Glenn Close - Up With People

Subject: Glenn Close
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Aug 01 - 03:12 PM

Help: Is it a man a woman or an address??

Jock

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: Hollowfox
Date: 09 Aug 01 - 03:49 PM

Actress

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 03:49 AM

just over the hill from Glenn Ford.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 10:42 AM

I was amazed to discover recently that actress Glenn Close has a link to folk music. At a flea market, I picked up a magazine called Sing Out. It was not the Sing Out that we know and love, but rather a program from the early 1960's for a group of musicians who were putting on a folk music revue, apparently on the lines of "Up With People". In the middle of this program I was shocked to see a picture of a very young Glenn Close singing with the group. There were also lyrics to a couple of her songs.

Does anyone know anything else about this group and Glenn Close's venture into folk circles?

Ron Olesko

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 10:45 AM

I thought it was a single malt whisky like Glen Hoddle and Glen Campbell....
RtS

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: Barry T
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 02:02 PM

Sing Out and Up With People were one and the same, Ron... just different trademarks. I, too, remember that magazine. The World is Your Hometown and Walk on Through were just two of her songs performed worldwide by the main cast and all the other Sing Out groups spawned through their travelling performances. Glenn can also be heard on some of their early LP recordings.

Sadly, the organization faded last December after 35 years of success.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 02:54 PM

An "official" bio:

Glenn Close

John

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 05:32 PM

Ron, I remember that. They were called the "Green Glen Singers" I believe. "Up With People" was financed by Schick Razor Company and Robert Welch (of Grape juice, and The John Birch Society fame).

They were supposed to be "the answer" to all the left-wing protest folkies of the sixties. The material they sung (in my opinion) was at best laughably ludicrous, and at worst, reactionary to the max.

They were huge favourites of Fundamentalist Right wingers and one of the albums I've got has endorsements from John Wayne, Pat Boone and Walt Disney on the back.

I still play "The Colwell Brothers" singing "You Can't Live Crooked, and Think Straight" when I need a laugh. "Which way America's" pretty funny as well.

Rick

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 05:45 PM

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I have no albums from Up With People or any of the other groups mentioned. I was only a mere child at the time (okay - pre-teen perhaps) but I do remember seeing them on TV and having the same reaction as I did whenever my Dad would watch Lawrence Welk - time to go read comic books.

Seriously, I would love to find some recordings. From a historical perspective it would be interesting to hear the pieces again and remember how the right tried to join the folk revival.

Your mention of Pat Boone reminds me of my Dad again. I remember once he was on the TV and my Dad was reading a newspaper. My Dad heard the singing and peered over his paper to see Boone on the TV. Dad muttered a little 4 letter word and added "how much milk can one person drink" and then went back to his paper.

Ron

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: Justa Picker
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 05:54 PM

I remember seeing "Up With People" when they came to perform in the auditorium at our high school back in the late 60s. I hated them. I was into Zepplin, Cream, Hendrix, etc...

Looking back on it now, I guess those who joined U.W.P. did so at the time because The Power Rangers hadn't been conceived of or invented yet.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 06:55 PM

A glass? A glass to measure the rain with?

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 09:56 PM

Well we weren't right wing, by any means, but I guess we were kind of wholesome. I liked Up With People the few times I saw them and I had been exposed to all kinds of music, all of my life.

Just last year, Roger's neice was touring with them. Granted they are too goody-two-shoes for my taste, now, and ultra-conservative, but I used to like some of the positiveness of their songs.

katshelteredintheRockies

Subject: RE: Glenn Close
From: GUEST,Terry Hill
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 01:29 AM

I enjoyed my time with Up With People - albeit in the 1990's. I'm not a liberal right winger as some imply we all must be - I'm just a middle of the road engineer. :-) The music has changed over the years as has the messages to keep pace with the times. Yes the doors were closed in the early 2000's but they reopened a few years later after restructuring.

