In memoriam: Harold Pinter 1930-2008 - Eartha Kitt 1927-2008

it's a mad mad mad mad world (1963)

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 of stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers. 

The film begins as the occupants of four vehicles on a lonely highway in the Southern California desert stop to help "Smiler" Grogan (Jimmy Durante, a bank robber, in his last screen appearance), who has just careened off the highway in a spectacular crash ("He just went sailing right out there")

With his dying breaths, Grogan tells the bystanders, comedy writer Dingy "Ding" Bell (Mickey Rooney), his writing partner Benjy Benjamin (Buddy Hackett), moving van driver Lennie Pike (Jonathan Winters), dentist Melville Crump (Sid Caesar), and edible seaweed company owner J. Russell Finch (Milton Berle) about "three hundred and fifty G's" ($350,000) hidden in the fictitious city of Santa Rosita, less than a day's drive away, under a mysterious "big W”. Grogan then dies, literally kicking a bucket. The witnesses immediately begin arguing over how to divide the money, sparking a wild race. Each carload of characters races to be first to Santa Rosita and find the money. Many others, including Lt. Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne, a cactus-collecting British army officer played by Terry-Thomas; and Otto Meyer, a sneaky con man played by Phil Silvers, join the race as it progresses.

Berle's character, J. Russell Finch, is recovering from a nervous breakdown. He continually pops pills for his nerves throughout the film. His mother-in-law, Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman), is loud, overbearing, and opportunistic. Mrs. Marcus, after arguing with Finch, phones for help to her son Sylvester (Dick Shawn), a beatnik lifeguard, who is introduced in a wild frenzied dance sequence with his girlfriend (Barrie Chase) to "31 Flavors" (recalling the 1953 Baskin-Robbins slogan), sung by the Shirelles. The stranded Finches are kindly given a ride in the passing Hawthorne's jeep. After quarreling with Hawthorne over a minor issue, Mrs. Marcus gets out of the jeep and spitefully drops Hawthorne's key ring down her bosom. After an offer of help by a passing driver (Jack Benny), Finch and Hawthorne turn her upside down and shake her to dislodge the keys. Later Mrs. Marcus beats Hawthorne over the head with her purse while he is driving.

Unbeknownst to the treasure hunters, Captain Culpepper (Spencer Tracy) of the Santa Rosita Police has been working on the Smiler Grogan case for years. He suspects the various people who heard Grogan's last words may know where the money is hidden, and he has their progress tracked by various police units, including helicopters.

Quickly finding a small airport, Bell and Benjamin frantically enlist the aid of Tyler Fitzgerald (Jim Backus), a wealthy pilot who is hungover and lying on a pool table. He unfortunately has a penchant for drink, even while flying. Meanwhile, Dr. Crump and his wife Monica (Edie Adams) charter a Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" World War I-era biplane which almost falls apart in mid-flight. During Rooney & Hackett's flight, Backus continues to drink and, while mixing his own "old fashion", is accidentally knocked out when Hackett fools with the controls. Eventually they make contact with the Rancho Conejo airport tower located near Santa Rosita. The tower guys (Carl Reiner and Jesse White) decide to enlist the prowess of local pilot Colonel Wilberforce (Paul Ford) to "talk them down". It does not go well. Hackett and Rooney, while trying to land,crash into a plate glass window of an airport restaurant filled with diners, while the frantic Colonel Wilberforce, trying just a bit too hard to talk them down, falls out of his tower, dangling by his microphone cord. The Crumps ultimately get locked in a hardware store basement once they arrive in Santa Rosita, eventually freeing themselves with dynamite which they find there. Peter Falk and Eddie Anderson (who played Rochester on Jack Benny's radio and TV shows) appear as Santa Rosita Yellow Cab drivers.

Otto Meyer stops to pick up the bicycling Lennie Pike (whose van had broken down), but when the dim-witted van driver reveals to Otto all he knows about the treasure, Meyer tricks Pike into getting out of his car. The clever Meyer leaves Pike on the roadside while speeding off to get the money for himself (Winters' facial expressions provide the bulk of the humor in his role, especially during this sequence). Pike later catches up with Meyer at a newly opened service station owned by two nerdy attendants, Irwin (Marvin Kaplan) and Ray (Arnold Stang), and tries to attack Meyer. Ray knocks Pike out with a bottle of oil and the two station owners tie him up with duct tape as Meyer escapes. Pike awakens, breaks out of the duct tape, goes on a rampage that destroys the station, and steals a Dodge Power Wagon tow truck.

Culpepper is anticipating a nice vacation since the Smiler Grogan case, which he has worked for 15 years, will be solved once the travelers find the hidden cash. He continues to monitor their progress as reports filter in from various police units. He starts to get ideas of his own about what should happen to all that money, however, spurred on by his imminent retirement and the low pension for his job.

Leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, all the main characters eventually converge on Santa Rosita State Park. Culpepper hurries to intercept them, telling his officers to back off and let him handle the situation. The money is soon dug up under the "Big W," a group of four palm trees planted diagonally to resemble the letter. Culpepper quietly approaches (after they finish arguing about how the money will be divided) and requests that they turn themselves in. Obviously, the authorities will be more lenient if they go voluntarily. Everyone piles into two taxicabs and heads for police headquarters, while Culpepper makes a break for it with the money. Ironically, just as this happens, Culpepper's Chief, Aloysius (William Demarest) blackmails the mayor into trebling Culpepper's pension.

Culpepper has decided to flee to nearby Mexico (strongly hinted as he looks at a map of California and the camera focuses on a strip on the bottom labeled "Mexico" as instrumental Mexican music plays softly on the soundtrack). His plan is in place, including a fast boat to deliver him south. But the treasure-seekers realize that Culpepper has turned the opposite way out of the State Park, so they pursue him. Culpepper, driving his police-issue Dodge, is chased by the treasure-seekers and his scheme unravels. The pursuit is a great car chase on highways and through town resulting in the eventual destruction of all three vehicles at an old building in downtown Santa Rosita that is about to be torn down. Upon hearing of the chase, and failure to contact Culpepper, Aloysius realizes that Culpepper has become a criminal, and sadly orders that he be arrested.

In a madcap conclusion, all the men chase Culpepper into the derelict building, chase him to the top floor, are tossed off a rescue ladder, and the suitcase filled with cash spills open. The money flutters down to the crowd on the street below, and the male treasure hunters wind up in the hospital. The film ends as Culpepper and the other men are moaning and bandaged in traction, lamenting the loss of the money and facing punishment. Culpepper, in visible disgust, remarks in dark sarcasm: "The only reason that you ten idiots are gonna get off lightly is because the judge will have me up there to throw the book at!" Culpepper mentions a litany of troubles before him, including a divorce and his pension being revoked, doubting that he will laugh about anything ever again. Benjy Benjamin, who is eating a banana, then tosses the peel on the floor in disgust. The women from the story, dressed in hospital uniforms, enter the hospital room. Loud-mouthed Mrs. Marcus, in the midst of another bombastic tirade, slips on the banana peel and falls hard on her rear end. All the men burst into hysterical laughter as she is taken away by orderlies. A smile slowly comes to Culpepper's face, and he finally joins in the laughter.

