Sir Lancelot - Lancelot Victor Edward Pinard

Lancelot Victor Edward Pinard

Born May 24, 1903 in Trinidad.
Died March 12, 2001 in Anaheim, California.

(Above: Lancelot as Edward, from Lewton's Curse of the Cat People.

Filmography:
(This list based on the IMDB filmography)

The Buccaneer (1958)
The Unknown Terror (1957)
Romance on the High Seas (1948)
Brute Force (1947)
Linda, Be Good (1947)
Zombies on Broadway (1945)
Curse of the Cat People, The (1944)
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Ghost Ship, The (1943)
Happy Go Lucky (1943)
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

"Andy Griffith Show" playing "Man" in episode: "Howard's New Life" (episode # 8.15) 12/18/1967

"Sir Lancelot, another actor with a small but distinctive Mayberry role, passed away on March 12 in Anaheim, Calif., at the age of 97. Sir Lancelot, whose full name was Lancelot Victor Pinard, played the man who rented the cottage to Howard Sprague in Episode 235: 'Howard's New Life.'" (From the "Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club Bulletin"

Music Recordings
(Below) Recordings on CD

The Legendary Sir Lancelot
Calypso of the West Indies and ballads of the Caribbean.
Alt title Calypso of the West Indies and ballads of the Caribbean.
Publisher # LLCT7406 Lyrichord
Song List:
La ola Marina (2:16)
Oken karange (2:40)
Jamaica farewell (3:15)
Linstead market (1:45)
Tie tongue mopsey (3:05)
La mukura (2:06)
Mary Ann (3:26)
Stone cold dead in the market (2:13)
Ninon (2:12)
Jump in the line (2:27)
Run Joe (2:23)
Matilda (2:24)
Double indemnity (4:42)
Ugly woman (2:43).

CD COVER
Sir Lancelot: Trinidad is Changing
Flyright FLY CD 942
1995 Interstte Music Ltd.
The Flyright disk includes liner notes by Ray Funk.
Song List:
The Century of the Common Man (3:08)
Trinidad is Changing (2:59)
Donkey City (3:09)
Neighbor Neighbor Leave Me Door (3:00)
A Night in Central Park (3:11)
Ugly Woman (3:04)
Scandal in the Family (3:06)
The Young Girls Today (3:13)
Oken Karange (2:53)
Sweet Like A Honey Bee (2:51)
Pan American Way (3:06)
Gimme Crab and Callaloo (2:56)
Mary Ann (3:04)
Take Me Take Me (To San Pedro) 2:59)
Matilda (2:53)
West Indian Families (2:37)

VINYL
Sir Lancelot
Mercury MG-25159: Sir Lancelot (Calypso)
Song list:
SIDE-A
A-1 4945 A Night In Central Park
A-2 4946 Ugly Woman
A-3 4947 Scandal In The Family
A-4 4948 The Young Girls Today
SIDE-B
B-1 4949 The Centry Of The Common Man
B-2 4950 Trinidad Is Changing
B-3 4951 Donkey City
B-4 4952 Neighbor, Neighbor, Leave Me Door

Note: The album cover is courtesy of Kohji Matsubayashi & the Mercury Microgroove collection (the website is here). I asked about the release date on this vinyl record, and this is what 'Shaolin' Kohji said:

Could you tell me the year the Lancelot album was issued?
"I have a comprehensive 5 volume set of "Mercury Discography" by Ruppli. Even the Ruppli book don't mention the release date :( Anyway, all titles are originally recorded for Keynote label in the early 1940s (Ruppli book don't have recorded date either). Keynote label was bought by Mercury circa 1948. I believe the materials were firstly issued as Mercury A-46 (three 78rpm album set) in the late 1940s. I don't have this copy. As for the MG-25159 10-inch LP we are talking about, I believe it was released circa 1954, judging from other Mercury 10-inch titles' recorded/released date around MG-25150 thru 25160."

