Louis Gottlieb

Louis Gottlieb (October 10, 1923 – July 11, 1996) credited as Lou Gottlieb, was bassist and comic spokesman for music trio The Limeliters. He held a Ph.D. in musicology[1] and was considered one of the so-called "new comedy" performers, a new generation of unabashed intellectuals that also included Mort Sahl, Nichols and May, and Lenny Bruce.

Gottlieb's trademark on stage was a burlesquing of the university pedant, the sort of teacher who knocks himself out over the jokes in Chaucer while his class has nothing on its collective mind earlier than last night's date. "Many of the things I have been enthusiastic about," said Gottlieb, "mean absolutely nothing to most people."

Early life

Gottlieb grew up in La Crescenta, California, completed his B.A. at UCLA, performed as jazz pianist, then sang with the Gateway Singers, whom he left to take a Ph.D. in music at U.C. Berkeley in 1958.

Gottlieb had completed his doctoral thesis on 15th century cyclic masses when he heard Alex Hassilev and Glenn Yarbrough sing together at Hollywood's Cosmo Alley nightclub. He joined the group, which they named The Limeliters after the Limelite Club in Aspen, Colorado.

The Limeliters

In July 1959, The Limeliters appeared as a trio for the first time at the hungry i in San Francisco, with Gottlieb as "the comic-arranger- musicologist, Glenn the golden-voiced tenor and guitarist, and Alex the instrumental virtuoso" (to quote from one of their song collections, "Cheek In Our Tongue"). San Francisco music critic John L. Wasserman said the Limeliters "attained a stature equalled perhaps only by The Kingston Trio and The Weavers." The group's biggest hit was "A Dollar Down" in 1961, but it was well known for its 15 albums and its concerts during the 1960s. The group disbanded after a near-fatal plane crash near the Provo airport in December 1962.[2]

During the 1970s, The Limeliters embarked on a series of yearly reunion tours with Glenn Yarbrough. These were so successful that Gottlieb and Hassilev decided in 1981 to get back into the mainstream of entertainment. It was then they introduced a new tenor, Red Grammer, and another come-back began.

Further information: The Limeliters

After a brief stint reviewing concerts for the San Francisco Chronicle, Gottlieb moved to Morning Star Ranch, his 30-acre (120,000 m2) ranch in Sonoma County, in 1966. Folk singer Malvina Reynolds and her husband Bud had alerted him to the property, which was also known as "The Digger Farm". Gottlieb referred to himself as the "resident piano player". He attempted to leave the land he owned to God, but a series of court appeals culminated in the 9th district court ruling that he could not. The ruling centered around the fact that if God was named owner on a quit claim deed, there would be no recourse for the collection of property taxes.

Movie roles

Gottlieb performed in the 1968 movie I Love You, Alice B. Toklas with Peter Sellers, and in Blume in Love with George Segal in 1973.

World Folk Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award

In 1995, Gottlieb received the World Folk Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

Death

Gottlieb died after a short illness on July 11, 1996 in Sebastopol, California, at the age of 72.[3]

References
  1. Potocki, P. Joseph (30 April 2008). "God's Commune". Bohemian.
  2. "Limeliters Hurt in Plane Crash". The Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. December 13, 1962.
  3. "Lou Gottlieb, 72, the Bass Player For 1960's Folk Trio Limeliters". New York Times. July 14, 1996. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
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