January 2005

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From the archives: Johnny Carson interviews Gore Vidal

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'60s magazine ad with Johnny Carson

Before too much time went by, I wanted to post this 12-15-81 Tonight Show segment, where Johnny asks Gore about Xmas gifts for the rich and famous, among other things. (Set-up: GV followed a reptile act, giving him the perfect chance for a Buckley joke-- also, the giggler heard after Vidal's best one-liners is Michael Landon.) Vidal was on the show many times over the decade, and Carson always let him say whatever he wanted. Compare JC's style in this segment to the interviewing style of either of the frauds who supposedly replaced him. Then ponder how far we've sunk.

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 27, 2005 5:21 AM

 

Robert Blake: "I'm exhausted!"

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Smoking out the real killer?

P.S. Murder suspect reminisces about his good friend Johnny!

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 25, 2005 5:03 AM

 

The Monday Movie Quiz #44

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I must be a glutton for punishment, because here I go with another attempt at re-starting the quiz. I picked another old movie this time, but thought that using pictures might make it easier to at least figure out.

So here are the clues:

1) This young girl singer is best known for her adult work as a co-star on a classic TV sitcom.

2) If you recognize him, this quiz is over. And if you only know him for one song, chances are it's the one he's performing here.

3) He was genuinely funny in the film, with moments like this.

I feel this is pretty damned easy, but I've never been right about a quiz since the first one. If you find it easy, send me an email by late Sunday night with the title, and next week you can see your name in our worldy winners circle. Good luck.

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 24, 2005 4:23 AM

 

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

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Last week's movie was Waiting for Guffman (1996), the first and, I think, still best of the Christopher Guest-Eugene Levy colloborations (the others are Best in Show and A Mighty Wind). Featuring the best bad musical ever filmed, with songs by Guest and his fellow Spinal Tappers, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean, Guffman is a mockumentary about the 150th anniversary show and celebration in Blaine, Missouri, and its deadpan skewering of small-town folk is so pointed it can make you squirm with sympathy for the characters. The entire cast, all ad-libbing, shines, but it becomes close to comedy heaven every time Guest, Levy, Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard are on, especially when they're all together.

For fans, here are a few trivia facts from the Guffman entry at the Internet Movie Database, and Warner Brothers still has the official site open.

I was heartened that not only did Wayne A. Palmer have company this time in the winner's circle, he wasn't even the first one in. That was Christopher J Hesler-- then Wayne, along with Steven Jay Gellert, Steve Perry, Dean E. Carlson and Kika Warner. A fine-looking group (except for Perry), and congratulations to all.

And next week, the quiz will be back . . . I swear, I . . .  

 

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 18, 2005 5:28 AM

 

Attack of the Son of the Curse of The Monday Movie Quiz

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I should have known that bringing back the quiz was just asking for it. Troubles that were aptly labelled "bizarre" by my friend Karl, Babelogue's tech-oriented problem solver, kept me from posting the names of last week's movie and quiz-winners in a timely fashion. This makes three out of three attempts to resurrect the quiz that have been jinxed. But I'll try again next week. I hope it works, because I'm running out of stupid titles for these excuses.

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 18, 2005 4:36 AM

 

Peter Haskett shows Bill O'Reilly how it's done

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I had a nice long telephone conversation last night with my friend Eddie Lee Sausage, and it reminded me that it's been awhile since I posted anything about the greatest audio verite recordings of all time, Shut Up, Little Man. For those of you who are newcomers to this blog, let me urge you to go right now to Eddie's webpage, which chronicles the misadventures of Peter Haskett and Raymond Huffman, possibly the funniest drunken maniacs that ever lived.

Usually when people have been dead as long as Pete and Ray, there isn't a whole lot of news about them, but not in the case of these boys. Mr. Sausage told me the following bits of uplifting information:

1) A new T-shirt by comics artist Richard McMurray is just about ready to hit the market via the website, and Eddie promises it will be the best yet. (A pretty enticing claim, considering that one of the earlier shirts was done by none other than Daniel "Ghost World" Clowes.)

2) The webpage itself will be getting a makeover, with more rare photos including (finally) a good one of Tony Newton, the psycho Nam vet who often roomed with P&R.

3) While I can't give specific names, the latest movie option on SULM involves some of the best and most innovative people working in film and video today-- believe me, you'd know their work and be as impressed as I was. Considering the sorry-looking piece of shit that was produced a couple years ago, an unauthorized mess called Shut Yer Dirty Little Mouth, the possibility of this new picture is refreshing news indeed.

Finally, in the next few months, Eddie will be discontinuing the cassettes he's sold over the years and replacing them with CDs made directly from the master tapes, all with new covers by the great Mike Flinn (see comic panel above). While still not for audiophiles, the improvement in the sound quality is substantial. I know: modesty almost forbids my mentioning that the remastering and editing of the tapes was done by yours truly. Here's a short sample from the first tape, which is also the hissiest and dingiest-sounding of the bunch, but Peter's screeching still comes across loud and clear.

