Sir Lancelot (singer)

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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

Shame & Scandal" (also known as "Fort Holland") in response.[3][15]

Sir Lancelot toured with

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. ISBN 0-313-33605-9
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-87930-655-6
  4. ^ Berger, Meyer. "About New York." The New York Times. March 11, 1940.
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-8147-5691-3
  6. ISBN 0-87930-627-0
  7. 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. ISBN 0-8263-3847-X
  12. ^ Thompson, Reggae and Caribbean Music, 2002, p. 61.
  13. ISBN 0-87972-821-3
  14. ISBN 1-55849-348-4
  15. ^
    ISBN 0-7864-1709-9
  16. ISBN 0-19-502130-4
  17. 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. ISBN 3-8228-2261-2
  21. ISBN 0-19-515272-7
  22. ^ Feather, Leonad. "'Black' Music Spans the Spectrum." Los Angeles Times. October 6, 1968.
  23. ISBN 1-934110-56-6
  24. ISBN 0-7864-1555-X
  25. ISBN 0-306-80896-X
  26. ^ "Singing Citizen Is Sir Lancelot." Virgin Islands Daily News. March 17, 1960.
  27. ISBN 0-312-10482-0
  28. ISBN 1-59213-463-7
  29. ^ Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons. McFarland. p. 422.

External links

See also

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