Petula Clark is still going "Downtown" at 80. Her birthday was last week, so this is a birthday celebration for the girl who said, "You'll never grow old if you look to the rainbow." George Burns said at 95, "We can't help getting older, but we don't have to get old." Petula Clark hasn't gotten old. She has grown as an artist and performer, developing her talents as she has gotten older. And still does.
Petula Sally Olwen Clark was born Tuesday, November 15th, 1932 in Epsom, Surrey, England to her English father Leslie Norman Clark and her Welsh mother Doris Phillips Clark, making Petula half-Welsh. She's very proud of her heritage. As Petula explains on her 2003 Paris Olympia DVD, "The Welsh sing. Like the Italians, they sing all the time. When I was five or six years old, I just sang for pleasure." She also sang in the chapel choir.
In October 1942, she had an uncle in the war she wanted to sing to. A BBC radio show which offered kids with soldier relatives that chance turned out to be her broadcasting debut with "Mighty Lak' a Rose". Although other kids sang on that BBC Radio show that night, she was noticed, both for her previous performance to the jittery theater audience immediately after an air raid, as well as the radio performance itself. What followed were numerous BBC Radio performances where Petula sang to the troops, became the British Army mascot and youngest singing sweetheart, and Britain's Shirley Temple.
Then came twenty-five British films as strictly an actress, giving Petula two parallel careers which have occasionally intersected ever since, especially in movies "Finian's Rainbow" and "Goodbye Mr, Chips", and her later theater work in "Sunset Boulevard" and "Blood Brothers". Among her early British films were a series of Huggett Family films based on a popular British radio series. In the late 1940s, she also hosted two BBC-TV series, "Petula Clark", then "Pet's Parlour". The 1950s began her recording career with major UK hits like "With All My Heart", "Majorica", the Gogi Grant tune she covered "Suddenly There's A Valley", and Clark's first international hit "The Littlest Shoemaker" (which topped the charts in Australia in 1954).
The late 1950s began her singing career in France, thanks to her success at the Olympia in Paris, then her new collaborator at Vogue Records, Claude Wolff, who also became her publicist and future husband. While performing and recording as a French chanteuse, Petula also maintained her popularity in England with hits like "Sailor", "Chariot", and "Ya Ya Twist" into the 1960s.
In 1964 Tony Hatch, a young songwriter who had worked with her on Pye Records in the UK as well as Vogue Records in France, played her an incomplete song with no words except the title on his piano. She liked the melody immediately, and told him to finish the lyrics-if they were as good she wanted to record it. The result became her biggest hit, and "Downtown" was the start of a string of Tony Hatch written international hit songs and her American career, which continues today. She starred with Fred Astaire in "Finian's Rainbow"(1968), her first film role in nearly two decades. Always discovering new talent, she was instrumental in the launch of Herb Albert's A&M record label. Clark also introduced French composer Michel Colomber and the then unknown Richard and Karen Carpenter to Herb Albert. 1968 was also the year she took a moral stand in her TV special with Harry Belafonte, garnering high ratings and acclaim for it. She returned to England and starred opposite Peter O'Toole in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" in 1969.
Petula Clark kept recording, charting, and touring in the 1970s, but scaled back her career to raise her young family. Her last movie was the 1980 British film, "Never Never Land". Her last TV acting role was as Mme. Millian in the 1981 French TV mini-series "Sans Famille".
In the 1980s, her children, now older, urged her to return to legitimate theater, which she had last done in 1954's "The Constant Nymph". Petula won rave reviews as Maria von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" in London's West End in 1981, then followed up with her 1983 title role in George Bernard Shaw's "Candida". She composed the score of "Someone Like You", in which she also acted, in 1989. In 1993 Petula made her Broadway debut in "Blood Brothers". She starred as Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard" from 1995 to 2000, with over 2500 performances, the most for any actress in that role.
Queen Elizabeth II made Petula Clark a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, just one step below Damehood, in 1998.
But she hasn't rested on her laurels. She's kept touring all over the world. In 2001, a Virginia Beach, Virginia concert was taped for her "Sign of the Times" PBS-TV special. Her 2003 concert at the Olympia in Paris was a huge success and released as a CD and DVD in 2004. During 2005 and 2006, Clark performed engagements with Andy Williams in his Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri. 2006 also saw her singing debut in Iceland. Petula did "Coming Home" a 2007 BBC Wales TV show about her Welsh family history. She performed in Quincy Jones' 75th birthday celebration at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on Monday, July 14th, 2008 with Paulo Nutini on "Goin' To Chicago Blues". Later that year, Petula Clark made her singing debut in the Philippines.