"Sorry, the release date might be 1952 or 1953, not 1954. I investigated from another point of view - master numbers for each title. Their numbers (on the Mercury label, not Keynote label) are from 4945 to 4952. All other titles around 4945-4952 were recorded in 1952. So the release date might be 1952, but it's highly probable that it was released in the next year 1953. And yet another viewpoint - imprints on the label. You may see the "Reeves-Fairchild Thermodynamic Margin Control" printed on the MG-25159 label. This phrase was commonly seen on the platters issued in 1951-1952."

(Above: Sir Lancelot as Billy Radd from Ghost Ship, 1943.)

WWW Links
for Sir Lancelot

The vinyl record of Sir Lancelot (shown above) is from the Mercury Records Collection site here.
Ted Strong's page here.
Brad Beshaw's "Hollywood Deathwatch" page here.
A page on "Calypso on Film" mentioning Lancelot is here.
An article on Ray Funk, who discuses Lancelot here.
A brief review of the music CD "The Legendary Sir Lancelot" is here.
Musical Traditions Records has a site which covers calypso and mentions Sir Lancelot in a few places. The recording site is here and the Musical Traditions Internet Magazine site is here.

(Above) Lancelot in a scene from
the 1943 I Walked with A Zombie

(Below) Obituary from Los Angeles Times
Lancelot Pinard; Musician Brought Calypso to U.S.
From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Lancelot Victor Pinard, who under the name Sir Lancelot was a significant figure in introducing calypso music to American audiences, died March 12, 2001 in Anaheim. He was 98.

Accompanying himself on guitar and singing old-time calypso tunes like "Rum and Coca-Cola," "Mary Ann" and "Take Me, Take Me," Pinard offered lively performances to packed houses at venues around Southern California in the 1940s and '50s.

Born in Cumuto, Trinidad, to well-to-do Anglophile parents, Pinard was educated in the West Indies and trained to be a pharmacist. He moved to New York City to pursue a medical career but switched to music after hearing a concert by a tenor named Roland Hayes. In an interview with The Times some years ago, Pinard recalled how he made the switch from classical music, which first captured his attention, to calypso.

"This orchestra leader from Trinidad who had a nice band in New York heard one of my concerts and said, 'Would you condescend to record a couple of calypsos for me?' " Pinard said. "This is the music of my country," Pinard replied. "I'd be proud to do it."

Pinard's performance debut as a calypso man came in 1940 at the New York club the Village Vanguard. That was quickly followed by a West Coast tour, which brought him to the Wilshire Ebell in Los Angeles. The critical response was positive and Pinard was quickly signed to appear in the 1941 film "Two Yanks in Trinidad." He went on to make more than 15 other films, ranging from a role in the Bogart-Bacall classic "To Have and Have Not" to B films like "Zombies on Broadway."

But Pinard's success in America with calypso didn't yield many dividends in his homeland.

"They have a whole British style down there and figured this is the music of the lower classes," Pinard recalled. "Gentlemen didn't sing calypsos at that time. I was the first, and when I went back . . . my friends did not receive me."

But Pinard's efforts helped legitimize calypso. He was popular throughout Europe in the 1960s.

A devout Roman Catholic, Pinard also wrote and recorded many "Gospel Calypsos" before he gave up singing in the early 1970s.

He emerged briefly in the 1980s, performing locally at McCabe's Guitar Shop with a band composed of some legendary figures in the L.A. music scene: Van Dyke Parks on piano, Ry Cooder on guitar and Jim Keltner on drums.

"I had heard of him since I was a child," Parks said some years ago. "This man is an innovator who did a lot to advance [his] music. I've met a lot of calypsonians who all gave reverence to Sir Lancelot."
Copyright©Los Angeles Times

(Above: Sir Lancelot in Ghost Ship, 1943.)

(Above: Sir Lancelot as Billy Radd, just before
punching a German-speaking sailor harassing him in Ghost Ship, 1943.)

(Above) Video cover to
Lancelot's last film (1958)
The Buccaneer.

(Above) Poster for Brute Force,
a 1947 film Sir Lancelot appeared in.

(Above: Lancelot as Edward, from Lewton's Curse of the Cat People.

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