#A. Arnold Gillespie

[jazzdailyblog]

Bud Powell: The Bebop Pioneer and Piano Maestro

Introduction: Few names in the rich annals of jazz shine as brightly as Bud Powell’s. Powell was a bebop pioneer and superb pianist whose impact on the genre is immense. This article explores the life, music, and legacy of this extraordinary artist, following his path from the colorful streets of Harlem to the international arenas where he made a lasting impression. Early Days: Born…

[vintagegeekculture]

A. Arnold Gillespie, special effects wizard known for the Wizard of Oz, Ben-Hur, and the tremendously technically sophisticated, and indeed, jaw dropping film like "Forbidden Planet" (1956).

[librarycards]

do you have any recommendations more texts from disabled and mad people on "functioning labels" and their historical equivalents (am checking out yergeau from prev ask you answered)

yes! these should all be open access too btw, let me know if not and i will liberate them for you.

Neurodiversity: An Insider's Perspective (2019) by Jac den Houting - this is a brilliant and well-argued takedown of the most common anti-neurodiversity-model rhetoric.

Whose Expertise Is It? Evidence for Autistic Adults as Critical Autism Experts (2017) by Gillespie et al. is a sociological research study with autistic participants, with ample citations by autistic writers critiquing functioning labels as epistemic injustice.

Binary Boys: Autism, Aspie Supremacy and Post/Humanist Normativity (2019) by Anna de Hooge deconstructs the ongoing, violent legacy of Hans Asperger and weaves it into an analysis of aspie supremacy ��– both explicit in the pre-DSM-V era and implicitly today.

The Social Construction of the Savant (2013) by Laurence Arnold identifies the explanatory power of "savant syndrome" in justifying the valorization of otherwise disposable so-called "idiots" –– essentially a radical dissonance in perceptions of "functioning".

The normalisation agenda and the psycho-emotional disablement of autistic people (2012) by Damian Milton. This piece points out the ways in which "high" and "low" functioning models of autistic selfhood circumscribe autonomy at every level, and facilitate abusive practices oriented toward normalization-by-trauma and/or disposal.

hope this helps :)

[immast4rrrr]

Anne Francis and Robby The Robot BTS of Forbidden Planet (1954)

Rose, Helen, costume designer. Kinoshita, Robert and A. Arnold Gillespie, special effects. Forbidden Planet. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1956.

[byneddiedingo]

Lillian Gish at MGM

John Gilbert and Lillian Gish in La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926)

La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926)

Cast: Lillian Gish, John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, George Hassell, Roy D'Arcy, Edward Everett Horton, Karl Dane, Mathilde Comont, Gino Corrado, Eugene Pouyet. Screenplay: Frédérique De Grésac; titles: William M. Conselman, Ruth Cummings; based on a novel by Henri Murger and an opera libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Cinematography: Henrik Sartov. Art direction: Cedric Gibbons, A. Arnold Gillespie. Costume design: Erté. Film editing: Hugh Wynn.

Bohème without Puccini, except for a few themes from the opera interpolated into the piano accompaniment for some contemporary prints. The screenplay by Frédérique (billed as Fred) De Grésac is said to be "suggested by Life in the Latin Quarter" by Henri Murger, which is also the source of the opera libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. But the librettists took liberties with Murger, combining several characters and incidents, that are copied in the movie, so it's pretty clear that De Grésac paid at least as much attention to the opera as he did to Murger. It's very much a vehicle for Lillian Gish, making her debut at MGM. She wanted John Gilbert to play Rodolphe to her Mimi, but sometimes seems to be playing an anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better game with her co-star. There is, for example, a scene in which Gilbert acts out the proposed ending to the play he is writing, with much swashbuckling. Then, a few scenes later, Gish acts it out again with similar verve for a potential backer for the play. Their courtship is a surprisingly hyperactive one, particularly in the scene in which they and their fellow bohemians go on a picnic that involves much running about. And Gish is not content to die calmly: On hearing that she won't live through the night, she makes a mad dash across Paris to be reunited with her lover, at one point allowing herself to be dragged along the streets while hanging onto the back of a horse-cart. Gilbert poses with feet apart and arms akimbo much too often, and the starving bohemians are given to much dashing and dancing. (Among them is the endearing and enduring Edward Everett Horton as Colline.) It's all a bit too much, and I have a feeling that the print I saw shown at the wrong speed, giving it that herky-jerky quality we used to attribute to silent films before experts corrected the speed at which they should be projected. The costumes are by the celebrated designer Erté, who is said to have had so much trouble working with Gish that he gave up designing for Hollywood.

