(433) SINGING ACTING SENSATION JOHNNY CRAWFORD : SANDY 1965 : HOLLYWOOD A GO GO

Besides the successful Shindig show, there was also the Hollywood A Go Go show. (The Go Go dance, I believe started at the Whisky - A Go Go which had girls in cages dancing.)

Johnny Crawford had a successful acting career, especially in Westerns. Then he was recorded at Delfi records by Bob Keane and in the mid sixties he has some hit singles and albums, a compilation is out on Delfi. He's most remembered for the acting role on a cowboy TV show that was popular called The Rifleman with actor Chuck Conners, one of the shows I watched. I've always loved the cowboys.

Linking to his full resume at a Rifleman - Conners site which has a bit about Delfi.

(352) THOSE ACTING SINGING SONGWRITING SENSATIONS! (DO YOU THINK JAMES DEAN COULD HAVE MADE A HIT RECORD?)

A number of the artists we're talking about here (including me) fell under the category of "ACTING - SINGING SENSATIONS."

Elvis Presley was probably the most successful at turning a music career into a musical acting career. Bobby Darin did it well. Pat Boone, Frankie Avalon, so many others sang as actors in movies.

James Dean played the bongos. He liked Jazz.
DO YOU THINK JAMES DEAN COULD HAVE MADE A HIT RECORD?

Many of us had multiple creative talents or interests.

For me it was (way back then) sculpture and photography.
Today I still play my guitar and it seems I'm always working on a song in my head.

HELLO TO MY FRIEND ACTOR LANCE LEGAULT!

LANCE LEGAULT is an old friend of mine and Elvis'... He figures in a lot of the fun we all had together at Elvis'. He was in four Elvis films: Roustabout, Viva Las Vegas, Kissin Cousins and Girls Girls Girls, in the early 1960's and as you'll see he made his name in acting... He's been in the movies continually and is still acting!


We're linking to the IMDB Database about Lance!

ME AND THE MOVIES - IN RESPONSE TO COMMENTS SENT

Friends, Thank You for sending comments and questions to me and Christine about my acting career. Let's try and let this blog answer some of those.

If you read from the beginning of this blog, you know that I was given a tremendous opportunity to be an actor early on. Then, well... The details of what happened with my acting career are in my unpublished memoir and might even shock you, but my focus became my music career.

This blog is focusing on my life in music because ultimately that is where I went when I followed my own North Star. Still, I feel that I learned so much about life being in New York young, studying acting and James Dean, and being part of a generation who emerged into the 1960's at a time when technology was advancing rapidly, allowing us to perform live on radio and television, moving from black and white to color, and, more than anything, living through changes in social attitudes and conditions that were reflected in music.

We posted a comment someone sent in that said this:

"The United States of America, that you grew up in, is rapidly falling apart. God bless you and your generation that lived and thrived in a country unique in human history. I am so sorry to see the rapid demise of a democracy that stood alone for such a brief moment in world history. Never again, in our brief life time, will we see a time when a young man from North Carolina could rise from the masses to follow a dream that all humankind shares. God bless you, Wes Bryan."

Now I appreciated the God Bless, but actually both Christine and I have more hope than this person. We still think that common people have a chance to rise up from their beginnings and become famous or at least have a great career. We know it happens all the time even if it is a rare thing and it happens more in this great United States of America than anywhere else in the world because here you don't necessarily live the life you were born into.

How much is anyone's fate we don't know. We know that hard work alone won't do it, though hard work is necessary. It is always fascinating, if not downright mystifying, to see how some idea takes hold and spreads, how trends come and go. So we want to encourage you all to know what it is you want out of life and then try your damnedest to make that happen! You never know if you don't try...

Wes and Christine

JAMES DEAN OR MARLON BRANDO?

If you could be either

the Next James Dean or The Next Marlon Brando

which would you be?

(10) Will The Real JAMES DEAN Please Stand Up?

Ever since the waitress on roller skates told me I looked like James Dean I'd made it a point to learn all I could about him. I saw his movies, "Rebel Without A Cause," and "Giant," and I had become a big James Dean fan. But James Dean had died in a tragic accident, one that shocked my generation.

For years since his death, James Dean has been idolized by actors around the world. I can't imagine trying to fit in such big shoes now, but as a 20 year old in New York, signed to United Artists as Wes Bryan, I felt up to the challenge. Hollywood was looking for someone to take his place - why not me?

"James Dean; actor, photographer, race driver, artist, ultimate rebel and represented by CMG Worldwide is one of the greatest Legends of the 20th Century."

http://www.jamesdean.com/
THE OFFICIAL SITE OF JAMES DEAN
http://people.smu.edu/shhill/index.html JAMES DEAN Uninhibited

REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) on IMDb Movie Databasehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048545/

GIANT (1956) on IMDb Movie Database - NEW LIKE 1/12/2011 click on title.