Petula Clark sang two concerts in Dayton, Ohio in March 2009. I attended the second one and met her after the show. In 2010 she continued touring, appeared on French TV on "Vivement Dimanche", and released a triple album titled "Une Baladeine" with ten new tracks, plus "SOS Mozart" written by Gilbert Becaud and Pierre Delanoe. The Saw Doctors put out their own version of "Downtown", with Clark appearing in the video, in 2011. She was also on Italian TV and sang at a Parisian music hall, Casino de Paris, that year. She worked in New York City in early 2012. She recorded, released, and promoted a French album in Paris with her old friend Charles Aznavour, who still looks and sings well at 88. She toured Australia, then returned to London to do an English language album to be released in February 2013.
And as I post this, Petula Clark is scheduled to sing a concert next Friday at the Kursall Ostende in Ostend, Belgium.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Don't Forget The Third Parties When You Vote!
When you vote, if you find that you can't stomach either of the top two candidates for the U.S. presidency, Republican nor Democratic, take a moment to consider the top third party candidates. But who are they?
Dr. Jill Stein is running on the Green Party ticket. Endorsed by Noam Chomsky and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges, Stein promises a Green New Deal for Americans and an Economic Bill of Rights, transitioning into a sustainable 21st century green economy while reforming the financial sectors. She also plans to strengthen our democracy by replacing the Electoral College with direct popular vote, extending the vote to ex-felons, and making Election Day a national holiday, enabling all to vote.
Gary Johnson, running for the Libertarian Party, promises to balance the Federal Budget by cutting Federal spending enough to eliminate deficit spending, replace taxes on income, capital gains, and businesses with a national consumption tax, which would create millions of new jobs. Johnson also wants to scale back federal involvement in the nation's schools, in Medicare, in health care by providing block grants to the states, and in regulations in managing the environment, leaving all these functions to the states and the marketplace. He also supports finance reform.
Virgil Goode, presidential candidate for the Constitution Party, promises a balanced budget in the next fiscal year. Goode also calls for totally ending illegal immigration, reducing legal immigration, and a moratorium for green card admissions until the economy recovers. His campaign has refused any PAC donations and limited individual donations to two hundred dollars per person.
Richard Duncan, the Independent Party presidential candidate, has a national building plan for America-The Duncan Plan-also known as the Federal Jobs and Economic Boost Act, proposes rehabilitation projects for American cities, and plans to assure equal educational opportunities for all children. Duncan also favors a national health care program for the middle class.
Rocky Anderson is running on the Justice Party platform. This new party believes the two party system has failed us and offers an end to corporate funding of political parties, the building of a green technology economy and infrastructure, environmental justice, and affordable universal health care through Medicare, stricter financial reform, support of women's rights, and support of whistle blowers.
There are other parties. But I'll stop here. These all have websites. So study them carefully before you vote.
Dr. Jill Stein is running on the Green Party ticket. Endorsed by Noam Chomsky and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges, Stein promises a Green New Deal for Americans and an Economic Bill of Rights, transitioning into a sustainable 21st century green economy while reforming the financial sectors. She also plans to strengthen our democracy by replacing the Electoral College with direct popular vote, extending the vote to ex-felons, and making Election Day a national holiday, enabling all to vote.
Gary Johnson, running for the Libertarian Party, promises to balance the Federal Budget by cutting Federal spending enough to eliminate deficit spending, replace taxes on income, capital gains, and businesses with a national consumption tax, which would create millions of new jobs. Johnson also wants to scale back federal involvement in the nation's schools, in Medicare, in health care by providing block grants to the states, and in regulations in managing the environment, leaving all these functions to the states and the marketplace. He also supports finance reform.
Virgil Goode, presidential candidate for the Constitution Party, promises a balanced budget in the next fiscal year. Goode also calls for totally ending illegal immigration, reducing legal immigration, and a moratorium for green card admissions until the economy recovers. His campaign has refused any PAC donations and limited individual donations to two hundred dollars per person.
Richard Duncan, the Independent Party presidential candidate, has a national building plan for America-The Duncan Plan-also known as the Federal Jobs and Economic Boost Act, proposes rehabilitation projects for American cities, and plans to assure equal educational opportunities for all children. Duncan also favors a national health care program for the middle class.
Rocky Anderson is running on the Justice Party platform. This new party believes the two party system has failed us and offers an end to corporate funding of political parties, the building of a green technology economy and infrastructure, environmental justice, and affordable universal health care through Medicare, stricter financial reform, support of women's rights, and support of whistle blowers.
There are other parties. But I'll stop here. These all have websites. So study them carefully before you vote.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
"The Great Courses"
In today's world, it is a lot harder to get a job, isn't it? And there is a growing skills and education gap here in America that, by the time its economy fully recovers, will leave a lot of people behind because they won't have the education and skills to be employable in tomorrow's economy. It's a bleak picture, and I'm concerned about it too, as a commentator in a global economy. But I've found a way to overcome this.
I'm going back to school-and so can you! In today's economy hardly anyone can afford college tuition, which keeps going up. But neither can anybody afford not to have a college education. Yet there is a way to have a university-level education without tuition. And you can even get credit for it. That way is from the public library, in a free university-level liberal arts education called "The Great Courses" by The Teaching Company. It's available in DVD and CD. It's a series of university courses taught by top professors in their fields who have been chosen as the most engaging professors in their fields. Like Music Professor Robert Greenberg, who is very informative, enthusiastic, and funny-all at the same time! These professors won't put you to sleep! They are top public speakers, just like I'm training to be at Toastmasters International!
Those of us who are older and haven't been to university classes in over twenty years, as well as younger people today who can't afford a university education, can benefit from "The Great Courses" by The Teaching Company. For example, there is current information, based on recently research that wasn't available over twenty years ago, in these courses.
In addition to the DVDs and CDs, there are booklets-reading course guides-that outline and synopsize each lecture, and gives essential and optional reading sources, which, when fully used and learned, will get you up to date on that field. "From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese History" has six DVDs and three course guidebooks, each covering two DVDs with a professor bio of Kenneth J. Hammond PhD and Associate Professor of History at New Mexico State University, a table of contents, scope of the course, scope and outline of each lecture, essential and supplemental reading sources, questions to consider, a map of modern China, a timeline, glossary, biographical notes, and a bibliography.
This is a perfect example of an education that wasn't available a generation ago to most Americans. Then, World History meant European History or Western Civilization. Today, World History IS World History, and I'm taking advantage of that by taking "Great Courses" like "Great Minds of Eastern Intellectual Thought" alongside "Great Minds of Western Intellectual Thought", a prehistory or archeology course that covers Neanderthal and other humankind before Modern Man. There are development of human language and theology courses. Philosophy, music, art, sciences (including meteorology, which I've watched), mathematics, literature, and economics.
And we need to know them all today. Harvard University's School of Business tells its students that it isn't enough to know the business world. To survive in today's global economy, you have to have a liberal arts education so that you'll have a working knowledge of every field. "The Great Courses" by The Teaching Company will give you that. And you can list these courses on your LinkedIn profile under "Training and Education" to claim credit on your LinkedIn resume. All for free from your public library, or for a nominal fee, through inter-library loan. That's why these courses are worth our time and effort!
I'm going back to school-and so can you! In today's economy hardly anyone can afford college tuition, which keeps going up. But neither can anybody afford not to have a college education. Yet there is a way to have a university-level education without tuition. And you can even get credit for it. That way is from the public library, in a free university-level liberal arts education called "The Great Courses" by The Teaching Company. It's available in DVD and CD. It's a series of university courses taught by top professors in their fields who have been chosen as the most engaging professors in their fields. Like Music Professor Robert Greenberg, who is very informative, enthusiastic, and funny-all at the same time! These professors won't put you to sleep! They are top public speakers, just like I'm training to be at Toastmasters International!
Those of us who are older and haven't been to university classes in over twenty years, as well as younger people today who can't afford a university education, can benefit from "The Great Courses" by The Teaching Company. For example, there is current information, based on recently research that wasn't available over twenty years ago, in these courses.
In addition to the DVDs and CDs, there are booklets-reading course guides-that outline and synopsize each lecture, and gives essential and optional reading sources, which, when fully used and learned, will get you up to date on that field. "From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese History" has six DVDs and three course guidebooks, each covering two DVDs with a professor bio of Kenneth J. Hammond PhD and Associate Professor of History at New Mexico State University, a table of contents, scope of the course, scope and outline of each lecture, essential and supplemental reading sources, questions to consider, a map of modern China, a timeline, glossary, biographical notes, and a bibliography.
This is a perfect example of an education that wasn't available a generation ago to most Americans. Then, World History meant European History or Western Civilization. Today, World History IS World History, and I'm taking advantage of that by taking "Great Courses" like "Great Minds of Eastern Intellectual Thought" alongside "Great Minds of Western Intellectual Thought", a prehistory or archeology course that covers Neanderthal and other humankind before Modern Man. There are development of human language and theology courses. Philosophy, music, art, sciences (including meteorology, which I've watched), mathematics, literature, and economics.
And we need to know them all today. Harvard University's School of Business tells its students that it isn't enough to know the business world. To survive in today's global economy, you have to have a liberal arts education so that you'll have a working knowledge of every field. "The Great Courses" by The Teaching Company will give you that. And you can list these courses on your LinkedIn profile under "Training and Education" to claim credit on your LinkedIn resume. All for free from your public library, or for a nominal fee, through inter-library loan. That's why these courses are worth our time and effort!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Teodora Ungureanu-Cepoi
The Olympics are coming up soon, and I recently viewed the 1984 TV movie "Nadia" on DVD, a Nadia Comaneci bio which also explores her friendship with Romanian gymnastics teammate-best friend-best rival Teodora Ungureanu. The scene where they meet and become best friends is wonderfully scripted and choreographed, which evolves into a story within the main story of Nadia's Olympics gymnastics career. Both have since moved to the United States, and both today coach young gymnasts, with one school in Oklahoma and the other in New York. Since Nadia is better known, I'd like to cover Teodora's story today.
Let's set the scene. It's in Resita, Romania on a quiet Sunday in 1960. It's November 13th, and a baby girl is born in the Ungureanu family. She is named Teodora and later nicknamed Dorina. A healthy athletic girl, she joins the local Resita Sport School to begin gymnastics in 1969, and is coached by Andrei Karekes.
In 1971, her family moves to Onesti, where Teodora joins Gymnastics School Onesti, with her new coaches, Marta and Bela Karolyi. There, according to the "Nadia" TV movie, Teodora, who had been trained in advanced gymnastics, bonds with a less advanced, two years younger Nadia, who is entranced by Ungureanu's floor routine and yearns to be as good as Teodora and to become a champion. So they become best friends and best rivals, supporting each other as part of the Romanian women's gymnastics team that goes all the way to the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
There Teodora wins the Olympic team silver medal alongside Nadia's gold. Teodora also wins the silver medal on the uneven bars beside Nadia's historic perfect ten, and caps it off with a bronze medal on the balance beam. After the Olympics, Nadia and Teodora, as the two best gymnasts of their team, appear on television shows together. But although Nadia is the media darling, Teodora holds her own on these shows. And in gymnastics competition. In YouTube clips, although Nadia deserves all the credit she gets for her unforgettable performances, Teodora delivers incredible performances.
It's 1978. The Romanian government, against their coaches' wishes and without their foreknowledge, transfers Bela's and Marta's entire 1976 Olympic team from the Karolyi's gym in Onesti to the government's own gymnasium, Dinamo Club Bucharest, replacing Bela and Marta Karolyi with government coaches Lita and Florea Stefanesco. There, in the Romanian capital, while Nadia is struggling with fame and training without her beloved coach Bela, Teodora, spared the unwanted attention and stress her best friend is going through, quietly trains, stays in shape, and begins attending the Bucharest Institute in Physical Education and Sport, where she majors in gymnastics. Teodora graduates in 1979, and retires from active competition the same year. Her last competition is the 1979 World University Games, once again with Nadia Comaneci on her team. Teodora wins the gold medal in the all around, then retires to join the Romanian Circus with beau Sorin Cepoi, a former gymnast himself, whom she marries in 1980.
By 1984 Teodora and Sorin are traveling all over Romania, and as far away as Finland as part of Romania's traveling circus, the Troupe Comea. They return to Dinamo Club Bucharest to coach gymnastics, then later move to Grenoble, France to coach gymnastics at La Grenobloises. They do well as the head coaches there. Their gymnasium wins second place in the team division at the French Nationals several times, and one of their students, Chloe Maigre, represents France at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.
On the strength of these accomplishments, Teodora and Sorin Cepoi are in demand in America, and offered coaching positions there. In 1993, they make their move to the States, settling in Ardsley, New York to coach at Gymcats. By 2001, Teodora and Sorin become directors at Dynamics Gymnastics Club in Bedford, New York with star students like Brooke Hamilton, who is competing in the Junior Olympics Nationals during that time. In June of that year,2001, Teodora Ungureanu-Cepoi is inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Commenting on that honor, Teodora tells International Gymnastics Magazine:"I never dreamed that America would become my home, or that I would be also be deeply honored by fellow competitors in the sport that I love."
Currently, Teodora and Sorin are coaching at Dynamic Gymnastics in Mohegan Lake, New York, have a website there, and are training Olympic hopeful Sabrina Vega, who also has a website. The Summer Games are soon. So Teodora may yet be interviewed at the Olympics this year, albeit in a different role than she was in 1976.
Let's set the scene. It's in Resita, Romania on a quiet Sunday in 1960. It's November 13th, and a baby girl is born in the Ungureanu family. She is named Teodora and later nicknamed Dorina. A healthy athletic girl, she joins the local Resita Sport School to begin gymnastics in 1969, and is coached by Andrei Karekes.
In 1971, her family moves to Onesti, where Teodora joins Gymnastics School Onesti, with her new coaches, Marta and Bela Karolyi. There, according to the "Nadia" TV movie, Teodora, who had been trained in advanced gymnastics, bonds with a less advanced, two years younger Nadia, who is entranced by Ungureanu's floor routine and yearns to be as good as Teodora and to become a champion. So they become best friends and best rivals, supporting each other as part of the Romanian women's gymnastics team that goes all the way to the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
There Teodora wins the Olympic team silver medal alongside Nadia's gold. Teodora also wins the silver medal on the uneven bars beside Nadia's historic perfect ten, and caps it off with a bronze medal on the balance beam. After the Olympics, Nadia and Teodora, as the two best gymnasts of their team, appear on television shows together. But although Nadia is the media darling, Teodora holds her own on these shows. And in gymnastics competition. In YouTube clips, although Nadia deserves all the credit she gets for her unforgettable performances, Teodora delivers incredible performances.
It's 1978. The Romanian government, against their coaches' wishes and without their foreknowledge, transfers Bela's and Marta's entire 1976 Olympic team from the Karolyi's gym in Onesti to the government's own gymnasium, Dinamo Club Bucharest, replacing Bela and Marta Karolyi with government coaches Lita and Florea Stefanesco. There, in the Romanian capital, while Nadia is struggling with fame and training without her beloved coach Bela, Teodora, spared the unwanted attention and stress her best friend is going through, quietly trains, stays in shape, and begins attending the Bucharest Institute in Physical Education and Sport, where she majors in gymnastics. Teodora graduates in 1979, and retires from active competition the same year. Her last competition is the 1979 World University Games, once again with Nadia Comaneci on her team. Teodora wins the gold medal in the all around, then retires to join the Romanian Circus with beau Sorin Cepoi, a former gymnast himself, whom she marries in 1980.
By 1984 Teodora and Sorin are traveling all over Romania, and as far away as Finland as part of Romania's traveling circus, the Troupe Comea. They return to Dinamo Club Bucharest to coach gymnastics, then later move to Grenoble, France to coach gymnastics at La Grenobloises. They do well as the head coaches there. Their gymnasium wins second place in the team division at the French Nationals several times, and one of their students, Chloe Maigre, represents France at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.
On the strength of these accomplishments, Teodora and Sorin Cepoi are in demand in America, and offered coaching positions there. In 1993, they make their move to the States, settling in Ardsley, New York to coach at Gymcats. By 2001, Teodora and Sorin become directors at Dynamics Gymnastics Club in Bedford, New York with star students like Brooke Hamilton, who is competing in the Junior Olympics Nationals during that time. In June of that year,2001, Teodora Ungureanu-Cepoi is inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Commenting on that honor, Teodora tells International Gymnastics Magazine:"I never dreamed that America would become my home, or that I would be also be deeply honored by fellow competitors in the sport that I love."
Currently, Teodora and Sorin are coaching at Dynamic Gymnastics in Mohegan Lake, New York, have a website there, and are training Olympic hopeful Sabrina Vega, who also has a website. The Summer Games are soon. So Teodora may yet be interviewed at the Olympics this year, albeit in a different role than she was in 1976.
Monday, February 13, 2012
The Greatest Behind "The Greatest"
Great boxing champions have great trainers behind them, forming a partnership. Joe Louis had Chappie Blackburn, Jack Dempsey had Doc Kearns, and Muhammad Ali-"The Greatest Of All Time"-had Angelo Dundee, arguably the greatest trainer in boxing history.
Also the most famous and beloved boxing trainer, Dundee coached, trained, and managed over fifteen world boxing champions in his long storied career, starting with 1950s welterweight and middleweight great Carmen Basilio from upstate New York. He also handled light heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano, heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis, welter champ Luis Rodriguez, welterweight-middleweight great Sugar Ray Leonard, and of course, Ali. Angie, as he was affectionately called, also worked George Foreman's corner the night he knocked out Michael Moorer in the tenth round of a heavyweight championship fight and became the oldest boxer in history to win a world title-at the age of 45.
