The word cartoon has various meanings, based on several very different forms of visual art and illustration. The artists who draw cartoons are known as cartoonists.

The term has evolved over time. The original meaning was in fine art of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, where it referred to a preparatory drawing for a piece of art, such as a painting or tapestry. In the 19th century, it came to refer to humorous illustrations in magazines and newspapers, and in the early 20th century it was sometimes used to refer to comic strips. In modern usage, it commonly refers to single-panel drawings (also known as gag cartoons) and animation for film and television.

Fine art

A cartoon (from the Italian "cartone" and Dutch word "karton", meaning strong, heavy paper or pasteboard) is a full-size drawing made on sturdy paper as a study or ''modello'' for a painting, stained glass or tapestry. Cartoons were typically used in the production of frescoes, to accurately link the component parts of the composition when painted on damp plaster over a series of days (''giornate''). Such cartoons often have pinpricks along the outlines of the design; a bag of soot was then patted or "pounced" over the cartoon, held against the wall to leave black dots on the plaster ("pouncing"). Cartoons by painters, such as the Raphael Cartoons in London and examples by Leonardo da Vinci, are highly prized in their own right. Tapestry cartoons, usually coloured, were followed by eye by the weavers on the loom.

==Print media==

In modern print media, a cartoon is a piece of art, usually humorous in intent. This usage dates from 1843 when ''Punch'' magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages, particularly sketches by John Leech. The first of these parodied the preparatory cartoons for grand historical frescoes in the then-new Palace of Westminster. The original title for these drawings was ''Mr Punch's face is the letter Q'' and the new title "cartoon" was intended to be ironic, a reference to the self-aggrandizing posturing of Westminster politicians.

Modern single-panel gag cartoons, found in magazines, generally consist of a single drawing with a typeset caption positioned beneath or (much less often) a speech balloon. Newspaper syndicates have also distributed single-panel gag cartoons by Mel Calman, Bill Holman, Gary Larson, George Lichty, Fred Neher and others. Many consider ''New Yorker'' cartoonist Peter Arno the father of the modern gag cartoon (as did Arno himself). The roster of magazine gag cartoonists includes Charles Addams, Charles Barsotti and Chon Day.

Bill Hoest, Jerry Marcus and Virgil Partch began as a magazine gag cartoonists and moved on to do syndicated comic strips. Noteworthy in the area of newspaper cartoon illustration is Richard Thompson, who illustrated numerous feature articles in ''The Washington Post'' before creating his ''Cul de Sac'' comic strip.

Editorial cartoons are found almost exclusively in news publications and news websites. Although they also employ humor, they are more serious in tone, commonly using irony or satire. The art usually acts as a visual metaphor to illustrate a point of view on current social and/or political topics. Editorial cartoons often include speech balloons and, sometimes, multiple panels. Editorial cartoonists of note include Herblock, David Low, Jeff MacNelly, Mike Peters and Gerald Scarfe.

Comic strips, also known as "cartoon strips" in the United Kingdom, are found daily in newspapers worldwide, and are usually a short series of cartoon illustrations in sequence. In the United States they are not as commonly called "cartoons" themselves, but rather "comics" or "funnies". Nonetheless, the creators of comic strips—as well as comic books and graphic novels—are usually referred to as "cartoonists". Although humor is the most prevalent subject matter, adventure and drama are also represented in this medium. Noteworthy cartoonists of humor strips include Scott Adams, Steve Bell, Charles Schulz, E. C. Segar, Mort Walker and Bill Watterson.

Books

Books with cartoons are usually reprints of newspaper cartoons. On some occasions, new gag cartoons have been created for book publication, as was the case with ''Think Small'', a 1967 promotional book distributed as a giveaway by Volkswagen dealers. Bill Hoest and other cartoonists of that decade drew cartoons showing Volkswagens, and these were published along with humorous automotive essays by such humorists as H. Allen Smith, Roger Price and Jean Shepherd. The book's design juxtaposed each cartoon alongside a photograph of the cartoon's creator.

Animation

Because of the stylistic similarities between comic strips and early animated movies, "cartoon" came to refer to animation, and the word "cartoon" is currently used to refer to both animated cartoons and gag cartoons. While "animation" designates any style of illustrated images seen in rapid succession to give the impression of movement, the word "cartoon" is most often used in reference to TV programs and short films for children featuring anthropomorphized animals, superheroes, the adventures of child protagonists and related genres.

At the end of the 1980s, the word "cartoon" was shortened, and the word "toon" came into usage with the live action/animated feature ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (1988), followed two years later by the TV series ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' (1990).

See also

Caricature

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

Comics Studies

Editorial cartoon

List of comic strips

List of cartoonists

List of editorial cartoonists

References

Further reading

Robinson, Jerry, ''The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art'' (1974) G.P. Putnam's Sons

Horn, Maurice, ''The World Encyclopedia of Comics'' (1976) Chelsea House, (1982) Avon

Blackbeard, Bill, ed. ''The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics'' (1977) Smithsonian Inst. Press/Harry Abrams

External links

Dan Becker, History of Cartoons

Marchand collection cartoons & photos

Stamp Act 1765 with British & American cartoons

Slavery

Lilly Library collection pre 1865

''Harper's Weekly'' 150 cartoons on elections 1860-1912; Reconstruction topics; Chinese exclusion; plus American Political Prints from the Library of Congress, 1766–1876

* Elections 1860-1912 as covered by ''Harper's Weekly''; news, editorials, cartoons (many by Thomas Nast)

* Thomas Nast cartoons strongly pro-GOP, pro-Reconstruction, anti-South, anti-Irish, & anti-Catholic

* more Nast cartoons

* still more Nast

"Graphic Witness" political caricatures in history

Gilded Age & Progressive Era Cartoons, industry, labor, politics, prohibition from Ohio State University

political cartoons

Hawaii editorial cartoons

Keppler cartoons

1892 political cartoons

Opper cartoons for 1900 election ridiculing TR and McKinley as pawns of Trusts and Sen. Hanna

WWI cartoons

Ding Darling editorial cartoons 1910-1950

New Deal Cartoons systematic collection of original editorial cartoons from many newspapers; research resource on New Deal by year and topic 1933-45

Lindbergh & America First with cartoons & graphics & audio speeches

Dr Seuss cartoons from WW2

Harry Truman caricatured

Oliphant's 1970s; political

Herblock 1920-s 2000s; editorial cartoons from liberal perspective

current editorial cartoons

Index of cartoonists in the Fred Waring Collection

International Society for Humor Studies

Category:Art genres Category:Cartooning Category:Film and video terminology Category:Film genres

ca:Cartoon de:Cartoon et:Animafilm fa:کارتون (نقاشی) fr:Cartoon ko:카툰 (만화) hi:कार्टून io:Kartuno lo:ໝັງກາຕູນ mk:Цртан филм mr:व्यंगचित्र ms:Kartun nl:Cartoon ja:カートゥーン pt:Cartoon simple:Cartoon sr:Цртани филм sv:Skämtteckning tl:Guhit-larawan te:కార్టూన్ th:การ์ตูน zh:卡通

Name	Max Fleischer
Birth date	July 19, 1883
Birth place	Kraków, Poland
Death date	September 11, 1972
Death place	Los Angeles, California, USA
Spouse	Essie Goldstein }}

Max Fleischer (July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an American animator. He was a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios. He brought such animated characters as Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Popeye, and Superman to the movie screen and was responsible for a number of technological innovations.

