Category: Music

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.

Parlez-Vous Français — Petula Clark

David Moncour has sent this link to an interview with Petula Clark, in French, including the music clips. Thank you, Davie!

http://franckhermann.spaces.live.com/blog/

The audio is linked on Petula’s name, and it isn’t embedded, so depending on how your file associations are set up it will come up on one local player or another. How about I embed it here, so you don’t have to bother doing that?

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/MAR/PETULACLARK_FrenchInterview.mp3]

How about this pair of pictures? On the left is Petula with actor Michael Redgrave in 1942, and on the right they’re together again in 1968, filming Goodbye Mr. Chips.

Petula Clark and Michael Redgrave

For many years, Petula has been great pals with Redgrave’s daughter Lynn, who’s about 5’10” tall. As you can see, Pet is petite!

Lynn Redgrave, Petula Clark

I see that it’s time to renew my subscription to Petula & Company, published by the International Petula Clark Society. There’s all sorts of stuff in there about Pet, facts and photos, that you won’t find anywhere else. I particularly enjoy it for providing so much background about her early years in England. As I keep saying, as far as we were concerned in America, Petula appeared out of nowhere, polished and professional.

The Blues Brothers break in the new Boston House of Blues

Elwood and Jake

Hey, there’s Bismo as Elwood Blues. Saturday night, Bismo and his partner Jake were at the new House of Blues in Boston, where, I’m told, Dan Ackroyd and Jim Belushi put on a great show.

Jim Belushi, Dan Ackroyd

Bismo even got some face time on local TV!

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/FEB/BismoAsElwood.flv 400 300]

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

Yore Gang

Jackie Cooper is still alive, but another member of the “Our Gang” cast has died. Shirley Jean Rickert, who wasn’t one of the better known players, has passed away at age 82. She’s the girl with the curly blond locks, as seen in the memorable “Fly My Kite” from 1931. Here is the complete 20-minute 2-reeler.

[MEDIA=22]

Grandma was played by Margaret Mann, who was born in Scotland in 1868. Whenever I watched this installment of The Little Rascals, as the series was called for TV syndication, I didn’t understand why there was an electric switch on the utility pole, and I knew it had to be harder than it looked for a bunch of kids to saw down the pole.

But what I really want you to notice is the unique and wonderful music by Leroy Shield. It’s quirky, catchy, original and unforgettable to anybody who heard it while growing up. Yet incredibly, Shield received no screen credit from producer Hal Roach. In the 90’s a band from the Netherlands (Holland gets mentioned a lot here, huh?) called The Beau Hunks released some fabulous CD’s of Leroy Shield’s music. Here’s a delightful rendition of “Hide and Go Seek”, which is featured prominently towards the end of “Fly My Kite”.

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