Anglo Dundee was born on Tuesday, August 30th, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-or South Philly, as he told people years later-as Angelo Mirena, the son of a railroad worker in an Italian family. His brother Joe became a pro boxer, fighting under the name Johnny Dundee in tribute to a former featherweight champion. Another brother, Chris, also adopted the surname Dundee when he became a boxing promoter. So Angelo Mirena became Angelo Dundee when he became a boxing trainer, which came early.
Angelo started learning his craft after he joined the military, like other Americans his age, in World War II. He was in the Army Air Forces, stationed in England, and working as a corner man at military boxing tournaments there. After his stint in the Army, Dundee went to the legendary Stillman's Gym near the old Madison Square Garden in New York City. He served his apprenticeship there, learning from veteran trainers like Chickie Ferrara, Ray Arcel, and Charley Goldman about being a cut man, spotting weaknesses in opponents as a boxing strategist, matching opponents to suit his fighter and to help develop and build his fighter's style and career, and how to use boxing psychology to motivate his charges. Soon afterward, Angie Dundee had his first world champion in Carmen Basilio, but many more would follow.
In the late 1950s, Dundee was in Louisville, Kentucky training world light heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano when a young boxing hopeful, a teenager named Cassius Clay approached him in the gym and asked him all kinds of questions about boxing and training, and Angelo gave him some tips he could use in his training. Several years later, they met again. This time, as the 1960 Olympic Light Heavyweight Champion, Clay was turning pro and looking for a trainer. After Cassius Clay's professional debut, Dundee became his trainer, working with him at the Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach, Florida. They would form a fabled boxing partnership that lasted for twenty years, through a name change (Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali), three world boxing championships, Ali's exile, and a few close calls in the ring.
Dundee saw Clay's talent early, and avoided tampering with that. Instead, he honed it, using psychology to couch his boxing wisdom and advice in a way that convinced the future champion that Cassius had thought it up, not the trainer, and that's how Clay internalized Dundee's boxing knowledge, training, and strategy. Dundee also proved valuable in the ring during fights, and in building the gate for fights. When they went to England in June 1963 to fight Britain's Henry Cooper, they had already thought up a public relations strategy to build the gate for the young fighter. This had started when Cassius had gone to a Gorgeous George wrestling match, and witnessed it's buildup. From then on, Cassius and Angelo would always have a public relations strategy. Inside the squared circle, Dundee proved his mettle there, too. In the Cooper fight, Clay was knocked down at the end of the fourth round, and Angie quickly bought time for his fighter to recover by showing the referee Clay's damaged glove, asking for a new pair. The ref looked for a pair, couldn't find any, and those extra seconds allowed Clay to recover and come out in the fifth round to stop Cooper on cuts, winning the fight in the round he had predicted. And the boxing predictions were part of their strategy to build the gate on all their fights, along with poetry, much of it thought up by Dundee and and assistant trainer Drew Bundini Brown, which Cassius Clay would use to aggravate his opponents into fighting emotionally, making mistakes which Clay could take advantage of, too. When Clay fought Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Championship in Miami Beach on Tuesday night, February 25th, 1964, Liston came out lunging, raging mad over Clay's pre-fight antics, and could not catch the fleet footed Clay. Then between the 3rd and 4th rounds, Liston's corner put an illegal caustic resin on his gloves, which got into Clay's eyes the next round. At the end of the fourth, Clay's eyes were burning, and he wanted to quit. Angie washed his eyes out, send him out with words of encouragement and a single boxing instruction-"Run!". Clay did just that, survived the round, then beat up Liston in the sixth round. Liston quit on his stool at the start of the seventh round, and Cassius Clay became the new world heavyweight champion. The next morning, he announced he was changing his name, and a week later became Muhammad Ali. Dundee would be pivotal in later Ali fights too. He didn't stop the first Ali-Norton fight when Ali suffered a broken jaw, and he motivated Ali to continue through exhaustion after the tenth round of the third Ali-Frazier fight, also called "The Thrilla in Manila". Ali got his second wind, knocked Frazier's mouthpiece in the 13th, and closed Frazier's eyes in the 14th, forcing trainer Eddie Futch to refuse to let Joe Frazier to come out for the 15th and final round, giving Ali the victory.
Dundee would later stop Ali's fight with Larry Holmes when Ali had no energy left after the tenth round.
Throughout Ali's career, and the careers of other fighters Angelo Dundee handled, he always knew how to advise his fighters in the corner, was usually right in his boxing intuition, and became one of the greatest trainers in boxing history.
