... but by Chan Romero:
Here's the Beatles version.
As noted in the meandering update to the Megyn Kelly post, below, the Chan Romero recording was the first song where we heard the word "hippie" (spelled "hippy" on the label).
The first in-print use of the word, according to the OED, is in the 1953 novel "Night Light," by Douglass Wallop: "Man, I really get a bellyful of these would be hippies."
According to Amazon, that's "A novel about a man's search back through a dead killer's life for motive in the world of jazz by the author best known for his baseball novel ’The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.”"
Hey, that seems to augurate that today is the day the Yankees lose the pennant! It's either win or lose today, the 7th game of the American League Championship Series.
I thought I'd never heard of "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant," but it's the novel that got made into the musical "Damn Yankees."
Baseball lovers everywhere can identify with Joe Boyd, a die-hard Washington Senators fan who puts his soul in hock to help them wrest the pennant away from the hated, all-conquering Yankees. Transformed by the sulfurous Mr. Applegate's satanic magic into twenty-two-year-old phenom Joe Hardy, he leads the hapless Senators in a torrid late-season pursuit of the men in pinstripes. Joe has until September 21st before the deal becomes final―and eternal. With the luscious temptress Lola to distract him, he'll have a hell of a time wriggling out of the bargain...Here's the trailer for the 1958 movie they made out of the stage show:
That's Tab Hunter in the lead role. Remember when movie stars looked like this:
That's Tab with Natalie Wood at the 1956 Oscars. Warner Brothers was teaming them up as co-stars at the time. The 1956 movie was "The Burning Hills":
Massive pulchritude!
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68 comments:
Lots of handsome gay male stars. Tab was one and later admitted it when it was sag]fe to do so.
The goofy names were a bit of the giveaway.
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins and champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson, before settling down with his partner of over 30 years, film producer Allan Glaser.
Good for him for avoiding AIDS. One of the toughest things I had to do was tell patients that diagnosis when it was a death sentence,
Too bad no instant preview.
I will be rooting heartily for the Astros tonight. But, should the worst happen and the Yankees win, it'll be just like elementary school days when we all [except for a nasty few] rooted for the [Brooklyn] Dodgers against those horrid Yankees.
The only time I root for the Yankees is when they play the Angels, whom I really detest.
Natalie Wood learned that taking a bath in Champagne wasn't a good idea. In real life.
I remembered that Tab and Ray Walston were in the picture and happy to see that "Edith" (Jean Stapleton) was in it to.
Ya gotta have heart.
Say, Tab Hunter looks like Dolph Lundgren.
Just like Uncle Toby in Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, I, too, have my hobby horse, which is sports. [I think Ann's is penis related. ;-)]
Natalie Wood. Snort.
I didn't find Tab Hunter even remotely attractive but while in junior high a friend and I went to see Gidget Goes Hawaiian and seeing James 'Moondoggie' Darren in the closeups made us melt into our seats.
Tab would need to lift some weights to make it in today's market.
And Natalie Wood would have to expose way more skin on the red carpet to make it in Hollywood today. We have not been moving in the right direction.
ARM observes: Tab would need to lift some weights to make it in today's market.
Yep. And I just watched a clip of James Darren in GGH and he looks a little puny by today's standards.
If we're talking about The Swinging Blue Jeans, even in passing, we need to mention their evocative version of "You're No Good" paired with shots of Rita Tusshingham in A Taste of Honey.
And all those ga-ga girls not knowing that Tab was light-in-the-loafers.
Myself, I remember hearing the word "hippies" first in a song by the Orlons released the same year:
"Down where all the hippies meet ---South Street, South Street"
That's a peculiar trailer. Gives away the ending.
The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant was on my parents' bookshelf, so of course I read it, when I was about nine. Like everything I read in those days, it made no sense at all, but I filed it all away.
Big Mike said...
We have not been moving in the right direction.
Nothing wrong with lifting weights. I taught my daughter how to lift and we now lift weights together most Monday nights. I agree on the skin, however. It is even worse in the pop world where they all look like strippers.
mockturtle said...
I didn't find Tab Hunter even remotely attractive but while in junior high a friend and I went to see Gidget Goes Hawaiian and seeing James 'Moondoggie' Darren in the closeups made us melt into our seats.
