Your Most Disturbing Realizations

[tonyb]

Jazz got that particular brush thirty years before anybody ever heard of rock-n-roll.

Last I heard that appellation was upwards of a decade ago. A quite elderly shirt-tail relative of the hostess at a gathering of friends and family used it in reference to whatever it was that was playing on the sound system at that moment.

I'm fairly confident he knew his utterance would be found objectionable. But no one gave him the satisfaction of a response. It was disclosed to me at a later date that the ornery old cuss's abhorrent behavior wasn't limited to racism. It turned out that some of the women relations had had similar tales to tell of sexual molestations at his, um, hand, back when they were children.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's rarely only one moldy part in the loaf.

 

[2jakes]

Jazz got that particular brush thirty years before anybody ever heard of rock-n-roll.

I remember my grandmother speak of Valentino, flappers, '20s music of
Cantor and Jolson which she enjoyed.

My mother danced to something she called "boogie-woogie" by the likes of
the Dorsey Brothers, Glenn Miller or Artie Shaw.

Never occurred to me to ask if they had movies or concerts where only
teenagers attended like they did during the rock-n-roll era.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Such kids were called "alligators" or "gators" at the height of the Swing Era in the late thirties. An excellent chronicle of how teenage culture was perceived in those years can be found in the "Harold Teen" comic strip, which came well before "Archie" and other similar teen-humor strips.

Harold and his little sidekick Shadow Smart were 'gators of the first water, yeah man. Send me, brotha, send me!

 

[2jakes]

View attachment 67348

Such kids were called "alligators" or "gators" at the height of the Swing Era in the late thirties. An excellent chronicle of how teenage culture was perceived in those years can be found in the "Harold Teen" comic strip, which came well before "Archie" and other similar teen-humor strips.

Harold and his little sidekick Shadow Smart were 'gators of the first water, yeah man. Send me, brotha, send me!

In my neck of the woods I never saw this comic series in the Sunday paper.
It was always "Bringing Up Father with Maggie & Jiggs or Dagwood.

The smaller supplement featured Dick Tracy, Lil' Abner and Little Orphan Annie.
Alley Oop was my favorite because of Oona!
Even then, I admired women who knew how to take care of themselves
or didn't have to depend entirely on men.

 

[Stearmen]

Jazz got that particular brush thirty years before anybody ever heard of rock-n-roll.

You could hear the exact same racist rants against Ragtime, as you could for Jazz, Big Band, Rock & Roll, Hip Hop and Rap! Some things never change!

 

[Stearmen]

Actually I saw Presley earlier prior to Sullivan on the Dorsey Brothers Show
on Jan. 1956. I've never seem anyone before do what he did on stage. Might not
seem like much today. You had to be there to fully appreciate what was going on.
Especially for the young generation that could identify with the beat.
"Teenagers" was just becoming to mean something and this was the start of
our own music. Whether you like it or not.
Chuck Beery, Little Richard & Fats Domino were only available on certain radio stations
which I had to sneak at night to listen.
Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and my man from Lubbock, Texas, Buddy Holly,
made it ok!

That the other thing people forget, he was on several TV shows before Rd. Dorsey Brothers was the first national TV show, but Louisiana Hayride was his first local TV appearance. I didn't see that until a few years back.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Al Jolson did a lot of Elvis's stage moves, including the wiggly-grindy-pelvis thing, thirty years before Elvis did them. They didn't just call him "The World's Greatest Entertainer" to fill up a marquee.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Black jazz fan or musician = gate mouth = gator = alligator. How slang changes and develops.

White jazz fan or musician = slot mouth.

 

[vitanola]

Al Jolson did a lot of Elvis's stage moves, including the wiggly-grindy-pelvis thing, thirty years before Elvis did them. They didn't just call him "The World's Greatest Entertainer" to fill up a marquee.

like this?

 

[2jakes]

Al Jolson did a lot of Elvis's stage moves, including the wiggly-grindy-pelvis thing, thirty years before Elvis did them. They didn't just call him "The World's Greatest Entertainer" to fill up a marquee.

If only Jolson had Col. Parker.
I can imagine teenyboppers all over the country romping to "toot-toot-tootsie" at the Jolsonmania world concert tours.
I wonder how much the t-shirts with Al's mug-shot in front would've sold for?

 

[LizzieMaine]

The teenyboppers were too busy throwing their panties at Rudy Vallee.

 

[2jakes]

The teenyboppers were too busy throwing their panties at Rudy Vallee.

And this you know first hand?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I will not deny that I had his photo on my wall when I was 14.

 

[2jakes]

I will not deny that I had his photo on my wall when I was 14.

I've never been into photos or posters of famous people or celebrities.
About the only thing I had was King Henry VIII plastered
on the outside of my bedroom door when I was about your age.

I drilled a hole on each eye to checkout who was worthy to enter my domain.

Btw: I mostly kid with people I admire greatly.

With you, I'm infatuated.

But don't hold it against me.
Happy Sunday!

 

[Stearmen]

I also forgot about the dance of sin, that no teenage girls should be allowed to dance, since it will drive them into a sexual frenzy! As you have guessed, I am talking about that decadent dance, the Waltz!

 

[Stearmen]

As long as there have been teenagers, there have been adults complaining about them!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Teenagers disgracing themselves in public in 1937. That Arthur Murray ought to be locked up for setting American youth down the path to perdition. Next thing you know they'll be joining the YCL.

 

[MisterCairo]

If only Jolson had Col. Parker.

He'd have died at age 42 in his bathroom?

 

[2jakes]

He'd have died at age 42 in his bathroom?

Not if his "mammy" had been around!