Burl Ives | |
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_(cropped).png) Ives inCat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) | |
| Born | Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (1909-06-14)June 14, 1909 Hunt City, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | April 14, 1995(1995-04-14) (aged 85) Anacortes, Washington, U.S. |
| Burial place | Mound Cemetery,Hunt City Township, Jasper County, Illinois |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1929–1993 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 |
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| Musical career | |
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Musical artist | |
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades.
Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own radio show,The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs. In 1942, he appeared inIrving Berlin'sThis Is the Army and became a major star ofCBS Radio. In the 1960s, Ives successfully crossed over intocountry music, recording hits such as "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way of Laughin'". He was also a popular film actor through the late 1940s and '50s. Ives's film roles included parts inSo Dear to My Heart (1948) andCat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), as well as the role of Rufus Hannassey inThe Big Country (1958), for which Ives won anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the film noirDay of the Outlaw (1959).
Ives is often associated with the Christmas season. He did voice-over work as Sam the Snowman, narrator of the classic 1964 Christmas television specialRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Ives also worked on thespecial's soundtrack, including the songs "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", both of which continue to chart annually on theBillboard holiday charts into the 2020s.[1]
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was born on June 14, 1909, inHunt City, an unincorporated town inJasper County, Illinois, nearNewton, to Levi "Frank" Ives (1880–1947) and Cordelia "Dellie" (née White; 1882–1954). He had six siblings: Audry, Artie, Clarence, Argola, Lillburn, and Norma. Frank was first a farmer and then a contractor for the county and others. One day, Ives was singing in the garden with Dellie, and his uncle overheard them. He invited his nephew to sing at the old soldiers' reunion in Hunt City. The boy performed a rendition of the folk ballad "Barbara Allen" and impressed both his uncle and the audience.[2]
Ives graduated from Newton High School in 1927.[3] From 1927 to 1929, he attended Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (nowEastern Illinois University) inCharleston, Illinois, where he played football.[4] As a junior, Ives was sitting in English class, listening to a lecture onBeowulf, when he suddenly realized he was wasting his time. As Ives walked out of the door, the professor made a snide remark and Ives slammed the door behind him, shattering the window in the door.[5] Sixty years later, the school named a building after its most famous dropout.[6] Ives was a member of the Charleston Chapter ofThe Order of DeMolay and is listed in the DeMolay Hall of Fame. He was also initiated intoScottish Rite Freemasonry in 1927.[7] In 1987, Ives was elevated to the 33rd and highest degree,[8][9] and was later elected the Grand Cross.[10]
On July 23, 1929, inRichmond, Indiana, Ives made a trial recording of "Behind the Clouds" for the Starr Piano Company'sGennett label, but the recording was rejected and destroyed a few weeks later. In his later years, Ives did not recall having made the record.[11]
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Ives traveled about the United States as an itinerant singer during the early 1930s, earning his way by doing odd jobs and playing hisbanjo. Ives was jailed inMona, Utah, forvagrancy and for singing "Foggy Dew" (an English folk song), which the authorities decided was abawdy song.[12] Around 1931, he began performing onWBOW radio inTerre Haute, Indiana. Ives also went back to school, attending classes at Indiana State Teachers College (nowIndiana State University).[13] In 1933, he also attended theJuilliard School in New York. Five years later, Ives made his Broadway debut with a small role inRodgers and Hart's hit musical,The Boys from Syracuse. In 1939, he joined his friend and fellow actorEddie Albert, who had the starring role inThe Boys from Syracuse, in Los Angeles. The two shared an apartment for a while in theBeachwood Canyon community of Hollywood.
