This biography of June Carter Cash, written by her son, doesn't pull any punches about his mother, She is described as a loWalking Beside The Linesman
This biography of June Carter Cash, written by her son, doesn't pull any punches about his mother, She is described as a loyal, generous, down to earth, hardworking, fun-loving, God-fearing woman of the Appalachian mountains who grew up in the first family of country music, the Carter family.
I had the pleasure of meeting her and the Carter Cash family once, in a surgery waiting room of all places in June, 1994. Johnny had come to play the main stage at Glastonbury and was staying at Jane Seymour's swanky holiday house locally. My daughter had a nasty dose of conjunctivitis and we arrived to the duty Doctor's surgery to find the Carter Cash family in residence in this single doctor practice one Saturday afternoon.
My daughter was 2 and wearing her pink party frock as we were heading back to my son's birthday party. Despite her florid red eyes, she was as high as a kite and proceeded to run riot in the waiting room, egged on by June! Johnny ignored her thankfully and had his nose in the paper whilst I was wanting the ground to dissolve beneath my feet! I was mortified and the little minx would not be controlled in any shape or form! Having said that, she was very happy and quite cute with it with pale blond curls and a very engaging giggle! So, my one brush with celebrity, in all its mundanity!
So, to the book which, of course, I was interested in. John writes reasonably well albeit with honesty and compassion. However, despite all the evangelical Christianity,(they were friends of the Grahams), I was surprised that all the family suffered from long-term drug +/- alcohol addiction to a varying degree. Johnny's issues were wellknown although he actually died from a neurological disease aggravated by rampant diabetes. June predeceased him following cardiac surgery. Unfortunately, John's half-sister died from a drug overdose just a month or so later.
Despite these flaws, both parents have left their indelible mark on the American country music scene and John has become a successful producer. Given June's ability to engage with people, it surprises me little that her funeral was attended by the best part of two thousand people. However, I really have sympathy for children who grow up in families with very successful artistic parents as clearly they too are thrust into the cultural environment of behavioural excess and wayward habits.
If there's one thing reading this play taught me was that the film, "My Fair Lady" reversed the meaning of the play both Creator of The Perfect Woman!
If there's one thing reading this play taught me was that the film, "My Fair Lady" reversed the meaning of the play both because of the title and the result of the narrative. Because the play is supposed to reflect the Cypriot sculptor of old, Pygmalion, who brought his ideal woman to life and then worshipped at her feet. So, instead of Pygmalion, we have Henry Higgins, a smarmy Professor of Linguistics, who's moulding a Covent Garden cockney speaking flower seller, Eliza Doolittle, into a mistress of RP English within 6 months for a bet with his colleague, Col. Pickering. It's a farce and a satire, exposing customs and shades of class, gender, education, beliefs, morals and language. It's very funny and whilst the songs of the musical are superb, the play's brilliant as well. The preface, for Shaw, is unusually short but there's an Epilogue as well which confirms why the ending of the play differs from the film.
I can't resist this snippet of Eliza's song which reveals just 1 facade of her relationship with her teacher and master craftsman:
'JUST YOU WAIT
Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait! You'll be sorry, but your tears'll be too late! You'll be broke, and I'll have money; Will I help you? Don't be funny! Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait!'
Then, there's Henry Higgins' querulous demands:
'WHY CAN'T THE ENGLISH?
An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him One common language I'm afraid we'll never get Oh, why can't the English learn to
Set a good example to people whose English is painful to your ears? The Scots and the Irish leave you close to tears There even are places where English completely disappears
In America, they haven't used it for years!
Why can't the English teach their children how to speak? Norwegians learn Norwegian The Greeks are taught their Greek In France every Frenchman knows his language from "A" to "Zed"
The French never care what they do, actually, as long as they pronounce it properly
Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning The Hebrews learn it backwards Which is absolutely frightening But use proper English and you're regarded as a freak
Why can't the English Why can't the English Learn to speak?'
Then, there's all the gossip:
The Oscar Best Actress award in 1965 which went to Julie Andrews, who had been Eliza on the original cast, but had been replaced by Audrey Hepburn instead. Audrey's voice was not used for the film songs although she was recorded for the soundtrack and this could be one of the reasons that Julie won as the incandescent "Mary Poppins". She thanked the director for replacing her in her acceptance speech!
And, then, naturally, there's those beautiful Givenchy fashions that still create a marvellous memory of a breathtaking film with the superb Audrey Hepburn!
It was one of the first films I recall seeing in a cinema and it remains a favourite to this day. GBS wrote the screenplay but the ending he had written did not occur. Hence the Epilogue. Whichever ending you prefer works I think but I have to profess a preference for the play!
And, of course, that scandalous saying, :
'NOT BLOODY LIKELY'.
It's a cracker, GBS best play! 5 scintillating ...more
As Mary Poppins would put it: 'Practically perfect in every possible way'.
I'm missing theatre and concert performances in this era of Covid19 badly anAs Mary Poppins would put it: 'Practically perfect in every possible way'.
I'm missing theatre and concert performances in this era of Covid19 badly and the recent local literary festival has been postponed for 3 months until this most recent lockdown has eased.
So, a book of plays entices although can't quite encapsulate the sheer joy of live performance but this musical play comes so very close, particularly with those fantastic jaunty jazzy songs by Kurt Weill. Add in Lotte Lenya Louis Armstrong and Nina Simone and I'm in heaven....
Then there's the lyrics, this translation by Ralph Manheim and John Willett of "The Ballad of Mack the Knife":
See the shark with teeth like razors. All can read his open face. And Macheath has got a knife, but Not in such an obvious place.
See the shark, how red his fins are As he slashes at his prey. Mac the Knife wears white kid gloves which Give the minimum away.
However, by the mid1950s, this is how it goes:
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth dear And he shows 'em, pearly white Just a jack knife has Macheath dear And he keeps it way out of sight
When that shark bites with his teeth, dear Scarlet billows begin to spread Fancy gloves though has Macheath dear So there's never, never a trace of red.
Even better, in my opinion. Just a great number to introduce the anti-hero! Then, there's "Pirate Jenny", a similar vein.
It's a rollicking bawdy piece of musical theatre, adapted from The Beggar's Opera, written by John Gay in the early 18th century with plenty of cutthroat villians and suffering victims, as a parody of Handel's operas. It was adapted by a communist playwright and his collective and Jewish composer. Set in Victorian Soho, and first performed in 1928, it has travelled the world and is still performed in its entirety to this day. Comic, tragic and wonderful satire but plenty to make you think!
What more can I say, just brilliant....pum, pum, pum, pum....pum, pum, pum. (Goes off humming "Mack the Knife".)...more
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