# Do you have a beloved artist whose heydey was long before you were born? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123 "2012-11-26T03:20:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/41 "2012-11-26T15:11:48Z")
I have a difficult time with them, and I get lectured a lot about it. But, but, WHY should I take the trouble? Life is full of riotous colors, beautiful and vibrant and wild, and some people think I should stop and watch black and white because supposedly it’s so much better? I’ll watch it occasionally but mostly I avoid it entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/42 "2012-11-26T15:19:00Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I have a difficult time with them, and I get lectured a lot about it. But, but, WHY should I take the trouble? Life is full of riotous colors, beautiful and vibrant and wild, and some people think I should stop and watch black and white because supposedly it’s so much better? I’ll watch it occasionally but mostly I avoid it entirely. I’m not going to lecture you, Mika, you know that. Anyway, it’s not that black & white is a superior medium than color; it’s not, at least not innately. It’s that there were some incredible movies made before color film was the default. 95% of black & white movies are crap, of course, but the same is true of color movies and everything else. (Wait, that’s not true. 99% of rap music is crap, not 95%) ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/43 "2012-11-26T15:22:46Z")
I actually found a few rap songs I like. 🙂 I’m fairly open-minded when it comes to music. I prefer reggae, if I have to choose, but nowadays I even listen to modern country (gasp). But everyone has to be closed-minded about something, and black and white is one of those things I am. I could probably count the number of b&w movies I’ve seen on one hand, and one of those is Young Frankenstein. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/44 "2012-11-26T15:25:40Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I actually found a few rap songs I like. 🙂 I’m fairly open-minded when it comes to music. I prefer reggae, if I have to choose, but nowadays I even listen to modern country (gasp). > > But everyone has to be closed-minded about something, and black and white is one of those things I am. I could probably count the number of b&w movies I’ve seen on one hand, and one of those is Young Frankenstein. Once again you present me with a statement I have to pretend I didn’t read. Do not mention Gene Wilder or his unholy creations to me again, or the elf dies. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/45 "2012-11-26T15:28:16Z")
😕 You are _weird_. Kill the elf, I guess, cause I can’t promise I won’t mention it again! ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/46 "2012-11-26T15:30:52Z")
H.P. Lovecraft. Poor dead, miserable, screwed-up H.P. Lovecraft. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/47 "2012-11-26T15:40:16Z")
Many. _Music_ Harry Warren George Gershwin Cole Porter Beethoven _Movies_ Busby Berkeley Jean Arthur Charlie Chaplin Buster Keaton The Marx Brothers Fred Astaire Humphrey Bogart S. Z. Sakal William Powell Fritz Lang ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/48 "2012-11-26T16:01:36Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Alice Cooper was at his absolute hugest in 1972. That’s when he held the Guiness World Record for world’s largest outdoor concert in São Paulo, I think. I was 5. I’d give anything to go back in time and see the Billion Dollar Babies tour first hand. Even more to bed him at age 24. Rowr! You would have been disappointed. Alice was monogamous, was NOT a groupie banger, didn’t wreck hotel rooms, didn’t do drugs (he did have a bad alcohol problem, but it didn’t make him party like a rock star). He genuinely shocked fans by preferring to watch TV after a show and play golf with The Establishment. He would not have ‘bedded’ you. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/49 "2012-11-26T17:26:19Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Billie Holiday. I came to this thread to post Billie’s name as well. Also - even though I don’t like Country and Western music, Patsy Cline (Kline) has a voice that just makes me melt. Also, Judy Garland (yes, I am Gay - how did you know?) Edith Piaf was also amazing. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/50 "2012-11-26T18:20:02Z")
I was reading Heinlein in high school and found a mention of Maxfield Parrish. I went looking for his stuff and fell in love. Since he’s dead, he is well past his prime, and he’s not as popular as he was in the early 20th century. Only a few of his paintings get much play these days - _Daybreak_ and _Ecstasy_ are the most popular - but he has a very large body of work, and all of them have that luminous resonance that just about breaks my heart. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/51 "2012-11-26T20:10:38Z")
Buddy Holly. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/52 "2012-11-26T20:28:47Z")
I don’t understand the question - how could you not, especially if you’re including novelists and poets? Also, especially if you’re including mega-stars. I would find it a little odd for someone to be a huge fan of an obscure artist whose peak of popularity wasn’t really all that high and had faded long before the person was born. But if the artist is still a household name then they’re still going to pick up fans. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/53 "2012-11-26T20:29:06Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Katherine Hepburn: check, although she was still working protagonist roles well into my teens. Same here; she won the Oscar for \*The Lion in Winter \*when I was four. Also, J.R.R. Tolkien; he died when I was eight, and I first read _The Hobbit_ four years later. ---
**Author:** ![\_Olive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/4af34b/32.png) [@\_Olive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Olive)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/54 "2012-11-26T23:46:52Z")
Ovid ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/55 "2012-11-27T00:21:36Z")
Well, let’s see… My favorite genres of music are folk and classical, so most of my favorite composers are rather decomposers (though there are still performers in their heyday, of course). Most of my favorite authors are also dead. C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien died 14 and 4 years before my birth, respectively, so they certainly weren’t “active” when I was born, though I suppose it’s possible that they’re still at or near their peak appreciation levels, due to the recent movies. Robert A. Heinlein’s life overlapped with mine, but I wasn’t first introduced to his work until after his death, and most of the works he wrote in my lifetime were decidedly subpar. Isaac Asimov lasted a little longer, and didn’t have as precipitous a dropoff in quality, but I’d still say his best works were before my birth. Movies and TV, on the other hand, I seem to have a mix of classics and more modern works. I think the best Star Trek was the original, for instance, but none of the Treks holds a candle to Babylon 5 or Firefly. And few films can compare with _Forbidden Planet_ or the original _The Day the Earth Stood Still_, but then again, few can also compare to _The Princess Bride_ or _12 Monkeys_. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/56 "2012-11-27T01:22:55Z")
In music: Rogers & Hammerstein Irving Berlin Dinah Shore In movies: Celeste Holm Gregory Peck Robert Donat In books: Dorothy Sayers Charlotte Bronte Charles Dickens In paintings: Gustave Caillebotte Albert Sisley Amadeo Modigliani In poetry: W.B. Yeats Edna St. Vincent Millay Henry Wadsworth Longfellow In drama: Oscar Wilde Oliver Goldsmith William Shakespeare I think it would be harder to make an equivalent list of beloved living artists. There’s a much smaller group to choose from. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/57 "2012-11-27T15:11:54Z")
In Maxfield Parrish territory, Alphonse Mucha. I have prints of the art-nouveau four seasons ladies on my walls. Art nouveau, and art deco, too, were the high points of design IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/58 "2012-11-27T15:25:31Z")
[Clara Bow](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh1nY3YRK0g). ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/59 "2012-11-27T16:22:42Z")
Jack Lord from the original _Five-O_ ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123/60 "2012-11-27T16:38:30Z")
The (sadly, not) Immortal Sam Cooke. _Live, at the Harlem Square Club_ is considered one of the greatest soul albums ever. Deservedly so, great performance and his charisma really comes through. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-beloved-artist-whose-heydey-was-long-before-you-were-born/642123.md?page=4)