Although well known for serious films such as Inherit the Wind and Judgment at Nuremberg (both starring Spencer Tracy), Kramer set out to make the ultimate comedy film with It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. At more than three hours in its original roadshow version, including overture, intermission and exit music, the result is certainly one of the longest.

Filmed in Ultra Panavision 70 and presented in Cinerama (becoming one of the first Cinerama films originated with one camera), it also had an all-star cast, with dozens of major comedy stars from all eras of cinema making appearances in the film.

The film followed a Hollywood trend in the 1960s of producing "epic" films as a way of wooing audiences away from television and back to movie theaters. Television had sapped the regular movie going audience and box-office revenues were dropping, so the major studios experimented with a number of gimmicks to attract audiences, including widescreen films.

The title was taken from Thomas Middleton's 1605 comedy A Mad World, My Masters. Kramer considered adding a fifth "mad" to the title before deciding that it would be redundant, but noted in interviews that he later regretted it.

Mr. B & shoe

In memoriam: Van Johnson (1916-2008)

with Gene Kelly in Brigadoon

...what if....

1963's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" by Ian Fleming is considered to be one of the best James Bond novels. It falls in the middle of the literary trilogy bracketed by "Thunderball" and "You Only Live Twice" to chronicle the crimes of Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his organization SPECTRE.

The film version of the book, released in 1969, is also highly regarded by Bond purists and fans but has been mostly ignored by mainstream audiences. It was critically savaged at the time for an underachieving performance by newcomer George Lazenby as James Bond, and a story that did not deliver the standard 007 formula established in earlier films. Indeed, it was the first Bond film that did not make money at the box-office (although subsequent reissues and pairings with other Bond films allowed it to break even). Because of these and other reasons, it is generally not "counted" in mainstream retrospectives of the series which focus on the films of Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan.

But On Her Majesty's Secret Service (hereafter referred to as OHMSS), was supposed to have been filmed several years earlier, first as a follow-up to Goldfinger and then to Thunderball. For various reasons, legal and creative, it was delayed but if it had been released in 1967 instead of 1969, it would have been a markedly different film.



January 1966

The latest James bond film, Thunderball is riding the crest of spy mania. For a while it looks like it will surpass The Sound of Music as the year's number-one box-office hit, with only a handful of other films ahead of it on Variety's "All-Time Box-office Champs" list. No Bond film, before or since, has ever generated as much word-of-mouth enthusiasm or ticket sales. The secret agent craze is at its peak and a dozen new films and television shows are copying the 007 formula, trying to replicate its success. Over the course of the next few months, EON producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, while hopping from continent to continent attending premieres of Thunderball, are quickly planning the direction of theJames Bond film series. The decisions they make now will influence the series for the next decade and beyond.

Originally the end credits for Thunderball promised "James Bond will return in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE" but this was cut from release prints when EON reevaluated their options. They had two choices:

1) Do the definitive James Bond film, OHMSS, following Ian Fleming's original series/story arc and definition of the character, taking advantage of an older, more mature Sean Connery as the tired, world-weary 007.

2) One More Time! Forget about Fleming, continuity or the series canon and try to make as much money as possible by replicating their previous successes and building on the gadgets, action, and thrills with humor. Surely the secret agent phenomenon could not last forever as imitation spies were popping up everywhere. Besides, audiences were responding to the lighthearted action/adventure formula established by EON and not a part of the original Fleming books.

Of course we know now that the producers chose option #2. Once that decision was made, it didn't matter which Fleming title was filmed, since they weren't going to adhere to the storyline anyway. In spring of that year plans were made to go to Japan for shooting You Only Live Twice.

But what if Saltzman and Broccoli decided differently, and went with the option of making OHMSS instead? Could it have been the ultimate James Bond film, starring Sean Connery, with a lavish budget, a seasoned and enthusiastic crew, made at that time when Bond-mania was at its zenith and audience interest at its peak?

It was during this period that Broccoli and Saltzman hired veteran British director Lewis Gilbert to helm the next film, before the decision was made to postpone OHMSS. Gilbert would have actually been a fine choice to direct the Fleming story, coming off a huge hit Alfie which won numerous awards in the US and UK (as well as being a box-office hit). It featured a strong romantic story with believable performances by the lead characters, with Michael Caine in the title role. Rather than concentrating on the gadgets, hardware and sci-fi aspects of YOLT, Gilbert possibly would have focused on the interpersonal relationships between Bond/M, Bond/Draco, Bond/Tracy, and most importantly Bond/Blofeld. After all, it was EON, not Gilbert, that took YOLT into outer space and away from Fleming's plot - what might he have done with a more intimate, character-driven story? It's fair to say that not only would the love scenes between Bond and Tracy have been more believable (and more intense) but the confrontation between Bond and Blofeld at Piz Gloria could have had far more verbal and emotional fireworks.

With a huge budget Gilbert would also have enjoyed much of the same crew he used for YOLT: Ken Adam to design the sets, Freddie Young as Director of Photography, John Barry to do the music. All three were at the top of their game professionally at that point, highly in demand, Academy-award-nominated, and anxious to make the "definitive" Bond film. In addition it's likely that Richard Maibaum would've been brought on board to help translate some of the original Fleming story, since he'd been doing that since the first Bond film. Whether Roald Dahl (hired to pen YOLT) would've been retained is anybody's guess, but even a collaboration between him and Maibaum might have been interesting. The result would have been a combination of a larger-than-life, action-packed adventure combined with the original Fleming story - much like Thunderball, Goldfinger, and Dr. No were.

OHMSS 1967 - THE STORY

Hypothetically, it would have been possible to take the basic Ian Fleming plotline and "rearrange" it to accommodate for more action and suspense in the film's first hour, which most audiences found slow in the 1969 version. In fact this was one of the main criticisms leveled by critics at the time (besides their objections to Lazenby) - the premise of "following Bond around" for the first hour of the film, with no mission or objective, while a series of obligatory (and unmotivated) fight scenes were interspersed, strayed too far from the established Bond formula. Similar scenes had been added and shuffled around in Goldfinger, which considerably enhanced the story and actually improved on Fleming's original. Thus a 1967 Maibaum script might have gone like this:

1) A crisis is looming in Europe. Weapons of biological warfare have been used, in small quantities, and the leaders of the free world are at a loss to explain the phenomenon or the cause.

