The Legacy of Ray Evans Continues
The Legacy of Ray Evans Continues
Singer’s Hometown of Salamanca Hosts the Annual Silver Bells in the City Festival this Weekend
Pictured: Ray Evans, Jane Russell, and Jay Livingston at The Academy Awards with their first Oscar for Best Song, “Buttons and Bows,” 1949.
Silver Bells, Silver Bells, it’s Christmastime in the city. And what better place to truly enjoy the holiday lights and the feeling of Christmas but in the town that inspired the writer of that song, three-time Oscar winning Salamanca native, Ray Evans.
The Salamanca Chamber of Commerce began the annual celebration of their Silver Bells in the City last weekend. The annual tradition of celebrating the holidays in the city continues with Evans and his song in mind as the Seneca Salamanca Chamber of Commerce prepares for Silver Bells in the City festivities.
The Ray and Wyn Evans Foundation, the Seneca Salamanca Chamber of Commerce and its members have been busily planning and organizing their holiday events to help you ring in the holiday season. And now, they and the Ray and Wyn Evans Foundation are putting the finishing touches on the Cattaraugus County Living Arts Association’s annual Silver Bells Holiday show at 7:00pm at the Ray Evans Theater, 10 Main Street on Friday and Saturday, December 8th and 9th. $5 at the door will open a world of music, joy, festivity and pure delight delivered by the finest entertainers this part of the world has to offer. Also, On December 9th, the youngsters can enjoy Breakfast with Santa at Meyers Steakhouse 9:00-11:00am. Reservations are required; please call 716-945-3153 to make them.
The following weekend, Santa will be back at Connecting Communities in Action, 25 Jefferson Street, for Santa’s Carnival on Friday, December 15th from 2:30-4:30pm. There will be games to play, and Mrs. Claus will be on-hand with other favorite characters to hand out prizes and enjoy watching children make artistic Christmas creations.
The celebrations wrap up at 3:00pm on Sunday, December 17th with the Community Choir Christmas Cantata. Riverside Chapel on 134 Broad Street is the sacred setting where you can be lifted up by the beautiful hymns and traditional carols of the season. Later that evening, at 7:00pm, the annual Christmas Cantata is being performed at The Holy Name of Mary Church on 20 Jefferson Street in Ellicottville. For more information on events, go to salamancachamber.org.
Here’s a mini bio of Ray Evans for those who know nothing about this wonderful man. Ray Evans lived in NYC with his writing partner, Jay Livingston after college writing on Tin Pan Alley, and then Hollywood and Beverly Hills. One would think that Ray returned home as token gestures to visit his sister, Doris, who still lived in the family home on Front Street until her passing, and to support the endeavors of the Ray Evan Theater in his hometown. All that is accurate, but the truth is, he loved returning to Salamanca and visiting with old friends and new. He faithfully followed the Salamanca football team from the time he left Salamanca in the 1940s, keeping up on their successes and setbacks, always cheering them on all the way from Beverly Hills. In town, his favorite place was the Dudley Hotel, where he would order his usual – a hamburger. My husband and I took him to the Nickle Inn in Frewsburg one summer and he ordered a hamburger there, as well. He was a simple man who never allowed his fame to change him.
His stories were down to earth and entertaining. He was always in awe of the gifts life gave him and the talent he shared. Salamanca native, Linda Freaney, laughed as she told how he loved to talk about his beagles who loved to run away. He enjoyed telling the story about being in a European town, walking along the street and hearing one of his Oscar-winning songs, “Que Sera Sera” being sung by a woman on the second floor whose window was open. Like a shy kid, he would kind of do the “aw shucks” thing, realizing that it is his song that this woman in a foreign country far from America was singing. Another story he enjoyed telling was how the song, “Silver Bells” was almost called “Tinkle Bells” until his partner Jay went home and told his wife about the new song he and Ray created for Paramount. She was horrified and said to him, “don’t you know what ‘tinkle’ means?” The name was changed.
Bonanza, a 1959 western show set in the 1800s, continues to be syndicated. It has a theme song written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston that everyone familiar with the show can identify. Another of their theme songs is the theme from Mister Ed. (A horse is a horse, of course, of course …) Songhall.org says this about Ray Evans and his partner, Jay Livingston: They were often described in the late 1900s as the “last great of the great songwriters of Hollywood,”
His legacy is strong and lasting. Merry Christmas and please enjoy Salamanca’s tribute to Ray Evans.