star said this was the concert he should have performed at the Gardens earlier that year.
The Globe and Mail also praised Sinatra at the CNE:
Definitely, the CNE was a better venue for Sinatra in 1975.
Sinatra came back again to Maple Leaf Gardens on May 1st of 1976 with very little fanfare.
Reviews were mixed again for his 1976 engagement at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Notice that The Star felt Sinatra had given a better performance at the CNE the previous year. The CNE Grandstand was an open-air venue where the Gardens had been closed in. Was that the secret of his success? The Globe and Mail gave a similar review:
So now we get to what went wrong with the 1984 CNE concert. Sinatra had performed well and the reviews were good for his August 1975 concert at the CNE compared to the ones he performed at Maple Leaf Gardens. But 1984 is a considerable time after 1975 and 1976. Again, people were starting to wonder if Sinatra was ever coming back to Toronto. The rumour of his return started again in 1983 and concluded with a scheduled date in 1983. On June 3rd, 1983, Peter Goddard with the Toronto Star reported on rumours of Sinatra appearing at the CNE in 1983 although Sinatra’s office denied any plans of Sinatra returning to the CNE that year:
By June 30th, 1983, both the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail reported that Sinatra was indeed appearing at the CNE in 1983 and the date had been set for August 27th:
On August 5th, however, it was announced that Sinatra had to cancel, or postpone, his performance at the CNE that year.
To be fair, Sinatra did not have another gig on August 27th of 1983. Sinatra’s last summer performance was at the Universal Amphitheatre on June 19, 1983 and he would not perform again until September 20th at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. There was one exception and that was August 5th at the Sporting Club in Monte-Carlo, Monaco which was a benefit for the Red Cross and he performed with his pal, Sammy Davis Jr.
I have yet to find any other reason for Sinatra’s cancellation of the 1983 CNE appearance but his cancellation started to raise a furor in Toronto.
The first suggestion of any backlash over the cancellation of the 1983 concert started with an article in the Toronto Star on August 11th, 1983.
Bob Yuill the North York Controller was the one spouting off. Remember the name Bob Yuill because his voice will be heard again in 1984 when Sinatra returned again to the CNE. It should be noted that not everyone associated with the CNE was as angry as Bob Yuill. David Garrick, with the CNE Entertainment Committee, and the person who was responsible for booking Sinatra at the CNE in 1975, wrote a letter to the Toronto Star disagreeing with Bob Yuill’s position.
Garrick’s rebuttal of Yuill seemed to quiet things down because there was no further mention of Sinatra or even a Sinatra ban during the rest of 1983.
In April of 1984 the first rumour started that the CNE was looking to have Sinatra back in 1984. On April 11th, 1984 Sinatra’s name appeared briefly in a Toronto Star article reporting on possible acts for the 1984 CNE:
On July 18, 1984, the Toronto Star announced Sinatra’s appearance at the CNE that year to be official. The date was set for a September 2nd concert by Sinatra but the Toronto Star still had to drag out some of the press issues Sinatra had prior to the 1975 concert at Maple Leaf Gardens:
Ticket prices were much higher for Sinatra in 1984 with the top seats going for $75 compared to the top price of $25 when he last appeared in Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1976. Notice as well that Bob Yuill’s name popped again with Yuill doubting that Sinatra would follow through with his September concert. He was even waging money that Sinatra would not appear. The Toronto Star followed up with another article on July 19th dedicated to Yuill’s skepticism toward Sinatra’s concert at the CNE:
The wagering of money offered by Yuill was taken up by someone two days later as noted in an article in the Toronto Star on July 20th, 1984
This time, Frank Sinatra’s defender was Bill Ballard who was head of the Concert Productions International who had booked Sinatra into the CNE for 1984. Bill Ballard was also the son of Harold Ballard who was instrumental in booking Sinatra into Maple Leaf Gardens in 1975. Even fans came to Sinatra’s defence and asked that things be left to the past. The following letter to the Editor of the Toronto Star appeared on July 27th, 1984:
Tickets finally went on sale on on July 30th, 1984:
In my previous blahg about the 1984 concert, SINATRA ALMOST GOT ME KILLED, I detailed my ordeal to secure tickets to this concert. It’s a fun read and since I’ve mentioned that blahg and linked to it twice in this blahg, then you really should check it out. Despite my own issue with trying to obtain a ticket to the concert, the issues that plagued fans at previous concerts didn’t seem to occur in 1984. One fan was happy he only had to wait 4.5 hours to get his ticket. This article comes from the August 3rd, 1984 edition of the Toronto Star:
The remaining articles leading up to Sinatra’s appearance were relegated to advertisements and nothing critical from Bob Yuill nor anything more about his possible wager with Bill Ballard.