For those interested in the old or new music, it can be found on iTunes by searching for Up With People.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: GUEST,Woodsie
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 06:56 AM

When I was at school we were given free tickets to "Up With People" at The Royal Albert Hall 1969 or 1970. Myself and Mick Jones (later of Clash)and a few others went along. We sneaked into the VIP area to see if we could chat up any of the girls in the show. We were confronted by their manager, a middle aged cigar puffing stereotype who said he thought that we looked great, just the type of kids he was trying to reach! We had long hair, tie-dyes and greatcoats in those days. He asked us if we would like join the review and dance on stage for the finale! Of course we declined. The music as far as remember was middle of the road pop.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: Suffet
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 09:31 AM

Greetings:

Robert Welch, the founder of the John Birch Society, had nothing to do with grape juice, grape jelly, or grape jam. He was a candy manufacturer, and his company's products included Junior Mints, Pom Poms, Sugar Daddies, and Sugar Babies.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: SINSULL
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 09:42 AM

Up With People - oh dear god. I saw them at Carnegie Hall at a private premiere of Mary Poppins. The company I worked for helped finance it.
It started with very young and perky too perky singers coming out in costumes - a mailman, a farmer, a cop, etc - kind of like the Village People on saccharine. Happy songs all about god and country and happy happy happy.
Followed by Mary Poppins. I hate a toothache when it was all over.
"Up up with people.
You see them whereever you go."

GROAN

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: GUEST,johnny b
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 04:48 PM

Ha! Found out Up With People is everything stated and more. My friend took me see to documentary on Up With People in LA, Smile it Hurts. You gotta see the clips of Glenn Close. They are a riot!

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 04:23 AM

I confess I liked many of the "Up With People" songs when the group first became known in the mid-1960s. I never had any idea there was anything wrong with them until I came across this thread a while back. This page (click) tells quite a story about "Up With People." The "Smile 'Til It Hurts" movie is available at this Website (click) for twenty bucks - or about $120 at Amazon. There are several clips of the movie available here (click).

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: GUEST,Mike Mandaville
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 12:32 PM

I remember the Christy Minstrels singing "Up With People" when Barry McGuire was with them. Barry and the group did a great job on "Green Green", I have to admit. Nothing but smiling faces everywhere. They made me want to throw up. Just kidding.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: GUEST,steve s
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 05:25 PM

"You Can't Live Crooked, and Think Straight"

fragments of this song have polluted my brain since a HS assembly concert in 1969. They also sang about following traffic rules, obeying police officers, being "positive"...the same shit republicans present today. nothing changes...

s

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 06:48 PM

LMAO @ Father JoeBro..........Why am I not surprised about you and UWP? I have also always figured you for a big Mitch Miller fan.....right there too huh?   On the other hand you did like the Mitchell trio.

I always mean to ask you this too Joe........Did "A Mighty Wind" make you squirm just a bit? LMAOLMAOLMAO...........you know it did!



Spaw

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 04:04 AM

Spaw, I gotta confess that I actually liked songs from Up With People and also, regrettably, from A Mighty Wind. I hate myself for that, though.
Yeah, New Christy Minstrels, too...

OK, so you dragged it out of me and forced me to embarrass myself in public. Are you proud of yourself now that my secret's out???

-Joe, ashamed and naked before the world-

---

I came across an article from LNP|Lancaster Online about Up With People and its predecessor, Sing-Out. The article is dated Sept 29, 2019:

https://lancasteronline.com/features/the-origins-of-sing-out-and-up-with-people/article_0cda052c-e094-11e9-845b-b77db2dbb5b1.html

Here's the text of the article:

The origins of Sing-Out and its successor Up With People can be traced directly to the World War II-era Moral Re-Armament movement.

As dictated by founder and Pennsylvania native Frank Buchman in 1938, the country was in a crisis of morality. In his view, it made sense that as countries were “re-arming” themselves with weaponry, the United States needed to get back to a place of ethics.

The central tenets of the MRA movement were honesty, purity, unselfishness and love, without a basis in any one church. Followers were not only encouraged to adopt a pious lifestyle themselves, but also to seek out others to join the organization. The thinking was, if world leaders could be converted, too, peace and understanding would overtake the globe.

