Drake Levin, Lead Guitarist of Paul Revere & the Raiders, Passes On

Drake Leven, best known as the lead guitarist of Paul Revere and the Raiders in their peak, passed on July 4 at the age of 62 after a long fight with cancer.

Drake Levin was born Drake Maxwell Levinshefski on August 17, 1946 in Chicago. His family eventually moved to Idaho. It was there that he met Phil "Fang" Volk. The two became interested in music after Volk received a guitar from his parents at Christmas in 1959. The two would form their own band, The Surfers. It was in 1963 that Paul Revere invited The Surfers to open for Paul Revere and the Raiders in a show outside Boise, Idaho. Revere was so impressed with The Surfers that when his lead guitarist, Dick Walker, left the band, he invited Drake Levin to join The Raiders. After bassist Ross Allemang left Paul Revere and the Raiders, he invited Volk to join as well.

Paul Revere and the Raiders left Idaho for Portland, Oregon not long after Levin joined. The group recorded "Louie, Louie" a week before The Kingsmen did. Unfortunately for The Raiders, their version only peaked at #103 on the Billboard chart, while The Kingsmen's version went all the way to #2. In the end Paul Revere and the Raiders would have the last laugh. While The Kingsmen would have a few more, minor hits, Paul Revere and the Raiders would become one of the most popular bands of the mid-Sixties. Their producer Terry Melcher made the decision for Paul Revere and the Raiders to emulate such British Invasion bands as The Beatles, The Who, and The Kinks, although with a bit of American R&B thrown in for good measure.

Centred around the capable guitar work of Drake Levin, Paul Revere and the Raiders began producing a string of hits starting with "Just Like Me" in 1965. One of the earliest examples of American power pop, "Just Like Me" is historic in being one of the first records to feature a double tracked guitar solo (courtesy of Levin). "Just Like Me" went all the way to #11 on the Billboard chart, followed by such hits as "Kicks (#4 on the Billboard charts)," "Hungry (#6 on the Billboard charts)," "Good Thing (#4 on the Billboard charts), and others. Unfortunately, in 1966 Drake Levin would be called up for the draught. To avoid going into the United States Army, Levin joined the National Guard. This meant that Levin could still record with Paul Revere and the Raiders, although he could not tour with them. Filling in for Levin on lead guitar when he was not available was Jim "Harpo" Valley.

It was in 1967 that Drake Levin, Volk, and drummer Mike "Smitty" Smith left Paul Revere and the Raiders to form a trio called The Brotherhood. Signed to RCA Victor, the group released three albums. Unfortunately, The Brotherhood would see very little success. As a respected guitarist Drake Levin would go onto play with such names as Lee Michaels, Emitt Rhodes, and Ananda Shankar. Following his move to the San Francisco area, Drake Levin became a noted blues player and even formed his own blues bands, such as Billy Dunn and Bluesway. In 1997 he reunited for one last time in a stage performance with Paul Revere and the Raiders.

In the Sixties Paul Revere and the Raiders sometimes received little respect. The Revolutionary War garb in which they dressed and the comedic content of their shows made it difficult for many to take them seriously. What many missed in the Sixties was just how revolutionary Paul Revere and the Raiders were. The band played an amped up variation on the music produced by the British Invasion band that was essentially the first, successful American example of power pop. Paul Revere and the Raiders would have a lasting impact on the rock subgenres of power pop, punk, and New Wave, with everyone from The Sex Pistols to Sammy Hagar covering their songs.

Drake Levin's guitar was among the primary reasons for the success of Paul Revere and the Raiders in the Sixties. His virtuosity on the guitar was matched by only a few guitarists in the United States in the mid-Sixites. As a result it was Drake Levin who would be among the primary American influences on the genre of power pop.

Actor Harve Presnell and Old Time Radio Announcer Ken Roberts Pass On

Harve Presnell

Actor Harve Presnell, who played Mr. Parker on the series The Pretender and appeared in films ranging from The Unsinkable Molly Brown to Fargo, passed on June 30 at the age of 75. The cause was pancreatic cancer.