In 1940, Ives named his own radio show,The Wayfaring Stranger, after one of his ballads. Over the next decade, Ives popularized several traditional folk songs, such as "Foggy Dew", "The Blue Tail Fly" (an oldminstrel tune now better known as "Jimmy Crack Corn"), and "Big Rock Candy Mountain" (an oldhobo song). He was also associated with theAlmanacs, a folk-singing group which at different times includedWoody Guthrie,Will Geer,Millard Lampell, andPete Seeger. The Almanacs were active in theAmerican Peace Mobilization (APM), a far-left group initially opposed to American entry intoWorld War II andFranklin Roosevelt's pro-Allied policies. They recorded such songs as "Get Out and Stay Out of War" and "Franklin, Oh Franklin".[14]
In June 1941, after theAxis invasion of the Soviet Union, the APM abandoned its pacifist stance and reorganized itself into the pro-war American People's Mobilization. Ives and the Almanacs rerecorded several of their songs to reflect the group's new stance in favor of U.S. entry into the war. Among them were "Dear Mr. President" and "Reuben James" (the name of aU.S. destroyer sunk by the Germans before the official U.S. entry into the war).[14]
In early 1942, Ives was drafted into theU.S. Army. He spent time first atCamp Dix, then atCamp Upton, where he joined the cast ofIrving Berlin'sThis Is the Army. Ives attained the rank of corporal.[citation needed] When the show went to Hollywood, he was transferred to theArmy Air Forces. Ives was honorably discharged, apparently for medical reasons, in September 1943. Between September and December 1943, he lived in California with actorHarry Morgan. In December 1943, Ives went toNew York City to work forCBS Radio for $100 a week.[15] In 1944, he recordedThe Lonesome Train, a ballad about the life and death ofAbraham Lincoln, written byEarl Robinson (music) and Lampell (lyrics).
In 1946, Ives was cast as a singing cowboy in the filmSmoky.[16] The following year, he recorded one of many versions of "The Blue Tail Fly", but paired this time with the popularAndrews Sisters (Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne). The flip side of the record was a fast-paced "I'm Goin' Down the Road". Ives hoped the trio's success would help the record sell well, which it did, becoming both a best-selling disc and aBillboard hit.[17]
Ives's version of the song "Lavender Blue" became his first hit and was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Original Song after Ives introduced it in the 1949 filmSo Dear to My Heart.
Music criticJohn Rockwell said, "Ives' voice ... had the sheen and finesse of opera without its latter-dayPuccinian vulgarities and without the pretensions of operatic ritual. It was genteel in expressive impact without being genteel in social conformity. And it moved people".[18]
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Ives was identified in the 1950 pamphletRed Channels andblacklisted as an entertainer with supposed Communist ties.[19] Two years later, he cooperated with theHouse Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and agreed to testify, fearful of losing his source of income. Ives's statement to the HUAC ended his blacklisting, allowing him to continue acting in movies. However, it also led to a bitter rift between Ives and many folk singers, includingPete Seeger, who accused Ives of naming names and betraying the cause of cultural and political freedom to save his own career. Seeger publicly ridiculed Ives for attempting to distance himself from many of the far-left organizations he had supported.[20] In 1993, Ives, by then using a wheelchair, reunited with Seeger during a benefit concert in New York City, having reconciled years earlier. They sang "Blue Tail Fly" together.[21]
| External audio | |
|---|---|
 Wayfaring Stranger Burl Ives Performs at the Book and Author Luncheon, 17:33, Ives begins at 4:00,WNYC, 1954[22] |
Ives expanded his appearances in films during this decade. Ives' movie credits include the role of Sam the Sheriff of Salinas, California, inEast of Eden, Big Daddy inCat on a Hot Tin Roof, roles inDesire Under the Elms,Wind Across the Everglades,The Big Country, for which he won anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor,Ensign Pulver, the sequel toMister Roberts, andOur Man in Havana, based on theGraham Greene novel.
Barred for a while from American employment, Ives frequently played on BBC Radio'sChildren's Hour, with such favorites as "Big Rock Candy Mountain", "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain", and "Lavender Blue". He also performed at the Royal Coronation festival in 1952, which purportedly was also attended by a youngJohn Lennon andPaul McCartney.[23]
Ives was the Mystery Guest on the August 7, 1955, and February 1, 1959, episodes ofWhat's My Line.
