Cladrite Radio

Act now!

The following text is shamelessly borrowed from cheezburger.com, because we felt we couldn’t improve on their explanation of why you should vehemently oppose SOPA and PIPA, the copyright enforcement bills currently being considered by Congress. Please read on and call your senators.

What is PIPA?

PIPA is a poorly envisioned Senate copyright enforcement bill that will censor our Internet and kill jobs in the rapidly growing Internet industry. This bill (and its House counterpart, SOPA) were designed by lobbyists and are being sped through Congress with virtually no debate. Almost every Internet company has strongly come out against PIPA.

Why does this matter to me?

These bills threaten sites like Cheezburger, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and any others that rely on user participation. They will allow the government to censor sites and force companies to monitor your email and restrict websites that post or link to infringing content.

What can I do?

Call your Senator today and tell them to vote against PIPA. We have provided a list of phone numbers for each state below.

AK, Lisa Murkowski, 907-456-0233
AL, Jefferson Sessions, 334-244-7017
AL, Richard Shelby, 205-759-5047
AR, John Boozman, 479-725-0400
AR, Mark Pryor, 501-324-6336
AZ, Jon Kyl, 602-840-1891
AZ, John McCain, 602-952-2410
CA, Barbara Boxer, 510-286-8537
CA, Dianne Feinstein, 415-393-0707
CO, Michael Bennet, 303-455-7600
CT, Richard Blumenthal, 860-258-6940
CT, Joseph Lieberman, 860-549-8463
DE, Thomas Carper, 302-573-6291
DE, Chris Coons, 302-573-6345
FL, Bill Nelson, 407-872-7161
FL, Marco Rubio, 305-418-8553
GA, C. Saxby Chambliss, 770-763-9090
GA, John Isakson, 770-661-0999
HI, Daniel Akaka, 808-522-8970
HI, Daniel Inouye, 808-541-2542
IA, Charles Grassley, 515-288-1145
IA, Thomas Harkin, 515-284-4574
ID, Michael Crapo, 208-334-1776
ID, James Risch, 208-342-7985
Read more

18 Jan 12 | Tags: censorship, PIPA, SOPA
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Times Square Tintypes: Fannie Brice

In this chapter from his 1932 book, Times Square Tintypes, Broadway columnist Sidney Skolsky profiles Fannie Brice, comedienne, singer, and theatre and film actress.

SAY IT WITH SONGS

FANNIE BRICE. She was born at the stroke of midnight on October 29, 1892. Her square moniker is Fannie Borach.

She enjoys a good cry.

Hasn’t a long list of friends. But those she has she can tap for anything.

She took the tag of Brice from John Brice, a next-door neighbor. He is now a watchman on the Ninth Avenue elevated. She told him that some day he’d see his name in lights.

Is a good judge of diamonds, furs and the value of real estate.

There is one thing in the world she can’t stand. That is cream in her coffee. It makes her sick.

She is the proud mother of two children. A girl of nine and a boy of seven. Has one brother, Lew, in the theatrical business. Also has one sister, Caroline, who believes that she would be a great actress if she didn’t suffer from asthma.

Her hobby is taking photographs of bedrooms. She has a picture of every bedroom she ever lived in.

Made her stage début at Keeney’s Theater in Brooklyn on amateur night. She won first prize singing, “When You’re Not Forgotten by the Girl You Can’t Forget.”

The only instrument she can play is the piano. That is, if hunting for notes with two fingers can be called playing.

Her father owned a string of saloons. He was known as “French Charlie.” Her mother really ran the saloons, for “French Charlie” was always playing pinochle.

When traveling she takes an electric stove with her. She’ll cook for anybody who wants to eat.

She once worked in a movie house on Eighty-third Street and Third Avenue. Here she sang songs, sold tickets and painted signs. Her salary was $8 a week.

The biggest surprises she ever got, good or bad, were from herself.

Is one of the best dressed women in the theater. Has her dresses designed especially for her by Kiviette. While in Hollywood she made dresses for Dolores Costello and Norma Talmadge. She has thirty dresses she hasn’t gotten to yet.

The moon makes her serious.

When watching Fannie perform her mother always says to the people sitting about her: “That’s my daughter. She’s good, isn’t she?”

She dislikes people who are perfect and have everything. Believes that such people miss something in life.

After she sang “My Man” for the first time her salary was raised from $1,000 to $3,000 weekly.

Her present husband is Billy Rose, who also writes her songs for her. Her nickname for him is “Putsy.”

She’d walk ten miles if she could window shop on the way. Otherwise she wouldn’t walk two blocks.

Her first comedy song was “Sadie Salome.” She sang it merely to help Irving Berlin, then a newcomer, along. It started her on the road to fame and fortune.

She is a card shark.

Times Square Tintypes: Earl Carroll

In this chapter from his 1932 book, Times Square Tintypes, Broadway columnist Sidney Skolsky profiles Earl Carroll, theatrical producer, director, songwriter and composer.

THE LIFE OF THE PARTY

Earl CARROLL. He has a throne, a palace and a title. His throne is an antique Chinese chair. His palace is the theater bearing his name. His title is “The Earl of Seventh Avenue.”

