Rick Just
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Author
  • Speaker
  • Contact
  • Subscriptions
  • Heroes & Villains

Tenuous Connections

10/4/2019

Comments

 
So, I’m finalizing my first book in the Speaking of Idaho series. It will be called Symbols, Signs, and Songs, and it will be out in the next few weeks.
 
Lana Turner, pictured below in a publicity still for the 1966 film Madame X in which she starred, was not a singer. Yet, she’s included in the Songs section of my new book. What gives?
 
Turner, who was born Julia Jean Turner in Wallace, Idaho in 1921 was a Hollywood icon. All those apocryphal Hollywood “discovered in a soda shop” stories lead back to her. She was spotted at the Top Hat Malt Shop on Sunset Boulevard sipping a Coke while skipping a typing class at Hollywood High. The publisher of Hollywood Reporter did the spotting. She was not a singer, but staying with the rules of this book (which I make up as I go along), she is included because of the reference to the star from Idaho in the song “My Baby Just Cares for Me,” by Nina Simone, Natalie Cole, and others. Bonus tenuous connection: Singer Lana Del Ray took the Lana part of her stage name from Lana Turner. Director Mervyn LeRoy assigned the name Lana to Turner, who legally changed her name to match her film persona.
 
There are more solid Idaho song connections in the book, but I have a section on the more tenuous connections, such as Lana. Here are a couple more
 
Gary Puckett, lead singer of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, graduated from Twin Falls High School in 1960. For a couple of years in the late sixties, the group blasted from AM radio antennae all over the country with hits like “Lady Willpower,” “Woman, Woman,” and “Over You.” Their biggest seller was “Young Girl,” which made it to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. They got edged out for Best New Artist in the 1969 Grammy Awards by Jose Feliciano.
 
Glenn Close, who has Emmys, Tonys, Golden Globes, and several Academy Award nominations probably doesn’t consider her performance as the lead singer of Up with People during the 1965 World Boy Scout Jamboree at Farragut State Park the high point of her career. Still, there you have it.
Picture
Speaking of Idaho history posts are copyright © 2020 by Rick Just. Sharing is encouraged. If you don’t find a button that lets you do that, find the post on Speaking of Idaho. If you’re missing my daily posts, select the RSS button, or select See it First under the Facebook Following tab.
Comments
    Picture
    The first book in the Speaking of Idaho series is out. Ask for it at your local Idaho bookstore, find it on Amazon, or, if you want a signed copy, click the button.
    Picture
    The second book in the Speaking of Idaho series is out. Ask for it at your local Idaho bookstore, find it on Amazon, or, if you want a signed copy, click the button.
    Picture
    Rick's book about Fearless Farris is available on Amazon! Click the picture above to be taken to Amazon. If you'd like an autographed copy, click the button below.

    Author, Speaker

    Rick Just has been writing about Idaho history since 1989 when he wrote and recorded scripts for the Idaho Centennial Commission’s daily radio program, Idaho Snapshots. One of his Idaho books explores the history of Idaho's state parks: Images of America, Idaho State Parks. Rick also writes a regular column for Boise Weekly.

    Rick does public presentations on Idaho's state park history and the history of the Morrisite war for the Idaho Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau.idahohumanities.org/programs/inquiring-idaho/
    ​


    Check out Rick's history of Idaho State Parks.

    The audio link below is to Rick's Story Story Night set called "Someplace Not Firth"

    RSS Feed

Speaking of Idaho history posts are copyright © 2025 by Rick Just. Sharing is encouraged. If you’re missing my daily posts, select the RSS button, or select See it First under the Facebook Following tab.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you follow a link (generally to a book) from my page to an Amazon page, I get a tiny percentage of any purchase you may make.