I don’t think I’ll detail much more than I’ve said about the actual concert. If you haven’t checked out my previous blahg, SINATRA ALMOST GOT ME KILLED, now plugging it for a third time, then I’ll re-post what I said then about the concert:
The concert was great despite what you can read in the reviews. Here was Sinatra, in the pouring rain, no protection, with lightning flashing all around, and him just singing as if this was all commonplace to him. I kept thinking “my god, he’s standing in a puddle, it’s pissing down rain, and he’s holding a metal stand, he’s going to get electrocuted.” If there’s anything to the old adage that the show must go on, Sinatra lived by it. It was as if nothing phased him. He sang some of the songs from his new album, “L.A. Is My Lady” and thrilled the audience with some great standards. I think the greatest thrills were when he sang songs that mentioned the rain. When he sang “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “Pennies From Heaven” with the opening line, ‘Every time it rains, it rains, pennies from heaven’, more cheers went up from the crowd than when he belted out “New York, New York.” The only thing that would have made it perfect was if he had performed “September in the Rain” or “Stormy Weather.”
The whole concert only lasted 46 minutes. Sinatra left the stage and within a minute, you could see his limo, followed by a police car, driving off to drier parts unknown. Many people were upset about the shortness of the concert but not me. I had almost died and I had gotten soaked by rain but those were the only downsides. In the plus column, I had lived, I had made it to the concert, I had sat beside a beautiful girl, and I had seen and heard Sinatra live in concert. I had no complaints.
I still don’t think I could have summed it up better than that. I mentioned that opening line of “Pennies From Heaven” and this is what it sounded like almost 37 years ago. This is actually Sinatra singing “Pennies From Heaven” at the CNE on September 2nd, 1984:
If you thought the storm on the night of the concert was bad enough, the storm of bad press that followed the concert took everything to the next level. The review from the Toronto Star on September 3rd, 1984 tried to be kind but hinted at the anger towards Sinatra:
The Toronto Star also devoted their front page of the September 3rd edition to the problems associated with the shortened concert and how fans felt:
The Globe & Mail’s coverage was very much like the Toronto Star’s leaning on the disappointment of the fans:
Notice that in the Globe & Mail article from September 3rd, that the North York Controller is mentioned but this time it’s Esther Shiner. Was there more than one North York Controller? The Globe & Mail at least published a defence of Sinatra by the CNE in the September 4th edition:
Risking his life in a thunderstorm by holding a microphone? Didn’t I say that? Of course the Globe & Mail had to add their two cents worth about that issue in the September 5th issue:
The United Press article from September 8th, 1984 was even less kind:
The Toronto Star, meanwhile, published an article on September 4th that highlighted the blame game of who was not taking responsibility for the problems with the concert, putting some of the blame on Sinatra, and even invoked Bob Yuill’s name again:
And what of Bob Yuill? He obviously lost his bet that Sinatra would not appear. In the same September 4th edition of the Toronto Star, Bob Yuill is heard from again and this time he’s proposing another ban on Sinatra:
Of course Bob Yuill did not get his ban. Personally, I can understand the anger of some fans but Bob Yuill had complimentary tickets so what did he have to complain about? Me? I was one fan who was happy. But what did other fans think of the concert? Here are some the letters to the Editor of the Toronto Star:
For the record, I think Roger Wyatt is mostly correct. In 1975 Sinatra was heralded for his appearance at the CNE but it didn’t rain then. If Sinatra had appeared indoors, maybe not Maple Leaf Gardens, then the story would have been quite different. Other fans continued to support Sinatra:
The question about whether Sinatra would be invited back or if Bob Yuill would have his way was finally answered in a Globe & Mail article on November 22, 1984:
There was one more article that dealt with some disgruntled fans who had organized a rally to try and get refunds. The following article from the Globe & Mail on September 24th sums up how that fizzled out:
So what have we learned from all of this? Toronto had a love/hate relationship with Sinatra. Certainly the press never made it easy for him. His long absence from Toronto between 1949 and 1975 was one strike against him. The attacks from the media because of Sinatra’s own love/hate relationship with the press was another strike. You’d think issues with ticket sales and venues would have been the third or more strikes against him. But this is Sinatra. He might have received three strikes but he never struck out. Would you have called out on Sinatra? The die-hard fans never did and to most he put on great shows. And he kept coming back.