2) James Bond is AWOL, having been searching for the roots of SPECTRE for two years with little success. At this point no one is even sure of who is behind the operation. With SPECTRE currently underground, Bond is enjoying some quiet time while he relaxes, flirts with girls and eventually meets Tracy.

3) A secondary villain is introduced to provide motivation for Bond's mission. He would probably be the equivalent of Mr. Osato in YOLT but with more chops and menace (for the sake of argument let's call him Gumboldt). Perhaps this is who MI6 thinks is responsible for the bio-weapons scare, and dispatches Bond to investigate.

4) Bond however is clearly tired of his job at this point, having "saved the world" once too often and is looking for a way out of his assignment. He contemplates his resignation but changes his mind after a personal encounter with Gumboldt, perhaps in the presence of Tracy.

5) The story cross-cuts between Bond's invesigation/pursuit of Gumboldt, with several hair-raising action scenes and various exotic locales, and his emerging romance with Tracy.

6) Bond learns of the connection between the College of Arms and Count de Bleauchamp, who he suspects to be Blofeld. He assumes the identity of Sir Hillary Bray and infiltrates Piz Gloria. From here on out the film follows Fleming's story (and the 1969 film version).

The hypotheticals advanced in this scenario would presume that Gilbert would be given leeway to adapt the Fleming story his own way, as opposed to following an imposed sci-fi fantasy script from EON (it's hard to see how sci-fi could be included in the context of the original OHMSS story, but after all EON did it in YOLT, Diamonds Are Forever, and subsequent Bond films).

When the film version of YOLT was released, many critics complained of it's heavy dose of hardware and science fiction, and the loss of James Bond as a character. It was also the first Bond film that did not top its predecessor in box-office receipts. The EON "post-mortem course correction," done after the release of every film to gauge its effect on audiences and critics, dictated a return to the original Ian Fleming character and away from gadgets and space hardware.

Thus the 1969 version of OHMSS, directed by Peter Hunt, followed Fleming's storyline closely but along the way took some wrong turns of its own. Hunt was a brilliant editor, responsible for some of the ground-breaking editing techniques pioneered in sixties cinema. His "compression of real-time" style of editing borrowed equally from old British films and contemporary American television. As an EON team member from the beginning it seemed like he was being groomed for the role of director, especially when he was called upon to pull together the fragmented mess that Thunderball had become after director Terence Young walked away from the film when shooting had completed. Hunt rearranged some scenes and successfully restored a narrative to the wandering epic, guaranteeing its place as one of the year's biggest films. As a consequence he was promised directing duties for the next installment, but Harry Saltzman had already made a deal to hire Lewis Gilbert for the next film, which was now slated to be YOLT. Hunt would have to wait another two years for his chance.

Not an experienced director of actors (this was his first time out of the editing room), Hunt was uncomfortable with coaching or motivating them through a series of intimate dialog scenes, preferring to concentrate on his action sequences and fistfights. Thus the novel's rather subtle opening scene on the beach with Bond and Tracy becomes a lavishly-photographed suicide rescue and ensuing fistfight.

Rather than involving the audience with the story and forcing the viewer to be an active participant in the plot (as in the film version of From Russia With Love), Hunt chose to focus on action and editing. The early scenes of his film are punctuated by random fight sequences that seem unmotivated and gratuitous (just why do Draco's men want to kill Bond on the beach, after he's rescued Tracy?) Hunt was also dismissive of Lazenby's inexperience, saying a director could "get an adequate performance out of anyone, with proper editing" but Lazenby was clearly stiff and wooden in some scenes, and overwhelmed by Diana Rigg in others. He shines, however, in the action sequences with a physical ferocity unmatched since the early Connery days. Hunt takes great advantage of this, together with superb cinematography, to distract the audience from Lazenby's other shortcomings. Most of the time it works. Unfortunately he also uses some drop-frame editing techniques, that although novel and trendy at the time seem overly gimmicky and annoying today. The clumsy use of overdubbing by both Lazenby and fellow actor George Baker also distract from an otherwise solid movie.



OHMSS 1967 - THE CAST

There are some fans of George Lazenby's Bond who insist he is "better than Connery could have been." This is in contrast to critics and audiences worldwide who did not accept him in the role, or believe that his scenes with Diana Rigg were more than clumsy attempts at romantic chemistry. Could Connery have projected the depth or emotion that this film demanded? During all of the sixties and seventies, there are very few "acting moments" of tender intimacy in any of his films. He shows affection for Tippi Hedren's character in Hitchcock's Marnie but his portrayal is carefully measured and analytical. His two other 60s films, Woman of Straw and A Fine Madness, with Gina Lollabrigida and Joanne Woodward respectively, also did not give us much in the way of romance.

But the 1968 potboiler-western Shalako has several interesting pointers. It is one of the few films where Connery is allowed to show his acting chops in an extended, intimate scene with a woman. In this case, Brigitte Bardot, who was also up for the part of Tracy in OHMSS!

Although in this film Bardot looks more like one of the Bada Bing girls from TV'sThe Sopranos, her acting ability is (arguably) adequate. One could easily imagine her as the vulnerable but headstrong Countessa DiVincenzo from the picture here, as she fits Fleming's description of a "fair-haired blue-eyed girl of mixed European descent."

Shalako was directed by Edward Dmytryk, best known for The Caine Mutiny with Humphrey Bogart. Dmytryk was an old-school Hollywood director, having worked his way up the studio system; he was not one of the auteurs that were making progressive, groundbreaking, films in the sixties. Instead it follows the formula of a 1950s western, updated with a bit more violence and sex. Connery's attempt at an American accent is uneven, and the almost-all European cast makes for a rather self-conscious period piece to say the least.

But there is a sequence in the film that shares many common elements with the love scene in OHMSS when Bond proposes to Tracy. Both scenes show the hero and heroine in a rare quiet romantic moment, momentarily safe from villains in pursuit, with romantic/sexual chemistry building.

In Shalako Connery exudes confidence and sexual charisma while Bardot plays the sensitive, shy submissive woman There is a genuine "moment" at the end of the scene as she refuses his charms, and based on Connery's reaction its not hard to see what he what might have done with Bond's reactions to Tracy (and her subsequent death) in OHMSS.

Another interesting choice for the part of Tracy might have been actress Julie Christie. Originally interviewed by EON for the part of Domino in TB (and passed over because her breasts were too small, or so the story goes), she was nevertheless an actress of considerable ability and screen presence. Her most recent film Dr. Zhivago was an Oscar-winning smash and her star was rising quickly in Hollywood and overseas. She certainly would have been an interesting match for Connery and their on-camera chemistry would have substantially eclipsed the pairing with Bardot. Christie was adept at playing the "bird with a broken wing" character that the part of Tracy called for and had a streak of independence and feistiness as well.