*********************
Until they coated theater seats with Teflon, a guy used to come round after the show with a spatula to help the girls out of the seats they had melted into.
Until they coated theater seats with Teflon, a guy used to come round after the show with a spatula to help the girls out of the seats they had melted into.
;-D
Massive pre-steroid pulchritude.
ngram sez: Hippy and hippie(s) both show up starting in 1800.
AA says “That’s Tab Hunter in the lead role. Remember when movie stars looked like this:”
...
No. I wasn’t born yet. Is everyone around here a wrinkly?
Before hippies, a hippy was a jazz nut who hung around the musicians and got them girls and dope and stuff.
White privilege if i’ve Ever seen it. But Natalie was of Russian/ mongol descent which made her the most beautiful contrast to Tab’s blue eyed blonde German type. Harvey Weinstein eat your heart out.
Myself, I remember hearing the word "HIP" first in a discussion about Gustav Leonhardt.
Women were built different back then, or as my wife says, weren't ashamed to wear a girdle and a wonder bra.
I actually stage managed Damn Yankees at Occidental College in the early 1980s. It worked really well because we staged it in the outdoor amphitheater, which felt a lot like being in an outdoor baseball stadium. I was a little surprised that the trailer for the film actually gives the ending of the musical away.
Is everyone around here a wrinkly?
This just in.
Tab, Rock, Chad, Troy, Rory.... When men were men and...oh, never mind.
But credit where credit is due, those fat fucks running studios in the 50s knew how to eliminate competition for Natalie, Marilyn and Lana from their leading actors.
No. I wasn’t born yet. Is everyone around here a wrinkly?
Wrinkly is in. Just like anything the boomer generation embraced, it dictates the culture. You young punks don't know shit from shinola. ;-)
True. It's a pity that everyone can't be the perfect age like me.
Since we are on the subject of hippy shakes, and ga-ga girls;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXyI8zwQFyU
Pulchritude. Comes from Latin, in French it is vénusté from Vénus.
She's Venus in blue jeans
Mona Lisa with a ponytail
She's walkin' talkin' work of art
She's the girl who stole my heart
"Women were built different back then, or as my wife says, weren't ashamed to wear a girdle and a wonder bra."
Seems to me women are as enthusiastic about girdles and bras as women in the 1950s. In the 60s (and 70s) it became badly old fashioned to get into these things, but women got sold on them again for some stupid reason.
The word "girdle" isn't used now. People say "shapewear" or "Spanx," but it's the same damned thing.
It's sad. I would not have predicted it, if you'd asked me 50 years ago what women 40 years younger than you will be wearing in 50 years. I thought we were on a trajectory of liberation. I didn't understand the lingering love for bondage.
When I was a young buck, at the dawn of the Age of Aquarius, my understanding was that "hippy" was singular and "hippies" plural. But now "hippy" refers to wideness in the hips, and "hippie(s)" is used in the singular and the plural.
"Nothing wrong with lifting weights." Indeed. You old-fashioned guys or look askance at women lifting weights may not know that Marilyn Monroe weight-trained, as did several well-known movie actresses of the 1940s and 1950s. I believe MGM had their own in-house weight-training expert who'd be assigned to keep the starlets trim and toned. I forget his name but as I recall he became rather well-known in the physical fitness field.
I didn't understand the lingering love for bondage.
As Rhett said to Scarlett, "How closely women clutch the very chains that bind them!"
While I quit wearing high heels some years ago, I do wear shapewear occasionally, when I have to look good. Or want to look good in certian clothing. Not to attract men, mind you, but to impress other women. Women are very weight conscious and more critical than men and most women would rather hear another woman say, "OMG! You look great!" than a guy say so. A survey once showed that the three words women most want to hear are, not I love you!, but You've lost weight!.
Wrinkly is in. Just like anything the boomer generation embraced, it dictates the culture. You young punks don't know shit from shinola. ;-)
...
Fine. I kinda like hanging out here and listening to you guys go off on one another. Makes me laugh. Plus, thank you for this, I learn a lot.
Ann Althouse said...
I didn't understand the lingering love for bondage.
Fat.
William Chadwick said...
