Entertainment Liverpool & USA

Cultural Links – Entertainment.

One of the all time great Western films was ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ based on two real life characters,

Robert Leroy Parker aka Butch Cassidy born in Utah, in April 1866 and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, aka - The Sundance Kid, who was born in Pennsylvania.

The Liverpool connection comes from the fact that Mr & Mrs Parker left Liverpool on the Ship ‘Enoch Train’ to begin their long and difficult journey across the Atlantic to New York and then thousands of miles west, largely by foot.

A wave of conversions to Mormonism swept through Great Britain in the 19th century, and many British citizens made the arduous voyage across the Atlantic and an equally challenging journey across America to Utah. The families of Maximillian Parker and Ann Gillies made their separate journies from their homes near Preston, Lancashire to Salt Lake City, the centre of the Mormon faith, and Maximillian and Ann spent their formative years in the Utah wilderness, where they later met each other and later married. On April 13, 1866, the couple welcomed their first of many children, Robert Leroy Parker, who would later become known as “Butch Cassidy.”

The first major crime attributed to Cassidy is the robbery of the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride, on June 24, 1889. He and three cowboys got away with $20,000 by thoroughly casing the joint first. The bandits then made their way over a choice hideout, Brown's Park, along the Green River at the Utah-Wyoming border. They made forays to Green River and Vernal before moving north to Lander, Wyoming.

Castle Gate was the Wild Bunch's one and only major holdup in Utah. After that, the outlaws held up banks and trains in South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico and Nevada, and managed to bring home increasingly large sums of money - like an estimated $70,000 for the holdup of a Rio Grande train near Folsom, New Mexico. But by then, the good old days seemed to be over. By this time, the Wild Bunch had an extensive allay of law officers hunting them wherever they went, and Butch had an impressive folio compiled by the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, whose operatives seemed to follow his every move, waiting for a slip-up. The Gang often came back to Utah, either for protection or transportation, and once to ask Gov. Heber Wells in 1900 for amnesty in exchange for the promise to shape up. Abandoning that idea, the group later traveled across the Great Salt Lake Desert en route to Nevada, where they robbed the bank in Winnemucca.

It is believed that Butch Cassidy fled the US to Bolivia via a ship which sailed from New York to Liverpool and then on a different vessel from Liverpool to South America where he and Sundance were said to have been killed in a shoot out with Bolivian troops. It is also said that he in fact escaped, and returned to the US under a false identity and lived there secretly until his death.

Further information - http://www.utah.com/oldwest/butch_cassidy.htm

Mike Myers was born on the 25th of May, 1963, in the Scarborough district of Toronto, known to the snobbier townsfolk as Scarberia - a cultural wasteland.

His father, Eric, was formerly a cook in the British Army, while his mother, Alice, known as Bunny and formerly in the RAF, was an aspiring actress who'd attended London's Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Both hailing from Liverpool, they married in 1955 and emigrated to Canada the next year, producing three sons - Paul (later in Toronto band The Gravelberrys), Peter and finally Mike, all of them holding British passports. Learning the English language from Eric and Bunny, Mike spoke with a Scouse accent until the age of 6.

Mike starred in the films : Austin Powers, Waynes World and Shrek amongst others.

Halle Berry was born on August 14, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio. Her mom came from Liverpool in England and her Dad was in the US Air Force. They divorced when she was 4 years old. When she was 17 years old she won the Miss Teen All-American Pageant. In high school she was an honour society member, editor of the school paper, class president, and was she was even prom queen. She became a model and after was picked to star in a show called Living Dolls in 1989. In 14 years she starred in eight movies and one weekly TV series in 1989. She starred X-Men in 2000 and X-Men 2 in 2003. In 2001, she starred in the movie Monster's Ball and won an Oscar for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance. She is the first African-American woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress.

Kim Catterall, Actor; Kim Cattrall was born on August 21, 1956 in Liverpool, England. At the age of three months, emigrated with her father, Dennis, and mother, Shane, to Canada, where a large number of her films have been made

Among her many films and TV shows are - Sex and the City, Police Academy, Porkys, The Bonfire of the Vanities and many more.