In the 1960s, Ives began singingcountry music with greater frequency. In 1962, he released three songs that were popular with both country music and popular music fans: "A Little Bitty Tear", "Call Me Mister In-Between", and "Funny Way of Laughin'". Ives' records, recorded in Nashville forDecca Records, were produced byOwen Bradley, one of the record producers who (along withChet Atkins) helped define theNashville Sound style of country music that expanded the music's appeal to a wider audience. Bradley used theNashville A-Team of session musicians behind Ives, including theAnita Kerr Singers, which enhanced Ives's appeal. Bradley also produced the recording of Ives's perennial Holiday favorite "A Holly Jolly Christmas" in Nashville.
Ives had several film and television roles during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1961, he sang the folk song, "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" for a short film of the same name produced by theNational Film Board of Canada.[24] The following year, Ives starred withRock Hudson inThe Spiral Road, which was based on a novel of the same name byJan de Hartog. Ives also starred in Disney'sSummer Magic withHayley Mills,Dorothy McGuire, andEddie Hodges, and a score byRobert andRichard Sherman. In 1964, he played the genie in the movieThe Brass Bottle withTony Randall andBarbara Eden.
Ives's "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Silver and Gold" became Christmas standards after they were first featured in the 1964 NBC-TV presentation of theRankin/Bass stop-motion animated family specialRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.Johnny Marks had composed the title song (originally an enormous hit for singing cowboyGene Autry) in 1949, and producersArthur Rankin, Jr. andJules Bass retained him to compose the TV special's soundtrack. Ives voiced Sam the Snowman, the banjo-playing "host" and narrator of the story, explaining how Rudolph used his "nonconformity", as Sam refers to it, to save Christmas from being canceled due to an impassable blizzard. The following year, Ives rerecorded all three of the Johnny Marks hits that he had sung in the TV special, but with a more "pop" feel. Ives released them all as singles for the 1965 holiday season, capitalizing on their previous success.[citation needed] In 2022, 27 years after his death, "A Holly Jolly Christmas", made theBillboard Year-End chart.[25]
Ives performed in other television productions, includingPinocchio andRoots.
Ives starred in short-livedO.K. Crackerby! (1965–66), a comedy that costarred Hal Buckley, Joel Davison, andBrooke Adams, about the presumed richest man in the world, which replacedWalter Brennan's somewhat similarThe Tycoon on the ABC schedule from the preceding year.
Ives played Walter Nichols in the dramaThe Bold Ones: The Lawyers (1969–72), a segment of thewheel seriesThe Bold Ones.
Ives narrated the1971 season highlight film for theWashington Redskins of theNational Football League produced byNFL Films. The Executive Producer was NFL Films founderEd Sabol, and chief producer was Ed's son,Steve Sabol. Ed and Steve Sabol are members of thePro Football Hall of Fame.
Ives occasionally starred in macabre-themed productions. In 1970, for example, he played the title role inThe Man Who Wanted to Live Forever, in which his character attempts to harvest human organs from unwilling donors. In 1972, he appeared as old man Doubleday in the episode "The Other Way Out" ofRod Serling'sNight Gallery, in which his character seeks a gruesome revenge for the murder of his granddaughter.
In honor of Ives's influence on American vocal music, he was awarded theUniversity of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit on October 25, 1975.[26] This award, initiated in 1964, was "established to bring a declaration of appreciation to an individual each year who has made a significant contribution to the world of music and helped to create a climate in which our talents may find valid expression."
WhenAmerica Sings opened atDisneyland in 1974, Ives voiced the main host, Sam Eagle, anAudio-Animatronic.