But now "hippy" refers to wideness in the hips, and "hippie(s)" is used in the singular and the plural.
I wish ngram would let you see a word's usage, because I very often find words appearing there before they "officially" existed.
It's pretty unlikely that an 1800's use of "hippie" would refer to people in the 1960's, and "hippy" definitely has another meaning, but often that's not the case...so I wonder if they're transcription mistakes, e.g.
"meritocracy" "First Known Use: 1958"
"meritocracy" ngram shows occasional use since 1813.
??
I hate words.
sodal ye said...
Fine. I kinda like hanging out here and listening to you guys go off on one another. Makes me laugh
Just stay off my lawn.
@ARM, nothing wrong with lifting weights, however your trainer should have advised you that there's lifting for strength versus lifting for muscle definition. I lift for strength, and my abs are nothing like a six-pack.
But, yes, I was referring to female attire. Contrast Natalie Wood's elegant evening gown with with what Rose McGowan wore to the MTV Music Awards red carpet.
Ann should do an age poll.
Seriously, it would be fascinating: This could be the wrinkliest political blog in America.
Gustav Leonhardt, such a grand musician! I've kept in the backrooms of my memory an anecdote that was reported in the Telegraph's obituary (in 2012, requiescat in pace)--
Although he indulged in fine wine and fast cars, Leonhardt remained a staunch Protestant. Asked to conduct Bach’s St Matthew Passion in Leipzig in May one year, he spluttered: "After Easter? A passion? After Christ’s Resurrection? In Bach’s own church? I couldn’t possibly entertain the idea."
We haven't been moving in the 'right direction' for many, many years.
This could be the wrinkliest political blog in America.
...
I say that with unexpected affection.
"sodal ye said...
This could be the wrinkliest political blog in America.
...
I say that with unexpected affection."
Age isn't anything but a number. And a cause of death.
I am Laslo.
Poor Natalie died young. I think if she had lived long enough, she could have written an interesting tell all book. Aging stars can always pick up a few bucks in their later years with such a book. They probably leave a lot out though.
That's Hedda Hopper (mink stole) next to Natalie Woods.
She was born about 50 years too early. Would love to turn her loose on Harvey Weinstein.
I am a septuagenarian. My face is not wrinkled. It is weathered.
Tab was a little wooden, to say the least. BTW, Troy was an alcoholic/Drug user but not Gay. Neither was Doug McClure. Rock Hudson of course was. His agent turned down the role of Ben Hur, because he didn't want Hudson in Rome living the La Dolce Vita. In Hollywood, Rock was protected, in Rome he wouldn't be.
Every time I see tab hunter I think of Dash riprock and Stony curtis.
*watches Damn Yankees trailer*
Was that Jean Stapleton (aka Edith Bunker)?
*checks imdb.com*
Yep!
"They probably leave a lot out though."
Ava Gardner omitted any mention of Frank Sinatra.
mockturtle said...
I will be rooting heartily for the Astros tonight. But, should the worst happen and the Yankees win, it'll be just like elementary school days when we all [except for a nasty few] rooted for the [Brooklyn] Dodgers against those horrid Yankees."
Is there anybody who is not already a Yankees fan who is rooting for the Yankees to win? Besides the Patriots, I can't think of a sports franchise which is as successful and hated as the Yankees are.
The Dodgers moved west before I was born. The Brooklyn teams of the 50's strike me as eminently lovable and not just because of Robinson. A friend of mine hails from the same Indiana town as Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine, who moved back there after his Dodger glory days and is still alive. She says he is universally beloved and respected there and is devoted to his Down syndrome son.
Of course, the character of Brooklyn has changed. Now it's Hipster Central. And once the Dodgers moved to LA and became a glamour team themselves instead of playing perennial second fiddle to baseball's original glamour team, they became less lovable.
Still, better them than the damn Yankees.
"It's sad. I would not have predicted it, if you'd asked me 50 years ago what women 40 years younger than you will be wearing in 50 years. I thought we were on a trajectory of liberation. I didn't understand the lingering love for bondage."
Surely you don't think that women wear the things they wear because they want to. If men didn't force women to dress up for us, you'd all be wandering around in burlap burkhas. It's called "Patriarchy". John Lennon bragged about it; "We make her paint her face and dance"... Shake it!
robother said...