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 14, 2005 6:26 AM

 

Bill Murray as . . . The Human Torch?

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Flame on! Bill Murray as Bunny Breckenridge in Ed Wood.

In 1975, before he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live and after he was a featured player in the late, great National Lampoon Radio Hour (also home to other future SNL and SCTV stars like John Belushi and Joe Flaherty), Bill Murray actually played it straight in a 13-week radio adaption of The Fantastic Four. Airing for five minutes a day, five days a week, the series dramatized the first issues of the comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and, surprisingly, they hold up very well today. Murray played Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, and the shows were narrated by none other than Smilin' Stan himself. Here's a clip from the first episode, where Johnny transforms himself into the Torch.

While the programs don't seem to be available commercially, they show up occasionally on old-radio newsgroups, and this webpage even hosts a few chapters of the first serial. For diehard FF fans, this interview with the original producer will tell you probably more than you want to know about the making of the show, including the reason Lee sounds so goddamned congested during his narration. As Stan would say, Excelsior!

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 13, 2005 3:30 AM

 

NIGHT WATCH-- Old radio's version of COPS

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These days, if anyone remembers Dragnet at all, it's the late '60s episodes, where an uber-rightwing Joe Friday confronts filthy hippies who let their babies drown in the bathtub while they get stoned. In the '50s, however, its faux-documentary approach to police drama-- first on radio, then on television-- seemed startlingly realistic. It inspired a number of imitators, but none more interesting than an audio verite series on CBS radio called Night Watch.

The "star" of the series was reporter Donn Reid, who wore a tape-deck on his back and wielded a microphone hidden in a fake flashlight. He rode with Culver City police, recording their skirmishes with civilians during the night shift. Because of the nature of the program and the loosening of content censorship at the time, the series dealt with surprisingly adult subject matter for its time (1954-1955). Flashers, rape and child molestation were some of the many cases Reid documented on the show, sometimes even interviewing the perps in their cells as they contemplated suicide. (According to old-radio historian John Dunning, Reid himself was shot at and even knifed by some of the bad guys he tape-recorded.)

Today, nearly the entire series exists, including a bonus "uncensored" episode, which is the source of this clip, where a woman tells the cops to leave her man alone. (Note: it's not the clearest-sounding mp3, so use your EQ.) And remember: the secret word is "goddamn."

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 12, 2005 6:28 AM

 

Worst Beach Boys song ever?

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Wake up, Mike-- it's time to suck!

As any longtime devotee of Brian Wilson and his messengers can attest, this is a very crowded category. After 1970 and the band's last great album, Sunflower, the magic happened less and less and the crap flowed more and more. BB bootleg collectors especially have been subjected to some of the most painful, rotten recordings ever made.

Or, in the case of our example today, never made, or at least released. Here's a demo of their rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," their hoped-for cash-in on the country's Bicenntennial craze. They apparently pulled Brian out of bed and told him to bring his sleighbells. As my old friend Steve Perry said, it makes the Civil War sound kinda fun!

P.S. Listen especially to the nuanced phrasing of Boys' lead nasalist Mike Love, who never met a song he couldn't diminish. (And for all the carpsters who still complain about the 62-year-old BW's voice on the new Smile-- nominated for three shoo-in Grammys-- be thankful this money-grubbing asshole isn't on a second of it.) As I said to a friend recently, that's not singing, that's sneezing.

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 11, 2005 6:16 AM

 

The precariously tentative return of The Monday Movie Quiz

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Last time we tried to resurrect the quiz it lasted all of one week. Part of the problem was that the blog's lengthy hiatus lost most of its old movie readership, so that the choice of a Charlie Chaplin film as the quiz reopener (even a classic like Modern Times) led to a total of two correct answers.

So this time, I've chosen a movie that even people who never watch Turner Classic Movies should get. (In fact, I expect to hear from the quiz champeen Wayne A. Palmer about it being too easy, but then, he gets them even when they're not in English.) You can hear the audio clue here.

No other hints this time, but if you've seen it, you should recognize it immediately. If you do know it, send me an email before late Sunday night, and next week the quiz will actually have a winners' circle again, and your name will be in it.

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 10, 2005 6:26 AM

 

From the archives: Mort Sahl lashes out

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Mort Sahl in happier, pre-NPR days

While not at the level of mutual disgust that occured during the Terri Gross-Gene Simmons dustup, here's a clip (edited) of an April 2004 interview between Mort Sahl and WNYC's Brian Lehrer that couldn't have gone much worse. Sahl, appearing on Lehrer's show to promote a standup engagement, quickly gets fed up with both his interviewer and the callers, and when the talk continues to be about Bush versus Kerry instead of things Sahl considers more worthy of conversation--like his current gig-- he really gets his hackles up. He comes off like an old grouch (although as one myself, I agree with him on just about everything here), and Lehrer comes across as a typical simpering public-radio wiffle-ball (as James Wolcott so perfectly called them). (Note: File size is large, 1.30 MB)

P.S. To hear a friendler Mort talking to a better interviewer, here's his July 2003 conversation with Harry Shearer.

