Yesterday, I was paying tribute to Brazilian singer-songwriter Astrud Gilberto, an internationally known queen of bossa nova who had passed away on June 6th. Today, I have to pay my condolences again but this time it's for someone who was basically a much more locally known and beloved celebrity outside of the music industry.
Being raised in Toronto right by Lake Ontario, I was privy to both the Canadian television affiliates as well as the American stations across the lake in Buffalo and that included the various news teams. For me, the most approachable members of the news reporting groups were always the weathercasters. As much as I knew Bill Lawrence and Dave Devall up here on the CBC and CTV respectively, I also got to know weatherman Tom Jolls over at WKBW-TV, the ABC affiliate in the Queen City. But I first knew him as Commander Tom, the host of "The Commander Tom Show", the kids' show that was on weekdays whenever I got home from school. He was always the happy and handsome soldier who bantered with the puppets Dustmop, Matty and Cecily and presented repeats of "Adventures of Superman" with George Reeves. I had identified Jolls so much with his Commander Tom persona that I initially wondered what he was doing in front of a weather map in a civilian suit. His voice was so appealingly folksy and smooth that he also did a lot of the station's voiceovers.
It's been mentioned as well for the iconic comedy-variety show "SCTV" character's Wikipedia profile, but I always thought that the newscaster Floyd Robertson and his alter ego, Count Floyd of "Monster Horror Chiller Theatre" were partially inspired by Jolls' long-standing double duty as WKBW weathercaster and children's show host. What I think has also added to the legend of Jolls is that when he passed away yesterday at the age of 89, rival stations' newscasts also saluted him and the YouTube video paying tribute to Jolls above has had comments thanking him coming in from both sides of the border.
My one highlight of "The Commander Tom Show" was when Noel Neill, the second actress to play Lois Lane on the aforementioned "Adventures of Superman" appeared on the show right next to the commander. I knew that "Adventures of Superman" had finished its run long before "Commander Tom" came on the air but to actually see a cast member from that show come on live was pretty amazing. Jolls had his run as the commander from 1965 to 1993 and he retired from WKBW in 1999. My salute to you, sir, and have a salubrious eternity!
My apologies for going on so long about a local weathercaster instead of the usual Japanese singer and their song, but this tribute was definitely one from the heart. Anyways, to bring something fitting, I have Marina Watanabe's（渡辺満里奈）"Namida no Tenki Yohou" (Tearful Weather Report) which is a track on her February 1987 debut album "MARINA". Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）, composed by Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, it has the usual kayo style of a very cheery and twinkly melody coating the sad lyrics of a young teenager visiting her significant other's house on hearing that he has a cold only to see a different girl's umbrella in the front hall of his house. 😱She quickly gets out of the house in tears just in time for the rain to fall.
Yes, I know. Just how does she know that the umbrella belongs to another girl her age? 🤔It could belong to a doting aunt or someone like that. But yeah, that's the setting. Let Yasushi be. Anyways, "MARINA" hit No. 1 on Oricon.
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