2007 Ewan MacColl Bio - Class Act

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 03:13 PM

I have changed my name to AX04 UJE
for obvious reasons

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: Folkiedave
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 03:00 PM

And Lois Maxwell (Jane Moneypenny of the Bond movies) who just passed away - was Lois Hooker. Now why did she change her name?

I will put forward my theory as to the name change which I always reckon he got wrong.

Many early twentieth Scottish writers took their (pen) names from earlier Scots poets, Christopher Grieve (Hugh Mc Diarmid) being the best known example. There never was a poet called Ewan MacColl - but there was one called Evan MacColl. I just wonder if he got it wrong.

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: Roberto
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 02:13 PM

Ewan MacColl: always many sharp comments on him. But if you consider his overall work you can't ignore the importance, and often the beauty, of it. The song in praise of Stalin: most intellectuals failed to do their duty in the age of totalitarianisms. But Ewan MacColl was not only the song to Stalin. R

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 02:01 PM

Marian Montgomery the jazz singer...my god that woman could act, I never suspected for a moment. although he did walk funny - come to think of it.

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: greg stephens
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 01:57 PM

And John Wayne's was Marian Montgomery. Dian Dors on the other hand, was Felicity Fluck.Neither of those two wrote any songs worth speakinbg of about Joe Stalin.

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 12:20 PM

"I only discovered yesterday that his real name was Jimmy Miller, as was mentioned elsewhere on this site. Is it really true ??"

Yes. And it's also true that Bob Dylan's real name was Robert Zimmerman ... so what's your point?

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: curmudgeon
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 10:14 AM

I just pre-ordered the paperback edition for $20.00 USD.

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 10:03 AM

He was initially an actor / playwright, actors sometimes have "actor names". John Wayne etc.

Oh yes warming up now

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 09:56 AM

I jut looked on Amazon - the hardcover version is £45.

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 09:50 AM

what are you waiting for?

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: bubblyrat
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 09:50 AM

I only discovered yesterday that his real name was Jimmy Miller, as was mentioned elsewhere on this site. Is it really true ??

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 09:30 AM

Yes ....... 4 and counting

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: GUEST,MIKE
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 07:46 AM

WAIT FOR IT....................M

Subject: RE: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: Dreadnought
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 04:51 AM

That does look interesting.

Here's a bit more info from the University of Michigan Press website:

Ewan MacColl is one of the outstanding British singers and songwriters of the mid to late 20th century, and his work has been covered by artists including Roberta Flack, Johnny Cash and the Pogues. He was also a committed political activist. For sixty years he was at the cultural forefront of numerous political struggles, producing plays, songs and radio programs on subjects ranging from the Spanish Civil War to the Poll Tax. A founder-member of Theatre Workshop, MacColl as the famous company's resident dramatist, and his plays earned the admiration of contemporaries including George Bernard Shaw, Sean O'Casey and Hugh MacDiarmid. MacColl lived an energetic and colorful life.

This is the first biography of MacColl, and was prepared with the authorization of his collaborator and widow, Peggy Seeger. It charts MacColl's early years, his involvement in the Communist Party, in radical theatre, his pioneering radio programs, as well as his extensive work in the British folk-revival. Exhaustively researched and energetically written, this is an illuminating account of a major and controversial twentieth-century political artist.

Ben Harker is a lecturer in English and Sociology at the University of Salford.

Subject: Folklore: New Ewan MacColl Biography
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 04:33 AM

The publication of a new biography of Ewan MacColl has just been announced:

'Class Act: The Political and Cultural Life of Ewan MacColl' by Ben Harker (pub. Pluto Press). Publication is scheduled for 25th October 2007.

I can't wait to read it!