There are plenty of Scopitone music videos (actually 16mm) on Youtube so it was hard finding the best one to present. Actually the reason it was hard was because there really isn’t a conventional ‘best’ one. All of them are lousy. The choreography is amateurish, the photography garish and the
The previous two posts of ColorSonics short jukebox ‘videos’ failed to mention the company’s predecessor Scopitone. Which brings us to today’s little look inside the Scopitone ST-36 jukebox. Somebody clearly put a lot of love and care into restoring this thing and putting it into working order, complete with the
I freely admit to never having had any specific interest in Elvis. He’s been part of the wallpaper of pop culture in my mind ever since I was a kid–always identifiable, sometimes fun, more often than not a subject of ridicule or pity. Now, in light of Baz Luhrmann’s towering
‘Shindig’, a weekly pop music and dance program which aired on ABC from 1964 to 1966, was the inspiration for the somewhat slicker and better remembered ‘Hullabaloo’ which aired on NBC. A number of syndicated dance shows–‘Hollywood A Go Go’ and ‘Shivaree’ most notably–also appeared on the scene, but ‘Shindig’
The inimitable Joey Heatherton dances ‘The Hullaballo’ on this undated mid-1960s episode of the dance show ‘Hullabaloo’. But is it, in fact, an original dance? Or something of a cross between The Jerk and The Monkey? You decide. I have to catch a train. By the way, dig how the
Annette Funicello is back with us again this time with a dance called ‘The Clyde’. Have you heard of ‘The Clyde?’ No? Well there’s a reason for that. It’s because it stinks. A truly lousy dance. Performed on a Bob Hope Chrysler show from 1964, it’s followed by another lousy
‘When they met they way they smiled I knew that I was through…oh, you crazy moon, what did you do?’ With that opening line the stage is set for a song that depicts a nauseating moment for anyone who’s experienced it; the moment when the one you love suddenly fixes
See my previous post (if you haven’t already wallowed in it) in which I discuss the sub-genre of songs in the American Popular Songbook that deal with cuckoldry. Yesterday’s song, ‘Two Cigarettes In The Dark’, featured a husband coming upon his wife in flagrante delicto with her lover. Today we
The great songs of the 20s/30s/40s/50s mostly have as their subject love. True love, unrequited love, past loves etc. It’s very sweet that this was what the ‘music of the street’ focused on and, if you’re a deep fan of the so-called ‘Great American Songbook’, you’ll know the really great
Merv Griffin–talk show host, game show creator, media mogul, hotel and resort tycoon–was my first late-night talk show host. That’s because he wasn’t on late-night. He was on KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles at 9PM. So as a ten year old obsessed with show-biz I was able to stay
Dig this short but deeply period drive through the Greenwich Village of the 1970s, an era you simply can't make up. #NewYork #NewYorkCity #NewYorkForever #Documentary https://raymonddefelitta.org/the-village-in-the-bell-bottom-era/
Color footage of Greenwich Village in the 1940s is today's offering on our madcap journey through the history of that venerable neighborhood. #NewYork #NewYorkCity #NewYorkForever #Documentary
https://raymonddefelitta.org/greenwich-village-1940s-edition/
Some fab footage of Greenwich Village in the late 60s--back when the FBI raided Village clubs and not Florida bed-and-breakfasts--awaits your avid viewing. #NewYork #NewYorkCity #NewYorkForever #Documentary https://raymonddefelitta.org/a-village-called-greenwich-a-view-from-the-late-60s/
Spend 12 minutes in Greenwich Village #NewYork in the summer of 1960 by watching 'Village Sunday', a doc directed by Stewart Wilensky and narrated by Jean Shepherd. It's a beautiful way to not be in the present day. #NewYorkCity #Documentary #Filmmaking https://raymonddefelitta.org/greenwich-village-sunday/
Happy birthday to legendary film director Nicholas Ray.