In 1976, Ives was featured as a main character inLittle House on the Prairie season 3 episode 10 titled "The Hunters". He played an old fur trapper who was blind and afraid to leave the comfort and safety of his cabin, which he shared with his adult son (Johnny Crawford). In this episode, Ives paired off with Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) to help rescue her injured father, who was accidentally shot while hunting for venison.[27]
Ives lent his name and image to the U.S.Bureau of Land Management's "This Land Is Your Land – Keep It Clean" campaign in the 1970s. He was portrayed with the program's fictional spokesman,Johnny Horizon.
Ives was seen regularly in television commercials forLuzianne tea for several years during the 1970s and 1980s, when he was the company's commercial spokesman.[28]
In 1982, Ives played Carruthers, a dog trainer, inSamuel Fuller's controversial and critically acclaimed filmWhite Dog.
In 1989, Ives officially announced his retirement from show business on his 80th birthday. However, Ives continued to do occasional benefit concert performances of his own accord until 1993.
Ives'sBroadway career included appearances inThe Boys from Syracuse (1938–39),Heavenly Express (1940),This Is the Army (1942),Sing Out, Sweet Land (1944),Paint Your Wagon (1951–52), andDr. Cook's Garden (1967). His most notable Broadway performance (later reprised in a 1958 movie) was as "Big Daddy" Pollitt inCat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955–56).
Ives's autobiography,The Wayfaring Stranger, was published in 1948.[29] He also wrote or compiled several other books, includingBurl Ives' Songbook (1953),Tales of America (1954),Sea Songs of Sailing, Whaling, and Fishing (1956), andThe Wayfaring Stranger's Notebook (1962).
Ives had a long-standing relationship with theBoy Scouts of America. He was aLone Scout before that group merged with the Boy Scouts of America in 1924.[30] The organization "inducted" Ives in 1966.[31] Ives received the Boy Scouts'Silver Buffalo Award, its highest honor. The certificate for the award is on display at the Scouting Museum inValley Forge, Pennsylvania.[32]
Ives often performed at the quadrennial Boy Scouts of Americajamboree, including the 1981 jamboree atFort A.P. Hill in Virginia, where he shared the stage with theOak Ridge Boys.[33] There is a 1977 sound recording of Ives being interviewed by Boy Scouts at the National Jamboree atMoraine State Park, Pennsylvania.[34] Ives was also the narrator of a 28-minute film about the 1977 National Jamboree. In the film, which was produced by the Boy Scouts of America, Ives "shows the many ways in which Scouting provides opportunities for young people to develop character and expand their horizons."[35]
Ives was inducted as a laureate ofthe Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the state's highest honor) by the governor of Illinois in 1976 in the area of the performing arts.[36]
Ives was inducted into theDeMolay International Hall of Fame in June 1994.[37]
On December 6, 1945, Ives, then 36, married 29-year-old script writer Helen Peck Ehrlich.[38] Their son, Alexander, was born in 1949.[39]
Ives and Helen Peck Ehrlichdivorced in February 1971.[40] Ives married Dorothy Koster Paul inLondon two months later.[41] In their later years, Ives and Paul lived in a waterfront home inAnacortes, Washington, in thePuget Sound area, and inGalisteo, New Mexico, near theTurquoise Trail. In the 1960s, he had another home just south ofHope Town onElbow Cay, a barrier island of theAbacos in theBahamas.[42]
Ives, a longtime smoker of pipes and cigars, was diagnosed withoral cancer in the summer of 1994. After several unsuccessful operations, he decided against further surgery. Ives fell into acoma and died from the disease on April 14, 1995, at his home inAnacortes, Washington; he was 85 years old.[43] Ives was buried at Mound Cemetery inHunt City Township, Jasper County, Illinois.[44]
Magnolia Lodge (now Magnolia-La Cumbre Lodge) No. 242 in Santa Barbara, California. Knight Templar, St. Omer Commandery No.30, Santa Barbara, Apr. 15, 1978; Shrine, inducted at Al Malaikah Shrine Temple, Los Angeles, 33 deg. AASR, Grand Cross.(the oldest original or un-merged Masonic Lodge in the District of Columbia)
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