The other actresses mentioned for the role ran the gamut from Raquel Welch to Faye Dunaway, but in the end Diana Rigg won the part. Was she hired to compensate for newcomer Lazenby, or would she have had the role if Connery played opposite? Impossible to know in retrospect but certainly interesting to speculate.

Another cast change to consider would have been the part of the villain Blofeld. Actor Jan Werich was hired to portray him in YOLT but was replaced at the last minute by Donald Pleasance, who needed extensive makeup effects to make him appear more menacing. One actor who would not have required such treatment was Yul Brynner, the quintessential bald icon, who would have contributed much gravitas to the part. Another interesting pick might have been actor Rod Steiger, not known for his subtlety when interpreting roles but hey, this is a James Bond film! Steiger had recently completed Dr. Zhivago with David Lean and was about to star in his oscar-winning role, In the Heat of the Night.

If Saltzman and Broccoli had chosen to make this film, it's likely that Sean Connery would have walked away from the series anyway, having done the definitive interpretation of the character. It's also probable that the film would have been more successful than the Lazenby/Hunt version of OHMSS, and as a result EON would not have abandoned the Fleming character as they did through the seventies. Their disappointment with the 1969 film was so extreme that they stayed away from "Ian Fleming's James Bond" (for five subsequent films) until 1981's For Your Eyes Only, offering audiences instead a lighthearted Roger Moore as the 70s jet-setting Playboy bachelor version of Bond. A more successful OHMSS would have ensured that following installments would at least borrow more from the original Fleming plotlines rather than scrapping them entirely.

Opinions vary widely on whether things could have worked out this way. There is little in life that you can count on and even fewer things that are "perfect," especially with the limitations and compromises that Hollywood imposes, so perhaps the notion of a 007 film that encapsulated all the essential qualities: story, actors, setting, time period etc., can never truly be realized (or maybe we came as close as we can get with Goldfinger). But taking a look at the decisions made nearly thirty years ago gives us some insight into what might have happened.

In memoriam : Bettie Page (1923-2008)

Bettie Page was a former American model who became famous in the 1950s for her fetish modeling and pin-up photos. She was also one of the earliest Playmates of the Month for Playboy magazine.
While she faded into obscurity in the 1960s after converting to Christianity and serving as a Baptist missionary in Angola, she experienced a resurgence of popularity in the 1980s and had a significant cult following. Her look, including her jet black hair and trademark bangs, has influenced many artists.

what u wanna do with your life?????????????????

Home at last - part 8 : bedroom

Bond23

Daniel Craig confirms speculation that he wants Bond 23 to have a fresh start, free from the story arc of "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace"...



from MI6
7th December 2008

Daniel Craig has confirmed that the 23rd James Bond film will likely revert to the usual 007 formula of standalone adventures. As "Quantum of Solace" director Marc Forster left the original ending to the film on the cutting room floor (visit the movie coverage section for full details), the door has been left open for a fresh start on Bond 23 without any hang-over from the two-film story arc that began in "Casino Royale".

In an interview with Collider.com, Craig was first asked about the idea of stretching the story in to a third film.

“No fucking way. I’m done with that story," he said. "I want to lie on a beach for the first half an hour of the next movie drinking a cocktail."

While obviously joking about how the first half hour of Bond 23 would play out, Craig did voice some opinion on how the next adventure should be treated, and the possible inclusion of franchise regulars Q and Moneypenny - missing in action since he took over the tuxedo from Pierce Brosnan.

"We’ve finished this story as far as I’m concerned. We’ve got a great set of bad guys. There is an organization that we can use whenever we want to [Quantum]. The relationship between Bond and M is secure and Felix is secure. Let’s try and find where Moneypenny came from and where Q comes from. Let’s do all that and have some fun with it."
No release date has been announced for Bond 23, with fans and experts unsure whether it will be 2010 or 2011.
When quizzed about the schedule, Craig said:"We don’t know when we’re going to do the next Bond. Nobody’s thinking about it at the moment. We’re giving it a rest for the moment. If I can squeeze something in next year I will…but I haven’t figured out what that’ll be yet. But nothing in the cold."

Producer Michael G. Wilson Wilson confirmed a few weeks ago that pre-production was due to start shortly. "Last time when we were in post production on Casino Royale we were already working on Quantum Of Solace", Wilson said. "This time we haven’t even started but in January we are going to get some writers together and start kicking some ideas around." Starting the screenplay in January could mean that Bond 23 hits the traditional November slot in 2010. The wrinkle to the usual two-year timeline could be the hand-over from Sony back to MGM, pushing the release to 2011.

Tribute to Sammy Davis jr.

Samuel George “Sammy” Davis, Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American entertainer. He was a dancer, singer, multi-instrumentalist (vibraphone, trumpet, and drums), impressionist, comedian, convert to Judaism, and Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor. He was a member of the 1960s Rat Pack, which was led by his old friend Frank Sinatra, and included fellow performers Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.



Samuel George "Sammy" Davis, Jr. was born in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York to Elvera Sanchez (1905-2000), a Puerto Rican dancer, and Sammy Davis, Sr. (1900-1988), an African-American entertainer. The couple were both dancers in vaudeville. As an infant, he was raised by his paternal grandmother. When he was three years old, his parents split up. His father, not wanting to lose custody of his son, took him on tour. During his lifetime Sammy Davis, Jr. stated that his mother was Puerto Rican and born in San Juan. As a child he learned how to dance from his father, Sammy Davis, Sr. and his "uncle" Will Mastin, who led the dance troupe his father worked for. Davis joined the act as a young child and they became the Will Mastin Trio. Throughout his long career, Davis included the Will Mastin Trio in his billing.
Mastin and his father had shielded him from racism. Snubs were explained as jealousy, for instance. When Davis served in the United States Army during World War II however, he was confronted by strong racial prejudice. As he said later, "Overnight the world looked different. It wasn't one color anymore. I could see the protection I'd gotten all my life from my father and Will. I appreciated their loving hope that I'd never need to know about prejudice and hate, but they were wrong. It was as if I'd walked through a swinging door for eighteen years, a door which they had always secretly held open."

