Klarinet Archive - Posting 000396.txt from 1996/05

From: Fred Cicetti <cicetti@-----.COM>
Subj: Under a blanket, etc.
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 17:56:50 -0400

Couldn't agree more with Dan Leeson on "The Benny Goodman Story". But
what bothered me about the movie was how they cleaned up Benny's life.
Great horn-player; lousy human being.

Anyone who saw the PBS bio on Benny and then watched the Steve Allen
movie would have to barf.

On the PBS show, Benny's daughter actually says she didn't have a father.
Benny, she says, was in love with only one thing in his life--his
clarinet. He would play eight hours a day all over the house as if no one
else was there. Never even recognized his daughter's presence.

Benny also once proposed to a band singer just to keep her with the group
when she was on the brink of marrying someone else. After Benny snared
her away and got her on the road, he dumped her.

The guy was a genius and a prick. Would make a great movie.

cicetti@-----.com