Lists

Highly Subjective dept.

Happy New Year!

I was recently watching a movie, “Keeper of the Flame,” with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

They were a pretty good movie pair, Tracy and Hepburn. That’s for sure.

And “Keeper of the Flame,” is a good one to watch, if you get a chance. Especially nowadays.

A clip:

Anyway, I was thinking what a good actor Spencer Tracy was, and then I thought about Humphrey Bogart, and what a good actor he was.

I started making a list in my head.

And I guess New Year’s is as good a time as any to make lists of things.

Some of the lists go up to Ten. Some of them don’t.

I’m not going to Google anything, or go see what AI thinks, or anything like that. This is strictly off the top of my head. Any disagreements, we’d love to hear from you. That’s what the Comment section is for.

Restacks and Shares, too—we love Restacks and Shares.

Best Screen Actors, Men (All-Time)

1. Humphrey Bogart

2. Marlon Brando

3. Charles Chaplin

4. Jack Nicholson

5. Al Pacino

6. Dustin Hoffman

7. Robert DeNiro

8. Leonardo DiCaprio

9. James Gandolfini

10. James Dean

11. Spencer Tracy

12. Cary Grant

13. Clark Gable

14. Jimmy Stewart

15. John Wayne

16. Clint Eastwood

17. Buster Keaton

18. Tom Hanks

19. Johnny Depp

20. Joe Pesci

    

    James Gandolfini

Best Screen Actors, Women (All-Time)

1. Lauren Bacall

2. Katharine Hepburn

3. Meryl Streep

4. Veronica Lake

5. Bette Davis

6. Ingrid Bergman

7. Jodie Foster

8. Judy Garland

9. Lucille Ball

10. Vivien Leigh

11. Marilyn Monroe

12. Audrey Hepburn

13. Elizabeth Taylor

14. Greta Garbo

15. Julia Louis-Dreyfus

    

    Veronica Lake

    

    Lucille Ball

Best Pop Artists of the ‘50s

1. Chuck Berry

2. Little Richard

3. Fats Domino

4. Elvis Presley

5. Buddy Holly

6. The Everly Brothers

7. Eddie Cochran

8. Gene Vincent

9. Jerry Lee Lewis

10. The Bobbettes

11. Lonnie Donegan

    

    Little Richard

Best Standup Comics (All Time, Male)

1. Lenny Bruce

2. George Carlin

3. Richard Pryor

4. Eddie Murphy

5. Jim Carrey

6. Jerry Seinfeld

7. Don Rickles

8. Bill Hicks

9. Chris Rock

10. Mitch Hedberg

11. Robin Williams

12. Rodney Dangerfield

    

Lenny Bruce

Bill Hicks

Best Standup Comics (All-Time, Female)

1. Moms Mabley

2. Phyllis Diller

3. Carol Burnett

4. Sarah Silverman

5. Whoopi Goldberg

6. Gracie Allen

7. Lily Tomlin

8. Wanda Sykes

9. Gilda Radner

10. Maria Bamford

11. Joan Rivers

12. Judy Tenuta

    

    Whoopi Goldberg

Best Tennis Players All-Time (Men)

Before we launch into this one, there needs to be a bit of discussion.

I wanted it to begin like this:

1. Federer 2. Nadal 3. Djokovic

   Of course. But that seemed more like a list of what my heart wanted, rather than what the evidence actually says. Which makes it a different kind of list.

   If it’s really a list of my favorites, then it should start like this:

   1. McEnroe 2. Nastase 3. Federer 4. Nadal

   A nice list, but not really the list it professes to be.

   One could also make separate lists, which might begin like this:

   Grass: 1. Federer 2. Sampras. 3. Djokovidc

   Clay: 1. Nadal. 2. Borg 3. Vilas

   Hard Court: 1. Djokovic. 2. Federer 3. Connors, Sampras

   But that seems, if not exactly specious, at least unsatisfying.

   And so, there’s nothing to do, finally, but take a deep breath and get on with it:

1. Djokovic

2. Nadal

3. Federer

4. Sampras

5. Laver

6. Borg

7. Connors

8. McEnroe

9. Agassi

10. Lendl

11. Edberg

12. Becker

13. Rosewall

14. Alcaraz

15. Wilander

16. Vilas

17. Sinner

18. Newcombe

19. Murray

20. Ashe

21. Courier

22. Wawrinka

23. Nastase

24. Tilden

25. Kramer

    

    McEnroe, Lendl, Connors, Borg

    Best Tennis Players All-Time (Women)

    1. Serena Williams

    2. Martina Navratilova

    3. Steffi Graf

    4. Chris Evert

    5. Billie-Jean King

    6. Venus Williams

    7. Monica Seles

    8. Margaret Court

    9. Justine Henin

    10. Iga Swiatek

    11. Maria Sharapova

    12. Aryna Sabalena

    13, Kim Clijsters

    14. Ash Barty

    15. Evonne Goolagong

    

    Billie Jean King

Best Songwriters in the Rock Era

This was a tough one at the top as well. You could start with Dylan, and then go with Lennon/McCartney. On longevity alone, Dylan gets the call. Even now, as I’m telling you this, I’m thinking maybe it should be Dylan at the top. I guess, it being both John and Paul, vs. just Bob, is why I’m putting them at the top. But you could switch them and I wouldn’t really have an argument. But anyway.

