Ironically, they don't sound 50s at all to me. And they sure do have a lot of people in that band. Good one. Also, I love that backdrop. "Take two aspirin and just tell me now how you'll feel in the morning." Wow. Even at death's door, the Brits must be polite, eh wot? Conveniently labelled, I hope. Pretty much that whole sentence would be gibberish to somebody today. Awwww. Someday they'll invent a portable version. Using transistors! Oh, for crying out loud, just shoot them! Wow, I have no recollection of this at all. Come to think of it, the island being a KAOS project could explain a lot of what happened on that show. Puts kind of a Lost twist on the saga of our seven stranded castaways. Ouch. I've really got to watch those movies one of these days. Doesn't that describe anyone who listens to a politician?
_______ 50th Anniversary Album Spotlight Soul Christmas Various Artists Released November 1968 #9 on Rolling Stone's 25 Greatest Christmas Albums of All Time The version of the album currently available is a later issue that includes a few additional songs from later years, and drops one song from the original. I wound up buying the missing song and reconstructing the original track listing as a playlist, and it's that version of the album that I'm covering here. Side 1 opens distinctively with Clarence Carter's "Back Door Santa": This is a fun, suggestive, blues-inspired number in the vein of the classic "Back Door Man". It was also sampled on Run-D.M.C.'s "Christmas in Hollis," which has been in my collection for years. King Curtis's smooth jazz instrumental of "The Christmas Song" is absolutely beautiful: Definitely something to put on if you need a little help getting into the spirit. Not to speak ill of the then-recentely departed Otis Redding, but I'm not feeling it for his rendition of the most over-rendered song of modern times, "White Christmas". It seems...strained to me...perhaps a little overwrought. Joe Tex's "I'll Make Every Day Christmas (For My Woman)" is the song that I had to purchase separately. It's...definitely Joe Tex. I can sorta see why, of all of the original songs, it might be cut, as it's one of those songs that references Christmas but arguably isn't really about it per se. The backing vocals actually make it sound a bit like a parody to my ear, whether or not that was intended. Both contributions by Booker T. & The MG's do exactly what they should, bringing the group's lovably quirky instrumental style to the classic material. Exhibit A, "Silver Bells": Carla Thomas's "Gee Whiz, It's Christmas" doubles as 55th anniversary business, as it was originally released as a single in 1963! This is one that I've had in my collection for years, so it's pretty friendly and familiar. The song is invoking her biggest hit, 1961's "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)" (#10 US, #5 R&B). Side 2 opens with another Otis song, and this one is much more like it--"Merry Christmas Baby": Pure, classic Otis, and another one that I've had in my collection for years. Solomon Burke's "Presents for Christmas" is another previously released single on the album, this one only dating back to 1966. It's decent...I could definitely tell who it was by without looking. Booker T. & The MG's, Exhibit B: "Jingle Bells". We rest our case. I'm not too familiar with William Bell. "Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday" has a good sound, but could be considered even less of an actual Christmas song than the Joe Tex contribution, sleigh bells and flourishes of "Jingle Bells" notwithstanding. The original album comes to a proper close with another smooth contribution from King Curtis, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve". The later version of the album places its four additional tracks after the New Year's song, which just sounds wrong. Overall, this is a good addition to my holiday collection, accentuated by its timeliness as 50th anniversary business. Next up: Beggars Banquet, The Rolling Stones _______ If it wasn't, it wasn't for lack of trying on LBJ's part. Indeed...as somebody who got into the series in production order, it's a damn shame to see what should have been the ship's spectacular debut buried so deep in the season, after it had already appeared onscreen twice. Good to know--I was actually wondering if that might have been the case! This week's scheme is even more far-out.... Of course! Just background-watched that Ed Sullivan Christmas special that they ran on Me. It was pretty crap, I'm afraid to say. Most of the holiday stuff was from 1992 when it was made; most of the classic stuff was non-holiday specific and you could tell that it probably originally aired with ad spots for buying the show on VHS.
