Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman (born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007) was an American singer, dancer, and film/television actress. She began her film career in 1932 and her work in television lasted into 1993. She was a prolific performer for two decades. She received an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Johnny Belinda (1948), and was a three time winner of The Golden Globe, she achieved a new level of success as Angela Channing in the 1980s prime time soap opera Falcon Crest.

She was the first wife of Ronald Reagan; they married in 1940 and divorced in 1949.

Youth

Wyman was born Sarah Jane Mayfield in St. Joseph, Missouri. Although her birthdate has been widely reported for many years as January 4, 1914, research by biographers and genealogists indicates she was born on January 5, 1917. The most likely reason for the 1914 year of birth is that she added to her age so as to be able to work and act while still a minor. She may have moved her birthday back by one day to January 4 so as to share the same birthday as her daughter, Maureen (born January 4, 1941). The 1920 census, on the other hand, has her at 3 and living in Philadelphia, Pa. After Wyman's death, a release posted on her official website confirmed these details.

Washboard Blues

Washboard Blues is a 1926 popular song written by Hoagy Carmichael, Fred B. Callahan and Irving Mills. Paul Whiteman's orchestra recorded it in 1927, featuring piano and lead vocals by Carmichael.

The song is an evocative washerwoman's lament. Though the verse, chorus, and bridge pattern is present, the effect of the song is of one long, cohesive melodic line with a dramatic shifting of tempo. The cohesiveness of the long melody perfectly matches the lyrical description of the crushing fatigue resulting from the repetitious work of washing clothes under primitive conditions.

Alec Wilder first heard the song on a Paul Whiteman twelve-inch record on which Carmichael both played and sang with the large orchestra.

Credits

A copy of the lyrics from the Indiana University archives of the Hoagy Carmichael collection credits F. B. Callahan with the words to Washboard Blues.

Lyrics

The following version is transcribed from the 1927 Carmichael recording with Paul Whiteman's Orchestra and the Rhythm Boys