I've had requests for additional episodes of The Radio Show with Tom Snyder, and I'm happy to make four additional episodes (complete with commercials; we're talking nearly 12 hours here) available for download:
09-14-90 - With guests Irwin Schiff and Donald O'Connor. In case you're swayed by any of Mr. Schiff's "Don't Pay Your Taxes" philosophy, may I point out that Mr. Schiff is currently in prison and won't get out until 2016. (This one will play in Box.net's player) about 3 hrs.
10-01-91 - With guests Curt Gentry, author of a J. Edgar Hoover biography, and Elayne Boosler. (This one must be downloaded first; and it's joined in progress) 2hrs, 45min
10-09-91 - With guest Molly Ivins plus a discussion of the political correctness, or lack thereof, in Amos and Andy. (Will stream in Box.net's player) about 3 hrs.
10-10-91 - With guests Joe McGinniss (Cruel Doubt) and Dr. Demento. (Will stream) about 3 hrs. (Remind me to tell you about my dinner with Joe McGinniss in Saratoga, or I guess you could look it up in The American Spectrum Encyclopedia, which seems to have every fact known to man between its covers)
Great listening; The Radio Show is one of the greatest radio talk/call-in shows ever.
Think how many times per day you tell that 'special someone' that "they must be crazy." Do they pay attention when you assert they are "certifiable?"
No, they don't.
Well, they will when you print up either one of the two intricately designed Certification of Insanity certificates which are available -- for free -- from the Cthulhu Lives website.
Each certificate is a huge .pdf file you download and then easily customize with the name and diagnosis of your loved one. Your customization automatically appears in the correct authentic-looking fonts. These things are exquisite.
The folks over at the Cthulhu Lives site have created tons of these great downloadable "props." They never do anything halfway - many of these elaborate items were created for The Call of Cthulhu, a 'brand-new' silent film created by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and shot in 'Mythoscope."
These people are not desperately calling for help, but you wouldn't know that unless you remember the Amphicar. I was about 13 when they started importing these into the US, and I desperately wanted one. I remember pleading with my father to get one. I told him the color didn't matter, I'd accept Beach White, Regatta Red, Lagoon Blue or Fjord Green. His verdict: it was a terrible car, it was a terrible boat, I was a terrible swimmer; there was nothing to discuss. When I think of all the fun I've missed, I want one all over again. They could start building them tomorrow. All they'd have to do is change the tag line on their ad... Amphicars.ComAmphicar.Com 35 MPH Water Entry by John Bevins with his sister screaming in the back seat (.MPG Movie)
In an earlier post, I was quite critical of the King Features Characters that showed up at the 1933 Century of Progress in Chicago. I'm pleased to report that somebody must have alerted King Features Syndicate to the sub-standard characters, because six years later, we have these improved versions out for a night on the town, going to see Olsen & Johnson's Hellzapoppin'. Still far from perfect - the illusion is shattered on Wimpy in particular, due to the visibility of the performer's face and neck, but at least KFS is trying. The performer portraying Olive Oyl was doubtless cast on the basis of her (his?) wonderfully knobby knees.
People? Please stay together, and when we stop, circle around me. This is about as loudly as I can speak, so if you're having any difficulty hearing me, move in closer. Please follow me into the first gallery, where we'll have a look at the opening frame.
Why is this 15-year-old miserable during a high-spirited celebration of her athletic achievement? Is it because her dad is Mr. Magoo? Is it because her 'high school boyfriend' is a 24-year-old? Or is it because she's a "lonely little in-between?"
You're looking at a still frame taken directly from the major motion picture Billie. This is our first look at Patty Duke as the distressed, confused tomboy "with the beat," Billie.
Who is Billie?
The lyrics of the title song offer no help whatever:
She looks like a Billie should look Wears her hair like a Billie should wear She walks like a Billie should Talks like a Billie should On her a Billie looks good
Billie has a problem. She's a better athlete than "the guys."
Billie, ostensibly a "family film," is an alarming look into into the depths of gender dyphoria, also known as Gender Identity Disorder (GID). Today, GID is treatable, with gender reassignment surgery. When Billie was released in the fall of 1965, between seasons 2 and 3 of The Patty Duke Show (itself an exploration of duality), the MPAA code forbade movies on the subject. However, the filmmakers behind Billie employed a clever and unusual technique to get their messages across.
In the literary world, the technique is known as "symbolism." Developed in the late 19th century, symbolism is a way of exteriorizing [sic] the the interiorized [sic] lives of characters by selectively imbuing ordinary household items with hidden, profound levels of meaning.
When Billie sniffs her track shoes, they are more than track shoes. When Billie pours out her anguish to a stuffed wolf, the audience becomes restless... due not only to Patty Duke's performance, but also to the large photograph of her father, Tyler Fitzgerald, next to her bed. At the end of her song, Billie is left with a stark choice... the smell of the track shoe in her left hand - or - the bottle of perfume in her right? Symbolically, Billie must choose: male, or female? The character literally "weighs her options." Indeed, it is from the end of this scene that our modern phrase "heavy-handed symbolism" is derived.
Without further adieu [sic], here is the pivotal scene that captures the essence of gender dyphoria with all the pungency of a pair of sweaty cleated track shoes - all sparked by a small, insignificant, teensy-weensy, it-meant-nothing slip of the tongue by Billie's father, Thurston Howell III. Billie is 'out of sync' with her world; is it any wonder that, by the end of the clip, her lips are out of sync with the soundtrack?
Please follow me into the second gallery to learn more about this talented, troubled character.
Patty Duke saw Billie as her first 'real' film role. When Ms. Duke blindly accepted a minor role in a forgotten picture called The Miracle Worker, she found to her horror that she had had no lines, and worse, the movie was in black and white. Duke's television program proved popular, but it, too, was in black and white. Duke saw Billie as her chance to prove, once and for all, that she could act in color. Eventually, she would move to Idaho.
Here in the second gallery, we're surrounded by portraits of the members of the so-called "Sit-com Mafia," who demanded to be included in any motion picture project headed for the big screen that wasn't really much better than that crap they show on TV. I'm sure you recognize them: At right, from left to tight: Don Hollinger, that wimp that hung out with Marlo Thomas; one of the Darrins that appeared on Bewitched; Mel Cooley, who appeared on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
And the gruff-but-lovable Coach Jones, who appeared on The Real McCoys, The Thin Man, Perry Mason, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, Richard Diamond Private Detective, The Millionaire, The Ann Sothern Show, The Gale Storm Show, Bachelor Father, The Twilight Zone, The Bob Cummings Show, The Tab Hunter Show, Pete and Gladys, Surfside Six, Maverick, Mr. Ed, Dennis The Menace, McKeever and The Colonel, 77 Sunset Strip, Burke’s Law, Make Room for Daddy, The Andy Griffith Show, The Bill Dana Show, The Bing Crosby Show, The Smothers Brothers Show, Get Smart, Honey West, The Munsters, The Pruitts of Southampton, F Troop, The Man From Uncle, He and She, The Wild Wild West, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Judd for the Defense, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, The Flying Nun, The Debbie Reynolds Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Nanny and the Professor, Bewitched, The Odd Couple, The Rookies, Rhoda, Karen, Family, Maude, Soap, Mork and Mindy, Little House on the Prairie, St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law, I Love Lucy... and the film Mother Is A Freshman.
Let's move on to the third gallery, "Billie's Problem."
On a non-symbolic, or "literal" level, Billie's problem is that she can run faster than the boys can run. But how to get this on film? Special effects wizard Luis Buñuel, who had retired after his 1953 Oscar win for "The Twonky," was coaxed out of the ICU and back into the USA to once again achieve the impossible: make it look like a girl can run faster than a boy. As if.
Recently declassified, the confounding illusion of speed can now be explained. Ms. Duke was actually jumping up and down on a low platform attached to the back of a speeding pickup truck, with the camera shooting backwards from the bed of the pickup, thus creating the illusion that Billie was running faster than - and rapidly outdistancing - her male competition. If you look carefully, you may be able to discern which scenes are special "trick shots" and which were photographed in a normal fashion (A 1960's audience would have been baffled). Our fourth and final gallery is The Gallery of Happy Endings.
Two different endings were filmed, and, at great expense, the Billie production team reunited all living members of the Pomona audience that attended the first showing of The Magnificent Ambersons. The "Serious Ending"- in which Billie hears that Coach Jones is in the hospital after being hit by an automobile and uses her high-speed running power to reach the operating room in time to donate the muscles from her legs to fashion the Coach a new heart - was so disliked that many in the audience suspected that Billie had been secretly directed by Orson Welles.
In the released version, Billie quits the track team because she "likes being a girl" and flees the city with Deckard, whom she suspects is a replicant.
Florence Griffith Joyner, who saw the film at the tender age of 6, has said that she was "negatively inspired" by Patty Duke's masterful performance and has since credited her Olympic wins to "having the beat."
I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have, and for the truly masochistic, the trailer is playing continuously in Gallery 5. (Look for dancer/choreographer Donna McKechnie in the Where's Waldo shirt)
Congratulations to my pals Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon, who will be on hand tonight at The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle for an exhibition of Jim Flora’s original art, fine art prints, and Flora ephemera. The show runs through October 24. And congratulations to everyone who gets to see this show; I wish I could.
You can click on the picture above to read this trade ad for The Hal Roach Studio for yourself, but it's the first line that's important: "It is our pledge that during the season 1936-1937 we shall continue to expend every effort to produce the best comedy screen entertainment possible and that we will not stint on time nor money to accomplish this result."
You have to feel bad for Hal Roach during this period. He tried to live up to his pledge. He succeeded in spots (Topper was a '37 release) but in many places he just couldn't attain his vision for '36-'37.
Laurel and Hardy made made no short subjects after 1935, which is a shame. In '36 they released Our Relations, and in '37, Way Out West. You'd have to say that - even without the shorts - Roach made good on his pledge here.
Patsy Kelly made four short subjects with two different co-stars in '36 following the death of Thelma Todd; but the series was kaput. Patsy also co-starred with Charley Chase in a feature, Kelly The Second, but time- and money-stinting is in evidence. Roach couldn't live up to the pledge here.
Charley Chase's own first starring feature, Neighborhood House, was judged unsuccessful and was cut down and released as a mere two-reeler in 1936. It turned out to be Charley's last film for Roach. He did make 6 two-reelers in '37... but for Columbia. Pledge not honored.
Jack Haley appeared in two features for Roach, Mr. Cinderella in '36 and Pick A Star in '37. He wasn't around long enough to become a Roach regular. He returned to 20th Century Fox in '37. Pledge? Haley? What pledge?
"Spanky McFarland and his Our Gang playmates" made a '36 feature, General Spanky, which flopped, and Roach started producing the previously two-reel Our Gangs as one reel subjects. Roach gave up on the Gang in '38, selling the series to MGM, which made some pretty terrible entries. Some good shorts in the final Roach years, however, and while length decreased, time and money was expended to keep the series going. Give this one to Hal.
It makes you wonder if Roach felt he needed to bolster his studio's image through the trade "pledge" ad specifically because he faced an uncertain season. The glory days of the studio as producer of sound short subjects essentially ended during these years, and, with occasional exceptions, the Roach Studio did not succeed in features.
I have a theory. I can't prove it. But here it is: You know how songs sometimes "quote" other songs for a few seconds? You see the Eiffel Tower in a movie and a few notes from "La Marseillaise" get woven into the background music. That kind of thing.
Here's the theory: the song most quoted in other songs is... "The Sailor's Hornpipe." Every time you see a ship, a body of water, a guy in a navy uniform, or Bert and Alf, you hear a little piece of the Hornpipe. The prize goes to an old TV sitcom with Jackie Cooper as a Navy doctor and Abby Dalton as his nurse. Sonny Burke was not content to quote "Sailor's Hornpipe" in the "Theme from Hennesy." He stole it!
That is music you (probably) won't hear anyplace else. I try to put some here on Isn't Life Terrible from time to time. Theme From WKRP In Cincinnati. See, I just did it again. But I'm an amateur at this - let me direct you to a pro.
Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else is a blog by Lee Hartsfeld that I highly recommend to you if your taste in music is... well, basically, there are only two kinds of music: good music and bad music. If you love both kinds, you'll enjoy Lee's site.
Every couple of days, like clockwork, Lee makes new songs available. They are most definitely songs you (possibly) won't hear any place else. Songs like:
... as well as songs very much not like these. Lee transfers 'em from his own collection of vinyl and shellac, cleans them up as needed (but never more than needed), and then shares the results with the world. You never know what you'll find at Lee's, except on Sundays, which are always devoted to religious music.
Scattered in with the songs are posts where Lee talks about politics, religion, and what his cats kill and drag home. Lee, the owners of 160 gig iPods thank you for helping us fill those babies up... and for giving us the opportunity to be listening to music that (possibly) no other iPod owners are listening to.
In 1966, a small-circulation magazine for movie buffs changed hands. Film Fan Monthly had been published in Canada by a gentleman named Daryl Davy. If memory serves, Mr. Davy was no longer able to handle the workload associated with thepublication of a monthly magazine. I don’t know what kind of a deal he worked out, but the magazine was taken over by a 16-year-old kid who started putting issues together in his parents’ home in Teaneck, New Jersey.
I still have the special eighth anniversary issue of Film Fan Monthly - a special issue focused on one of Hal Roach’s ‘forgotten comedians’ – Charley Chase. The editor, now all of 19, wrote in the issue's preface that: "…virtually nothing has ever been written on Chase, and it is our hope that this issue will serve as a definitive source on this fine, neglected comedian."
The editor also apologized for having to raise the subscription rates for FFM by fifty cents, a price hike he considered "nominal."In doing so, he noted that "Film Fan Monthly, as most of you know, is a very small operation, and a labor of love.We're not in the business with the hope of making millions of dollars."
Today, the kid still reports on movies... and you get the sense that it's still a "labor of love," even though the pay is probably better.
The kid, of course, is Leonard Maltin.
These days, he does a lot more than research and write.Through his association with the Walt Disney Co., Leonard has personally made the case for the release of many Disney titles to DVD that most Disney fans believed would never come to the market (Victory through Air Power, the Mickey Mouse Club TV serials, and, coming up in December, Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit silent cartoons, to name but a few.) Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide is on every film-lover's shelf. Even though he's come so far and accomplished so much, he's still publishing a fanzine not entirely unlike Film Fan Monthly titled Movie Crazy.
In an earlier post here on Isn't Life Terrible, (which, by the way, is a blog that takes its name from a 1925 Charley Chase two-reeler), I wrote about a clueless “film preservationist" from the future who, working from digitally preserved masters made in the distant past, does not comprehend why Leonard Maltin appears at the beginnings and endings of so many digitally preserved movies. My fictional future preservationist comes to the conclusion that this guy “may well have been the most beloved ‘movie star’ of all time.”
This is the one thing she comes even close to getting correct.
No, not a movie star; not an actor; but consider this: when the American Film Institute was founded (a year after Leonard Maltin took over Film Fan Monthly), one of its purposes was "...to ensure that great accomplishments of the past are recognized to the end that the masters of film may take their deserved place in history beside leaders in other arts."
I submit to you that no one has contributed more to this effort than Leonard Maltin.
Consider this, too: AFI's Board of Trustees established the AFI Life Achievement Award on February 23, 1973, in order to honor "...an individual whose career in motion pictures or television has greatly contributed to the enrichment of American culture."
So far, the award's gone exclusively to actors and directors. It no doubt will continue to do so.
I don't know, though. If there's somebody out there whose entire life has been about ensuring "that great accomplishments of the past are recognized," that would be Leonard.
I know that Dustin Hoffman was exaggerating for comic effect when he called Leonard "the greatest human being that ever lived." But have you ever heard anyone say a discouraging word about Leonard? If the AFI doesn't have an appropriate award to bestow upon Mr. Maltin, they ought to invent one and build a TV special around it.
After all, he's been in the business longer than they have.
I've just scoured the internet (as well as the biography I have at hand) for confirmation, but could not find anything which corroborates the story I believe to be true about the unusual title of the book seen above, "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea or David Copperfield," a 1928 collection of Robert Benchley pieces.
The story is this: Somebody mentioned to Benchley that book titles could not be copyrighted.
Here's a nine-minute interview with Walt Disney from the late 1950's that was first released on LP decades ago. You won't learn much that's new, but it's always interesting to hear Walt tell the stories himself. (9m)
This gorgeous, large-format, full-color hardcover book reprints three "classic stories from the 1930s, Walt Disney's Donald Duck (1935), Walt Disney's Clock Cleaners (1938), and The Mickey Mouse Fire Brigade (1936)." All three stories are based on cartoons, but some strange liberties and notable revisions are made.
Walt Disney's Donald Duck was the first book to feature the Duck, who thus appears here in his long-billed incarnation. The original (Whitman #978) was printed on linen, which would seem to indicate it was intended for the youngest possible audience. Inexplicable, then is the one-joke premise: Mickey's nephews "show Donald the difference between soft and HARD water" by tricking him into diving into a shallow spot.
Walt Disney's Clock Cleaners was another "linen-like" book designed for kids who could be counted upon to treat it badly. "Scarce in Near Mint, common in lower grades" is Ted Hake's comment on the linen-like books in The Official Price Guide to Disney Collectibles. Having even less linen-like pages to work with than Walt Disney's Donald Duck (12 rather than 16), the original story is literally scaled down from the cartoon's giant clock atop a skyscraper... to a cuckoo clock in an attic.
The third story, The Mickey Mouse Fire Brigade, is very faithful to the Mickey's Fire Brigade cartoon, and the illustrations are excellent. Just one thing - Mickey's fire helmet. Designed for a British audience that might not recognize the "backwards-baseball-hat" helmet design usually seen in the U.S., Mickey wears a Merryweather pattern brass fire helmet throughout.
If you read this one to your kids, I suggest giving Mickey a Yorkshire accent. If you need practice, the BBC is willing to help. I was going to give an Amazon link, but they don't carry the book, show the the wrong cover picture, and spell Mickey "Micky." Try Barnes and Noble.
Certain words and phrases in many of the world's languages have no direct English equivalents.
What's a nakhur? It's a Persian word that identifies camels which will not give milk until their noses are tickled. We're doing OK without that one.
The Japanese expression katahara itai means laughing so hard for so long that one side of your abdomen hurts. English is the native language of Larry David and Sarah Silverman, so we could use a phrase like that.
Uitwaaien is Dutch for "walking in windy weather just for the hell of it."
Tingo is a word in the Pascuense language that means "to steal objects from your neighbor's house one by one until there is nothing left."
The English word Nostalgia wascreated from two Greek root words: one that means "returning home" and one that means "pain," a suffix you know about if you've ever suffered from neuralgia (nerve pain), myalgia (muscle pain), otalgia (ear pain), or bussosalgia, a word I just made up using the Greek root for "bottom," i.e., a pain in the ass.
While there may well be pain or longing associated with some forms of nostalgia, in everyday usage, nostalgia is not considered unpleasant.
The Portuguese to our rescue!
Saudade describes "a mixture of happy and sad feelings focused on days gone by." Saudade also includes a dash of hope that whatever is “missing” or "longed for" ...might one day return. And actually, in one form or another, a lot of stuff has returned.
Say, for example, that you loved the music of The Beatles, but the 301 officially released songs are starting to wear a bit thin. I find that The Spongetones CD I purchased from Not Lame effectively transforms painful nostalgia into Portuguese saudade. Beach Boys fans who miss their baseball cards should apply to Jeffery Foskett, another musical artist that Not Lame can tell you about. You can buy reproductions of those baseball cards. And you can listen to those old kiddie records you miss.
Others who help relieve achy nostalgia and replace it with the far more agreeable saudade are Gemstone Comics, Candy You Ate as a Kid, Superballs.com, Retrocola (since we all know soda pop tastes better coming out of longneck glass bottles), Fizzies, and a rivet-perfect 50's robot that blows powder from his mouth. Seriously.
Of course, if what you're actually suffering from is Sehnsucht, the German word for "the inconsolable longing in the human heart for we know not what," I recommend finding a yogi or a pharmacist. Trust me, Moxie and modern reproductions of old baseball cards are far less expensive and much more fun.
This Post Is Not About "Vertigo" ...Not Exactly...
It's about Karen Carpenter. Think of her as Madeleine Elster in Vertigo. The woman that Scottie Ferguson trails and then loses. She's the blonde at far left.
It's about Richard Carpenter, the multi-talented pianist/ arranger/ composer/ conductor who released a 1998 CD titled Richard Carpenter: Pianist, Arranger, Composer, Conductor. Think of him as Scottie Ferguson, the man in the middle of the Kim Novak sandwich above.
And it's about Akiko Kobayashi. Think of her as Judy Barton, the woman that Scottie successfully transforms into a virtual Madeleine Elster. It would be very difficult to physically transform Akiko Kobayashi into Karen Carpenter. But in the recording studio, it's another story.
Akiko, born in Tokyo in 1958, was an established singer with five albums to her credit when she came to the U.S. to record City of Angels in 1988. How Richard Carpenter came to be the producer for that album, we do not know. Akiko had been a fan of the Carpenters, so it's possible that she sought Richard out. Richard Carpenter selected the songs for the album, arranged them, recorded them and played keyboards on every single one of the ten tracks. Carpenter also wrote one of the five songs Akiko sings in English on the CD, How Could I Ask For More, with lyrics by John Bettis, who had previously collaborated with Carpenter on hit songs like "Top of the World," "Goodbye To Love," and "Yesterday Once More."
For my money, it's the closest anyone has ever come to channeling the departed in a recording. It is a Carpenters record made five years after Karen's sad death. It is the audio equivalent of the Vertigo scene where the fully transformed Judy Barton emerges as a perfect Madeleine... the verisimilitude is more than a little spooky. The song's opening background vocals give hardcore Carpenters fans the shivers... and cause them to forget, at times, exactly to whom they're listening. How Could I Ask For More mp3.
From The Author Of Risky Business And The Artist Behind A Top Secret Book...
Ah, Crusader Rabbit. The first made-for-TV cartoon. Please note: as it says on the front cover, and as it says on the back cover, this is the authorized edition.
What kind of characters do we want?
Our favorite characters.
What kind of stories do we want?
Authorized stories.
How well I remember the infamous bedtime story raids of the late 50's and early 60's.
My parents, of course, bought authorized editions exclusively. But I lost more than one friend in the massive "Cartoon Character Sting" of 1960, when the parents of close friends purchased "the unauthorized stuff," and ultimately paid a steep price as they, and their pajama-clad children, were dragged off to the pokey, never to return.
Why insist on Authorized Editions?
To protect young minds, of course.
When transvestite little people are depicted in an authorized edition, it's tasteful!
I'm happy to present "Bubble Trouble," which, when its pages are turned rapidly, actually exhibits more animated movement than the Crusader Rabbit cartoons themselves.
I love buying computer books. I'll see one in a bookstore and think to myself, "I really should learn Photoshop." Or maybe how to create mash-ups with Sony's ACID. Or how to use Microsoft Expression Web, the program that replaced FrontPage.
And I'll buy them. Now, I have them in a bookcase right near the computer, so the next time I say to myself, "I really should learn Photoshop," I can add "...after all, I did buy the book."
"Rule The Web," by Boing Boing's Mark Frauenfelder, never made it to the shelf. I keep it where I can grab it. It is hands-down the most useful computer book I've ever bought. It's packed with information I need, it's well organized, and the hints and tips are just fantastic. I can't tell you how many questions it's answered for me - many of which I hadn't even thought to ask. "Rule The Web" literally paid for itself on the day I bought it, by directing me to RetailMeNot, where I was given coupon codes that reduced a couple of online orders by more than 20 bucks. That in turn led me to BugMeNot, a handy way to bypass the registration requirements many magazine and newspaper websites insist upon before they'll let you view the article you're looking for. Highly Recommended.
This cel from Raggedy Ann and Andy (1977) is huge - 16 1/2" inches long by 8" high. Not all of the cel is shown, because my scanner does not have a Panavision setting. Most of the cel is taken up by "The Greedy," an amorphous glob of taffy liberally suffused with lollipops, ice cream, gum balls, cherries, fudge sauce, and "Butterscotch and nuts that never stop." As if that wasn't bizarre enough, The Greedy constantly scoops up delectable parts of himself and eats them.
I wrote about the desire many of us have to see this film released on DVD. Its episodic nature is usually cited as one of the film's faults (the other being too many songs) but this did allow for the creation of "set pieces," some of which were star turns by legendary animators. None are more incredible than the Greedy, as animated by Emery Hawkins.
The cel above, like all Greedy cels, is only partially painted. Rather than laboriously apply huge amounts of orange-yellow paint to each cel, a large piece of colored paper was cut to match the Greedy's outline. This also eliminated the potential for unwanted, distracting swirls of motion within large areas of paint. The jet-black sky was created with another piece of colored paper (this cel has been mounted on a white background).
I'll link to the YouTube clip for those of you who want to see this scene in all its incredible motion, but be warned: the beauty of this scene is in the details as candy emerges from the taffy pit, is swallowed, and re-emerges. YouTube doesn't have that kind of resolution, and doesn't have widescreen, so you'll be missing a lot. Another reason we need that DVD.
Here's the second of four installments of Monitor radio sketches by Mike Nichols and Elaine May, "The King and Queen of Sophisticated Comedy."
This brief history of the team comes from The New York Times: "Nichols and May first did improvisational theater with the Chicago-based Compass Players troupe, which evolved into the Second City company. They began performing their own act in 1957, arrived on Broadway in 1960 and broke up in 1962 after feuding over a play that Ms. May wrote and Mr. Nichols starred in, "A Matter of Position," which closed in Philadelphia.
The last track isn't a sketch - it's Mike and Elaine as park of a round table discussion with Irv Kupcinet (or is it Mitch Miller? It's hard to tell those two guys apart from their voices). Favorite tracks from this second bunch: "The Air Conditioning Repairman" and "Edith and Osbert," which was written about international long distance calls, but works well today as a cell phone sketch.
Filming Shakespeare With And Without Words In Settings Familiar And Unfamiliar
Kenneth Branagh (whose full-length version of Hamlet was released on DVD recently) characterized playing Hamlet on stage as "...three hours of dialogue and then a sword fight when you're exhausted." What, then, of playing Hamlet on film? How about in silent film?
Sarah Bernhardt portrayed the melancholy Dane in a French version from 1900, Le Duel d'Hamlet, and one is tempted to infer that the adaptation focused on the action of the duel simply because film was silent in 1900. That inference would be wrong, however, since Le Duel d'Hamlet was a sound film that shipped to theaters with an accompanying Edison cylinder recording. Take that, Al Jolson.
There were many silent Hamlets, however, like the one produced in Denmark in 1910, now lost, and others that still survive intact or in fragmentary form.
It is not impossible to create a silent Hamlet. As recently as last June, a 90-minute mime and movement version was presented wordlessly at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Sarah Kaufman of The Washington Post wrote of the silent performance that "... the suspicions [and] shadows... blare like sirens though the actors, who convey them only through a glance, a gesture and a particular way of moving across the stage."
The 1916 silent film Hamlet Up To Date, shot by the Lubin Studio in Florida, was perhaps the first film version to recast the story in a modern setting. The trend cotinues: the Ethan Hawke version from 2000 was set in modern-day New York. A 2000 TV adaptation starring Campbell Scott updated the setting to 19th Century New York (and was shot right here on Long Island).
Given the critical attention these productions garnered, it seems unfathomable that arguably the boldest adaptation, a silent film, shot in upstate New York at a time when most film production companies had long since departed for Hollywood to escape the restrictions of Edison's Motion Picture Trust... remains largely unknown.
That may change, however, since the lone surviving print has now been painstakingly transferred to video and become available for critical reevaluation. Kerry Decker's decision to set the story in fifteenth century Greece at first seems counterintuitive, but perfectly suits his Hamlet, John Hopkins. Hopkins's startling performance as the tragic prince is matched in subtlety and nuance by Alan Chapman's Claudius. The silent Decker version takes extreme liberties with the story and eschews the violence endemic to nearly all productions, on stage or screen, silent or with sound, taking its cue from Claudius's reaction to the madness of Ophelia, spoken to Queen Gertrude in Act Four, Scene Five: O, this is the poison of deep grief/ it springs all from her father's death/ O Gertrude, Gertrude/ When sorrows come, they come not single pies/ but in battalions.
Life can be terrible; life can be wonderful.
The heights and depths of popular culture, with lots of listening - music, interviews, and stories... spiced with books, quizzes, video, pictures... even a little commentary.
www.isntlifeterrible.com - leave out the apostrophe for savings.
To contact me, write to: Don dot Brockway at gmail dot com.
I've had requests for additional episodes of The Radio Show with Tom Snyder, and I'm happy to make four additional episodes (complete with commercials; we're talking nearly 12 hours here) available for download:
