Here’s an excerpt of a musical sequence from an obscure 1944 Republic Studios movie called ‘Atlantic City’. The number is ‘Harlem On Parade’ and it’s a more-than-slightly-valuable documentation of three of the prime black entertainers of the 1930s/40s. I refer to the above mentioned performers who all are given a
The above reel shows some of the most beautiful shots ever made of the late, great Penn Station. It was apparently shot (according to the Internet Archive where it was found listed under ‘dailies’ for films–i.e. uncut footage) for a movie called ‘Young Widow’ starring Jane Russell, released in 1946.
This terrific compilation video shows the teaser/intros to an astounding forty-two shows that comprised CBS’s 1962 season line-up. How was it possible that there were so many shows in one season? For one thing prime-time was defined more broadly then than it would be now–7PM to 11:30 PM. Also, most
The Howard Stern of the 1980s was, of course, different from the Howard Stern of today. (I suppose the same could be said of the Raymond De Felitta of the 80s as well but that’s a horse of a different color.) Stern’s personality was that of a defensive underdog peeking
Before the advent of dubbing–replacing the soundtrack recorded on set with another voice and/or actor and/or language in post-production–foreign language versions of movies had to be shot simultaneously with the English language versions. What a pain in the ass! It’s hard enough to shoot one scene correctly but then to
The past three days I’ve been posting the astounding turn of the 20th Century footage shot in England by the team of Mitchell and Kenyon. If you missed the posts I urge you go back and watch some of the videos–they are mesmerizing and as close to a time machine
Here’s an absolutely mesmerizing (to these as yet unjaded eyes anyway) Mitchell and Kenyon documentation of Sheffield, South Yorkshire in 1902. The camera appears to have been well concealed on the tram on which it’s been placed which has the refreshing effect of not attracting the attention of the pedestrians
The above ‘Mitchell and Kenyon’ short is a documentation of a country fair in North England, Leeds, shot on a pleasant day in September 1902. Given the fact that most photographs of the era show people standing stiffly and staring sternly at the camera, this goes a tremendously long way
Queen Victoria died on January 22 1901. Exactly one year and seven months after her death–on July 22nd 1902–somebody got a camera, went to Bradford (in West Yorkshire) and filmed what was known as ‘track and field day’. By stabilizing the image and frame rate and adding period sound effects
The views of L.A. freeways in the 50s yesterday now gives way to views of the Sunset Strip in the 40s. It’s a cleaner friendlier looking Strip in most ways, though I find it interesting how many of these buildings have survived. The fact that they have makes the Strip