Friday Gripe (or "Dawn's Early Night")

To close out another week of gripes, I've chosen as my subject a great entertainer who passed away this past week, singer-actor Robert Goulet.

Goulet had a unique musical voice. His talented career spanned film, stage, television, and radio. Goulet was a remarkable performer. But, sometimes he had a few blunders.

I remember years back watching blooper shows (they drew a lot of ratings back in the 1980s). One show I remember seeing had a black-and-white film of Goulet back in the 1960s performing (or at least trying to) the National Anthem. Right off the bat, he flubbed the opening line. "Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early night". NIGHT? Well, that was a day done quick, didn't it? Needless to say, the audience booed and booed. Anyway, that was some ultimate insult to Francis Scott Key's patriotic composition, wasn't it? Yes...at least until Roseanne ruined it even further decades later. By the way, the opening line should go, "...by the dawn's early LIGHT".

I didn't know until news of Goulet's death hit that I learned where that footage came from...a 1965 boxing match that featured Muhammad Ali (still "The Greatest Athlete" in my book).

Another blunder Goulet committed that I saw on the blooper shows was (I believe) from the old "Mike Douglas Show" (I think...or was it another daily pre-Oprah talk show?) Anyway, here was Goulet picking a lovely girl from the audience to sing to. The song was called "The Nearness Of you". Boy, how he serenaded and kissed her on the forehead. "Her", that is, until "her" was revealed to be a man in drag!!! (calling Dustin "Tootsie" Hoffman.) Boy, was Goulet embarrassed! Yes, entertainers are entitled to a few mistakes. But all-in-all, he was a great artist to the end. He will be sorely missed.

Have a great weekend...back next week! And don't forget to set your clocks back on Saturday night for the return of Standard Time (Hooray! Longer nights are back!!! I love it when it gets dark early.)

NEXT TIME: Football's Version Of "Last Man Standing"--Take II