From "Olivia Newton-John, Pop Singer and ‘Grease’ Star, Dies at 73/She began her career as an innocent purveyor of middle-of-the-road pop but later adopted a bad-girl persona" (NYT).
Here's a charming clip from 1968 (which I found because I saw in the obituary that she duetted with Pat Carroll and mistakenly thought that was the actress Pat Carroll who recently died at the age of 95):
Posts
28 comments:
Judith Derham died this week, too. I loved her voice in the Seekers albums.
I remember ONJ growing up in Britain. Her poster on the wall of more than one classmate in early seventies. A regular on the Cliff Richard TV show and performer one year on Eurovision (when ABBA won).
I loved her growing up.
Used to listen to her mellow greatest hits while in the car with my folks - on the fancy 8 track tape player.
Such a voice and a beauty.
Thanks for ta=hat clip. Never seen or heard before. Pat is rocking her bob.
ta=hat = that.
Sorry she died, but I wasn't really a fan of her bland music or bland personality. And why is Doris Day being dragged into this? Who thinks showbiz folks are "virgins"? I certainly never thought that about ONJ.
Lovely ladies. Fun tune. A welcome relief.
Bad week for Australia. First Judith. Now Liv.
I read the obit. She was the granddaughter of a Nobel Prize winner. She was probably smart, but that wasn't the first thing you noticed about her. So far as I can remember, she made only one good movie, but what a great movie. Seventy three is kind of young.....Also David McCullough has died. Who will narrate Ken Burns documentaries? There was a kind of H.Kaltenborn march of time quality to his voice,but there was a subtext of a gentle providence when he announced the events. I read his bio of Truman. It was first rate and deserving of the Pulitzer.
Peter Coyote in good health?
"Later adopted a bad girl persona", I think more like she was marketed that way for about 3 years. During those same 3 years, she performed in the movie "Xanadu". If "Xanadu" is the idea of a "bad persona"; you were beaten every day in school for your lunch money.
Xanadu is an unheralded masterpiece.
Just kidding.
"Also David McCullough has died. Who will narrate Ken Burns documentaries? "
Peter Coyote
I just watched Xanadu, which premiered today, 42 years ago. It was awful but charming, in the way 1980 was awful but charming. RIP, Ms Newton-John.
>>mistakenly thought that was the actress Pat Carroll who recently died at the age of 95
Syncing with Althouse again. I had the same initial reaction, and I was all WTF? Still don't know who the other Pat Carroll is/was.
--gpm
Her song "Magic" was far from bland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl5bqHP0-KA
(and she was hot! then)
She fought off cancer for 30 years. She must have been extremely tough.
She was compared to Sandra Dee because she sang "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" in Grease.
John Travolta, who lost his wife to cancer two years ago, released a charming statement:
"My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better. Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the first moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!"
She had a clean-cut, girl next door image. Then she told Carson "Oh no I'm not as straight as that," meaning square, straight-laced and repressed. The next day everybody was saying that she came out as a lesbian on national television. Simpler times?
Durham was exceptional.
"John Travolta....My dearest Olivia"
This is the two of them, I think promoting a 25th anniversary DVD or some such. They seem to be enjoying themselves:
https://youtu.be/WvOWox2o5cU
Petula Clark still rolling along toward 90.
I remember thinking after hearing a couple of her early hits, "She's not all that great, she's just lucky to have the guy with the great bass voice (Mike Sammes) helping on the choruses." Boy did she ever prove me wrong.
If you were a boy in the 1970’s there were very important debates that took place at school and on the playground. They defined everything and possibly part of your future. Certainly Freudian in nature. Somewhat rhetorical, because they were all hot…
Who was hotter??? These important subjects included Mary Ann vs Ginger, Farrah Fawcett or Jacklyn Smith, and the preppy Sandra D, or the post transformation cigarette smoking siren.
Olivia Newton John could pull off both. Today I feel old...
Yup, Rory, pretty amazing that in an era where most under 30s have WW2 mentally placed somewhere shortly after the Crusades, Petula Clark - who sang to entertain the troops in WW2, and had her photo carried around in British tanks for luck - is still drawing her pension.
You can really tell who has the star quality in that video. I hope life worked out alright for Pat.
"And why is Doris Day being dragged into this? Who thinks showbiz folks are "virgins"?"
For those of us who grew up in the 60s — as I did and ONJ did — Doris Day was a top box office star for her wonderful romantic comedies in which it was a standard premise that — while she was teasing sex — she hadn't had sex yet. You accepted her as a virgin for plot purposes and as a necessity of keeping mainstream. There were so many jokes about it at the time. ONJ isn't dragging DD into this. She's commenting on the cultural norms of the 1960s and DD absolutely belongs there!
"as a necessity of keeping mainstream"
I mean if you wanted a strong, positive unmarried female character.
You could have a fragile, sad female character like Shirley MacLaine in "The Apartment."
Olivia Newton John - cute
Judith Durham - cute, great voice
Doris Day - cute, good comedienne, excellent pipes
Shirley MacLaine - not remotely cute trying too hard to pretend to be cute, rather annoying, what did they see in her ?
OJN's grandfather (Max Born) was a central figure in the founding of quantum physics.
Newton-John's father was in British intelligence and worked on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park (made famous recently by the Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game). He also (acc. to Wikipedia) took Rudolf Hess into custody during World War II.
Good genes, indeed.
Post a Comment