Lars Hanson and Lillian Gish in The Scarlet Letter (Victor Sjöström, 1926)

The Scarlet Letter (Victor Sjöström, 1926)

Cast: Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Henry B. Walthall, Karl Dane, William H. Tooker, Marcelle Corday, Fred Herzog, Jules Cowles, Mary Hawes, Joyce Coad, James A. Marcus. Screenplay: Frances Marion, based on a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Cinematography: Henrik Sartov. Art direction: Cedric Gibbons, Sidney Ullman. Film editing: Hugh Wynn.

I'm pretty sure that any high school students who think they can get by watching Frances Marion's adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter instead of reading it are likely to be disappointed in English class. That said, no film version is going to reproduce the depth of characterization, the symbolic force, or the intellectual density of Hawthorne, so we should be grateful for what this one does give us: one of Lillian Gish's greatest performances. This was Gish's second film for MGM, after La Bohème, and it suggests that her talents were better suited to a contemplative director like Victor Sjöström -- or Seastrom, as MGM insisted on anglicizing his name -- than to King Vidor's more action-oriented style. If her Mimi in La Bohème was disturbingly hyperactive, her Hester Prynne is a marvel of understated acting. She uses her eyes and mouth and the tilt of her chin to convey a miraculous range of emotions, from stubbornness to fear, from strength to frailty. It's a pity that her Dimmesdale, Lars Hanson, doesn't match her in subtlety. He's more successful in this regard in their 1928 collaboration The Wind, which was also directed by Sjöström.

[kinonostalgie]

BEN-HUR (1959)

THE CAST

Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O’Donnell, and Sam Jaffe

THE PRODUCER

Sam Zimbalist

THE DIRECTOR

William Wyler

THE SCREENPLAY WRITER

Karl Tunberg

(Based on the 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace)

ACADEMY AWARDS

Best Picture (Sam Zimbalist)

Best Director (William Wyler)

Best Actor (Charlton Heston)

Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith)

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration-Color

(Edward C. Carfagno, William A. Horning, and Hugh Hunt)

Best Cinematography-Color (Robert L. Surtees)

Best Costume Design-Color (Elizabeth Haffenden)

Best Film Editing (John D. Dunning and Ralph E. Winters)

Best Sound Recording (Franklin Milton: MGM Studio Sound Department)

Best Musical Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Miklós Rózsa)

Best Special Effects (A. Arnold Gillespie, Robert MacDonald, and Milo Lory)

CASTING NOTES

Several actors were offered the role of Judah Ben-Hur before it was accepted by Charlton Heston. Burt Lancaster stated he turned down the role because he found the script boring and belittling to Christianity. Paul Newman turned it down because he said he didn't have the legs to wear a tunic. Marlon Brando, Rock Hudson, Geoffrey Horne and Leslie Nielsen were also offered the role, as were a number of muscular, handsome Italian actors (many of whom did not speak English). Kirk Douglas was interested in the role, but was turned down in favor of Heston, who was formally cast on January 22, 1958. His salary was $250,000 for 30 weeks, a prorated salary for any time over 30 weeks, and travel expenses for his family.

Stephen Boyd was cast as the antagonist, Messala, on April 13, 1958. William Wyler originally wanted Heston for the role, but sought another actor after he moved Heston into the role of Judah Ben-Hur.

Marie Ney was originally cast as Miriam, but was fired after two days of work because she could not cry on cue. Heston says that he was the one who suggested that Wyler cast Martha Scott as Miriam, and she was hired on July 17, 1958. Cathy O’Donnell was Wyler's sister-in-law, and although her career was in decline, Wyler cast her as Tirzah.