Lloyd Bridges was a highly respected actor who made his name as skin diver Mike Nelson in the popular 1950s TV series "Sea Hunt." He also starred in the musicals Cactus Flower and Man of La Mancha on Broadway, and in his later years he became a comedy sensation through the wacky Airplane! movies and his occasional turn as Mandelbaum on "Seinfeld." Lloyd died in 1998. Lloyd Bridges' s wife, Dorothy, was -- and remains -- a formidable presence in her own right. Her friends affectionately refer to her as Dotty, and inside the family, she's affectionately known as The General.

They had two sons who became movie stars in their own right – Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges

"My Mom was really something," Bridges says. "She runs the entire show. Like dad, she was born in California, but her folks were from Liverpool. By the time her father was 14, he had jumped on a sailing ship and run away from home. By the time he was 21, he had been around the world seven times. He finally settled down in New York, and eventually he became the head of transportation for Broadway Department Stores.

"I’ve never been to Liverpool but of course I’m very proud of having a grandfather from there because the city has such a wonderful musical heritage. One of my neighbours is Peter Noone, whose humour reminds me a lot of my grandfather’s."

Henny Youngman - HOLLYWOOD (Variety)—Henny Youngman, the undisputed king of the one-liners, whose quip "Take my wife—please," defines a comedic style, died Tuesday in New York. He was ninety-one. The comic died at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he had been since January 2, suffering from pneumonia. He had been working up until Christmas. Youngman, whose career was a series of peaks and valleys, ridicule and respect, frequently appeared with a violin (shades of Jack Benny). But his real trademark was his non-stop series of succinct, acerbic but surprisingly uncontroversial jokes. ("I was so ugly when I was born," he once said, "the doctor slapped my mother.")

He was born to Russian immigrants in Liverpool, England, on January 12, 1906. His family soon moved to the U.S. and his father made him take violin lessons hoping he would become proficient enough to play professionally. Growing up in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge, Youngman studied printing at Brooklyn Vocational School and did several odd jobs before starting a band .

Here are some Henny Youngman one-liners.

A guy calls his lawyer. He says, 'Can I ask you two questions?' Lawyer says, 'What's the second one?'

This guy asked his doctor, `Will I be able to play the piano after my operation?' And the doctor says `Sure.' And the guy says, `Funny, I couldn't do it before.'

My doctor told me I was fat. I said I wanted a second opinion. He said, `OK, you're ugly, too.' "

I was so ugly when I was born, the doctor slapped my mother.

Getting on a plane to Chicago, I told the ticket lady, "Send one of my bags to New York, send one to Los Angeles, and send one to Miami." She said, "We can't do that!" I told her, "You did it last week!"

I know a guy who had his doctor say "take some weight off, go to a health club." This man lost 30 pounds in one week! The machine tore his leg off!

A man is at the bar, drunk. I pick him up off the floor, and offer to take him home. On the way to my car, he falls down three times. When I get to his house, I help him out of the car, and on the way to the front door, he falls down four more times. I ring the bell, and say, "Here's your husband!" The woman says, "Where's his wheelchair?"

A little Jewish Grandma is at the Florida coast with her little Jewish Grandson. The grandson is playing on the beach when a big wave comes and washes the kid out to sea. The lifeguards swim out, bring him back to shore, the paramedics work on him for a long time, pumping the water out, reviving him. They turn to the Jewish Grandma, and say "we saved your grandson." The little Jewish Grandma says "He had a hat!"

Someone stole all my credit cards, but I won't be reporting it. The thief spends less than my wife did.

I asked my wife, "Where do you want to go for our anniversary?" She said, "Somewhere I have never been!" I told her, "How about the kitchen?"

All my wife does is shop - once she was sick for a week, and three stores went broke.

If there are any other US entertainers, with Liverpool connections, not included - please contact the email address below for inclusion in this list.

Email Contact - john-kerrigan@blueyonder.co.uk

Updated – 10th November 2007

Top of the Document