Sir Lancelot
Publicity Photo of Sir Lancelot
Publicity Photo of Sir Lancelot
Background information
Birth nameLancelot Victor Edward Pinard
Born(1902-03-24)March 24, 1902
Cumuto, Trinidad
DiedMarch 12, 2001(2001-03-12) (aged 98)
Anaheim, California, US
GenresCalypso
Occupation(s)Singer, actor
Years active1940–1967

Lancelot Victor Edward Pinard (March 24, 1902 – March 12, 2001)[1][2] was a calypso singer and actor who used the name Sir Lancelot.[3][4] Sir Lancelot played a major role in popularizing calypso in North America,[1][5][6] and Harry Belafonte has acknowledged him as an inspiration and major influence.[7]

Early life

Pinard was born in Cumuto, Trinidad.[1] His father, Donald Pinard, was a wealthy government official and Anglophile.[1][3][8] Pinard attended exclusive parochial schools and his family regularly attended the opera (which gave him an informal musical education).[3] He began singing traditional German lieder and Italian arias.[3][9] He studied to be a pharmacist as a young man, and his family sent him to New York City to study medicine.[1][8][9] After hearing a concert by the African-American lyric tenor Roland Hayes he gave up his medical education to study singing and music,[1][9] and soon was performing classical works.[8][9] He began including calypso in his performances, and eventually became a full-time calypso singer.[8][9] About this time, he met the Trinidadian band leader Gerald Clark,[3] perhaps the most significant promoter of calypso in New York City.[10] Clark asked him to record some calypso songs, and Pinard agreed.[1][9] He made his debut as Sir Lancelot in 1940 at New York City's Village Vanguard nightclub.[1][5][8][9] He was a close friend of the photographer Seema Aissen Weatherwax, who took some of his first publicity photos.[11]

Musical and acting career

Sir Lancelot became a regular at the Village Vanguard, and by the 1940s "was widely considered the hottest calypsonian in the city."[12] His trademark became the tuxedo he wore in nearly every concert,[5] and his popularity was nationwide for two decades.[13][14] In the 1940s he returned home for the first time but was largely disowned by his family, which felt that his calypso singing had shamed them.[3] Sir Lancelot wrote the calypso song "Shame & Scandal" (also known as "Fort Holland") in response.[3][15]

Sir Lancelot toured with Lionel Belasco in California and Oregon in 1941.[1][3][9] After a show in Los Angeles, he was offered a minor singing role in the picture Two Yanks in Trinidad (Columbia Pictures, 1942).[1][3][5][9] His appearance was made possible by the Oscar-winning performance of Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind just two years earlier.[16] He made more than 15 films,[1] and his significant film appearances include:

In the 1940s, Sir Lancelot made numerous records (signing with Apollo Records),[3][21] and sang in commercials.[3][5][8] He also composed a score for the 1948 motion picture, Tarzan and the Mermaids.[8] He allegedly made millions of dollars selling calypso records, and spent most of it.[22]

Sir Lancelot was politically active for much of his life.[8] After hearing Henry A. Wallace's "century of the common man" speech on May 8, 1942, Sir Lancelot composed the "Common Man" calypso song.[8] Wallace later wrote him a long letter of thanks.[8] He composed several popular calypso songs with left-wing lyrics in the 1940s, including "Defenders of Stalingrad" and "Walk in Peace" (1946).[3][23] His stand on war and peace issues was so well known that a cartoon version of him appeared in Columbia Pictures' 1944 animated short film, The Disillusioned Bluebird (in which the calypso-singing character tells a bluebird that the world will not always be at war).[24] According to Pete Seeger, the 1948 Lead Belly song "Equality for Negroes" was inspired by a Sir Lancelot song.[25] Sir Lancelot became a U.S. citizen in 1960.[26]

Sir Lancelot spent six years touring in Europe in the 1950s, which negatively impacted his career in the U.S.[9] Sir Lancelot's last film appearance was in 1958 (with Yul Brynner in The Buccaneer),[8] although he made a noted appearance in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show in 1967.[3] Through the 1960s and into the early 1970s, he recorded several "Gospel calypso" songs.[1][9] He was widely popular in Europe into the late 1960s.[1] His popularity in the U.S. at the time was still strong enough for Sherwood Schwartz to use Sir Lancelot's musical style as inspiration for the original theme song to the television program Gilligan's Island and nearly had Sir Lancelot sing the theme.[27] His music, too, endured, with Lord Melody covering "Shame and Scandal" in the 1960s.[28] He continued to work as a musician until at least 1973, briefly coming out of retirement in the 1980s to perform at McCabe's Guitar Shop (Los Angeles) with Van Dyke Parks, Ry Cooder and other musicians.[9] He also performed and recorded with Steven Springer, Arizona-based band Sanctuary, and his nephew Brian Pinard, recording his last album under the name "Knights of the Holy Trinity," with his last recording being "Pinardhymns – Religious Calypso."

Sir Lancelot was a Roman Catholic[1] who married and had three daughters.[8] He spent his last years in Australia with his nephew, Brian Pinard.

Sir Lancelot died of natural causes in Anaheim, California[1] and is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.[29]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1942 Two Yanks in Trinidad Trinidad Man Film debut, uncredited
1943 Happy Go Lucky Calypso Singer
I Walked with a Zombie Calypso Singer
The Ghost Ship Billy Radd Uncredited
1944 The Curse of the Cat People Edward
To Have and Have Not Horatio – Crewman Uncredited
1945 Eve Knew Her Apples Calypso Singer on Radio Uncredited
Zombies on Broadway Calypso Singer Uncredited
1947 Brute Force "Calypso" James
Linda, Be Good Calypso Singer
1948 Romance on the High Seas Specialty Singer
1957 Lux Video Theatre Bartender Episode: "To Have and Have Not"
The Unknown Terror Himself
1958 Father Knows Best Bongo Instructor Episode: "Calypso Bud"
The Buccaneer Scipio Final film appearance
1967 The Andy Griffith Show Man Episode: "Howard's New Life"

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Lancelot Pinard; Musician Brought Calypso to U.S." Los Angeles Times. March 18, 2001.
  2. ^ There is some confusion over his date of birth. At least one source says he was born around 1910, rather than 1902. See: Thompson, Reggae and Caribbean Music, 2002, p. 61. Another claims 1903 as his birthdate. See: Hill, Donald R. Caribbean Folklore: A Handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, p. 166. ISBN 0-313-33605-9
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Thompson, Dave. Reggae and Caribbean Music. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2002. ISBN 0-87930-655-6
  4. ^ Berger, Meyer. "About New York." The New York Times. March 11, 1940.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g McGill, Lisa D. Constructing Black selves: Caribbean American Narratives and the Second Generation. New York: NYU Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8147-5691-3
  6. ^ Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; and Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music. 4th rev. edn. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2001. ISBN 0-87930-627-0
  7. ^ Randall, Annie Janeiro. Music, Power, and Politics. New York: Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0-415-94364-7
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "After 18 Years, Sir Lancelot Returns For Brief Stay Here." Virgin Islands Daily News. September 24, 1963.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Snowden, Don. "Calypso King Back on Throne." Los Angeles Times. December 13, 1984.
  10. ^ Bright, Doug. "Rounder Label Unearths Calypso Treasure." Heritage Music Review. April 2000.
  11. ^ Halprin, Sara. Seema's Show: A Life on the Left. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8263-3847-X
  12. ^ Thompson, Reggae and Caribbean Music, 2002, p. 61.
  13. ^ Browne, Pat. The Guide to United States Popular Culture. Madison, Wisc.: Popular Press, 2001. ISBN 0-87972-821-3
  14. ^ Cohen, Ronald D. Rainbow Quest: The Folk Music Revival and American Society, 1940–1970. Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002. ISBN 1-55849-348-4
  15. ^ a b Bansak, Edmund G. Fearing the Dark: The Val Lewton Career. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2003. ISBN 0-7864-1709-9
  16. ^ Cripps, Thomas. Slow Fade to Black: The Negro in American Film, 1900–1942. New York: Oxford University Press US, 1993. ISBN 0-19-502130-4
  17. ^ Williams, Tony. Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film. Madison, Wisc.: Associated University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-8386-3564-4
  18. ^ "To Have and Have Not (1944)", IMDb (full cast and crew page)
  19. ^ Beifuss, John. "The 13 Days of Halloween 2009 – Day One: Twin Titans of Terror: 'Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics' on DVD." Archived October 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine The Commercial Appeal. October 19, 2009.
  20. ^ Silver, Alain; Ursini, James; and Duncan, Paul. Film Noir. Berlin: Taschen, 2004. ISBN 3-8228-2261-2
  21. ^ Zolten, J. Jerome. Great God A'mighty!: The Dixie Hummingbirds: Celebrating the Rise of Soul Gospel Music. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2003. ISBN 0-19-515272-7
  22. ^ Feather, Leonad. "'Black' Music Spans the Spectrum." Los Angeles Times. October 6, 1968.
  23. ^ Scheurer, Timothy E. Born in the U.S.A.: The Myths of America in Popular Music from Colonial Times to the Present. Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, 2007. ISBN 1-934110-56-6
  24. ^ Shull, Michael S. and Wilt, David E. Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, 1939–1945. 2d ed. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2004. ISBN 0-7864-1555-X
  25. ^ Wolfe, Charles K. and Lornell, Kip. The Life and Legend of Leadbelly. Boston: Da Capo Press, 1999. ISBN 0-306-80896-X
  26. ^ "Singing Citizen Is Sir Lancelot." Virgin Islands Daily News. March 17, 1960.
  27. ^ Schwartz, Sherwood. Inside Gilligan's Island. New York: Macmillan, 1994. ISBN 0-312-10482-0
  28. ^ Manuel, Peter Lamarche; Bilby, Kenneth M.; and Largey, Michael D. Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music From Rumba to Reggae. 2d ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 2006. ISBN 1-59213-463-7
  29. ^ Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons. McFarland. p. 422.

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