Thank you very, very, very much!

Another day, another new addition to Fabulon, the "Valhalla of the Stars" - the multi-talented Bea Lillie protégé, composer, lyricist and playwright Mr Leslie Bricusse.

Most famous for his long professional partnership with fellow "triple threat" Anthony Newley, the mass of "standards" in the great man's repertoire include Nina Simone's Feeling Good [a version of which I posted just the other day], What Kind of Fool Am I?, The Joker [used later as the theme song for Kath & Kim], The Candy Man and Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, London Is London, A Wonderful Day Like Today, Talk to the Animals, Who Can I Turn To?...

...and these!

Shirley Bassey - Goldfinger

Nancy Sinatra - You Only Live Twice

Anthony Newley - Thank You Very Much [from Scrooge]

Julie Andrews- Le Jazz Hot

...and our "Gay Pride March" anthem, to boot!

Linda Eder - Bring On The Men [from Jekyll and Hyde the musical]

RIP, Leslie Bricusse OBE (29th January 1931 – 19th October 2021)

Meanwhile, at the Palace

Monday again.

Grrrrr... Another fab weekend over too soon.

Never mind, eh? The fact that today happens to be the birthday of the lovely Jo Anne Worley gives me the perfect excuse on this Tacky Music Monday to revisit a mightily-odd-yet-glittering cavalcade of ill-matched stars, of which she was one, pretending to like Mr Anthony Newley...

Anthony Newley, Dyan Cannon, Lola Falana, Jo Anne Worley and Lulu - What a Man [on Hollywood Palace

Bizarre, but faboo!

Have a good week, dear reader.

Who would ever blend things like these?

It's always a horrid moment when the alarm goes off at the start of a new week, and for the first time you need to switch the lamp on - and it hits you that it is indeed Autumn. As if Mondays weren't bad enough...

However, let's not be too glum. Today it is the 95th birthday of one Herbert Kretzmer (thankfully still with us) - not, perhaps, one of the more familiar household names out there but nevertheless a man who has made a massive contribution to the world of showbiz; not least for the fact he wrote the massively-successful English lyrics for Les Miserables, as well as his work with M. Charles Aznavour on the English versions of his own magnificent repertoire, including such classics as She and Yesterday When I Was Young, and also novelty hits such as Goodness Gracious Me (for Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren) and Kinky Boots (for Honor Blackman and Patrick McNee).

Of course, in a career that stretched over six decades, there will inevitably be some - ahem - less successful moments. One of those was his collaboration with Anthony Newley on his ridiculously-titled musical film Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness, from which comes this bizarre scene.

On this Tacky Music Monday, how about the faboo Miss Joan Collins singing and dancing with a naked Mr Newley (her then husband) and some people dressed as crustaceans?! 

Of course.

Joan Collins - Chalk and Cheese

That certainly woke me up!

Have a good week, dear reader.

---

UPDATE

14th October 2020: RIP, Mr Kretzmer.

Fragrant beauties

[The utterly splendid (and beautifully scented) Gladiolus murielae - also known as "Acidanthera bicolor" - which sprouted from some bulblets that we had no idea we'd transported from our previous garden (in some old potting compost, probably). Not bad for the end of November!]

Where do these bloody weekends go, exactly..? No sooner do we stride purposefully away from the office and into real life on Friday evening, then whoosh! Time for work again. Groan.

It may be dark, dank and gloomy, and nobody wants to leave the confines of their bed for that - but at least there are two things to cheer us up today.

One, it's payday.

Two - it is the 79th birthday today of our Patron Saint of unstoppable hip-shaking, Mrs Tina Bach (née Turner, of course). On this Tacky Music Monday, let's leave the wake-up call to the Mistress - in a clip that includes not one but two of our icons (Cher being the other), and the ex-Mr Joan Collins (Anthony Newley), to boot!

Cher Show - 12th October 1975

Fab! Many happy returns, Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock, 26th November 1939)

Home of the Stars

It has turned quite wintry, cold and damp out there. I am sheltering from it, trying to get my head around studying for an exam on Friday.

To lift the spirits this Tacky Music Monday, let us escape the gloom and visit the ever-classy Hollywood Palace, here featuring the fab combination of Dyan Cannon, Lola Falana, Jo Anne Worley and Lulu with Anthony Newley on What A Man (with a bonus word from our sponsor featuring today's birthday girl Brenda Vaccaro, to boot!).

How much more camp do you want it?

Anthony Newley and friends on Hollywood Palace

Have a good week, folks!