Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear (also spelled Brer Fox and Brer Bear, pronunciation: /ˈbrɛər/) are fictional characters from the Uncle Remus folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris.
In the animated sequences of the 1946 Walt Disney-produced film Song of the South,
Brer Fox is the primary villain (depicted as comically devious and
cruel), while Brer Bear is his dim-witted sidekick. Brer Fox was voiced
by actor James Baskett, who also portrayed the live-action character Uncle Remus, and Brer Bear was voiced by Nick Stewart. In later appearances of the characters, the two were voiced by Jess Harnell and James Avery. In contrast to the earlier illustrations of Frederick S. Church, A. B. Frost, and E. W. Kemble, the Disney animators depict the characters in a more slapstick, cartoony style.[1]
The cult filmCoonskin, directed by Ralph Bakshi,
focuses on a trio of characters inspired by the original folktales, and
the characters of Br'er Fox (renamed "Preacher Fox" in Bakshi's film),
Br'er Bear, and Br'er Rabbit. It moves elements from the stories to a then-contemporary urban setting.
Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear in Song of the South
(1946). Disney's versions of the characters are drawn in a more
humorous and cartoony style than the illustrations in Harris's books.
Source: Wikipedia
Uploaded on Nov 25, 2008
Song of the South, released in 1946,
was a classic Disney movie which contained some of the most well known
Disney songs. Unfortunately, Song of the South is no longer being
distributed in the United States and many people can no longer enjoy
such a great movie and its great songs.
Song of the South and
its animated sequences featuring Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er
Bear, are the inspiration behind the Walt Disney World/Disneyland
attraction, Splash Mountain. In fact, if you go on the ride, you will
hear these songs.
This video contains three of the classic
songs from the movie ('Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah', 'How Do You Do?', 'Everybody
Has A Laughing Place') plus the final ending sequence of the movie.
LYRICS:
Song #1 "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah!"
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin' my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It's the truth, it's actual
Ev'rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, wonderful day, yes sir!
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin' my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It's the truth, it's actual
Ev'rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, feeling this way
Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It is the truth, it's actual... huh?
Where is that bluebird? Mm-hm!
Ev'rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, wonderful day!
Song#2 "How Do You Do?"
How do you do? Fine! A friendly greetin'.
How do you do? Say it when you're meetin'.
How do you do? With everyone repeatin':
Pretty good, sure as you're born.
What goes up is sure to come down,
Penny lost is a penny found,
I'll "howdy" you, you'll "howdy" back,
This for that an' tit for tat.
Chorus: How do you do?
Fine, how are you?
How you come on?
Pretty good, sure as you're born.
Uncle Remus:
Stop jumpin', Br'er Rabbit,
you'll run out of breath.
Why don't you sit down an' calm yourself?
Brer Rabbit:
Well the grasshopper jump,
and so do the flea.
I do what I like, and I suits me!
[Repeat Chorus]
Uncle Remus:
The weather's good, the fishin's fine.
Now what do you do with all your time?
Brer Rabbit:
Oh, I zigs and I zags, I to's and I fro's.
That's what you're askin'
and that's what you knows.
[Repeat Chorus]
Brer Frog:
Mind now, Br'er Rabbit, better mend your ways.
You's headin' for trouble one of these days.
Uncle Remus:
Warnin' that rabbit is wastin' your breath!
Brer Rabbit:
Don't worry about me;
I can take care of myself!
Song#3 "Everybody
Has A Laughing Place"
Hee, hee, hee, hee, ha, ha, ha!
Boy am I in luck!
I think about my laughin' place,
Yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk! Ha-yuk, yuk!
Everybody's got a laughin' place,
A laughin' place, to go ho-ho!
Take a frown, turn it upside-down,
And you'll find yours I know ho-ho!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Boy am I in luck!
I think about my laughin' place,
Ha-yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk!
Everybody's got a laughin' place,
A laughin' place, to go ho-ho!
