Movies 'Til Dawn Blog

GEORGE RAFT AT 85

No, he doesn’t dance in this clip but George Raft at 85 is as suave, cool and charismatic as he was fifty years earlier. This is a very nice interview segment from a Mike Douglas show in 1980–alas Raft died the same year (he mentions to Mike that he has

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‘JOHNNY’S FIRST CIGARETTE’–A NICK TOSCHES JOINT

The late great Nick Tosches (author of ‘Dino’, ‘The Devil and Sonny Liston’, ‘Cut Numbers’ and much more) was a friend of mine way back at the end of the last century and over lunch would occasionally describe ideas for books he knew he’d never get around to writing. One

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COMMERCIALS AND I.D.s FROM 1970–AN NBC TIME CAPSULE

For my money, there is no better time machine than television commercials and station ID’s. Above is a terrific collection of 1970 KNBC (Los Angeles) ads that evoke the era perfectly and offer some interesting perspectives on issues of the day. A young Tom Brokaw, then a local newscaster, manages

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THE END OF THE CIGARETTE COMMERCIAL

On January 1, 1971, the last cigarette commercials were aired. To celebrate the occasion (or perhaps ‘squeeze the life out of the opportunity’ is more accurate) Phillip Morris, that noble institution, bought an hour of airtime to jam as many cigarette ads into as possible. Above is a mash-up of

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THE GREAT NORTHEAST BLACKOUT OF 1965 MEETS DAN INGRAM

On November 9, 1965, shortly after 5PM, New York City began experiencing the ominous signs of an impending blackout due to a gradual loss of available electricity. The cause of the failure was the setting of a protective relay on one of the transmission lines near Niagara Falls. The safety

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TO LIVE AND DIE (AND WATCH COMMERCIALS) IN L.A.

Nothing transports me back in time to my childhood quite as much as watching old local TV commercials and station I.D.’s. This is clearly the result of spending way too much time staring at the tube as a kid but what the hell–it was back in the days before children

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K-TEL PRESENTS: ?

What better way to kiss the week off then with a few vintage K-TEL commercials? (Actually there are many better ways but I can’t think of them at the moment). Below, behold ads for the idiotic ‘Super Slider Sno-skates’, the moronic ‘Mood Shirt’ and the actually very cool ‘Super Bad’

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KJOI–FM 99

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBp1wLMCmeohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYspFe9u5RU Apropos of yesterday’s post on the joys of Muzak, above are two TV spots for the Los Angeles FM Muzak station KJOI. My memory is that there were no announcers on the station–it was a solid hour of Muzak-Bed with a canned announcement at the end of the hour

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MUZAK MUZAK MUZAK

Muzak was an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments. The name has been in use since 1934 and has been owned by various companies. The soothing, full orchestral arrangements of popular songs were heard in supermarkets, shopping malls and–somewhat infamously–elevators, leading to the

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SAMMY DAVIS JR. DIGS 70s TECH

Yesterday I posted a commercial from 1956 featuring the all-new RCA clock radio. I mentioned that I thought it was an invention from the 70s, not the 50s, and the above 1974 commercial for G.E. clock radios does make it seem falsely like its a new concept. They roped Sammy

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