RECEPTION

Ben-Hur received overwhelmingly positive reviews upon its release. Bosley Crowther, writing for The New York Times, called Ben-Hur “a remarkably intelligent and engrossing human drama". While praising the acting and William Wyler's "close-to" direction, he also had high praise for the chariot race: "There has seldom been anything in movies to compare with this picture's chariot race. It is a stunning complex of mighty setting, thrilling action by horses and men, panoramic observation and overwhelming use of dramatic sound."

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes website reported that 85% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 54 reviews collected, with an average rating of 8.20/10. The critics consensus reads, "Uneven, but in terms of epic scope and grand spectacle, Ben-Hur still ranks among Hollywood's finest examples of pure entertainment."

[jpbjazz]

LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

JOHNNY GRIFFIN, LE SAXOPHONISTE QUI JOUAIT PLUS VITE QUE SON OMBRE

"I got so excited when I played and I still do. I want to eat up the music like a child eating candy."

- Johnny Griffin

Né à Chicago le 24 avril 1928, John Arnold Griffin III était le fils d’un cornettiste et d’une chanteuse. La famille Griffin résidait dans le South Side.

Après avoir étudié le piano durant quatre ans, Griffin avait commencé à jouer de la guitare hawaïenne. Il avait ensuite appris la clarinette avant de passer au hautbois puis au saxophone alto.

Lors de ses études au DuSable High School, Griffin avait eu comme professeur le légendaire Walter ‘’Captain’’ Dyett, qui avait formé de grandes vedettes du jazz comme Nat ‘’King’’ Cole, Dinah Washington, Gene Ammons et Von Freeman. Même si Johnny était très désireux de jouer du saxophone alto, Dyett avait insisté pour qu’il se fasse d’abord les dents sur une clarinette. Lors de ses études secondaires, Griffin avait joué dans un groupe scolaire surnommé le ‘’Baby Band.’’

Griffin avait douze ans lorsqu’il avait entendu le saxophoniste ténor Gene Ammons jouer dans le big band de King Kolax au Parkway Ballroom de Chicago. Deux ans plus tard, Griffin s’était acheté un saxophone alto et s’était trouvé un emploi dans le groupe du bluesman T-Bone Walker.

Outre Ammons, Griffin avait également été influencé par Charlie Parker et Dizzy Gillespie, qu’il avait entendus jouer dans l’orchestre de Billy Eckstine en 1945. Griffin admirait également le son de Johnny Hodges et Ben Webster. Dans le cadre de sa collaboration au livre ‘’Talking Jazz’’, Griffin avait reconnu: "These cats were really my masters; to me, the greatest soun"These cats were really my masters; to me, the greatest sounds ever."

DÉBUTS DE CARRIÈRE

Trois jours après avoir obtenu son diplôme, Griffin avait été embauché pour jouer dans le big band de Lionel Hampton, qui se trouvait alors à Toledo, en Ohio. Une fois parvenu sur les lieux, Griffin avait été informé qu’il devrait jouer du saxophone ténor et non de l’alto, ce qui l’avait obligé à retourner chez lui en catastrophe, car il avait laissé son ténor à la maison. Mais Griffin n’entendait pas laisser passer sa chance, d’autant plus qu’il préférait le ténor à l’alto. C’est d’ailleurs avec Hampton que Griffin avait fait son premier enregistrement en 1945 à l’âge de dix-sept ans.

Au milieu de l’année 1947, Griffin avait formé un sextet de R & B avec Joe Morris, un ancien membre de l’orchestre de Hampton. Le groupe comprenait également des musiciens locaux comme le guitariste George Freeman. Griffin était demeuré avec le groupe jusqu’en 1950. Au cours de son passage dans le groupe de Morris, Griffin s’était fait un nom en jouant avec de grosses pointures comme Philly Joe Jones, Percy Heath, Joe Jones, Gene Ramey et Arnett Cobb.

Griffin était surnommé ‘’Little Giant’’ en raison de sa petite taille qui faisait contraste avec son jeu énergique.

En 1951, Griffin avait joué du saxophone baryton avec un autre septet de R & B, dirigé cette fois par Arnett Cobb, un saxophoniste avec qui il avait joué lors de sa collaboration avec Lionel Hampton.