Take a frown, turn it upside-down,
And you'll find yours I know ho-ho!
Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924
August 29, 1987) was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly
voice, white hair and 6'2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting
roles, mostly villains, soldiers, and other hard-boiled characters.
In
1950, Marvin moved to Hollywood. He quickly found work in supporting
roles, and from the beginning was cast in various Western or war films.
As a decorated combat veteran, Marvin was a natural in war dramas, where
he frequently assisted the director and other actors in realistically
portraying infantry movement, arranging costumes, and even adjusting war
surplus military prop firearms.
He had a hit song with "Wand'rin' Star" from the western musical Paint Your Wagon (1969).
LYRICS:
I was born under a wanderin star
I was born under a wanderin star
Wheels are made for rollin
Mules are made to pack
I never seen a sight that didnt look better looking back.
I was born under a wanderin star
Mud can make you prisoner
And the plains can bake you dry
Snow can burn your eyes
But only people make you cry
Home is made for comin from
For dreams of goin to
Which with any luck will never come true
I was born under a wanderin star
I was born under a wanderin star
Do I know where hell is?
Hell is in Hello
Heaven is good-bye forever
Its time for me to go
I was born under a wanderin star
A wanderin wanderin star
Mud can make you prisoner
And the plains can bake you dry
Snow can burn your eyes
But only people make you cry
Home is made for comin from
For dreams of goin to
Which with any luck will never come true
I was born under a wanderin star
I was born under a wanderin star
When I get to heaven
Tie me to a tree
Or Ill begin to roam
And soon you know where I will be
I was born under a wanderin star
A wanderin wanderin star
Frankie Laine (March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007), born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio, was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire"
in 2005.
Often billed as America's Number One Song Stylist, his other
nicknames include Mr. Rhythm, Old Leather Lungs, and Mr. Steel Tonsils.
Laine sang an
eclectic variety of song styles and genres, stretching from big band
crooning to pop, western-themed songs, gospel, rock, folk, jazz, and blues.
He did not sing the soundtrack song for High Noon, which was sung by Tex Ritter,
but his own version (with somewhat altered lyrics, omitting the name of
the antagonist, Frank Miller) was the one that became a bigger hit, nor
did he sing the theme to another show he is commonly associated with—Champion the Wonder Horse (sung by Mike Stewart)—but released his own, subsequently more popular version.
Laine's enduring popularity was illustrated in June 2011, when a
TV-advertised compilation called "Hits" reached No. 16 on the British
chart.
The accomplishment was achieved nearly 50 years after his debut
on the UK chart, more than half a century after his U.S. debut and four
years after his death.[1]
Biography
Early years
Frankie Laine was born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio on March 30, 1913,
to Giovanni and Cresenzia LoVecchio (née Salerno).
[His actual Cook
County, Ill, birth Certificate, no. 14436, was already Americanized at
the time of his birth, with his name written as "Frank Lovecchio," his
mother as "Anna Salerno," and his father as "John Lovecchio," with the
"V" lower case in each instance, except in the "Reported by" section
with "John Lo Vecchio <father>" written in.[14]]
His family appears to have had several Mafia connections, and young Francesco was living with his grandfather when the latter was killed by members of a rival faction.
The eldest of eight children, he got his first taste of singing as a member of the choir in the Church of the Immaculate Conception's elementary school.
He next attended Lane Technical High School, now known as Lane Technical College Prep High School,
where he helped to develop his lung power and breath control by joining
the track and field and basketball teams.
He realized he wanted to be a
singer when he missed time in school to see Al Jolson's current talking picture, "The Singing Fool."
Jolson would later visit Laine when both were filming pictures in 1949,
and at about this time, Jolson remarked that Laine was going to put all
the other singers out of business.
Even in the 1920s, his vocal abilities were enough to get him noticed
by a slightly older "in crowd" at his school, who began inviting him to
parties and to local dance clubs, including Chicago's Merry Garden
Ballroom.
