Movies 'Til Dawn BLOG

CYD CHARISSE–PARTY GIRL!

The above dance number from ‘Party Girl’ (1958, directed by Nicholas Ray) may be the most stunning display of the inimitable Cyd’s virtuosic grace mixed with astonishing athleticism–a combo that I don’t think I’ve ever seen surpassed–captured on film. As you can see from this weeks obsessive postings I’ve been

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MEL AND CARL AND THE 2000 YEAR OLD MAN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOTKDgrdvdg Here’s an appearance from the Colgate Comedy Hour in 1967 of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner doing their famous ‘2000 Year Old Man’ routine. This is a year before ‘The Producers’ was released and Mel was not yet the household name he was shortly to become. Rather he was

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CYD KICKS HARD…

What better way to start a week then with a robust dose of Cyd Charisse dancing up a storm in a clip from ‘It’s Always Fair Weather’. The less said about the actual song, a pugilistic-inspired piece of silliness called ‘Baby You Knock Me Out’, the better. It’s Cyd’s powerful

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‘BOY MEETS GIRL’

” ‘Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, Boy Gets Girl’. Or ‘Love will find a way, love never loses, put your money on love!’ “ For no particular reason I awoke this AM with the above snappy, oft-repeated refrain from 1938’s ‘Boy Meets Girl’ stuck in my head. It serves

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K-TEL PRESENTS…CRAP!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qjxb1bpceok%20width=560/iframebr%20/ Did you know that K-Tel didn’t just put out junky record compilations but also created a series of crappy utilitarian household items? Dig the Omlette maker ad above–the thing can be separated to be two half-pans though to do so would be at your own risk since they clearly

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K-TEL PRESENTS: BLOOPER HELL

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vtQwEog6cuE%20width=560/iframebr%20/%20br%20/https://www.youtube.com/embed/VVLMQ8Ay0ic%20width=560/iframebr%20/%20br%20/https://www.youtube.com/embed/POHjl_Xhxe4%20width=560/iframebr%20/%20br%20/ The above three blooper albums from K-TEL records were another early purchase of mine via the phone, using my parents credit card with no permission. For some reason I didn’t fear the arrival of the records and whatever questions might arise as a result of their presence (to say

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GLEASON SMOKES CARSON

Here’s Jackie Gleason appearing on The Tonight Show in 1985 and smoking more in this appearance than most people smoke in a lifetime (or at least in a few months). By this time Carson, a smoker of Pall Mall unfiltereds, had refrained from on-camera smoking but could often be seen

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NYC IN THE 70’s: WHEN ‘CRAZIES’ WERE ‘KOOKS’

 Subscribe in a reader What on earth was the above video made for? It’s a short film in the style of a tourist-lure travelogue promoting New York. Only its point is how lousy New York is. The Youtube poster is at least ten years off in his estimation of when

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MANHATTAN CABLE TV–BROUGHT TO YOU BY…

1970s New York was messy, smelly, worn-out and stale. Plenty has been written (and much of it romanticized) about 70s New York, so what else is there to say? Well, watch the above commercial for ‘Plato’s Retreat’, a sex club that was located in the Ansonia Hotel on Broadway and

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