Musician v. singer again

About the categories musician and singer again:

“Anita was not a singer, in my estimation. She was a musician who used her voice as an instrument.”

That’s the trumpeter Denny Roche speaking, in the documentary Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (dir. Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden, 2007), a great documentary about a great singer and musician. O’Day’s sense of time and her phrasing: where did they come from? She was a wonder.

If you’ve never seen the great clip of Anita O’Day at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival: here you go.

Nancy Malone in Life magazine

To my knowledge, she made three appearances.


[Life, November 25, 1946. Eleven-year-old Nancy Malone on the cover of Life ’s tenth-anniversary issue. She is identified on page 3 of the magazine as “Nancy Maloney of Long Island,” “one of the most successful younger Powers models.”]




[“Hokum and More Hokum,” Life, December 22, 1952. Ronald Alexander’s comedy Time Out for Ginger ran for 248 performances on Broadway. Notice that Nancy Malone’s character, a high-schooler who wants to try out for the football team, makes the cover of Life.]


[“Stubborn sinner Bill Walker (Eli Wallach) wallops a Salvation Army lass (Nancy Malone) to show his contempt while meek down-and-outers watch.” “Handsome Soapbox for Shaw,”Life, December 10, 1956. The scene is from a Broadway production of George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara.]

*

May 16: A correction: when I made this post, I wrote that Malone was not identified by name in the November 25, 1946 issue of Life. I came to that mistaken conclusion by reading the issue’s photo credits. But a description of the cover on page 3 of this issue identifies Malone (then Maloney) by name. The New York Times may have borrowed my mistake. I’ve made a correction above.

Related reading
A letter from Nancy Malone
Nancy Malone (1935–2014)

Mrs. Flood’s pencils

“I’m a product of Mrs. Flood. She didn’t take my crap”: Dixon Ticonderoga’s CEO Tim Gomez donates 100,000 pencils in honor of his high-school English teacher Wilma Flood.

Related reading
All OCA pencil posts (Pinboard)

A letter from Nancy Malone

Last March, Elaine and I wrote a letter to Nancy Malone. We told her — in a bit of understatement — that we had become die-hard Naked City fans. We praised the show’s writing, acting, and cinematography. We told her that we especially liked hearing Adam and Libby talk in poetry: “Hail to thee, blithe salami-bringer! Bird thou never wert.” We wondered if there might have been a backstory that explained such stuff. Did Adam and Libby meet in college, perhaps?

We were (as we explained) going on an incomplete acquaintance with the series, knowing only the episodes then available in a 10-DVD set. Had we seen the entire run (now available in a 29-DVD set), we would have known that Adam Flint was an English major who wrote a thesis on Emily Dickinson (as revealed in this episode). But that still wouldn’t explain how Adam and Libby met.

We were thrilled to get a reply, postmarked June 1 and beginning “Dear Michael and Elaine.” Nancy thanked us for our letter and praised the show’s writers and directors and crew. She called the director of photography Jack Priestly “simply astounding.” And she answered our question:


[“The back story on how they [insert: Libby + Adam] met was never made clear to us — we just invented our past — and as Paul was a joy to work with — he agreed + I agreed to our relationship from — ‘chance meeting in an acting class’ etc.”]

So there is more to Adam Flint than we ever suspected.

The Archive of American Television’s Naked City page has a wonderful interview with Nancy Malone. The conversation about the series begins at 40:47. Here’s her description of auditioning actors for the part of Adam Flint: “As soon as Paul Burke walked in the room, I thought, You better not go any further.” And explaining the chemistry between the characters: “Paul Burke and Nancy Malone were crazy people, who loved each other as people and trusted each other as actors.”

Elaine and I will always be grateful to Nancy Malone for taking the time to respond to our deep affection for her work.

Related reading
All OCA Naked City posts (Pinboard)

Hi and Lois watch

[Hi and Lois, May 11, 2014.]

