Burl Ives

At 85 years old, Burl Ives has this physical status:

Burl Icle Ives (1909-April 14, 1995) was an American singer and actress of stage, film, radio, and television. Ives began as an itinerant singer and banjoist and then appeared on his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs.

In 1942, he appeared in Irving Berlin's This Is the Army and later became a major star of CBS radio.

He successfully migrated into country music in the 1960s, with hits such as "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way of Laughing."

Ives' best-known film roles in the late 1940s and 1950s included scenes in So Dear to My Heart (1949) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), as well as Rufus Hannassey in The Big Country (1958), for whom he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. On What's My Line, he was a mystery guest. He was identified by Bennett Cerf on August 7, 1955, and again on February 1, 1959, when Martin Gabel first identified him. Sam the Snowman, the narrator of the 1964 Christmas television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, is often remembered for his voice-over duties.

Personal life

Helen Peck Ehrlich, a 29-year-old script writer, married Ives, then 36, on December 6, 1945. Alexander, their son, was born in 1949.

In February 1971, Ives and Helen Peck Ehrlich were divorced. Dorothy Koster Paul was born in London two months ago and Ives then married them in London. Ives and Paul lived in Anacortes, Washington, Washington, as part of the Puget Sound area, as well as Galisteo, New Mexico, along the Turquoise Trail in their later years. He had another home on Elbow Cay, a barrier island in the Bahamas, in the 1960s.

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Life and career

Ives was born in Hunt City, Illinois, near Newton, to Levi "Frank" Ives (1880-1947) and Cordelia "Dellie" (née White, 1882–1954). Audry, Artie, Clarence, Argola, Lillburn, Lillburn, and Norma had six siblings: Audry, Artie, Clarence, Argo, Lillburn, and Norma. His father was first a fisherman and then a general contractor for the county and others. Ives and his mother were singing in the garden with his mother one day, while his uncle overheard them. At the old soldiers' reunion in Hunt City, he invited his nephew to perform. The boy gave the audience and his uncle a rendition of the folk ballad "Barbara Allen" and delighted both his uncle and the audience.

Ives played football in Charleston, Illinois, from 1927 to 1929. Ives attended Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (now Eastern Illinois University) in Charleston, Illinois, where he played football. He was in English class, listening to a Beowulf talk, when he suddenly realized he was wasting his time. The professor made a snide remark as he stepped out of the door, and Ives slammed the door behind him, shattering the glass in the door. The school named a building after the school's most popular dropout six years ago. Ives was a member of the Order of Demolay in Charleston, and he is listed in the DeMolay Hall of Fame. In 1927, he was also initiated into Scottish Rite Freemasonry. In 1987, he was voted Grand Cross to his 33rd and highest rank, and afterward was proclaimed the Grand Cross.

Ives made a trial recording of "Behind the Clouds" for the Starr Piano Company's Gennett label on July 23, 1929, but it was blocked and lost a few weeks later. Ives' attendance in later years did not know they had broken the record.

During the early 1930s, Ives toured the United States as an itinerant singer, performing odd jobs and playing his banjo. He was sentenced to Mona, Utah, for vaping and performing "Foggy Dew" (an English folk song), which the authorities considered to be a bad joke. He began on WBOW radio in Terre Haute, Indiana, around 1931. He went back to school and continued to attend classes at Indiana State Teachers College (now Indiana State University). Ives attended the Juilliard School in New York in 1933. He made his Broadway debut in 1938 with a small role in Rodgers and Hart's hit musical, The Boys from Syracuse. Eddie Albert, a 1939 narrator who appeared in The Boys from Syracuse in Los Angeles, accompanied him. In Hollywood's Beachwood Canyon neighborhood, the two lived in an apartment for a while.

After one of his ballads, Ives named his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger, in 1940. Over the next decade, he's popular folk songs, including "Foggy Dew," "The Blue Tail Fly," (an old minstrel tune now known as "Jimmy Crack Corn"), and "Big Rock Candy Mountain" (an old hobo tune). He was also associated with the Almanacs, a folk-sing group that featured Woody Guthrie, Will Geer, Millard Lampell, and Pete Seeger. The Almanacs were instrumental in the American Peace Mobilization (APM), a far left party that was initially opposed to the USA's entry into World War II and Franklin Roosevelt's pro-Allied policies. "Get Out and Stay Out of War" and "Franklin, Oh Franklin were among their recorded songs.

The APM dropped its pacifist approach in June 1941, after the Soviet Union's Axis invasion, and reorganized itself into the pro-war American People's Mobilization. Several of their songs were rerecorded by Ives and the Almanacs to reflect the group's new stance against US involvement in the conflict. Among them were "Dear Mr. President" and "Reuben James" (the name of a US destroyer that was sunk by the Germans before the official US entry into the war).

Ives was recruited into the United States Army in early 1942. He spent time at Camp Dix first, then at Camp Upton, where he joined the cast of Irving Berlin's This Is the Army. He was promoted to corporal rank. When the show went to Hollywood, he was transferred to the Army Air Forces. In September 1943, he was honorably discharged, presumably for medical reasons. Ives lived in California between September and December 1943, with actor Harry Morgan. In December 1943, Ives went to New York City to work for CBS Radio for $100 a week. He produced The Lonesome Train, a ballad about Abraham Lincoln's life and death, which was written by Earl Robinson (music) and Lampell (lyrics).