Also the most famous and beloved boxing trainer, Dundee coached, trained, and managed over fifteen world boxing champions in his long storied career, starting with 1950s welterweight and middleweight great Carmen Basilio from upstate New York. He also handled light heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano, heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis, welter champ Luis Rodriguez, welterweight-middleweight great Sugar Ray Leonard, and of course, Ali. Angie, as he was affectionately called, also worked George Foreman's corner the night he knocked out Michael Moorer in the tenth round of a heavyweight championship fight and became the oldest boxer in history to win a world title-at the age of 45.
Anglo Dundee was born on Tuesday, August 30th, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-or South Philly, as he told people years later-as Angelo Mirena, the son of a railroad worker in an Italian family. His brother Joe became a pro boxer, fighting under the name Johnny Dundee in tribute to a former featherweight champion. Another brother, Chris, also adopted the surname Dundee when he became a boxing promoter. So Angelo Mirena became Angelo Dundee when he became a boxing trainer, which came early.
Angelo started learning his craft after he joined the military, like other Americans his age, in World War II. He was in the Army Air Forces, stationed in England, and working as a corner man at military boxing tournaments there. After his stint in the Army, Dundee went to the legendary Stillman's Gym near the old Madison Square Garden in New York City. He served his apprenticeship there, learning from veteran trainers like Chickie Ferrara, Ray Arcel, and Charley Goldman about being a cut man, spotting weaknesses in opponents as a boxing strategist, matching opponents to suit his fighter and to help develop and build his fighter's style and career, and how to use boxing psychology to motivate his charges. Soon afterward, Angie Dundee had his first world champion in Carmen Basilio, but many more would follow.
In the late 1950s, Dundee was in Louisville, Kentucky training world light heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano when a young boxing hopeful, a teenager named Cassius Clay approached him in the gym and asked him all kinds of questions about boxing and training, and Angelo gave him some tips he could use in his training. Several years later, they met again. This time, as the 1960 Olympic Light Heavyweight Champion, Clay was turning pro and looking for a trainer. After Cassius Clay's professional debut, Dundee became his trainer, working with him at the Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach, Florida. They would form a fabled boxing partnership that lasted for twenty years, through a name change (Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali), three world boxing championships, Ali's exile, and a few close calls in the ring.
Dundee saw Clay's talent early, and avoided tampering with that. Instead, he honed it, using psychology to couch his boxing wisdom and advice in a way that convinced the future champion that Cassius had thought it up, not the trainer, and that's how Clay internalized Dundee's boxing knowledge, training, and strategy. Dundee also proved valuable in the ring during fights, and in building the gate for fights. When they went to England in June 1963 to fight Britain's Henry Cooper, they had already thought up a public relations strategy to build the gate for the young fighter. This had started when Cassius had gone to a Gorgeous George wrestling match, and witnessed it's buildup. From then on, Cassius and Angelo would always have a public relations strategy. Inside the squared circle, Dundee proved his mettle there, too. In the Cooper fight, Clay was knocked down at the end of the fourth round, and Angie quickly bought time for his fighter to recover by showing the referee Clay's damaged glove, asking for a new pair. The ref looked for a pair, couldn't find any, and those extra seconds allowed Clay to recover and come out in the fifth round to stop Cooper on cuts, winning the fight in the round he had predicted. And the boxing predictions were part of their strategy to build the gate on all their fights, along with poetry, much of it thought up by Dundee and and assistant trainer Drew Bundini Brown, which Cassius Clay would use to aggravate his opponents into fighting emotionally, making mistakes which Clay could take advantage of, too. When Clay fought Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Championship in Miami Beach on Tuesday night, February 25th, 1964, Liston came out lunging, raging mad over Clay's pre-fight antics, and could not catch the fleet footed Clay. Then between the 3rd and 4th rounds, Liston's corner put an illegal caustic resin on his gloves, which got into Clay's eyes the next round. At the end of the fourth, Clay's eyes were burning, and he wanted to quit. Angie washed his eyes out, send him out with words of encouragement and a single boxing instruction-"Run!". Clay did just that, survived the round, then beat up Liston in the sixth round. Liston quit on his stool at the start of the seventh round, and Cassius Clay became the new world heavyweight champion. The next morning, he announced he was changing his name, and a week later became Muhammad Ali. Dundee would be pivotal in later Ali fights too. He didn't stop the first Ali-Norton fight when Ali suffered a broken jaw, and he motivated Ali to continue through exhaustion after the tenth round of the third Ali-Frazier fight, also called "The Thrilla in Manila". Ali got his second wind, knocked Frazier's mouthpiece in the 13th, and closed Frazier's eyes in the 14th, forcing trainer Eddie Futch to refuse to let Joe Frazier to come out for the 15th and final round, giving Ali the victory.
Dundee would later stop Ali's fight with Larry Holmes when Ali had no energy left after the tenth round.