Presnell was born George Harvey Presnell on September 14, 1933. He was drawn to singing and acting while still young. In fact, his stage debut was at age 16, singing in an opera. He attended the University of Southern California for a time, then left school to train in Europe. He sang with the Roger Wagner Chorale on several albums. He would go on to sing with the San Francisco Opera in their 1957 production of The Carmelites. He also appeared on the 1960 Columbia recording of Carmina Burana. Concurrent with his career in opera, Harve Presnell also appeared on television in episodes of General Electric Theatre and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

It was while he was performing Carmina Burana in Berlin that Meredith Wilson heard him. Wilson, fresh from success with The Music Man, then wrote the part of Johnny "Leadville" Brown in The Unsinkable Molly Brown specifically for him. Presnell made his Broadway debut in The Unsinkable Molly Brown in 1960. He would also play the party of Leadville Brown in the movie version of The Unsinkable Mollie Brown, which was released in 1964. In the Sixties Presnell appeared in the movies The Glory Guys, When the Boys Meet the Girls, and Paint Your Wagon.

For the most part during the Seventies and Eighties Presnell concentrated on the stage. Over the years he appeared in productions of Annie Get Your Gun, Carousel, and Scarlett, a musical version of Gone With the Wind. In 1980 Presnell returned to Broadway, taking over the role of Daddy Warbucks in Annie.

Harve Presnell made an impressive return to film in the Nineties, with two roles in movies released in 1996. He played Dr. Isaac Howard, the father of legendary pulp writer Robert E. Howard, in The Whole Wide World. He also played Wade Gustafson in Fargo, the imposing father of Jean Lundegaard and hence the father in law of Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy). Presnell would go onto appear in such films as Larger than Life, The Chamber, Saving Private Ryan, Face/Off,Patch Adams, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and Flags of Our Fathers.

Presnell would also have a career in television. He was a regular as Mr. Parker on The Pretender for the entirety of its run (1996-2000) and guested on such shows as The Outer Limits, Dawson's Creek, Frasier, Monk, and ER.

Harve Presnell was an extremely talented man. As a singer he was possessed of a powerful baritone that was put to impressive use in both The Unsinkable Mollie Brown and Paint Your Wagon. As an actor he was very versatile. He could play the gentle, kindly Dr. Howard in The Whole Wide World and in the same year play the imposing, bullying Wade Gustafson in Fargo. While many might not recognise his name, I am sure they remember his face and his powerful voice.

Ken Roberts

Ken Roberts, whose golden voice announced shows from the era of Old Time Radio to that of television soap operas, passed on June 19 at the age of 99.

Ken Roberts was born on February 22, 1910 in Manhattan as Saul Trochman. He grew up in the Bronx. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. He attended law school and even worked in Fiorello H. La Guardia's law office as an intern. He entered radio in the late Twenties, working at station WPCH in New Jersey. In 1930 he started work at WLTH in Brooklyn. It was not long after he entered the radio business that he changed his name so it would not "sound so Jewish."

It was in 1930 that he received a job at the Columbia Broadcasting System's New York City Station, WABC. He beat out 40 other applicants to get the job. He was with WABC for twenty years. It was there that he became one of the most familiar voices in radio. Among the many shows he announced were The Fred Allen Show, The Shadow, Ellery Queen, Easy Aces, Baby Snooks, You Are There, and This is Nora Drake. Presnell also emceed game shows, such as Quick as a Flash and It Pays to be Ignorant. Like nearly all announcers in the days of Old Time Radio, Presnell narrated commercials, developing the uncanny ability to be friendly and even jovial no matter what the product was.

With the advent of television Ken Roberts moved to the new medium, where he may be best known for announcing soap operas. He was the long time announcer on such soaps as Love of Life and The Secret Storm. He was also the original announcer for Candid Camera and on the game show Dollar a Second, on which he first narrated adverts for Mogen David wine. He parodied his own delivery as a soap opera announcer on The Electric Company in the recurring sketch "Love of a Chair."