Early life

Born to a Jewish family in Kraków, Poland, then part of the Austrian-Hungarian province of Galicia, Max Fleischer was the second oldest of six children of an Austrian immigrant tailor, William Fleischer. His family emigrated to the USA in 1887 and settled in New York City, where he attended public school; he spent his formative years in Brownsville and Brooklyn. He attended Evening High School, received commercial art training at Cooper Union, and also attended The Mechanics and Tradesman's School. While still in his teens, he worked for ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' as an errand boy, and eventually became a cartoonist. It was during this period he met newspaper cartoonist and early animator, John Randolph Bray. He married his childhood sweetheart, Ethel (Essie) Gold on December 25, 1905. Shortly afterward he accepted an illustrator's job for a catalog company in Boston. He returned to New York as Art Editor for ''Popular Science'' magazine around 1912; he also wrote books, including one called ''Noah's Shoes''.

The Rotoscope

Fleischer devised a concept to simplify the process of animating movement by tracing frames of live action film. His patent for the Rotoscope was granted in 1915, although Max and his brother Dave Fleischer made their first cartoon using the system in 1914. Extensive use of this technique was made in Fleischer's ''Out of the Inkwell'' series for the first five years of the series, which started in 1919 and starred Koko the Clown and Fitz the dog.

Fleischer Studios

Fleischer produced his ''Inkwell'' films for the Bray Studios until 1921, when he and brother Dave established Fleischer Studios (initially named "Out of the Inkwell Films") to produce animated cartoons and short subjects; Max was credited as the producer at the beginning of every cartoon as well. Koko and Fitz remained the stars of the ''Out of the Inkwell'' series, which was renamed ''Inkwell Imps'' in 1927. The Fleischer brothers also partnered with Lee DeForest, Edwin Miles Fadiman, and Hugo Riesenfeld to form Red Seal Pictures Corporation, which owned 36 theaters on the East Coast, extending as far west as Cleveland, Ohio.

Fleischer invented the "follow the bouncing ball" technique for his ''Song Car-Tunes'' series of animated singalong shorts beginning in May 1924. After a few films with unsynchronized sound (music and sound effects only), Fleischer added synchronized sound to this series, with ''My Old Kentucky Home'' (released April 13, 1926) with a dog-like character saying "Follow the ball, and join in, everybody." The sound entries in the ''Song Car-Tunes'' series — roughly 19 out of 36 short films — used the Phonofilm sound-on-film process developed by Lee DeForest. The ''Song Car-Tunes'' series would last until early 1927, just a few months before the actual start of the sound era. This was before Walt Disney's ''Steamboat Willie'' (1928), which is often mistakenly cited as the first cartoon to synchronize sound with animation. However, by late 1926, both the DeForest Phonofilm Corp. and Red Seal Pictures had filed for bankruptcy, and the ''Song Car-Tunes'' series came to an end.

In 1923, Fleischer made two 20-minute educational features explaining Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity (''The Einstein Theory of Relativity'') and Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Both features used a combination of animated special effects and live action. Fleischer also produced ''Finding His Voice'' (1929) illustrating how sound films worked.

Into the early sound era, Fleischer produced many technically advanced and sophisticated animated films. Several of his cartoons had soundtracks featuring live or rotoscoped images of the leading jazz performers of the time, most notably Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and Don Redman. Fleischer's use of black performers was bold at a time when depictions of blacks were often denigrating and stereotypical.

Finding success

In 1928, as film studios made the transition to sound, Fleischer revived the ''Song Car-Tunes'' series as ''Screen Songs'', starting with the release of ''The Sidewalks of New York'' on February 5, 1929 through Paramount Pictures. Out of the Inkwell Films, Inc. was reorganized as Fleischer Studios in January 1929 following bankruptcy. During this time, Walt Disney was also gaining success with Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies. In August 1929, the silent ''Inkwell Imps'' series was replaced with the ''Talkartoon'' series, beginning with ''Noah's Lark''. A year into the series, Fitz was renamed "Bimbo" and became the star of the ''Talkartoon'' series, starting with the cartoon ''Hot Dog'' (1930).

However, in August 1930, a Rubenesque poodle-human hybrid, Bimbo's girlfriend, made her screen debut in ''Dizzy Dishes'', and quickly became Fleischer's biggest star; she would later be named Betty Boop. By 1931, Betty's floppy canine ears had evolved into hoop earrings, and she was transformed into a fully human girl (though she retained her romantic relationship with the dog for several episodes after her transmogrification). By the time of ''Minnie the Moocher'' (1932), Betty Boop was in a class of her own, and by August 1932, starting with ''Stopping the Show'', the ''Talkartoon'' series was renamed as ''Betty Boop Cartoons''; by now, as noted from even the opening song from ''Stopping the Show'', Betty clearly became the self-proclaimed "Queen of the Animated Screen." Along with his standout star Boop, Fleischer had become one of the two premier animation producers; the up-and-coming Walt Disney was the other.

Fleischer cartoons were very different from Disney cartoons, in concept and in execution. The Fleischer approach was sophisticated, focused on surrealism, dark humor, adult psychological elements and sexuality. The Fleischer milieu was grittier, more urban, sometimes even sordid, often set in squalid tenement apartments with cracked, crumbling plaster and threadbare furnishings. Even the jazz music on Fleischer's soundtracks was rawer, saucier, more fitting with the unflinching Fleischer look at America's multicultural scene. But as popular as Betty Boop was for Fleischer, the Fleischer Studios would never come close to matching the huge international success of Mickey Mouse.

Fleischer would come closest through his deal securing the rights to the comic strip character Popeye the Sailor from King Features Syndicate. Popeye started out as a secondary character in 1929 in the newspaper feature ''Thimble Theater'', and made his film debut in July, 1933, introduced in the Betty Boop short ''Popeye the Sailor''. Popeye was an immediate hit for Fleischer, and would remain in production until 1957.

Fleischer's studio was a major operation in New York under the support of Paramount Studio. But as a recipient of Paramount cash, Fleischer was also at the mercy of Paramount's management. During the Great Depression, Paramount went through four name changes and reorganizations due to bankruptcies. These reorganizations affected the production budgets and created obstacles to Fleischer's development.

When the three-color Technicolor process became available, Paramount vetoed it based on their concerns with economic balance, giving Disney the opportunity to acquire an exclusivity to the process for four years, thus giving him the market edge on color cartoons. Two years later, Paramount approved color production for Fleischer, but he was left with the clearly inferior two-color processes of Cinecolor (red and blue) and two-strip Technicolor (red and green). The ''Color Classics'' series was introduced in 1934 as Fleischer's answer to Disney's ''Silly Symphonies''.

These color cartoons were augmented with a Fleischer-patented three-dimensional background effect called "The Stereoptical Process," a precursor to Disney's Multiplane. This technique replaced the usual flat-plane, drawn and painted cartoon backgrounds with a circular 3-D scale-model background — a diorama — in front of which the action cels were positioned and photographed. As the character, say, hustled down a city street, the camera operator would rotate the diorama a click with each frame. The result was a constantly changing perspective of converging parallel lines that gave an amazing sense of depth. The process worked most dramatically with pans or tracking shots; for static shots, traditional drawn backgrounds sufficed. It was used to great effect in the longer format ''Popeye'' cartoons ''Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor'' (1936) and ''Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves'' (1937). These series of double-length (two-reel) cartoons were a gradual progression expressing Fleischer's desire to produce feature-length animated features. And while he had concepts for full-length features, it was not until the success of Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937) that the stodgy Paramount executives realized the value of an animated feature as Fleischer had been proposing for the previous three years.

Animated features and decline

The popularity of Betty Boop was irreparably damaged as a result of the enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934. Her overt sexuality was downplayed, and her racy flapper attire was replaced with longer skirts and a less revealing neckline. While the production of the cartoons had become more refined with more structured stories, the level of the content was more juvenile, largely influenced by Paramount's front office, which was changing the tone of their films to reflect a more family-oriented audience by producing films more of the nature of MGM. Betty became a spinster career girl and maiden aunt character, a judgmental "good citizen" instead of the carefree, funloving Jazz Baby she had once been. As a result, she lost much of her audience appeal, and the era and musical style that she represented had already faded away with the coming of the Swing Era.

In 1937, film production at Fleischer's studio was affected by a five month strike, which kept his cartoons off theater screens through the rest of the year. The strikers represented by the Commercial Artists and Designers Union were not recognized by the IATSE, which represented the majority of the motion picture crafts. But after five months, Paramount Pictures urged Fleischer to settle. Then in March 1938, Fleischer Studios moved from New York City to Miami, Florida. The reasons were many. While it was reasoned that the relocation removed the studio from further union agitation, they were in need of additional space for the production of features. Coincidentally with the move, relations between brothers Dave and Max began deteriorating. A feud started simmering after Dave began an adulterous affair with his Miami secretary in 1938, and was followed by more personal and professional disputes.

While at Paramount, Dave Fleischer was asked by the studio to put the popular comic book and radio hero Superman into a cartoon series. Despite the high budgets that came from the series — triple the budget of typical ''Popeye'' one-reelers — ''Superman'' became the most successful cartoons in the late period of the studio. Its ultra-realistic drawing, stylish Art Deco look and magnificently intricate scoring made the ''Superman'' pilot the highwater mark of the studio's sophisticated output.

In the wake of Disney's inarguable triumph with ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' in 1937, Paramount top brass finally acquiesced to Fleischer's longstanding appeals to produce feature-length animated films — and now they wanted one for a Christmas 1939 release. In order to finance the new operation, Fleischer negotiated a loan with Paramount that in essence surrendered the studio's assets for the term of the loan, 10 years.

While ''Gulliver's Travels'' (1939) did moderate box office, it did not make back all of its costs since the production ran nearly $500,000 overbudget due to the relocation, transportation of film for processing and back, and costs of training new workers. At the time, it was also reported that the escalated war in Europe just three months before cut off Paramount's foreign release potential; however, recent information indicates that the picture ''was'' released in Europe but the returns were not reported to Fleischer Studios' accounting department. At the same time, returns on ''Popeye'' cartoons were also not properly accounted. These factors contributed to the continued financial losses for Fleischer's studio. The final blow came with the ill-fated release of their second feature, ''Mr. Bug Goes to Town'' (1941) two days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

On May 24, 1941, Paramount initiated takeover of Fleischer's studio. Max remained nominally in charge, but the long-simmering personal feud with his brother Dave further complicated the situation. Shortly after the release of ''Mr. Bug'', a disgusted Dave left for California to take over as head of Columbia's Screen Gems animation unit in April 1942 — just one month prior to the renewal of Fleischer's contract. The move put Dave in breach of contract, for taking a position with a competitor while still contracted to Paramount. This breach, along with the substantial debt to Paramount, gave the bigger studio the right to take control of the smaller, forcing Max out. Paramount installed new management, among them Max's son-in-law, Seymour Kneitel. On May 25, 1942, the studio was renamed Famous Studios, and it moved back to New York within eight months.

Despite the disappointing performance of the feature films, the ''Superman'' series continued to do well. Nine episodes were completed by Fleischer Studios, with the final eight made by Famous Studios after the reorganization. Today, the Max Fleischer ''Superman'' cartoons are considered the final triumph of this great pioneer and his innovative studio.

Later career

After leaving his studio, Fleischer was brought in as head of the Animation Department for the industrial film company, The Jam Handy Organization. While there he supervised the technical and cartoon animation departments, producing training films for the Army and Navy and was also involved with research and development for the war effort. Following the war, he supervised the production of the animated adaptation of ''Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer'' (1948), sponsored by Montgomery Ward. Fleischer left Handy in 1954 and returned as Production Manager for the Bray Studios in New York.

Fleischer lost a lawsuit against Paramount in 1955 over the removal of his name from the credits of his films. While Fleischer had issues over the breach of contract, he had avoided suing to protect his son-in-law, Seymour Kneitel, who still had a position with Paramount's Famous Studios. The lawsuit was lost because the court decided that, though Fleischer's case had merit, the statute of limitations had expired. In 1958, Fleischer revived Out of the Inkwell Films, Inc. and partnered with his former animator, Hal Seeger to produce 100 color ''Out of the Inkwell'' (1960–1961) cartoons for television. Actor Larry Storch performed the voices for Koko and supporting characters Kokonut and Mean Moe.

Although the rift with his brother Dave was never resolved, Max eventually formed a friendship with his old rival Walt Disney, who welcomed Max to a reunion with former Fleischer animators who were by then employed by Disney.

Fleischer, along with his wife Essie, moved to the Motion Picture Country House in 1967. He died from heart failure on September 11, 1972, after a period of poor health. On the day of his death, Max Fleischer was cited as a great pioneer who invented an industry, and was named by ''Time'' magazine as the "Dean of Animated Cartoons."

References

Review by Mindy Aloff: The Animated Life of a Film Giant", ''The Forward'', October 14, 2005. Accessed 1 July 2006.

Maltin, Leonard (1987): ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons''. Penguin Books.

Popeye the Sailor Vol. 2 1938 - 1940, Documentary, "Out of the Inkwell, The Fleischer Story "

External links

Freely downloadable Max Fleischer cartoons

The history of the Fleischer's Popeye series

Category:1883 births Category:1972 deaths Category:Betty Boop Category:American animators Category:American inventors Category:American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in California Category:People from Vienna Category:People from New York City Category:Jewish inventors Category:American Jews

ca:Max Fleischer de:Max Fleischer (Cartoonist) es:Max Fleischer fr:Max Fleischer it:Max Fleischer ms:Max Fleischer nl:Max Fleischer no:Max Fleischer pt:Max Fleischer fi:Max Fleischer

Name	Soulja Boy
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	DeAndre Cortez Way
Alias	Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
Born	July 28, 1990 Chicago, Illinois
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Occupation	Rapper
Genre	Hip hop
Years active	2007–present
Label	Stacks on Deck/Interscope
Associated acts	Arab, Mr. Collipark
Website	}}

DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), better known by his stage name Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, or simply Soulja Boy, is an American rapper, record producer, actor, entrepreneur, and internet personality.

In September 2007, his single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was initially self-published on the internet, and it later became a number-one hit in the United States for seven non-consecutive weeks starting in September 2007.On August 17 Way was listed at #18 on the Forbes list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings of 2010 earning $7 million for that year.

Way has currently released three studio albums and one independent album: his debut studio album ''Souljaboytellem.com'' (2007) was certified platinum by the RIAA. However, his next two albums, ''iSouljaBoyTellem'' (2008) and ''The DeAndre Way'' (2010) did not match the commercial success of his debut, the latter only selling 80,000 copies, despite the success of several singles across both albums, such as "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" and "Turn My Swag On" (''iSouljaBoyTellem'') and "Pretty Boy Swag" (''The DeAndre Way''), the latter later being certified gold by the RIAA.

Early life

DeAndre Way was born in Chicago and moved to Atlanta at age six, where he became interested in rap music.

Career beginnings

At age 14, he moved to Batesville, Mississippi, with his father, who provided a recording studio for Way to explore his musical ambitions. Way founded his record label "Stacks on Deck Entertainment" in 2004. While Way was signed under Interscope and Collipark Music, he claimed that his label had distribution deals with Interscope, Universal Records, and Koch. In November 2005, Way posted his songs on the website SoundClick. Following positive reviews on the site, he then established his own web pages on YouTube and MySpace. In March 2007, he recorded "Crank That" and released his first independent album ''Unsigned & Still Major: Da Album Before da Album'', followed by a low-budget video filmed demonstrating the "Crank That" dance. By the end of May 2007, "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" received its first airplay and Way met with Mr. Collipark to sign a deal with Interscope Records.

Music career

2007-08: souljaboytellem.com

On August 12, 2007, the song appeared on the Emmy-award winning HBO series ''Entourage'', and by September 1, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot RingMasters charts. Way's major label debut album ''Souljaboytellem.com'', which was reportedly recorded using just the demo version of FL Studio, was released in the United States on October 2, peaking at #4 on both the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.

For the 50th Grammy Awards, Way was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song with "Crank That (Soulja Boy)". He lost to Kanye West's and T-Pain's "Good Life".

''Souljaboytellem.com'' received a favorable review from Allmusic, but received mainly negative reviews from other sources such as ''Entertainment Weekly''. Several reviewers credited Soulja Boy with spearheading a new trend in hip-hop, while speculating he will likely be a one-hit wonder.

2008-09: iSouljaBoyTellem

The follow-up to ''souljaboytellem.com'', ''iSouljaBoyTellem'', was released on December 16, 2008, to negative critical reception. The first single from the album, "Bird Walk", peaked at number 40 on the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and the top 20 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart it was performed on the first ''YouTube Live'' on November 22, 2008, with an introduction from MC Hammer. "Kiss Me Thru the Phone", with Sammie, followed, peaking at #3 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts. Chris Brown was originally Way's first choice to sing the hook, but respectfully turned down the offer. Way then tried to do it on his own with Auto-Tune but he found it unacceptable. It sold over 2,000,000 digital copies in the United States, becoming his second song to reach the two million mark in downloads.

On January 26, 2009 Way released his third single "Turn My Swag On". it topped the US Rap Charts and peaked at #19 on the Hot 100. it has so far sold over 1,000,000 digital downloads in the US. It became Soulja Boy's third song to sell 1 million or more downloads.

2009-2010: The DeAndre Way

''The DeAndre Way'' is Way's third studio album, Way has stated that the album is intended to be his most personal and successful album thus far. When speaking on possible collaborations, he stated he wished to work with artists such as Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West, Eminem, among others. The lead single from the album, "POW", was released in January 2009 but failed to garner success and was dubbed a promo single. On October 30, 2009 Way released three mixtapes ''Paranormal Activity'', ''Dat Piff'' & ''Cortez''. Then it was announced on February 18, 2010 that the first single from the album was gone be "All Black Everything" but it was cancelled & was just put on his promotional mixtape ''Legendary''. The album was titled "The DeAndre Way" but was changed in early 2010 to ''Dre'' with a commercial video snippet for "Do It Big" as the first single but it was cancelled as well. However it was reverted back to ''The DeAndre Way'' in July 2010.

But on June 8, 2010, the official lead single from the album was "Pretty Boy Swag". The single has reached number thirty-four on the Billboard Hot 100, number six on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number five on the Billboard Rap Songs chart. The album's second single was due to be "Digital" but it was just used on his promotional mixtape ''Best Rapper''. Then it was announced that "Speakers Going Hammer" was gone be the second single, but "Blowing Me Kisses" was released on August 31, 2010 as the second single instead. On October 13 Soulja Boy performed "Pretty Boy Swag" & a snippet of his third single "Speakers Going Hammer". On October 19, 2010 Way finally released "Speakers Going Hammer" on iTunes the single peaked at #48 on the ''Hot R&B & Hip Hop tracks'' Billboard. ''The DeAndre Way'' was released on November 30, 2010 it has so far has only sold 70,000 copies making this Way's lowest selling album. Soulja Boy was to be part of the Summerbeatz tour held in Australia alongside Flo Rida, Jay Sean and Travie McCoy in November 2010, but in lieu of his current album release date Soulja Boy had declined the offer & just embarked on his Who They Want tour.

2011-present: Mixtapes and Respect My Hustle

On January 22, Way released his first mixtape of 2011 ''Smooky'' which cover featured a cartoon version of Way on a bicycle doing a 360. Then On March 17, 2011 Way released the mixtape ''1up'' which cover was based on the Naruto anime Way stated "If I was in a video game, this mixtape would advance me to the next level with an extra life. Power up with the new offering". On April 20, 2011 Way released his mixtape ''Juice'' which cover was based on the ''Juice'' the movie Way stated he would also released a mini movie of his own to go along with the mixtape Way stated that he was headed to greatness with the mixtape. In September 2011, Way confirmed he is working on a new album, called ''Respect My Hustle'', which will be released in October.

Personal life

Legal issues

On December 9, 2007, Way was sued by William Lyons (a.k.a. Souljah Boy of Mo Thugs Family) who created the stage name "Souljah Boy" in 1996.

On October 7, 2009, Way was arrested on one count of obstruction, a misdemeanor, for running from police when he'd been ordered to stop. The rapper was released on $550 bond.

In May 2011, Way and his labels were sued by a local Pennsylvania promoter for failing to make promised payments in connection with a rescheduled concert.

Victim of robbery and assault

On December 30, 2008, Way was robbed and assaulted in his home. Initial reports indicated that the robbers were six masked men with AK-47s and pistols but on December 31, 2008, video clips surfaced on the Internet of two masked men claiming sole credit for the crime. Soulja Boy described the incident to MTV News a month later: He had come home very late at night after attending an album release party and was recording songs with friends when the robbers came in pointing their guns.

Family tragedies

On March 22, 2011, Way's little brother Deion Jenkins was killed in a car crash on Sunday night. Then on March 24, 2011 Way's older brother threatened to committ suicide.

Controversies

Way's music has been banned from some school dances for sexual and violent content or innuendo. However, he has denied these claims. In the original YouTube video for "Shootout", Soulja Boy demonstrates his dance while holding a handgun in each hand and pretending to shoot into the audience.

Nas

On February 25, 2008, Way said in an interview that "Nas killed hip hop and his own career". Way later apologized for his comments.

Ice-T

In June 2008, on DJ Cisco's ''Urban Legend'' mixtape, Ice-T told Way to "eat a dick" and criticized Way for "killing hip-hop" and his song "Crank That" for being "garbage" compared to the works of other hip-hop artists such as Rakim, Das EFX, Big Daddy Kane and Ice Cube. The two then traded videos back and forth over the Internet. Rapper Kanye West defended Way by arguing that the younger artist created a new, original work for hip-hop, thus keeping the authentic meaning of the music. The feud was parodied in a 2010 episode of The Boondocks.

Charles Hamilton

On December 9, 2008, Charles Hamilton commented in a interview by saying that Way was making it harder for new artists to be signed. Way responded by saying "X out the Sonic and fuck with Mario, you might want to got damn eat a mushroom." Charles Hamilton responded with the diss song "Im You Last Year With Talent". Then the diss song "Word Aight".

Bow Wow

On February 2, 2009, Way challenged Bow Wow to a race in their Lamborghinis and claimed Bow Wow's Lamborghini was a rental. On February 4, 2009 Bow Wow proved that he owned his Lamborghini and said "its halloween in Bankhead for you everyday nigga..you scared..you all nervous and shit". Way responded on twitter by saying "HE FUCKED UP!!!! IM BOUT TO SHITTTT ON THIS NIGGA!! LOL!!!!!". On February 7, 2009 both artist sent diss songs to each other such as Way's "Fuck Bow Wow" & Bow Wow's "What I Think About You". Later that day during a phone conversation both rappers settled their differences.

Fabolous

On December 28, 2010, Fabolous during a radio interview commented on the claim that Way does cocaine, saying "pretty boy swag but never coke my nose though", a reference to Way's song "Pretty Boy Swag. "Soulja Boy went on a tirade on Twitter in response, saying "I ignore dis foo like 5x before this. fuck that. If you send some niggaz to spray me @myfabolouslife at least I die I real nigga fuck you boy." 50 Cent also took to Twitter to say, "leave him the f*** alone before somebody get hurt." Way and Fabolous ended their beef on a radio interview.

"Let's Be Real"

In September 2011, Soulja Boy released the song "Let's Be Real". One of the lines of the song went: ''"Fuck the FBI and the army troops ... fighting for what? Be your own man ... I'll be flying through the clouds with green like I'm Peter Pan."'' After the song was released, Soulja Boy was highly criticized by the military members and their families, especially in regards to the timing relative to the 10th anniversary of the September 11 Attacks. Soulja Boy apologized, "When I expressed my frustration with the US Army, not only did my words come out wrong, I was wrong to even speak them." He adds, "So, I write this to give my sincerest apology to all members of the United States military services, as well as their families that were offended by my most recent lyrics." Representatives for Soulja Boy have indicated that the song has been pulled from his upcoming album, ''Respect My Hustle,'' and will not be available for sale. They are also attempting to remove the video from the internet.

Discography

;Studio albums

''Souljaboytellem.com'' (2007)

''iSouljaBoyTellem'' (2008)

''The DeAndre Way'' (2010)

''Respect My Hustle'' (2011)

Tours

''Americas Most Wanted'' (2009)

''Who They Want'' (2011)

Filmography

Film
! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
2007	''YouTube Live''	Himself	Small Role
2008	''What's at Stake?'''	Himself	Small Role
2009	''School Gyrls''	Himself	Cameo
2010	''Malice N Wonderland''	Soulja	Small Role
2011	''TBA''	''TBA''
Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
	''The Ellen DeGeneres Show''	Himself
''Last Call with Carson Daly''	Himself
	''Live with Regis''	Himself	Minor appearance
''Access Granted''	Himself	For his music video for "Bird Walk"
	''When I Was 17''	Himself
''The Mo'Nique Show''	Himself
''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon''	Himself
''Lopez Tonight''	Himself
''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''	Himself

Awards and nominations

BET Awards

*2007: Best New Artist (Nominated)

*2008: Viewer's Choice Award: "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" (Nominated)

*2009: Viewer's Choice Award: "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" (Nominated)

BET Hip-Hop Awards

*'2007: Best Hip-Hop Dance (Won)'

Grammy Awards

*2008: Best Rap Song: "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" (Nominated)

Ozone Awards

*'2007: Patiently Waiting: Mississippi (Won)'

*2008: Best Breakthrough Artist (Nominated)

*2008: TJ's DJ's Tastemaker Award (Nominated)

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

*2007: Favorite Male Singer (Nominated)

Teen Choice Awards

*2009: Choice Music: Rap Artist (Nominated)

*2009: Choice Music: R&B Track for "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" (Nominated)

*2009: Choice Music: Hook Up for "Kiss Me Thru the Phone"

*2009: Choice Music: Artist (Nominated)

See also

List of artists who reached number one in the United States

References

External links

Official website

Category:1990 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Mississippi Category:African American actors Category:African American rappers Category:African-American businesspeople Category:African American film actors Category:American film actors Category:American film producers Category:American hip hop record producers Category:American Internet personalities Category:American music industry executives Category:American music video directors Category:American pop musicians Category:American record producers Category:Businesspeople from Mississippi Category:Hip hop musicians Category:Hip hop singers Category:Interscope Records artists Category:People from Panola County, Mississippi Category:Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Rappers from Chicago, Illinois Category:Rappers from Mississippi

ar:سولجا بوي تل إم da:Soulja Boy de:Soulja Boy es:Soulja Boy fr:Soulja Boy Tell 'Em ko:솔자 보이 hr:Soulja Boy is:Soulja Boy it:Soulja Boy nl:Soulja Boy ja:ソウルジャ・ボーイ・テレム no:Soulja Boy pl:Soulja Boy Tell 'Em pt:Soulja Boy ro:Soulja Boy Tell 'Em ru:Soulja Boy simple:Soulja Boy Tell 'Em fi:Soulja Boy sv:Soulja Boy Tell 'Em th:โซลจา บอย เทลล์'เอ็ม tr:Soulja Boy

name	Tom Lehrer
background	solo_singer
birth name	Thomas Andrew Lehrer
born	April 09, 1928New York, New York
instrument	VocalsPiano
occupation	Mathematician, teacher, lyricist, pianist, composer, singer/songwriter
years active	1945–1971, 1998
label	Reprise/Warner Bros. RecordsRhino/Atlantic RecordsShout! Factory
associated acts	Joe Raposo }}

Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer (born April 9, 1928) is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater. Lehrer is best known for the pithy, humorous songs that he recorded in the 1950s and 1960s.

His work often parodies popular song forms, such as in "The Elements", where he sets the names of the chemical elements to the tune of the "Major-General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Pirates of Penzance''. Lehrer's earlier work typically dealt with non-topical subject matter and was noted for its black humor, seen in songs such as "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park". In the 1960s, he produced a number of songs dealing with social and political issues of the day, particularly when he wrote for the U.S. version of the television show ''That Was The Week That Was''.

In the early 1970s, he retired from public performances to devote his time to teaching mathematics and music theatre at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He did two additional performances in 1998 at a London gala show celebrating the career of impresario Cameron Mackintosh.

Early life

Lehrer was born in 1928 to a Jewish family in the New York City borough of Manhattan, and began studying classical piano music at the age of seven. He was more interested in the popular music of the age, however. Eventually, his mother also sent him to a popular-music piano teacher. At this early age, he began writing his own show tunes, which eventually helped him in his future adventures as a satirical composer and writer in his years of lecturing at Harvard University, and later at other universities.

Lehrer graduated from the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut. He attended Camp Androscoggin, both as a camper and a counselor. While studying mathematics as an undergraduate student at Harvard College, he began to write comic songs to entertain his friends, including "Fight Fiercely, Harvard" (1945). Those songs were later named ''The Physical Revue'', a joking reference to a leading scientific journal, ''The Physical Review''.

Mathematics career

Lehrer earned his AB in mathematics (''magna cum laude'') from Harvard University in 1947, when he was nineteen. He received his MA degree the next year and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He taught classes at MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley.

He remained in Harvard's doctoral program for several years, taking time out for his musical career and to work as a researcher at Los Alamos, New Mexico. He served in the Army from 1955 to 1957, working at the National Security Agency. (Lehrer has stated that he invented the Jell-O Shot during this time, as a means of circumventing liquor restrictions.) All of these experiences eventually became fodder for songs, viz. "Fight Fiercely, Harvard", "The Wild West Is Where I Want To Be" and "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier". Despite holding a master's degree in an era when American conscripts often lacked a high school diploma, Lehrer served as an enlisted soldier, achieving the rank of Specialist Four, which he described as being a "corporal without portfolio". In 1960, Lehrer returned to full-time studies at Harvard, but he never completed his doctoral studies in mathematics.

From 1962, he taught in the political science department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1972, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz, teaching an introductory course entitled "The Nature of Mathematics" to liberal arts majors—"Math for Tenors", according to Lehrer. He also taught a class in musical theater. He occasionally performed songs in his lectures, primarily those relating to the topic.

In 2001, Lehrer taught his last mathematics class (on the topic of infinity, and which was said to go on forever) and retired from academia. He has remained in the area, and still "hangs out" around the University of California, Santa Cruz.

His Erdős number is 4.

Mathematical publications

The American Mathematical Society database lists Lehrer as co-author of two papers:

RE Fagen & TA Lehrer, "Random walks with restraining barrier as applied to the biased binary counter", ''Journal of the Society for Industrial Applied Mathematics'', vol. 6, pp. 1–14 (March 1958) T Austin, R Fagen, T Lehrer, W Penney, "The distribution of the number of locally maximal elements in a random sample", ''Annals of Mathematical Statistics'' vol. 28, pp. 786–790 (1957)

Musical career

Lehrer was mainly influenced by musical theater. According to Gerald Nachtman's book Seriously Funny, the broadway musical, "Let's Face It" (lyrics by Sylvia Fine; music by Cole Porter) made an early and lasting impression. Lehrer's style consists of parodying various forms of popular song. For example, his appreciation of list songs led him to set an unordered list of the chemical elements to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Major-General's Song".