Throughout Ali's career, and the careers of other fighters Angelo Dundee handled, he always knew how to advise his fighters in the corner, was usually right in his boxing intuition, and became one of the greatest trainers in boxing history.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Daytona Beach Flea Market
I spent the 2007-2008 winter in Florida. That's where I found out about BlogTalkRadio and wrote a few travel pieces that I used on my second and third "Gene On The Scene" BlogTalkRadio shows. Today I'll talk about the Daytona Beach Flea Market, which I did on Friday, July 18th, 2008, but wrote about the previous February:
February! In Daytona Beach! Far from the cold, the snow, and the ice north of here! And it's really sunny and toasty today. This city is full of people for the Daytona 500 races at the Daytona International Speedway. I'm staying at a hotel only a block away. From my hotel room, I can hear the cars on the Speedway practicing for the main events. Boy, are they loud!
But as for attending the races, am I interested in spending that kind of money for all that? It's forty dollars a parking space just on the street. And a few hundred to get in. No! I want to spend my money for something far more interesting.
I came to Florida to find REAL Florida oranges just off the tree. Not the dyed oranges you find in northern stores. So where do the local people go if they don't own an orange tree? I know that some own orange trees because I've met them.
That's right! They go to the Daytona Beach Flea Market, where the local farmers bring their produce to sell. They're just picked for this, including various kinds of oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and lemons. I just bought two quarter bushel bags of ruby red grapefruit just picked. Ten in each bag. Twenty total. $5.50 for each bag or ten bucks for both, which saves a whole dollar.
Now I'm looking at all manner of oranges and tangerines. I'll buy a few of each. But wait! Those giant fruits I thought were superbig, enormous grapefruit turn out to be-LEMONS? YES! That's what the clerk tells me when I'm asking where the locally grown lemons are. He says "Those aren't grapefruit. Those are Ponderosa Lemons-our locally grown lemons!" I've never seen lemons this big! Each is about the size of three or four average sized lemons. I buy nine of them for seven and a half dollars. Later, I find out that one lemon will last me a couple of days and tastes the same as a regular lemon. Can you imagine what a Ponderosa lemon tree must look like?
And that's not all that's big there. The cabbages are huge-and so are the bunches of kale. Either of which would fill up the front seat of the average car. It did mine!
Next is the honey. Comb honey is more plentiful here in Florida-and it's orange blossom comb honey! As for orange blossom liquid honey, they sell it in gallons here, and it smells delicious. I buy all I want for my travels to other parts of Florida. I plan a lot of good eating in the weeks ahead. Which I do.
February! In Daytona Beach! Far from the cold, the snow, and the ice north of here! And it's really sunny and toasty today. This city is full of people for the Daytona 500 races at the Daytona International Speedway. I'm staying at a hotel only a block away. From my hotel room, I can hear the cars on the Speedway practicing for the main events. Boy, are they loud!
But as for attending the races, am I interested in spending that kind of money for all that? It's forty dollars a parking space just on the street. And a few hundred to get in. No! I want to spend my money for something far more interesting.
I came to Florida to find REAL Florida oranges just off the tree. Not the dyed oranges you find in northern stores. So where do the local people go if they don't own an orange tree? I know that some own orange trees because I've met them.
That's right! They go to the Daytona Beach Flea Market, where the local farmers bring their produce to sell. They're just picked for this, including various kinds of oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and lemons. I just bought two quarter bushel bags of ruby red grapefruit just picked. Ten in each bag. Twenty total. $5.50 for each bag or ten bucks for both, which saves a whole dollar.
Now I'm looking at all manner of oranges and tangerines. I'll buy a few of each. But wait! Those giant fruits I thought were superbig, enormous grapefruit turn out to be-LEMONS? YES! That's what the clerk tells me when I'm asking where the locally grown lemons are. He says "Those aren't grapefruit. Those are Ponderosa Lemons-our locally grown lemons!" I've never seen lemons this big! Each is about the size of three or four average sized lemons. I buy nine of them for seven and a half dollars. Later, I find out that one lemon will last me a couple of days and tastes the same as a regular lemon. Can you imagine what a Ponderosa lemon tree must look like?
And that's not all that's big there. The cabbages are huge-and so are the bunches of kale. Either of which would fill up the front seat of the average car. It did mine!
Next is the honey. Comb honey is more plentiful here in Florida-and it's orange blossom comb honey! As for orange blossom liquid honey, they sell it in gallons here, and it smells delicious. I buy all I want for my travels to other parts of Florida. I plan a lot of good eating in the weeks ahead. Which I do.
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