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Posted on 12/29/2023 6:04:46 PM PST by Kathy in Alaska
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  HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Dan Fogelberg~Another Old Lang Syne |
HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Chris Botti/Sting~What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life |
HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Benny Goodman~Life Goes To A Party |
HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Barry Manilow~It's Just Another New Year's Eve |
Kennedy. Assassinations. Vietnam. Civil rights. The Beatles. Hippies. Long hair, jeans and miniskirts. The sexual revolution. Marijuana. The end of the Production Code.
Jules Dassin was a highly successful director who dabbled in communism in the 1940s when the Soviets were our friends. He was involved in attempts to place communists on the boards of directors of two of the major guilds in Hollywood, was unofficially blacklisted and moved to Europe.
He met Greek actress Melina Mercouri at the Cannes Film Festival, and from this friendship, which later blossomed into marriage, he came up with the comic story of a happy hooker. Dassin directed and played the American classical scholar who tries to educate and reform her, but fails.
This film could not have been made in America under the Production Code, but Europe was different. When the Catholic Church’s Legion of Decency gave it a “Condemned” rating, lines formed around the block at the art houses showing the film. The Academy gave it five nominations.
A scene was left out of the American version where Mercouri’s happy hooker introduces a shy British sailor to sex. You can see that version on TCM.
When pubic sentiment turned against the Vietnam War, many of those blacklisted, including the Hollywood Ten, returned to America to resume work. Dassin came home to direct again.
Marilyn Monroe had turned down the role of Holly Golightly, and it ended up in the hands of Audrey Hepburn, who wasn’t sure she was right for it. Holly was a rather loose member of café society, but by now the Production Code was starting to crumble under the weight of societal change. Buddy Ebsen’s career got a boost that landed him the lead role a year later in “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
This would mark Henry Mancini’s first appearance. He had worked in television, and his score for “Mr. Lucky” is still regarded as classic. When Andy Barber (Sr.) headed the Music Department at Universal, the arrival of racing season at Santa Anita saw Andy and Henry play hooky, sneak off the lot and head for the track.
Audrey Hepburn had a very limited vocal range, and Henry worked carefully within that range for this song.
This Warner Brothers film was the most harrowing tale of alcoholism since “The Lost Weekend” nearly two decades earlier. Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick played the married couple soaked in booze, and the end of the film was questionable rather than happy.
This was the second time Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer won.
The delicate condition was alcoholism, and who could play the jolly tippler better than Jackie Gleason? Glynis Johns and Charlie Ruggles rounded out the cast.
After a long absence, Walt Disney was back in the game. This mix of live action and animation was a stellar success.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were the hot adulterous couple of the day, and MGM was happy to provide a vehicle for them. The song would become a jazz standard. Johnny Mandel would achieve musical immortality five years later with “M*A*S*H.”
Who could resist the story of a couple that raises a lioness, sets her free and eventually sees her succeed in the wild?
Bricusse was best known as Anthony Newley’s lyricist and book writer for his musicals. The film was a box office disaster for Fox, and there was criticism that the song was too weak and a poor choice for the award. One critic said it could have been composed on tissue paper.
Good composers borrow, but great composers steal! If you’re going to steal, then steal from the best, in this case Mozart. The second movement of his Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat for Violin and Viola (K. 364) provided the melody for this song from a caper film that was so successful it was remade 30 years later.
This was the year the Production Code was replaced by the ratings system, which started as G-M-R-X.
”I can’t swim!” “Why, you crazy? The fall will probably kill you!” Who could forget Butch and Sundance jumping off a cliff screaming a naughty word that had to be censored when the film was shown on network TV?
Bacharach and David had labored for decades in the Brill Building. Dionne Warwick had been their greatest exponent at Flo Greenberg’s Scepter Records. The duo had recently experienced the failure of two Broadway musicals, but this entry put them back on the map.
 HAPPY NEW YEAR!! ABBA~Happy New Year AND MAY THIS BE YOUR BEST YEAR EVER! GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS ....AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!! |
God Bless our Troops!
God Bless our Troops!
The end of Vietnam. Watergate. Iran. Disco. Sexual freedom. Porn goes mainstream. Homosexuality out of the closet and so very chic. Platform shoes and leisure suits.
This was a Broadway play, a romantic comedy, turned into a film. It provided a first break for Diane Keaton and Richard Castellano, and it brought Bea Arthur to the attention of Norman Lear.
The composers of the song were founding members of the group Bread. This would mark a generational shift in movie music.
This film was the beginning of the “blaxploitation” phenomenon that flowered during the 1970s. It was the ancestor of the “Power Universe” series on the Starz cable channel.
Isaac Hayes had worked out of the Stax/Volt label in Memphis for years. This was his breakthrough as both composer and solo singer.
Irwin Allen had served his apprenticeship in TV with “Lost in Space.” Now he became the master of the big-budget disaster epics that dominated the box office in the 1970s.
The team of Hirschhorn and Kasha, who started in the Brill Building, was best known for Peppermint Rainbow’s “Will You Be Staying after Sunday” in 1969. This was major step forward for the duo.
It’s the story of a young Jewish Communist, played by Barbra Streisand – she could play that role with minimal acting – and a WASP, played by Robert Redford. In the late Vietnam era, those who had been damaged by the House Un-American Activities Committee became sympathetic characters and heroes. This Sidney Pollack effort played on that sea change in the political winds, and it’s a good example of where Hollywood was when “anti-communist” became a dirty word.
Once again, the formula that turned “The Poseidon Adventure” into a massive moneymaker was now utilized for a skyscraper fire with the same team.
Robert Altman, who had come up via industrial films and then in TV via “Bonanza,” made a massive splash with “M*A*S*H” in 1970. Always on the cutting edge of cinema, Altman directed a film about the behind-the-scenes world of country music. But here he asked his actors to write their own songs for the film. Keith Carradine stole the show with this little ditty.
It started in 1933 as “What Price, Hollywood?” and then turned into film after film on the same concept with the same title, “A Star is Born,” with each film geared to a different generation. This one was supposedly about country music, although the award-winning song doesn’t sound very much like country.
The film was originally titled “Sessions,” about a comic played by Didi Conn who wanted to be a singer. On the eve of her wedding rehearsal she beds a man whom she had just met. It was one of those things that was out of character, and in the end it turned out badly.
Joseph Brooks made this film independently, and Columbia bought it from him. Brooks had a nasty side involving the casting couch, and he killed himself before he could go to trial for rape.
At the height of the Disco era, this film, a ripoff of “Saturday Night Fever,” was savagely reviewed. It provided the first appearance for Debra Winger, and it featured the very young Jeff Goldblum.
Martin Ritt was blacklisted during the Red scare when a number of people stated he was working with various communist groups. With the sea change in the political winds, Ritt was able to return to work, and this film, wearing its liberal heart on its sleeve, was about a union organizing a textile sweatshop. It was a massive boost to Sally Field’s career; she was finally taken serious as an actress.
The 60s had some beautiful music! Thanks for the memories.
The rest — 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s — come tomorrow night. I’m heading for bed.
God Bless our Troops!
Rod Stewart with Ella Fitzgerald and Chris Botti ~ What Are You Doing New Years Eve?
h !!spel.....#150!!
Thanks, spel, for the Saturday Afternoon Edition of the Salsa Addiction Emergency Room! ((HUGS))
A good toe tapper.
Happy new Year to The Canteen!!
Love you all so very much!!!
I’m getting some snacks ready for tonight!!!!
Gonna spend it here with you guys!
Doing well after your surgery Ma??
Good reports I hope?
How is your back pain, Russ?
Sissy, how are all your kitties?
Hubby, son and kids doing well?
Radu, hoe are you Girl??
Farm and cats okay??
Hos your back, better, I hope?
Will be here later tonight!
ROCK ON!!!!
Snacks? Smoked salmon, crusty French bread and champagne ready for tonight.
Thanks, Publius...((HUGS))
I really enjoyed seeing the best of the 60s. Enjoyable memories!!
And thanks for the 70s...((HUGS))
I didn’t know all of these.
80s, 90s, 2000s, 10s and 20s tonight.
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