Considering when this was released, it had to have been a near-smothering, melancholy experience listening to this. Like the case of Buddy Holly and Richie Valens, record companies releasing other material from recently killed artists always registered to me as the ultimate snake/grave-digging move. I'm smiling...well, because of that and the fact the The Beatles/White Album is in the rear view mirror of assessment! See, I believe for many Hollywood types, mischaracterizing LBJ's administration was selective based on what mattered most to the critics; LBJ had already fostered landmark Civil Rights legislation (far more important to the nation with the still existing ills from its history than the effects of Vietnam) and initiated programs that did more to help the underprivileged than anything those paying lip service (i.e. ranting) at the government would accomplish. In other words, some had the narrow focus on the war (with some concerned about their own skin) rather than correcting the problems that this nation was founded on, hence beating on that one drum to judge all things LBJ. They conveniently forgot that while soldiers were wounded or died overseas, in the so-called Land of the Free--on their own soil, innumerable people were under attack from domestic terrorists all throughout the 1960s, with mass arson, bombings and murders posing a greater threat to the nation than being sent to Southeast Asia. It was enough for regular citizens, politicians and various arms of national security to think a second civil war was not out of the realm of possibility. That's what LBJ had to deal with, and I doubt the critic's fantasy president(s) would have handled it (as best as possible) as LBJ in that regard or had his formidable political talents to make any sort of progress to offset the tide of internal chaos. Well, at least we were able to see it more than one time. I think I had the AMT model kit of the D7 about three times, Yep, I was a hardcore Trekker kid! Trivia: Many of the Gilligan's Island cast and crew have claimed the lagoon smelled awful due to it being a closed, non-circulating body of water (like a pool) that stagnated, made worse if anything was left in the water. But hey, Schwartz had to crank those laughs out every wee, right?
I don't think there was anything unseemly about it, especially if these songs had been recorded with the intent of releasing them this year (I don't know offhand). He'd just died during the Christmas season of the previous year, so remembering him at this time of the year would have seemed appropriate enough. And it looks like no less than four posthumous albums had been released in '68, so putting these two songs on the album was just a drop in the bucket. It was always the plan to give Beggars its day. And my original intent was to assess it on its own merits, not to frame it in a Beatles vs. Stones context. LBJ gets his due for his Great Society and Civil Rights legislation. If not for the nightly news from Vietnam, the body counts, the coffins coming home, then maybe there would have been more focus on that in its time. (Typo unintentionally gives us an idea of what might have been in that lagoon....) _______ I should maybe give some advance notice of what my plan is for the holiday week off, whether or not I manage to keep to schedule. My 51st and 50th anniversary movie coverage fell completely off course during the show-heavy Fall season. I'd like to make up for that by watching and at least lightly covering a film per day (the write-ups possibly falling a day behind the viewing). On the list for coverage: Camelot (Premiered Mar. 14, 1967 [Italy]; US release: Oct. 25, 1967) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Premiered Dec. 11, 1967; General release: Dec. 12, 1967) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Premiered Dec. 23, 1966 [Italy]; US release: Dec. 29, 1967) Bullitt (Released Oct. 17, 1968) The Producers (Premiered Nov. 22, 1967; General release: Nov. 10, 1968) Head (Premiered Nov. 6, 1968; General release: Nov. 20, 1968) Looking forward to getting some shit off my DVR! ETA: Just watched "Too Many Christmas Trees" for the holiday thanks to This. Nice to see Mrs. Peel again.
In that case...who is better? Paul or Mick?? Yoko or Anita? Oldham or Epstein? Well??? Again, it was still selective; war or no war overseas, there was a crisis from one end of the nation to the other with numerous conflicting faces interests in the question of race relations / equal rights, which was of paramount concern before, during and long after the war. It did not need to fight for attention as it was hitting nearly everyone and forced the question of what America was about...or if it had any value at all. In context, post 1960s, few have an interest in / see Vietnam as a live-shaping subject, but the injustices that inspired the American civil rights movement remains a fiery, troubled problem. Yuck, and of course, the mind goes to the worst possibility concerning cast members..... Next! That should be interesting.
Now I wasn’t sure if I should do them in the order listed (straight up chronological organized by general US release date), or ignore the year as I would have if I’d stayed on schedule and alternated between 50th and 51st anniversary business.
Merry Christmas, folks! What does Santa need with a back door? Definitely overwrought, but that's what's good about it. I enjoyed it, although it wasn't spectacular. Although I love Bob Newhart, I would have preferred to just see something in the vein of the "Best of" episodes. I guess it was what it had to be, though, in terms of bringing attention to the show for the contemporary audience. It would actually be nice to see something like it done again today. The Sullivan show is a treasure trove of American and world culture that most people are completely unaware of. Some were indeed focused on their own skin, and rightly so-- but also on their friends and sons and brothers and fathers. Pretty much everyone knew somebody who came home in a bag, or crippled, or just sadly changed. The war was hardly a narrow focus. The tragedy of the veterans of the Vietnam War still haunts us today. If you're looking for a reason to be critical of the Left, you should take note of how badly they treated those returning veterans, as if they were as much to blame as those who had drafted them. The mistreatment of vets was one of the main reasons I knew, even at that tender age, that there's a big difference between Liberal and Left Wing. That was hardly forgotten-- it was the defining spirit of the times. There were multitudes of people with a "narrow focus" on bringing the reality of society up to those ideals that the country was founded on. And for most there was really no difference (or competition) between the Anti-War Movement and the Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Lib Movement. It was all the second American Revolution. LBJ certainly gets his deserved credit for his pro-American domestic agenda, but is rightly criticized for his bungling of the war (and, like many people, he was often his own worst enemy).
