Two Absent Friends, William Goldman and Scott English

The Grandstander today pays tribute to two Absent Friends who died this past week, Screenwriter William Goldman and singer/songwriter Scott English.

William Goldman

1931-2018

So, how many times in your life have you used the following phrases:

• "Who ARE those guys?"
• "Follow the money."

These are two of the more famous lines from movies that have passed into everyday usage, and they came from the pen of William Goldman.  The first quote is from "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" and the second is from "All the President's Men", and Goldman won Oscars for the screenplays for each of those movies.  That's a pretty good resume if he had never done anything else, but among other screenplays of his that were made into memorable movies are "Harper", "The Hot Rock", "Papillion", "The Stepford Wives", "A Bridge Too Far", "Marathon Man", Princess Bride", "The Great Waldo Pepper", and "Chaplin".

He was 87 when he died, and he was having screenplays of his made into movies as late as 2015.

Pretty good, I'd say.

Scott English

1938-2018

If you grew up in Pittsburgh and are of a certain age - mine - chances are you are very familiar with Scott English's 1964 recording of "High On A Hill", a song that probably still holds the record for being the closing number at high school dances throughout southwestern Pennsylvania.

I confess to the following misconceptions about English, who was 81 when he died this past Friday.  I thought he was from Pittsburgh, and I considered him a quintessential One Hit Wonder.  Turns out I was wrong on both counts.  He was born in Brooklyn, and while he didn't have a huge career, it did encompass more than "High On A Hill".  In fact, his Wikipedia entry doesn't even mention this song that is so near and dear to generations of Pittsburgh teenagers!  He was somewhat popular in the UK, and his most notable achievement is a song that he wrote and recorded called "Brandy", which was also recorded by and became a huge hit for Barry Manilow, who changed the name to "Mandy" to avoid confusion with another  song named "Brandy" (by The Looking Glass, a true one hit wonder, but I digress).

Back to the Pittsburgh connection, I did find this entry about "High On A Hill" in a website called songfests.com:

This song's initial release was in November of 1963; at that time, it was a flop on account of the assassination of President Kennedy. By March of 1964, it had become a national minor hit and had success in certain regional areas. Although it was only a minor hit nationally, it reached #3 in San Francisco and #1 in Pittsburgh. To this day, it is Pittsburgh's favorite oldie of all time.

Who knows why a particular song becomes popular in one specific place and not others, but to those of us in Pittsburgh who had teenage romances, or, like me, wished that they had had teenage romances, we shall be forever grateful to Scott English and his contribution to the Popular Culture.     So let us now close out this particular dance in The Grandstand.....

RIP William Goldman and Scott English