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.
Bismo even got some face time on local TV!
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/FEB/BismoAsElwood.flv 400 300]
As many fans of the Peanuts comic strip know, fifty years ago Charlie Brown and company first appeared in ads and commercials for Ford cars. Courtesy of Denro, here is a brochure for the 1961 Ford Falcon.
The affordable Falcon was very popular, but the name conjures an image of a powerful bird of prey, while the Falcon was actually a rather underpowered, compact economy car. Our family owned a 1965 base model 2-door Falcon that I remember fondly, mostly because it was the first car I drove when I got my driver’s license.
Cartoon Brew has an animated Peanuts TV commercial for the ’61 Falcon. Somebody put it on YouTube, but the shape of the image is wrong, so I fixed it here. The narrator’s voice should be familiar if you’re over 40.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/FEB/FordPeanuts.flv 400 380]
And here’s another gem. Color videotape from 1961, with Lucy introducing Tennessee Ernie Ford, sponsored by Ford.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/FEB/PeanutsFordIntro.flv 400 300]
Is it the art to a forgotten 60’s psychedelic record jacket? A video test pattern? A celebration of diversity in the age of Obama? No, it’s a representation of the springtime that’s hidden within winter, as submitted by D.F. Rogers to a photo contest run by The Boston Globe. Dennis said nothing about it to me, but he was found out nevertheless!
If there is only one Our Gang movie to be seen, “Teacher’s Pet”, from 1930, and the eleventh talkie in the series, is the one to see. From the nostalgia of the one-room schoolhouse, to the wonderful interplay between Miss Crabtree and the kids, this one really clicks. June Marlowe, although not the best actress of the day, or even as good as Jackie Cooper was an actor, was nevertheless perfect as Miss Crabtree, using her silent movie training to express herself beautifully with facial expressions and body language.
“Teacher’s Pet” was the first video I captured and posted on my old website in 2002. If you click here your Windows Media Player should open up and show it to you. Here’s a new and much improved transfer.
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Note: For this video to play just right, you’ll need Adobe Flash player 10
For all of the attention given to the next generation of Rascals, with Spanky, Alfalfa (who my father knew), and Darla, my personal attachment is to the earlier troupe, with Jackie, Chubby, Mary Ann and Wheezer. And although some people feel that Farina, Stymie and, later, Buckwheat were stereotypes, the important thing is that Our Gang was integrated.
As I’ve said before, the music of Leroy Shield (it’s not “Shields,” just as Charles M. is not “Schultz”) is, for me, an integral part of why I favor the earlier gang’s stories. Here is an example that is a particular favorite. If I knew nothing at all, listening to this exquisite 75-second track would stop me cold and leave me asking, “Who wrote this? Where is it from?”
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/FEB/Wishing.mp3]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.
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.
Back in October I featured the 48 Hours|Mystery program, “Did the Doctor Kill the Doctor?”, about a murder that happened at a hospital where my wife worked. 48 Hours has a new program, about a crime in Falmouth, MA, the hometown of my best friend Dennis.
