DAY 128 - COUNTING DOWN TO THE 50TH

GOOD MORNING, CLASS OF '64

The Love Letter - Edmund Adler

Love Letters

 

“What? 

Do you dare smile and suggest 

for a moment that just because 

of the Absence between us I 

cannot make myself vivid to you? 

Ho! Silly boy! 

 Don't you know that the plainest 

sort of black ink throbs 

more than some blood—and 

the touch of the softest hand 

is a harsh caress compared to 

the touch of a reasonably shrewd pen? 

Here—now, I say—this very moment: 

Lift this letter of mine to your face, 

and swear—if you're honestly able to—

that you can't smell the rose in my hair!”
  Eleanor Hallowell Abbott, Molly Make-Believe 

Penning a Letter - George Goodwin Kilburne

“The frankest and freest and privatest 

product of the human mind and heart 

is a love letter...”
Mark Twain, Mark Twain's Own Autobiography: 

The Chapters from the North American Review 

Young Girl Writing a Love Letter - Pietro Antonio Rotari

You might have written a love letter, 

or more than one. 

You might have received a love letter, 

or more than one.

Maybe you wrote and received none.

Pitiable, all those Romeos and Juliets, too,

Who overlooked the passionate you.

Curses on them!

  Wistful reminiscence should afflict them each day

Of the crème de la crème they let slip away. 

(ntmywn)

The Letter - William Kay Blacklock

“To my unsuspecting love.
When I look into your eyes, 

I lose all sense of time and place. 

Reason robbed, clear thought erased, 

I am lost in the paradise I find within your gaze.
I long to touch your blushing cheek, 

to whisper in your ear how I adore you, 

how I cannot bear the thought of living without you.
To be so near you without touching you is agony. 

Your blindness to my feelings is a daily torment, 

and I feel driven to the edge of madness 

by my love for you”
Julianne Donaldson, Edenbrooke

Love Letters in the Sand

Became a major hit in June and July 1957, 

spending 5 weeks at number one 

on the Billboard Top 100, 

with 34 weeks in total on the chart.

(Preceded by Elvis' All Shook Up 

and followed by Elvis' Teddy Bear)

 Boone also did the whistling in the
instrumental portion of the song.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Letters_in_the_Sand
the # 11 song in the 1955-1959 rock era
was # 1 for 7 weeks in 1957
was also a # 6 hit in 1931 for Ted Black
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/pat-boone/love-letters-in-the-sand.html 

Pat Boone - 1957

 How you laughed when I cried
Each time I saw the tide
Take our love letters from the sand 

Love Letters (Straight from your Heart)

• Dick Haymes (in 1945, US #11)
• Ketty Lester (in 1962, US #5, US R&B #2, UK #4)
• Elvis Presley (in 1966, US #19, UK #6)

The song appeared, without lyrics, 

in the movie of the same name, 

and was nominated for the Academy Award 

for Best Song for 1945.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Letters_%28song%29

(You might like to hear Julie London's 

version of Love Letters 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFvzHdMWmag)

 Ketty Lester - 1962

Love letters straight from your heart
Keep us so near while apart
I'm not alone in the night
When I can have all the love you write
I memorize ev'ry line
I kiss the name that you sign
And darlin, then I read again right from the start
Love letters straight from your heart

Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa

One of Pitney's biggest hits
Peaked at #17 on December 7
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=11900
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Four_Hours_from_Tulsa

  Gene Pitney - 1963

 Oh I was only 24 hours from Tulsa
Ah only one day away from your arms
I hate to do this to you
But I love somebody new
What can I do
And I can never never never go home again

Return to Sender
peaked at number 1 

on the United Kingdom music charts,

 and number 2 on the American  

Billboard singles chart, 

but reached number 1 on the rival  

Cash Box and Music Vendor singles charts. 

"Return to Sender" also went to 

number five on the R&B charts.

Elvis Presley - 1962

Film - Girls Girls Girls

I gave a letter to the postman,
he put it his sack.
Bright in early next morning,
he brought my letter back.

She wrote upon it:
Return to sender, address unknown.
No such number, no such zone.
We had a quarrel, a lover's spat
I write I'm sorry but my letter keeps coming back.

So then I dropped it in the mailbox
And sent it special D.
Bright in early next morning
it came right back to me.

She wrote upon it:
Return to sender, address unknown.
No such number, no such zone.

This time I'm gonna take it myself
and put it right in her hand.
And if it comes back the very next day
then I'll understand the writing on it

Return to sender, address unknown.
No such person, no such zone.

 

A Girl Writing - Henriette Browne

 “As I sit here writing to you, 

I have propped my stocking feet 

much too close to the hearth. 

I’ve actually singed my stockings on occasion, 

and once I had to stomp out my feet 

when they started smoking. 

Even after that I can’t seem to 

rid myself of the habit. 

There, now you could pick me 

out of a crowd blindfolded. 

Simply follow the scent 

of scorched stockings.”
Lisa Kleypas, Love in the Afternoon 

Man Writing a Letter - Gabriel Metsu

“I love you forever. 

I am sorry I cannot love you now.”
― Nick Harkaway, Angelmaker 

The Letter - Albert Lynch

“I am Tarzan of the Apes. 

I want you. 

I am yours. 

You are mine. 

We live here together always in my house. 

I will bring you the best of fruits, 

 the tenderest deer, 

the finest meats that roam the jungle. 

I will hunt for you. 

I am the greatest of the jungle fighters. 

I will fight for you. 

 I am the mightiest of the jungle fighters. 

You are Jane Porter, 

I saw it in your letter. 

When you see this you will know 

that it is for you and that 

Tarzan of the Apes loves you.”
  Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes

Writing a Letter - William Hemsley

Pat Boone was mocked for shedding tears 

when the love letters he'd written in the sand 

were washed away by the tide. 

Small wonder.

Elvis Presley suffered major rejection 

when his letters were continually returned, 

but he kept on trying. 

He just didn't get the message.

Gene Pitney suffered an annoying case of loveatfirstsightis 

when he was only twenty four hours from Tulsa

 and the arms of the girl he was heading back home to see. 

Now he can't go home again, 

but she's still his dearest darlin'.

Ketty Lester's love seems to be reciprocated. 

She does have an actual hand written love letter,

and she rereads every line and 

kisses the name that was signed 

'cause it's straight from the heart.

(love this song, by the way)

What would we have done had we not had 

songs like that to get us through 

those years twixt twelve and twenty?

(Remember that book by Pat Boone?)

We wouldn't have known how to act 

in situations of the love kind, would we?

A Woman Reading - Carl Larsson