Author Isaac Asimov recounted in his second autobiographical volume ''In Joy Still Felt'' of seeing Lehrer perform in a Boston nightclub on October 9, 1954, during which Lehrer sang very cleverly about Jim getting it from Louise, and Sally from Jim, "and after a while you gathered the 'it' to be venereal disease [the song was likely "I Got It From Sally (in later versions 'Agnes')"]. Suddenly, as the combinations grew more grotesque, you realized he was satirizing every perversion known to mankind without using a single naughty phrase. It was clearly unsingable (in those days) outside a nightclub." Asimov also recalled a song that dealt with the Boston subway system, making use of the stations leading into town from Harvard, observing that the local subject-matter rendered the song useless for general distribution. Lehrer subsequently granted Asimov permission to print the lyrics to the subway song in his book. "I haven't gone to nightclubs often," said Asimov, "but of all the times I have gone, it was on this occasion that I had by far the best time."

Lehrer was inspired by the success of his performances of his own songs, so he paid for some studio time to record ''Songs by Tom Lehrer''. At the time, radio stations would not give Lehrer air time because of his controversial subjects. Instead, he sold his album on campus at Harvard for three dollars, while "supportive record merchants and dorm newsstands bought copies…and marked them up fifty cents." After one summer, he also started to receive mail orders from all parts of the country (as far away as San Francisco, after ''The Chronicle'' wrote an article on the record). Interest in his recordings was spread by word of mouth; friends and supporters brought their records home and played them for their friends, who then also wanted a copy.

The album—which included the macabre "I Hold Your Hand in Mine", the mildly risqué "Be Prepared", and "Lobachevsky" (regarding plagiarizing mathematicians) became a cult success via word of mouth, despite being self-published and without promotion. Lehrer then embarked on a series of concert tours and recorded a second album, which was released in two versions: the songs were the same, but ''More of Tom Lehrer'' was studio-recorded, while ''An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer'' was recorded live in concert.

Lehrer's major breakthrough in the United Kingdom came as a result of the citation accompanying an honorary degree given to Princess Margaret, where she cited musical tastes as "catholic, ranging from Mozart to Tom Lehrer". This prompted significant interest in his works and helped secure distributors for his material in the UK. It was there that his music achieved real popularity, as a result of the proliferation of university newspapers referring to the material, and the willingness of the BBC to play his songs on the radio (something that was a rarity in the United States).

By the early 1960s, Lehrer had retired from touring and was employed as the resident songwriter for the U.S. edition of ''That Was The Week That Was'' (TW3), a satirical television show. An increased proportion of his output became overtly political, or at least topical, on subjects such as education ("New Math"), the Second Vatican Council ("The Vatican Rag"), race relations ("National Brotherhood Week"), air and water pollution ("Pollution"), American militarism ("Send the Marines"), World War III "pre-nostalgia" ("So Long, Mom", premiered by Steve Allen), and nuclear proliferation ("Who's Next?" and "MLF Lullaby"). He also wrote a song that famously satirized the alleged amorality of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, who had previously worked for Nazi Germany before working for the United States. ("'Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department', says Wernher von Braun.") Lehrer did not appear on the television show; his songs were performed by a female vocalist and his lyrics were often altered by the network censors. Lehrer later performed the songs on the album, ''That Was The Year That Was'', so that, in his words, people could hear the songs the way they were intended to be heard.

In 1967, Lehrer was persuaded to make a short tour in Norway and Denmark, where he performed some of the songs from the television program. The performance in Oslo, Norway, on September 10 was recorded on video tape and aired locally later that autumn; this program was released on DVD some 40 years later.

Also around 1967, Lehrer composed and performed on piano original songs in a Dodge automobile "industrial" film that was distributed primarily to Dodge automobile dealers. It was also shown at promotional events organized by Dodge. Set in a fictional American wild west town, the full proper title of the film appears to be "The Dodge Rebellion Theatre presents Ballads For '67" Since the film is introducing 1967 model automobiles, it was possibly produced in late 1966.

The record deal with Reprise Records for the ''That Was The Year That Was'' album also gave Reprise distribution rights for Lehrer's earlier recordings, as Lehrer wanted to wind up his own record imprint. The Reprise issue of ''Songs by Tom Lehrer'' was a stereo re-recording. This version was not issued on CD, but the songs were issued on the live ''Tom Lehrer Revisited'' CD instead. The [live] recording also included bonus tracks "L-Y" and "Silent E", which Lehrer wrote for the PBS children's educational series ''The Electric Company''. Lehrer later commented that worldwide sales of the recordings under Reprise surpassed 1.8 million units in 1996. That same year, the album ''That Was The Year That Was'' went gold. The album liner notes (and Lehrer himself in one routine) promote Tom Lehrer's songs using reverse psychology, by deliberately quoting his negative reviews.

Departure from the music scene

There is an urban legend that Lehrer gave up political satire when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Henry Kissinger in 1973. He did comment that awarding the prize to Kissinger made political satire obsolete, but has denied that he stopped creating satire thereafter as a form of protest, asserting that he had stopped several years prior to the award. Another mistaken belief is that he was sued for libel by the estate of Wernher Von Braun, the subject of one of his songs, and forced to relinquish all of his royalty income to Von Braun. Lehrer firmly denied this in a 2003 interview.

When asked about his reasons for abandoning his musical career, in an interview in the book accompanying his CD box set (released in 2000), he cited a simple lack of interest, a distaste for touring, and boredom with performing the same songs repeatedly. He observed that when he was moved to write and perform songs, he did, and when he was not, he did not, and that after a while he simply lost interest. Although many of Lehrer's songs satirized the Cold War political establishment of the era, he stopped writing and performing just as the 1960s counterculture movement gained momentum.

Lehrer's musical career was brief; in an interview in the late 1990s, he pointed out that he had performed a mere 109 shows and written 37 songs over 20 years. Nevertheless, he developed a significant cult following both in the United States and abroad.

In the 1970s, Lehrer concentrated on teaching mathematics and musical theater, although he also wrote ten songs for the children's television show ''The Electric Company''—Lehrer's Harvard schoolmate Joe Raposo was the show's musical director for its first three seasons.

Revivals and discographic reissues

In the early 1980s, ''Tom Foolery'', a revival of his songs on the London stage, was a hit. Although not its instigator, Lehrer eventually gave the stage production his full support and updated several of his lyrics for the production (such as "Who's Next", in which Neiman-Marcus [or in the San Francisco production, J.C. Penney], not Alabama, gets the bomb). ''Tom Foolery'' contained 27 Lehrer songs and led to more than 200 productions, including an off-Broadway production at the Village Gate, which ran for 120 performances in 1981.