He is extremely polite to everyone. Expects people to be that way to him. Nobody can really get close to him.

He suffers from insomnia.

Was born in Pittsburgh, September 16, 1892. Has two brothers, Norman and James, and one sister, Alice. The brothers don’t look like him or each other. The sister could pass for his twin. When a small boy he was dressed in a white sailor suit.

If he sees a pretty girl on the street he will stop her and ask her if she wants to go on the stage.

At the age of sixteen he stood in the center of Nanking Road, China, with only forty-five cents in his pocket.

His office is backstage of his theater. A rug, the color of pigeon blood, covers the floor. His desk is enclosed in a wall. The pressing of a button shoots it forward. He uses a sword for a paperweight. Has a statue of Buddha here. And a refrigerator with Chinese letters written on it. The letters spell—happiness. In the rear of the office there is a secret panel through which he can make a hasty exit.

He can’t wear a shirt with a collar attached. And all of his vests must be double-breasted.

Once wrote a song with Enrico Caruso. It was “Dreams of Long Ago.” Immediately after joining the army he wrote a song called: “When I’m Through with the Arms of the Army I’ll Come Back to the Arms of You.”

Always throws a party for himself on his birthday.

His favorite type of beauty for the stage is a tall blonde. His own personal taste, however, runs to slender brunettes.

During the war he was a lieutenant in the United States Air Service. He was the first man to land an airplane in Central Park.

While rehearsing a new show he wears a sand-colored smock. His shirt is minus collar and tie. He stands in the orchestra. Has a telephone operator’s apparatus on his head. Through this he gives instructions backstage, under the stage and in the electrician’s booth plastered on the back wall of the balcony. To his left is a small table. His secretary, Miss Ruth, sits here and takes memos. During all this he is continually drinking Poland mineral water and chewing gum.

Likes to use perfume. His two favorites are Caron’s Acaciosa and Gabilla’s Jasmin. He sprays his throat with perfume daily.

On April 10, he and his two brothers and sister always journey to Pittsburgh to visit their mother’s grave. On Mother’s Day he sends flowers.

Was the first man in New York to own a “Starlight Bungalow,” now known as a penthouse. His was located on the roof of 729 Seventh Avenue. He called it “Top o’ the World.” He likes to live high and now resides on the top floor of a tall apartment hotel.

09 Jan 12 | Tags: Broadway, Carroll Theatre, Earl Carroll, NYC, Sidney Skolsky, Times Square Tintypes, W. R. Edrington
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Ninety-nine years Young

Today marks Loretta Young’s 99th birthday.

She enjoyed a long, fruitful career that began in the era of silent movies (she appeared in two pictures in 1917, when she was all of four years old) and ended in 1994, when she was 81, and she certainly made many memorable movies, The Bishop’s Wife and The Farmer’s Daughter among them. But our favorites among her oeuvre include the noir-ish 1951 thriller Cause for Alarm! and, especially, the many pictures she made in the late 1920s and early ’30s.

Surely few women have ever appeared more beautiful on-screen than Young did in those pre-code days.

Here’s more on Young’s life and career.

06 Jan 12 | Tags: Cause for Alarm!, film noir, Loretta Young, pre-code movies, The Bishop's Wife, The Farmer's Daughter
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Past Paper: Letter Gram Puzzles

One of our favorite things about flea markets, vintage shops, antique malls and thrift stores is finding a product or artifact we never even knew existed.

One recent example is this bit of ephemera from 1933. It’s a collection of small cardboard cards cut jigsaw-style but left intact. The idea was that one (carefully, we presume) wrote a note to a friend, paramour or family member on the card, broke it up into pieces and then mailed it in the envelope provided. The recipient then had to piece together the puzzle in order to partake of one’s wit and wisdom.

We think this is a rather charming idea, and we’re sorry its time seems to have passed. But when we saw a batch of these at a neighborhood flea market, we couldn’t resist springing for them and sharing them with you, the Cladrite community.

04 Jan 12 | Tags: Cladrite Radio, Letter Gram Puzzles, Past Paper
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Are You Having Any Fun?
Hey fellow with a million smackers
And nervous indigestion
Rich fellow, eats milk and crackers,
I'll ask you one question,
You silly so and so,
With all your dough...

Are you having any fun?
What you getting out of livin'?
What good is what you've got
If you're not having any fun?

Are you having any laughs?
Are you getting any lovin'?
If other people do,
So can you, have a little fun.

After the honey's in the cone,
Little bees go out and play.
Even the old grey mare down home
Has got to have hay. Hey!

You better have some fun.
You ain't gonna live forever.
Before you're old and gray, feel okay.
Have your little fun, son!
Have your little fun!

Why do you work and slave and save?
Life is full of ifs and buts.
You know the squirrels save and save,
And what have they got? Nuts!

Better have a little fun.
You ain't gonna live forever.
Before you're old and grey, still okay,
Have your little fun, son!
Have your little fun!
Are you havin' any fun?

---Sammy Fain (music) and Jack Yellen (lyrics), 1939