The One and Only Miss Petula Clark!
Scoptione video jukeboxes originated in France. Wait. France? Petula Clark was a star in France before she came to America. Duh! But of course.
http://youtu.be/ymc9hRcOJTg
Sometimes I amaze myself with how slow on the uptake I am. Have I always been this dense? I met Petula. I sat with her and we chatted for a few minutes. I could have asked about her Scopitone movies. But, no. I was clueless.
Almost four years ago I posted Classical pianist Glenn Gould’s 1967 audio essay on Petula Clark. Today, the Wall Street Journal features a write-up on music-related TV documentaries, and in noting the upcoming PBS program “Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould”, Nancy deWolf Smith says, “… it is clear that his crush on Petula Clark and many other diversions made bearable the isolation his artistry demanded.” Gould’s love letter to Pet, in the form of a musician’s analytical critique, is in an MP3 that I’m happily hot-linking from WFMU. It takes a few minutes for Gould to get to the point, but he gets there.
[audio:http://ubu.wfmu.org/sound/gould_glenn/Gould-Glenn_The-Search-for-Petula-Clark_1967.mp3|titles=Glenn Gould: The Search for Petula Clark]
If Robbie Leff keeps pointing out videos like this fantastic Petula-Beatles mash-up, I won’t have to think up any more ideas for blog posts!
The official Beatles mash-up is, of course, the Love CD, which has me thinking of the infamous Beachles mash-up of Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper that resulted in a cease-and-desist order for its creator from Capitol/EMI.
Swinging London wasn’t the only place in Europe that was swinging in the Sixties. France had its own brand of Pop music, with a decidedly feminine fragrance. This collection of videos includes Sylvie Vartan, Francoise Hardy, Chantal Goya, and France Gall. It starts with — surprise! — Petula Clark, who was a Pop star in France before returning to recording in English with “Downtown”.
The BBC has an audio feature on the famous moment when, on American TV, Petula Clark touched Harry Belafonte’s arm.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/witness
Here’s what the fuss was all about. As you can see, Pet actually held his arm.
[flv:/Video/2008/APR/BelafontePetula.flv 440 330]