Father Chrimble brought us a 55-year-old gift.... _______ 55 Years Ago Spotlight Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week: Leaving the chart: "Bossa Nova Baby," Elvis Presley (10 weeks) "Deep Purple," Nino Tempo & April Stevens (15 weeks) "(Down at) Papa Joe's," The Dixiebelles w/ Cornbread & Jerry (13 weeks) "Hey Little Girl," Major Lance (10 weeks) "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight," Barry & The Tamerlanes (10 weeks) "Washington Square," The Village Stompers (14 weeks) Recent and new on the chart: "Daisy Petal Pickin'," Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs (Dec. 14; #15 US) "For You," Rick Nelson (#6 US; #1 AC; #14 UK) "You Don't Own Me," Lesley Gore (#2 US) _______ Meanwhile in 51st Anniversaryland, Jim and Artie are taking a well-earned holiday break. _______ ETA: OMFG, a Christmas episode of Bonanza guest-starring Wayne Newton...!
Catchy! I never heard this one before. It's kind of cute. Good stuff. In about five years, though, he'll have a bad experience at a garden party. Classic. And definitely sounds like the 50s. Back to Vegas with ye, Wayne Newton!
_______ 51st Anniversary Cinematic Special Camelot Starring Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero, David Hemmings, Lionel Jeffries, Laurence Naismith, and Pierre Olaf Directed by Joshua Logan Premiered March 14, 1967 (Italy); US release: October 25, 1967 Winner of 1968 Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (John Truscott, Edward Carrere, John Brown), Best Costume Design (John Truscott), and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment (Alfred Newman, Ken Darby); Nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Sound Someone left the Table in the rain... This was a recent recording that just happened to line up with existing Cinematic Special business. When I read that the original reviews were underwhelming and that the film was 3 hours long, it was cause for concern, but overall I'd say that I enjoyed it despite its flaws. I have to agree with one criticism that I read, that they could've taken advantage of the movie format to show things like Excalibur being pulled from the stone, rather than stick to the play's description. Granted, as structured that would have been a flashback within a flashback...but we get some of those anyway, relating scenes of Jenny and Lance's affair after the fact. Likewise, we hear a lot about the Round Table but barely see it. The timing of its big reveal is awkwardly late, and it doesn't look like it seats 150. More like 30. Though they did demonstrate that it was big enough to ride horses on. Also, musicals aren't generally my thing...and I wouldn't know how much of this owes to the original play...but this one seems a bit unevenly structured. Some parts of the film are thick with musical numbers, but there are decent-sized stretches in which they seem to forget that it's a musical. Guenevere: Did you hear me praying? Arthur: I couldn't help it, milady, you did pray rather loudly. Humility sure ain't one of this version of Lancelot's virtues, as he demonstrates in his introductory number, "C'est Moi". Guenevere does call him out on it, at least, though that, of course, is more a bit of early sexual/romantic tension than anything else. The moment is played well when it appears that Lancelot has killed Sir Dinadan at the tournament, though it turns into a display of his Holy Paladin Healing Power. The guy does all but walk on water here. One of the knights at the tourney, Sir Lionel, is played by Gary Marshal, who appeared as Noel Prince in three episodes of That Girl. With Merlin himself not being present during Arthur's kingship in this version of the story, Pellinore (entertainingly portrayed by Lionel Jeffries) plays a prominent mentor role here. Arthur trying to describe his idea of a fair justice system to Pelli was pretty funny. And speaking of David Hemmings, he is pretty good as Mordred. It's an interesting choice to not fully depict the fall of Camelot to its bitter end, but to close on the positive note of young Sir Tom (Malory, I presume) living to tell the tales. _______ Sounds like sometime before the marriage, Bohemian Coffee House Chick was playing hard to get. More like eight. Anyway, I was surprised to learn that Ozzie and Harriet was still a thing even deeper into the '60s than this. Though as one might have guessed given the timing, this will be his last Top 20 single until that future one. I think that this is easily her strongest single, though it was held from the top spot by a watershed moment in the histories of both rock & roll and pop culture in general. Lesley shouldn't have felt too bad about it, though..."Louie Louie" had just been held under for several weeks by the Singing Nun and Bobby Vinton! Bonanza-era Wayne might have founded Vegas!
It was a narrow focus to those who did ignore all else--greater problems at home--to attack LBJ about Vietnam. That's the point of comments about shows (and participants) like Laugh-In, because they were hardly talking about the issues that people on the street were screaming about--and dying for, other than the occasional misplaced reference to some politician or other personality as a joke. And regarding "pretty much everyone", there was no demographic escape (meaning age, gender, or any other category), from the turmoil / struggle on American soil, which was not limited to the "inner cities" or the southern states of the country. On a personal note, I have friends and family who served in Vietnam, and for some, despite what they had to face overseas, they still held intense concern / fears over what was happening at home. That was an incredible burden for those thinking they had to fight over there, but felt they barely had a place at home, their friends and families were at risk, or if they made it back, they would have to pick up in another war they left off when drafted. This was something utterly lost to certain Hollywood types beating that one drum against LBJ. However, its not uncommon retrospectives and university courses spend most of the LBJ years on Vietnam--its a bias from not only that mindset which emerged rom the 60s, but academia, who cannot let go over their resentment of certain politicians, the military (hence the mistreatment of veterans retuning from that war), instead of giving more attention to LBJ's domestic achievements which changed the nation forever in ways no war since WW2 had or could. Perhaps for some, if the achievements did not necessarily serve their own ends, its was not--then or now--as important as Vietnam, with a more direct focus on the anti-war culture.
^ I don't see what any of this has to do with Laugh-In doing a sketch about LBJ. As the incumbent President, he was naturally the subject of parody. It wasn't Laugh-In's job to anoint him. And whatever good he'd done in the struggle for Civil Rights, that war was far from won, as your own argument underscores. Between that, the mess he'd made in Vietnam, the intensifying turmoil in the streets over Civil Rights and Vietnam, and his opting to leave office and let somebody else clean it all up, he was hardly above criticism.
I've never actually seen the whole thing, and if it's three hours long I'm not likely to in the near future. Well, not all at once. They sit in shifts. 2d4 +2. One brief shining moment. Math? What's that? Ozzie and Harriet were well known even into the 70s. In fact, when I was a kid, they had a brief revival of their show called Ozzie's Girls where they took in a couple of college girls (one Black, one White, to illustrate the changing times) after the boys moved out. I barely remember it now, but I remember liking it. Hah. Now that would have been a good episode. I don't see it. LBJ in general is probably a bit ignored, sandwiched in as he is between the best and the worst that the presidency has had to offer, but I don't see that the domestic situation is given any less attention than the war-- except maybe by Millennials who like to think they invented the world. [/quote]
_______ 50th Anniversary Cinematic Special Bullitt Starring Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset, Don Gordon, Robert Duvall, Simon Oakland, and Norman Fell Directed by Peter Yates Released October 17, 1968 Winner of the 1969 Academy Award for Best Film Editing (Frank P. Keller); Nominated for Best Sound I wasn't feeling it too much for this one. From what I've read and heard, the car chase is very famous for having been influential: Car chases like that were all over the place in the '70s, so if this film started that, it deserves its credit. Likewise, it's credited for having established the "rogue cop" formula used by Dirty Harry and others. But the plot was enigmatic to the point of being inscrutable, and the characters two-dimensional at best. Bisset's character, in particular, seems just there to be Bullitt's girlfriend, with an obligatory story beat in which she experiences some of his work world and subsequently expresses her angst about it: Maybe somebody who better appreciates the film could make an argument for what I'm missing, but more likely it's just a matter of taste. At least we got to see the actual Streets of San Francisco instead of stock footage and rear projection of San Francisco...but I was still wondering where Chief Ironside was during all of this. Something I wouldn't have caught if I hadn't scanned the cast list: One of Bullitt's informers, Eddy, is Justin Tarr from The Rat Patrol. _______ Ah...so my bar seats 10! When your Hit Points are 0, any increase is a Divine Miracle. I meant the run of the original show itself. I'd always heard of it in the context of it being a '50s show, but it was on until '66.