La même année, Griffin avait été forcé de faire son service militaire avec sept autres Afro-Américains originaires du Southside. Lorsque les huit Noirs avaient appris qu’ils devaient être affectés à Fort Chaffee, en Arkansas, ils avaient refusé, car ils savaient quel sort les attendaient les États du Sud. Le groupe avait finalement été assigné à Hawaï.

Lors de son passage dans le groupe de l’armée, Griffin avait appris qu’une ouverture s’était créée pour un joueur de hautbois. Lors de son audition, Griffin avait tellement impressionné le colonel recruteur qu’on lui avait immédiatement donné le poste. Les sept autres Noirs avaient été envoyés en Corée, où la plupart d’entre eux avaient éventuellement perdu la vie. Reconnaissant, Griffin avait plus tard déclaré que le hautbois lui avait sauvé la vie.

Après sa démobilisation en 1953, Griffin avait passé quelques années à Chicago avant de retourner à New York où il avait joué brièvement avec les pianistes Bud Powell et Elmo Hope, avant d’être recruté en 1957 par Art Blakey pour jouer avec les Jazz Messengers dont Thelonious Monk faisait également partie à l’époque. Même si le séjour de Griffin dans le groupe de Blakey avait été bref, cela avait suffi à lui faire un nom et lui avait permis de démarrer sa carrière solo avec les disques Riverside. C’est d’ailleurs lors de son passage avec les Messengers que Griffin s’était mérité son surnom de ‘’Little Giant’’, qu’il avait d’ailleurs utilisé comme titre d’un de ses albums en 1959.

Peu après avoir quitté les Messengers, Griffin avait remplacé John Coltrane dans le groupe de Thelonious Monk dont il avait fait partie jusqu’au milieu des années 1960. Désireux d’aider son protégé, Monk avait fortement encouragé le producteur Orrin Keepnews des disques Riverside à faire signer un contrat à Griffin, mais ce dernier avait déjà signé avec Blue Note.

Il n’était pas toujours facile de travailler avec Monk, qui était doté d’une personnalité assez excentrique. Dans le livre ‘’Talking Jazz’’, Griffin expliquait:

"I found it difficult at times, I mean, DIFFICULT. I enjoying playing with him, enjoying playing music, but when I'm playing my solos… the way his comping [accompaniment] is so strong … it's almost like you're in a padded cell. I mean, trying to express yourself, because his music, with him comping, is so overwhelming, like it's almost like you're trying to break out of a room made of marshmallows."

Ce qui n’avait pas empêché Griffin de considérer Monk comme un de ses meilleurs partenaires. Il précisait: "The way he composed, the logic of his compositions, immensely influenced me.’’

En 1956, Griffin avait enregistré son premier disque comme leader, un album intitulé ‘’Introducing Johnny Griffin.’’ Participaient aussi à l’enregistrement le pianiste Wynton Kelly, le contrebassiste Curly Russell et le batteur Max Roach. L’album avait été chaleureusement accueilli par la critique.

La même année, Griffin avait formé un sextet avec le saxophoniste baryton Pepper Adams et le trompettiste Donald Byrd, deux musiciens de Detroit.

L’EXIL

Après son séjour chez les Messengers, Griffin avait retrouvé Monk dans son quartet qui se produisait alors au Five Spot de New York avec John Coltrane. On peut entendre Griffin sur les albums de Monk ‘’Thelonious in Action’’ et ‘’Mysterioso.’’

Toujours en 1957, Griffin avait participé avec Coltrane et Hank Mobley à l’enregistrement du légendaire album ‘’A Blowin’ Session.’’ L’année suivante, Griffin avait collaboré avec le trompettiste Clark Terry dans le cadre de l’enregistrement de l’album ‘’Serenade to a Bus Seat’’. La section rythmique était composée de Wynton Kelly au piano, de Paul Chambers à la contrebasse et de Philly Joe Jones à la batterie.

La même année, Griffin avait formé son propre sextet, avec lequel il avait enregistré un album éponyme. Parmi les membres du groupe, on retrouvait le trompettiste Donald Byrd et le pianiste Kenny Drew.

