Tab Hunter (Arthur Andrew Kelm, New York City, New York, USA, July 11, 1931… Read Full Bio ↴Tab Hunter (Arthur Andrew Kelm, New York City, New York, USA, July 11, 1931 - July 8, 2018) was an American actor, pop singer, film producer, and author. He starred in more than 40 films and was a well-known Hollywood star of the 1950s and 1960s. He had a 1957 hit record with the song "Young Love," which was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks (seven weeks on the UK Chart) and became one of the larger hits of the Rock 'n' Roll era. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. He had the hit, "Ninety-Nine Ways," which peaked at No. 11 in the US and No. 5 in the UK. His success prompted Jack L. Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter.

Hunter was born in New York City, New York to immigrants from Germany. His father, Charles Kelm, was Jewish and his mother, Gertrude Gelien, a Lutheran who later converted to Judaism. Within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced and his mother moved with her two sons to California. She reassumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed the sons' name to that as well. Hunter's older brother, Walter, a medic, was killed in Vietnam. As a teenager, Hunter was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs.

Hunter was signed to a contract at Warner Bros. and re-named "Tab Hunter" by his first agent, Henry Willson. His good looks got him pegged as a teen idol. He landed a role in the film Island of Desire opposite Linda Darnell. Although he believed that he had a mediocre singing voice, he had a 1957 hit record with a cover of the Sonny James song, "Young Love," which was #1 for Hunter for over a month. Hunter's success led Warner Bros. to form Warner Bros. Records.

Hunter was perhaps best known for his starring role in the 1958 musical movie, Damn Yankees. In the movie, Hunter plays Joe Hardy of Washington D.C's American League baseball club. (The movie had originally been a broadway show, but Hunter was only in the movie version. The show was based on the 1954 best-selling book, "The Year The Yankees Lost the Pennant" by Douglass Wallop).

While doing The Tab Hunter Show (1960-1961) on television, he was one of the finalists for the lead in the movie version of West Side Story, but did not get the part, because the producers felt he was "too old" at 29. On July 9, 1960, he was arrested by Glendale, California police for beating his dog. He was acquitted by a jury, but the incident dealt a severe blow to his squeaky-clean image.

For a short time in the late 1960s, Hunter settled in the south of France, where he acted in "spaghetti westerns". His career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite transvestite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He is particularly remembered by later audiences as Mr. Stewart, the substitute teacher in "Grease 2," when he sang "Reproduction." He also wrote and starred in Dark Horse (1992).

Personal life
In his autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, he acknowledged his homosexuality, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. The book became a best-seller, though the news of his relationship with Paramount star Anthony Perkins was first explored in the book Anthony Perkins: Split Image (Alyson Books).

Hunter lived in Montecito, California, near Santa Barbara with his partner of 23 years, film producer Allan Glaser. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd.

Hunter's homosexuality contrasted sharply with his image as a "ladies man." His agent planted stories in teen and gossip magazines that Hunter was involved with many famous young starlets of the day, and, for a long time, Hunter was linked as Natalie Wood's "boyfriend." At a party the two attended, a female songwriter in attendance quipped openly, "Natalie Wood, but Tab wouldn't."

His agent and later his studio would go so far as to have Hunter appear at red carpet events and at night clubs with the starlet he was linked to.

I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry
Tab Hunter Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry
I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind a cloud
To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves began to die?
That means he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry
The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are

I'm so lonesome I could cry
I'm so lonesome I could cry

Overall Meaning

Tab Hunter's song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is a song about the agony and sorrow of a lover who has been left alone. The opening lyrics, "Hear that lonesome whippoorwill, he sounds too blue to fly. The midnight train is whining low, I'm so lonesome I could cry," set the mood of a lonely night where even nature seems to sympathize with the singer's pain. The whippoorwill's sad song and the mournful lowing of the midnight train amplify the singer's loneliness.

The chorus reveals that the singer has never seen such a long night and time is moving slowly, as "the moon just went behind a cloud to hide its face and cry." He asks, "did you ever see a robin weep when leaves began to die? That means he's lost the will to live, I'm so lonesome I could cry," evoking images of nature's despair and hopelessness. The suffering he feels is so great that he wonders if he will ever feel happiness again.

Towards the end of the song, the silence of a falling star lights up a purple sky, and the singer wonders where his lover is, confessing, "And as I wonder where you are, I'm so lonesome I could cry. I'm so lonesome I could cry." The song lets the listener feel the heart-wrenching pain of abandonment and the unrelenting loneliness that follows.

Line by Line Meaning

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
Listen to that sad bird singing alone in the dark

He sounds too blue to fly
The bird's melody is melancholic and sorrowful

The midnight train is whining low
The train's sound adds to the gloomy atmosphere

I'm so lonesome I could cry
I'm feeling extremely lonely and sad

I've never seen a night so long
This night seems endless and unbearable

When time goes crawling by
Every moment feels like an eternity

The moon just went behind a cloud
Even the moon is hiding, as if it feels my pain

To hide its face and cry
It's as if the moon is crying with me

Did you ever see a robin weep
Have you ever witnessed a bird shedding tears?

When leaves began to die?
The sight of autumn withering takes away the spirit to live

That means he's lost the will to live
The robin has lost enthusiasm and strength to go on