Category: Beatles

Kray-Kray

Cambridge Dictionary
CRAY-CRAY meaning: 1. stupid or not reasonable 2. things that someone says or does that seem stupid, without meaning

I first heard Monty Python’s very funny ‘Ethel the Frog’ in high school, on WBCN-FM, the station that broke the Pythons in America. The mockumentary told the story of the criminal Piranha Brothers.

What I didn’t know at the time was, the Piranha Brothers were based on the all-too-real Kray brothers of London. In Boston there was Whitey Bulger, and Cape Cod had Melvin Reine. They were violent and, in a word, crazy. Compared to the Krays, the notorious Whitey was a misunderstood businessman.

Tom Hardy, perhaps the finest actor of this or almost any generation, portrayed both of the insanely dangerous Kray twins in 2015’s Legend.

After watching that, listen to this story, as told to me by Prue.

Gideon Checked Out

My first awareness of Gideons Bibles came from hearing ‘Rocky Raccoon’.

The Beatles must have been in countless hotel rooms and suites with Gideons Bibles while on tour. Perhaps George drew spiritual comfort from one he found in this room.

Edgewater Inn Hotel, Seattle, August 21, 1964

Gideons Bibles are no longer universally accepted by hotels. I was in Baltimore this past weekend to attend a combination wedding and family reunion. I went back to my room, only to not find Gideons’ Bible.

From “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” to “Hey, Hey!”

Were the Monkees based upon A Hard Day’s Night or HELP!? If the first movie was the inspiration, the full-blown zaniness and colorfulness of the TV series certainly reflected the Beatles’ second foray into film.

The Monkees was an instant hit, starting on September 12, 1966 with ‘The Royal Flush’, featuring my mother’s old pal, Vince Beck, in one of his trademark comedic roles. He was even funnier performing for the family in person.

Click on the Archive logo in the upper right to see the complete list of episodes. Vince also appears in ‘Son of a Gypsy’ and, with Mike Nesmith conspicuous in his absense, ‘Card Carrying Red Shoes’. Fingers crossed these videos will continue to be available for a while longer.

Alakabrodax, Wham Wham Wham

Let’s return to the subject of Beatles cartoons. I most recently talked about them in this post, which has one of my best punniest titles.

Beatles for Cel

All of the Beatles cartoons were produced by Al Brodax. As a kid I watched his syndicated King Features Syndicate cartoons. Brodax cleverly embedded his name into the Snuffy Smith cartoon, ‘Jughaid the Magician’.

 
Andrew at Parlogram Auctions has this comprehensive history of the Beatles cartoon series on ABC-TV.

Brodax went on to produce the vastly superior and well-received Yellow Submarine animation feature; which, until yesterday, I had thought was the last of the Beatles Toons. But no, Brodax took one more swing at the Beatles. His never completed Strawberry Fields project has a strong Ralph Bakshi vibe.

I learned about this extremely curious artifact from a member of the Cartoon Research group on Facebook. There’s more information on the Cinema Crazed site.

The Bootleg Files: Strawberry Fields