Movies 'Til Dawn BLOG

THE BALLAD OF SHAKEY’S PIZZA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb_HyDvUcGAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TrpjKelALc When I was a kid I was deeply involved with playing ragtime and stride piano, having learned how to do it by putting my fingers on our player piano while a roll played and seeing where the keys depressed and how the whole business of two-handed jazz piano worked.

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THE SOUND OF MUCUS; A SALZBURG JAUNT

This little mini-doc appears to be a 1965 travelogue of the Austran city Salzburg, birthplace and home of Mozart. In fact, they bury the lead and about three minutes in it’s revealed to be a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of ‘The Sound Of Music.’ Charmian Carr, who played Liesl

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JOEY HEATHERTON MEETS MAJOR LANCE?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlZZgPxR3Bkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBc4AHxnHOc I thought it might be a nice way to kick off the week with a little Joey Heatherton number from the mid-1960s dance show ‘Hullabaloo’. In this clip she sings a new song celebrating the new dance known as–what else?–the ‘Huallabaloo’. But wait. Is this really a new song

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‘PEANUTS’ NIGHT: A VINCE GUARALDI JOINT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHOmBV4js_Ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EMfA5_tm8Y My go-to cartoon characters as a kid were Bugs/Daffy/Porgy (Warner Brothers) and Charlie Brown/Lucy/Snoopy/Linus Charles M. Schultz). Everything else was the bunk. I’ve written before–rather recently in fact–about my loathing for all things Disney. Ditto Hanna-Barbara and their cheap, flat animation which did nothing to enhance their cheap, flat

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EZ LISTENING; MUSIC FOR A FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Here’s two hours of unidentified, unknown and un-listened to music from the 60s/70s that I urge you to put on in the background. It will gradually bring peace and a smile to your face and you’ll find your worries disappearing and your work habits improving. Indeed, it serves the same

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RADIO TRANSMISSION FOR PRE-WAR DUMMIES

I always enjoy discovering period industrial films explaining then cutting-edge technologies–how to process Technicolor film, how to record and press 78 RPM records etc. Above I’ve posted a 1937 mini-doc explaining the process by which a radio show transmits from the studio to homes across the country. It’s quite niftily

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PIANO ROLLS

When I was a kid I taught myself to play piano by using the odd, ancient first-digital-music-delivery-system- ever thing known as a piano roll. Simply put, piano rolls are a rolled sheet of paper with cuts in it representing individual notes which, when run through what is known as a

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DICK RICH, FAT FAIRY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxYSVO78Edchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAFLS-jyti4 Yesterday I posted about pre-code portrayals of gay men in the movies and cartoons of the era. The usual characterization was of what was commonly known as a ‘sissy’ or ‘pansy’. Which brings us to the once popular and now utterly obscure bandleader Dick Rich. Above I’ve posted two

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CHARLES LINDBERGH DANCE PARTY

Recorded on May 26, 1927,  just five days after Lindbergh’s arrival in Paris, ‘Lucky Lindy’ (posted below) was a major hit record and one that Lindbergh apparently loathed. He was more than a little surprised at the world-wide hoopla that greeted him upon landing and regarded much of it with

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PAUL ANKA; A–HOLE

Last night we watched the HBO Paul Anka doc and I knew from the very beginning, which featured 85 year-old Anka on board his private jet with his sixteen year old wife, that he was a prick. Not that he said or did anything obviously prick-ish. He wouldn’t have let

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