Two Great Men: Stephen Foster and Norman Rockwell
http://hebronics.org/index.html
There are men of much greater stature in painting, musicians or song writers than those of my favorites. But these two men had hearts with similarities which appeal to me. I think of it as "Back Home". Almost everyone is familiar with Normal Rockwell, even the younger generations. But his paintings were of his memories and even with many self portraits of his own depiction of self as a youth and also as an adult. His paintings were amusing yet nostalgic. Little incidents to which you could easily relate.
Rockwell was born the same year as my mother, 1894, born at home in his parents upper West Side Manhattan apartment. He was the son of Jarvis and Ann Mary Rockwell. His gifted ability to paint lifelike images became apparent at an early age and he began to be noticed by commercial concerns. While still in art school at age 16, he painted his first commissioned job of 4 Christmas cards. The next year he was hired on his first job of illustrations for a series of children's books called "Tell Me Why". He then became art director for the "Boy's Life", official magazine of the Boy Scouts of America, and he continued working with the Boy Scouts and illustrating their annual calendar for fifty years.
He also began painting the cover for the Saturday Evening Post and painted 321 covers for them. His cover paintings were so well accepted the Saturday Evening Post sold 50,000 to 75,000 more at newsstands when they were on them. I recommend that everyone visit the Norman Rockwell official website authorized by his family with an array of his paintings.
http://www.normanrockwell.com/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My other favorite is Stephen Foster. Altogether different achiever and with little humor, but one of the greatest songwriters of old. He wrote many songs pertaining to 19th century life in the South. His songs were with deep feeling and very beautiful.
He was born and raised in Pennsylvania and only one time took a steamboat ride through the South to New Orleans on one of his oldest brother's steamboats. One of his closest friends held a high position in an abolitionist movement which probably influenced much of his compositions. He wrote songs of slaves with his heart. Some find a few of his songs offensive but I cannot imagine why. He words some of the songs with the sound of slaves communication but never with any intent of degrading or belittling anyone. In fact, his songs are very sympathetic towards those slaves. He even instructed his performers to always sing his songs with a note of sympathy. Songs like, Massa's In De Cold Cold Ground, Old Black Joe, and numerous others are his typical style of writing concerning those slaves he once knew or had heard of.
One of his immortal tunes is "My Old Kentucky Home". No two songs were exactly alike but all contained his particular type of melancholy. Beautiful but sad.
His songs were extremely popular for more than a century and some still are, almost another century. Some of his most beautiful were: Beautiful Dreamer, Old Folks At Home, Camptown Races, Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair and many more.
With his talent and energy today he would have made millions, however, he did not realize too much from his music. Copyright laws were not nearly as stringent as today and often he would sell a publisher his song, never knowing exactly how many copies of it were actually sold and drawing a small royalty on what was reportedly sold. Other publishers were able to copy and sell many of them without any payment at all.
In January 1864, he became ill and after laying with a high fever for several days in a hotel, he arose and tried to call a chambermaid for help, but fell and injured his head. Although taken to a hospital, he died three days later at age 37 years. His "Beautiful Dreamer" was published shortly after his death. He had only 38 cents in his pocket. He also had a small piece of paper with the words scribbled on it, "Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts". Some have presumed that it was a name he had considered for an unwritten song.
I for one, have always been a deep and sincere fan of this man although he died many years before I was born. His songs still, when rendered properly, bring tears to my eyes. Somehow, they seem to relate to my own sentiments. It just seems so tragic that a man with such talent, had his life cut so short. Interested readers can find a wonderful and extensive biography of this man at:
http://www.pitt.edu/~amerimus/foster.htm
Webgazine Columnist.
Article submitted Monday, May 11, 2009 & read 50 times.
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