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The Beatles top Variety 100-year entertainment poll
Reuters ^ | 10-14-05 | Anon

Posted on 10/14/2005 5:38:44 PM PDT by Pharmboy

The Beatles were singled out on Friday as the most influential entertainers of the past 100 years, beating out the likes of Elvis Presley, Charlie Chaplin and Mickey Mouse, according to a survey conducted by show business newspaper Variety.

Behind the Fab Four's first-place finish, were in alphabetical order: jazz pioneer Louis Armstrong, television comedienne Lucille Ball, movie legends Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Charlie Chaplin, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, cartoon hero Mickey Mouse and singers Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

Variety said the Beatles were named "Icons of the Century" because they were the entertainment personalities who made the biggest impact on the industry and the world in the past 100 years.

The newspaper published a list of 100 entertainers from all branches of show business, including actors, directors, screenwriters, musicians, television presenters, animals, comedians and cartoon characters. Among other names on the list were Johnny Carson, Johnny Cash and Lassie.

The winners were chosen by Variety editors based on polling of entertainment industry professionals and Variety staff and by online voting by the public on variety.com.

Among the criteria for selection were a performer's commercial, creative, political and social impact and even whether their image was presented -- like James Dean's -- on a t-shirt.

The list was to be published in Variety's Sunday issue to celebrate the paper's 100th anniversary. "It seemed only natural to celebrate 100 of the people who gave us something to talk about," said Steven Gaydos, the paper's executive editor.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: armstrong; beatles; elvis; sinatra
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To: onyx

Without Elvis, there is no Gene Vincent or (Silver)Beatles.

Without Col. Tom Parker, there is no Elvis mechandising. Without "Elvis" there is no Beatlemania.


21 posted on 10/14/2005 6:26:41 PM PDT by weegee (The lesson from New Orleans? Smart Growth kills. You can't evacuate dense populations easily.)
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To: Pharmboy

I remember the Beatles the first time around, and like anyone else who has listened to them, burned out on them, and then for some strange reason (curiosity, nostalgia, etc) went back to listen, think I can give a reasonable opinion why their music stands the test of the decades. The best way I can put it is primarily Paul McCartney's gift for music composition and unusual but pleasant chord changes that give Beatles tunes a sort of thumbprint of their own. That thumbprint carried through their psychedelic years despite John's constant meddling. Their music was well written, genuine, and rightly deserves a high place in pop-music history.


22 posted on 10/14/2005 6:36:19 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: weegee

"Without Elvis, there is no Gene Vincent or (Silver)Beatles"

Without black blues musicians there is no Elvis, no rock n roll, no jazz, no swing.....


23 posted on 10/14/2005 6:36:43 PM PDT by fizziwig
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To: Pharmboy

What?
Why isn't Wally Cox on the list?
Ridiculous.
;o)


24 posted on 10/14/2005 6:38:11 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: The Wizard

Saw McCartney two weeks ago in Philly. . Was an awesome show . Did all the old Beatles songs . People ranged from infants to 70's + Everbody knew the words to the songs ..26 songs in regular set and TWO encore..Was a time machine back to the 60's with a flood of memories .


25 posted on 10/14/2005 6:53:45 PM PDT by Renegade
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To: uncbob

Their version of" Kansas City "blows the doors off Wilbert Harrisons .


26 posted on 10/14/2005 6:55:10 PM PDT by Renegade
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To: Pharmboy

and still the Beatles CDs are priced at a full 18+ dollars... none of that Nice Price for them like LedZep or (fill in the blanks)___


27 posted on 10/14/2005 6:56:12 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch (The search for someone to blame is always successful. - Robert Half)
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To: eleni121

Baby Boomers --The wealthiest group of humans on the planet . We lost a few to drugs and alcohol, but Cobain sucked on a shotgun . That is " STUCK ON STUPID!"

PS. We'll sleep when we're dead.


28 posted on 10/14/2005 6:57:17 PM PDT by Renegade
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To: Renegade

BB's may be wealthy and so what?

When it comes to their favorite music - they are stuck on stupid.


