Full Text of HR0476 96th General Assembly
HR0476 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives are proud to recognize the life and legacy of | 4 |
| those individuals that have distinguished themselves through | 5 |
| significant personal achievement; and
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| WHEREAS, Burl Ives was born on June 14, 1909 in Hunt City; | 7 |
| he was the son of Levi "Frank" Ives and Cordelia "Dellie" | 8 |
| White; and
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| WHEREAS, Burl Ives' musical talent was recognized at an | 10 |
| early age; one day, Mr. Ives was singing in the garden with his | 11 |
| mother, and his uncle overheard them; he invited his nephew to | 12 |
| sing at the old soldiers' reunion in Hunt City; young Burl | 13 |
| performed a rendition of the folk ballad "Barbara Allen" and | 14 |
| impressed both his uncle and the audience; and
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| WHEREAS, From 1927 to 1929, Burl Ives attended Eastern | 16 |
| Illinois State Teachers College in Charleston (now Eastern | 17 |
| Illinois University), where he played football; during his | 18 |
| junior year, while sitting in English class listening to a | 19 |
| lecture on Beowulf, he suddenly realized that he was wasting | 20 |
| his time in school and rose up to leave; as he walked out the | 21 |
| door, the professor made a snide remark and Mr. Ives slammed | 22 |
| the door behind him; 60 years later, the school named a |
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| building after its most famous dropout; and
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| WHEREAS, During the early 1930s, Burl Ives traveled about | 3 |
| the U.S. as an itinerant singer, earning his way by doing odd | 4 |
| jobs and playing his banjo; around 1931, he landed on WBOW | 5 |
| radio in Terre Haute, Indiana; he also went back to school, | 6 |
| attending classes at Indiana State Teachers College (now | 7 |
| Indiana State University); and | 8 |
| WHEREAS, In 1940, Burl Ives began his own radio show, | 9 |
| titled "The Wayfaring Stranger" after one of his ballads; the | 10 |
| show became very popular; in the 1940s, he popularized several | 11 |
| traditional folk songs, such as "Lavender Blue", "Foggy Foggy | 12 |
| Dew", "Blue Tail Fly", and "Big Rock Candy Mountain"; and
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| WHEREAS, Burl Ives was drafted to serve in the military in | 14 |
| early 1942; he first spent time at Camp Dix in New Jersey, then | 15 |
| at Camp Upton in New York, where he joined the cast of Irving | 16 |
| Berlin's "This Is the Army"; when the show went to Hollywood, | 17 |
| he was transferred to the Army Air Force; he was honorably | 18 |
| discharged in September of 1943; in December of 1943, Ives | 19 |
| returned to New York City and went to work again for CBS radio | 20 |
| for $100 a week; and
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| WHEREAS, On December 6, 1945, Burl Ives married 29-year-old | 22 |
| script writer Helen Peck Ehrlich; the pair would later adopt a |
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| son (Alexander); the following year, Mr. Ives was cast as a | 2 |
| singing cowboy in the film "Smoky"; and
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| WHEREAS, Burl Ives continued his burgeoning movie career | 4 |
| during the 1950s, with roles in "East of Eden" in 1955, "Cat on | 5 |
| a Hot Tin Roof" in 1958, "The Big Country" in 1958, which won | 6 |
| him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and "Our Man in | 7 |
| Havana" in 1959; and | 8 |
| WHEREAS, In the 1960s, Burl Ives began singing country | 9 |
| music with greater frequency; in 1962, he released three | 10 |
| country music hits, "A Little Bitty Tear", "Call Me Mr. | 11 |
| In-Between", and "Funny Way of Laughing"; all three songs also | 12 |
| became big pop music hits; and
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| WHEREAS, During the 1960s and 1970s, Burl Ives took on a | 14 |
| number of television roles; he played the narrator, Sam the | 15 |
| Snowman, in the animated television special, Rudolph the | 16 |
| Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964; Mr. Ives' song "A Holly Jolly | 17 |
| Christmas", featured during the special, remains a popular tune | 18 |
| during the Christmas season; he also performed in Pinocchio in | 19 |
| 1968 and Roots in 1977; he was the star of two television | 20 |
| series, "O.K. Crackerby!" (1965-1966) and "The Bold Ones: The | 21 |
| Lawyers" (1969-1972); in 1962, he starred alongside Rock Hudson | 22 |
| in the movie "The Spiral Road"; and
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| WHEREAS, Burl Ives and Helen Peck Ehrlich divorced in 1971; | 2 |
| he then married Dorothy Koster Paul in London, England in that | 3 |
| same year and adopted her two children, Kevin and Robbie; and
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| WHEREAS, On October 25, 1975, Burl Ives was awarded the | 5 |
| prestigious University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit | 6 |
| in honor of his vast influence on American vocal music; and | 7 |
| WHEREAS, In the 1970s, Burl Ives lent his name and image to | 8 |
| the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's "This Land is Your Land, | 9 |
| Keep It Clean" campaign; and
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| WHEREAS, Burl Ives passed away at the age of 85 on April | 11 |
| 14, 1995 in Anacortes, Washington after a valiant fight against | 12 |
| cancer; he is interred at Mound Cemetery in Hunt City Township | 13 |
| in Jasper County; and
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| WHEREAS, Burl Ives appeared in many Broadway shows, | 15 |
| including "The Boys From Syracuse", "Heavenly Express", "This | 16 |
| is the Army", "Sing Out Sweet Land", "Paint Your Wagon", and | 17 |
| "Dr. Cook's Garden"; his most notable Broadway performance, | 18 |
| however, was the role of Big Daddy Cane in "Cat on a Hot Tin | 19 |
| Roof", a role written specifically for Ives by Tennessee | 20 |
| Williams; he would later reprise the role in the 1958 movie | 21 |
| version; and |
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| WHEREAS, Burl Ives published his autobiography, "The | 2 |
| Wayfaring Stranger", in 1948; he also wrote or compiled several | 3 |
| other books, including the "Burl Ives Songbook" (1953), "Tales | 4 |
| of America" (1954), "Sea Songs of Sailing, Whaling, and | 5 |
| Fishing" (1956), and "The Wayfaring Stranger's Notebook" | 6 |
| (1962); and
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| WHEREAS, During the course of the multi-decade career; Burl | 8 |
| Ives recorded more than 100 albums and scored dozens of hits; | 9 |
| his music is still adored and emulated by countless numbers of | 10 |
| fans and fellow musicians; and | 11 |
| WHEREAS, Burl Ives' legacy lives on through his legions of | 12 |
| devoted fans and his unforgettable catalog of incredible music; | 13 |
| his contributions to the world of music and the people of the | 14 |
| State of Illinois are enormous; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 16 |
| NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 17 |
| celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Burl Ives on | 18 |
| June 14, 2009 and urge the citizens of the State of Illinois to | 19 |
| celebrate as well; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 21 |
| presented to the family of Burl Ives, the Jasper County Board, | 22 |
| and the Jasper County Chamber of Commerce as a symbol of our |
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| esteem and respect.
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