Just for fun: some folks you know posing with ukuleles:The Beatles: Well, 3 of 4 anyway. The Beatles were big fans of British music hall star George Formby, who played a banjo uke & sang some rather racy songs during his career that began in the 1920s & ended with his death in 1961. George Harrison in particular liked the ukulele & was quite accomplished as a uker. In fact there’s a blog devoted to recording the entire Beatles’ song catalog on uke.
Bette Midler: Bette photog
raphed recently with a very “blinged” Fluke brand ukulele. The Divine Miss M does play the uke in her stage act.Bing Cro
sby: Bing posed in publicity shots with a uke—& he played one in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Other classic film stars who uked include Irene Dunne, Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy & Ginger Rogers.Doris Day
(with David Niven): On the set of Please Don’t Eat the Daisies; looks like Niven is giving Doris tips on how to play a chord.Eddie Vedder: Yes, the Pearl Jam guitarist
does uke, tho we can’t endorse his stage show in which he smashed one.Elvis Presley: This is a publicity shot for Blue Hawaii.
The 50s were a pretty big time for ukes, too; & having film stars pose with ukes to publicize movies set in Hawaii goes way back.The Lide
ll Sisters: Yes, that Lidell—Alice of Alice in Wonderland. Since this pic was taken by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) before the “invention” of the instrument known as the ukulele, the instrument the Liddell sisters are playing is the Portugese “machete.” However, the machete is a close ancestor of the uke. That’s Alice to the left, with her sister Ina in the middle & Edith to the right.Lucille
Ball: Don’t know much background on this, but the uke sure looks natural in Lucy’s hands.Marilyn Mo
nroe: See the video clip from Some Like it Hot below for more on Marilyn & the ukulele.Taj
Mahal: Don’t know any background on this one, but it sure is fun to see the great bluesman with a uke.Wa
rren Buffett: Yes, in between counting $ & making pronouncements on the economy, billionaire Buffett really does play the uke. At least he wouldn’t have any problem buying as many as he wants.
Zooey Deschanel: Last, but not least, the talented actress & singer who is really into the uke & plays one in her chanteuse incarnation. Here Ms Deschanel is playing a banjo uke.
& let’s not forget Ms Monroe “Running Wild”:
