The entertainer Walden Robert Cassotto

treesparrow

treesparrow

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
Exactly forty years ago today, this singer, movie star and all round entertainer better known as Bobby Darin died at the young age of 37. Before Dylan and Lennon were singing about true and justice and receiving all the plaudits, Darin was involved with the 60s civil rights movement, pioneering the acceptance of African Americans entertainers to appear on stage before white artists. He also took out a full page advertisement in the New York Post condemning the illegal bombing of south east Asia by the U.S.government. He was a big supporter of Robert Kennedy's Democratic presidential campaign but was left devastated by his assassination in Los Angeles and also about some home truths concerning his family. From Wikipedia -

Throughout the 1960s, he became more politically active and worked on Robert Kennedy's Democratic presidential campaign. He was present on the night of June 4/5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at the time of Kennedy's assassination. The same year, he discovered that he had been brought up by his grandparents, not his parents, and that the girl he thought was his sister was actually his mother. These events deeply affected Darin and sent him into a long period of seclusion...


Darin was born in the Bronx borough of New York City. He was reared by his grandparents, who he thought were his parents. Darin’s mother became pregnant at age 16 and, presumably because of the scandalous nature of such in that era, the family hatched a plan to pass the baby off as his maternal grandparents’ child. Darin’s mother never revealed who the father of her child was, not even to Darin, who was reportedly devastated at learning the true circumstances of his birth
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From an early age he suffered from rheumatic fever and once overheard a doctor telling his family that he'd be lucky to reach his 14th birthday. He began to study music and learned to sing.

By the time he was a teenager he could play several instruments, including piano, drums, and guitar. He later added harmonica and xylophone.
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Eventually he could sing all types of popular music - rock'n'roll, jazz, folk, country, big band, R and B and songs from the musicals and sing them with more feeling than most, perhaps realising any performance might just be his very last. His timing, diction and delivery were flawless (I reckon). Here's a couple of samples-

In Memoriam ( about Robert Kennedy)


He's a ruthless opportunist
And he motivates by greed
He's just the way his father was
And that we sure don't need
So they all cried out destroy him
For he wants to see us drowned
They never understood him
So they put him in the ground.

Now some had stood for hours
And some sat on the grass
Listening to their radios
For where the train had passed
And a crowd will get impatient
As the clock hands turn around
They never understood him
So they put him in the ground.

They handed out some candles
To the somber weary crowd
And told us not to light them
Till our eyes beheld the shroud
Not even at that moment
Could there be tranquility
I could feel them push and argue
Hey, sit down, I cannot see
They never understood him
So they put him in the ground.

When the fathers closed their bibles
And the family left the site
The ropes and walls and hedges
Kind of faded in the night
Replaced by all the people
Who made a prayerful sound
They never understood him
So they put him in the ground.

Some people say the eighth of June
But the morning of the ninth
The workmen gently lowered him
By the beam of three work lights
Easy, take it easy
Set him down real slow
He'd been on some rougher trips
But he couldn't tell them so
They never understood him
So they put him in the ground.

Now no man has the answers
And he was just a man
And yet I can't help feelin'
That he knew a better plan
A shorter road to justice
On the trip that's freedom bound
But they never understood him
So they put him in the ground.

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I'll Be Your Baby Tonight


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Beyond The Sea


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His impersonations of Hollywood stars-


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He also starred in a number of films, the best probably Pressure Point with Sidney Poitier.

A film entitled Beyond The Sea, about his life, directed and starring Kevin Spacey is also worth a watch, osit.
 
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