NOTE:We see a few errors in this article.Bobby did not have a
congenital heart condition, no one is born with Rheumatic fever.Also, he wasn't the reason the movie "Pepe" stunk,he was one of the best things in it!!
In Woody Allen's "Zelig", the title
character's biggest asset - and biggest
flaw - is his ability to change form and take
over on the characteristics of whoever he
happens to be with.
The same could be said for Bobby Darin,
whose chameleonic style allowed him to
bridge the gap between Elvis Presley and
Frank Sinatra - with enough personal
innovation to keep him relevant 25 years
after his death.
Darin whose career is the subject of the
documentary "Beyond The Song" which airs
Wednesday night on WNET at 10 p.m.,
was the first crossover performer of the rock
era.
From professional beginnings that
paralleled such non-entities as Fabian and
Frankie Avalon, the slender singer quickly
established himself as a songwriter,
arranger and actor with an appeal that
extended well beyond the poodle skirt set.
But in doing so, he often blurred his own
image to the point of unrecognizability:
He admitted as much in a interview taped
shortly before his death in December of
1973, saying that "In playing the role of
Bobby Darin, I am assuming someone else,
since the easiest way to put myself across
is through other people's characters."
Indeed, in the world of Bobby Darin -
or, as his birth certificate reads,
Walden Robert Cassotto - nothing was
quite as it seemed.
The constant finger-snapping during
performances was no mere hipster conceit.
Although he poked fun at the tic, Darin was
actually using the motion to combat poor
circulation that stemmed from his
congenital heart condition.
"Bobby Darin is one of those performers
that it's almost impossible to get a handle
on," says Cliff Morgan, editor of
Black Slacks, a magazine devoted to the
music of the 50's.
" He had success in rock, but his heart
never seemed to be in it. Then when he
moved into more easy listening, he brought
a sensibility that was more rock 'n' roll.
He was neither fish nor fowl, and that
wasn't always a plus."
Most music professionals take a kinder
veiw of Darin's genre-jumping - particularly
his fellow performers. It's said that
Sammy Davis Jr. frequently stated that
Bobby was the only performer he would
never follow onstage.
" A lot of fans think that, had he not died,
Darin would have picked up the
Rat Pack mantle when those performers
started slowing down," says Rory O'Shea
of Footlight Records, a Greenwich Village
store that specializes in pre-rock. " We see
a lot of crossover between fans of his and
those of Sinatra in particular."
The parallels between Darin and
Ol' Blue Eyes are fairly striking: Doted-on
sons of a tight-knit Italiian families, both
possessed plenty of book smarts ( Darin
graduated from Bronx Science at the age
of 16 and entered Hunter College a year
later ) that they used to push ahead in the
entertainment world.
Likewise, both performers quickly
tiered of teen-idol image-making that accompanied their ascents and
forged ahead into other media.
Despite discouraging words from
tastemakers like Dick Clark - who recalls
telling Darin to stick to rock' n' roll - the
singer was soon trading riffs with
Jimmy Durante, and eagerly pursuing
serious film roles, rather than the sock hop
fluff his handerlers would have preferred.
On screen, when he was good - as in
his Oscar-nominated role in
" Captain Newman M.D. " - he was very,
very good.
But just as often, he was horrid, as
evidence by digressions like " Pepe, " a
three hour south-of-the-border comedy
where he was forced to play second fiddle
to Cantinflas.
Nineteen sixty-eight was a pivotal,
wracking year for Bobby Darin. Drawn into
the political arena for the first time in his
adult life, he stumped strenuously for
Robert Kennedy - accompanying him on
the campaign trail until the day before
Kennedy's assassination.
While that event shook him, the
shock was nothing compared to the
bombshell that rocked his personal life the
same year.
At the age of 32 Darin discovered that
the woman he grew up believing to be his
older sister was in fact, his biological
mother.
Pregnant and unmarried at 19,
Nina Cassotto agreed to her mother's
suggestion that young Walden be raised
as her sibling - a deception Polly Cassotto
facilitated by moving the family from Harlem
to the Bronx while her daughter lie in the
maternity ward.
All though his formative years, Darin
accepted his grandmother as his birth
mother: Even an early 60's appearance on
the past-examining TV series "This Is Your
Life " didn't unearth the truth, as it might in
the 90's.
But when Darin was ultimately let in
on the family secret, he took it with unusual
stoicism.
" Bobby was never quite the same after
that," one friend confides in an on-screen
interveiw. " He became very introspective."
Taken in combination with the
breakup of his six-year marriage to actress
Sandra Dee ( with whom he had one son,
Dodd ) the news sent him into a tail spin.
For much of the late 60's he was torn
between his old-school showbiz values -
the ones that kept his name emblazoned
atop some of Las Vegas glitziest marquees
- and the nagging feeling that the times
truly were a chang'in.
Darin an avid supporter of Robert
Kennedy, became increasingly involved with
politics as the decade wore on. And unlike
many of his peers, who were satisfied with
merely trading tuxedos for denim, the
singer actually expressed the change in his
music as well - going so far as to risk getting
booed offstage by casino crowds for
performing his " Simple Song Of Freedom."
" When people saw him durng this
period, they didn't see someone trying to
express what he felt inside," Dodd Darin
told the makers of " Beyond The Song."
" What they saw was an overaged
hippie singing peace songs."
As the 70's dawned, Darin did seem
to strike a new balance. As a recording
artist he continued to experiment,covering
songs by performers like Randy Newman
and Bob Dylan.
Darin - who briefly rechristened
himself " Bob" to underscore his new earnestness - also knew that his
continued survival depended on trotting out
"Beyond The Sea" for the Vegas crowd.
It was in Las Vegas that Darin last
took the stage, completing a nine date
engagement despite a rapid deterioration
of his physical condition. On December 20,
1973, Bobby Darin died after undergoing
open-heart surgery.
" Obviously, the tragedy of his death
has contributed to his legacy, but I don't
think it's the most important element," says
Shannon. " If he had lived, I'd imagine he'd
be in that upper echelon of entertainers
that everyone would go and see when ever
he came through town.
bobbydarin.net/bobbydarin.com, All Rights Reserved.