https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj2JzNd7wuE One of television’s greatest comedian/innovators was Ernie Kovacs, and one his most famous characters was poet Percy Dovetonsils. A Youtube commenter refers to Percy as a ‘coded gay character’ but I don’t see what’s terribly coded about it. Percy’s lisp, his mincing expressions, the general aura of louche period-gay
Let’s close this weeks Sinatra-bashing extravaganza with another goofy clip from his shaggy television variety series of the early 1950s, the boringly named ‘The Frank Sinatra Show’. In this clip he introduces the singer/comedienne Dagmar–somebody once said car bumpers were styled after Dagmar’s figure. Sinatra’s intro is embarrassing. He was
On March 7, 1994, Frank Sinatra was performing in Richmond, Virginia to an adoring crowd. Unfortunately in the middle of ‘My Way’ he collapsed on the stage, dehydrated from a combination of a diuretic he was taking and late night drinking in the hotel bar. Here’s local news coverage of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMGASlOu028 Continuing our shallow dive into the slump years of Frank Sinatra’s career (roughly 1949-53) here’s a clip from Sinatra’s TV show that he somehow maintained during the period, the daringly titled ‘The Frank Sinatra Show’. Frank sings ‘These Foolish Things’, one of the loveliest ballads of the era accompanied
In the late 1940s both Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx were in their slump years–the Marx Brothers were essentially over and Groucho’s attempts at movie-star solo work were met mostly with a shrug. He made two movies–‘Copacabana’ and ‘A Girl In Every Port’–that were disappointments and the final Marx Brothers
The word on the street (not my street but somebody’s street) is that the Scorcese/DiCaprio Sinatra biopic now in the planning stages is set during the legendary singer/actor/prick’s slump years–basically 1948-53. This is when he deserted his family for Ava Gardner, pissed off most of the world’s press and melted
‘3 Dumb Clucks’ (1937) was the 22nd short comedy made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Monday, February 1 through Friday, February 5th, 1937 and was released on Saturday, April 17th of that year. This is a neatly conceived and executed mistaken identity comedy with
Apropos of yesterday’s post which showed us Bogart as a working actor meticulously and professionally going through a series of wardrobe tests, here’s another example of Bogart out of character (more or less) as he blows his lines during takes. While blooper reels are fairly low hanging fruit in terms
On February 20th, 1956, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall reported for work at Warner Brothers to do costume tests for their upcoming movie ‘Melville Goodwin, USA’. Based on a John Marquand novel, the story had to do with a career military man who becomes a Major General thanks to the
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvxwf1jxdaMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb1KndrrXsY Above I’ve posted two views of the infamous Paul Masson wine commercials which helped support Orson Welles and his filmmaking career throughout the 1970s. The first consists of outtakes and the second shows the finished commercial. Unfortunately, as the outtakes show, Welles is too drunk to perform. The director