We have a centenary to celebrate today - and for a change, the birthday boy is still with us!
Ray Anthony - for it is he - is a rare survivor from a long-distant era. He is the last surviving member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra.
With his matinee-idol good looks and his consummate musical talent, he survived the end of the Big Band era (even landing his own prime time TV show Stateside) and, by incorporating some of the newer rock'n'roll styles into his repertoire, remained popular well into the 1970s on the cabaret circuit.
Along the way, he attracted the attention of a bevy of blondes - including Marilyn - and even married one of them, Mamie Van Doren!
Let us celebrate this remarkable milestone - with some of the great man's music:
He could have been Cary Grant's brother!
Happy birthday, Ray Anthony (born Raymond Antonini, 20th January 1922)!
Mamie is one of my all-time favorite B Movie Queens. Lizabeth Scott takes the prize. But this is so much fun. Really. He made it that long. Well.. there's hope for us all, my dear. Kizzes.
ReplyDelete...and Mamie's still with us (thankfully)! [A house fave, bien sûr]. Unfortunately, Miss Scott's already in Fabulon, purring away.
DeleteMr Anthony is one of the last vestiges of a golden age. We raise a toast to him! Jx
He has sort of Cary Grant thing goin on.
ReplyDeleteExcept there is no evidence that Mr Anthony ever fucked Randolph Scott. Jx
DeleteWho doesn't love a man who's good with a horn?!
ReplyDeleteSx
What that man couldn't do with his embouchure... Jx
DeleteThere was a 78rpm of Glen Miller's lads in the family record cabinet...
ReplyDeleteI feel old!
I think we had a box set of LPs from Reader's Digest...
Delete[That whole sentence makes me feel old!]
Jx
And then, dad bought a 4 speed record changer and life was never the same again...
Deletesounds like a fairy story to send the kiddies to sleep!
When I saw the first photo I thought it was Cary Grant'.
ReplyDeleteFab music and fab that he is still with us.
A good-looking chap, for sure.
DeleteHe was still playing on his 95th birthday! Jx