Category: Beatles

The man who (sort of, not really) signed The Beatles

The Beatles with Alan Livingston
Alan Livingston with The Beatles at the Plaza Hotel, NYC, February 7, 1964

Alan Livingston died a couple of days ago. He was with Capitol Records on-and-off over a period of twenty years, and he happened to be its president when The Beatles were tossed in his lap by EMI, which had bought Capitol in 1955. Many news sources have stated that Livingston signed the Beatles, but that’s simply not correct. The man who best knows the American side of the Beatles saga is Bruce Spizer, and at this link he explains Livingston’s role in their story. The band that Livingston really deserves credit for signing is the Beach Boys.

See Emilys Play

Mr. D.F. Rogers of Massachusetts writes…

Hey, who played the yeoman with Dr. McCoy? The one in the ultra mini skirt who meets Don Juan on the planet where your wishes come true!

Good question, Denny! That’s Emily Banks. There’s a little something about Emily at this link. She seems to have dropped out of the TV acting scene in the mid-80’s. Emily appeared in an episode of Dragnet 1970, as an English teacher at a junior college which, thanks to Netflix Watch Instantly, I was able to watch instantly.

Emily Banks in \"Dragnet\"

And following a train of thought, the Pink Floyd song “See Emily Play” was produced by Norman “Hurricane” Smith, after he left his position as EMI recording engineer for The Beatles.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/FEB/Emily.mp3]

A school girl named Emily Young inspired the song, written in 1967 by the late Syd Barrett. Today, Emily is a noted sculptor.

Emily Young

Beeatles and Monkeeys

As I pointed out before, Davy Jones, of the pre-fab four band The Monkees, was on The Ed Sullivan Show the very same night that The Beatles first appeared. You’ll find him on the video player as the Artful Dodger in “Oliver!”, followed by a bit of “Making the Monkees,” recently shown on the Smithsonian Channel. Last year I highlighted Jack Nicholson’s involvement in the making of the Monkees movie “Head.”

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/FEB/DavyJonesMonkees.flv 480 360]

From The Beatles to Star Trek

Back at this link I showed the comedy duo Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall on the Ed Sullivan show, stuck with the unenviable task of being the lead-in act to The Beatles. I’ll plop it here again, for your viewing convenience.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/JAN/McCallBrill.flv 480 360]

Earlier I said there are two connections to Star Trek in the video. One of them is Sally Kellerman, who did the voiceover for the Pillsbury cake commercial. Kellerman was in the second Trek pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, which I think is, for a sci-fi/comics fan, one of the best hours of TV ever made.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/FEB/NoMan.flv 480 350]

The second Trek connection is Charlie Brill himself, who appeared as a Klingon agent in one of the most popular of all episodes, “The Trouble With Tribbles”.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/FEB/Tribbles.flv 480 350]

Hey, ya know what? Brill resembles John Lennon in this picture.

Category Crossover: Colbert meets McCartney

Two faves in one post! Stephen Colbert with Sir Paul McCartney…

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/JAN/ColbertMcCartney.flv 480 360]

Yes, the audio is a couple of frames out-of-synch with the picture. That’s because I used my alternate video capture setup, so the cables can reach from the DVD recorder in the other room. If there’s a fix for this, I haven’t found it yet. Now you know!

I would put the Comedy Central embedded video here, in fact I just did, but they screwed up the markups.

Beat up by The Beatles

A couple of years ago I featured comedian Morty Gunty’s lead-in to The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show from February 23, 1964. This week’s This American Life on NPR has a fascinating segment about the comedy act that preceded The Beatles, before the second set on their first Ed Sullivan Show appearance, February 9, ’64. Click here to listen to it, then watch this video, through the commercial and on to the fab boys. I’m one of those who feels what happened that evening cannot be overstated. And it wasn’t only the kids getting caught up in the excitement. Look for the grown woman in the audience.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/JAN/McCallBrill.flv 480 360]

There are two Star Trek connections in that video. When I tell you what they are I’ll show you Davy Jones, later of the Monkees, who was also on the bill that night.

P.S. According to WordPress this is post #1500, but I actually passed that number a while ago. Unfortunately, nearly 100 posts were lost in the great database debacle in June ’07.