Sinatra would return to Toronto again in 1989 with Liza Minnelli at the then Sky Dome and again in 1991 with Steve and Eydie at Maple Leaf Gardens. I’ve detailed about those in another blahg SINATRA:TORONTO, ROUND 2 or “DO YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?” so you can check that out and read also about his last Canadian concert in Hamilton in 1993. I’m lucky to have seen Sinatra three times in Toronto in 1984, 1989, and 1991. I also attended that Hamilton concert in 1993 and have copies of fan recorded versions of those concerts so I can relive the memories.
I started out once to detail information about all of Sinatra’s appearances in Canada and even finished part one. The first part provides information, clippings, and reviews starting with his very first appearance as part of “The Hoboken Four” with the Major Bowes touring group at the Capitol Theatre, Victoria, B.C., November 6th and 7th, 1935 and concluding with the famous June 8th, 1957 concert at the Vancouver Coliseum. The file also includes artwork for posters for concerts that were cancelled as well as extensive information on Sinatra’s USO tour with Phil Silvers when they spent ten days touring military bases throughout Newfoundland in May and June of 1945. I’m going to post the link here for the PDF of part one but in doing so, I noticed that I must have included some material for what would have been part two. The current file actually starts with the Victoria 1935 appearances and ends with his appearance at The Forum, Montreal, Quebec, May 9th, 1975. The link to read or download is http://falseducks.com/theblahg/images/SinatraInCanada(2021).pdf. Maybe I’ll get motivated and eventually finish part two which includes not only the Montreal Forum concert in 1975 and all of the Toronto concerts I’ve mentioned in this blahg but also other concerts in Montreal as well as Vancouver, Calgary, Hamilton, and a cancelled concert in Edmonton from 1991.
I hope you enjoyed the story behind the 1984 ill-fated CNE concert. Me, I think it was fine. I paid for my ticket and had nothing to complain about. I think Sinatra showed great class in going on that night. I wonder if Bob Yuill would have been happier if Sinatra had cancelled or if Mr Yuill would have been outraged by the cancellation. I don’t think Sinatra could have won either way. The real fans support his memory and I’ve said it before, “It’s Sinatra’s World, We Just Live In It.”
Where has the time gone? More than a month and no new blahg? Awwwk! I know, that’s a strange noise to make, and I’m sure I didn’t spell it correctly, but that’s the best I can do at this point. I have been so busy this past month that I haven’t had time to write a blahg and if I had the time, I was probably too tired. I won’t make any more excuses and I won’t make any more strange noises except caw caw. That’s even stranger but last week when we were in Toronto, I amused my thirteen year old daughter by randomly making that bird like noise in public to see if anyone would notice. No one did. Now on to the blahg.
This blahg is going to be an update to two previous blahgs and a little something extra thrown in. Right about now you’re probably wondering what I mean by “a little crazy in the head.” If you’ll stay with me, I’ll get there. First, let’s jump back to last September and the first blahg that I posted. You may recall that the title of that first blahg was “THE BLAHG AND THE MOST HAPPY SOUND”. If you can’t remember back that far, and believe me that I have those days, then you can just jump back and check out that blahg here: http://falseducks.com/theblahg/?p=5. The ‘Most Happy Sound’ of that blahg referred to the title album by Margaret Ann & The Ja-Da Quartet. I reviewed that album and offered a couple of tracks for your listening pleasure. I also noted two single 45 rpm releases by the same group but that I did not have a copy of one of these which included ‘Secret’ backed with ‘Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home’. I know this is a bit of a cheat because I have actually gone ahead and updated that blahg but if you’re only reading my new blahgs, and boy did you have to wait a while for a new one, then you probably didn’t know that first blahg has been updated.