1. John Lennon and Paul McCartney

2. Bob Dylan

3. Holland, Dozier and Holland

4. Lieber and Stoller

5. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

6. Bruce Springsteen

7. Chuck Berry

8. Paul Simon

9. Leonard Cohen

10. Carole King

11. Pete Townsend

12. Brian Wilson

13. Elvis Costello

14. Joni Mitchell

15. Diane Warren

16. Kurt Cobain

17. Elton John and Bernie Taupin

18. Taylor Swift

19. Dolly Parton

20. Willie Nelson

21. Tom Petty

22. Jimmy Webb

23. Neil Diamond

24. Kris Kristofferson

25. Ike Turner

26. John Mellencamp

    

    1. Brian Wilson

       

       Kris Kristofferson

       Best Painters, All-Time

       1. Vincent Van Gogh

       2. Pablo Picasso

       3. Leonardo Da Vinci

       4. Michelangelo Buonarroti

       5. Jackson Pollock

       6. Marc Chagall

       7. Claude Monet

       8. Edouard Degas

       9. Joan Miro

       10. Paul Cezanne

       11. Paul Gauguin

       12. J.M.W. Turner

       

       Vincent van Gogh

       Best Quarterbacks

       1. Tom Brady

       2. Joe Montana

       3. John Unitas

       4. Terry Bradshaw

       5. Troy Aikman

       6. John Elway

       7. Peyton Manning

       8. Bart Starr

       9. Steve Young

       10. Joe Namath

       12. Drew Brees

       13. Dan Marino

       14. Brett Favre

       15. Kurt Warner

       

       Joe Namath

       

       Kurt Warner

       Best Female Vocalists

       1. Billie Holiday

       2. Janis Joplin

       3. Aretha Franklin

       4. Joni Mitchell

       5. Edith Piaf

       6. Dionne Warwick

       7. Patsy Cline

       8. Tammy Wynette

       9. Tina Turner

       10. Nina Simone

       11. Ella Fitzgerald

       12. Grace Slick

       13. Kate Bush

       14. Karen Carpenter

       15. Ronnie Spector

       16. Tori Amos

       17. Nico

       18. Diana Ross

       19. Dusty Springfield

       20. Skeeter Davis

       21. Stevie Nicks

       22. Gwen Stefani

       23. Rokia Traore

       24. Etta James

       25. Dolly Parton

       26. Brenda Lee

       27. Regina Spektor

       28. Orit Shimoni

       29. Sam Parton

       30. Jill Sobule

       

       Billie Holiday

       

       Joni Mitchell

       Best Male Vocaliats

       1. Frank Sinatra

       2. Otis Redding

       3. John Lennon

       4. Paul McCartney

       5. Bob Dylan

       6. Roger Daltrey

       7. Mick Jagger

       8. Elvis Presley

       9. Robert Plant

       10. Little Richard

       12. James Brown

       13. Bruce Springsteen

       15. George Jones

       16. Kurt Cobain

       17. Elvis Costello

       18. Geddy Lee

       19. Elton John

       20. Van Morrison

       21. Ozzy Osbourne

       22. Tom Jones

       23. David Bowie

       24. The Righteous Bros.

       25. John Fogerty

       

       John Lennon

       

       Elvis Presley

       

       Elvis Costello

       Best Classical Composers

       1. Frederic Chopin

       2. Wolfgang Mozart

       3. Franz Schubert

       4. Ludwig van Beethoven

       5. Johann Sebastian Bach

       6. Franz Liszt

       7. Pyotr Tchaikovsky

       8. Claude Debussy

       9. Bedřich Smetana

       10. Erik Satie

       

       Mozart

       

       Satie

       Favorite Writers

       1. Jonathan Swift

       2. Mark Twain

       3. Nikolai Gogol

       4. Haruki Murakami

       5. J.D. Salinger

       6. Charles Bukowski

       7. John Fante

       8. James Thurber

       9. Ring Lardner

       10. Damon Runyon

       

       Gogol

       

       Bukowski

       Best Folksingers

       1. Woody Guthrie

       2. Bob Dylan

       3. Leadbelly

       4. Pete Seeger

       5. Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee

       6. The Weavers

       7. Mississippi John Hurt

       8. Big Bill Broonzy

       9. John Prine

       10. Phil Ochs

       11. Ani Difranco

       12. Steve Goodman

       13. Townes van Zandt

       14. Elizabeth Cotton

       15. Utah Phillips

       16. Tom Paxton

       17. Joan Baez

       18. Richard Thompson

       19. Stan Rogers

       20. Donovan

       21. Richie Havens

       22. Dave van Ronk

       23. Odetta

       24. Arlo Guthrie

       25. Ramblin’ Jack Elliot

       26. Loudon Wainwright III

       27. Steve Poltz

       28. Greg Brown

       29. Todd Snider

       30.. Dar Williams

       31. Bill Morrissey

       32. James McMurty

       33. Anne Feeney

       34. Ellis Paul

       35. John Gorka

       36. Red Molly

       37. Vance Gilbert

       38. Stompin’ Tom Connors

       39. Rosalie Sorrels

       40. Chris Chandler

       41. Martin Sexton

       42. John Craigie

       43. The Mammals

       44. Willie Watson

       45. Andrew Calhoun

       46. Grant Lee Phillips

       47. Jeffery Gaines

       48. Richard Shindell

       49. Brett Perkins

       50. Lucy Kaplansky

       

       Pete Seeger

       

       Ani Difranco

       

       Townes van Zandt

       I could go on, but heck.

       It’s New Year’s.

       Can’t be working too hard.

—

Here’s “Trudy”: