A thimbleful of a voice?

"It’s a thimbleful of a voice, and I have to use it close to the microphone. But it is a kind of over-smoked voice, and it automatically sounds intimate." Julie London

It is the centenary today of the birth of the Queen of the sultry laid-back style we call "Sunday Music". A pin-up girl during WW2, the young Gayle Peck was inevitably destined to become a star. Born into a vaudeville performing family, Miss Peck was working as a lift attendant when she was "discovered" by Hollywood agent Sue Carol.

However, it took a few more years before the renamed Julie London emerged into the musical spotlight with the multi-million-selling Cry Me A River - an eternal standard of the late-night music genre.

Her movie career never really made the same kind of impact and, as with so many of her contemporaries, Miss London turned to TV - with numerous special guest appearances on shows hosted by Bob Hope, Pat Boone, Dina Shore, Jack Benny and the like, as well as her own TV specials. She was one of the stars of US paramedic drama series Emergency! for many years before she retired from regular performing.

But what a legacy she left..!

Julie London - Let There Be Love

Julie London - Perfidia

Julie London - Cry Me A River

Julie London (26th September 1926 – 18th October 2000)

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PS:

On this most gloriously sunny late summery day, we're off en masse to go and sit in the function room of The Perseverance in Holborn/Bloomsbury for another of our lengthy drinking sessions film clubs.

Shame it's not in a beer garden, really...