Sammy at 6


While in the service, however, he joined an integrated entertainment Special Services unit, and found that the spotlight removed some of the prejudice. "My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man's thinking," he said.
After he was discharged, Davis rejoined the dance act which played at a wide variety of spots around Portland Oregon, and began to achieve success on his own as he was singled out for praise by critics. The next year, he released his second album. The next move in his growing career was to appear in the Broadway show Mr. Wonderful in 1956.
In 1959, he became a member of the Rat Pack, which was led by his old friend Frank Sinatra, and included such fellow performers as Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Shirley MacLaine. Initially, Sinatra called the gathering of fast-living friends "the Clan," but Sam voiced his opposition, saying that it invoked thoughts about the Ku Klux Klan. Sinatra renamed the group "the Summit"...but nevertheless, the media kept on calling it the Rat Pack all along.
Davis was a headliner at The Frontier Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for many years, yet was required to accept accommodations in a rooming house on the west side of the city, rather than reside with his peers in the hotels, as were all black performers in the 1950s. For example, no stage dressing rooms were provided for black performers, so they were required to wait outside by the swimming pool between acts.
During his early years in Las Vegas, he and other African-American artists like Nat King Cole and Count Basie could entertain on the stage, but often could not reside at the hotels at which they performed, and most definitely could not gamble in the casinos or go to the hotel restaurants and bars. After he achieved superstar success, Davis refused to work at venues which would practice racial segregation. His demands eventually led to the integration of Miami Beach nightclubs and Las Vegas casinos. Davis was particularly proud of this accomplishment.
Although James Brown would claim the title of "Hardest Working Man in Show Business," the argument could be made that Sammy Davis, Jr. deserved it more. For example, in 1964 he was starring in Golden Boy at night and shooting his own New York-based afternoon talk show during the day. When he could get a day off from the theater, he would either be in the studio recording new songs, or else performing live, often at charity benefits as far away as Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas, or doing television variety specials in Los Angeles. Even at the time, Sam knew he was cheating his family of his company, but he couldn't help himself; as he later said, he was incapable of standing still.
Although still a huge draw in Las Vegas, Davis' musical career had sputtered out by the latter years of the 1960s, although he had a #11 hit with "I've Gotta Be Me" in 1969. An attempt to update his sound and reconnect with younger people resulted in some embarrassing "hip" musical efforts with the Motown record label. But then, even as his career seemed at its nadir, Sammy had an unexpected worldwide smash hit with "Candy Man". Although he didn't particularly care for the song and was chagrined that he was now best known for it, Davis made the most of his new opportunity and revitalized his career. Although he enjoyed no more Top 40 hits, he did enjoy some extra popularity with the his performance of the theme song from the T.V. series Baretta (1975-1978) which was not released as a single but was given extensive radio play and he remained a successful live act beyond Vegas for the remainder of his career. He would still occasionally land television and film parts, including high profile visits to the All in the Family series playing himself .
On December 11, 1967, NBC broadcast a musical-variety special entitled Movin' With Nancy. In addition to the Emmy Award-winning musical performances, the show is famous for Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. greeting each other with a kiss, one of the first black-white kisses in U.S. television history.
In Japan, Davis appeared in television commercials for coffee, and in the U.S. he joined Sinatra and Martin in a radio commercial for a Chicago car dealership.
Davis was one of the first male celebrities to admit to watching television soap operas, particularly the shows produced by the American Broadcasting Company. This admission led to him making a cameo appearance on General Hospital and playing the recurring character Chip Warren on One Life to Live for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1980.
Davis was an avid photographer who enjoyed shooting family and acquaintances. His body of work was detailed in a 2007 book by Burt Boyar. "Jerry [Lewis] gave me my first important camera, my first 35 millimeter, during the Ciro's period, early '50s," Boyar quotes Davis. "And he hooked me." Davis used a medium format camera later on to capture images. Again quoting Davis, "Nobody interrupts a man taking a picture to ask... 'What's that nigger doin' here?' ". His catalogue of photos include rare shots of his father dancing onstage as part of the Will Mastin Trio. Also, intimate snapshots of close friends: Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Nat "King" Cole and Marilyn Monroe. His political affiliations also were represented in his images of: Robert Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. His most revealing work comes in photographs of wife May Britt and their three children, Tracey, Jeff and Mark.

Sammy doing impressions on "One for my baby"


Davis was almost killed in an automobile accident on 19 November, 1954 in San Bernardino, California, as he was making a return trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Davis lost his left eye as a result, and wore an eye patch for at least six months following the accident. He appeared on What's My Line wearing the patch. Later, he was fitted for a glass eye, which he wore for the rest of his life. The accident occurred at a fork in U.S. Highway 66 at Cajon Blvd and Kendall Dr. While in the hospital, his friend Eddie Cantor told him about the similarities between the Jewish and black cultures. Prompted by this conversation, Davis began studying the history of Jews and subsequently converted to Judaism. One passage from his readings, describing the endurance of the Jewish people, intrigued him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three millennia of prophetic teaching had given them an unwavering spirit of resignation and had created in them a will to live which no disaster could crush". In many ways, the accident marked a turning point in Davis's career, taking him from a well-known entertainer to a national celebrity and icon.

Sammy sings "I got to be me"


Sammy sings "For once in my life"


the mid-1950s, Sammy was involved with Kim Novak, who was a valuable star under contract to Columbia Studios. The head of the studio, Harry Cohn, was worried about the negative effect this would have on the studio because of the prevailing taboo against miscegenation. He called his old friend, the mobster Johnny Roselli, who was asked to tell Sammy that he had to stop the affair with Novak. Roselli arranged for Davis to be kidnapped for a few hours to throw a scare into him.
Davis's first wife was Loray White, whom he married in 1958 and divorced in the following year. In 1960, Davis caused controversy when he married white Swedish-born actress May Britt. Davis received hate mail while starring in the Broadway musical adaptation of Golden Boy from 1964-1966 (for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor). At the time Davis appeared in the play, interracial marriages were forbidden by law in 31 US states, and only in 1967 were those laws abolished by the US Supreme Court. The couple had one daughter and adopted two sons. Davis performed almost continuously and spent little time with his wife. They divorced in 1968, after Davis admitted to having had an affair with singer Lola Falana. That year, Davis started dating Altovise Gore, a dancer in Golden Boy. They were married on 11 May 1970 by Jesse Jackson. They adopted a child, and remained married until Davis' death in 1990.

Medley from concert in Paris


from "Sweet Charity" (1969)


Davis died in Beverly Hills, California on May 16, 1990, of complications from throat cancer. Earlier, when he was told he could be saved by surgery, Davis replied he would rather keep his voice than have a part of his throat removed; the result of that decision seemed to cost him his life.

Sammy on "Mr. Bojangles"

Warhead : the lost Bond

Warhead, the James Bond movie that never was. It would have starred (and was co-written by) Sean Connery and would feature James Bond batling robotic sharks, skiing on the Hudson River, terrorists bent on exploding a nuclear warhead underneath Wall Street, and helicopter attacks on the Statue of Liberty.

It would have gone before the cameras in 1977 with a budget of $22 million, not only would Connery have starred, but he co-wrote the script with top thriller writer Len Deighton and personally chose and scouted the international locations, but the Broccoli's started legal proceedings against the film and things ground to a halt.

