The Ford Show: Hoagy Carmichael (6/15/61)

[@onenamlit3861]

Hoagy was a genius and more than a bit subversive. A perfect example of this is at 14:00: The Hong Kong Blues, a wonderfully subtle ode to Opium. While he avoided sure controversy by switching the word "opium" to "loco man" on this show, Hoagy left in the lyric (2x) about "kicking old Buddha's gong". It's also worthy to note that Hoagy changed the original subject of the song to "an unfortunate Memphis man", from "an unfortunate colored man".

[@patriciaallen2089]

Beautiful version of stardust

[@donnavaughn9409]

I am 70 and I sang that song with friends when we lived on Oahu in the early 1960's, and I swear I hadn't heard it for decades until listening to this program. Never saw H. Carmichael before and always thought he was black because of his name, for some reason. Someone should write a screenplay about his life, it could be interesting. People in those days, did not have the daily interruptions like we do now, and their minds were able to come up with tunes and words easier I believe.

[@DOOMJESUS]

PERHAPS YOU JUST ROMANTICIZE YOUR OWN DRUG USE AS MOST ADDICTS DO; BUT THE SONG IS NOT AN "ODE TO OPIUM", IT IS A CAUTIONARY TALE.

[@onenamlit3861]

@@DOOMJESUS of course it's an ode to opium. It is also a cautionary tale. Not all odes are positive. And why are you yelling?

[@angelamarsters9169]

Lol

[@colinwarner7762]

Hoagy was a master at his music and Ernie had a fantastic voice Boy, we had the best of music from the 30s through to about 69.

[@jugglenautics]

Thank you for posting this. This was a golden age for live television. The animated Peanuts intro and the live commercials are awesome. I

[@cynthiarowley719]

You might have your favorite version in mind. Its a marvel to have this moment from live television. Folks stayed home for this and they saw it once. And, now i know what a 61 Ford was like😊

[@yvesfrancoisritmo]

Reminding me of my youth, music like this is what I grew up with on TV and radio. Great show - and Ford is as great of a singer as Hoagy. Hong Kong Blues is amazing

[@hudsony777]

Yes, always great but especially so here. HKB!

[@hughmanatee7657]

Hoagy-one of the giants of the “American Songbook”!

[@JakeMabe1]

These are so much fun. I wish the entire run was available. It makes me forget about the insanity of 2021.

[@230608grace]

Getting worse in 22 Just love Ernie Ford Hoagie Carmichael was true great. Wish we had music like that today.

[@AdaraBalabusta]

The intro is postmodern pop culture. “Old Buttermilk Sky” is one of my all-time songs. ❤

[@230608grace]

I still some nights listen to Mr. Ford's gospel music and hymns.

[@RobertoDallossi]

Fantastic! I loooooooove Stardust! Best regards from Brazil.

[@lucyflorey9152]

I loved Tennessee and still listen to him. I was six years old when this aired. I didn't appreciate Hoagy until later in life.

[@hughmanatee7657]

Ernie is perfect on “Georgia,” and Hoagy looks impressed.

[@StevenTorrey]

Hoagy Carmichael (November 22, 1899 - December 27, 1981)

[@Juliaflo]

Hoagland Howard Carmichael.

[@Kikiyayazengardens]

I am Dutch and learning Stardust on my ukelele and that is how I ended up here. I love the 1950s 60s tv shows in the US.

[@lemokolyon]

Learning Cosmics on my piano.. not that easy...

[@lemokolyon]

Watch '' Monkey song '' by Hoagy Carmichael from movie. Worth seeing.... 💪

[@Lupinthe3rd.]

Fun Fact: Hoagy Carmichael was the physical model for James Bond in Ian Fleming's novels and is mentioned by people in the books bond bears a resemblance to Hoagy.

[@smokeyallanritter3211]

Thanks so much for posting this!

[@banjochris]

Wonderful!

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Is there a more beautiful song than "Stardust"?

[@jaygatz4335]

Possibly "Skylark".

[@BenW-t1j]

Maybe “Georgia on My Mind”.

[@zipadeed00dah]

No, no there's not.

[@mariabiggart8682]

My Lord it’s so wonderful a piece of music

[@AllenJones-w3p]

​​@@jaygatz4335"Skylark" was covered by Linda Ronstadt. Lovely recording.

[@mrjack4808]

Like seeing Tennesse Ernie Ford and the cast clap their hands as they sing gospel.

[@snoppitt2]

so fun! thanks for sharing

[@SpeegBJ]

Not only was I alive when this aired, I was 13 years old and never forgot seeing Carmichael.

[@StevenTorrey]

The Ford add as homage to the 1957 Broadway Play, The Music Man.

[@waynemoenkhaus486]

It has been passed down in the family that my relative William E, Moenkhaus notated the song “Stardust” for him since they were close friends.

[@brucep9729]

Hard to imagine, once apon a time in America!

[@230608grace]

.......today where is the country headed!!!!!!!!

[@orbyfan]

This was broadcast three months before Hoagy appeared in "The Flintstones" singing "Yabba Dabba Dabba Dabba Doo," which, for some reason, failed to become a hit.

[@mistergrandpasbakery9941]

I should have been born 20 years eariler. Nuff said!

[@timcarr6401]

But Ernie died in 1991 --30 years ago. Hoagy died a decade before, in 1981 -- 40 years ago.

[@johnheppenstall4904]

Smooth, romantic, nostalgic and yep, a little sexy. Who's not gonna fall in love with/to his music?

[@John-fj9oh]

Hoaghy looks like louey peters on gunsmoke

[@tonywolton]

60 years ago, the 'hi honey, I'm home' era. 1961 was just an extension of 1955, ads for cars and smoke Camels. I love all the nostalgia, but these were the last of the good old days? A few years later people would be walking around naked at Woodstock.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Yeah, this was my parents' era.

[@230608grace]

I believe Ernie truly enjoyed this show with Hoagy.

[@joeykardos7602]

Is the announcer John Harlan?

[@geraldbaker4019]

Mhm

[@230608grace]

Hoagie sure had rhythm in his soul.

[@Ffejro12256]

Not to take away from the performance of HC but, wow, that whole show was so White. A reflection of the times. We have come a long way. Not perfect today, but certainly different from the early 60s.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Well true. I saw this in how my parents were in their youth in the 50's.

[@dirtlevel]

And?

[@pegbars]

Yes, I miss that, too.

[@Lee7049-f7z]

@@dirtlevel No sleazery, profanity, transgender BS, DEI lies.Just good, Wholesome entertainment. May it return.

[@dianawallis1126]

I had no idea Hoagy wrote "Georgia on My Mind"!

[@timcarr6401]

He was responsible for the melody.

[@bevnfred]

He also wrote the Monsters Inc. theme. Uncredited theme from Old Rockin’ Chair.

[@benthead]

I grew up during this era, and I must say, I feel absolutely no nostalgia for Tennessee Ernie Ford and his rendition of Americana. This part of our history today to me seems as though it was from another planet.

[@hudsony777]

True. I know practically nothing about him. But he has one Hoagy song...Georgia on My Mind... that showcases a fine voice. Very different from Ray Charles. Otherwise, it does seem interplanetary. Saturn? Alpha Centauri? But I love Hoagy's Hong Kong Blues and it's very fine here.

[@thomjones44]

I can't speak for everybody else i'm only going to speak for myself. Hoagy in fact was a genius that's the bottom line here. Now when I think of Hoagy Carmichael the first thing that comes to mind for me is when he was on the Flintstones & the Yabba Dabba Do song. Again i'm speaking for myself.

[@lemon1peach2mango3]

oh man this is crazy

[@ruthc8407]

I thought I'd never see Tenn. Earnie Ford RAPPING, but 9:48 is the proof.

[@rosemarymagrino772]

I wonder if Hoagy Carmichael lived to see Ray Charles sing Georgia On My Mind?

[@MrJoeybabe25]

I wonder if Jim Nabors was inspired by TEF.

[@cybrarian9]

The joke he missed was "We sent our kids to summer camp. The only problem is ... they came back."

[@sodality3970]

Are you sure this isn't 1971 ??

[@notthatyouasked6656]

I was wondering if this was post-1961, but the show only ran 1956-61. The Peanuts opening in particular threw me off, but apparently there were a number of Peanuts animations done for Ford starting in 1959, a full 6 years before A Charlie Brown Christmas. There are others on KZbin.

[@geraldbaker4019]

I am sure this is 1961.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

Sure looks like a '61 Ford in the commercial with Tennessee Ernie Ford describing it as such.

[@geraldbaker4019]

@@WAL_DC-6B Yes.

[@Treebard]

Tennessee Ernie Ford was not prominent anymore in the '70s. The '70s were the time of Sonny and Cher and Carol Burnett! 🤩

[@viking670]

Wow, back when there was a place called America. Now it's rap, blm, antifa, with critical race theory and open borders. A time machine would come in quite handy right now.

[@KaBoomChannel]

1961? Who had color televisions back then?

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

The early-adopting rich, typically. I saw this play out when HD came in.

[@pegbars]

NBC/RCA was first with compatible color television. While the program was being fed down the line in color, areas like mine saw it in B&W - not because sets weren't available, but because local stations weren't yet converted to color.

[@AllenJones-w3p]

RCA was NBC's parent company at the time.

[@StevenTorrey]

I never thought it could be even possible for anyone to ruin "Stardust"--but by gosh, they sure succeeded! They turned a bitter-sweet song, sung in a minor key, about time lost into an overdose of bad saccharine.

[@magnificentfailure2390]

It's a good thing the composer wasn't there. /s

[@b.deville3236]

Steven Torrey; "Stardust" isn't in a minor key. The standard key is C major. But preach to us all about it, Beethoven.

[@StevenTorrey]

@@b.deville3236 Thanks for that info. I sounds like a minor key to my ear.

[@cynthiarowley719]

I wonder if Hoagy liked it? So many big band versions, and Choral versions, of Stardust.

[@kateetakea2285]

Hoagy wrote Stardust, Mitchell Davis the lyrics.

[@mariabiggart8682]

Lord those back singers spoil the whole thing ,,, but of it’s time

[@dallaskenn]

15:17 He's wearing a Tupee'.

[@gwenniegirl50]

Hoagy Carmichael? Sorry you’re so very mistaken. 40+ years licensed cosmetologist here

[@WickBeavers]

The greatest generation, kids are 40, Fords have nipples but girls don’t, ain’t one single black singer dancer (to keep the bar white and low) and the chorus barely pays rent in Arkansas but somebody presses their undies. This show has been traced to the earliest vestiges of QANON and Donald Trump. The playbook for “Make America Great Again”.

[@paulafranceschi]

We didn't watch this show. The guy is such a Southern stereotype.

[@mikel2283]

oh the irony of this comment....