Today, we decompress with classic comedy, starting with the Marx Brothers.
The following excerpt is from my favorite of the later films of the Marx Brothers (the post-Night At The Opera ones).
Binge-watching of The Brothers Marx frequently leads this comedy fan to the even darker wacky antics of Bobby Clark & Paul McCullough.
The unhinged comedy team's Odor In The Court remains an all-time favorite.
Bobby & Paul have a way of leading into another randy and very funny 1930's comedy team. . . the kings of pre-Code comedy, Wheeler & Woolsey.
Like all their films but especially those from 1932-1934.
And, speaking of comedy teams, we have a credo at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog!
Tough to top their 1933 short subject, Busy Bodies. Stan & Babe working in a lumber yard. . . what could possibly go wrong?
Hal Roach very much wanted to establish comedy teams to counter L&H on The Lot Of Fun. The 2-reelers that teamed Thelma Todd with either Zasu Pitts or Patsy Kelly are often great fun.
Our favorite "kid comedy team" remains Our Gang a.k.a. The Little Rascals.
The 1930-1931 season of Our Gang's stellar cast included Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Dorothy "Echo" DeBorba, Norman "Chubby" Chaney and Mary Ann Jackson.
Can't revisit The Lot Of Fun without spending quality time with Charley Chase.
How do you equal or top the great comedies of the Hal Roach Studio? One way is with films starring the great Edward Everett Horton!
January 27 always means a music post, as all-time great composers, songwriters and musicians share a 1/27 birthday, starting with . . .
Here's some high grade Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart goodness, interpreted brilliantly by a pianist who has been among the best of the very best for decades, Martha Argerich.
For more, strongly suggest delving into the following playlist of Mozart masterpieces, performed with panache by The Guarneri String Quartet.
Regarding the incredible Jerome Kern, composer and collaborator of lyricists George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg, born on January 27, 1885, the question is where does one start? With classic movie musicals, of course.
Bringing their original ideas to Kern's universe: crooners Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra and Nat "King" Cole.
Never to be outdone, EVER, Ella Fitzgerald recorded an entire album of Jerome Kern songs.
And, speaking of jazz, the gifted virtuoso pianist Bud Powell (1924-1966) waxed a memorable, heartfelt and Art Tatum-esque version of Kern's The Last Time I Saw Paris.
Five years ago, this blog spotlighted the incomparable Broadway and Hollywood songwriter (and screenwriter) Harry Ruby.
Notably, Harry Ruby wrote the lyrics to one of my absolute favorite songs!
Groucho Marx' pal and favorite songwriter, Harry was a cornerstone of many outstanding entertainments, not the least of were several classic comedy films of the 1930's.
Groucho continued performing these songs right up to the end of his lengthy showbiz career.
Among the amazing covers of songs by Kalmar & Ruby is this one by Louis Armstrong. No doubt Sinatra and Nat took notes regarding Satchmo's uncanny ability to absolutely nail songs from both jazz and Broadway.
Millions of us would-be musicians attempted, with complete and utter lack of success, to emulate the playing of genius slide guitarist and vocalist Elmore James (1918-1963). Since blues remains both simple and very, very difficult to play - even more difficult to excel at - few guitaristas come close to James' original phrasing, timing, feeling, intensity, dynamics and nuance.
Have been listening to Elmore James play "Dust My Broom" for decades and still ask "HOW does he do it?" So did Howlin' Wolf, Earl Hooker, Johnny Winter, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer.
Even more amazing: James' incendiary solo and vocal on Tampa Red's It Hurts Me, Too.
Chicago's own Luther Allison is a blues vocalist-guitarist who gets it regarding Elmore James.
In closing, we note that there is an astonishingly good guitarist who pulls this approach to the instrument off beautifully . . . and he happens to be Elmore's son.
"A swanky, sexy, and sinister excursion back in time."
We plug classic movie events here, and one of the best, the outstanding Noir City film festival, opens Friday.
The 20th anniversary Noir City fest will trip the footlights fantastic at Oakland's art deco movie palace, the Grand Lake Theater on 3200 Grand Avenue.
Film Noir Foundation founder and Turner Classic Movies host Eddie Muller elaborates: “The Grand Lake may be smaller in capacity than the Castro," said Muller, "but it's a jewel of a movie palace, and it intends to remain a movie house—so it's a great fit for what we do—which is to offer a contemporary equivalent of the classic movie-going experience for a new generation of fans.”
The 20th anniversary extravaganza is a 24-film salute to the gritty netherworld of film noir.
A host of famous and infamous thrillers produced in 1948 will be part of the bullet-riddled, Tareyton-burned, Jack Daniels-stained, lipstick-smudged fun.
The cinematic lineup represents such directors as Orson Welles, John Huston, Anthony Mann, Nicholas Ray, Robert Siodmak and Frank Borzage - and shall be presented in proper big screen glory.
The official Noir City press release adds: NOIR CITY, the most popular film noir festival in the world, celebrates its 20th anniversary in the Bay Area with a ten-day extravaganza featuring 24 films from the heart of Hollywood's noir movement.
Every film on the schedule is celebrating its 75th anniversary, with several of the movies having never before been screened at NOIR CITY. Included: a personal favorite of the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, the 1948 version of UNFAITHFULLY YOURS (a.k.a. The Symphony Story), a diabolical masterpiece written and directed by the great Preston Sturges.
Film Noir Foundation president Eddie Muller shall host and provide the informative, entertaining intros and outros we have been seeing on TCM's Noir Alley.
The 20th Anniversary Noir City Film Festival When: January 20 to January 29, 2023
Where: Grand Lake Theater, Oakland, CA
Why: It's BIG SCREEN FUN!
Who Benefits: The Film Noir Foundation, the cause of film preservation and most of all. . . the moviegoing audience!
Sincerely hope that the intense storms the Bay Area has been undergoing over the past ten days to two weeks will abate long enough for movie fans to get out to the Grand Lake and enjoy this great festival.
As our most recent post spotlighted favorite musicians, we're taken aback by the news that another all-time favorite, the great guitarist Jeff Beck, has passed at 78.
Mr. Beck, who literally played at the hall in our neighborhood last year and toured well past his 75th birthday, passed on January 10 of meningitis.
Began following Jeff Beck's musical career when he succeeded Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds and at one point was part of a two-guitar rave up lineup with Jimmy Page.
Jimmy inducted Jeff into the Rock & Roll HOF.
Enthusiasm for the guitarist's work extends to his numerous Jeff Beck Group solo albums and appearances with other bandleaders (Stevie Wonder, Jan Hammer, Stevie Ray Vaughn).
While Jeff has passed and left a six decade legacy of recorded music and videos, we sincerely hope that there will be many more albums and concerts forthcoming from his equally brilliant bandmate Tai Wilkenfeld, who won't turn 40 for three years.
Not surprisingly, guitarists have a thing or two to say about Jeff!
Ace guitaristas Rick Beato and Tim Pierce offer this excellent remembrance of Jeff and discussion of what he meant to the world of music.
Very much enjoy Rick Beato's scholarly analysis of Jeff Beck's unique approach to the guitar.
While mourning is definitely not my preferred way to kick off 2023, losses are a part of life.
Will honor the most original guitarist and music in general by binge-watching a bunch of Jeff Beck concerts.
While enjoying the above Franz Kline painting and attempting, with difficulty, to digest the news that numerous Northern California places where I, my family and friends have lived and enjoyed visiting over many decades have been absolutely clobbered (and continue to be clobbered) by violent winter storms as the new year begins, shall direct focus to the world of 20th century music. Jazz fans in our readership: come on down!
From January 2023, we time travel back to 1973 and a rather amazing TV appearance by jazz trumpet genius Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008).
Although at that point, Mr. Hubbard had left Blue Note Records and began waxing more overtly commercial and pop-influenced albums for Creed Taylor's CTI label, this set reflects that in concert, the ace of trumpet exemplified the fire-breathing sensibility of hard bop. Junior Cook (tenor saxophone), George Cables (piano), Kent Brinkley (upright bass) and Michael Carvin (drums) assist skillfully.
Way back in those halcyon days, attended a concert featuring Klaus Doldinger's Passport and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, two groups that blended rock, funk and jazz creatively and seamlessly. Fortunately, both Herbie and Klaus have enjoyed lengthy careers. Here they are, Klaus Doldinger's Passport, live at the 1974 Frankfurt jazz festival.
In the Klaus Doldinger ensemble as special guest: the great tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin.
Saw Mr. Griffin tear it up with his quartet on several occasions at San Francisco's mecca of music, Keystone Korner in North Beach, way back when.
Key to several Miles Davis ensembles was drummer Tony Williams, the cornerstone of 1960's Miles quintets who subsequently led incendiary rock-jazz fusion bands. One of the best Tony Williams Lifetime groups is seen here at the 1971 Montreux Jazz Festival.
Nobody exemplified the merging of musical genres and questioning of sonic conventions more than pianist/composer/bandleader Herbie Hancock.
On the topic of Herbie Hancock and his mighty funk-jazz-rock band, here they are on a 1976 Danish TV special. It is one of the few and far between video appearances by mighty studio ace guitarist Wah Wah Watson a.k.a. Melvin M. Radin who, as expected, is brilliant and original. As The Wrecking Crew and The Nashville A-Team (led by guitarists Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland, Grady Martin and Chet Atkins) did in the 1950's and 1960's, the ever-inventive Wah Wah Watson played on everyone's records in the 1970's and 1980's.
For another spin on fusion + modern jazz, here's Ornette Coleman and his epic Prime Time Band, rocking the house hard at Palalido in 1980. Ornette created his own unique musical universe starting in the 1950's, then added multiple electric guitars and Fender basses to his ensembles in the 1970's, resulting in an enjoyably surreal supersonic mix.
And, while on the topic of genre-bending, genre-redefining, genre-exploding and genre-extending recording artists, there's the prolific visual artist and unconventional bandleader Don Van Vliet a.k.a. Captain Beefheart.
The Cap'n, a.k.a. Don Van Vliet, in between frequent drawing and painting, led an ensemble way out on the far frontiers of what was considered rock music from 1965 to 1982.
Now, in all honesty, Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, was closer to Ornette and Albert Ayler than to Connie Francis or ABBA.
What could outdo or at least equal Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band live from Paris? Captain Beefheart on Late Night With David Letterman!
Author and music expert Frank John Hadley described Don Van Vliet best: Unconventional to the nth power, Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) constructed a gnostic blues world where Howlin' Wolf curls Salvador Dali's moustache and Little Walter espouses dadaism.
Of the two early-1970s albums juxtaposed here, The Spotlight Kid most interestingly turns twelve-bar music on its head with Beefheart's multi-octave son-of-Wolf voice, his pixilated lyrics, his marvelous Chicago-style harp, and his specially instructed Magic Band's asymmetrical rhythms.
In this past twelve months, the world lost a lengthy and alarming list of movie, music, sports and comedy greats, as well as pals and colleagues from the film historian community (the ever-resourceful and enthusiastic Dave Wyatt and Dennis Nyback). In between catching up on reading, we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog salute all of these greats while ringing in 2023 with several of our all-time favorites, starting with the great Ernie Kovacs!
Every year, love celebrating New Year's with Spike Jones & His City Slickers!
All of us at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog dig Spike Jones and his City Slickers.
Strongly recommend the available DVDS of the novelty band's amazing work.
The City Slickers version of "Chloe" cracks us up!
Another fellow who digs Spike the most is Weird Al Yankovic.
The band featured numerous very talented comics who played multiple musical instruments with panache and skill.
One of the funniest of all comedians, Doodles Weaver, had memorable features in the Spike Jones & The City Slickers sets.
Disappointed (but unsurprised) that practically nobody mentioned the brilliant and frequently subversive comedy legends Gilbert Gottfried and Judy "The Love Goddess" Tenuta among the 2022 losses.
All of us at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog thank this dynamic duo for numerous loud belly laughs - and wish them a peaceful journey (as we did for fellow comedians Louie Anderson and Bob Saget).
These losses to humanity mean 2022 hardly qualifies as a good year, let alone Frank Sinatra’s very good year. Our response? First and foremost, quality time spent revisiting Gilbert's numerous hilarious podcasts.
It's December 26, Boxing Day! My favorite way to celebrate both Premier League Soccer and HAPPY FISTICUFFS DAY is with classic comedy. Chaplin the reluctant pugilist in CITY LIGHTS works for me!
How do we follow Chaplin? With the great movie comedy teams of yore, beginning with Laurel & Hardy in ANY OLD PORT (1932).
What Boxing Day entertainment can equal Laurel & Hardy? Our pals, The Three Stooges, who actually get story credit on the following, their second Columbia 2-reeler, PUNCH DRUNKS (1934).
PUNCH DRUNKS emphatically illustrates what Stooge-o-philes have long suspected, that Curly Howard's prodigious comedy talent was held substantially in check by how he, Moe and Larry were subservient as Ted Healy's Stooges. The break with Healy, who is terrific in such feature films as SAN FRANCISCO and HOLLYWOOD HOTEL, worked out well for all concerned.
For some reason, spending Boxing Day with The Three Stooges brings to mind Warner Brothers cartoons. Turns out there were actually Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies featuring boxing matches very early on, long before the Termite Terrace days.
There, in the screen credits of this 1932 Looney Tune, is the guy who worked on more WB cartoons than anybody, Friz Freleng.
The following Merrie Melodie, COUNT ME OUT, is a tie with BARS & STRIPES FOREVER as the best cartoon made by the directing duo of Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and Cal Dalton.
For some reason, this blogger finds the ever-cheerful yet unbelievably clueless Egghead, distinguished by his "Joe Penner" voice, to be weirdly endearing.
Not to be outdone, Chuck Jones took on Marquis Of Queensberry rules and brought Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd into the ring in TO DUCK OR NOT TO DUCK.
Never to be outdone, a few years later Chuck Jones and crew produced the boxing cartoon to end all boxing cartoons - Bugs Bunny in RABBIT PUNCH, a perennial favorite of this blog.
At Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, every year, the ceremonial December 26 blog entry shall feature the 1929 Fox comedy short subject Waltzing Around.
Waltzing Around stars the darkest, zaniest and most unpredictable of all movie comedy teams, Bobby Clark & Paul McCullough.
It's among only two existing examples of the team's 1928-1929 series for Fox.
All conventions involving boxing sequences in comedy films are turned upside-down, and the results are hilarious.
Paul McCullough has much more to do in Waltzing Around than he does in the team's subsequent RKO series, and, not surprisingly, he is very funny!
We sincerely hope more of Clark & McCullough's 1928-1929 Fox comedies turn up.
Sending best wishes for a very Merry Christmas - and a Happy Hanukkah and Colossal Kwannzaaa - bringing 2022 to a close just right, with family and friends.
Season's Greetings commence with some of our favorite holiday season tunes.
The holidays can be great, but they can also be rough, especially for those who lost family members and friends at Christmas time. The first holiday season without a lost loved one can be gut-wrenching.
Strongly suggest finding a copy on vinyl or CD of this classic 1956 Capitol Records Xmas compilation album (or at least reconstructing its contents via YouTube) to. Even in a difficult year, music will make the spirit bright!
The splendid music of Capitol Records Xmas (Frank, Nat, Dino, Les Paul & Mary Ford and more) goes along quite nicely with traditional Yuletide liquid assistance - and, of course, good company!
Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog wishes all a Merry Christmas with 1960's toy ads!
How do you wish all a Merry Christmas? Of course, with a few apropo and inevitable Yuletide film clips.
Binge-watching comedy is a good way to celebrate the holidays!
For some reason, Bob & Doug McKenzie's 12 Days Of Great White North Christmas gets me ROFL every time.
And, speaking of SCTV, what would Christmas be without Johnny LaRue!
Or Mayor Tommy Shanks!
In closing, here are two standup comedy routines by Patton Oswalt. The first is a rather unconventional look at "Christmas Time Is Here" by David Seville & The Chipmunks.
The second Patton Oswalt routine, extremely NSFW but hilarious, has been made into the following animated film. The topic? What is hands-down, the worst, the absolute worst Christmas-related song ever: the unrelentingly dreadful "Christmas shoes." The animation deftly illustrates Patton's descriptions of the content and utter loathesome-ness of the "Christmas Shoes" song.
How is it possible to follow Patton Oswalt? Hmmmm - how about HOORAY FOR SANTY CLAUS from Santa Claus Conquers The Martians?
Ah, darn - after seeing that, simply must watch the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episode featuring Santa Claus Conquers The Martians in its entirety.
Now, as far as those last-second stocking stuffers go - and, no, the 2023 Rolls-Royce will not be among them - at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, we'll delve into the latest and greatest books about classic movies and animation. One stellar tome by Keith Scott has been covered enthusiastically here - and it bears repeating, his 2-volume work on Cartoon Voices Of The Golden Age 1930-1970 (Animation and Radio) is AMAZING.
There are also two books on silents the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog love. One is an outstanding biography, ten years in the making, of the great movie comedienne Marion Davies, by Lara Gabrielle.
In such classic late silents as The Red Mill, The Patsy and Show People, Davies proved a frequently inspired mimic and comic actress.
Lara has done a terrific job tracing the life and times of an inspired and very funny comedienne who remains better known as the mistress of publisher-magnate William Randolph Hearst than as a notable actress in movies.
The other incredible book, Lame Brains & Lunatics Volume 2, the latest by silver screen comedy expert Steve Massa explores the nooks and crannies of silent era comedy films.
