"Princess Leia's father dies," says obit. Who's Eddie Fisher, anyway?

For those among you, such as I, who remember popular music before the advent of rock n' roll (say '55 or '56), I'd venture a guess that few would have known who it was that Elvis Presley displaced as the number-one teen-aged heart-throb and number-one hit-maker. When I heard of Eddie Fisher's death on the radio the other night (while trying to avoid a traffic jam on the Belt Parkway), I searched my memory to see how many of his smash hits I could recall. I was only able to come up with five: "Wish You were Here," "Anytime," "Dungaree Doll," "Oh My Papa," and "I'm Walking Behind You." As with so many popular songs of the mid-50's, "Wish you Were Here," was the title song from a Broadway musical. "Anytime" was a country song (then called "Country & Western), and later covered by--are you ready--Arlo Guthrie. "Dungaree Doll" was a forgettable ditty that was Eddie's closest brush with rock n' roll. "Oh My Papa," was a tear-jerker about a son fondly remembering his dead father. It did, I must admit, bring tears to my teen-aged eyes, even though my own father was very much alive and would remain so for many years to come. Frank Sinatra covered Fisher's hit, "I'm Walking Behind You (on your wedding day)." Many people thought it was Debbie Reynolds backing Fisher on that song, but it was a woman named Sally Sweetland (yes, that Sally Sweetland). Debbie backed him (uncredited) on Irving Berlin's "A Man Chases a Girl (Until she Catches Him)." I think my mind had blocked out "Lady of Spain, a song that inspired an entire generation of accordion players.

In reading Fisher's obituary, I realized I had underestimated the extent of his success. In looking over the list of his hits, I remembered some of the songs I had forgotten: "If I Ever Needed You (I need you now)," ("You've Gotta Have) "Heart," and the folky "Cindy, oh Cindy." (Suddenly the lyrics to the long-forgotten--and forgettable--novelty song, "A Girl, a Girl" with its mock-Italian "zumbadiali-nella" refrain come rushing back like soapy dishwater.) But whether he was singing a goofy song like that, or a marvelous ballad such as Rogers and Hammerstein's "Everybody's Got a Home but me," during the six-year period of 1950-56, Eddie Fisher's presence on the pop-music scene was second to none. Putting this success in perspective is not easy when one considers how (post-Elvis) rock music eclipsed everything that preceded it.

Broadway (in "Million Dollar Quartet") is currently celebrating the seminal moment in rock history when Sun Records hosted an evening attended by the four of the founding fathers of rock n' roll: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. Although Elvis Presley, of course, out-paced Fisher in top ten hits, Eddie had more "top ten" and "top forty" hits than Cash, Perkins, and Lewis put together. Few people would think of Jerry Lee Lewis as following in Eddie Fisher's footsteps, but "the Killer," in fact, covered three Fisher hits: "Dungaree Doll," "I Need You Now," and (in an outtake) "Lady of Spain." Yes, music fans, you heard it here.

While the New York Times reported that Fisher had 24 number-one hits and nearly 50 in the top 40, they may have been thinking "top-ten." I was only able to come up with four number one songs and 35 in the top 20. His own publicity lists 23 top-ten hits and another 12 in the top 20, which would confirm the numbers my research revealed. Regardless, his achievements were awesome then, and would be in any era. Album sales apart, Fisher's "singles" success eclipsed no less an icon than Frank Sinatra. For those too young to remember, Eddie Fisher was a handsome version of "the boy next door, " had a mop of black wavy hair and a rich, resonant voice that was easily good enough to have graced the Broadway stage as a leading man. As it was, he headlined in Vegas, and hosted an enormously popular TV variety show called "Coke Time." Fisher (to use an expression that has virtually lost all meaning) was "clean-cut," and won the hearts of all Americans (save the broken-hearted teen-aged girls who felt jilted) when he married the "girl next door," Debbie Reynolds. They continued as "America's sweethearts," producing two children, one of whom was Carrie Fisher, who became (along with Harrison Ford) a screen idol as Princess Leia in "Star Wars." As the title of this piece suggests, an obituary from a California paper headlined, "Princess Leia's Father Dies."

Is that how he is to be remembered? If so, how did the great Eddie Fisher--once America's leading male vocalist-- attain such lasting anonymity so quickly? His hit-making was largely in eclipse in 1959 when he shocked the country by leaving Debbie for Elizabeth Taylor, widely considered the most beautiful woman in the world. This was, at the time, scandalous. Apart from some modest success with his "Games That Lovers Play" LP in 1966, Fisher was long finished as a hit-maker. For all intents and purposes, his success as a recording star had ended ten years before. That said, it is hard to find a recording artist (Elvis apart) who could have matched Fisher in popularity and commercial success. Not even "the Boss," Bruce Springsteen, had as many hit singles.

After his divorce from Elizabeth Taylor (who left him for Richard Burton), Fisher married Connie Stevens. That, too, was not free from scandal. Stevens was pregnant at the time, and it was perceived that Fisher was doing the "stand-up" thing by marrying her, and sparing her the disgrace of bearing a child out of wedlock. Just think what a non-event being unmarried and pregnant is today, and how few stars would think such an occurrence necessitated (or even merited) matrimony.

For those who (like me) delight in show-biz trivia, Eddie Fisher became the only recording artist (let me know if you can name any others) who married two women who, like him, also charted in the top ten--Debbie Reynold hit number 1 with "Tammy," and Connie Stevens had a number 3 hit with "Sixteen Reasons." As is well known, both Reynolds and Stevens had successful television and movie careers before and after their marriages to Fisher. In fact, before Connie Stevens went out on her own, she was part of a quartet called "The Foremost," who went on to be a successful trio called "The Lettermen." Debbie Reynolds, as you may know, is still performing.

Given his absence from the public eye of more than two generation, it is not surprising that Fisher's death had many people wondering, "who was this guy?" It is hard for me, who remembered Fisher attaining a popularity that few have matched, to believe the obscurity into which he faded. To be sure, his addictive personality (drugs, alcohol, and gambling) would have been enough to undo just about anyone. But his death is a better occasion to celebrate his contribution to American popular music. I would recommend both those who remember him-- as well as those who do not--to give a listen to the RCA Victor CD "Eddie Fisher-All Time Greatest Hits, Vol. 1." Perhaps the greatest tragedy to befall both Eddie and his listening public was that his personal demons encapsulated what could have been an enduring career to a very few years. Those years, however, were very good, and should live on as a fitting legacy to not only what might have been, but to what, in fact, was.

On Baseball: Let's recognize the best in each league

As the baseball season enters its final phase, and before it gives way to the increasing distractions of other sports, I have a suggestion on how to make the post-season more meaningful.

As a disclaimer, I should mention that I came of baseball-fan age in 1951, when Joe DiMaggio was in the process of handing over the prestigious center-field spot to the young "phenom," Mickey Mantle. Obviously, this meant I was used to major league baseball consisting of two leagues of eight teams each. Barring the extremely unusual occurrence of a dead-heat tie for first place--as happened in the National League that year, with (the recently deceased) Bobby Thompson's "home run heard 'round the world--the teams with the best record in their respective leagues would meet each other in the World Series. The season then consisted of 154 games (not counting the one-game playoff in the A.L., or the two-out-of-three in the N.L. as had just taken place between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers), with a best of seven World Series. This, counting the World Series, entailed a season of (at most) 161 games, one less than the current, pre-post-season minimum.

The "October Classic," ended, at the latest, during the first week of October. The Series was all day games, and--if you were lucky enough to have the Jewish High Holy Days arrive "early," that year, young apostates such as I could "observe" by spending them glued to our radios or, television sets. And, yes, it was a kind of worship! (We did not get our first T.V. until 1952, so I was accustomed to hearing my baseball on the radio, something I continued to do on road games, which were rarely televised, for several years.)

Okay, enough history, I hear you say. Here's my proposal, and the justification for it. The best record among the Division leaders currently gets Home field advantage. While that is certainly better than nothing, it is not really a big deal. Clearly, it's scant reward for having the best record in your league. Under current rules, the teams who lead the Eastern, Western and Central divisions are guaranteed a berth in the post-season. The team that has the second-best record in the league (regardless of division) gets a "Wild Card" which gives it the right to be the fourth team in the first round of play-offs--called the "Divisional Series." As has happened all too many times, division winners may find themselves meeting the very team they edged out in their own division after a grueling 162 games (including-gasp-"interleague play") in the League Championship Series ("LCS") and conceivably lose the Pennant to a team that didn't even win its division. If the Yankees, for example, wind up winning the A.L. East, they will have done so after having played both the Rays and Red Sox about nineteen times each. Isn't that enough to relieve them of having to meet these teams again the the ALCS?

In fairness, the second-best team in the league could have (and often does have) a better record than the other two division leaders. This year, for example, the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays (formerly "Devil Rays"), have the two best records in baseball, and, arguably, each has a "right" to be in the playoffs. I don't plan on eliminating the Wild Card, much as it goes against my traditionalist grain. Luddite tendencies apart, I do to recognize that the Wild-Card race keeps seasons exciting when situations where one or more teams dominate their divisions. I can remember seasons in which teams had clinched the Pennant as early as Labor Day. The race for the Wild Card keeps the nail-biting going up to the very end. of the regular season, and this is "good for the game."

While the logic behind the Wild Card recognizes rewarding the second-best record in each of the American and National Leagues, why not provide a similar degree of recognition for the team that leads its league? Under my proposal, the team with the best record in its league would get a "bye" in the Divisional Series, and play the winner of the two (yes, two) best 3 of 5 divisional series in the best of seven LDS. Here's how it would work. Let's assume teams A, B, and C are the division leaders in their leagues, with team A having the best record in the league. I would award two "Wild Cards" to the teams with the two best records in their league (who nonetheless failed to win their division). Call them teams D and E. The Division leader with the stronger record (team B) would play the "Wild Card" team with the weaker record of the Wild-Card teams (team E). The other division leader (team C) would play the stronger of the Wild-Card teams (team D). NB: I am, in each instance, recognizing "also-ran" teams with the better "league" records and balancing them against the divisional leaders, thus preserving the concept of winning one's division.

So, let's assume teams B and E win their first-round DS. They then play another 3 of 5 DS for the right to play the team with the best record in their league(a team that years ago would already have won the pennant) . Let's assume both DS's go the maximum five games, and the LDS goes seven games. Admittedly, that's a possible seventeen games just to get into the World Series. Add that to the 162-game season and you could be looking at 179 games before the World Series--putting us well into November, and not a good thing. My proposed solution would be to revert to the time-honored 154-game schedule (of blessed memory). Now you would have a post-season (for some teams) of up to twenty-three games. With my regular season now ending by, say, September 20th, you'd have plenty of time for the additional round of playoffs. Lest anyone think the league-leaders have a picnic, they would still have a best-of -seven series to win in order to get to the World Series, and, of course, an additional best-of -seven in the Series itself. If they have it somewhat easier than the others, they earned it by being the best in their leagues. The other four teams have to earn the right to play them. So, what do you think, sports fans?

(By the way, if this is deemed to cumbersome, why not abandon the Wild Card entirely, and let the division leaders with the second and third best records play each other in a four out of seven round. The winner of of this DS would then get to play the best team in its league for the pennant. While I prefer this solution, I understand that the Wild Card is here to stay, and have thus proposed the above as the most realistic solution.)