Burt Bacharach Day

Scopitone Alert!

Big thanks to Dash Riprock (A.K.A. "Ross The Boss", "Our Man In Thailand") for this early 60's French Scopitone singing the praises of "copacabana". Obviously, Barry Manilow's agent asked the Scopitones people for too much money. And that's just as well.

Saturday, April 18, '09: The KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival Returns

Indeed, it's true - the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival returns, against all our better judgment, to the hallowed halls of DeAnza College (Foothill College, our home from 1992-2008, is still closed for renovations).

KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival starts with such pungent ingredients noted in Michael Weldon's "Psychotronic History Of Cinema"(the encyclopedia of grindhouse B-films) as monster movies, horror films, science fiction and rock 'n' roll musicals, and adds the unintentionally funny educational films seen on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. And we then throw in a whole mess more spices - vintage TV commercials and theatre ads, cartoon rarities, double-entendre packed pre-Code comedies, Soundies, Scopitones, silent movie clips, kidvid gone wrong - to the gurgling pop culture cauldron.



The first half of the show focuses on short films. Among other things, we have included trailers from truly wretched movies, well-meaning 50's educational films, schlocky drive-in movies with guys in stupid-looking robot and gorilla suits, Pre-Code cartoons, Japanese monster epics, all kinds of obscure musical shorts, serial chapters, WWII-era puppet animation, unintentionally funny ("craptastic") made-for-TV Synchro-Vox cartoons - and more. I'm not kidding, more.



The festival is a reaction against all rules of film programming. We aim to be as all over the map as humanly possible ("And Now For Something Completely Different" would be the credo), as opposed to concentrating on one genre, series or director.



The weirder, the more obscure, the lower the budget, the more under-the-radar, the more the audience responds with a WTF?, the better. If a subject link or a Monty Python-esque visual or verbal link can tie together the segments, great, but this is not absolutely necessary. We also improvise the show in real time; archivist-producers Bob Ekman, Scott Moon and myself essentially create this cinematic cornucopia on the fly, responding to audience reaction and that sense of what film selection will or will not work in that moment.

The next KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival will occur on Saturday April 18, from 7:00 PM to 11:30 PM, in the Forum building on the DeAnza College campus. There will be a $5 donation which benefits KFJC 89.7. You'll also need $2 for parking.



Rob Emmett, host of KFJC's "Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show", emcees with aplomb and bon mots to spare. We also hear that Mr. Lobo and Ernie Fosselius from Cinema Insomnia will be on hand for the festivities, as well as to help give away cheesy door prizes at the intermission.

More Vitaphone Vaudeville With Shaw & Lee

Mound City Blue Blowers, 1929

If you enjoy this and want to see more of these one-reel musicals from the dawn of "talkies", there's a whole DVD of 1926-1929 Vitaphone Varieties on the Al Jolson: The Jazz Singer - Three Disc Deluxe Edition. And check out The Vitaphone Project for more info on these historic musical shorts.

Easter Offering: A Swedish Musical Excerpt

What would Easter be without a production number from Brokida Blad (produced in 1930, released on New Year's Day 1931), the Swedish attempt to create an MGM-style early talkie musical on a miniscule budget? This blog's favorite Swedish flapper, Vera Nilsson sings "I Love You My Darling" and does her gosh-darned best to be perky n' peppy. Could only be better if the indescribably bizarre American-born Swedish dialect comedian El Brendel was there doing something really, really goofy.

One Of Our Favorite Flappers: Zelma O' Neal

Ernie Kovacs Is My Guru

Bill Watterston = Nostradamus

I extend a stylish tip of the Jimmie Hatlo hat to Lazy-Eye Raspberry Kennedy for sending me this prescient 1994 cartoon by the great Bill Watterston. Although, come to think of it, the current version of Calvin would charge 1500 bucks for the 6 oz. glass of lemonade, call those who choose not to pay that much "losers" and the accurate phrase for the final panel would be "I demand to be subsidized".

It's April '09 - Play Ball by Paul F. Etcheverry

The major league baseball season commences today, and as one of that species known as the San Francisco Giants Fan – a punishment-loving cult after the Marquis de Sade’s own twisted heart – I have no choice but to devote a blog entry to MLB. So once a year, I do boring Giants talk, only of interest to that select but ever-masochistic breed.

I found myself with a lifetime membership in said breed by witnessing the likes of Willie Mays, Juan Marichal, Gaylord “The Dry Look” Perry, Willie McCovey, Bobby Bonds (Barry’s dad and the Alfonso Soriano of his day), Joe Morgan, Jeffrey "Hackman" Leonard, “Will The Thrill” Clark, Kevin “Boogie Bear” Mitchell, Dave Dravecky, Rod “Shooter” Beck, "Rapid Robb" Nen, Matt Williams and even the loathed but highly skilled, unbelievably focused, fierce and fiercely competitive Barry Bonds (and more) do amazing things in a misbegotten, cold and windy baseball park named Candlestick decades ago.

First and foremost, it doesn’t matter to me that the Giants sucked donkey baby makers for the last four seasons. Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a crap! In matters of romance and baseball, hope, even totally unsupported by evidence, springs eternal. Only in the former does it not spring quite as often as the decades march on (although, come to think of it, the equivalent of Viagra and Cialis for devotees of unrelentingly wretched major league baseball teams could definitely make big bucks for big pharma). And the Giants, ladies and gentlemen, have the 2008 Cy Young Award winner, hard-throwing mighty mite Tim "Lights Out" Lincecum. It'll be worth going out to the ol' ballpark just to see Timmy throw heat.

To address the faint but undaunted hopes of Giants’ fandom, here’s what I’d like to see in the 2009 season:

• Pablo Sandoval plays a decent third base and lives up to his nickname of "The Round Mound Of Pound".


• Left fielder Fred Lewis improves his defense and hits .290+ with some pop (90+ RBIs).


• Travis Ishikawa plays superb defense at first, proves can he hit big league pitching and slams a few dingers out o’ the joint in the process.



• The clutch-hitting, slick-fielding Edgar Renteria who personally annihilated the Giants in the 1997 and 2003 playoffs, not his over-the-hill identical twin who played so badly in 2008 that the Detroit Tigers made no effort to re-sign him, is the one we get in a Giants uniform. If the Giants end up with the latter, trade him at mid-season, move Manny Burris to shortstop and give Kevin Frandsen a shot at second base.


• Manager Bruce Bochy rests Aaron Rowand at times, whether he likes it or not. And Aaron, don't worry about hitting homers (you and most MLB hitters won't get many in the cavernous dimensions of A T & T Park), just play a solid center field and hit for average the way you did for the Phils and White Sox.


• New relief pitchers Jeremy Affeldt and Bob Howry do something the horrid "arson squad" bullpens of 2006-2008, with the exception of Brian "Don't Call Me Beach Boy" Wilson rarely did: actually hold a lead.


• Among the very few worthy holdovers from the ‘08 pitching staff's horrific relief crew, Sergio Romo and Merkin Valdez, return from injuries, protect leads - and kick ass doing it.


• Should the crosstown Oakland A's wuss out and trade Matt Holliday at mid-season (instead of signing him to a long-term contract), deal him to the Giants!
  


• Find Manny Mota and arrange for him to have dinner with Rich Aurilia. Since Richie's going to get plenty of chances to pinch hit with the game on the line, have the veteran Giant talk pinch-hitting strategy with the best, as long as Manny isn't working for the Dodgers.
  



• Someone teaches Barry Zito the Don Sutton variation on the "cut fastball". No straight-as-a-string fastball means 15+ wins for Barry in 2009.


• Note to Matt Cain and Barry Zito: pitch inside! Yes, that means throw at guys. A.K.A. channel the confrontational "just try and hit this, sucka" spirit of Sal "The Barber" Maglie or the fearless Bob Gibson.

• Note to position players: score some runs for Matt n' Barry this year, PUH-LEEEZ!
  

PLAY BALL!

Kitten On The Keys World Premiere

While I'm unquestionably a week too late with my blurb, I strongly encourage the San Francisco Bay Area readers of this blog to get their collective derrieres to Mama Calizo's Voice Factory this weekend to check out Kitten On The Keys' one-woman show.

Kitten did a fabulous turn at last January's Pre-Code Follies extravaganza with her charm, good humor, "Punk Rock Betty Boop" persona and genuine tunes from the Roaring Twenties. She will be hitting the footlights Friday, Saturday and Sunday, no doubt with outrageousness, numerous one-liners and wonderfully goofy original songs.



To quote Kitten's press release:

"San Francisco's own Kitten On The Keys (A.K.A Suzanne Ramsey) is a frisky one ma’am band. Her new one woman musical: Does This Piano Make My Ass Look Big? follows the hi-jinks of a dorky suburban girl who is insecure, addicted, and socially impaired. Her life changes for the better with the discovery of punk rock and a burlesque rock & roll lifestyle.

This world-premiere romp replete with sequins n' sass, told through original songs (written and performed by Kitten) and video,
will tickle your funny bones and stir your nether-regions. Kitten on the Keys is a little Judy Tenuta, Mae West, and a dash of Shirley Temple optimism rolled into one perky package. She writes all of her own material and plays the piano, accordion, and ukulele."




Sounds like tons o' fun for grownups who have decided NOT to get stodgy, conservative and old. Get out to Mama Calizo's and support local theatre!

Does This Piano Make My Ass Look Big?
A limited engagement
co-directed by Dwyane Calizo & Suzanne Ramsey
Friday and Saturday at 8PM, Sunday Matinee at 2PM
Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory
1519 Mission Street (Van Ness & 11th Sts.)
San Francisco 94103.
Tickets are $15 & $20 (no one turned away for lack of funds) -- and available at the door or at Brown Paper Tickets.
NOTE: Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids and this show's for adults!

Download These Cartoons

While admittedly, this blog tends to focus on films that were made many decades ago, today I’ll get my consciousness out of 1933 movieland and call attention to some present-day animation.

Nina Paley's Sita Sings The Blues is an imaginative and highly original animated feature. This winning combination of Hindu lore, the 1920's music of Annette Hanshaw and inventive Cartoon Modern graphics can be downloaded off Nina's website, and is still available in a high-res download from WNET-13 New York. I also support her efforts to establish alternatives to conventional distribution channels. Here's the trailer.




Mark Kausler's It's The Cat is that rarity, a cool animated short with genuine old school verve and style. Mark and collaborator Greg Ford (another outstanding animation historian) have hit a grand slam in the cartoon universe. View and download it here. Mark knows more about animation history than just about any of us and has been a friend, mentor and supporter to many (including this blogger). I had a chance to see the pencil test for the followup to It's The Cat. This will be another fantastic cartoon in the classic spirit and I much look forward to the finished film.

This blog also suggests checking out Henry Selick's Coraline; yes, that means going out to a movie theater and enjoying its visual splendor on the big screen. As Coraline is reaching the ending of its theatrical run, go now; the 3-D version was yanked out of many theaters over the past week. Don't wait for DVD on this one.



It's important to support those intrepid independent film makers who are living among us.
To paraphrase a blog ebntry In an ideal world, we'd get a new cartoon by animation treasure Mark Kausler at least once a year.

Sadly, it looks as though Some Other Cat will likely be his last. There's no way of recouping the cost of an independent animated film done in traditional ink-and-paint in this day and age, he says.


Like its predecessor It's the Cat, Kausler has created a sincere love letter to the cartoons of the late silent and early sound eras, particularly those "drawn" by Bill Nolan, the animator credited with defining the rubber-hose style of movement.

As in those black-and-white cartoons, colorful surprises are abound in Some Other Cat, as when Itza randomly produces a jackhammer to use on his rival's tongue or when the characters become fully rendered backgrounds.

The pure spontaneity of Kausler's creation Itza Cat (an obvious nod to the animated Krazy Kat of the late '20s) in sync to a prerecorded track, though, mostly evokes the best Fleischer cartoons, only moving with a grace and intelligence befitting of a learned master who's lived and seen it all.

The film isn't available online, but you can see it if you buy artwork directly from the filmmaker.


"Of course it's possible to do shorts cheaper with computer software, but for me that's not good enough," he said to me. When you take a look at the gorgeous line work in person, you'll immediately see where he is coming from.

Kausler has written that the film has been positively received wherever it has played.

Burt Bacharach Day

If the complete Elvis Costello-Burt Bacharach (and orchestra) performance from Sessions At West 54th was available on DVD, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Happy Birthday, Jerry Lewis

It's cool to write a happy birthday blog entry about someone who's actually still living. Happy 83, Jerry - and thanks for the laughs!

One way to celebrate is to fire up my own fairly recent blog entry featuring two great "Rockin' Jerry" clips. Another is to check out the entertaining interview Peter Bogdanovich conducted for the Pinewood Dialogues series by The Museum Of The Moving Image on November 22, 2008.

A third way: watch yet more of what Jerry does best. Here he is, improvising his unique style of wacky mayhem on The Colgate Comedy Hour.

Louis Armstrong And . . .

Decades before celebrity duets would become a fashionable marketing gimmick, Satchmo cuts it up with Danny Kaye in The Five Pennies. Just disregard the fact that Danny is essentially portraying himself here (Red Nichols, subject of this biopic, dubbed in the cornet parts) - and enjoy. And I'll bet the best stuff from this shoot ended up on the cutting room floor.



Even more wonderfully, here's Louis playing Blue Yodel #9 - which Satchmo recorded in Hollywood with country & western icon Jimmie Rodgers back in 1930 - with Johnny Cash, as special guest on his ABC prime-time music program on October 28, 1970 (episode 38).





I watched Johnny, Glen Campbell, This Is Tom Jones and ABC-TV's In Concert religiously as a young music geek in the early 70's. I'm thrilled that Johnny's top-notch program has finally made it to DVD.

Louis Armstrong, Ghana, 1956

Check out the way these guys rock in the latter part of this clip, at 3:18, after the Edward R. Murrow interview segment.

Louis Armstrong, Newport, 1958

First heard Louis Armstrong on those ol' antiquated mediums, the radio and TV, way back when I was a chubby snot-nosed kid - and his music still sends me, big time. Here's Louis, making transcendent music with the All-Stars (this version featuring the great trombonist/vocalist Jack Teagarden and red-hot drummer Danny Barcelona) at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.

Burt Bacharach Day

This is one of my favorite songs ever written by Burt Bacharach. It really gets me, every time. The only cover of "Painted From Memory" I've heard, by Bill Frisell, featuring the splendid Cassandra Wilson on smoky-rich vocals, is also quite wonderful.

Here's hopin' that Elvis Costello and the remarkably ageless Burt get to write more songs together! I admire how Elvis continues to seek new ways to grow as an artist and disregard those marketing-friendly shackles, A.K.A. the Balkanization known as "genres".

This Weekend In San Francisco

There are two fantastic movie events in the city by the bay. Cinematic Titanic, featuring many of the footage-crazed miscreants who created Mystery Science Theatre 3000, hails at the Marines Memorial Theatre both tonight and Saturday night. The San Francisco Silent Film Festival holds forth at the superlative Castro Theatre darn near all day Saturday.

If you are lucky enough to not be stone broke, support these creative and fun local events. Stay home and do nothing during the week!

Two Guys I Like: Wheeler And Woolsey

I dig comedians/comediennes in no uncertain terms and require laughs daily. And, as anybody who reads this blog has probably figured out, I especially go for those double-entendre packed early 1930's comedies!



The zany, high-spirited feature-length and short comedies of the early 1930's were unquestionably a balm for those battered by the Great Depression.



The stars were the hilarious likes of the iconic Mae West, W.C. Fields and Eddie Cantor, as well as a host of lesser-known but equally funny comedy greats: the delightful Polish-American singer-comedienne Lyda Roberti, the very underrated Marion Davies and three way over-the top comedy teams, the Marx Brothers, zany Clark & McCullough and Wheeler & Woolsey.



Among those outrageous wisecracking lechers who cut their artistic teeth in burlesque and vaudeville are the subjects of today's blog: Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey.



Big box office stars who cranked out comedy features for RKO from 1929 to 1938, Bert n' Bob were fast-talkin' wiseacres and talented "song and dance men", capable of sweetness, unabashed silliness and verbal zingers in the Groucho Marx/Bobby Clark tradition.



The boys' good-natured lechery exemplified double entendre humor as Laurel & Hardy defined the art of slapstick and Charley Chase the comedy of embarrassment.



Co-starring with Bert and Bob in many of their films was the singer-dancer-ingenue who, with charm and chutzpah to spare, owned the patent on "cute and adorable", Miss Dorothy Lee.









The next four clips are from one of the best W&W films, the unapologetically outrageous Diplomaniacs (1933).



Diplomaniacs is a close cousin to the contemporaneous wacko fantasy romps Million Dollar Legs (1932) and Duck Soup (1933), and with good reason: the screenplay was penned by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who began his career with wacky Depression-era comedies - and fully deserves the highest measure of silver screen immortality for writing both Million Dollar Legs and All About Eve (the 1950 Oscar winner for Best Picture)!



Bert shares the screen with another very talented and funny musical comedy performer, Marjorie White. They are hilarious and it's a darn shame they never appeared in another film together.




Bert & Bob attempt to sing their way out of sure trouble in a sleazy dive:





This production number conveys both the surreal and Pre-Code flavor of Diplomaniacs



Last up is a favorite musical number of mine, from Hips Hips Hooray, directed by the great Mark Sandrich, whose credits ranged from wild and crazy Clark & McCullough two-reelers to the big-budget features of Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers.



This production number starts off sweet with Bert and Dorothy, then, about three minutes in, gets wonderfully silly. It also offers a chance for co-star Thelma Todd, a terrific but frequently under-utilized comedienne, to be funny. Here, as in Charley Chase's 1932 classic The Nickel Nurser, Thelma gets to do her stuff, where in many of her films she is just cast as eye candy.



In closing, I recall my father telling me about a W&W routine (from The Cuckoos) in which they sing "I Love You So Much - It's A Wonder You Don't FEEL IT", while beating the crap out of each other.



Sounds both indescribably, side-splittingly funny and among those guilty pleasures that Wheeler & Woolsey no doubt relished giving to their fans. . . then and 80 years later.

More Busby Berkeley

I've been waiting for someone to post the "Bend Down, Sister" number from Palmy Days (1931) online. I found it - and thanks; this is sublimely ridiculous! This ultra-goofy film starts with a mega-bakery staffed entirely by showgirls, run as a dictatorial and draconian paramilitary organization. The bakery boss played by Charlotte Greenwood espouses a world view that surely led to anorexia and bulimia if anybody actually took this silliness seriously. Also a hoot is the prescient spoof (starting at 7:37) of a certain specific hucksterism that would emerge as New Age claptrap decades later.



Now, where can I buy a DVD of this, Roman Scandals, The Kid From Spain (which co-stars the hilarious Lyda Roberti) and other Eddie Cantor musical comedies produced by Sam Goldwyn?

Snake Hips And Rubber Legs

From the vaults of Turner Classic Movies, a clip from the 1930 MGM musical short Crazy House, featuring a dance number by the talented, triple-jointed, agile and sinuous Earl "Snake Hips" Tucker.



Not to be outdone in the vaudeville eccentric dancing department, here's the equally mindboggling Al "Rubber Legs" Norman, strutting his stuff to "Happy Feet" in the 1930 Universal feature The King Of Jazz.

Psychotronic Paul's Favorite Pre-Code Clip

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a bunch of two-reel musical shorts between 1930 and 1933. They are the tackiest, campiest pieces of work to ever emerge from the "Tiffany" (no, I'm not referring to the the teenybopper bubblegum pop singer of the 1980's) of Hollywood movie factories. Titles include The Devil's Cabaret (1930), Crazy House (1930), Wild People (1932) and Nertsery Rhymes (1933), which stars Ted Healy and The Stooges (yes, Moe, Larry & Curly - not Iggy, Dave & the Asheton Brothers) and the bizarrest showgirl in movie history, Marion "Bonny" Bonnell.

This one, Over The Counter (1932), takes the cake. It features Emerson Tracey (Spanky's beleaguered dad from two hilarious 1933 Our Gang comedies), ever-spunky songstress Eleanor Thatcher and some very funny character actors.



Jack Cummings helmed the aforementioned 1930 Crazy House (not to be confused with the 1943 Olsen & Johnson Universal comedy of the same name) and the Ted Healy/Stooges epic before producing numerous MGM features, including Esther Williams flicks and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, directed this magnum opus.

Tonight, Live in San Francisco: Cartoon Dump At The Eureka Theatre

Following last night's "Pre-Code Follies", here's another can't miss event: S.F. Sketchfest presents Cartoon Dump.

I caught the September 2007 taping of this wonderfully dark satire of sickly sweet "New Zoo Revue" style kidvid at the Steve Allen Theatre in L.A. In the immortal words of Hubie from Chuck Jones' Hubie and Bertie cartoons, it was a riot! I'm looking forward to enjoying some good comedy and bad cartoons, courtesy of producer, author and raconteur Jerry Beck, TV's Frank from Mystery Science Theatre 3000, Erica Doering, Kathleen Roll, Andy Kindler and more tonight!

And if you can't go to that, there's still some killer film noir on the big screen at the Castro Theatre.

More Info On The Pre-Code Follies Show

I'm getting questions about the upcoming Pre-Code Follies extravaganza, this Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Niles' Edison Theatre.

1. Can you buy advance tickets online? Yes, the good people of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum have made this possible. Click here, then scroll down.


2. How do I get there? Check out a Google map.



3. When should we show up to get a seat? I suggest no later than 7:45. The Edison Theatre seats about 120 max - and this sucker is selling out.



4. Got a frame grab from something you're showing? Inevitably.






5. Can you post another cute picture of Kitten On The Keys?

Burt Bacharach Day

Over breakfast with one of my favorite human beings, I watched the inauguration - and am still, many hours later, soaking in the importance of this event. I'm uncharacteristically speechless.

That said, it's the 20th of the month, which means Burt Bacharach Day, and a clip of the legendary Dusty Springfield singing one of his greatest songs. Enjoy.

This Saturday: Incredibly Strange Short Films In The Wine Country

Bob Wilkins (1932-2009), R.I.P.

Today's posting pays tribute to Bob Wilkins, an inspired, witty and idiosyncratic Northern California television personality who passed away at 76 on January 7. Pretty much the entire underground movie event scene in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento can be proudly counted among the incorrigible progeny of Bob Wilkins and Creature Features. Bob was a friend, mentor and colleague to many of the creative talents who make the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival happen.

Bob Wilkins hosted and worked on a wide variety of productions for KCRA-Sacramento and KTVU-Oakland, paramount among them the Creature Features and Captain Cosmic shows. The shows exemplified the long lost tradition of freewheeling local programming and captivated the imaginations of Northern California viewers. Demonstrating his ability to have fun with the medium, both shows were imbued with Bob's trademark droll humor and style.

Here's Bob, bringing his customary deadpan delivery, laid-back approach and dry wit to the Creature Features opening:



Creature Features, a late-night Northern California institution, well established before Saturday Night Live and SCTV hit the airwaves, ran for fourteen years: Bob hosted through 1978, while John Stanley hosted from 1979-1984. Movies ran the gamut from old school Universal Pictures horror to 50's sci-fi, 70's schlockers and everything in-between. Guests ranged from movie stars to the fellows in the following clip:



The show is the subject of an entertaining documentary produced by Tom Wyrsch, Watch Horror Films, Keep America Strong. Tom is also the author of The Bob Wilkins Scrapbook and The John Stanley Scrapbook.



I would be remiss to omit the opening title segment from The Captain Cosmic Show, which brought the high camp and humor inherent in Japanese monster movies to the attention of impressionable young minds in the latter 70's.



The wide-ranging influence of Bob Wilkins on filmmaking, animation and entertainment events in Northern California reminds me of a comment I read about the 1960's avant-rockers The Velvet Underground: their records may have not sold a gazillion copies (like, say a 45 RPM single by The Cowsills), but everyone who bought one formed a band. So Bob Wilkins' greatest contribution may not have been his uncanny knack for creating entertainment from whatever means he had at his disposal, but his talent for inspiring others to do the same. . . and then say, "don't stay up late - it's not worth it!"

Upcoming Movie Nights

I'm seriously tickled to be bringing a pungent slice of our customary KFJC Psychotronix Film Fest style mayhem to the wine country. On January 17 at 7:00 p.m., the Mendocino Film Festival presents the Mend-O-Tronic Incredibly Strange Short Subjects night at historic Crown Hall, 45285 Ukiah St., Mendocino, CA 95460.

And I'm equally tickled to be the producer/curator of the following pop culture slice n' dice at a historic venue:



At the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum's Edison Theatre (the town nickelodeon 95 years ago), we will present a hallucinatory blend of outrageous clips from 1930's musicals, lecherous and absurdist comedy shorts, surreal cartoons, etc. - with a performance of ditties from the Pre-Code era by the fabulous Kitten On The Keys. Yes, LIVE IN PERSON, our hostess with the very mostest will m.c. and live up to her Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence sobriquet, St. Tickle-The-Ivories.

Andy's Gang And More Twisted Kid-Vid

The Andy's Gang TV show served up a hilarious and at times unsettling blend of the quirky and bizarre with kids' entertainment in the 1950's.



Here's the completely indescribable "Squeaky The Mouse's Circus" segment.



To follow the irresistible strangeness of Andy's Gang, I select Ernie Kovacs' equally twisted variation on The Howdy Doody Show.

Happy New Year

Let's ring in the new year with a classic comedy clip - and continue the Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams thread!

That's All

That's all for 2008. And that makes me think of the title of a favorite song, a classic ballad that, no doubt, Lester Young played with deep soulfulness.

Here's Bobby Darin's take on "That's All". He does a very "guy" thing, not interpreting it as a ballad, but as a fast, rhythmic number, in a style I associate more with Tony Bennett. Darin, no fool, was in my view playing to his strength as a singer of mid and up-tempo swingers.



But my favorite rendition of "That's All" (even better than the beautiful rendition on Sinatra And Strings) is this stellar performance by Edie Adams in "Lucy Meets The Mustache", the final episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. "That's All" also described the relationship between Lucy and Desi, who filed for divorce the next day.

So sit back and listen to this great song. Edie hits it out of the park.

Edie Adams and Stan Getz Sell Muriel Cigars

The ever-sultry Edie sings praises for the Panatela Extras, and, even though the Muriel Cigars voice-over pitchman talks over most of Stan Getz' tenor sax playing, I'm ready to buy some Panatela Extras right now - disregarding the fact that the commercial aired 43 years ago and I don't smoke.

The only way Muriel Cigars could have been luckier is if Ernie Kovacs had still been living when this commercial aired.

The tendency is to remember Edie Adams, who passed away earlier this year, as Mrs. Kovacs and the conscientious archivist of the comedian's innovative legacy, rather than for her lengthy career as a Tony award winning entertainer.

Too bad there are no Edie Adams Scopitones!

Ernie Kovacs DVD Box Set

Forget investing in the shaky world economy! Sink what's left of that do-re-me into a DVD box set of Ernie Kovacs shows! A collaboration of The Archive of American Television and Koch Vision, this includes 15 hours of Kovacs programs and is slated for release next year.




I wish it was available right now. Until then, here's a clip of Ernie and Edie (who is very funny in this bit) from the early 1950's.

Merry Christmas - Here's Another Cheesy Commercial

Here's Rosemary Clooney For Christmas Seals, Plus Vintage Theatre Ads

Vintage Christmas Commercials

A Classic Scopitone Starring The Kessler Sisters

"Kinda has a Hello Dali feel."
"They are Bloody Stepford beautiful."

And, indeed, they are: the fabulous Kessler Sisters, starring in one of my all-time favorite Scopitones, Quando Quando.




If you see another amazing, stylish, campy, sexy high-fashion 1960's time capsule that surpasses this Scopitone, let me know.

Burt Bacharach Day

Thanks a million to frequent cohort and Psychotronic Paul Fan Club member Lazy-Eye Raspberry Kennedy for bringing this classic clip (from what show? Ed Sullivan?) of Teutonic tunesters The Kessler Sisters to my ever-wandering attention. If Dionne Warwick can record "Walk On By" in German (and she did, beautifully - I've heard it), these fetching twins can sing "I Say A Little Prayer!" What I like most is how totally disconnected the performance is from the actual meaning of the lyrics and song. That's Entertainment!


When sung by a guy - or a darker type of female vocalist: think Amy Winehouse today - these lyrics by Hal David take on a sinister quality, and sound more like the obsessive words of a stalker than the emotions of a person "in love" (whatever that means).
Makes me wonder - did Elvis Costello cover "I Say A Little Prayer!" during his tour with Burt?

This Blog's Obsession With Scopitones Continues

This one has more derriere references than a decade of Walt Disney cartoons.

Funny, the PGA never latched onto this Scopitone, Tweedle-Dee starring Freddie Bell and Roberta Linn, as a potential promotional film. . .

And This Blog Loves Scopitones

Anybody who has attended events I collaborate on or produce knows, I'm a sucker for musicals, especially Scopitones and Soundies. I had never seen this Scopitone before last weekend's KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival. It's a beaut and starts with a turban-wearing dude spinning around. Surrounded by wonderfully strange imagery throughout, powerful vocalist Timi Yuro (1940-2004) gives her all to such 1960's-era WTF lyrics as "if I had everything, I'd still be a slave to you".

Of the strikingly odd moments, those showgirls bearing globes (literally, not figuratively or metaphorically) are my favorites.

It's Official: This Blog Loves Frank Tashlin

Nobody could get gags past those Hays Office censors quite as cleverly as Frank Tashlin!

Jerry Lewis Rocks!

To continue that Frank Tashlin thread from earlier this week, here's my favorite excerpt from a Jerry Lewis flick, from Tashlin's Rock-A-Bye-Baby (1959). How many rockin' guitarists would kill to do the dance moves Jerry executes here?

Here are the rockin' Treniers with Martin & Lewis on The Colgate Comedy Hour. They knew how to have fun on TV in 1954.

Burlesque By The Bay

News flash from NBC-TV: there's superlative burlesque-vaudeville-circus talent right here in the San Francisco Bay Area. As if you didn't know that!



And yes, Virginia Mayo, there is a tie-in with this blog. The fabulous and hilarious Kitten On The Keys will tickle the ivories as the hostess with the mostest at my Pre-Code Follies movie night on January 30, 2009 at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum's Edison Theatre. The wonderful Devil-ettes performed between our cornucopia of cheesy Christmas kitsch movies at the Thrill-O-Tronic show at the Cerrito Theatre on November 15.