Griffin, qu’on considérait souvent d’un tempérament trop enjoué pour interpréter des pièces tristes, avait finalement donné tort à ses détracteurs en enregistrant en 1961 un hommage à Billie Holiday intitulé ‘’White Gardenia’’, en référence à la fleur portée par la chanteuse depuis qu’elle s’était brûlée la joue dans un incident. A la fin de sa carrière, Griffin avait d’ailleurs commencé à se spécialiser dans les balades.

En 1960, Griffin avait fondé un grand orchestre de quatorze membres surnommé le Big Soul Band, qui comprenait le trompettiste Clark Terry et le pianiste Bobby Timmons. De 1960 à 1962, Griffin avait forma un quintet avec le saxophoniste ténor Eddie ‘’Lockjaw’’ Davis dont il partageait la sonorité sensuelle et rauque.

Lassé des États-Unis et de son mépris envers le jazz, Griffin avait décidé de s’installer à Paris en 1963. En réalité, d’autres facteurs étaient à l’origine du départ de Griffin, dont les taxes trop élevées, l’échec de son mariage et le soutien accordé par la critique au free jazz. Plutôt bien accueilli en Europe, Griffin jouait régulièrement dans des clubs de jazz comme celui de Ronnie Scott à Londres. Comme saxophoniste, Griffin était souvent le premier choix des musiciens américains qui étaient de passage en Europe dans les années 1960 et 1970. Il avait aussi accompagné d’autres musiciens américains en exil comme Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Kenny Drew et Art Taylor.

Même si Griffin s’était installé définitivement en Europe, il retournait chaque année à Chicago durant la semaine de son anniversaire de naissance afin de participer au Jazz Showcase. Griffin terminait habituellement sa visite en se produisant durant une semaine au Village Vanguard de New York.

En France, Griffin avait enregistré plusieurs albums avec des sections rythmiques européennes pour les étiquettes Storyville, Black Lion et Steeplechase.

En 1965, Griffin avait également collaboré avec le guitariste Wes Montgomery. En 1967, Griffin avait brièvement rejoint le pianiste Thelonious Monk avec qui il avait fait une tournée en Europe. Trois ans plus tard, Griffin avait retrouvé son vieil ami Eddie ‘’Lockjaw’’ Davis avec lequel il avait enregistré l’album ‘’Tough Tenors Again ‘n’ Again.’’ Griffin a également collaboré avec le Big 7 de Dizzy Gillespie dans le cadre du Festival de jazz de Montreux. De 1967 à 1969, Griffin avait aussi été un des principaux solistes du Kenny Clarke-Francis Boland Big Band, dans lequel il avait joué au sein d’une excellente section de cuivres composée entre autres de Ronnie Scott et Sahib Shihab.

1975 avait été une année importante pour Griffin, qui était devenu membre des grands orchestres de Dizzy Gillespie et Count Basie avec qui il avait participé au Festival de jazz de Montreux. Griffin avait également travaillé avec le saxophoniste allemand Klaus Doldinger dans le cadre du groupe de fusion Passport.

À la fin des années 1970, Griffin était retourné aux États-Unis afin d’enregistrer pour les disques Galaxy. Il avait aussi fait une tournée avec le saxophoniste Dexter Gordon. Griffin a également enregistré avec le big band de Peter Herbolzheimer, un orchestre tout-étoile qui comprenait notamment Nat Adderley, Derek Watkins, Art Farmer, Slide Hampton, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, ‘’Toots’ Thielemans, Niels-Henning Orsted-Pedersen et Quincy Jones comme arrangeur. Griffin avait aussi enregistré avec le quintet de Nat Adderley en 1978. Adderley avait déjà enregistré avec Adderley en 1958.

Toujours en 1978, Griffin avait fait un retour triomphal aux États-Unis avec Dexter Gordon pour jouer au Ann Harbor Blues and Jazz Festival. Le duo avait également enregistré un concert à Carnegie Hall ainsi que l’album ‘’Return of the Griffin.’’

Après être retourné en Europe, Griffin avait décidé de quitter Paris en 1978 pour s’établir sur une ferme aux Pays-Bas. En 1980, Griffin était revenu en France et s’était installé sur la côte d’Azur puis dans la communauté rurale d’Availles-Limouzine quatre ans plus tard.

DERNIÈRES ANNÉES

En 1983, Griffin avait été un des membres fondateurs du groupe européen Three Generations of Tenor Saxophone.

En 1986, Griffin avait collaboré avec le Paris Reunion Band avec Woody Shaw, Dizzy Reece, Slide Hampton et Kenny Drew, avec lequel il avait enregistéa un album sur étiquette Sonet. Durant son séjour en France, Griffin avait également enregistré pour les maisons de disque Antilles et Verve des albums comme ‘’The Cat’’ (1991) et ‘’Chicago, New York, Paris’’ (1994).

En 1992, Griffin avait fait une tournée avec Superband, le groupe tout-étoile de Philip Morris.

À la fin de sa vie, contredisant son peu d’intérêt pour le jazz d’avant-garde, Griffin avait collaboré avec le pianiste algérien Martial Solal et le saxophoniste Steve Grossman.

Johnny Griffin est mort d’un infarctus le 25 juillet 2008 à sa résidence de Mauprévoir, près d’Availles-Limouzine, en France. Il était âgé de quatre-vingt ans. Il laissait dans le deuil son épouse Miriam ainsi que quatre enfants (Jo-Onna, Ingrid, John Arnold et Cynthia).

Johnny Griffin avait présenté son dernier concert à Hyères, en France, le 21 juillet 2008. Son dernier album, ‘’Live at Ronnie Scott’’, a été enregistré à Londres peu avant sa mort.

Pionnier du hard bop, Griffin a longtemps été surnommé ‘’le saxophoniste le plus rapide au monde’’, en raison de la facilité avec laquelle il pouvait exécuter des notes rapides tout en maintenant une excellente intonation. Dans un article publié en 1958 dans le magazine Down Beat, le critique Ralph J. Gleason écrivait:

‘’Unquestionably Johnny Griffin can play the tenor saxophone faster, literally, than anyone else alive…. And in the course of playing with this incredible speed, he also manages to blow longer without refueling than you would ordinarily consider possible. With this equipment he is able to play almost all there could possibly be played in any given chorus."

Johnny Griffin était reconnu non seulement pour son style unique et sa sonorité à la Ben Webster, mais aussi pour sa technique exceptionnelle et ses harmonies complexes. Doté d’une impressionnante culture musicale, Griffin ne se gênait pas pour citer des pièces de musique classique, d’opéra et d’autres styles musicaux comme le gospel et le blues dans le cadre de ses performances. Si dans ses premiers albums, Griffin s’était fait remarquer par sa créativité et sa remarquable dextérité technique, ses derniers enregistrements comme ‘’Bush Dance’’ (1983), ‘’The Cat’’ (1990) et ‘’Chicago, New York, Paris’’ (1994), lui avaient permis de démontrer sa maîtrise des longs solos et sa grande fluidité instrumentale.

Excellent homme d’affaires, Griffin était doté d’un caractère agréable et était très apprécié des autres musiciens. Au cours de sa carrière couvrant six décennies, Griffin n’avait jamais perdu son enthousiasme pour la musique. Il expliquait: "I got so excited when I played and I still do. I want to eat up the music like a child eating candy."

La Berklee College of Music a décerné un doctorat honorifique à Johnny Griffin en 1995. ©-2023-2024, tous droits réservés, Les Productions de l’Imaginaire historique

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 10.21

Beer Birthdays

William G. Ruske (1842)

John D. McKenzie (1849)

Emil Schmitt (1851)

Lucy Saunders (1957)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Steve Cropper; rock guitarist (1941)

Martin Gardner; mathematician, scientist, writer (1914)

Dizzy Gillespie; jazz trumpeter (1917)

Ursula K. LeGuin; writer (1929)

Lee Loughnane; rock brass musician (1946)

Famous Birthdays

Malcolm Arnold; composer (1921)

Elvin Bishop; rock guitarist, singer (1942)

Leo Burnett; advertiser (1891)

Charlotte Caffey; rock guitarist (1953)

Julian Cope; rock bassist, guitarist (1957)

Tom Everett; actor (1948)

Carrie Fisher; actor, writer (1956)

Whitey Ford; New York Yankees P (1928)

Lux Interior; rock singer (1946)

Steve Lukather; rock guitarist (1957)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge; English writer (1772)

Manfred Mann; rock singer (1940)

William Mitchell; chemist, inventor of Tang, Pop Rocks, Cool Whip & Jell-O (1911)

Alfred Nobel; Swedish chemist (1833)

Georg Solti; orchestra conductor (1912)

[offbookkeeping]

7. Run to You Bride with Fran Gillespie

Plot summary:

Caitlin is trying on a wedding dress in a dress shop with her two friends. She's extremely worried that her coworker Doug won't say yes and marry her. She shows up at his doorstep with no warning and when she opens the door she instead is face to face with Kevinry, Doug's best friend. Doug offers to help Caitlin with her proposal but Doug assume Kevinry sold him out to the cops. Kevinry assured him he didn't and Doug opens the door to Caitlin, who explains that she already asked his parents for permission to marry him. While she was visiting them they make her an Arnold Palmer and talk about doug's ex wife Valerie who was bad but not like Tiger Woods. There's a flashback to when Valerie showed up to the Courtyard Marriott where Caitlin and Doug work in just a coat and flirted with businessmen. Back at the apartment in present time, Valerie shows up to mock Caitlin for not making a scene effectively. Doug climbs out the window and the famous member of the Fed, Benjamin Smith, asks where Doug is. He reveals Doug is embezzling from the Courtyard Marriott and also stealing cutlery. Be's also a Russian spy. Benjamin Smith, Artie, and John Cena's kids talk about how they're sad and neglected. Valerie finds Doug on the top of the buildings where he's hiding. Tiger Woods commits suicide in front of them. Doug meets his handler, who says for him to get his pay he needs to go back to Caitlin and get some secret information. His pay is several hard cookies. Caitlin is about to accept him as her wife but she makes him open his silverware drawer. She sees the stolen cutlery and is heartbroken. Doug draws a gun on Kevinry and Caitlin and threatens to kill them unless Caitlin hands over the missile codes. Kevinry throws potato skins at Doug and grabs a hold of the gun. He bends the gun in half and ties Doug's limbs into a knot before professing his love for Caitlin. He and Caitlin are offered jobs at the government and they accept. Caitlin asks Kevinry to marry her and he accepts.

Best quotes:

(none of them are that memorable)

Best songs:

• (He's Gonna Say) Hell Yes

• Bas (But Not Like Tiger Woods)

Thoughts overall:

I honestly really like this episode but again it's nothing special. I can definitely see how this is someone's favorite though. I feel bad because I'm supposed to be the biggest Off Book fan but some episodes are just kind of meh and this is one of them. It's not bad I just have others that I like way better

[worldfreshnews]

Australia news live: public memorial for constables killed in Queensland shooting; Penny Wong arrives in China for talks

Australia news live: public memorial for constables killed in Queensland shooting; Penny Wong arrives in China for talks

Eden Gillespie Stadium shrouded in silence at Queensland police memorial service I’m here at the public memorial for constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold. A sea of blue fills the stands of Brisbane Entertainment Centre, with thousands of officers here to honour the lives of the young constables who were murdered last week on a Queensland property. Tissues were handed out on arrival, with…

[sinceileftyoublog]

David Bowie Box Set Review: Divine Symmetry: The Journey to Hunky Dory

(Rhino)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

It’s shocking to hear David Bowie sing, “Put a bullet in my brain / and I make all the papers” on a song titled “Tired of My Life”, the first track from his new box set Divine Symmetry. All exaggeration aside, consider where he was in 1971. Despite his clear artistic brilliance, he hadn’t had a commercial hit since “Space Oddity”. Perhaps he thought he was destined to be a one-hit wonder. When playing the song live at Friars Aylesbury in 1971, he called it the one “that we get over with as soon as possible.” (Of course, when he sang the words, “Ground control to Major Tom,” the audience erupted.) He was a new father. He was cooped up in a San Francisco hotel room on his first U.S. trip, thinking he had just met Lou Reed of The Velvet Underground when he had really met Doug Yule. Nonetheless, he recorded himself singing “Waiting for the Man”; like a lost folk recording, it shows Bowie adopting a Reed-like vocal inflection, just as he learned it, his guitars atonal, the song being passed from one generation to the next.

