Programming note: Join Mark at SteynOnline tomorrow, Sunday, for Part Eight of the new audio serialisation of his highly prescient demographic bestseller, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It.
~On this week's episode of Mark Steyn on the Town, we mark the spectacular last act of Al Jolson's long career, including a word from his godson and our first venture into the world of suspended animation. Plus our Sinatra Sextet.
To listen to the programme, simply click here and log-in.
~Thank you for your kind comments about last week's episode, which went down like Marmite at a Fourth of July picnic. Elisa Angel, a First Month Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, says:
The theme of today's show could be the game Six degrees of Mia Farrow.
But is that good or bad? Gary Alexander, a West Coast Steyn Clubber, reckons thumbs down:
Dory Previn is an acquired taste, which I haven't yet acquired. We get enough of 'lyrics about the self' from the likes of Taylor Swift. Dory tortures us with lines like 'She admired my unmade bed' but that doesn't cut it with cabaret audiences that want to hear songs that express their own feelings, if they only had the talents of a Gershwin, Berlin, or Cahn & Van Heusen. Songs die when sung to some tortured ego in the mirror.
On the other hand, for Alison, an English member of The Mark Steyn Club, it was Sinatra who stunk up the joint:
Frank Sinatra's voice did not really suit songs from around 1900 and his personality was wrong for them too. He was born for another era.
That's telling Frank. But Alison wasn't done yet:
During my first hearing of 'Time after Time', I wasn't fully concentrating - but heard the piano at the end and thought 'What a pianist. How can one get that beautiful touch? Possibly holding the hand at a certain angle?' Then I caught up with the teenage Andre Previn story (for which I am most grateful because I had no idea he was involved in films at all). He was right about 'Time after Time'. It is first class (though the lyrics are not as good as the tune).
That's telling Frank some more. On the other other hand, way over in Bideford, Devon, Jake enjoys our exhumations of Sinatra's radio shows:
Sinatra's early radio shows sound like managed chaos: songs, skits, cigarette ads and syndicated stars going out live on a weekly basis in front of an in-house audience. That must have taken some stuff to stay on top of. Sinatra may fluff the occasional flowery line but his delivery is fabulous. I loved hearing the bobbysoxers audibly swoon when he croons into 'Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland'. 'My Gal Sal' was a treat to hear again having grown up on Al Jolson's electric rendition on Live at Kraft Music Hall. Is 'My Gal Sal' - like 'Martha, My Dear' - really a love song about a dog?
The show featured Ann-Margret and Mia Farrow. One is a luscious, multi-talented goddess and the other.... well, I can't fathom the appeal. But that's obviously my problem.
Olga, an Arizona Steyn Clubber, has been thinking that over:
There's a case to be made for Woody Allen having been Dory Previn's revenge on Miss Farrow.
Which, naturally, leads one to wonder whether Dory Previn & Woody Allen ever met, & what a coolly creepy movie that would be ~ the plotting of Dory's revenge.
By contrast, Stefan Bucek revives a popular newspaper headline from the 1970s:
Whenever it comes time to name a new Secretary of State, I keep hoping that some adventurous newscaster will have the temerity to warble, 'I wonder who's Kissinger now?'
On the Town is my weekly music show on Serenade Radio every Saturday at 5pm British Summer Time - that's 6pm in western and central Europe or 12 noon North American Eastern. You can listen from almost anywhere in the world by clicking the button at top right here. We also post On the Town at SteynOnline every weekend as a bonus for Mark Steyn Club members. You can find all our previous shows here.
We do enjoy your comments on our weekend programming. Steyn Clubbers are welcome to leave them below. For more on The Mark Steyn Club, now in its ninth year, see here - and don't forget our special Gift Membership.
Mark Steyn on the Town can be heard on Serenade Radio at its regular times, but note the slightly different time during this misalignment of GMT and the clocks of the Americas:
Saturday 5pm London time/1pm New York
Sunday 5am London time/10pm Los Angeles