_______ 51st or 50th Anniversary Cinematic Special (take your pick) The Producers Starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, Kenneth Mars, Lee Meredith, Christopher Hewett, and Andreas Voutsinas Written and directed by Mel Brooks Premiered November 22, 1967; General release: November 10, 1968 Winner of 1969 Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen (Mel Brooks); Nominee for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Gene Wilder) The film was originally conceived as a play within a play, a concept that was eventually realized. Unlike the Broadway production, the movie isn't a musical, other than some performances in the audition scene and the big musical number in the fictional play. The ex and I saw the play on Broadway with Nathan Lane and, alas, Matthew Broderick's understudy that night. We enjoyed it, but it came to be memorable primarily for the date of the performance...September 8, 2001, the last time we visited the City before 9/11. The film opens with theatrical producer Max Bialystock (Mostel) engaging in his usual M.O. (based on that of an actual producer whom Mel Brooks once worked for) of having affairs with little old ladies to fund his productions. Estelle Winwood (Aunt Hilda in Batman and Lady Clarinda in Camelot) is featured prominently in the opening credits sequence as the financial backer nicknamed "Hold Me Touch Me". Max is called on by a meek, neurotic, security blanket-carrying accountant named Leo Bloom (Wilder), who discovers a relatively minor discrepancy in the books for a flop that Bialystock produced, then muses over the idea of deliberately producing an expensive flop as a way of making money. (This was also inspired by actual producers whom Brooks knew, who lived quite well off of strings of failed plays.) Max seizes upon this idea and convinces the reluctant Leo to help him realize it. (The montage of Max wooing Leo includes a brief scene on top of the Empire State Building, then still the tallest building in the world while the World Trade Center was under construction.) Max and Leo proceed to pore through scripts looking for the most offensive one possible, and find it in Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden, written by helmet-wearing unhinged former Nazi Franz Liebkind (Mars). Max then gets to work on securing financial backing via his usual method, but on a much larger-than-usual scale, overselling percentages of the play's profits to a sum total of 25,000 percent! With the money in hand, Max treats himself to a "toy"--an attractive Swedish secretary named Ulla who doesn't speak English but likes to dance (Meredith). Max tries to ensure the play's failure by also hiring the worst director available, Roger De Bris (Hewett), whose cross-dressing is based on Ed Wood. De Bris's stereotypically effeminate assistant is Carmen Ghia (Voutsinas). Confident in De Bris's inevitable failure, Max allows his director to modify the content of the play and proceeds to hold auditions for the star of the production. After seeing a number of actors sporting Hitler mustaches who audition by performing more conventional material such as "A Wand'ring Minstrel I," they find their star in a beatnik/hippie actor named Lorenzo Saint DuBois, a.k.a. L.S.D. (Shawn), who came to the wrong audition. L.S.D., whose most distinctive fashion choice is evoking Andy Warhol by wearing a Campbell's Soup can as a medallion, performs a psychedelic pop song called "Love Power" accompanied by a three-girl band who appear out of nowhere: The story then skips straight to opening night. It's only natural to want to include a clip of the play's titular production number, but it actually includes some chorus girl costumes that are so risque as to be considered violations of board policy (most notably the girl wearing the pretzels). This number has the desired effect, causing audience members to start walking out in disgust, so Max and Leo exit for a nearby bar to toast their successful failure. But L.S.D.'s unconventional performance as Hitler draws the audience back in, even as it scandalizes the playwright. Liebkind unsuccessfully attempts to sabotage the play, but the audience responds to it as part of the show. Back at the bar, Max and Leo are horrified when audience members come in during the intermission raving about the play. Liebkind attempts to kill Max and Leo, then to commit suicide. Max tries to send him to kill the actors instead, then gets the idea of attempting to blow up the theater. Max, Leo, and Liebkind end up injured in the attempt and tried in court, where the jury finds them "incredibly guilty". The story closes with Max and Leo pulling the same scam behind bars with a production titled Prisoners of Love. Overall this made for a pretty entertaining watch, though it perhaps lost some of its bite from my having already been familiar with the story. _______
When I was a kid, I would find a car chase like this exciting. Now all I can think about is how much it would cost to fix the suspension and replace the tires. Aside from Steve McQueen, I think it was mostly that it was unlike what had come before, and the novelty was mistaken for actual quality. Twenty if you count laps. I think my Hit Points are in negative numbers these days. But it sounds like the 50s! Speaking of Ozzie's Girls, I checked to see if it's on DVD, and it's not-- but there are several episodes on YouTube. The picture quality is awful, but the Hippie chicks are as cute as I remember. Hold my calls! He was pretty good, but I have to make fun of him because my Mother has the hots for him. I especially like to mock him in Wanted Dead Or Alive because the character is such a simpleton. Nice pretzels.