To the Moon

It's still not too late for you to check out the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum's interactive website, Wechoosethemoon.org. It is an interactive experience recreating the historic Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in real time. I wish there were more website "experiences" like it.

You really do get a sense of what it was like for the guys on the ground at CAPCOM and for the astronauts aboard Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Very soon, they will be Tweeting from the Eagle, but not yet. They aren't yet aboard Her! I just heard CAPCOM do their wakeup call (in "real" time). Too cool!

Kennedy addressing a joint session of the Congress on May 25, 1961
And let's not forget the reason for all of this. Here is the entire speech John F. Kennedy gave at Rice University on September 12, 1962, in which he lays out what must have seemed like an unimaginable boast. Even hearing it today, it seems impossible! Go to around 15 minutes in:



But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, reentering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun--almost as hot as it is here today--and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out, then we must be bold.

It gives you chills.

I'm bringing them back.

What, you ask, am I "bringing back"? Hats. That's what I'm bringing back. I'm already one of very few males where I work who wears a tie (at all). From Monday thru Wednesday (at least!), I persist in my antiquated, ancient ways, so I might as well fall even further backwards.

This impulse isn't new. It no doubt started that summer of 1981 as my teen years mercilessly began, in a movie theater, during any one of numerous viewings of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Come to think of it, this post could just as well have turned out to be about whips.

But anyone who has visited this blog more than a couple of times knows exactly from where this is coming. An excerpt from The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin':

"No one in the family seems to know where they" [Sinatra's hats] "have gone. Said Eydie Gorme, in 1995: 'He recently told me he missed wearing those hats so much. He loved being able to take it off, give it to a hatcheck person, put it back on, tip it, push it down, push it up.'" (p. 115)

"It was only when his hair had grayed, in the seventies, that the hats disappeared. Privately, he took to golf caps and baseball caps. But if he wasn't wearing casual clothes, he wasn't wearing any hats at all. It was an acknowledgment, unconscious and barely noticed, that the world had changed, that jauntiness belonged to another time. No one else was wearing hats, either. And so he began missing them more than ever." (The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin', p. 117)

The display window of Raleigh Haberdasher in Washington, D.C., c. 1925. (Shorpy)
April 1939. Street scene in San Augustine, Texas. Shorpy

source
I've always assumed Elvis Presley was the beginning of the end for hats, followed next by John F. Kennedy. One popular theory with many who mourn the lost era of hats, is when Kennedy stopped wearing hats, so did the world. The final nail in the coffin of hat wearing as being fashionable had to have been the Beatles, specifically their first appearance on Ed Sullivan's show, February 1964. Whatever the case, Wal-Mart (of all places) is selling these hats (of a questionable quality) for $10 apiece. Seeing as they were displayed and had been possibly handled by other Wal-Mart customers, I was a little uncomfortable actually trying them on. But that's the point of this post - I bet nobody else had even touched them (other than the shelf stocker).

As you can see, I'm ready for summer or winter -- casual or formal.

Sinatra sings for Nixon

How does one get from here:Frankie and Eleanor Roosevelt - Los Angeles, 1947
to here???The White House, April 17, 1973
Welllll (deep breath)....
1960
Sinatra was essentially "born" a Democrat. His brash, foul-mouthed and aggressive mother, Dolly, who campaigned for Al Smith, was a Democratic Party ward boss in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Of course, the singer's affiliation with, and support for, John F. Kennedy before, during, and after the 1960 presidential campaign (against Richard Nixon) is the stuff of legend. According to my personal Sinatra "Bible," J. Randy Taraborrelli's, Sinatra: Behind the Legend, during 1960, "...Frank Sinatra continued his diligent campaign for Kennedy with performances and donations and also by hiring a private investigator to see what kind of dirt he could dig up on Richard Nixon, which, as it would turn out, was not much" (p. 230).

The caption for this Life magazine photo, taken in Beverly Hills, 1960: "Singer Frank Sinatra talking with Edward M. Kennedy (Center R) at 'Key Women for Kennedy In California' rally."
Ha, ha, ha - I wonder if Judith Exner was there?

