THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, May 31, 2024 ~ Celebrating Malden’s Jewish History ~ Page 3 Ed Ames, a legendary singer and actor – Part 3 By Inna Babitskaya I n 1951, the Ames Brothers had a new hit, “Undecided” (with Les Brown and Band of Renown), that had been written in the 1930s by jazz trumpet player Charlie Shavers. In 1953, the Ames Brothers recorded with Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra and Chorus their great hit, the German tune “You, You, You.” A year later, the group made another hit, the novelty song “The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane,” which also sold more than a million copies and was a top-10 hit in the UK. Among their other hits were “Can Anyone Explain?”, “Wang Wang Blues,” “I Wanna Love You,” “My Favorite Song,” “My Bonnie Lassie,” “A Very Precious Love,” “Tammy,” “Melodie d’Amour” and “Pussy Cat.” During 14 years, the Ames Brothers recorded more than 40 albums, song titles for movies, eight gold records and 50 U.S. chart entries. In 1958 and 1960, Billboard magazine named them their best vocal group of the year. Forty years later, in 1998, the Ames Brothers were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. The Ames Brothers regularly participated in different shows. In 1955–1956, on Friday nights, they even had their own 15-minute TV program, “The Ames Brothers Show,” the first syndicated TV show that was aired abroad. Though the brothers were very successful with their smooth voices and variety of styles, from folk songs to rhythm and blues, the new rock era required different songs and manners of singing. Ed’s solo career: acting lessons and “foot in the door” In 1960, Ed was the first to leave the group. As he later Cover of The Ames Brothers’ LP said, “At 30, I found everything stagnant and saw nothing in the future but a repetition of well-painted nothingness.” He wished to try acting. For nearly two years, he studied it at the School of Acting founded by Austrian-American actor and director Herbert Berghof. (Among its alumni are Al Pacino, Liza Minnelli and Barbra Streisand.) Ames also took private lessons with well-known acting coaches Tamara Daykarhanova, Lee Strasberg and Milton Katselas. Strasberg created a unique system of actors’ training and taught Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman. Katselas, his former student, taught, in turn, George Clooney, Michelle Pfeiffer, Gene Reynolds and others. Lessons with these great professionals were invaluable for Ed and helped him in his acting career. However, Ed’s first attempts to find a job as a single performer were unsuccessful. He used every possibility in order to find his way on stage. He even began to make commercials and voice-overs, including one for The Walt Disney Studios. Eventually, his talent, hard work and resilience helped him overcome the obstacles, and he could successfully pursue a theatrical career. He proved the words of Emile Zola: “The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” As Ed mentioned in 1967, Ed Ames as Don Quixote, singing “The Impossible Ed Ames as Sheriff Thompson Dream” from the musical “Man of La Mancha” “In the beginning, you keep knocking on doors, and after a lot of hard work, you get your foot in the door. Your foot gets squashed from time to time, but Ed Ames as Mingo from the popular TV show “Daniel Boone” the door is partly open. Suddenly you have a hit record, and those doors fly open.” Ed on the theater stage: brilliant roles in drama and musicals This kick-off event happened when, in 1961, he received the HISTORY| SEE PAGE 18 Window Glass & Screen Repair
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