On this, the 114th birthday of Hoagy Carmichael (11/22/1899 – 12/26/1981), I daresay you could mention his name to 100 random people under age 60, and 99 (maybe all 100) would say, “Hoagy who?” But why waste time lamenting the fate awaiting almost all “celebrities” sooner or later? Fame is indeed fleeting — perhaps now more than ever — and relative few are the songwriters, actors and singers (for Hoagy was all three) who will be remembered on their triple-digit birthdays by succeeding generations. So it is with Bloomington, Indiana’s Hoagy — but his star shines on, nonetheless, for those who appreciate the timelessness of creative magic.
For this occasion, I have pulled from my bookshelves a 1999 Hoagy double-autobiography which is a republication of The Stardust Road (1946) and Sometimes I Wonder (1965), with a new introduction by John Edward Hasse. I’d read this volume a few years ago, and it’s as good a way as any to re-visit Hoagland Howard Carmichael, a man whose music and film roles I’d known since my youth in the 1940s. As Hasse puts it in his introduction:
Hoagy Carmichael was a true American original. First of all, there was his name…. Then there was that singing voice–the flat, Hoosier cadences–and that laconic public persona, impossible to mistake for anyone else’s. And there was his unusual career path–from law student, lawyer, and Wall Street employee to hit songwriter and celebrity via records, motion pictures, radio and television.
But most original of all were the songs Carmichael wrote, songs that typically sound like nobody else’s.
I love the way Hoagy begins The Stardust Road:
The phone rang and I picked it up. It was Wad Allen. “Bix died,” he said (referring to Hoagy’s close friend and legendary early jazz trumpeter, Bix Beiderbecke).
Wad laughed a funny laugh. “I wonder if it will hurt old Gabriel’s feelings to play second trumpet?” Wad asked.
I could hear Wad’s breathing, then suddenly, but gradually getting clearer, I heard something else.
“I can hear him,” I said. “I can hear him fine from here.”
Over and around the sound I heard Wad’s voice.
“Sure,” he said shakily. “So can I.”
“I guess he didn’t die, then.”
And so it went back and forth, until Hoagy said, “Call me up again,” I told him, “when somebody else doesn’t die.”
But Wad had hung up. I tilted back in the chair before my desk and felt tears behind my eyes.
These are the kind of personal reminiscences you can only get from those who experienced them. If you’re a true lover of classic jazz and the Golden Age of popular music, you will find Hoagy’s autobiographies irresistible. THE STARDUST ROAD/SOMETIMES I WONDER combo is available on Amazon.com, AbeBook.com and elsewhere.
And speaking of combos, let’s close with two versions of Hoagy’s immortal Star Dust, the first by Louis Armstrong, whose incomparable 1931 rendition still sets the standard after all these years, and the second, by Hoagy himself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r94-7nJt-WM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2fbOAyNOpM
calmkate 3:34 am on August 10, 2019 Permalink |
should be everyday as far as I’m concerned .. love the wordplay and tunes 🙂
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calmkate 3:40 am on August 10, 2019 Permalink |
sexy sax = LOVE!
love that dude keeping his head 🙂
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mistermuse 8:30 am on August 10, 2019 Permalink |
Two excellent thoughts, Kate….although the first one doesn’t exactly align with a dude keeping his head!
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calmkate 8:02 pm on August 10, 2019 Permalink
lol fair comment!
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Garfield Hug 5:55 am on August 10, 2019 Permalink |
Aug 10 is Lazy Day? Hmm..I am fine accepting it haha
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mistermuse 8:34 am on August 10, 2019 Permalink |
You said it, GH. I’m even thinkin’ maybe I should put off replying to more comments until tomorrow.
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masercot 9:41 am on August 10, 2019 Permalink |
Lazy Bones is one of my favorites (I first heard it from Leon Redbone). That tray-balancing routine is pure vaudeville…
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mistermuse 9:51 am on August 10, 2019 Permalink |
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masercot 10:44 am on August 10, 2019 Permalink
Watching him perform live is like going back to the early thirties and watching Laurel and Hardy…
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mistermuse 12:34 pm on August 10, 2019 Permalink |
I haven’t seen enough of him to vouch for the L & H comparison, but I love his “good for my worried soul” singing, as evidenced by this two-song video clip (the first of which is another “Lazy” song):
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masercot 5:41 am on August 11, 2019 Permalink
That was a nice way to start my day. Thanks!
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Don Ostertag 3:35 pm on August 10, 2019 Permalink |
Ah… Hoagy and Leon. Made my day. Now if you will excuse me I am going to lay back in my chair and rest my eyes.
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mistermuse 5:18 pm on August 10, 2019 Permalink |
I just came back from taking a little nap myself, Don….and after using up all this energy replying to your comment, I think I’ll take another one. Pleasant dreams.
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Lander7 10:21 pm on August 11, 2019 Permalink |
Interesting, that video with the lazybones song was strange, seems a bit negative to blacks and was he smoking one of that marijuana sticks?
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mistermuse 9:02 am on August 12, 2019 Permalink |
That video (12/15/1941) is stereotypical of how blacks were portrayed in films of that era. It is understandably seen as offensive today, but in my opinion, it’s not as offensive as most portrayals of that type (think Stepin Fetchit as a well-known example).
Thank you for your comment.
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Lander7 8:17 pm on August 12, 2019 Permalink
I see what people are talking about now, so much evil and ugliness in those days, no wonder it’s so hard for some to let it go.
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Silver Screenings 2:28 pm on August 24, 2019 Permalink |
I loved the Hoagie Carmichael video. A little cheesy, yes, but that man with the tray is AMAZING.
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