{"id":4363,"date":"2010-11-01T01:10:06","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T06:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=4417"},"modified":"2010-10-20T14:22:14","modified_gmt":"2010-10-20T19:22:14","slug":"greetings-from-afar-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/11\/01\/greetings-from-afar-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Greetings from Afar"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUCK TALES<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you have ever seen the Black and White version of “A Tale of Two Cities”
\nyou are familiar with the actor who played “Sidney Carton”, the main
\ncharacter. His name was Ronald Coleman. In any case, Coleman had one of the
\nmost beautiful, resonant voices ever to grace stage or screen. If you have
\never seen this motion picture, you know what I mean. His final lines are as
\nunforgettable, now, as they were when he spoke them, over seventy years ago.<\/p>\n

Ronald Charles Colman was born at Richmond, Surrey, England on February 9,
\n1891. Height 5 feet 11 inches; dark brown hair and eyes; weight 158 pounds.
\nHe was, to put it mildly, one of the great stars of the Golden Age of motion
\npictures. He was raised in Ealing, the son of a successful silk merchant,
\nand attended boarding school in Sussex, where he first discovered amateur
\ntheatre. He intended to attend Cambridge and become an engineer, but his
\nfather’s death cost him the financial support necessary. He joined the London
\nScottish Regionals and at the outbreak of World War I was sent to France.
\nSeriously wounded at the battle of Messines, he was invalided out of service
\nscarcely two months after shipping out for France.<\/p>\n

Upon his recovery, tried to enter the consular service, but a chance
\nencounter got him a small role in a London play. He dropped other plans and
\nconcentrated on the theatre and was rewarded with a succession of
\nincreasingly prominent parts. His early success in the film led to a
\ncontract with Samuel Goldwin and career as a Hollywood leading man was
\nunderway. He became a vastly popular star of silent films, in romances as
\nwell as adventure films. With the coming of sound, his extraordinarily
\nbeautiful speaking voice made him even more important to the film industry.<\/p>\n

Coleman was a longtime friend of Walt Disney. In the mid-fifties, he
\ndeveloped Parkinson’s Disease. It eventually killed him. For the last
\nseveral years of his life he was unable to work, due to the “palsy” that
\naccompanies Parkinson’s Disease. He had exhausted all the money he had in
\ntreatment, and was literally dying broke, with no way to pay his medical
\nbills. Disney offered to pay all of it as a “loan”, but Coleman refused the
\ncharity, knowing that he was dying, and could never repay it.<\/p>\n

Disney then made a counter offer. He offered him a job. The man still had
\nhis beautiful, resonant voice…<\/p>\n

Disney made a cartoon especially for him. You may have seen it. It’s a
\nDonald Duck cartoon, in which Donald, finds a box of pills on the street,
\nwhich change his usual incomprehensible voice in to a beautiful, resonant
\nbaritone… It’s the voice of Ronald Coleman…<\/p>\n

That was his last job…<\/p>\n

Coleman made just enough, and calculatedly so, to pay off the staggering
\nmedical bills that he had accumulated, and to pay for his funeral.<\/p>\n

Ronald Colman will live in the history of stage and screen. His face will
\nremain an icon to those who study and appreciate classic film. But… to
\ncountless and endless generations of children he will be the faceless but
\nunforgettable voice…albeit a temporary one… of a beloved duck…
\n
\n(c) 2010 by Dr. J. Lee Choron: All rights reserved unless specified by the
\nauthor in writing.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DUCK TALES If you have ever seen the Black and White version of “A Tale of Two Cities” you are familiar with the actor who played “Sidney Carton”, the main character. His name was Ronald Coleman. In any case, Coleman had one of the most beautiful, resonant voices ever to grace stage or screen. If you have ever seen this motion picture, you know what I mean. His final lines are as unforgettable, now, as they were when he spoke them, over seventy years ago. Ronald Charles Colman was born at Richmond, Surrey, England on February 9, 1891. Height 5 feet 11 inches; dark brown hair and eyes; weight 158 pounds. He was, to put it mildly, one of the great stars of the Golden Age of motion pictures. He was raised in Ealing, the son of a successful silk merchant, and attended boarding school in Sussex, where he first discovered amateur theatre. He intended to attend Cambridge and become an engineer, but his father’s death cost him the financial support necessary. He joined the London Scottish Regionals and at the outbreak of World War I was sent to France. Seriously wounded at the battle of Messines, he was invalided out of service scarcely two months after shipping out for France. Upon his recovery, tried to enter the consular service, but a chance encounter got him a small role in a London play. He dropped other plans and concentrated on the theatre and was rewarded with a succession of increasingly prominent parts. His early success in the film led to a contract with Samuel Goldwin and career as a Hollywood leading man was underway. He became a vastly popular star of silent films, in romances as well as adventure films. With the coming of sound, his extraordinarily beautiful speaking voice made him even more important to the film industry. Coleman was a longtime friend of Walt Disney. In the mid-fifties, he developed Parkinson’s Disease. It eventually killed him. For the last several years of his life he was unable to work, due to the “palsy” that accompanies Parkinson’s Disease. He had exhausted all the money he had in treatment, and was literally dying broke, with no way to pay his medical bills. Disney offered to pay all of it as a “loan”, but Coleman refused the charity, knowing that he was dying, and could never repay it. Disney then made a counter offer. He offered him a job. The man still had his beautiful, resonant voice… Disney made a cartoon especially for him. You may have seen it. It’s a Donald Duck cartoon, in which Donald, finds a box of pills on the street, which change his usual incomprehensible voice in to a beautiful, resonant baritone… It’s the voice of Ronald Coleman… That was his last job… Coleman made just enough, and calculatedly so, to pay off the staggering medical bills that he had accumulated, and to pay for his funeral. Ronald Colman will live in the history of stage and screen. His face will remain an icon to those who study and appreciate classic film. But… to countless and endless generations of children he will be the faceless but unforgettable voice…albeit a temporary one… of a beloved duck… (c) 2010 by Dr. J. Lee Choron: All rights reserved unless specified by the author in writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}