An hour of Sexy Pet, as she was called in France. It’s on Glynis GirlGroupGirl’s show ‘From Crayons to Perfume’ on WFMU.
Note to listener: This player may start automatically, depending on your browser. Especially if it’s Firefox.
Note to Glynis: It’s pronounced “Peh-too-lah.” Petulia is a 1968 movie with Julie Christie. Petula appreciates that “Pet” is a term of endearment, but she prefers being called by her full name. I know that because she told me herself. 🙂
Glynis played a later recording of “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love”. This is the original, one of her perfect 60’s Pop singles.
There’s an Ed Sullivan channel on YouTube, and if Ed were alive to see it he wouldn’t recognize it as a TV channel by his understanding. Most of the material has been added over the past year, presumably after a deal for advertising money was made. There’s now a massive collection available for viewing, restored to the best possible quality.
Petula Clark is very well represented, although there is at least one Sullivan appearance I know of that’s missing. I stayed up much too late a couple of nights ago, indulging my Petula crush. My father bought our 23″ RCA color console in August, 1967, making this appearance the first time I saw Petula on TV in color.
That performance is typical of Petula’s American TV appearances. A couple of months earlier she was taped, apparently in Quebec, being much more herself, delightfully bouncy and flirtatious. This was typical of her style when performing in France, where they called her Sexy Pet before she joined the British Invasion of America.
P.S. I found the one I thought was missing. It was posted back in March. That dress must have been uncomfortable and/or hot, because the moment the song is done she starts taking it off. Maybe it’s a costume change to another number, but if so I don’t know it.
In the absolutely delightful film Here Come the Huggetts, perfectly adorable Petula Clark mistakenly believes that her father is involved with a teenage girl. This premise was taken even further a year later in The Romantic Age.
Petula was seventeen when she appeared in this film, playing a girl whose father has fallen under the seductive charms of a classmate. As in the Huggetts, Petula’s sweetness is contrasted with a much more womanly girl her age. But unlike the previous movie, with Diana Dors being only months older than Pet, the libidinous Mai Zetterling was 23 years old.
1967! The year that my favorite musical genre — Psychedelia — came into its own. Youth culture was taking over! The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix joined the Beatles and the Stones on the Pop charts. But there was still plenty of music for adult contemporary audiences.
On ABC-TV that year was a remarkable special. The show was a tribute to the songs of Rodgers and Hart, when Hart had been dead for almost 25 years. It featured a one-of-a-kind lineup of performers:
Bobby Darin
Petula Clark
The Mamas and the Papas
The Supremes
Count Basie
The Doodletown Pipers
Petula, The Mamas and the Papas, and The Supremes had hits in ’67 that kids liked, but they were also acceptable to a middle-aged audience. The Doodletown Pipers were a group of TV singers in the 60’s.
Petula’s duets with Darin are very nice. Bobby was obviously very happy to be singing with Count Basie.
Note: Embedding isn’t allowed for the first video, so you’ll have to watch it on YouTube. Don’t know why the same requirement wasn’t made for the second.
Posted a few minutes ago by Petula Clark on her Facebook page:
I feel the need to express my shock and disbelief at the Christmas Day explosion in our beloved Music City. I love Nashville and its people.
Why this violent act – leaving behind it such devastation?
A few hours later – I was told that the music in the background of that strange announcement – was me – singing “Downtown”! Of all the thousands of songs – why this one?
Of course, the opening lyric is “When you’re alone and life is making you lonely you can always go Downtown”. But millions of people all over the world have been uplifted by this joyful song. Perhaps you can read something else into these words – depending on your state of mind. It’s possible.
I would like to wrap my arms around Nashville – give you all a hug – and wish you Love, a Happy and Healthy New Year – and, as we sometimes say in the U.K., steady the Buffs! (Look it up!)
Love,
– Petula