At the Inaugural Ball in Washington, D.C., January 20, 1961
Sinatra would stump for Hubert Humphrey in 1968 (against Richard Nixon). But by Thanksgiving of 1971, it would appear a political shift had occurred, as he "played host for three days to Spiro Agnew and his family...Sinatra and Agnew had forged a close friendship; in fact, Sinatra was determined to see Agnew president in 1976..." (Taraborrelli, p. 390). The "official" cause for Sinatra's political about face was Richard Nixon's position on admitting China to the United Nations, an issue about which he agreed and had been vocal. So, although "he had been extremely critical of Nixon in the past, Sinatra would now become his strongest supporter, contributing $50,000 to his campaign for reelection in 1972...Many of Frank's friends were angry with him for supporting Nixon and the Republican Party" (Taraborrelli, p. 391).

Clearly, Sammy didn't mind!Sammy Davis, Jr. at a 1972 Nixon reelection event
So, I suppose the world has China to thank for the following marvelous, live Sinatra performance (the original point of the post, I swear to goodness...). He was invited to sing at the White House when the Italian prime minister, Giulio Andreotti, visited in April 1973. The video features the singer doing the Nelson Riddle arrangement from The Concert Sinatra (1963) of "I Have Dreamed." This was during Frank Sinatra's brief "retirement" period and proves he hadn't yet lost his pipes (see 2:17 onward). Nixon is supposed to have said afterwards: "Once in a while, there is a moment when there is magic in the room--when a great performer, singer, and entertainer is able to capture us all. Frank Sinatra did that tonight." But Nixon was known to lie from time to time, so don't take his word for it, see for yourself:

UPDATE 5/2011: Video is gone, I'm afraid. Couldn't find a replacement. :(
Will fix it as soon as I can.

Fantastic live Sinatra performance

April 21st, in Tokyo
After being "snubbed" by President Kennedy (Chicky Baby) early in 1962, Frank Sinatra decided he needed to improve his image, so he embarked upon what was called the "World Tour in Aid of Children's Charities." It was thirty dates in two months, starting on April 15 in Mexico City and ending June 17 in Monte Carlo. The June 5 performance in Paris was released in 1994 on the excellent Sinatra & Sextet: Live in Paris album.

Guitarist Al Viola stated in the liner notes of the album that, since the band was gathered on such short notice, they never rehearsed with Sinatra for the tour. Much of the band had already performed with him on previous albums with the same arrangements, so he never felt rehearsals were necessary. (Wikipedia)

One of the songs from the band's repertoire which was not included on the Sinatra & Sextet: Live in Paris disc is "The Moon Was Yellow." According to Sinatra! The Song Is You, this version is scaled down from an arrangement Sinatra and Nelson Riddle used in 1958, it being based upon Billy May's arrangement of "April in Paris" (from 1957's Come Fly with Me!). This is the performance of it the singer (& sextet) did at Royal Festival Hall on June 1st, 1962:


Around 2:14 - wow! A lesson learned from Tommy Dorsey

Dealey Plaza

I went to Dallas this past weekend. I initially had around twenty things I wanted to find and photograph, but ultimately I shaved it down to around twelve. Dallas will require a return visit! One of those must-sees for me was Dealey Plaza. The experience of being there was very surreal. The shapes and outlines of the WPA pergolas and peristyles from the late '30s, early '40s, that triple underpass, the mysterious sounding "grassy knoll," the Texas School Book Depository, etc., etc. Those things have been burned into our collective long-term memory from repeated exposure. It seemed as if I'd been there before. I was profoundly moved by the whole thing and found myself unable to control my emotions, twice.

By the time I made it to the cenotaph (open tomb), to make sure I was actually there (going back to the feeling of "surreality"), I needed to slide my hand along the right edge of this low-hewn, black, granite square pictured above as I exited the structure. Out of a feeling of reverence and grief, I was obliged to quietly whisper the man's name ("John....John") as I reentered the Memorial Plaza:

As I walked down Main Street, past the former courthouse, "Old Red," (because the parade route went right by it, I kept thinking: "Kennedy saw this!") it was my first glimpse of the Plaza. That's one of the Plaza's two peristyles constructed by the WPA around 1938. The bronze statue is of George Dealey. And yes, wouldn't you know it, things were under renovation of some kind, so those pylons were everywhere, and the reflecting pools were empty and unaccessible. It's not as if I drove a total of around seven hours (to and from Nacogdoches) or anything to see this stuff. Oh wait a minute, I did. This is like when I went to London in '85 and there was scaffolding up around Big Ben, but that's another story...

Taking a right, this is the other peristyle. This one, and it's obelisk, was constructed in 1940. Walk a few more steps to the right, and there it is, that building:

The window from which Oswald fired his rifle is on the sixth floor, and it is left permanently "opened." Those shadows were cast by the upper portion of the Romanesque Revival, former Dallas County Courthouse ("Old Red").

Walking down Elm Street, from the Texas School Book Depository, this is one of two pergolas constructed for the Plaza, once known as "The Front Door of Dallas." To the left of the pergola is the wall upon which Abraham Zapruder sat as he made his fateful home movie. Also in the picture is the "grassy knoll." Perhaps you can see where the grass has been worn away by countless footsteps.

More of the "grassy knoll" can be seen here (to the right of the steps), as well as the picket fence, behind which it has been theorized a second gunman fired shots on November 22, 1963.

Another iconic image in my mind, the triple underpass/train overpass. I took this one as a train was making use of it.

This is the other pergola. As I walked through this one, I suddenly had a very pungent idea as to where the guys following me around, trying to sell me a Dealey Plaza souvenir newspaper, used the restroom during the day.

I walked across this grassy area in the middle of this shot photograph a couple of times as I explored the Plaza. It is here I had my "private moments," and lost it a little bit. I'm trying to explain in this post the feelings being at Dealey Plaza stirred in me, and it isn't easy to do. I was flooded with memories of 8th or 9th grade, sitting in a classroom watching the Zapruder film for the first time, memories of my mom and dad and remembrances they shared of that day (and Kennedy in general), and dozens of other memories created over the years as I've been exposed to television programs and coverage of November 22, 1963. A lot of that welled up in me as I stood in this part of the Plaza.

From the Plaza, I walked over to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza. This is the cenotaph designed by Philip Johnson.


It seemed so much quieter within the cenotaph. Perhaps it was so designed. Either way, one is overcome with a sense of solemnity. As a Texan, I felt strangely guilty -- that here was honored the descendant of Irish immigrants, born in Massachusetts, educated in Cambridge, survivor of PT-109, "winner" of Jacqueline Bouvier, father of Caroline and John, ascendant to the pinnacle of American power in Washington, D.C., lover of Norma Jean Baker [whom he described as being like "electric velvet" (the dog!)], pally of Sinatra...and it all ended here, in the streets of Dallas, frickin', Texas. As Vonnegut would have said, "So it goes."

"Life in a Northern Town"

From the Wikipedia entry:

"Life in a Northern Town" is a song by The Dream Academy, a British folk rock group. The song was the opening track to their 1985 debut album, The Dream Academy. Reaching #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1986, it was their biggest hit.

The lyrics are references to Tanworth-in-Arden (England) native Nick Drake, who died of an antidepressant overdose in 1974. The Dream Academy intended the song as a tribute to Drake.

There were two different versions of the music video. The first one was made in 1984 and was filmed in Hebden Bridge near Halifax in Yorkshire, UK:

This video was later updated when the song became international top 5 hit in 1985. This original one has a cool little Beatles moment in it and seems more "northern town"-ish. How could they (The Dream Academy) ever top this? I think the answer is they couldn't (unfortunately).

"Life in a Northern Town"

A Salvation Army band played
And the children drank lemonade
And the morning lasted all day,
All day
And through an open window came
Like Sinatra in a younger day,
Pushing the town away
Ah -

(Chant)
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.

They sat on the stoney ground
And he took a cigarette out
And everyone else came down
To listen.
He said "In winter 1963
It felt like the world would freeze
With John F. Kennedy
And the Beatles."

(Chant)
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.
Ah hey ma ma ma
All the work shut down.

The evening had turned to rain
Watch the water roll down the drain,
As we followed him down
To the station
And though he never would wave goodbye,
You could see it written in his eyes
As the train rolled out of sight
Bye-bye.

(Chant)
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.
Here they are doing it on Saturday Night Live during my senior year in high school (1985):

Suddenly

With his career rebirth firmly secured by winning an Oscar for his performance as Maggio in From Here to Eternity (1953), Frank Sinatra must have felt people wanted to see him in darker, more dramatic films than ones like the string of big, MGM musicals he had made in the 1940s. If this was the case, he chose wisely when following up From Here to Eternity with Suddenly in 1954. In Suddenly, Sinatra, future JFK buddy, plays a presidential assassin. He would return to lighter fare a year later with Young at Heart, co-starring Doris Day.

