Among my too many questions about mid-20th century pop culture: did William S. Burroughs start his day with a healthy breakfast starting with Kellogg's Sugar Smacks?
Uh. . . probably not. In actuality, the kids born a few years after notorious wordsmithWilliam S. Burroughs, would have been the target audience for such print advertising as this 1928 campaign for Kellogg's Pep.
Burroughs, novelist, junkie, provocateur and originator of punk rock literature 20 years before the term existed, was born in 1914.
The kids who were glued to the boob tube for the original late 1950's telecasts featuring Ruff N' Ready, Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound and Snagglepuss were the post-WW2 babies, the Andy Kaufmans of the world, the offspring of what news anchorman-author Tom Brokaw termed The Greatest Generation.
Were The Beats, by that time home with children watching The Flintstones (and then listening to Art Pepper's Smack Up after the snot-nosed brats were in bed) the target audience for the following?
Maybe. Then again, maybe not. . .
My friends who are ten years younger than me were the audience for the following hilariously fraudulent commercial, no doubt heartily endorsed by the Future Diabetics Of America.
Shifting gears but staying somewhat on the topic of kidvid, today would have been the 90th birthday of stop-motion animation guru Art Clokey (1921-2010).
Clokey was an immensely creative soul who, in a way few in literature or animation come close to doing, succeeded in tapping into a genuinely childlike innocence and sense of wonder. This pre-speech consciousness permeates the very earliest Gumby cartoons such as the following - and would vanish not far into the series, once the main characters started talking and the "let's go to the moon" or "let's explore toyland, Pokey" scenarios got replaced with more conventional storylines.
Any doubts that Art listened to far-out cool jazz while thinking up clay animation ideas are dispelled by the following, his first film, Gumbasia.
"I won't make more than two pictures a year because I don't want to. I don't read books. I hate exercise. I like to sleep late and I'm not in love with my work." Lyda Roberti (1906-1938)
The scythe of early death is one brutally unkind tool in the writing of film history. Die young and you're forgotten, or remembered if scandal accompanies tragedy. Remarkable stage and screen careers get reduced to a footnote.
Consider the inspired but ill-fated comediennes of the 1930's. The biggest stars were screwball comedy queen Carole Lombard and "blonde bombshell" Jean Harlow, who showed tremendous (but, alas, unfulfilled) promise as a comedienne and character actress in Libeled Lady (1936), only to die a year later. There were also the diminutive, very funny, up-and-coming comedienne, singer and dancer Marjorie White (known today for co-starring in Woman Haters, the first Columbia 2-reeler starring The Three Stooges - yes, the one in which Moe and Larry sing), the ubiquitous Thelma Todd, a stellar comedy performer often under-utilized and relegated to the role of eye candy, and the always outrageous Lilyan Tashman, whose impact and Hollywood legend were primarily offscreen. All met untimely passings. At the beginning of the decade, the great comedienne of silent movies, Mabel Normand, passed away at 37.
Today's posting pays tribute to, IMO, the funniest of all the 1930's comediennes, Lyda Roberti, who had a too-brief but eventful life as star of stage and screen - chronicled in this capsule bio-timeline from the well-researched Glamour Girls Of The Silver Screen website.
Born in Warsaw into a circus family, Lyda had already traveled the world and experienced a lifetime in showbiz before emerging as a star of movies and Broadway (among many shows, in the 1933 production of Roberta, opposite Bob Hope).
She had a certain mixture of the adorable, vulnerable and fall-down funny reminiscent of Gilda Radner 45 years later.
Lyda made the most of her appearances in eleven feature films and a handful of short subjects in 1931-1938 to rank among Hollywood's most wonderful and original comediennes. She had a prime role as "Hatta Mari, The Woman No Man Can Resist", in the hilarious Million Dollar Legs.
Lyda also co-starred with Eddie "Banjo Eyes" Cantor in The Kid From Spain, directed by 1920's and 1930's comedy powerhouse Leo McCarey.
The way Lyda plays off of ever-unsteady Eddie, as both comic and "straight man", is priceless.
She then was among many performers who co-starred in College Rhythm, Paramount's attempt at a musical comedy that would surpass its Big Broadcast vehicles at the box office - and hopefully give those "showgirls, surrealism and Hugh Herbert" Warner Brothers musicals featuring hallucinogenic production numbers by the dangerous Busby Berkeley a run for their money as well.
Among other things, comedian Joe Penner, then the hottest thing on radio with such catchphrases as "you wanna buy a duck?" "you nasty man" and "don't ever dooooooooooooooooo that" sings a love song to a duck in this movie.
In the following Paramount Pictures short subject, studio songwriters Mack Gordon and Harry Revel promote the songs from College Rhythm (and other Paramount features) plays a few bars from Lyda's production number.
And here's the complete "Take A Number From One To Ten" number. Lyda enters with style at 1:47.
In the latter 1930's, Lyda was signed by the Hal Roach Studio, after the tragic death of Thelma Todd and the firing of studio mainstay Charley Chase. She was teamed with brash and brassy comedienne Patsy Kelly for a series of short subjects and features.
Lyda Roberti's sudden passing from a heart condition on March 12, 1938 recalls the health problems that also would very prematurely end the life of singer-actor-comedian Bobby Darin in 1973.
Great stars both - and much missed all of these decades.
Turner Classic Movies will be showing Buster's movies every Sunday night in October, beginning tonight with a Keaton marathon, starting with his incomparable Civil War epic "The General."
Ladies and gentlemen, set your DVRS:
THE GENERAL (1927), 10/2 8PM
COPS (1922), 10/2 9:30PM
OUR HOSPITALITY (1923), 10/2 10PM
LOVE NEST (1922), 10/2 11:30PM
THE NAVIGATOR (1924), 10/3 12AM
THE BOAT (1921), 10/3 1:15AM
THE GOAT (1921), 10/3 1:45AM
THE PLAYHOUSE (1921), 10/3 2:15AM
THE SCARECROW (1920), 10/3 2:45AM
ELECTRIC HOUSE (1922), 10/3 3:15AM
THE BALOONATIC (1923), 10/3 3:45AM
THE PALEFACE (1922), 10/3 4:15AM
CONVICT 13 (1920), 10/3 4:45AM
SPEAK EASILY (1932), 10/3 5:15AM
SHERLOCK JR. (1924), 10/9 8PM
GOOD NIGHT NURSE (1918), Buster Keaton & Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, 10/9 9PM
STEAMBOAT BILL JR. (1928), 10/9 9:30PM
THE CAMERAMAN (1928), 10/9 11PM
CONEY ISLAND (1917), Keaton & Arbuckle, 10/10 12:30AM
BACK STAGE (1919), Keaton & Arbuckle, 10/10 1AM
LIMELIGHT (1952), 10/10 1:30AM
THE BELL BOY (1918), Keaton & Arbuckle, 10/10 4AM
SHE WENT TO THE RACES (1945), 10/10 4:30AM
SEVEN CHANCES (1925), 10/16 8PM
ONE WEEK (1920), 10/16 9PM
THREE AGES (1923), 10/16 9:30PM
MY WIFE'S RELATIONS (1922), 10/16 10:45PM
DAYDREAMS (1922), 10/16 11:15PM
NEIGHBORS (1921), 10/16 11:45PM
SPITE MARRIAGE (1929), 10/17 12:15AM
FREE AND EASY (1930), 10/17 1:45AM
THE GARAGE (1920), Keaton & Arbuckle, 10/17 3:30AM
THE BLACKSMITH (1922), 10/17 4AM
SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK (1931), 10/17 4:30AM
BUSTER KEATON: SO FUNNY IT HURT! (2004), 10/17 6AM
COLLEGE (1927), 10/23 8PM
THE HIGH SIGN (1921), 10/23 9:15PM
GO WEST (1925), 10/23 9:45PM
THE FROZEN NORTH (1922), 10/23 11PM
BATTLING BUTLER (1926), 10/23 11:30PM
THE SAPHEAD (1920), 10/24 12:45AM
THE DOUGHBOYS (1930), 10/24 2:15AM
PARLOR, BEDROOM AND BATH (1931), 10/24 3:45AM
THE PASSIONATE PLUMBER (1932), 10/24 5:15AM
WHAT! – NO BEER? (1933), 10/24 6:30AM
IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME (1949), 10/30 8PM
SCREEN DIRECTORS PLAYHOUSE: The Silent Partner (1955), Keaton & Joe E. Brown, 10/30 10PM
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1966 Widescreen), 10/30 10:30PM
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1960 Widescreen), 10/31 12:15AM
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1956 Widescreen), 10/31 4AM
There are numerous worthy events in the San Francisco Bay Area to promote, and if I wrote 365 entries each year, I still would not get to all of them. While this weekend features the behemoth Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park, the best stuff to check out is invariably the smaller gigs in smaller venues the evenings after these performances.
Friday's record release party at The BeatBox Club on 11th Street & Folsom is particularly cool. Ralph Carney, known as one of the co-founders of the wonderful, original and indescribable Akron band Tin Huey, as well as a presence on recordings by The B-52s, Tom Waits, and a fellow whose signature sound on numerous instruments can be found in a gazillion bands and soundtracks, will be leading the Serious Jass Project at 10:00 p.m., and then its offshoot ensemble, The Cottontails, for the 11:00 set.
Ralph Carney's Serious Jass Project has a new CD, Seriously, out on Smog Veil Records. This band, featuring Michael McIntosh on piano, Ari Munkress on bass and Randy Odell on drums, pays tribute to the music of Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Benny Moten, Henry "Red" Allen, Coleman Hawkins, Andy Kirk and Ben Webster - with touches of Sun Ra and Spike Jones thrown in for good measure.
I'm bias when it comes to Ralph Carney; he and approximately 47 musical instruments were involved in several shows I produced. Although my company-on-a-shoestring, Reet Spleet Productions, certainly could not afford a symphony, we could hire Ralph and Beth Custer to essentially provide a two-person orchestra. If you're running a 1921 Felix The Cat cartoon and need someone who can improvise the perfect sound effect, on the spot, something sonically amazing that you would never think of - Ralph is your man!
Ralph's encyclopedic riffology and swing will be in the spotlight this Friday night. There will be fun and stellar musicianship with good humor (but no ice cream that I know of).
I more accurate name for the following list would be How To Feel Miserable As A Human Being.
Of course, what one is supposed to do is not admit publicly to having actually done any of these ten things, not now, not in the past, not ever.
Alas, #1 ("constantly compare yourself to other artists") invariably leads to #5 and the not mentioned #11 "beat the shit out of yourself repeatedly and unrelentingly for no reason" are particularly lethal bear traps and time holes to be avoided. I don't mind doing #9, provided the pay rate is decent, the check is good and the parameters are well-defined.
And I haven't done all of these ten things. . . really!
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the (shudder) real world, Will "The Quill" Viharo, Sci Fi Bob Ekman, Psychotronic Paul and The Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge present The Tikitronic Film Festival, featuring trailers, drive-in snack ads, Scopitones, commercials, cartoons, industrial films and cinematic ephemera in glorious 16mm on the big screen!
The Tikitronic Film Festival
The Date: Thursday, September 22
Showtime: 7:30 p.m.
The Place: The backyard parking lot of The Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge
Where: 1304 Lincoln Avenue, Alameda, CA
Reasons To Go: Mixed drinks in the lounge, customized tiki door prizes and, outside, delirious entertainment that will have you un-squarely way deep in WTF Land within the first 137 seconds. And, of course, Scopitones like this one:
Although Mel (lucky for us earthlings) lived long enough to record tons of albums and tour the globe many times over six decades - boy, do we miss him!
Although he died in a plane crash with four members of backing band The Bar-Kays, at the end of the same year that claimed John Coltrane, 1967, Otis recorded and toured prolifically in those few years of his performing career and, like fallen jazz trumpeters Clifford Brown and Booker Little, left a legacy of amazing music behind.
I don't care if some tunes are repeated in these clips. Can't get too much of Otis tearing it up with the mighty Booker T and The MGS in support.
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Patsy Cline, Otis Redding, Rick Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughn and (much later) John Denver - DAMN!
(Imagine Andy Rooney voice here) Do you ever notice that there is only one letter of difference between "deprived" and "depraved"?
Just one letter. . . the lives of King Henry VIII, wordsmiths Lord Byron and William S. Burroughs, not to mention countless never broke but ever libidinous hedonists from 1965-1980 notwithstanding.
My Facebook group is called The Dead Comedians' Society. I am not the first person to have an online group or a blog with this sobriquet and my Facebook group is not associated with the sketch comedy ensemble of the same name.
The group's purpose: post as many clips as humanly possible by long-gone talented folks who made us laugh on the big and small screen.
I am certain that the sheer breadth of dead comedians represented in my group blows all other attempts out of the very water that a mustached star of an L-KO comedy fell into in 1916.
This week, Jason Forrest's Network Awesome has thrown the spotlight on the short-lived but memorable sketch comedy series The Dana Carvey Show, which aired on ABC during the spring of 1996. While not quite as famous among comedy buffs as The Richard Pryor Show, both series got yanked quickly after continual run-ins with Standards and Practices over controversial material.
Since the series disappeared after seven of the planned ten episodes aired, many comedy fans, myself included, did not see it until clips were posted on YouTube more than a decade later.
After seeing how funny the YouTube clips were, one wonders why HBO or Comedy Central didn't pick the show up after ABC cancelled it.
The show's humor was very over-the-top, at times with a sheer silliness recalling Spike Milligan. Its cast featured a bunch of Second City troupe veterans, including Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert, a few years before their rise to fame on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and in movies.
As the writers included Robert Smigel and Louis CK, this program was not afraid to go way out for a laugh.
All eight episodes are up on YouTube. The season finale was arguably the funniest episode in the series.
Of course, the Carvey show couldn't have Robert Smigel on the writing staff without including episodes of TV Funhouse: the thrilling adventures of Ace & Gary, The Ambiguously Gay Duo (starting at 1:33).
Although 19th century author-lecturer Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. and 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain were both born on the 29th of August, the contemporaneous fun fact that floors me much more is the duo from the world of music who share this birthday: Charlie Parker (1920-1955) and Michael Jackson (1958-2009).
Charlie Parker, the saxophonist, songwriter and bandleader (A.K.A. "Bird", Yardbird", etc.) passed away 55 years ago, after turning the post-WW2 jazz world on its collective ear. Here's one of the few existing clips of Charlie, playing soulfully following a strong solo by legendary swing icon Coleman Hawkins.
The links between Charlie Parker and Michael Jackson are many and the degrees of separation surprisingly few. Miles Davis, who played alongside Bird in the late 1940's Charlie Parker Quintet, worked extensively with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson.
Parker Miles and Michael all crossed paths with Quincy Jones, a giant of 20th century pop and jazz who began his career as a brass player and arranger. At one point Quincy played in the same orchestra with the trumpet virtuoso who was the closest thing to a "Bird" of the brass, Clifford Brown (1931-1956), as well as in the ensemble of formidable bop era composer-arranger-pianist Tadd Dameron. Quincy's production genius complemented Jackson's vision as Sir George Martin's gave The Beatles an expanded tonal palette to get creative with.
In another way, the King Of Bop and the King Of Pop - one famous today primarily among musicians, historians and jazz fans, the other plagued by mega-celebrity on an insane scale - share a certain polarizing "you love 'em or you hate 'em" place in 20th century culture. Their music either transports to the stratosphere or leaves a person cold.
This blog tips the Jimmie Hatlo hat to Mr. Parker and Mr. Jackson, who, irregardless of their flaws and difficulties as human beings, brought joy to millions around the world through their music - and still do. One hopes that in the next world they found some measure of peace that clearly eluded them in this one.
When I started writing this blog in 2006, in a completely arbitrary decision, I decided the 20th of every month would feature a clip of Burt Bacharach music, because I like his melodies, chord changes, arrangements and unique ability to incorporate elements of bossa nova and jazz harmonies into pure pop.
My favorite Burt Bacharach composition is "Nikki". Something about that song gets me right there in the broken heart every time.
Many more Bacharach songs, especially those on the Burt n' Elvis album Painted From Memory, resonate deeply with me.
While I periodically miss a Burt Bacharach Day just by getting stuck for a clip I like, there's always Dionne Warwick in German (thank you, Bear Family Records and The Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show on KFJC for alerting me to this).
Today's posting also reminds me to mention a concert tonight in Woodstock, New York by the much loved but short-lived pop group, The Left Banke (note: the 2011 version, led by Tom Finn and George Cameron, is based on the 1967-1969 ensemble that recorded The Left Banke Too, not the earlier Michael Brown incarnation of the band). The Left Banke's 1966 hit Walk Away Renee is a cornerstone of Baroque Pop. The genre's string arrangements and vocal harmonies strike me as artistic parallels both to The Beatles and Burt Bacharach.
Burt would very likely have, a la Brian Wilson and Sir George Martin, expanded the sonic palette yet further, incorporating nylon string guitars, Brazilian percussion and whatever other creative instrumental combinations his imagination could find.
I like satire. Like, for example, the late and incomparable George Carlin.
Or the late, great Bill Hicks.
My big problem is that what often stands for satire these days is way too nice. Give me some bilious stuff that really goes after the bastards. The nastier and funnier, the better!
Alas, we don't have anything remotely like Mark Twain these days - and if we did, the writing would be suppressed!
As a consolation prize, here are recent segments from a program that still runs on cable TV that covers mass media and current events in a humorous way. Yes, indeedy, the last faint gasp of this sort of thing available on what Ernie Kovacs altar ego Percy Dovetonsils called "the orthicon tube", Jon Stewart and The Daily Show.
Wrote on February 13 that this blog was running out of steam - and, indeed, it was. Then the For The Love Of Film (Noir) Blogathon came along and inspired a few decent postings, followed by occasional bursts of activity since: just enough to keep the blog alive and get it to the 500 posting milestone.
Looks like I have run out of things to say for the moment. Shall continue posting, even if my writing mojo has vanished to the extent that I am seeing pictures of it on the back of milk cartons.
When utterly devoid of creative writing impetus, I will direct readers to other blogs. The subject of my last posting, Gene Deitch, writes Roll The Credits, a scholarly blog previewing excerpts from his upcoming book about his life in animation. On June 28, I championed cookbook author Tinky "Dakota" Weisblat's invaluable blog chronicling caring for a parent with Alzheimer's Disease and also called attention to Only Solitaire - George Starostin's Music Reviews recently.
Today's Psychotronic Paul-picked blog, direct from Bristol in the United Kingdom, is a frequently hilarious one titled The World's Worst Records, frequently including such lines as "someone pass me a bucket - I'm going to be sick." The blog lives up to its subtitle of "An Arcade Of Audio Atrocities" and, like my writings and celluloid mixmaster presentations, can offer hours of questionable amusement.
Will the show be jam-packed with movie stars, CGI and cool effects? In a word - NO!
Will there be trailers from wretched movies, well-meaning 50's educational films, schlocky drive-in movies with guys in stupid-looking robot and gorilla suits, vintage TV commercials and theatre ads, cartoon rarities, Japanese monster epics, Scopitones, Soundies and other even more obscure musical shorts, silent movie excerpts, kidvid, serial chapters, puppet animation, double-entendre packed pre-Code clips and more? To paraphrase the immortal celluloid hero Gary Cooper, "yep".
The visual music (?) draws from a wide range of oddly tuned instruments - and we don't know what riff we'll play until the show is underway.
The festival is also something of a reaction against all standard rules of film programming. Instead of devoting a screening to one director, genre or series, the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival tosses a wide variety of films from different places, genres, techniques or time periods together into quite the kaleidoscopic salad.
As far as content goes, the more obscure, the lower the budget, the more under-the-radar, the better. If we can establish a subject link or a Monty Python-esque visual or verbal link between the segments, great, but this is not absolutely necessary.
Or, to make a further Monty Python reference, this could be called the "And Now For Something Completely Different" approach to film programming.
Archivist-producers Sci Fi Bob Ekman, Scott Moon and myself create the program on the fly, responding to audience reaction and choosing films accordingly. Rob Emmett, host of KFJC's "Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show" since 1986, presides over the festivities with panache and bon mots aplenty.
The KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival
When? Saturday, August 6. While showtime is 7:00 p.m., get there early - these shows sell out
Where? Room 5015, Foothill College campus, Los Altos Hills, CA (El Monte exit off of Highway 280)
Why? We give away cheesy door prizes at intermission.
How Much? $5 donation benefits the fearless and un-homogenized KFJC 89.7. You'll also need $2 for a parking permit.
Although Mr. Starostin does not review jazz, he does tackle enormous chunks of the histories of 20th century rock, pop and rhythm and blues.
Even when disagreeing with his album ratings or artist career overviews - and I often do - I find George's reviews consistently entertaining, informative, well-researched and well-written. That said, I will let gladly George off the hook for his love of ABBA if he'll excuse my soft spot for the pre-Rumours versions of Fleetwood Mac.
