Saturday 9: Bye, Bye Blackbird

It's time for the Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Bye, Bye Blackbird (1957)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
1) In this song, Julie London complains about all the "hard luck stories" people are handing her. Did you more recently listen to someone else's problems, or share your own?

There are certain professions that, when your friends find out what you do for a living, you will be asked for your professional advice.  I am in one of those professions.  I don't mind helping occasionally -- I'll gladly go to traffic court to plea bargain your speeding ticket down to an equipment violation, but you have to take me out to lunch afterwards.

2) She promises to arrive "late tonight." What time do you think is too late to drop in on someone?

I'm reluctant to ring anyone's doorbell after 7 PM unless I know them very, very well.

3) Julie's nickname was "The Liberty Girl" because she was Liberty Records' first successful artist. The second was singer-songwriter David Seville, who had a couple novelty hits as "The Chipmunks." There were three singing chipmunks. Without looking it up, can you name them?

Alvin, Simon and Theodore, of course.  I can hear Dave yelling "Alvin" in my head....

Do you know he also recorded "The Witch Doctor"?  

I told the witch doctor
I was in love with you
I told the witch doctor
I was in love with you
And then the witch doctor
He told me what to do

He said that

Ooo eee, Ooo ah ah, ting tang
Walla walla, bing bang
Ooo eee, Ooo ah ah, ting tang
Walla walla bing bang...
Ooo eee, Ooo ah ah, ting tang
Walla walla, bing bang
Ooo eee, Ooo ah ah, ting tang
Walla walla bing bang

4) Julie's love of music was shared by her mother.When Julie was a little girl, mother and daughter would listen to Billie Holiday records together. What recordings did you enjoy when you were very young?

Well, let's see.  When I was very young....There was the 45 of "It's A Small World" that I got at the 1964 World's Fair.   There was the soundtrack of Mary Poppins, the very first movie I'd ever seen in a movie theater..  And then there was this:



Mary Martin read the story of Sleeping Beauty, and she sang the songs from the Disney movie.  I loved it.

The Monkees TV show debuted when I was six years old.  My parents bought the first four albums for my sister and me.  My first exposure to rock music.

My parents liked Broadway show tunes.  I like Broadway, too.  So do my daughters.

5) She began modeling when she 17. Julie was working as an elevator operator when a talent agent saw her and decided she would photograph well. With the advent of push-button elevators, elevator operator is a job that doesn't exist anymore. Can you think of another job that was once common but now is rare (or non-existent)?

Well, not exactly rare, but a lot less common than they used to be:  bank tellers.  

When my now-adult daughter was a college freshman, she called home in a panic.  Her bank had called to tell her that someone had tried to fraudulently use her debit card.  The bank  cancelled the card, and would mail her a new one.  She'd receive it in about a week. She was in a panic:  how would she get cash  without her debit card?  Poor child had no idea she could go into the bank and give a withdrawal slip to a bank teller...

6) Julie recorded more than 30 albums and was named "most popular female vocalist" by Billboard magazine in 1956. If you could see any entertainer -- male or female -- in concert, who would you choose?

I am lucky, I get to see a lot of concerts.  So I'll talk about the concert I wish I'd seen.  Simon and Garfunkel did a free concert in Central Park in 1981.  A bunch of my friends went to the concert.  I stayed home.  I was recovering from mono, and my doctor allowed me to return to school but had given me strict instructions -- I could go to school, I could go to the library and study, but I couldn't go to parties or concerts or whatever.  to this day I wish I hadn't been so conscientious about following his instructions.

7) She appeared in Westerns on both TV and in the movies. Have you ever dreamed of being a cowboy/cowgirl?

When I was a little girl I went to day camp.  The camp owned horses, and all of the children  would get to ride -- meaning, a groom would put you on the horse's back, and the groom would lead the horse around. It really fueled my cowgirl fantasies.

8) For six seasons, Julie played Dixie McCall R.N. on the show Emergency! The series was about Los Angeles paramedics and firefighters. Do you often hear sirens in your neighborhood?

Drew lives 3 blocks from the firehouse, so we hear sirens all the time.  At my house, not so much.

9) Random question: You're pulled over for speeding. Do you think you'd have an easier time talking your way out of it if the officer was a man ... or a woman?

Probably the man.  but more likely, I'm going to find myself in traffic court trying to plea bargain down to a non-moving violation....