Despite dashing good looks and an incredible voice, Ken Roberts had only one major acting role to his credit, as dimwitted athlete Mel Kahn in the Broadway play Hitch Your Wagon in 1937. As perhaps one of the most identifiable voices in radio, Woody Allen utilised Ken Roberts as the announcer in his movie Radio Days.

Ken Roberts was one of the greatest radio announcers of all time, perhaps the greatest of all time. Although he grew up in the Bronx, Roberts' voice could not be identified as coming from any particular part of the United States, while remaining identifiably American. Because of this, Ken Roberts as an announcer was pleasing to everyone's ears. His voice also possessed a warm, friendly tone that was quite versatile, ranging from the melodrama necessary for radio shows such as The Shadow and the television soap operas to a more jovial tone used for game shows and commercials. Announcing on literally thousands of hours of radio and television over the years, Roberts became an integral part of the American fabric from the Thirties into the Seventies.

Happy 4th of July 2009

Since today is a holiday, I will not be doing an entry. Instead I thought I would simply wish everyone from the United States a happy 4th of July!

Karl Malden and Mollie Sudgen Pass On

Karl Malden

Oscar and Emmy winning actor Karl Malden has passed yesterday. He has appeared in such films I Confess, Baby Doll, and Birdman of Alacatraz, as well as the TV series The Streets of San Francisco. He was 97 years old.

Karl Malden was born Mladen Sekulovich in Chicago on March 22, 1912. When he was five his family moved to Gary, Indiana. Until he was in kindergarten, Malden's primary language was Serbian and he spoke very little English. His father would produce plays for local churches and Serbian organisations, in which young Malden sometimes appeared. In high school he both played basketball and participated in the drama club. After graduating from Emerson High School he worked the steel mills in Gary, Indiana. After three years he enrolled in the Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago.

After graduation and a period during which he worked as a milkman in Gary, Malden left for New York City. There he met Elia Kazan and Harold Clurman, then with the Group Theatre. He made his debut in the play Golden Boy on Broadway in 1937. In the Forties and the Fifties Malden would be a regular on the Broadway stage, although some of the early plays in which he appeared lasted less than a month. He appeared in such plays as Key Largo, Winged Victory, A Streetcar Named Desire, Peer Gynt, and The Desperate Hours. He also appeared occasionally on radio. During World War II Malden was stationed in the States in the Army Air Forces.

Karl Malden made his film debut in 1940 in the film They Knew What They Wanted. He reprised his role as Adams in the movie version of Winged Victory. He appeared in the classic film noir Kiss of Death, The Gunfighter, and Halls of Montezuma. In 1951 he reprised his role as Mitch Mitchell in A Streetcar Named Desire. For the part he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. A Streetcar Named Desire launched Malden on a very successful career in the Fifties and Sixties. He appeared in such films as On the Waterfront, Ruby Gentry, I Confess, Baby Doll, The Great Impostor, Birdman of Alacatraz, Billion Dollar Brain, and Patton.

Even though he is well known today in his role on The Streets of San Francisco, Karl Malden did not appear frequently on television. In 1950 he guest starred on an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre and in the Omnibus adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1955. Afterwards he would be absent from television until taking his role as Lt. Mike Stone in The Streets of San Francisco. He would later star in the series Skag. He made a guest appearance on the TV show The West Wing in 2000. He also appeared in a number of television movies.

Karl Malden's career slowed in the Seventies. Appearing in various telefilms, he appeared less frequently on the big screen than he had previously. From the Seventies into the Naughts he appeared in the films Il gatto a nove code, Wild Rovers, Un verano para matar, Meteor, Twilight Time, and The Sting II.

In addition to the Oscar he won for A Streetcar Named Desire, he also won several Emmys, four of them for Streets of San Francisco.

Quite simply, Karl Malden was one of the greatest actors of our time. He played a wide variety of roles and played all of them well. He played a priest in On the Waterfront. He played a police inspector in I Confess. He played a sex crazed older man with a teenage wife in Baby Doll. He played General Omar Bradley in Patton. The roles were vastly different, and yet he did all of them extremely well. Perhaps the most surprising thing about Karl Malden is that he did not win more awards. Regardless, he will be remembered.

Mollie Sudgen

Mollie Sudgen, best known for playing Mrs. Slocombe on Are You Being Served, passed Tuesday at the age of 86. She had been in hospital with a long illness.

Mollie Sudgen was born in Keighley, Yorkshire on July 21, 1922. She developed a love of performing while still young. World War II started just as she graduated from school, so she went to work at a munitions factory in Keighley. After losing her job she enrolled in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. For many years she worked in the Swansea Rep at the Grand Theatre. She made her television debut in the British series Suspense in 1962. She also made appearances that year in Benny Hill and First Night. It was also in 1962 that she received her first regular role on a TV series, as Mrs. Crispin in Hugh and I. For the next many years Sudgen was a regular on British television, appearing on such shows as Steptoe and Son, Coronation Street, Armchair Theatre, Z Cars, Jackanory, Oh, Brother, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and Up Pompeii.

It was in 1972 that she was cast as Mrs. Betty Slocombe, the head of ladies wear at Grace Brothers Department Store, Are You Being Served. Although it would go onto be regarded as a classic in the United Kingdom and its Colonies, in the beginning Are You Being Served was not a phenomenal success. Airing opposite Coronation Street, it received very few viewers. When it was reran later that year, however, its audience increased dramatically. There were times in the United Kingdom when the show received around 22 million viewers.

Even while on Are You Being Served, Sudgen appeared on other shows. She appeared on Son of the Bride, Love Thy Neighbour, and Three Comedies of Marriage. After Are You Being Served ended, Sudgen starred in That's My Boy, My Husband and I, and the Are You Being Served sequel/spinoff Grace & Favour. She also became a regular on The Liver Birds. Her last appearance was on the long running The Bill in 2003.

Mollie Sudgen worked in only two movies in her career. She appeared in the movie version of Are You Being Served in 1977 and provided one of the voices in the animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's The BFG.

Much of the reason for the success of Are You Being Served was its brilliant cast, and Mollie Sudgen was one of the best in that stellar cast. Whether talking about her cat, Tiddles (which she referred to as "my pussy"), her attempts to sound posh despite traces of a very Northern accent, or her odd night life (frequenting roller rinks, discos, and, more often than not, pubs), Mrs. Slocombe was one of the most hilarious characters on a sitcom of all time. As Mrs Slocombe Mollie Sudgen made a perfect team with John Inman as Mr. Humphries, the two creating some of the most memorable moments in television comedy. Mollie Sudgen possessed a gift for comedy to such a degree that very could match. She is one of the very few actresses I can honestly say was funny in most everything in which she appeared.

Johnny Canuck

Before anything else, I would like to wish my friends in Canada a happy Canada Day! In keeping with this day, I thought I would address the subject of the national personification of Canada--their equivalent of John Bull or Uncle Sam: Johnny Canuck. Quite simply, Johnny Canuck is a national personification of Canada.

Johnny Canuck developed around 1869 in political cartoons in Canada, where he was most often represented as resisting the bullying of Uncle Sam. He most often appeared as a burly lumberjack (the logo familiar from the Vancover Canucks), although he was also portrayed as a farmer, a rancher, and even a soldier. Unlike John Bull and Uncle Sam, whose appearances rarely varied (both of whom are almost always wearing a top hat and tailcoat), Johnny Canuck's appearance did sometimes vary.

Here I should note the use of the term Canuck for Johnny's last name, which might seem odd to those of us who don't live in Canada. Many outside Canada think the word is only used of French Canadians or that it is derogatory. This doesn't seem to be the case. The word Canuck was coined in the 18th or centuries, although its etymology is unclear. According to The Random House Dictionary it was an Americanism first recorded around 1835, specifically referring to French Canadians. While the term Canuck may have originally been used of French Canadians, however, since the 19th century it has been used of any Canadian. This explains why it would be used as Johnny's last name or, for that matter, the name of Vancouver's hockey team (the majority of British Columbia being English in descent, rather than French). As to the term being derogatory, that varies according to how it is used and who's using it. Among Canadians it is safe to say that the term is not offensive, but among other peoples from other nations it can be used in such a way that it is a derogatory term.

As to Johnny Canuck himself, he featured prominently in political cartoons for thirty years. It was towards the end of the 19th century that he gradually fell out of use. It is difficult to say why this happened, as the use of other national personifications would continue unabated until after World War II. It would take the superhero craze of the late Thirties and early Forties to revive the character.

In 1938 Action Comics featuring Superman was published by Detective Comics Inc. (one of the companies which would become DC Comics). The phenomenal success of Superman would create a demand for superheroes that would insure that comic books would be filled with them for the next ten years. The superhero craze did not simply affect comic books in the United States, but in Canada as well. And just as Will Eisner turned Uncle Sam into a superhero for Quality Comics, so too did Johnny Canuck become a superhero. It was in 1941 that the manager of Toronto based Bell Features threw down a challenge for cartoonist Leo Bachle (then only fourteen): he had to create an exciting feature for the company's comic book line.

To this end young Bachle took the old national personification Johnny Canuck and transformed him from a burly lumberjack into a young fighter pilot, complete with leather headgear, goggles, flight jacket, and high topped boots. A captain in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Johnny had no superpowers, but had excellent athletic ability and was a great aviator. Johnny Canuck debuted in Dime Comics #1, February 1942. The character proved a roaring success, perhaps the most successful Canadian superhero save for Nelvana of the Northern Lights. His adventures continued for 28 issues of Dime Comics, ending in 1946. In 1995 Canada Post issued stamps commemorating the superheroes of the past, including Seventies hero Captain Canuck, Eighties heroine Fleur de Lys, Golden Age heroine Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Superman, and, of course, Johnny Canuck. Johnny was portrayed as he was in the comic books, with his aviator's cap and flight jacket.

In 1965 Johnny Canuck would be revived again, this time by American mystery writer James Moffatt. Strictly speaking Moffatt's version of Johnny was not the personification of Canada, but merely a Canadian private eye (who is one quarter Sioux) who changed his name to Johnny Canuck out of patriotism. Moffatt's Johnny Canuck adventures appeared only in paperback and are more or less forgotten, which may be a good thing. Reportedly they were poorly written and about as Canadian as the movie Rose Marie with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.

It was in 1970 that the Vancouver received a National Hockey League expansion team named the Canucks. Signed to the Canucks in 2006, Roberto Luongo's face mask featured Johnny Canuck in his guise as a lumberjack. In the 2008-2009 Johnny Canuck was used as one of the shoulder logos for their jerseys, although again as a lumberjack (although one proposed shoulder logo portrayed him as the pilot of Bell Features' comic books). Sadly, the team's official mascot is Fin, an anthropomorphic killer whale (while I realise orcas are found frequently in the north Pacific, I must confess I don't particularly identify them with British Columbia myself...), rather than Johnny Canuck himself. Curiously, the mascot of junior ice hockey team the Vancouver Giants, Jack, resembles Johnny Canuck to a large degree.

Over the years Johnny would figure in a few songs. Composer Henry Herbert Godfrey wrote two of the more famous songs. In 1900 he wrote both "Johnny Canuck's the Lad" and "When Johnny Canuck Comes Home." The drama "The Yellow Bag" from 1907 featured a song simply entitled "Johnny Canuck." The character would also be the subject of a few plays. In 1978 there was a play entitled Hurray for Johnny Canuck, loosely based on the comic book hero. In January 2006 the play Johnny Canuck and the Last Burlesque debuted in Montreal, positing that after World War II Johnny became a burlesque star. More recently, a professional wrestler took the name of "Johnny Canuck," again portraying him as a lumberjack.

Although not as well known outside Canada as Uncle Sam or John Bull, Johnny Canuck has had a long history. Although appearing infrequently after World War II, the character still resurfaces from time to time in plays and other media. I have seen arguments that Johnny Canuck should be the official mascot of the Vancouver Canucks rather than Fin (with which I would agree) and even that he should have been the mascot of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. And while his appearance has varied over the years (he has been a lumberjack, a farmer, a rancher, and an aviator), he has survived through it all. I have no doubt he will be around for quite some time to come.