Friday, April 26, 2013
Godspeed, George Jones
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What are the Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards?
Named for Katie-Bar-The-Door, the Katies are "alternate Oscars"—who should have been nominated, who should have won—but really they're just an excuse to write a history of the movies from the Silent Era to the present day.
To see a list of nominees and winners by decade, as well as links to my essays about them, click the highlighted links:
1888-1927
1927-1939
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Remember: There are no wrong answers, only movies you haven't seen yet.
The Silent Oscars
And don't forget to check out the Silent Oscars—my year-by-year choices for best picture, director and all four acting categories for the pre-Oscar years, 1902-1927.
About Me
- Mythical Monkey
- Look at me—Joe College, with a touch of arthritis. Are my eyes really brown? Uh, no, they're green. Would we have the nerve to dive into the icy water and save a person from drowning? That's a key question. I, of course, can't swim, so I never have to face it. Say, haven't you anything better to do than to keep popping in here early every morning and asking a lot of fool questions?
What is a Mythical Monkey?
An infinite number of monkeys typing at an infinite number of typewriters for an infinite amount of time will eventually produce Shakespeare's Hamlet.
This is the blog of one such monkey.
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5 comments:
One of the greatest country music singers of all time! He will be missed.
I know you've explained or at least alluded to these here facts before, but I cannot remember them to save my life (have I mentioned that I am very, very old?) so if you ever have a chance could you remind me: how was it that musicians and artists of all cool kinds found themselves hanging out in the immediate environs of the young attorney/novelist/film historian/critic/Katie Bar the Door Soul Mate Mythical Monkey? I'm thinking your ma or pa was in the music biz?
Who, it was mostly a matter of location, church and private schools -- we lived on a cul-de-sac on the lake out in Hendersonville, a suburb of Nashville. There were, if I remember correctly, eight houses on the street. Two doors down were George Jones and Tammy Wynnette, three doors down were Bobby Bare Sr and Jr (junior being a toddler who is still a pal), and next to the Bares was Bob Luman, who played country and rockabilly.
Later, Jerry Jarett, the promoter, bought the house Jones and Wynette had lived in. Unusual house -- not a 90 degree angle in the whole thing.
At school, we were pals with Roy Orbison's kids in kindergarten, then they transferred to a private school we wanted to get into, and when Tony and Roy Jr. blew themselves and Orbison's house up playing with a lighter and an aerosol can, my brother and I were invited to take their slots at school. Walked past a plaque with their pictures on it for years after, reminding my brother and I that the only reason we were in school there was because two of our friends had been killed in a fire.
At the school were the three sons of William Lee Golden, the guy with the long beard in The Oak Ridge Boys. In high school and early college, my brother, who became a drummer, played in a band with two of them. And also the grandson of Kitty Wells.
And let's see, I was in the class with Grandpa Jones's daughter.
And Johnny Cash often attended our church. Him we didn't know except to say hello to. His stepdaughter, Rosie Nix, went to school with us for a year, but she was older than we were and as I recall, hated the place, so I didn't know her.
Being a musician in his formative years, my brother wound up closer to all of these folks than me -- but let's face it, I am a movie-watching, book-reading, sit-in-my-office-and-write introvert, so I don't really hang out with anybody except at ballgames and such.
Oh, and my dad was not in the music business, he was an international businessman, forever jetting off to Japan, Hong Kong and Europe.
He got sick when I was fourteen and died right after I graduated from high school. In between, while he was on disability, we went to a lot of movies -- classics like The Sting and Star Wars, and pure crap like Damnation Alley and Goldengirl.
I'd say that's when I developed the movie-going habit.
A typically amazing story (i knew it would be) -- thanks Myth!
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