I demand 50’s TV, on demand

On the Roku player I enjoy watching old TV shows, particularly from the late 1950’s. But Netflix is again yanking a favorite from Watch Instantly, forcing me to rush through as many episodes as I can in a few days. First, it was “Alfred Hitchcock Presents“, and now the latest victim is my beloved “Leave It To Beaver“.

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My favorite TV show way back in the first grade was “Have Gun, Will Travel”, which was one of the last network series that also ran on radio. I even had a “Have Gun, Will Travel” lunchbox. (We don’t talk about that unfortunate incident with the chicken noodle soup in the thermos.)

Fortunately, the adventures of the gunslinger-for-hire, Paladin, don’t have an expiration date on Netflix yet. Watching the series now, I can see why I liked it so much. Being a half-hour show, the stories aren’t slow and dragged out, the way they were on other westerns, especially “Gunsmoke”. It shouldn’t take too long to recognize the very young actress in this clip from 1958.

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Beatles in colour

When Denro and I were at the Boston Super Megafest concert, we were given our choice of two photo prints, and these were my picks. The microphone in this one is from channel 7 in New York, and it looks like it was taken in ’65. I’ll see if I can get a fix on the exact date.

And this is a somewhat curious pic of Paul, maybe also from ’65, with his left eye looking like mine did after surgery.

Margo Guryan, pretty in pink

Margo Guryan’s highly prized and praised 1968 album, “Take a Picture”, is pretty in pink! Sundazed Music has issued a limited, 100-disc, pressing of the original LP on gorgeous, translucent pink vinyl.

http://www.sundazed.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=1838

Here’s a video of me putting needle to groove on virgin vinyl, side 1, track 1, playing the first minute of Margo’s “Sunday Morning”. The disc was taken from the original analog 2-track master tape, and the sound quality is, like Margo herself, stunning.

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Margo spent the summer of ’59 at the Lenox School of Jazz, here in good, ol’ Massachusetts, with an illustrious group of instructors, including Bill Evans, John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Jim Hall, Max Roach, and Gunther Schuller. Here are a few photos from that magical summer. Click to enlarge, as usual.

(Note to Morris: Recognize some of the people with Margo?)

I cut off the video above at exactly the point where the song really kicks in for me. I love the way Margo sings, “Come hold me in your arms…” Here’s the whole track.

Many cover versions of “Sunday Morning” have been recorded. Margo has no particular favorite, but one that I know she likes is by Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry.

Like The Like

Since the Bangles and the Go-Go’s, the world has been in need of a top-flight 60’s retro girl band, and The Like sounds like it to me. The drummer is Tennessee Thomas, whose dad is Pete Thomas, drummer for Elvis Costello and the Attractions. A tip o’ the toupee to my nephew Alex for the tip-off.