Following Buchman’s death in 1961, the mantle was taken up by J. Blanton Belk. In summer 1965, thousands of young people descended on Mackinac Island, Michigan, for an MRA conference where the first Sing-Out performance was arranged.

Belk immediately saw the potential in a chorus of people singing songs about social and political change. Before summer’s end, the national Sing-Out ’65 cast was off touring America, hoping to plant the seeds of Sing-Out on a local level.

In August 1965, Schick Electric Co. underwrote a prime-time performance of “Up With People: The Sing-Out Musical” that featured icons such as Pat Boone and John Wayne extolling the virtues of Sing-Out on national television.

CBS refused to air the program, pointing to its policy banning “commercial entertainment programs with an editorial or ideological point of view.” Despite this, NBC aired the special, purportedly to an audience of 100 million people.

When Sing-Out Lancaster member David Kirk graduated to the nationally touring Up With People, the experience allowed him to see his recruitment from the other side. Casts arrived in small towns with military precision, first sending a bus of teens ahead to seek out Rotary Clubs and church groups that held members who could house and feed more than 150 youths. Next, the high school-aged cast arrived and hosted mini-shows in parking lots for their host families.

While the high school kids did school work, the younger kids would do community service and host more teaser shows to bring big crowds to performance spaces, where the cycle would continue again.

In 1970, the global Up With People organization faced a crossroads, as it sold nearly all offices in the United States and cut ties with Moral Re-Armament. The Mackinac Island property that had served as the birthplace for Sing-Out shuttered its doors and was listed for $7.5 million.

But Up With People famously bounced back in a big way over the next two decades by way of the group’s record five performances in the Super Bowl halftime shows in 1976, 1980, 1982, 1986 and a pregame show in 1991. To this day, Up With People continues to tour the globe.

---

Until the COBID-19 pandemic, the organization was still putting on performances. Its Website is https://upwithpeople.org/

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 06:04 AM

Well I was forced to admit in a Mudcat thread that I actually... erm... liked Wayne Newton's rendition of Laura Lee. Somebody (not the man himself) gave me the comforting assurance that Uncle Spaw was preparing a nice room for me. One with soft walls, no doubt.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 09:05 AM

Don't feel bad about A Mighty Wind. I liked it too...... and don't forget that your buddy Noel once said to Christopher Guest in referring to their "Folksmen" act, "Too close......too close."

"Up with People" on the other hnad.................You'll feel better now. As your religion teaches, "Confession is good for the soul."



Spaw

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 05:32 PM

Hmmmm. Does A Mighty Wind have something to do with the current farting thread???






Joe, do you ever wonder why they don't laugh when you try to be funny, but they always seem to think Spaw is hilarious??? Is there a lesson in that?

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: JJ
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 08:24 AM

I have this recording. Also, I met Glenn Close before she was "Glenn Close," because she was involved with the guy I was sharing an apartment with at the time. But the recording...

Pace Magazine presents
UP WITH PEOPLE
The Sing-Out Musical
From the Schick Television Color Special

Pace #1101

From the liner notes:
The Green Glenn Singers... Gleen (sic) Close, Jennie Dorn, Vee Entwhistle and Kathe (sic) Green, formed their group in 1965 "to write and sing songs which would give people a purpose and inspire them to live the way they are meant to live." Electrifying audiences in Asia by singing Korean and Japanese folk-songs, they bring to "Sing-Out" musical a folk-style all their own with their original songs, "Run and Catch the Wind," and "The Happy Song."

There is a picture of the group on the back of the album.

On the front of the album are approving quotes from John Wayne, Pat Boone and Walt Disney. All original music is copyright 1965 by Moral Re-Armament, Inc.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: GUEST,999
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 09:47 AM

Interesting article from the Harvard 'Crimson'.

It is from 1967.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Feb 12 - 03:53 PM

From an article "Acting Like a Man" by Carl Swanson, in New York magazine, January 8, 2012:

Close, who lives in the West Village with her husband, investor David Shaw, comes from a profoundly Waspy Connecticut family. But any safety and connection she might've felt from all that history was undermined by her family's decision to join a right-wing change-the-world movement called Moral Re-Armament when she was 7. Close stayed involved in it, even touring the world as part of its musical cavalcade, Up With People, until she went to college at 22. "It was a cult, where everyone was told to think alike, and that's devastating," she says. Her family was "sort of pulled apart." Afterward, "I decided that I would not trust even my instincts. Because I didn't know what they were. Everything had been dictated. It also gives you a huge sense of looking from the outside in, and I think that in many ways that has been very good as an actor, because you are somebody who is asked to go into a character … I always felt that I was held together with Scotch tape and paper clips, and as an actor that's good." She laughs lightly about this, conscious of its possible absurdity.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 10:41 AM

Fascinating! Thanks for posting that, Jim.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: GUEST,Kim
Date: 01 Sep 16 - 10:14 AM

I would like to answer all of the former sarcastic comments in this thread. I am one of the many Up With People Alumni (there have been over 20,000), who was proud to sing with the Alumni cast at our 50th reunion last summer (2015). The show consisted of the 50 best songs of the 360 plus songs that have been written for Up With People in 50 years. The organization did shut down for, I believe, 2 years in the early 2000's and came back again as a venue to teach leadership and global understanding.

I was one of those "goody-two-shoes" that saw the National TV show in 1965, joined Sing-Out Los Angeles in 1966, sang with Sing-Out California in 1967, and joined the international cast in February of 1968 and traveled to Italy, the Congo, Canada, France, Belgium, and throughout the US. I was fortunate to be in the cast with Glen Close, and I could sense her star quality and spark for adventure then.

The Up With People family has embraced people from all over the world, traveling to 72 nations. "One by one we'll change the world, by giving to another..." It's a tall order, but no laughing matter that the world needs those who care.

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: GUEST,pauperback
Date: 01 Sep 16 - 04:02 PM

The corporal works of mercy are
feeding the hungry,
giving drink to the thirsty,
clothing the naked,
welcoming the stranger,
visiting the sick,
visiting the imprisoned,
burying the dead.

The spiritual works of mercy are
counselling the doubtful,
instructing the ignorant,
admonishing sinners,
consoling the afflicted,
forgiving offenses,
bearing patiently those who do us ill,
praying for the living and the dead.

And added today a new work of mercy: care for our common home.

Subject: Add: Run and Catch the Wind (Glenn Close)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Nov 23 - 06:50 PM

RUN AND CATCH THE WIND
(Glenn Close)

Count the drops in a stream,
Run and catch the wind.
Sail to Spain on a dream,
Run and catch the wind.

Kick a stone down the road,
Run and catch the wind.
Find some place to leave your load,
Run and catch the wind.

Tra’ling free through the field,
I got my head up high;
Have my life ahead of me,
The road runs to the sky!

Think of something big to do,
Run and catch the wind.
Someone else will follow you!
Run and catch the wind.

Make a fan of butterfly wing,
Run and catch the wind.
Listen to what I sing,
Run and catch the wind.

Copyright © 1965 by Up with People

https://upwithpeople.org/lyric/run-and-catch-the-wind/

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Nov 23 - 07:01 PM

All Up With People lyrics: https://upwithpeople.org/who-we-are/our-music/all-lyrics/

Subject: Add: Run and Catch the Wind (Glenn Close)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Nov 23 - 06:50 PM

RUN AND CATCH THE WIND
(Glenn Close)

Count the drops in a stream,
Run and catch the wind.
Sail to Spain on a dream,
Run and catch the wind.

Kick a stone down the road,
Run and catch the wind.
Find some place to leave your load,
Run and catch the wind.

Tra’ling free through the field,
I got my head up high;
Have my life ahead of me,
The road runs to the sky!

Think of something big to do,
Run and catch the wind.
Someone else will follow you!
Run and catch the wind.

Make a fan of butterfly wing,
Run and catch the wind.
Listen to what I sing,
Run and catch the wind.

Copyright © 1965 by Up with People

https://upwithpeople.org/lyric/run-and-catch-the-wind/

Subject: RE: Glenn Close - Up With People
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Nov 23 - 07:01 PM

All Up With People lyrics: https://upwithpeople.org/who-we-are/our-music/all-lyrics/