At 17, he sang before a crowd of 5,000 at The Merry Garden
Ballroom to such applause that he ended up performing five encores on
his first night.
Laine was giving dance lessons for a charity ball at
the Merry Garden when he was called to the bandstand to sing:
Soon I found myself on the main bandstand before this enormous crowd,
Laine recalled. I was really nervous, but I started singing 'Beside an
Open Fireplace,' a popular song of the day. It was a sentimental tune
and the lyrics choked me up. When I got done, the tears were streaming
down my cheeks and the ballroom became quiet. I was very nearsighted and
couldn't see the audience. I thought that the people didn't like me.[15]
Some of his other early influences during this period included Enrico Caruso, Carlo Buti, and especially Bessie Smith—a record of whose somehow wound up in his parents' collection:
I can still close my eyes and visualize its blue and purple label. It was a Bessie Smith
recording of 'The Bleeding Hearted Blues,' with 'Midnight Blues' on the
other side. The first time I laid the needle down on that record I felt
cold chills and an indescribable excitement. It was my first exposure
to jazz and the blues, although I had no idea at the time what to call those magical sounds. I just knew I had to hear more of them! — Frankie Laine[16]
Another singer who influenced him at this time was falsetto crooner, Gene Austin.
Laine worked after school at a drugstore that was situated across the
street from a record store that continually played hit records by Gene
Austin over their loud speakers.
He would swab down the windows in time
to Austin's songs.
Many years later, Laine related the story to Austin
when both were guests on the popular television variety show Shower of Stars.
He would also co-star in a film, Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder, with Austin's daughter, Charlotte.
Shortly after graduating high school, Laine signed on as a member of
The Merry Garden's marathon dance company and toured with them, working dance marathons during the Great Depression (setting the world record of 3,501 hours with partner Ruthie Smith at Atlantic City's Million Dollar Pier
in 1932).
Still billed as Frank LoVecchio, he would entertain the
spectators during the fifteen minute breaks the dancers were given each
hour. During his marathon days, he worked with several up-and-coming
entertainers including Rose Marie, Red Skelton, and a 14-year old Anita O'Day, for whom he served as a mentor (as noted by Laine in a 1998 interview by David Miller).
Laine befriended Cole in Los Angeles, when the latter's career was just beginning to gain momentum. Cole recorded a song, It Only Happens Once,
that fledgling songwriter Laine had composed.
They remained close
friends throughout the remainder of Cole's life, and Laine was one of
the pall bearers at Cole's funeral.
His next big break came when he replaced Perry Como in the Freddy Carlone band in Cleveland in 1937; Como made a call to Carlone about Laine.[17]
Como was another lifelong friend of Laine's, who once lent Laine the money to travel to a possible gig.[18]
Laine's rhythmic style was ill-suited to the sweet sounds of the
Carlone band, and the two soon parted company.
Success continued to
elude Laine, and he spent the next 10 years "scuffling"; alternating
between singing at small jazz clubs on both coasts and a series of jobs,
including those of a bouncer, dance instructor, used car salesman,
agent, synthetic leather factory worker, and machinist at a defense
plant.[17]
It was while working at the defense plant during the Second World War
that he first began writing songs ("It Only Happens Once" was written at
the plant).
Often homeless during his "scuffling" phases, he hit the
lowest point of his career, when he was sleeping on a bench in Central Park.
I would sneak into hotel rooms and sleep on floor. In fact, I was
bodily thrown out of 11 different New York hotels. I stayed in YMCAs
and with anyone who would let me flop. Eventually I was down to my last
four cents, and my bed became a roughened wooden bench in Central Park.
I used my four pennies to buy four tiny Baby Ruth candy bars and rationed myself to one a day. — Frankie Laine[19]
He changed his professional name to Frankie Laine in 1938, upon receiving a job singing for the New York City radio station WINS.
The program director, Jack Coombs, thought that "LoVecchio" was "too
foreign sounding, and too much of a mouthful for the studio announcers,"
so he Americanized it to "Lane."
Frankie added the "i" to avoid
confusion with a girl singer at the station who went by the name of
Frances Lane.
It was at this time that Laine got unknown songbird Helen O'Connell her job with the Jimmy Dorsey band. WINS, deciding that they no longer needed a jazz singer, dropped him.
With the help of bandleader Jean Goldkette, he got a job with a sustainer (nonsponsored) radio show at NBC.
As he was about to start, GermanyattackedPoland and all sustainer broadcasts were pulled off the air in deference to the needs of the military.
Laine next found employment in a munitions plant, at a salary of
$150.00 a week. He quit singing for what was perhaps the fifth or sixth
time of his already long career.
While working at the plant, he met a
trio of girl singers, and became engaged to the lead singer. The group
had been noticed by Johnny Mercer's Capitol Records, and convinced Laine to head out to Hollywood with them as their agent.
In 1943 he moved to California where he sang in the background of several films, including The Harvey Girls, and dubbed the singing voice for an actor in the Danny Kaye comedy The Kid from Brooklyn.
It was in Los Angeles in 1944 that he met and befriended disc jockey Al Jarvis and composer/pianist Carl T. Fischer,
the latter of whom was to be his songwriting partner, musical director,
and piano accompanist until his death in 1954.
Their songwriting
collaborations included "I'd Give My Life," "Baby, Just For Me," "What
Could Be Sweeter?," "Forever More," and the jazz standard "We'll Be Together Again."[17]
The engagement fell through, with the songstresses breaking up with
the loyal singer–manager when success for them seemed just around the
corner.
When Jarvis discovered how the girl group had mistreated Laine,
he pulled their records from his show, in effect breaking their career.
When the war ended, Laine soon found himself "scuffling" again, and
was eventually given a place to stay by Jarvis.
Jarvis also did his best
to help promote the struggling singer's career, and Laine soon had a
small, regional following.
In the meantime, Laine would make the rounds
of the bigger jazz clubs, hoping that the featured band would call him
up to perform a number with them.
In late 1946, Hoagy Carmichael heard him singing at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles,
and this was when success finally arrived.
Not knowing that Carmichael
was in the audience, Laine sang the Carmichael-penned standard "Rockin' Chair" when Slim Gaillard called him up to the stage to sing.
This eventually led to a contract with the newly established Mercury records. Laine and Carmichael would later collaborate on a song, "Put Yourself in My Place, Baby".
Before there was Johnny Cash and
June Carter there was Carl Smith and June Carter, lol. This is June
doing a bit of comedy with her then-husband, Carl and then they sing the
song "Love, Oh Crazy Love".
Carl Milton Smith (March 15, 1927 – January 16, 2010) was an Americancountry music singer.[1][2][3] Known as "Mister Country," Smith was the husband of June Carter (later June Carter Cash) and Goldie Hill, and the father of Carlene Carter. He was one of country's most successful male artists during the 1950s, with 30 Top 10 Billboard
hits, including 21 in a row. Smith's success continued well into the
1970s, when he had a charting single every year except one. He is a
member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Biography
Early career
A native of Maynardville, Tennessee, Carl Smith aspired to a musical career after hearing the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. He sold seed to pay for guitar lessons as a teenager.[4][5]
At age 15, he started performing in a band called Kitty Dibble and Her
Dude Ranch Ranglers. By age 17, he had learned to play the string bass and spent his summer vacation working at WROL-AM in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he performed on Cas Walker's radio show.[6]
In 1951, his song "Let's Live a Little" was a big hit, reaching No. 2
on country chart. During 1951 he had up three other hits, including "If
the Teardrops Were Pennies" and his first No. 1 hit, "Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way".[6]
The songs made Smith a well-known name in country music. His band, the
Tunesmiths, featured steel guitarist Johnny Silbert, who added an
element of Western swing.[5]
In 1952, Smith married June Carter (who later became the wife of Johnny Cash), the daughter of Maybelle Carter of the Carter Family. In 1955 the couple had a daughter, Rebecca Carlene Smith, who later became known as Carlene Carter, a country singer in her own right.[6]
During the rest of the 1950s, Smith made regular appearances on Billboard's country charts, racking up many hits, including 30 in the Top 10. His biggest hits include "Loose Talk", "Wicked Lies", "Hey Joe!" and "You Are the One". He had five No. 1 hits in his career; "Loose Talk" was his last, in 1955.
Some of his songs had sharp edges, fast phrasing and a strong drumbeat, similar to rockabilly material making the charts in the mid-50s, which in some ways made Smith's music closer to rock and roll
than country. Some of his songs did, however, make the pop charts. His
biggest pop entry was the song "Ten Thousand Drums" in 1959, which
reached No. 43 on the pop chart.
In 1956, Smith quit the Grand Ole Opry. Soon after, he joined The Phillip Morris Country Music Show and spent more than a year touring the United States, often in direct competition with touring Opry shows. He also made regular appearances on ABC-TV's Jubilee USA and was a fill-in host for Red Foley.
In 1957, Smith and June Carter divorced. That same year, he appeared in the movie, The Badge of Marshal Brennan and Buffalo Guns, and married country music singer Goldie Hill, best known for the No. 1 hit "I Let the Stars Get In My Eyes".
Goldie retired from the music business. By the late 50s, Smith's
success began to dwindle on the country charts, and soon his string of
Top 10s turned into Top 20 hits.
Later years
By the 1960s, Smith's success as a country singer began to slow. His
Top 20 hits included "Air Mail To Heaven" in 1962 and "Take My Ring Off
Your Finger" in 1964. His biggest hit of the decade was "Deep Water" in
1967, which peaked at No. 10 and became his first top 10 in eight years
(and his final top 10 appearance). In 1961, he was one of five rotating
hosts on the NBC television series Five Star Jubilee. He also hosted Carl Smith's Country Music Hall in Canada, a series syndicated in the United States. Smith appeared on The Jimmy Dean Show on April 9, 1964.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Smith incorporated more Western swing into much of his recorded material. He remained with Columbia Records for almost 25 years, leaving in 1975 to sign with Hickory Records. By this time his singles were barely making the charts. He appeared in the Hawaii Five-O episode, "Man on Fire", first aired on October 21, 1976.
Thanks to his real estate and song publishing investments, he decided
to retire from the music business in the late 1970s to concentrate on
his second passion, Cutting Horses,[5] but in 1983, he recorded an album for the Gusto label. In 2003, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Death
His wife Goldie died in 2005. Smith, who lived on a 500-acre (2.0 km2) horse farm in Franklin, south of Nashville,
followed her in January 2010. The cause of death was natural causes. He
was survived by two sons, Carl, Jr. and Larry Dean; and two daughters,
Carlene and Lori Lynn.[5]
This version was part of the batch of 50's hits Webb rerecorded in stereo for Decca for the Webb Pierce Story double album.
Webb Michael Pierce (August 8, 1921 – February 24, 1991) was one of the most popular Americanhonky tonk vocalists of the 1950s, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the decade.
His biggest hit was "In the Jailhouse Now,"
which charted for 37 weeks in 1955, 21 of them at number one.
Pierce
also charted number one for several weeks' each with his recordings of
"Slowly" (1954), "Love, Love, Love" (1955), "I Don't Care" (1955),
"There Stands the Glass" (1953), "More and More" (1954), "I Ain't Never"
(1959), and his first number one "Wondering," which stayed at the top
spot for four of its 27 weeks' charting in 1952.
For many, Pierce, with his flamboyant Nudie suits and twin silver dollar-lined convertibles, became the most recognizable face of country music of the era and its excesses.[1]
He began to play guitar before he was a teenager and at 15 was given his own weekly 15-minute show, Songs by Webb Pierce, on KMLB-AM in Monroe.
He enlisted in the US Army, and in 1942 he married Betty Jane Lewis. After he was discharged, the couple moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where Pierce worked in the men's department of a Sears Roebuck store.
In 1947, the couple appeared on KTBS-AM's
morning show as "Webb Pierce with Betty Jane, the Singing Sweetheart".
Pierce also performed at local engagements, developing his unique style
that was once described to be "a wailing whiskey-voiced tenor that wrang
out every drop of emotion."
Rise to fame
In 1949, California-based 4 Star Records
signed the Webbs under separate contracts, with his wife signed for
duets with her husband under the name Betty Jane and Her Boyfriends.[1]
However, success only came for Pierce, and in the summer of 1950, the couple divorced.
He moved to KWKH-AM and joined Louisiana Hayride during its first year,[2]
and devised a plan to achieve instant "stardom."
Before the show, he
bought tickets for several young girls in line and asked them to sit in
the first row, and after each of his songs to scream and beg for more.
It worked; their enthusiasm spread throughout the audience.[3]
He also founded a record label, Pacemaker; and Ark-La-Tex Music, a publishing company, with Horace Logan, the director of the Hayride. On Pacemaker, Pierce made several records between 1950 and 1951 designed to attract radio play around Louisiana.[1]
Shreveport to Nashville
In 1951, Pierce got out of his 4 Star contract and was quickly signed by Decca Records.
His second single, "Wondering", became his breakthrough hit, climbing to No. 1 early in 1952.
Pierce moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he met and married his second wife, Audrey Greisham.[1] In June 1952, he had his second No. 1 single with "That Heart Belongs to Me".
In September 1953, the Grand Ole Opry needed to fill the vacancy left by the firing of Hank Williams,
and Pierce was invited to join the cast.
After Williams' death, he
became the most popular singer in country music; for the next four
years, every single he released hit the top ten, with ten reaching
No. 1, including "There Stands the Glass" (1953), "Slowly" (1954), "More and More" (1954), and "In the Jailhouse Now"
(1955).
His singles spent 113 weeks at No. 1 during the 1950s, when he
charted 48 singles. Thirty-nine reached the top ten, 26 reached the top
four and 13 hit No. 1.
It is not known if Pierce knew the
political Wall or merely made up the name for the record and was unaware
of the actual Shady Wall.)
On February 19, 1957, Pierce resigned from the Opry after he refused to pay commissions on bookings and for associated talent.[4]
Pierce continued charting until 1982 with a total of 96 hits; and he toured extensively and appeared in the movies Buffalo Guns,Music City USA,Second Fiddle To A Steel Guitar, and Road To Nashville.
Lavish lifestyle and later years
As his music faded from the spotlight, Pierce became known for his excessive lifestyle. He had North Hollywood tailor Nudie Cohen, who had made flamboyant suits for Pierce, line two convertibles
with silver dollars.
He built a $30,000 guitar-shaped swimming pool at
his Nashville home which became a popular paid tourist attraction—nearly
3,000 people visited it each week—causing his neighbors, led by singer Ray Stevens, to file suit and prevail against Pierce to end the tours.[1]
He remained with Decca and its successor, MCA, well into the 1970s, but by 1977 he was recording for Plantation Records.
Even though he had occasional minor hits, charting in a 1982 duet with Willie Nelson,
a remake of "In the Jailhouse Now," he spent his final years tending to
his businesses, and his legend became clouded due to his reputation as a
hard drinker.[2]
Webb and daughter Debbie recorded the ballad "On My Way Out" as The
Pierces, and she was a member of the Country group "Chantilly" in the
early 1980s.
Pierce waged a long battle with pancreatic cancer, which he lost on February 24, 1991, and was buried in the Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville.
