Movies Til Dawn

Here's a 1962 Jack Benny Program with guest star Wayne Newton, then a newly popular heart throb boy singer who had just charted big with 'Danke Shoen'. Benny, apparently, was a mentor of Newton's and used him as his opening act in Las Vegas for several years. The Newton seen here is far from the mustachioed Vegas operator of the 70s/80s and is much more like the overly-humble, careful-to-be-respectful, God-loving, show-biz-has-been-good-to-me fellow he's turned back into in recent years (mega-lawsuits aside). Newton is in his early twenties here, tall and fat, with a much higher and stranger voice than the one we're used to--assuming you ever get used to Wayne Newton. According to Wikipedia, the young Newton found great support in the aging, Hillcrest Country Club show-biz klotch consisting of Benny, George Burns, Danny Thomas etc. What on earth did this gang of old vaudevillians see in the country-based, rosy-cheeked 'good boy'? Probably a little of t...

Why did Dimitri Tiomkin, the great Russian film composer who inexplicably made his name (and fortune) writing themes for westerns, appear as a guest on The Jack Benny Show in 1961? My guess is that they played Golf or Bridge or Gin Rummy at the Hillcrest Country Club together and the idea came up after Tiomken mentioned that one of his favorite Benny routines was the awful song that Jack wrote that he could never sell. Titled "If You Say I Beg Your Pardon Then I'll Come Back To You", the song first appeared in the Benny radio show years, circa 1945. In the above TV episode, Jack wishes to revive the song and Tiomkin becomes as inexplicably embroiled in the song as he was in the writing of scores for movies like 'Red River', 'High Noon', 'Gunfight at the OK Corral' etc. By the way, Tiomken received twenty-two Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars, one of which was for Best Original Song for 'High Noon' . Titled 'The Ballad of Hi...

Above is a lovely visit to Harlem in the early '30s (very early, maybe even late '29 given the fashions on the women specifically). We see a world of pride, fancy clothing, friendly neighborhood deameanor...and perhaps that's all that British-Pathe, who shot this footage (which includes a very good floor show with Duke Ellington's orchestra) wanted anyone to see. The darker corners of Harlem in that era would have been obscured from the view of the English movie crew with the silly accents.   Subscribe in a reader

On a rainy day in 1929, the Fox Movietone people mounted a camera on top of a truck and--with police escort (you can hear the plaintive wail of the siren throughout this video)--took a drive down Broadway. Bumpy though the ride proved to be, it captured a mesmerizing look at a now long dead civilization--the New York of the 1920s. You'll see an El Train at about 30 seconds in. It turns out that's the 53rd St. Crosstown extension--a train I never knew existed. It served to connect the other Elevated trains, running from 9th Avenue across town to 6th Avenue (and perhaps further east??) Click here for more than enough information on that long gone transportation device. As always with these archeological newsreel digs, the popular culture of the period is on view and delightful to behold. 'Talkies' were new and movie theaters abounded on Broadway, loudly trumpeting the new technology. Richard Dix's 'Redskin' and a movie called 'The River', which wa...

In April 1962, Billy Wilder appeared as a special guest on 'The Jack Benny Show'. So far as I know, it was the celebrated writer-directors only 'acting' appearance ever--he played himself, natch. (Years later, he was approached by Cameron Crowe and Tom Cruise to play the aging sports agent/mentor in 'Jerry McGuire' but he not so respectfully passed, yelling at Crowe that he was too old and he should 'get a real actor!' and not bother him anymore). Benny and Wilder were Beverly Hills-style pals--their group included Walter Mattheau, playwright Leonard Gershe ('Butterflies Are Free'), Producer-Director Freddie De Cordova (who directed this show as well as most of the Benny shows and later was the producer of the Johnny Carson 'Tonight Show') and comic genius Ernie Kovaks (who unfortunately died in an auto accident on Santa Monica and Beverly Glen after leaving a party at Wilder's apartment on Wilshire and Beverly Glen). Wilder appea...

I'm sure I've posted the above before but who cares? It's a beautiful five minute instructional film on the wildly complicated process of recording and pressing records in the 78RPM era. Produced in 1937 by Irving Mills, Duke's publisher/manager, "Record Making With Duke Ellington" will answer any questions you may have ever had (and some you couldn't dream of ever having) on how those beautiful glass platters (shellac, to be exact) containing a whopping six minutes of music were created. Seeing Duke's band in the recording studio is a real treat and watching him dress down his orchestra--though clearly staged--shows what good sports he and the orchestra were, in the name of creating a little drama. Covfefe!   Subscribe in a reader

Today's Duke Ellington video is a short film shot (mostly) on May 23rd, 1933 called 'Bundle Of Blues'. It features the Ellington Orchestra (natch) as well as the great Ivy Anderson singing 'Stormy Weather'. Filmically, it attempts to break out of the proscenium with the latter number, featuring a country cabin set for pretty much no apparent reason other than to break out of the proscenium. This gets a lot more interesting once the optical department at Paramount Studios got involved, creating a series of 'stormy weather' wipes (rain, melting ice etc.) that take us from one pointless still image to another. Finally we are treated to a terrific dance duo--Florence Hills and Bessie Dudley--who wind up the whole sh-bang with voop-dop-deop-dop number that the optical department couldn't quite keep their hands off of either. The fidelity is better than good and these all-to-few filmed recordings of the great man and his band are as valuable to us as the z...