Saturday 9

Saturday 9: I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You) – 1944
On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

1) "I'll Get By" was very popular song in the 1940s, and we're taking a look at the recording by Dick Haymes and Harry James because it got the most airplay. Can you think of another song that has been recorded by more than one artist?

Oh there are tons of them! But the problem that I have is that I don’t listen to contemporary music so that I don’t know what the current bands are playing. So I cheated and just list songs that did it in the past… Respect, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, “Lean on Me”, and Cyndi Lauper dug this one up and made it her hit… “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”

Okay, back in the 80s, family is all up at the lake cottage in New Hampshire. My niece and nephews were all agog about a new song when my sister-in-law started singing it. My niece and nephews couldn’t believe that their “Mother” knew the words to the hit song that juat came out! But it was a Beatles song!

2) In this week's song, vocalist Dick Haymes sings that he won't complain about the rain. Do you have any complaints about the weather this morning? 
Sh… I got my fingers crossed. I’m hoping for rain this afternoon!
Why, because I don’t want to drive up to Northampton MA for Pride. It is a long drive and I’m worried about parking. When it was at the fairgrounds you could park right next to the Pride, but now it is right down in the center of Northampton in a parking lot! I can’t do a lot of walking, so since it is right in the middle of the center of Northampton it is usually mobbed on a Saturday and to get all the way up there to have to walk a couple of blocks and if it is raining, well...

But on the other hand, I'll be able to see friends that I haven't seen in awhile.

Update: @11AM

I backed out. It is a Yucky day and to drive all the way up and back, I decided to wait for a Pride on a sunny warm day.

3) Dick was briefly married to movie queen Rita Hayworth. Known as The Love Goddess and The Strawberry Blonde, Rita was famous for her magnificent mane. She dyed her dark brown hair red to get attention and it worked. Have you ever experimented with a different color? If yes, were you happy with the results?

Ha! I wear a wig. One time at a party out on Fire Island on Long Island NY I just came back from swimming in the ocean and a woman came up wanted to know if she could use my bathing cap… I said, “Naw, I just change wigs!” (I learned that trick from the NH cottage. But with salt water I have to wash out the salt.)

4) Dick was the lead vocalist of the Harry James orchestra. Like Dick, Harry had a movie star wife. Betty Grable was famous for her legs. Her bathing suit poster inspired hosiery manufacturers to single out her perfectly proportioned thighs, calves and ankles. Betty herself joked, "I'm a star for two reasons, and I'm standing on them."  What do you think is your best (physical) trait?
My mind.

5) Betty's weren't the only legs that fascinated Harry. He was known for his stable of thoroughbred racehorses. Have you ever been to the races?
No, but car races yes! I went to the Watkins Glen Grand Prix but not horses. But I have a distant cousin who owns a stable of Polo horses… they are very, very, rich! I mean well into the nine figures. (My cousin was a ski instructor and tended to marry rich women. I father’s worst nightmare, their daughter marrying a ski instructor!) BTW… he raced Porsches at Limerock park in CT (Well if your wife is a multimillionaire your wife is bound to know someone who owns a Porsche dealership to lend you one to race!)

6) Teenaged Harry played trumpet with The Beaumont High School Royal Purple Band. Did you belong to groups or clubs while you were in high school?

Science Club... anyone surprised?

 
7) In addition to "I'll Get By," Judy Garland's "Trolley Song" topped the charts in 1944. When did you most recently take public transportation?
Last summer. Once in while I take the bus into Provincetown MA in the summer. For seniors the fare is $1, parking is $8/hr! You do the math, and the buses run every ½ hour.

 

8) Also in 1944, Diana Ross was born. First with the Supremes, then as a solo artist, she has sold more than 100 millions records, making her one of America's most successful female singers. Who is your all-time favorite "girl singer?"

 Hands down… Linda Ronstadt.

 

9) Random question – Last week we asked about the garage. Let's turn our attention to the glove compartment (aka glove box). What have you got in there?
I have to laugh! Back in the 60s and 70s you could fit an overnight back into them, but now all I can fit in the glove box is the owners manuals! All 850 pages! There are more “!Warning!” then instructions. The only other thing I have in there besides the manuals is a small LED flashlight.