In conjunction with the ''Tom Foolery'' premiere in 1980 at Criterion Theatre in London, Lehrer made a rare TV appearance on BBCs ''Parkinson'' show, where he sang "I Got It From Agnes".

On June 7 and 8, 1998, Lehrer performed in public for the first time in 25 years at the Lyceum Theatre, London as part of the gala show ''Hey, Mr. Producer!'' celebrating the career of impresario Cameron Mackintosh, who had been the producer of ''Tom Foolery''. The June 8 show was his only performance before Queen Elizabeth II. Lehrer sang "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and an updated version of the nuclear proliferation song "Who's Next?". The DVD of the event includes the former song.

In 2000, a boxed set of CDs, ''The Remains of Tom Lehrer'', was released by Rhino Entertainment. It included live and studio versions of his first two albums, ''That Was The Year That Was'', the songs he wrote for ''The Electric Company'', and some previously unreleased material. It was accompanied by a small hardbound book containing an introduction by Dr. Demento and lyrics to all the songs.

In 2010, Shout! Factory launched a reissue campaign, making his long out-of-press albums available digitally. They also issued a CD/DVD combo called ''The Tom Lehrer Collection'', which includes his best-loved songs, plus a DVD featuring an Oslo concert.

Musical legacy

Lehrer has commented that he doubts his songs had any real effect on those not already critical of the establishment: "I don't think this kind of thing has an impact on the unconverted, frankly. It's not even preaching to the converted; it's titillating the converted... I'm fond of quoting Peter Cook, who talked about the satirical Berlin kabaretts of the 1930s, which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the Second World War."

In 2003 he commented that his particular brand of political satire is more difficult in the modern world: "The real issues I don't think most people touch. The Clinton jokes are all about Monica Lewinsky and all that stuff and not about the important things, like the fact that he wouldn't ban land mines... I'm not tempted to write a song about George W. Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporize them."

In a phone call to Gene Weingarten of the ''Washington Post'' in February 2008, Lehrer instructed Weingarten to "Just tell the people that I am voting for Obama."

A play, ''Letters from Lehrer'', written by Canadian Richard Greenblatt, was performed by him at CanStage, from January 16 to February 25, 2006. It followed Lehrer's musical career, the meaning of several songs, the politics of the time, and Greenblatt's own experiences with Lehrer's music, while playing some of Lehrer's songs. There are currently no plans for more performances, although low-quality audio recordings have begun to circulate around the internet.

Some of his songs ("I Hold Your Hand in Mine" and "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park") were reworked into German by the Austrian-Jewish singer satirist Georg Kreisler who lived in the United States from 1938 until 1955. Lehrer was praised by Dr. Demento as "the best musical satirist of the twentieth century". Other artists who cite Lehrer as an influence include "Weird Al" Yankovic, whose work generally addresses more popular and less technical or political subjects, and educator and scientist H. Paul Shuch, who tours under the stage name Dr. SETI and calls himself "a cross between Carl Sagan and Tom Lehrer: he sings like Sagan and lectures like Lehrer." More stylistically influenced performers include American political satirist Mark Russell, and the British duo Kit and The Widow. British medical satirists Amateur Transplants acknowledge the debt they owe to Tom Lehrer on the back of their first album, ''Fitness to Practice''. Their songs "The Menstrual Rag" and "The Drugs Song" are to the tunes of Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag" and "The Elements" (itself set to the tune of the "Major-General's Song" from ''The Pirates of Penzance'' by Gilbert and Sullivan), respectively. Their second album, ''Unfit to Practise'', opens with an update of Lehrer's "The Masochism Tango" and is called simply "Masochism Tango 2008". Syndicated conservative morning-radio talk show host Jim Quinn sings with piano backing in a Lehrer-like tribute in a song on how political correctness has destroyed so many Christmas traditions with the song "A Politically Correct Christmas".

Lehrer has said of his musical career, "If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while."

Music lists

Reviews selected by Lehrer for his liner notes

"Mr. Lehrer's muse is not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste." — ''The New York Times'' (9 February 1959)

"More desperate than amusing" — ''New York Herald Tribune''

"He seldom has any point to make except obvious ones" — ''The Christian Science Monitor''

"Plays the piano acceptably" — ''The Oakland Tribune''

Solo discography

''Songs by Tom Lehrer'' (1953)

''More of Tom Lehrer'' (1959)

''An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer'' (1959)

''Revisited'' (1960) (1990 CD reissue includes 1971 studio recordings of ''Silent E'' and ''L-Y'')

''Tom Lehrer Discovers Australia (And Vice Versa)'' (1960; Australia-only)

''That Was the Year That Was'' (1965)

''Tom Lehrer in Concert'' (1994; UK compilation)

''Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer'' (1997)

''The Remains of Tom Lehrer'' (2000)

''The Tom Lehrer Collection'' (2010)

Many Lehrer songs also are performed (but not by Lehrer) in ''That Was The Week That Was'' (Radiola LP, 1981)

The sheet music to many of Lehrer's songs is published in ''The Tom Lehrer Song Book'' (Crown Publishers, Inc., 1954) Library of Congress Card Catalog Number 54-12068 and ''Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer: with not enough drawings by Ronald Searle'' (Pantheon, 1981, ISBN 0-394-74930-8).

References

External links

That Was the Wit That Was Tom Lehrer interview in SF Weekly, published 2000-04-19, retrieved 2010-08-26

Tom Lehrer Annotated Song Lyrics, many with MIDI files, collected by Graeme Cree, retrieved 2011-04-13

59 minute long mp3 radio programme from 1983, with a telephone interview with Tom Lehrer, as well as a 10 minute follow-up 1989 From "Bob Claster's Funny Stuff" on KCRW, retrieved 2010-08-26

A Conversation with Tom Lehrer done by Paul D. Lehrman on September 7, 1997, retrieved 2010-08-26

Tom Lehrer page on The Demented Music Database - includes biography, discography, lyrics and other miscellanea, retrieved on 2011-01-23

Category:1928 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century mathematicians Category:American male singers Category:American mathematicians Category:American novelty song performers Category:American satirists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American pianists Category:American comedy musicians Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Reprise Records artists Category:Comedy musicians Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Category:Parody musicians Category:University of California, Santa Cruz faculty Category:Horace Mann School alumni Category:United States Army soldiers Category:Jewish songwriters Category:Wellesley College faculty Category:Jewish comedians Category:American Jews Category:American Jews

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