For the past few days I’ve been immersed in one of the best jazz biographies I’ve ever read, ‘Jelly’s Blues’, a biographical history of Jelly Roll Morton and his times. The book, by Howard Reich and William Gaines, is one of the rare musical biographies that makes you want to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxJrRhazLcM Here’s a rocking good version of one of my favorite Sondheim songs from ‘Follies’, the intricately prosaic and wonderfully sour ‘Buddy’s Blues’. It’s performed by Alexander Gemignani and was part of the Sondheim 90th birthday virtual TV concert, which thanks to the pandemic gave us performances via Zoom. Yet
I didn’t know this actually still existed or, if it did, exactly how to see it. But here is a lousy but incredibly valuable VHS copy of the 1966 TV show with songs ‘Evening Primrose’, starring Anthony Perkins with songs by Sondheim and a script by James Goldman. Presented on
Stephen Sondheim was a game fanatic. He collected old board games, did lots of puzzles etc. etc. This fact has been covered thoroughly and I’m getting bored trying to update it and make it sound exciting so lets get to the meat. In 1966 Sondheim was invited to be a
What do we know about Ricky Ricardo’s career? Chiefly that he came to New York via Cuba sometime in the pre-war years (just as Desi Arnaz did) but that the similarities between the two mens CV’s ends there. Desi hit it big on Broadway in 1939 in Rodgers and Hart’s
Not only was Desi Arnaz seriously underrated as the mind behind the building of Desilu Studios (see last weeks posts) but he was criminally underrated as a performer. In this 1951 clip from ‘I Love Lucy’ he and Lucille Ball perform a specialty number called ‘Cuban Pete’. It’s a frigging
Behold a nifty little mini-doc (under ten minutes) about the history of Desilu Studios. Directed and edited by an admirable TV historian named William French, it answers a number of questions I’ve always had about the pioneering TV studio/production company, including what back lots they owned and how much land
Here’s a chronological history of the Desilu logos, starting with ‘I Love Lucy’ and going all the way through…I don’t know. I forgot. But all the shows are here and after awhile it begins to feel like a role call of everything you watched after school in reruns–‘Gomer Pyle’, ‘Dick
Here is, for my money, the most beautifully crafted of all TV logos–graphics, music, concept all working in concert to grab the viewer and seduce them into seeing what was, in actuality, a pretty crappy presentation. I speak of the ‘ABC 4:30 Afternoon Movie.’ (It’s actually more than a logo–‘intro’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbjOLJxUQAc Behold the ‘Screen Gems’ logo that proceeded (and ante-ceded) all Three Stooges shorts and many other programs of my youth, chief among them ‘The Flinstones’. The above version is the ‘old’ Screen Gems theme and icon, a simple rehash of the Columbia Pictures torch lady. I watched this logo