Tab, Rock, Chad, Troy, Rory.... When men were men and...oh, never mind.
You know, that just got me thinking. Perhaps, the only way back then a man could get ahead in Hollywood (before Weinstein) was to put out for homos running the Hollywood scene. We only heard about the latest thing with Weinstein banging young girls/women who wanted into Hollywood, but there must have been just as many homos doing the same thing.
What male actors are willing to say they had to take it up the ass for stardom?
I could probably name (guess) actors that did.
I could probably name (guess) actors that did.
...
Go ahead!
On a straighter note, waiting for someone to point out that Meryl Streep’s denial of knowledge, and doubling down on that, before it blew completely open suggests to me Harvey was rodgering her senseless in the 90’s.
Bondage indeed! I live in a part of the country (East Tennessee) where everyone, and I mean everyone is overweight. Yet, safety in numbers, no shame, people wear tight, inappropriate clothing. So off putting. I say dresses, pantyhose, and girdles should be revived!
“ngram sez: Hippy and hippie(s) both show up starting in 1800.”
Those older uses are not in the sense of a hip person.
There are 2 older meanings for “hippy” per the OED. Both adjectives. One is having big hips. The other is “hippish,” which has something to do with being sickly.
Chan Romero was born and grew up in Billings, MT.
You can bet Ivanka wears shapewear under those form-fitting dresses. As do all models. Not because they are fat but because shapewear prevents any lines and bulges.
I did read the book and rather enjoyed it. I've never seen the Damn Yankees stage production.
And so, yes, the Yankees did indeed lose the pennant for reals. Shutout even in perhaps one of the most pathetic ways to lose the pennant.
*SPOILER ALERT*
One of the twists in the book, which I do not know if is in the stage play, is Hardy is going to be traded to the Yankees the next season. The Devil is, of course, a Yankees fan and this is the diabolical twist. (It is possible the trade still happens. The Devil finds another soul to take Hardy's place after Boyd successfully breaks the contract, mainly on the justification that the Senators are going to face the Dodgers in the World Series and the Devil hates the Dodgers even more than he loves the Yankees. This may mean something. Go Stros!)
And all those ga-ga girls not knowing that Tab was light-in-the-loafers.
I recently bought the Blu Ray of the 1980 mini-series Shogun.
One scene I vividly recalled from my first viewing (in wrinkly 1980, of course) was when the Japanese maiden assigned to our hero, the English Pilot (Anjin-san), was worried that he hadn't "pillowed". "I can get another girl if you don't like her. Or two, if you want. Or maybe you prefer a boy".
A boy! WHOA!. Our hero jumps up and goes crazy. "You think I'm a blasted sodomite?! "A BOY!?
What makes it even more of a hoot 37 years later is that our hero is played by the now out of the closet Richard Chamberlain. Now he would be "velly preased", I'd bet.
BTW. Shogun totally stands up after all these years. Filmed in Japan it can stand up to any series. With the exception of, maybe Twin Peaks, it was not equaled until HBO got into the game with The Sopranos etc.
PS. I bought Shogun from Amazon.
You know what to do.
"The Devil finds another soul to take Hardy's place ..."
Yeah, there's a line. There's a line. Are you in it?
I'm surprised there hasn't been a revival of Damn Yankees on Broadway since the nineties. I only saw the movie but it was fun and it would mine the same fifties nostalgia as Hairspray and Grease but more authentically.
Just googled it and Bryan Cranston is, as they say, in discussions to play the lead in a revival.
I don't think women like the bondage as much as they hate the bulges they're too lazy to lose. Just speaking for myself of course. And only on special occasions.
This girl and her family had just moved to Tampa from NYC in 1960. She brings a
radio to school one day and when asked says it's so she can listen to the world series.
It was a NY thing I guess. We may have only been 6 or 7 but we had our doubts. We
did not listen to the world series that day.
I don't get why it's funny that the hero of Shogun was a then-closeted Richard Chamberlain. He was good in the role, was a good actor, and could believably portray a man who didn't want to bed a boy. Did you know he wasn't actually a 17th century British sailor? Coulda fooled me!
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