Kevin McClory tried again to get into production with James Bond of the Secret Service, a revised script from Warhead, and finally reworked the Thunderball premise into Never Say Never Again in 1983, with Sean Connery back as 007 when the other Bond was Roger Moore.

In 1996 Kevin McClory announced in Variety magazine that he was planning to produce another Thunderball remake to go up against Bond 18 (which eventually became Tomorrow Never Dies). "I'm back in the Bond business because I have a couple of films I want to direct and Bond can provide the finance," McClory said. "I didn't want to make another Bond film, but now that I've come this far, I'm enjoying it immensely. The film will be called Warhead 2000 and an actor has been chosen to play Bond. But we won't announce it yet to keep the competition in the dark. No, it's not Sean Connery. He's too old for the part now. But he has said he would play the villain in a James Bond film if the price was right." With the venerable franchise flourishing again with the success of 1995's GoldenEye, McClory seemed intent on one more attempt to gatecrash the latest James Bond boom.

An interesting twist to the saga was supplied by the presence of John Calley as head of Sony. Sony announced they were set to work with McClory on the new film. Calley had been president of MGM's United artists, the studio who helped resurrect the series with GoldenEye. "We are satisfied that McClory has the right to make James Bond," said Calley. "Any claim that (McClory) can create a James Bond franchise is delusional," said the other (official) side. "We hope that Sony has not been duped by Mr McClory's deception. Today, more than ever, we will vigorously pursue all means to protect this valued franchise that United Artists and the Broccoli family have nurtured for more than three decades." "Although they [MGM] are trying to depict us as interlopers, we were in fact innovators," McClory responded in an interview with the Associated Press. "MGM's rights came after our rights. There is no doubt about this: We created our work with Fleming."

Calley negotiated a deal with McClory to make the new film under Columbia pictures. "The new James Bond films emphasize our commitment to create motion picture franchises that serve as tentpoles for our release schedule and create business opportunities throughout the Sony family," Calley said in a statement. The Sunday Times ran an article which suggested that Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, the team behind Independence Day and Godzilla, were working with Sony on the new film. Devlin later set the record straight and said that while he was a Bond fan, he had no knowledge of any James Bond film being planned at Sony. Nonetheless speculation was rife that 67 year-old Sean Connery would either be asked to play James Bond or the villain. In 1998 The Express announced that 35 year-old Jason (son of Sean) Connery was the man they wanted to play Bond. This twist was quashed by Connery's agent who said that Jason had not been approached or discussed James Bond with anyone.

Unsurprisingly this saga soon ended up in a courtroom. Sony announced in its claim that the cinematic Bond character is not only separate from the literary secret agent, but is partly McClory's creation, and therefore co-owned by him. And because of his ownership of the Bond character, Sony said, McClory is owed some portion of the estimated $3 billion the franchise has generated. "As a consequence of his joint authorship, McClory has at all times been at least a co-owner of copyright in and to the McClory scripts and all their elements, including the James Bond character as delineated therein," said Sony. "Consequently, McClory (and now Sony) may freely exploit the McClory scripts."

"The defendant's response confirms our strongly held belief that Sony was delusional in asserting that it can launch a new series of James Bond films," countered MGM. "Expanding radically upon Kevin McClory's time-worn assertion of his rights to make James Bond movies based on Thunderball, Sony now makes completely unfounded new claims." The huge gap between McClory's last assertion of his 007 rights didn't help his case. MGM dubbed McClory the "Rip Van Winkle of copyright laws. He has been sleeping on his putative rights for over 20 years." MGM were also aggrieved that John Calley, with his inside information on producing and marketing a James Bond film (GoldenEye), was now working against them. Warhead 2000 seemed to undergo a change of title to Doomday 2000 in articles but, whatever it was called, the project was doomed to failure.

Despite the sabre-rattling, Warhead 2000 was eventually abandoned in 1999 after Sony settled out of court with MGM/UA, ceding any rights to making a James Bond film. The production and final say over everything involving the film version of James Bond remained controlled by EON Productions, Albert R. Broccoli's production company and its parent company Danjaq, LLC.

Batman killed by his OWN dad

Bruce Wayne – who by night is Batman – gets murdered by a man claiming to be the father he thought was dead.
In a highly controversial new storyline Bruce, who first appeared in 1939, is killed by Simon Hurt – the leader of the shady Black Glove organisation.

Simon claims he is really Dr Thomas Wayne, saying he faked his own passing when Bruce was a child.
The superhero dies when he tries to stop his foe escaping by helicopter in the new comic Batman R.I.P.
Bad father ... Batman's dad
Writer Grant Morrison said: “This is so much better than death. People have killed characters in the past but to me, that kind of ends the story!
"I like to keep the story twisting and turning. So what I am doing is a fate worse than death. Things that no one would expect to happen to these guys at all.
"This is the end of Bruce Wayne as Batman."
Batman will live on though, with another character filling his Batsuit.
Two likely contenders are Dick Grayson - the original Robin - or current Boy Wonder, Tim Drake.

Home at last part 7 : TV, stereo and records

What I want for Christmas 2

Christies Lot 85 / Sale 5426
Lot Description
Kevin McClory Warhead, 1976 Never Say Never Again, 1983
Kevin McClory's script for Warhead, an unmade James Bond project, the script entitled "Warhead" Based on "JAMES BOND OF THE SECRET SERVICE" by Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, giving further details on the title page of the screenplay's authors Len Deighton, Sean Connery and Kevin McClory, production details including c Branwell Film Productions, March 21, 1976... and FIRST DRAFT 6 September 1978..., 137pp. mimeographed typescript, various characters in the cast list include the hero James Bond and Bond girls: Justine Lovesit and Fatima Blush, other Bond regulars include: Ernst Stavros Blofeld, Felix Leiter, Moneypenny, M and Q, original blue paper covers; accompanied by a black and white photograph of the three authors of the screenplay, Connery, Deighton and McClory at the latter's home in Ireland, taken during their collaboration on this project [printed later] -- 8x10in. (20.4x25.5cm.); and
Kevin McClory's shooting script for Never Say Never Again, 119pp. of mimeographed typescript, variously dated from 7.9.82 to 23.9.82; 123pp. of mimeographed storyboards including many dramatic underwater sequences including shipwreck shark attacks on Bond, the duel between Bond and Largo and the assassination of Largo by Domino, the pages contained in a maroon vinyl ring binder -- accompanied by a letter from the vendor explaining the provenance.