I won’t dwell too much on this part of the update but I had previously reviewed “Secret” and commented that it sounded like a late 50s/early 60s vocal group. The flip side is completely different. “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” harkens back to the LP ‘The Most Happy Sound’. Here we have that roaring 20s jazz and swing coming through. Give it a listen:
Now on to the second update. I’m happy to say that Frank Sinatra is in the house! I guess I should clarify that in case a few of you believe I am a little crazy in the head and believe Sinatra is haunting me or at the very least that I’m hallucinating. This reference goes back to another blahg that I wrote back in January of this year. The title of that blahg was “THIS SPOT RESERVED FOR THE 2011 CARLTON CARDS SINATRA ORNAMENT.” Again, if you haven’t read that blahg, then you can check it out here http://falseducks.com/theblahg/?p=14. In that blahg, I detailed my frustration in finding the 2011 Carlton Cards Sinatra ornament to complete my collection that I started with the first release in 1999. I also exhibited a picture of my incomplete collection. That picture was in error because it only displayed 10 of the 11 releases (not including the missing 2011 ornament) and also did not include the Hallmark release in 2009 when there was no Carlton Cards Sinatra ornament. The picture at left now shows all of the ornaments; including the 2011 ornament.
The point of my original blahg was to draw attention to the missing ornament in my collection. Since that blahg I have now acquired the 2011 ornament and I want to comment a little on it. As I have mentioned (come on, read that blahg already so I don’t have to keep repeating everything), the 2011 ornament was withdrawn shortly after its initial release. The two answers I received from American Greetings, the parent company of Carlton Cards, basically pointed to a production error. If you look at the picture of my 2011 Carlton Cards Sinatra Ornament at left, you will notice that the skin coloring used for Sinatra seems to be quite dark. Maybe this was the production error or maybe Sinatra had a really good tan that year. Well, at least my collection is complete.
Now what about being crazy in the head? I knew you’d get around to asking that again. Well, the fact is it’s not really about being a little crazy in the head, although I will openly admit to that, but rather about ‘poco loco in the coco’ which translates that bit about being crazy in the head. Let me explain a little more. A couple weeks ago I was listening to my favorite AM Radio Station AM 740 out of Toronto. In fact, it’s the only AM station that I do listen to. Every morning from 10am to 11am they run the top ten at ten. This particular week they were running down the top ten hits from that week in 1950. Here’s how the list broke down:
10. / Enjoy Yourself / Guy Lombardo
9. / The Third Man Theme / Anton Karas
8. / Cry of the Wild Goose / Frankie Laine
7. / Rag Mopp / Ames Brothers
6. / I Said My Pajamas (and put on my prayers) / Tony Martin & Fran Warren
5. / It Isn’t Fair / Don Cornell
4. / There’s No Tomorrow / Tony Martin
3. / If I Knew You Were Comin’ (I’d’ve baked a cake) / Eileen Barton
2. / Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy / Red Foley
1. / Music Music Music / Teresa Brewer
You will notice that in the 3rd position was “If I Knew You Were Comin’ (I’d’ve Baked A Cake) by Eileen Barton. I’m familiar with this tune and have heard various artists sing it. It wasn’t extraordinary to me that the song was recorded by Ms. Barton but rather the flip side of that single caught my attention. When the radio personalities of AM 740 began to make fun of the title of the opposite side track, I was a little startled. The title of the flip side was “Poco Loco In The Coco.” I knew this song! I had only recently heard it for the first time a couple weeks before hearing this top ten list…and I have Frank Sinatra to thank for this.
In the mid-1950s, Sinatra had a fifteen minute radio show rightly entitled “To Be Perfectly Frank”. On this show, he sang a song or two with a small combo and played platters by other artists. At the beginning of this year, 2012, I decided to start listening again to material associated with Sinatra for every day of the year. I have so many recordings, radio shows, and concerts that I have enough material to listen to something different for all 366 days (don’t forget the added bonus of February 29th this year). For January 29th of this year, my selection was the To Be Perfectly Frank episode from January 29th, 1954. Besides crooning his own versions of “On The Sunny Side of The Street” & “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry”, Sinatra spun the wax version of Eileen Barton’s version of “Poco Loco In The Coco.” If you ask me, this should have been the hit because it’s a fun little number that jumps. Here it is:
Well that’s it for me. I know that this is a little bit of an abrupt ending to this blahg but given the month I’ve had, I think I’m going to make “Poco Loco In The Coco” my theme song for the next little while.
