Blonde on Blonde

Blonde on Blonde
BBC Radio 2
23 - 25 August 2010

Episode 1 - Lana Turner (23 August 2010)
Mariella Frostrup tells the dramatic story of film actress Lana Turner, Queen of Film Noir and the original Sweater Girl. The epitome of the platinum blonde bombshell of her day, she had a penchant for marriage, amassing seven husbands in all, even marrying one of them for a second time, and once found herself in the witness box at a murder trial defending her own daughter for the murder of one of her lovers, a minor gangster called Johnny Stompanato.

Some say it was the performance of her life, others prefer 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', one of the classic films of the 1940's. Lana Turner's gutter-to-the-stars life - being discovered sipping a soda at the age of 15 in a Hollywood drugstore and being propelled to fame as a glamorous platinum blonde film star - inspired the dreams of a hundred would be starlets - no soda fountain bar stool would be empty again.


Episode 2 - Jayne Mansfield (24 August 2010)
Mariella Frostrup tells the story of the short but packed life of the busty blonde Hollywood bombshell Jayne Mansfield - better known for her pneumatic physique than her films. Pregnant at 15, married at 16; and at 18 the spectacularly endowed Vera Jayne Palmer left Texas for 1950s Hollywood, determined to pursue her dream of movie stardom. With a blend of homespun innocence, brazen sexuality, and a layer of peroxide, she became Jayne Mansfield, the Hollywood sex kitten extraordinaire - with a passion for self- publicity.

Though she spoke five languages fluently and boasted an IQ of 163, even Mansfield admitted the public were more interested in her body measurements than her brains. Her movie career was short-lived and by the time of her death, she was little more than a down-at heel nightclub performer.

Often overshadowed my Marilyn Monroe, the similarities between them were uncanny. They both made 29 films, they both took to drink and drugs towards the end of their lives and died young and even in death, they were both at the centre of a blaze of publicity.


Episode 3 - Peggy Lee (25 August 2010)
Peggy Lee is widely regarded as one of the most influential jazz vocalists of all time; not just a great singer but a great songwriter and member of the Song-writers' Hall of Fame.
Peggy first appeared on record with Benny Goodman in mid-August 1941, singing a wordy novelty of the day called "Elmer's Tune". Benny and Peggy shared an interest in the blues, and he spotted that she was addicted to a recently-released record by Lil Green and her Trio called "Why Don't You Do Right?". Peggy proposed that Benny should have his band play it, and he agreed. When the record was released, it was a million-seller and put Peggy Lee firmly on the map. The attention she'd paid to the black singers of the Thirties was bearing fruit. She knew Billie Holiday's work so well that throughout her career, she could produce a brilliant imitation of Billie, as you will hear on a very rare party-tape from her home, broadcast here for the very first time (by kind permission of Peggy Lee Associates LLC).

Peggy Lee was a prolific songwriter contributing the lyrics for "I Don't Know Enough About You", "It's A Good Day", "I'm Gonna Go Fishin'" (composed with Duke Ellington), "Manana", "Everything's Movin' Too Fast", "The Shining Sea", "There Will Be Another Spring", "Don't Smoke in Bed", "I Love Being Here With You", "Things Are Swingin'" and many others. She also recorded in many different settings, like an orchestra conducted by Frank Sinatra for the definitive recording of "The Folks Who Live On The Hill", and occasionally just with solo harp.
Throughout the 1950's and 60's the hits on record continued."Fever", "Pass Me By", "I'm A Woman", "Is That All There Is?", "Some Cats Know", "The Shining Sea". She continued to perform in concert, sometimes in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank nearby, and still mesmerized audiences and critics alike.
Peggy was the recipient of three Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, an Academy Award nomination, The ASCAP Award; the Presidents Award; the Ella Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Living Legacy Award, from the Women's International Center.

In 1999 Peggy Lee was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Peggy Lee died in 2002.
Featuring new interviews with:
Songwriters Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller;
Biographer Peter Richmond;
Peggy's granddaughter Holly Foster-Wells;
Gilbert O'Sullivan;
Harpist Stella Castallucci;
Drummer / Singer Grady Tate;
Drummer Ed Shaughnessy
And from the archive: Miss Peggy Lee.