duaneiac

Some bargains I found at Hamilton Books: Steve Martin: --;The Television Stuff (3 DVDs) $6.95 Warner Bros. Pictures Gangsters Collection Vol. 2 (6 DVDs) $7.95 Casablanca Ultimate Collector's Edition (3 DVDs + book + extras) $7.95 Bonanza: -- ;The Official Second Season Vol. 1 (5 DVDs) $6.95 Bat Masterson -- The Complete First Season (5 DVDs) $3.95 TCM Greatest Classic Legends Film Collection -- John Ford Westerns (2 DVDs) $5.95

Just ordered: and now I will have to anxiously await its arrival in the mail.

Not even a full week into the new year and the losses the jazz/music world suffered last year look likely to continue into this one. Mr. Hentoff certainly did his part in advocating for the music he loved (as well as other issues he considered important). May he Rest In Peace.

I never had seen this movie before, even though I was in the ideal age range for it when it first was released. The movie theater in my little town had had a fire the year before and it was several years before they reopened, so I saw very few movies in my formative years. In a year which included Hello Dolly!, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, Paint Your Wagon, Midnight Cowboy, Sweet Charity and Easy Rider, it may now seem hard to believe that this was the top grossing film of 1969. It is actually a pretty good movie, certainly a very well made one (the special effects are very good for the time and some of the matte paintings used here are beautiful works of art). There are some stereotypical depictions of Mexican and Chinese people that likely would not be included in a Disney movie today but, on the whole, this was a movie both kids and parents could enjoy and laugh at. There is a commentary track on the DVD which failed to answer my most burning questions: why is the car never called a "Volkswagen"? It's only referred to as "the little car" in the movie. I can understand VW not wanting it referred to as a "bug" (even though that's the movie title), but surely they could appreciate even back then the value of product placement. I'm guessing VW saw a big sales increase in these cars after the movie became so popular. The commentary track has separate comments by the team of Dean Jones & Buddy Hackett (apparently they remained friends after the filming) and a separate one by Michelle Lee. I found it interesting that the male stars had little to say about Ms. Lee and vice versa. Makes one wonder if there had been some kind of disharmony on the set during the filming. It's surprising that even though his performance was very good/funny here (even though he says he got sick to his stomach after seeing his performance at the debut screening) Mr. Hackett made very few films in the following years. One interesting note he discussed in the commentary is that early in his career he was approached by the manager of the Three Stooges to replace the ailing Curly Howard, an offer he declined.

In addition to Sinatra, Red Norvo's band recorded another really good album with another notable singer -- Dinah Shore. She may not be thought of very much these days, but she was an enormously popular singer in her day and she had a feel for jazz. Here's a track from the album: And here is Red Norvo and his band as guests on her TV show back in the day:

Not even a B-movie, more like a C-movie at best. It bears some (one must assume intentional) similarities to Laura, but has none of that film's more distinctive qualities. Jean Peters (the future Mrs. Howard Hughes) is the title character and is already murdered when the film begins. Jeanne Crain plays her sister, one of the suspects in the case, alongside Vicki's publicist, a show-biz newspaper columnist and an actor. Richard Boone (the future Paladin) plays the tough homicide detective who will do anything he has to to solve this case. The most noteworthy thing about this movie is the fact that future millionaire media kingpin Aaron Spelling had one of his few acting roles here.

I really liked this movie. I wasn't expecting too much of it from the description on Netflix, but it is a totally engaging coming-of-age story. It's a gay movie that even straight audiences can appreciate, I think, because while the central character is coming to terms with his sexual identity throughout the story, that's not the sole focus of the film. Much of the story centers on family dynamics -- father to sons, mother to sons, husband to wife, brother to brothers. The main character grew up in the same era I did and although his story takes place in Montreal, I could easily relate to the events (yes, it is possible to feel nostalgic for the 1970's). Really good acting by the whole cast to create characters that may not be completely likable, but are totally believable and you end up caring about them. The movie could perhaps have been trimmed down a bit, but I would highly recommend it.

Happy Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Festivus/Solstice/etc. to one and all and may we all have best New Year possible given the state of the world's circumstances.

One of the funniest moves I ever saw (only once, nearly 40 years ago) was finally released on DVD: It's a self-contained double feature of 1930's genre films with many of the actors playing roles in both films. First is the boxing pic, Dynamite Hands. Harry Hamlin made his film debut here as Joey Popchick, a naturally talented young palooka who takes up boxing as a means to pay for his younger sister's necessary eye operation (Art Carney as the eye doctor: "If any part of the human body has a tendency to deteriorate, the eyes have it:.). George C. Scott stars as Gloves Malloy, the grizzled fight veteran who coaches Joey on his way up the ranks until Joey comes under the sway of a mobster and his showgirl moll. Joey's mousy librarian girlfriend is afraid he has fallen for the glamorous showgirl (played by the lovely Ann Reinking) to which Joey reassures her, "You crazy monkey! Don't you know the day I met you, I lost all interest in women?" The second movie is Baxter's Beauties of 1933, a musical which stars George C. Scott as Broadway producer Spats Baxter, who after having been given just one month to live (by apparently the same doctor, under a different name, played once again by Art Carney) must put on one final hit show to financially provide for his daughter who he sent to live at an orphanage as a young girl after he accidentally killed the girl's mother in a drunken car crash. Meanwhile, that girl comes to the Big Apple to audition for the show, not knowing that Mr. Baxter is her father. Also meanwhile, the new accountant for the show (Barry Bostwick) happens to be an aspiring young songwriter who is given his big break when called upon to write an entire musical score overnight. My favorite line from this movie: "Gosh! If all orphans are like you, there ought to be more of 'em". Both movies are just about as funny as I remembered. They are lovingly handled spoofs of those old movie genres and the script is very clever. The actors all play it pretty straight, if a bit over-the-top at times, which is why if works so well. Director Stanley Donen (of Singin' In The Rain fame) is especially good in the musical section. The DVD has some interesting interviews with Mr. Hamlin and Mr. Bostwick. Mr. Hamlin says Dynamite Hands was shot in color for future TV airings of the film, but it had to be lit and filmed in such a way that the color film could also be successfully made into a black & white print for its initial theatrical release.

A previous discussion of this topic can be found here:

Well, that promo piece did say "Harris and his mates also collaborated on recordings with many of the foremost figures in jazz of the era such as Lester Young . . . ", so I assume it was either Mr. Simpkins or Mr. Dowdy who had the honor of recording with Lester Young.

An entertaining program. it was fun to see Bill Murray working again with Paul Shaffer at the piano almost 40 years after they first did so on SNL.

(Wow -- is that "Nicholas Ray" the same as the one who later directed Rebel Without A Cause and Johnny Guitar? Did he start his career writing "Additional Dialogue" for the Three Stooges?) I actually watched the version "riffed" by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys on this DVD Of course the movie is not very good, that's the whole point of having the guys making fun of it. However, it's not sufficiently horrible to bring out their funniest work. The best part of the movie is this "shining" performance by Louis Jordan. Where can you even go to buy a neon saxophone today?

The one time I got to see Jimmy Scott was at Yoshi's where he was featured guest with the Hank Crawford - Jimmy McGriff band. He did a version of "Some One To Watch Over Me" that I swear could have made a grown man cry, it was so emotionally touching. I don't know if I need to hear a version of it featuring Renee Olstead singing it with him.

I guess this could be considered "out of character" for both performers as it is the only album either of them ever recorded in this type of setting. Ms. Christy was known to be a bit self-conscious about her singing -- and though I love her singing, she did have some noticeable intonation issues from time to time -- so it seems odd she would have agreed to record in this setting where all her potential "flaws" would be even more front and center without the benefit of a big/small band to cushion her voice. Mr. Kenton, for all his musical achievements, would hardly make any one's list of "100 greatest jazz pianists" and when it came to accompanying singers, he certainly did not have the experience or the technique of, say, Hank Jones or Gerald Wiggins. While the album is not without its merits, it's not one of the best either of them ever made.

Does any one have Pete Fountain's Christmas album? Any opinion of it? The one track I found on YouTube did not exactly grab me.

I have it. It's okay, but there is nothing really all that impressive about it, so I would not recommend spending a lot of money to get a copy.. The one Warner Bros. album I'd really like to get is: Robert Conrad singing "White Christmas"? That's gotta be something special!

You know who was a really good actor? Don Ameche, that's who. He didn't really star in many films that could be called a "classic", but any time he was on screen, he exuded a real genuineness. He's very good here in this 1939 film in which he plays Mike Connors, a low level studio worker in the early days of Hollywood. He discovers an actress named Molly Adair (Ms. Faye, who is very good as well and does not even sing in this movie) and convinces the studio to let him direct her first picture. They accidentally invent the pie fight and the rest, as they say, is malarkey -- er, history. The story is bunk (kind of, but not really, based on Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand), but it was a good excuse for audiences of the day to see some of their old favorite silent movie stars in vivid Technicolor. In addition to the featured Buster Keaton, there were also the Keystone Cops (who have their own chase scene in a movie within the movie), Ben Turpin, Chester Conklin and a cameo by Mr. Sennett himself. Al Jolson even reprised one of his numbers from The Jazz Singer to show the impact of the transition from silents to talkies.

I don't know if Ella was ever really "out of character". She may have tackled uncharacteristic material from time to time, but she never lost her essential "Ellaness" in doing so. Her gospel album for example. She was certainly no match for Mahalia or Sister Rosetta, but she respectfully and reverently sang this material which would seem "out of character" for her while fully retaining her inherent style.

I posted about it in it's reissue packaging: It's the same album, a different marketing approach (attempting to cash in on that lounge music fad of several years ago). I have the original cover that you posted. It is an excellent holiday album whichever cover you choose.

Sir Charles Thompson Don Friedman Pete Yellin Joe Temperley

You are correct. My how time flies.

Yes.

I didn't think this album was as bad as most critical reviews made it out to be. It's not my favorite McCoy Tyner recording -- by far -- but I didn't find it at all unlistenable. It is definitely uncharacteristic of his usual musical style.