In the film Smoky, Ives was depicted as a singing cowboy.

Ives recorded one of many versions of "The Blue Tail Fly" in 1947, but this time with the renowned Andrews Sisters (Patty, Maxene, and Laverne). The flip side of the record was a fast-paced "I'm Goin' Down the Road." Ives hoped that the trio's success would help the album do well, which it did, becoming both a best-selling record and a Billboard hit.

After Ives introduced it in the 1949 film So Dear to My Heart, his interpretation of the song "Lavender Blue" became his first hit and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

"Ives' voice... had the sheen and finesse of opera without the pretensions of operatic ritual," music critic John Rockwell said. Without being genteel in social conformity, it had a genteel's expressive effect. "It moved people."

Ives was named in the 1950 pamphlet Red Channels and blacklisted as an entertainer with alleged Communist links. He collaborated with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1952 and promised to testify, afraid of losing his source of income. Ives' HUAC speech ended his blacklisting, allowing him to continue acting in films, but it also caused a rift between Ives and several folk singers, including Pete Seeger, who accused Ives of naming names and betraying the cause of political and political freedom to save his own career. Seeger has been chastised for publicly criticizing several of the far left groups he had admired. Ives, who was wheelchaired at the time, reunited with Seeger at a benefit concert in New York City in 1993, having reconciled years ago. Together, they performed "Blue Tail Fly" together.

During the decade, Ives' film appearances have increased. Sam the Sheriff of Salinas, California, in Big Daddy on a Hot Tin Roof, and Our Man in Havana, both based on the Graham Greene novel, are among his film credits.

He was banned from American service for a time, and he appeared on BBC Radio's Children's Hour, with titles including "Big Rock Candy Mountain," "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Peak" and "Lavender Blue."

He appeared on What's My Line between August 7, 1955 and 1959.

Ives began performing country music more often in the 1960s. "A Little Bitty Tear," "Call Me Mister In-Between," and "Funny Way of Laughing" were three songs that were popular with both country music and devoted music enthusiasts in 1962.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Ives appeared in several film and television roles. He performed "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" in 1961 for a short film produced by the National Film Board of Canada. In 1962, he appeared in The Spiral Road, which was based on a Jan de Hartog novel. In addition to Hayley Mills, Dorothy McGuire, and Eddie Hodges' appearance in Disney's Summer Magic, Richard Sherman and Robert Sherman appeared, as well as a score by Robert and Richard Sherman. He appeared in the film The Brass Bottle with Tony Randall and Barbara Eden in 1964.

After being first featured in the 1964 NBC-TV premiere of the Rankin/Bass stop-motion animated family special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Ives' "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Silver and Gold" became Christmas ornaments. Johnny Marks had written the title song (originally a hit for singing cowboy Gene Autry) in 1949, and producers Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass retained him to compose the TV special's soundtrack. Sam the Snowman, the banjo-playing "host" and narrator of the tale, described how Rudolph saved Christmas from being cancelled due to an impassable blizzard. Ives rerecorded all three of Johnny Marks hits, although with a more "pop" feel this year. He introduced them as singles for the 1965 holiday season, cashing on their previous success.

Ives appeared in other television shows, including Pinocchio and Roots.

Crackerby!

Walter Nichols appeared in The Bold Ones: The Lawyers (1969–72), a part of the wheel series The Bold Ones, from 1969 to 1972.

The 1971 season highlight film for the National Football League, narrated Ives, which was produced by NFL Films. Ed Sabol, the founder of NFL Films, and Steve Sabol, Ed Sabol's uncle, was the chief producer. Members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame include Ed and Steve Sabol.

Ives has appeared in macabre-themed productions for a short time. For example, he appeared in The Man Who Wanted to Live Forever, in which his role seeks to harvest human organs from unwilling donors. In 1972, he appeared as "The Other Way Out" in Rod Serling's Night Gallery's "The Other Way Out," in which his character seeks a horrific revenge for his granddaughter's murder.

On October 25, 1975, Ives was awarded the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit in honor of his contribution to American vocal music. "The award, which was initiated in 1964, was intended to give a mark of appreciation to an individual who has made a lasting contribution to the field of music each year and has helped to establish a climate in which our talents may have a voice."

Ives, the main host of Disneyland in 1974, was named Sam Eagle, an Audio-Animatronic.

In the 1970s, Ives lent his name and image to the "This Land Is Your Land – Keep It Clean" campaign of the US Bureau of Land Management. Johnny Horizon, the program's fictional spokesman, was depicted here.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Burl Ives was often seen in television commercials for Luzianne tea.

In Samuel Fuller's controversial and critically acclaimed film White Dog, he appeared in 1982 as Carruthers, a dog trainer.

On his 80th birthday, Ives officially announced his resignation from show business in 1989. However, he continued to perform occasional benefit concert appearances of his own accord until 1993.

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