One of the quirky things about Frank Sinatra's long career are the parallels and similarities between Suddenly and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Both films deal with political assassination, and both films were withdrawn from circulation by Sinatra, or his "people," after the Kennedy assassination Wikipedia entry:

According to Kitty Kelley's biography of Sinatra, it's rumored that Lee Harvey Oswald watched this film just a few days before assassinating President John F. Kennedy, a fact that Sinatra learned years after the tragedy, prompting him to withdraw the film from circulation. After that withdrawal, there was a failure to renew the copyright and, ironically, it fell into the public domain. As a result the film became widely available from a number of discount/public domain distributors. The film also became part of the colorization controversy in the mid-1980s when Suddenly was colorized for home video—turning Sinatra's blue eyes brown.


You can watch the entire movie at the Internet Archive. Suddenly is considered to be part of the public domain.

Fort Worth - downtown

Fort Worth, Texas, Tarrant County Seat, North Central Texas I-20, I30, I-35W, Hwys.377, 81, 287, 30 miles from Dallas, 259 miles from Crazy Town (Houston), 187 miles from Austin, 262 miles from San Antonio, 625 miles from El Paso, is the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas and the 19th-largest in the United States.
Tarrant County Courthouse (1895; restored - 1983), looking N down Main St.
"Fort Worth was founded as a military camp in 1849, named after General William Jenkins Worth. Today, the city is portrayed as more old-fashioned and laid-back than its neighbor, Dallas. Known as 'Cowtown' for its roots as a cattle drive terminus, Fort Worth bills itself as 'Where the West begins' and still celebrates its colorful Western and Southern heritage. Also known as 'Panther City' due to a legend of a panther sleeping in the streets in 1875." (from Wikipedia)

Sinclair Building (1930; restored - 1990) at night
Picchi Pacchi Italian Restaurant sign

A good example of the Zigzag Moderne styling and ziggurat elements on the Sinclair Building.
Approaching Sundance Square via Main Street
95.9 The Ranch

Red Goose Shoe Store (c.1903)


AMC Sundance 11
Chop House
Retro Cowboy
City Streets Fort Worth
Bass Performance Hall (1998)

AMC Palace 9

Ashton Hotel (1915)
Flat Iron Building (1907)
Hilton Fort Worth (1921; ballroom addition - 1961; annex - 1968; restored - 1981) - The hotel was originally known as the Hotel Texas and is not only architecturally significant, but also historically significant. President John F. Kennedy spent his last night in Room 805.

Picture in elevator lobby area
View of Convention Center and Flatiron Building from Hilton Fort Worth
Fort Worth Convention Center
Hogan Office Supply Co.
Peter Bros. Hats (since 1911) neon sign with Flatiron Building in background
Flatiron Building, early morning
Houston Street
Peter Bros. Hats
Hilton Fort Worth in early morning light
You must check out their website, at least for the history:
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

"President Kennedy acknowledges applause at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast 40 years ago today after receiving a Shady Oak Western hat as a gift from the city.
On this morning in 1963, Fort Worth gave President John F. Kennedy our hearts and our most treasured gift.

Forty years later, one tiny mystery remains.

What happened to JFK's Western hat?

No souvenir has ever symbolized Fort Worth and Texas like the Shady Oak Western hat, given to nine presidents since 1923 in a tradition begun by Star-Telegram Publisher Amon G. Carter Sr.

We gave Kennedy a Western hat at the morning breakfast at the Hotel Texas, now the Radisson Plaza Fort Worth.

He never wore it.

And it has never been seen again."

Yellow Pages ad in 1946 (from Peter Bros. scrapbook)

Hilton Fort Worth

W.T. Grant Store building (1939), the first floor now houses a bar called The Library, hence the sign
The Art Deco Kress Building, once home to one of the Kress Co. stores
The Sinclair Building (1930)
Chisholm Trail mural
The 95.9 The Ranch neon sign by day

Red Goose Shoe Store neon sign by day
Tarrant County Courthouse

Joe Daiches Jewelers (business opened in 1929)
Fire Station No. 1 (1907; restored - 1982)

City Streets Fort Worth facade during the day
Bass Performance Hall in daylight



Ashton Hotel and Kress Building

The Fort Worth Convention Center has landed.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (1920; additions 1940, 1948, & 1970)

Man with Briefcase
First Christian Church (1913)
the Library (in the W.T. Grant Store building)

Neon advertises a couple of the restaurants down in Sundance Square