Well here it is Friday the 13th, 2012 and I’m almost two weeks late with the first blahg of this year. It’s snowing like crazy here after a day of freezing rain yesterday. Today is as good a day as any to get this topic started. If you read my last blahg of 2011, and if you didn’t then I want to know why because the link is at the top of this page, then you will recall that one of my regrets of 2011 was not obtaining the 2011 Carlton Cards Sinatra Ornament. Over the past two weeks I’ve been looking into that ornament and discovered something significant about it. I will get to that a little later. First, I thought I’d show you my entire Carlton Cards Sinatra Ornament collection…incomplete as it is.
Carlton Cards, a subsidiary or reseller or whatever of American Greetings, first began issuing a musical Sinatra ornament in 1999. Since then, there has been a Sinatra ornament for every year except 2009. You can see my incomplete collection in the picture at the left. (Don’t forget you can click on the images to get a larger view.) See that empty spot at the upper right or upper left? That’s where the 2011 ornament should be. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I thought that maybe I’d take you on a tour of each individual ornament in my collection before I reveal the mystery of 2011.
Back in 1999, Carlton Cards issued their first musical Sinatra ornament with the title of “Ol’ Blue Eyes”. Sinatra is depicted standing in front of a poster for his own appearance at The Hollywood Bowl on Saturday August 14th. Sinatra did indeed play The Hollywood Bowl on August 14th, 1943. A recording of that concert exists among collectors. The following description appears on the back of the ornament box:
Frank Sinatra’s appearance at the Hollywood Bowl in 1943 was an historic one indeed. The venue was traditionally reserved exclusively for highbrow music, but after weeks of public controversy, Bowl directors agreed to book Sinatra for one night. 10,000 fans packed the house as Sinatra crooned his “Dancing in the Dark, “Night and Day,” “You’ll Never Know” and “The Songs Is You.” He finished with “All or Nothing at All” and was given a standing ovation. It was a moment for the memory books as “The Sultan of Swoon” conquered another of America’s famous arenas.
There is a small button on the ornament, as there is on all of the ornaments, and when pressed, it plays an excerpt from “The Christmas Waltz”:
It was a good start to the collection even though the image of Sinatra here is ten to twenty years older than he was when he performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 1943.
The second ornament appeared in 2000 with the title “Swingin’ Sounds of Christmas”.It represents Sinatra in the studio in the 1950s or early 1960s. From the box:
Just like each snowflake that falls from the sky, Frank Sinatra was one of a kind! For 60 years, Ol’ Blue Eyes entertained America, reaching uncompromising fame as a music legend and Oscar-winning actor.
First heard on radio in 1935, Sinatra created an unmistakable sound and style with his smooth baritone voice, crooning his way into the hearts of generations of fans. From a teen idol to a show-business icon, immortalized by a string of popular songs and memorable film roles, Sinatra will forever be remembered as “The Voice,” the “Chairman of the Board,” and the man who “did it my way.”
In keeping with the giant snowflake depicted behind Sinatra, the ornament plays an excerpt of “Let It Snow”.
2001 saw the introduction of “Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas”. It was not one of the best images of Sinatra. Here he appears squat with a big head. The write up on the box wasn’t any better than the image:
Join Frank in Las Vegas as he casually flips a poker chip and offers one of his signature songs, “Luck Be A Lady, Tonight!” During the early sixties, Frank Sinatra and a small group of entertainers known as The Rat Pack held court night after night at The Sands Hotel in Vegas. Their actions and antics made news as they headlined and reigned over the entertainment industry.
Frank, Dean, Sammy, and Peter (Sinatra, Martin, Davis and Lawford to be specific), the names on the marquee, never referred to themselves as The Rat Pack. They were The Summit. The description even neglects to mention Joey Bishop! When it comes to the song played by the ornament, it was incorrectly identified in the description and is simply known as “Luck Be A Lady”.
On to 2002 and we have The Voice back in the studio. The image is a little better one of Sinatra. At least he has his signature fedora. The write up on the box, for the first time, mentions the song the ornament will play:
The world will never forget the wonderful voice and the unique style of Frank Sinatra. He appears here, as a Carlton Heirloom Collection ornament, in a miniature recording studio complete with microphone and silhouetted musicians, poised to do what he does best — sing!
Press the button on the bottom of the ornament and hear old blue eyes belt out “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”
Not only does Sinatra have his signature fedora, he’s singing one of his signature songs, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”.
The 2003 ornament finds Sinatra in another city that has been so closely associated with him. This time he’s in New York!