Even more startling than the glimpse of Lois outside “Vickie’s Secret” is the final panel of today’s strip. Trixie speaks! Yet her family is oblivious. Will Trixie have more to say? Or will she go back to a life of thought balloons? Perhaps her family’s not noticing means that the strip can continue with its youngest member silent, no questions asked. No one will have to wonder, “Wasn’t there that time when Trixie said something?”

Related reading
All OCA Hi and Lois posts (Pinboard)

[For clarity: the Vickie’s Secret panel illustrates one of four “options” for Mother’s Day that Hi presents to Lois: “an all-expenses-paid shopping spree.” Is it Lois who thinks about shopping at Vickie’s Secret, or Hi? Is Lois only walking past the store on her way to GNC or Sunglass Hut? Is that box in her hands from Vickie’s Secret, or has she bought a new pair of Hush Puppies? Am I the only one who thinks it’s more than a little insulting for a husband to present his wife with “options” on Mother’s Day? Should he be making those choices for her? Should I be asking these questions?]

Happy Mother’s Day

[Photograph by James Leddy, May 25, 1957.]

My mom Louise and a younger me, on a not-mean street in Brooklyn, New York.

I am very fortunate to have this woman as my mother. Happy Mother’s Day to her and to all mothers.

Nancy Malone (1935–2014)

Sad news: the actress and director Nancy Malone has died at the age of seventy-nine. She played the aspiring actress Libby Kingston, the girlfriend, and later fiancée, of Adam Flint (Paul Burke) on the television series Naked City. She was the last surviving member of the cast.

Elaine and I sent Nancy Malone a letter last year, telling her about our love of the show, of her acting, and of the Adam-Libby partnership, especially of the way the two characters toss out lines of poetry to one another. We were thrilled to receive a two-page handwritten reply. I’ll write something about that soon.


[Nancy Malone as Libby Kingston. From the Naked City episode “The Multiplicity of Herbert Konish,” May 23, 1962.]

Related reading
A letter from Nancy Malone
Nancy Malone in Life magazine
Adam and Libby at play
Adam and Libby at play again
All OCA Naked City posts (Pinboard)

Mark Trail revised

[Mark Trail revised, May 10, 2014.]

The look on Mark’s face — I had to do it.

Related reading
All OCA Mark Trail posts (Pinboard)

[If you’re a regular reader, you know the context. If not, see here.]

Joe Wilder (1922–2014)

The trumpeter Joe Wilder has died at the age of ninety-two. The New York Times has an obituary.

My fambly was fortunate to hear Joe Wilder playing an all-Ellington program with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra many years ago. His solos were the brightest moments of the night. Kids, you got to hear a master at work.

The January 6, 1986 issue of The New Yorker has a Whitney Balliett piece on Joe Wilder (titled “Joe Wilder”). It’s mostly Wilder talking. Here he describes his idea of improvisation:

“The melodic material determines to a great degree what I do. If it is simple material, I try and make it more ornate. If it is ornate, I try and simplify it. You try not to trample on a nice melody. You alter it here and there.”

You can listen to Joe Wilder’s alterations via these YouTube samples.

“Cherokee” : “Have You Met Miss Jones?” : “In a Mist” : “Prelude to a Kiss” : “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue”

[Can a trumpet sound like Johnny Hodges playing “Prelude to a Kiss”? Yes, if that trumpet is being played by Joe Wilder.]

Elizabeth T. Walker speaks

Here’s a lengthy 2014 conversation between the pianist Frank Pavese and the actress Elizabeth T. Walker, aka Tippy Walker, who played Valerie Campbell Boyd in the 1964 film The World of Henry Orient (dir. George Roy Hill). This conversation seems to have come online with no fanfare and to little notice. My favorite Walker observation therein: “It’s very hard to be yourself, but it’s the best possible thing.”

This 2012 piece from The New Yorker website describes Walker’s difficult post-Orient life: A Star Is Born, Lost, and Found. I hope that there are good things coming Elizabeth T. Walker’s way.

I’ve been a fan of The World of Henry Orient since kidhood and finally read Nora Johnson’s 1958 novel a few years ago. Here’s an excerpt.