THE SPELL OF GIRLS

Four months ago today, a 12 year old girl by the name of Ananya Vinay won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC. Happening that her first name begins with “A” leads to a question which leads to where this post is headed:

For some time now, I’ve been kicking around in my head the idea of a series of posts featuring old songs, each title of which is (or includes) a girl’s first name, beginning with “A” and continuing through the alphabet. I’ve hesitated to put this idea to the test for several reasons, the main one being that I question whether there is much of an audience today for one of my passions, namely old songs (loosely defined as 50+ years old). But then I thought: THE SPELL WITH IT! It’s my party….

So let’s get started. Fitting as it would be to get on the A Train with a song titled “Ananya,” I regret to say I know no such song. So I’m going to go with a gal who’s even older than I am, MISS ANNABELLE LEE. Hey, if she was good enough for Edgar Allan Poe, who wrote a famous poem titled ANNABELLE LEE, she’s good enough for me:

IT’S ABOUT TIME AGAIN

Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations. –Faith Baldwin

A year ago today, I published a post titled IT’S ABOUT TIME which, as it happens, was about time. That post featured songs about time, such as TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE (which is all about time playing the role of an impatient gadabout). For this year’s edition, with Daylight Saving Time coming up this upcoming weekend, I thought I’d save myself time by posting quotes, like the Baldwin above, that carry on the time theme (which almost rhymes with crime scene, which is a site where it is suspected a pun has been committed in bad Faith). So, without further ado, it’s time to get down to cases:

Things money can’t buy: Time. Inner peace. Character. Manners. Respect. Morals. Trust. Patience. Class. Dignity. –Roy T. Bennett [almost identical with ‘Things on Trump’s Top Ten Never To Do list’]

I have no faith in human perfectibility. Man is now only more active – not more wise – than he was 6,000 years ago. –Edgar Allan Poe [man “more active” in Poe’s time? Of course he was — humans had yet to become Couch Po(e)tatoes]

Throughout history man’s inventions have been timesavers — then came television [100 years post-Poe]. –Evan Esar

I’m afraid of time…I mean I’m afraid of not having enough time — time to understand people, how they really are, or to be understood myself. I’m afraid of the quick judgments or mistakes everybody makes. You can’t fix them without time. –Ann Brashares

It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning. –Vincent Van Gough

I am almost a hundred years old; waiting for the end, and thinking about the beginning. There are things I need to tell you, but would you listen if I told you how quickly time passes? –Meg Rosoff

The past is never dead. It’s not even past. –William Faulkner

It takes a lifetime to die and no time at all. –Charles Bukowski

And meanwhile time goes about its immemorial work of making everyone look and feel like shit. –Martin Amis

Enjoy life. There’s plenty of time to be dead. –Hans Christian Andersen

Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time. –Jorge Luis Borges

Over the silent sands of time they go/lovers come/lovers go/and all that there is to know/lovers know/only lovers know. –“Sands Of Time” lyrics, from 1955 film KISMET

 

 

JANUARY 19 – A BIRTH (& DEATH) DAY OF NOTE

Turning from the funny pages (of recent Posts) to the birth notices and obituaries, let us check out the comings and goings on this day over the past two-plus centuries.

Notable people are born and die every day, but it strikes me that a greater-than-usual number of famous (or once-famous) Americans made their entrance — or their exit — on January 19th. Books could be — and in almost every case, have been — written about each of the individuals I’ve chosen to single out here; therefore, with one exception, I will go into slightly more detail with those whose star has faded with time, and mention the still-renowned only in passing (even if still-living).

Of the following, the first seven were born, and the last three died, on January 19th in the year preceding their names:

1807 – Robert E. Lee, famed Civil War General and Confederate Army leader.
1809 – Edgar Allan Poe, great poet and short-story writer (considered the father of the modern murder mystery), but made his living as a journalist and magazine editor. Regarded as the first great American literary critic, his reviews were at times merciless; upon his death in 1849, the Southern Literary Messenger said in an editorial, “Now that he is gone, the vast multitude of blockheads may breathe again.”
1906 – Lanny Ross, popular vocalist, recording and radio star of the 1930s and 1940s, also appeared in several movies, including STAGE DOOR CANTEEN (1943), in which he beautifully sang this beautiful wartime ballad:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufl5zJn0gkA
1923 – Jean Stapleton, actress best known for role as Archie Bunker’s wife Edith in 1970s TV sitcom ALL IN THE FAMILY. Who can forget this theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJaseyCitbM
1930 – Tippi Hedren, actress best known for starring roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS and MARNIE, though she appeared in many other films. Also an animal rights activist.
1943 – Janis Joplin, singer known as the Queen of Psychedelic Soul. Died of heroin overdose at age 27.
1946 – Dolly Parton, singer, song writer and actress; one of country music’s top(-heavy) stars.

2000 – Hedy Lamarr, naturalized American citizen born in Austria, was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world as an actress in the 1930s & 40s. Was also an inventor.
2013 – Stan Musial, Hall of Fame baseball player with St. Louis Cardinals. Was one of the best hitters in Major League history.
2013 – Earl Weaver, Hall of Fame Major League manager with the Baltimore Orioles. Got along well with umpires, as evidenced here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl-4FSRYagc