Kevin McClory's personal copy of the 'NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN' shooting script & corresponding underwater storyboard which accompanies his personal copy of the almost mythical script for the 'James Bond film that never was'; 'WARHEAD', written by the triumvirate of 'Ipcress File' writer Len Deighton, James Bond's most famous incarnation Sean Connery and Kevin McClory. This iconic script has been variously described as:

'The Bond film that got away.' and 'One of the great unfilmed scripts – so good it tempted a retired Sean Connery to return as 007.' - Total Film Magazine

'It is the most ambitious and action-packed James Bond movie ever.' - Scotland On Sunday

'It's like a mythical sort of beast, almost the Holy Grail, this Bond film that never was.' and ,It would have been the most extravagant Bond film ever.' – The Battle for Bond Author Robert Sellers

Miss Emma Peel

Emma Peel is a fictional television spy played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure series The Avengers. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight.

The partner of John Steed, Mrs Peel was introduced as a replacement for the popular Cathy Gale, played by actress Honor Blackman, who left the series at the end of the programme's third season to co-star in the James Bond film Goldfinger.

Elizabeth Shepherd was cast as Emma Peel and production on the fourth season began. After filming all of one episode and part of a second, however, the producers decided that Shepherd was not right for the part, and she was dismissed. No footage of Shepherd as Peel is known to have survived.

The producers scrambled to find a replacement and found her in Diana Rigg; the Shepherd episodes were subsequently re-filmed.

The character was notable for a number of characteristics. She is a feminist heroine, eschewing traditional "damsel-in-distress" portrayals of women (she is rarely bested in any fight and rescues Steed as often as he rescues her.) She is a master of martial arts and a formidable fencer. A certified genius, she specializes in chemistry and other sciences. She is often seen in episodes engaging in artistic hobbies and had success in industry at the helm of the company of her late father, Sir John Knight. The name "Emma Peel" is a play on the phrase "Man Appeal" or "M. Appeal", which the production team stated was one of the required elements of the character.

Her style of dress typified the period, and the character is still a fashion icon. John Bates was brought in as the costume designer for Emma Peel in the second half of Season 4. He created a wardrobe of black and white op-art mod clothing and mini skirts. Before this, people had believed that lines, circles and other bold patterns would not work on the television cameras of the day. It was also filmed before the mini skirt had become mainstream. Bates even had to stop leaving hems on the mini skirts because the production team kept lowering them again. He also licensed his designs to several manufacturers under the Avengerswear label and these pieces were sold in various shops throughout the country. She is often best-remembered for the leather catsuit she wore early on in her first season, but in fact Rigg disliked wearing leather and John Bates designed softer stretch jersey and PVC catsuits for her instead. For the colour season, the designer was Alun Hughes who used bold colours and lurid, psychedelic patterns. Hughes also created the Emmapeeler catsuit which was made of stretch jersey in bright block colours. The Emmapeelers and several other pieces from this season's wardrobe were also licensed and sold in the shops.

She drove a convertible Lotus Elan at high speeds, and convincingly portrayed any series of undercover roles, from nurse to nanny. Her favorite guise was that of a women's magazine reporter, trying to interview big business tycoons and rich playboys

Peel's interactions with Steed range from witty banter to sexual tension. The tension was never broken except for a chaste peck on the cheek she gives Steed at the end of her final episode before departing with her husband, Peter Peel. He was a test pilot and was lost on a mission. When he returns, at the end of "The Forget-Me-Knot", Peel leaves Steed and her spy career behind. In the distant shot in which he appears, Peter Peel looks suspiciously like Steed.

In real life, Diana Rigg had chosen to leave the series for a number of reasons, one of which was in order to accept a role in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She also experienced ongoing conflict with the series producers (she later said she discovered she was being paid less than the cameraman).

Emma Peel was replaced by agent Tara King played by actress Linda Thorson, but appeared one last time in an episode of The New Avengers entitled "K is for Kill." Rigg had declined an offer to appear on the series, so stock footage of her from an Avengers episode was used instead.

The Day The Clown Cried

In 1971, producer Nate Waschberger asked Jerry Lewis to direct and star in "The Day the Clown Cried", based on Joan O’Brien’s book by the same name, about a German clown who was arrested by the Gestapo, interred in a concentration camp, and used to march Jewish children into the ovens. Jerry lost close to 40 pounds to play the role. The shooting began in Stockholm, but Waschberger not only ran out of money to complete the film, but he failed to pay Joan O’Brien the money she was owed for the rights to the story. Jerry was forced to finish the picture with his own money. The film has been tied up in litigation ever since, and all of the parties involved have never been able to reach an agreeable settlement. Jerry hopes to someday release the film, which remains to this day, a significant expression of cinematic art, suspended in the abyss of international litigation.

synopsis:
It's World War Two (already a bad start) and Lewis plays a German clown named Helmut Doork (!?). He's fallen in the ranks at the great circus and rages on in hopes of being number one again. The problem is he's a mean drunk and a jerk. He goes on a drunken speil at a tavern accusing the great Adolph Hitler and his mad schemes for making his job harder (it's always someone else, eh?). While literally falling down drunk (Jerry Style), he lands at the feet of two Gestapo agents who arrest him for ridiculing their Furher. He's interrogated and gives up names of everyone he knows, anti-Hitler or not, just to save his skin.
He's taken to a political prison adjacent to a concentration camp where he's tortured and ridiculed all the while signing his own praises as a great clown. When he tries to stand up to his wardens and then beaten down, he criticizes himself for showing any backbone. At one focal point, he's thrown down in the mud and notices the children laughing at him from the concentration camp side. He makes an effort to apply mud to his nose and this makes the children laugh harder. More children gather at the fence who laugh. He then exclaims, "Look....They're laughing at me. I am a great clown!" The children are some sort of catalyst and he works for only them. (This is where art imitates life with Lewis...children in need of a clown) He takes soot from the stove to work up some make up, some bird droppings for the white base, trades some food for a larger man's shoes and coat, and starts really giving the kids some performances.

The head Nazi sees how Jerry can handle the kids and is ordered to entertain them for their duration. Eventually they are herded onto a train boxcar and are headed for Auschwitz. To quiet the children and keep them distracted, the Nazis force Jerry to ride on the boxcar as well. He ends up going to Auschwitz with them and then is told to lead them to the gas chambers. The children thinks it's just showers, but Jerry's character knows differently and yet does nothing. He entertains them to the very chamber door and enters in with them. The door closes behind them and they're gassed. The End.

From all reports from the people that have seen it, Jerry plays is cold, flat and the humor is so terribly wrong as to be legendary.
Harry Shearer, who saw the rough cut in the 80's, has said," If you say'Jerry Lewis is a clown in a concentration camp' and you make that movie up in your head, it's so much better than that...and by better I mean worse. You're stunned.