Against a backdrop of famous New York City landmarks, legendary crooner Frank Sinatra sings his 1980 hit, “New York, New York.” This ornament will be sure to add a special touch of Broadway glitz to your tree this holiday season.
The image is a little young here for Sinatra, or half a Sinatra as the case may be, because he didn’t record “New York, New York” until 1979 when he was almost 64 years old. Still it’s a nice looking ornament and a great but abbreviated song.
Back in 2004 it was back to a full sized Sinatra. This is the only ornament to depict Sinatra in a white tuxedo jacket. The Sinatra portrayed here reminds me of the Sinatra swaggering through the role of Joe E. Lewis in the film “The Joker is Wild.” Presented with the title “Ol’ Blue Eyes” the description on the box reads:
No one sings a love song quite like Frank Sinatra, and this illuminated ornament captures the romance and grace of the crooner’s famous vocal stylings. Known simply as “The Voice,” Sinatra performs a delightful rendition of his hit song “Fly Me to the Moon” and this swingin’ ornament is sure to make any Sinatra fan’s Christmas the brightest one yet!
This is one of only two ornaments that ‘illuminate’. The clear plastic backdrop lights up along the bottom of the ornament while Sinatra swings “Fly Me To The Moon”.
2005 brought us another illuminated Carlton Sinatra ornament. This time it’s the 50s Young At Heart Sinatra in a romantic mood next to a lamppost that lights as he sings. Notice the silhouette of the lovers who are probably dancing to a Sinatra song.
“Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you’re young at heart.” The sweet lyrics to “Young at Heart” were first heard as the title song for the movie by the same name, where Sinatra played the part of cynical Barney Sloan. Second in the By The Light of the Moon series, this ornament features a suave Sinatra leaning against a street lamp that glows when he sings. With Frank’s dreamy voice center stage, romance is definitely in the air!
If you haven’t seen the movie “Young At Heart” you are missing out on a great film starring Sinatra & Doris Day. It would be the only movie they would make together and the only one you’re likely to see open with the lush voice of Sinatra singing the title song.
Sinatra is back with his swagger in 2006 with a trench-coat draped over his shoulder and his hat cocked at an angle. Now it’s the “Night and Day Sinatra” singing under the sun, the moon, and the stars. Although it’s a pose similar to some of his iconic record covers, the face sculpture reminds me more of Bing Crosby.
Listen to some great lyrics from “Night and Day” by the extraordinary crooner Frank Sinatra in this third ornament in the By The Light of the Moon series. It captures a classic Sinatra pose — that familiar glance, a tip of the hat and a coat slug over his shoulder. He’s on top of the world and knows exactly what he wants — night and day.
The description sums it up best. Sinatra was a swinger and so is the song:
Frank Sinatra made a return engagement to the Hollywood Bowl in 2007 in the form of a recycled Carlton Ornament. The 2007 Ornament was an exact replica of the 1999 edition but where that one had a red base, this one is blue. The only other significant difference is in the song that is played when you press the button. This time around it’s “All of Me”:
The ornament is the exact same size as the one issued in 1999 but the packaging is smaller and there would be no further write up on the box this year or in subsequent years.
In 2008 we see the reappearance of a half Sinatra although much bigger than the 2003 New York version. Here we have the young Frankie of the Bobby Sox years. Not only is it a half size Sinatra but the rich voice of Sinatra has been replaced with an instrumental version of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”:
The ornament is a fairly decent likeness of the young Sinatra but the bold colours of his jacket and tie are a little off-putting.
There was no ornament in 2009 put out by Carlton Cards or American Greetings. Instead, Hallmark would bring out their own ornament for Christmas that bore the likeness of a festive tree and not Sinatra himself. The only reason this ornament is considered a Sinatra related item is that it does play a snippet of Sinatra’s version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”
In 2010 Sinatra made his return to Carlton Cards. The ornament that year was an elegantly dressed Sinatra in a black tuxedo. I’m not sure why Carlton Cards failed to issue an ornament in 2009 but I was glad to see the 2010 ornament bring Sinatra back with style and his own voice. No instrumental this year. It’s Sinatra himself and like the year for this ornament, “It Was A Very Good Year.”
So now this brings us to 2011 and the mystery of the 2011 Carlton Cards Sinatra Ornament. In the fall of 2011, my local Carlton Cards store began to stock displays for the 2011 line of Christmas ornaments. There was a nice place card picture for the 2011 Sinatra ornament that showed Sinatra rushing about with his Christmas packages. The image was familiar to me as the same image appears on the cover of Sinatra’s classic Capitol album “A Jolly Christmas”. Needless to say I was excited about adding this ornament to my collection
I always wait until nearer to Christmas or Boxing Day so I can pick up the ornament for less than the full cost. In Canada the ornaments usually run between $35 and $40 so a savings of 50% to 75% always inspires me to wait. On Boxing Day my wife ventured out to buy the ornament but found that there were none in stock. I was disappointed but I thought I would try another Carlton Cards store near Toronto. No luck there either. I couldn’t believe the ornament was sold out. I knew I’d have to bite the bullet and try ordering it at full price from an online source.
Carlton Cards and American Greetings do not sell these ornaments through their websites and the Canadian version of Amazon does not stock them either. I looked to Ebay and found a couple that were going for more than twice the retail value. When I checked the description posted by the sellers, they both noted that the ornament was rare because it had been recalled. I was not aware of any recall. I just assumed the Carlton Cards stores that I had visited had sold all of their stock. I emailed a few Sinatra collectors that I know and they were lucky to have purchased theirs in the fall of 2011 in the United States and knew nothing of a recall either. I went back to my local Carlton Cards store and inquired about the ornament. The Manager was very nice and she informed me that she didn’t know about a recall but that she had never received any stock of the Sinatra 2011 ornament. She referred me to American Greetings and their online site for further inquiries.
I will cut this short by telling you that I have received two different responses from American Greetings. The first came from someone in Public Relations:
All of the Sinatra ornaments were pulled from retail locations, due to a production error with the piece. Unfortunately there won’t be a Sinatra Ornament available for consumers from the 2011 program.
The second response was from Consumer Relations:
The 2011 Frank Sinatra Heirloom Ornament was recalled by the licensor because they were not happy with the final product. The ornament is not available for purchase from American Greetings or any of its retailers because of the recall. The ornament may be available for purchase from private owners as there were some sold before the recall. You’ll need to check the auctions web sites such as EBay or Amazon to determine the availability.
The same company and two very similar responses. Something was wrong with the product and they were not happy with the final product. I have received emails from other Sinatra collectors who have the ornament and they find no flaw in the product. I don’t own one, although I desperately want one, so I cannot comment on the product itself.
There was a video circulating of someone who had one and the ornament looked fine to me although Sinatra’s skin tone appears a little dark:
So what’s the mystery? I don’t know. Is it a copyright issue related to the image from “A Jolly Christmas”? If you look at the image on the left of the cover, it is identical to the design of the 2011 ornament. Is it a musical copyright issue? The same version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” that was used for the 2009 Hallmark ornament is reused here in 2011 by Carlton. Again, I don’t know. I’m sure someone at American Greetings knows the answer but they’re not telling. Hopefully we’ll see a 2012 Carlton Cards Sinatra Ornament but, for now, like the proverbial bucket, my collection has hole in it.
I’m writing this blahg which will be incomplete. I’ve been trying to find more information about the subject but my research has come up short. Be forewarned, this is yet another blahg inspired by continued interest and research on Frank Sinatra. This harkens back to 1939 and forward in time but I can’t find an end date. Confused? So am I. 
I began to purchase all of the other volumes because they also included his War and Western stories in addition to his short Science Fiction stories. 
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Hello,
I have done extensive research on Sinatra’s appearances in Canada and there’s no record of a 1948 CNE concert. He was with Dorsey at the CNE in 1941 in Toronto and then the Mutual Street Arena in 1949 in Toronto. He did not return to Toronto until 1975.
I think the guy’s mother is misremembering ( I know, it’s not a real word).
You can flip through images for the whole 1948 program for the CNE and the big draw was Olsen & Johnson. The program does not mention Sinatra:
https://www.icollector.com/1948-Canadian-National-Exhibition-Program_i33705507
I have access to the Toronto Star newspaper archives as well and I checked the daily listings for the CNE in August/September 1948 and Sinatra was not listed.
I am certain there was no performance by Sinatra at the CNE in 1948. The Grandstand opened that year and all the big draws were at the Grandstand and not in a tent.
I also wrote a blog about some of Sinatra’s Canadian appearances, including his CNE concerts:
SINATRA–CNE–1984–SEPTEMBER IN THE RAIN