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 10, 2005 5:37 AM

 

And you thought he looked bad before . . .

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Michael Moore, aiming his People's Choice award in the right direction.

"If you can't beat 'em, look like 'em."-- Michael Moore, yukking it up about his new look with Dennis Miller's #1 fan Jay Leno after the election.

"I'll take this as an invitation to make more Fahrenheit 9/11s."-- Michael Moore at The People's Choice Awards show, knowing that, thanks to his pro-war candidate John Kerry's loss, he'll get the chance.

"Not since David Crosby got out of prison has a fat man had such a drastic makeover and looked so much worse."-- Steve Monaco, still pissed at Moore for turning his back on Ralph Nader.

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 10, 2005 3:42 AM

 

The Return of the (Hi-Def) Couch Pundit

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Once again, too much real life has been getting in the way of yours truly enjoying the kind of goof-off entertainments that this blog is all about, resulting in another months-long hiatus. But I'm back now, and with a difference: from now on, all films discussed here will have been viewed on my new high-definition Sony monitor, a mutually splurged-on Xmas present for me and my honey. Of course, this won't make any difference to all of you, but it sure makes a big one to me-- hooked up to my not-too-shabby stereo system (featuring equipment from Minnesota's finest, Magnepan and Audio Research), this is the greatest movie-watchin' machine I've ever owned.

Don't worry, this won't become a tech-oriented blog. When warranted, though, I'll comment on the quality of certain DVDs, and here are a few of the first ones I watched that gave me pleasure.

1) Fuego, starring Isabel Sarli and directed by Armando Bo. Speaking of pleasure, here's a soft-core hoot from South America with a surprising amount of nudity and kinkiness, at least for its time (it was released in 1969). Its star, the magnificently-uddered Isabel Sarli, was Miss Argentina of 1955, and that prestigious title led to a film career that lasted three decades. Those films, however, all had titles like Naked Temptation and Meat. It's hard to imagine any of them being as enjoyable as this one, where she plays a nymphomaniac so horny that she exposes herself to every scrounge on the street, lets herself be slobbered over by a troll-like lesbian maid, and even gets off from a pelvic exam. (The doctor who performs it diagnoses her problem as over-stimulation of the genitals.)

This Something Weird DVD (SW is the name of the company) is a scratched-up print, probably 16mm, with lots of pops and splices; in other words, it's perfect for this kind of crap. On the plus side, the color is vibrant and the image is sharp, so that you can even see the shots of pubic hair that they apparently tried to hide, probably for censorship reasons. As far as I'm concerned, that's what digital video is all about.

2) 13 Ghosts, starring Margaret Hamilton and directed by William Castle. This is the kind of movie that, once seen as a child, never looks bad to you in later life, no matter how hokey you know it really is. I will always love this picture, if only for the memory of seeing it at a Saturday matinee when it came out. (And if you remember kids' matinees, man, are you old!) When the ghosts finally started appearing on-screen, there was absolute bedlam in that theater, with kids screaming at the top of their lungs and racing up the aisles for the safety of the lobby. It was all in good fun, though, and we knew it-- the ones doing the screaming were laughing at the same time.

So the DVD is a special treat for those of us who still have our original Ghost Viewer (don't worry, Castle newbies, a replica comes with the disc)-- the print is perfectly tinted, so for the first time ever on video you can actually see the spooks when you look through the red part, or, for you chickens, not see them when you look through the blue. There's a political analogy in there somewhere, but I'll let you Republicrats make it on your own.

3) A Fistful of Dollars, starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Sergio Leone, and 4) Death Rides a Horse, starring the almighty Lee Van Cleef. There isn't a damn thing I can tell you about Dollars that hasn't been said before-- everybody knows it's a groundbreaking Western film that also introduced the world to the music of Ennio Morricone. It even created a new genre, the "spaghetti western," which produced over 500 (!) imitators in the following 10-12 years. To call Death Rides a Horse a Leone imitation, however, wouldn't be quite fair, since it also features Morricone at his wild-West peak, as well as a top performance by the other king of these Euro-oaters, Lee Van Cleef.

Long ago, in my newsgroup-posting days, I developed a formula for evaluating ol' Lee's ouevre: if he's bald, it's a good one, and if he's bald and eats a meal, it's a great one. (How great is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly? It's so great that he's bald and eats two meals.) Here he's toupee-free and dubs his own voice-- as Stan Lee would say, 'nuff said. The movie's filled with great scenes, especially when John Philip "Danger: Diabolik" Law gets buried in sand up to his neck in the hot desert sun. It's at the top of the non-Leones.

Unfortunately, it's at the bottom of DVDs as far as looks go: no matter which version of this you buy, there's a reason it costs so little-- they all suck. All of them seem to be from the same shitty pan&scan print, where over half the picture is omitted. Still, the plot, action, and dialogue are so strong, I doubt you'll notice what you're missing. Recommended.

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 7, 2005 6:12 AM

 

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