29 posted on 10/14/2005 7:12:01 PM PDT by eleni121 ('Thou hast conquered, O Galilean!' (Julian the Apostate))
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To: Pharmboy
I have been a Beatles fan since age 6 in 1964 ... I had some teenage aunts who got me hooked ... so I've been there from the start. I've passed my love of their music on to my kids. Even though I just posted in another thread about big band and swing music that my interests have pretty much generated there over the last five years, I will always have a love for their music. Not for them personally, I don't go there with any artist, but for the music.

That's why it pains me to say that I thoroughly disagree with this poll.

My pick? Without a doubt ... Francis Albert Sinatra.

30 posted on 10/14/2005 7:14:55 PM PDT by GB
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To: fizziwig

Chuck Berry made the bridge ... without him no Elvis, no Beatles, etc


31 posted on 10/14/2005 7:23:34 PM PDT by fnord (497 1/2 feet of rope ... I just carry it)
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To: GB

"Even though I just posted in another thread about big band and swing music that my interests have pretty much generated there"

I like the Beatles too, but I agree swing.....well....rocks!

And I will second the chairman of the board too! Me born in 54.


32 posted on 10/14/2005 7:34:04 PM PDT by fizziwig
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To: wardaddy

In college (1971) a prof asked us to write a list of the five most influential non-dieties in our young lives. Out of @ 25 students all but two of us included Walt Disney. No one else came close to that percentage.


33 posted on 10/14/2005 7:39:33 PM PDT by wtc911 (see my profile for how to contribute to a pentagon heroes fund)
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To: fizziwig
See, with Sinatra you had somebody who was as ground-breaking and innovative in the way he changed popular music from the 1940s all the way up to the '60s as the Beatles were in their heyday, plus he was an Academy Award winning actor, plus you have the sheer force of his aura, his personality or whatever you want to call it. When Sinatra was on stage or on screen, you stopped and watched him. When he sang, you stopped and listen to him. When he was just "there," he had your attention.

IMHO, Bing Crosby belongs in the top 10 list as well, because he was also a massively ground-breaking and influential artist before Sinatra, but he's sort of forgotten about these days.

34 posted on 10/14/2005 7:44:59 PM PDT by GB
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To: Pharmboy

Wake me up in 50 years when the Beatles (WHO?) will be as well remembered as Rudy Vallee is today.


35 posted on 10/14/2005 7:48:48 PM PDT by Revolting cat! ("In the end, nothing explains anything!")
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To: Pharmboy

Anyone who likes the Beatles should check out "Beatlemania Now" if the come to your area, they're excellent.

http://www.beatlemanianow.com/


36 posted on 10/14/2005 7:59:58 PM PDT by TheForceOfOne (It was a village of idiots that raised Hillary to Senator status.)
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To: wtc911

That is a good point.

I can still recall his introductions on Sunday nights after Lassie


37 posted on 10/14/2005 9:01:37 PM PDT by wardaddy (I'm an Isaiah sort of man)
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To: InvisibleChurch
and still the Beatles CDs are priced at a full 18+ dollars... none of that Nice Price for them like LedZep or (fill in the blanks)___

Some knucklehead swiped my Dark Side Of The Moon CD I bought about 17 years ago that I paid a pretty good price for. Back then I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $22 for it. Found a copy at Wal-Mart a couple months ago for $5.

38 posted on 10/14/2005 9:04:50 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper ("Tucker Carlson could reveal himself as a castrated, lesbian, rodeo clown ...wouldn't surprise me")
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To: InvisibleChurch
and still the Beatles CDs are priced at a full 18+ dollars

Not only that, but you are still buying the same 16-bit mixes that were made in 1987/8. Think about that -- 18 years between "Let it Be" and and the CD release, yet it's been almost 18 years since that CD release.

However, Elton John went through three masterings in about six years...

39 posted on 10/14/2005 9:50:03 PM PDT by MikeD (You can argue with your Maker, but you know that you just can't win...)
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To: wardaddy

I looked forward to those shows back then with the same anticipation as the Roy Rogers Show and The Lone Ranger. My favorites.


40 posted on 10/15/2005 4:19:55 AM PDT by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they have to.)
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