With most of these kinds of things, you find that the anticipation, or the concept, is better than the thing itself. But seeing this film was really awe-inspiring, in that you are rarely in the presence of a perfect object. This was a perfect object. This movie is drastically wrong, it's pathos and it's comedy are so wildly misplaced, that you could not, in your fantasy of what it might be like, improve on what it really is.
O'Brien and Waschberger felt the same way, refused to allow this version to surface, and that's where we stand today, 37 years later. Jerry has a rough cut and a VHS copy in his vault and doesn't take interviews on the subject.

Best sounds of 2008 : Parov Stelar Shine

Like life, music must move on and progress. But like life, we must remember to reminisce and recall the past at times. It is the sole reason why we enjoy experiencing new and going back to old music, it is an extension of life. Shine, the third artist album by Parov Stelar, gratifies life´s movements and moods perfectly, the new the old. What we already know about Parov Stelar and what we don´t know. This is obvious to Marcus Füreder aka Parov Stelar too. Sampling Charleston and Jazz, conjuring up new Breakbeat and Pop into a creation of interesting music is no easy task, but Parov Stelar seems to have a sensibility about what it should sound like. Thankfully his worldwide fans agree as the Cinderella story of a new unheard artist from Austria´s third largest city Linz shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, things can only snow roll more as word gets around of the brilliant new music of Parov Stelar. Fans will enjoy traditional Parov Stelar tracks that offer sexiness and sophistication, these same fans will be delighted that this artist is not standing still and resting on his laurels and just repeating the same sound as he gets a little rougher and dirtier in places. This is not elevator music, this is not lounge, this is simply good music with influences and cognitive factors far and wide.

Best sounds of 2008 : Waldeck Ballroom Stories

One of Austria’s finest nujazz/downtempo artists and a member of the original Vienna sound alongside Kruder & Dorfmeister. After 2001’s The Night Garden, Klaus Waldeck has released new longplayer "Ballroom Stories". Our musical journey begins in the Americas at the beginning of the 1920ies. Tango meets Swing. Delicous cocktails and a live that seems even richer than the thick smoke of Cuban Cigars. The opener "Make my Day" reminds of the days when Al Capone was making a fortune by selling booze. Singer Joy Malcolm gives us an impressive performance of how she would have sounded, if she were born 60 years earlier. If, this track sounds familier to you, it may be, because Mercedes Benz chose it, for its latest TV-campaign featuring the Formula 1 world champion Mr. Alonso. All there is to say: "Turn the radio on, the neighbour´s gone!" Another highlight "Addicted" sneaks in with an intriguing bass line and a healthy dose of tango-feeling. Zeebee is the new voice on this masterpiece.
Waldeck pulls off effortlessly what so many artists aspire to sound like. It's hard to describe - but imagine songs that sound like the vocals are sampled from classic jazz, R&B and cabaret eras, combined with back-up that sound like live trios or quartets, with a full range of instruments - piano, clarinet, brass, violin, saxophone and accordion. Beats range from lounge/chill, to dub, and to 20s swing. The soulful, sultry, female vocalists bring Waldeck's melodies and retro canvases alive. Add to that a crackle that doesn't sound like radio fuzz, but as if the music was coming off a gramaphone. Frigging brilliant.

Theatre of blood (1973)

Douglas Hickox directed Theatre of Blood, a first-rate production that scriptwriter Anthony Greville-Bell crams full of Shakespearean evocation. Featuring a fabulous soundtrack and inspired ensemble cast, Vincent Price produces a tour de force in this stylishly dark, comedy horror, boasting the appealing premise of an indignant actor seeking revenge on his detractors.
Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price), a classically trained Shakespearean ham actor, is denied a prestigious annual acting award by the London Theatre Critic's Circle. Intruding on their meeting, he steals the award, throws himself into the River Thames and is presumed drowned. A short while after, critics start dying in the manner of famous death scenes from Shakespeare's plays. George Maxwell (Michael Hordern) is first; a death of a thousand cuts in a deserted warehouse being his fate (Julius Caesar). The effeminate Meredith Merridew (Robert Morley) is forced to eat his two beloved poodles in a baked pie, and is force-fed to death (Titus Andronicus). Chloe Moon (Coral Browne) is fried under a hair-dryer in a beauty salon (Henry VI). Horace Sprout (Arthur Lowe), is decapitated in his bed, his head is then replaced on his body so that his wife will knock it off in the morning (Cymbeline). Trevor Dickman (Harry Andrews) is lured away by a sexy young actress and ends up having his heart cut out (The Merchant of Venice). Drinker, Oliver Larding (Robert Coote), is drowned in a vat of wine and dragged through the cemetery by wild horses (Richard III). Solomon Psaltery (Jack Hawkins) strangles his wife Maisie (Diana Dors), who he suspects of infidelity after a Lionheart ruse, thus condemning himself to prison (Othello).
The only critic to survive is Peregrine Devlin (Ian Hendry), who suspects Lionheart is committing the murders. Wounded in a trampoline-fencing duel with Lionheart when replicating a scene from Romeo and Juliet, he is warned that he will be last. With Inspector Boot (Milo O'Shea) and Sergeant Dogge (Eric Sykes) as his only defence, Devlin tries to find out where Lionheart is, starting with his faithful daughter, Edwina (Diana Rigg), a make-up artist. She is little help, not surprising as she is in league with her father, who was saved by a group of tramps with whom he has set up his theatre of death. It is here that Edwina brings Devlin, cheating death thanks to a defective prop intended to put out his eyes, the tramps set fire to the theatre, and he escapes while Edwina and her father perform their last Shakespearean scene on the roof before being consumed by flames.


The movie is played for laughs from beginning to end with Vincent Price giving one of his best and most campy performances as Edward Lionheart. The beautiful Diana Rigg spends half the film in drag and is barely recognizable behind her groovy 70s male garb. Both of these talented actors have called Theater of Blood their favorite film from their rather large repertoires.

The entire cast of Theater of Blood is filled with great British actors such as Michael Hordern, Dennis Price, Harry Andrews, Ian Hendry, Robert Morley and Coral Browne (Vincent Price’s third wife who he met on the set of the film). Many of them started their careers performing Shakespeare plays on stage or appeared in films based on his work.
The film has gained an impressive cult following over the years and is universally considered one of Britain’s best horror films.

The Bunny Suicides

Richard Amsel designing Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express
Gouache, colored pencils, acrylic on board
28.5 x 15.75 in.
A big creative challenge for any illustrator: meeting the demand of the "Likeness Clause" in the contracts of a film's many stars, where the size of a given actor's likeness must be equal to all the others in the advertising campaign. Such was the case for this lavish emsemble adaptation of the Agatha Christie story. Amsel keenly incorporated the shape of a knife, while using the Orient Express as the blade's "handle".

Death on the Nile
Watercolor, acrylic, colored pencils, pen and ink on board
40 x 30 in.
Here Amsel continued the visual motif he employed with his design for Murder on the Orient Express.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, follows a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards.