Simply Lou: The Queen and The Bandit

article and illustration by Lou Davenport

This issue marks my third anniversary writing “Simply Lou” for BayouLife. It’s the best job I have ever had, and I truly love the staff. Thank you, Maré and Cassie, for giving me this chance and, also, a new adventure. I LOVE MY JOB!

We have lost two American icons in a month’s time. Aretha Franklin, “The Queen of Soul” and Burt Reynolds, “The Bandit” or as his last movie is called, “The Last American Movie Star.” Both of them have been “fixtures” in my life for so many years, it’s hard to remember exactly the first time I ever laid eyes of either one of them. I think Aretha showed up when I was in the 7th grade and Burt, well, he was “Quint” on “Gunsmoke” in 1962. I may have been young, but you don’t forget a face that looked like his!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T Find out what it means to me R-E-S-P-E-C-T Take care, T-C-B

My life’s soundtrack is probably at least 30% Aretha’s music. I cannot even pick a favorite song of hers. I know she could sing a song like nobody else, “belting it out” or singing it as softly as a gentle breeze. She never sang anything “half way.” And most of the time she accompanied herself on the piano, a skill she taught herself. Aretha played by ear, learning at a very young age and was thought of as a child prodigy.

You betta THINK…(think think)…What ya tryin’ to do to me…THINK…(think think) let yourself be free!

To me, it sounded like Aretha lost herself in her music, since she was an only child and her mother left her father, when she was a little girl. Her father was, Rev. C.L. Franklin, the “superstar” minister of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit. She started performing in church at a very early age. Little Aretha was left with baby sitters, but she had some famous ones, such as Mahalia Jackson. Her family home was usually full of famous gospel singers, groups and even Sam Cooke! Little Aretha was destined to be great.

If ya wanna a do right, all day woman…(woman)…ya gotta be a do right, all night man…a woman is only human…this you must understand…

She had four sons, having her first when she was only 12 years old, a second son when she was 14. Since Aretha was pursuing her career, her sister, Emma and her grandmother minded her boys. In 1964 and 1970, she had two more sons, Teddy and Kecalf. She never married the boys’ fathers but was married briefly to two different men. Those marriages both ended in divorce, one being an abusive relationship. She had a long time companion, Willie Wilkinson, up until her death. They shared a 35 year relationship.

Don’t trouble the water, why don’t ya, why don’t ya, let it beeeeee…

A radio DJ announced Franklin should be crowned “The Queen of Soul” in 1960, and it stuck. There’ll never be another like her and there sure won’t be another “Queen of Soul.”

Ain’t no way…for me to love you….if you won’t let me…

Aretha racked up so many honors in her 60 year career, it’s hard to list all of them. She was ranked by Rolling Stone Magazine as the number 1 greatest singer of all time, twice! She was the first female to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Aretha was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as well as the National Medal of Arts. She is the most charted female singer of all time with record sales of 75 million worldwide!

I ain’t neva loved a man, the way, that I love you…Naw, I ain’t neva

In 1980, Aretha got to do a little acting in a little film called “The Blues Brothers,” and I have wanted a pair of those pink house shoes like she wore ever since. I still watch that one every time it comes on, and Aretha did pretty good! Tyler Perry tells the story that she would call his house and ask to speak to Madea! “They” were friends!

We goin’ ridin’ on the freeway of love in my pink Cadillac…

And, then, to blow everyone away, she stepped in for Luciano Pavarotti to sing in his place, “Nessum dorma!” There will never be another like her, and never will there be another “Queen of Soul.”

Chain, chain, chain…chain, chain, chain…Chain of Fools…

When I heard Aretha’s health was declining quickly, I just turned Spotify on and listened to her….for days. It was the least I could do to pay my “r-e-s-p-e-c-t-s.” When she did leave us, I can truly say I have never seen a funeral that really was “fit for a queen!” She got to cross that “bridge over troubled water,” and she’ll never deal with sickness again. Thank you ,Ms. Aretha, for all the memories.

What can I say about Burt Reynolds that hasn’t already been said? He was an actor, a football player, a tv star, a director and did them all….well. He was bigger than life itself! And, he was the very first male centerfold in Cosmopolitan magazine that, of course, I rushed out and bought! I lived in a dorm then, and Burt was our very own “pin up boy!” My mother even laughed herself silly over Burt! In later years, he said he wished he hadn’t done the centerfold, because it may have hurt his movie that was coming out, “Deliverance.” I wish I could have told him that I preferred the centerfold cause that movie just disturbed me. I watched three-fourth’s of it with my eyes squeezed shut. But, Burt made his big splash with that movie and thank goodness, he never made anymore that intense!

Before Burt’s success in “Deliverance” he said “he was the most famous unknown in Hollywood.” He had played “the heavy” in many TV shows. If it hadn’t been for a knee injury, he may have gone on to play pro football, and we would have never had movies with Burt in them! Again, he was destined to be a movie star!

Some of the parts he turned down were memorable. He was asked to be James Bond but turned it down saying, “No American can play Bond!” He passed by on John McClane in “Die Hard,” Han Solo in “Star Wars,” Edward Lewis in “Pretty Woman,” R.D. McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and Garrett Breedlove in “Terms of Endearment.” It’s hard to believe Burt playing those parts now, isn’t it?

There weren’t many of Burt’s movies that I didn’t get a good laugh. The first movie I saw with Burt as the star was “White Lightning” and he played “Gator McKlosky” at the old Rose Theatre. Of course, I loved both “”BANDIT” movies, “The Longest Yard,” “Semi Tough,” “Hooper,””Cannonball Run,” “The End” and “Starting Over.” I think he loved getting together with his best friends and making movies!

Speaking of “Smoky and the Bandit,” I wonder how many black Pontiac Trans Am T-tops with the big gold bird on the hood were sold? That was one fine car and will always be connected to “The Bandit!”

The story goes that when Burt was asked to make “Boogie Nights” he turned it down seven times. When he finally agreed to meet the director for the eighth time, Burt threw a hissy fit about how he had said NO, he didn’t want to do it! The director told him if he’d do that “fit” in the movie, he’d probably win an Academy Award. Sure enough, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor!
His last movie was “The Last American Movie Star” but was planning on being in Quentin Tarrentino’s new movie, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” that is shooting right now. Burt’s heart gave out, before it was time for him to start shooting.

In Burt’s last years, he’s had lots of health issues and kept a low profile. He’d had bankruptcy and divorce problems. He had plastic surgery, which I don’t think he needed. And I didn’t understand the “rose colored glasses.” But, he was Burt, and we loved him any way!

Talking about his last few years, he said his life was good. He lived in Tequesta in Palm Beach Country, Florida. He hung out with one of his best friends from the 7th grade! He said his friend was a retired electrician and had had his own company, so now all the women chased his friend because he was rich and a bachelor! In truth he said, they liked to hang out like a couple of “old farts.”

On Friday evenings, Burt taught acting classes at his “Burt Reynolds Institute for Film and Television” in North Palm Beach. He said Spencer Tracy gave him his best acting advice that he passes down to his students. Tracy said, “Never let the audience see you acting!” On a plaque in his classroom the words, “Don’t Act, Behave!” hangs.

And that laugh…WHO could resist the “Burt Laugh?” Burt Reynolds appeared on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” over 60 times and Johnny named his trademark laugh as “an insane giggle!” This week to pay my respects to Burt, I found the tv show he made in the 90s, on YouTube, called “Evening Shade.” It’s held up well, and I sat here alone and laughed right out loud! Such great characters all revolving around Burt and that laugh! So…

“That’s a big 10 – 4 Bandit! Smokies on our back door! We’re eastbound and down!”

Rest in peace, Aretha and Burt.