I was watching a few Bye Bye Birdie songs today. For me, they never get old. One Last Kiss is really my favorite from that movie. Other singers have done it: I had a tape I made from an album by Bobby Rydell with all the songs and his One Last Kiss was pretty good, but then you gotta love just about anything Rydell sings. The man has always had style. You can also listen to Bobby Vee singing it on youtube. But no one does it quite the same as Jesse Pearson in the movie: “bay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-bee, just give me one last kiss.” An Amazon reviewer complains that on the soundtrack, although it does get sung all the way through, it’s totally different than in the movie.

There is scant information about Jesse online. Sadly, he is the only one in the Bye Bye Birdie cast who doesn’t have a wikipedia entry and I do hope someone who knew him corrects that omission someday. Doesn’t seem right. He really was the perfect Conrad in the film.

His IMDB entry doesn’t even say how tall he was but in the musical, he towered over 5′5″ Ann Margret, who only came up to his shoulder, and was at least a whole head taller than 5′8″ Bobby Rydell. In the gym rehearsal scene, he is taller than Dick Van Dyke, which you can see when Dick is standing next to Pearson at one point (when Mareen Stapleton comes over). Van Dyke was reportedly 6′1″”. But Jesse Pearson had boots with heels on, so it’s hard to say from that.

I did find this video on youtube with Jesse Pearson reciting Pushing the Clouds Away:

Pushing the Clouds Away
(Lyrics by Rod McKuen,
music by Anita Kerr, narrated by Jesse Pearson)

Clouds are not the cheeks of angels, you know
They’re only clouds.
Friendly sometimes, but you can never be sure.
If I had longer arms I’d push the clouds away
or I’d make them hang above the water
somewhere else,

But I’m just a man who needs and wants,
mostly things he’ll never have.
Looking for that thing thats hardest to find:
himself.

I’ve been going a long time now
along the way I’ve learned some things.
You have to make the good times yourself,
take the little times and make them big times,
and save the times that are all right
for the ones that aren’t so good.
I’ve never been able to push
the clouds away by myself.
Help me.
Please?

from The Sea: San Sebastian Strings (available on Amazon)

More info:
Rod McKuen’s Flight Plan 10 Oct 2002: More About Jesse Pearson
Jesse Pearson on IMDB

Tags: clouds, video