There’s not really a direct line from The Velvet Underground to Hunky Dory, but you can sense Bowie was uneasy, determined to do something new and unexpected if not completely shed what he had done up to the point. Divine Symmetry (subtitled The Journey to Hunky Dory) tells the story of Bowie’s first masterpiece, from its early demo versions, composed on piano as opposed to guitar, and his appearances on BBC Radio fleshing out the tunes, to alternate mixes and versions of singles and songs from the album. His early experiments, whether they eventually made Hunky Dory or not, foreshadow the shapeshifter we now know as one of the greatest artists ever. The theatrical piano stomp of “How Lucky You Are” (also known as “Miss Peculiar”) was originally offered to Tom Jones, to give you an idea of Bowie’s songwriting at the time and how it was viewed as worthy of an established, mainstream pop sex symbol. The melancholy vocal performance and guitar strums of “Shadow Man” and “Looking for a Friend” would eventually be recorded for Ziggy Stardust. “King of the City”’s bluesy guitar licks mirror the glammy, Stones-inspired stomps of Aladdin Sane. Refrains from “Tired of My Life” eventually showed up on “It’s No Game (No. 1)” from Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), a different decade entirely. And for what it’s worth, Bowie looks back when he demos “Song for Bob Dylan”. Though he’d say at Friars that the song is about Dylan rather than poking fun at him, the squeaky harmonica of the demo is undoubtedly tongue-in-cheek.

At the time time Bowie appeared on the BBC, the Hunky Dory songs still weren’t truly fully formed. On the recording, John Peel introduces guitarist Mark Carr-Pritchard as part of the band Arnold Corns, who had just recorded a song called “Moonage Daydream”. Mick Ronson and Mick Woodmansey were still part of Ronno. In other words, Bowie’s backing band, in their various incarnations, were still viewed as their own entities, with the potential to break out in popularity alongside Bowie as opposed to the footnote that we now know they are. Had Hunky Dory already been released, it might be a different story, but Bowie and company were still figuring things out. George Underwood takes lead vocals on “Song For Bob Dylan”, Dana Gillespie on “Andy Warhol”. “Kooks” features the same Neil Young-inspired acoustic melancholy it would eventually sport, though Bowie sounds especially sunken when he sings, “Don’t pick fights with the bullies or the cads / ‘Cause I’m not much cop at punching other people’s dads.” The most confident performance of the Peel set was “The Supermen” from the already released The Man Who Sold The World, a much more chugging version than the studio version, Bowie’s vocals booming like they do on the demos for “Life on Mars?” and “Changes”, but with much richer instrumentation behind him.

The one constant throughout Divine Symmetry, one that can rise above the box set’s faults, is indeed Bowie’s voice, whether on a live version of a pre-release “It Ain’t Easy”, a demo of “Bombers”, or the Bob Harris BBC Radio session version of “Oh! You Pretty Things”, just Bowie and Ronson. Of course, you can pick bones: Are the mono and stereo versions of the Peel sessions really necessary? Do we need all these recordings of Jacques Brel’s “Amsterdam”, Bowie desperately paying tribute to the very man who purportedly used a gay slur towards Bowie himself? Could we have left out the recordings from Friars that suffered from sound quality and feedback issues, inevitable since it was recorded to 2-track tape? Yes, of course, but we should be so lucky to continue to unearth vocal artifacts from a brilliant artist who left us too soon.

Ultimately, and amazingly, the highest highs on Divine Symmetry come from the alternate mixes, rare for a box set. Ken Scott’s BOWPROMO Mixes enhance the sharp, wincing guitars on “Eight Line Poem”, the lush strings and rounded bass notes of “Kooks”, and Ronson’s dual electric guitar lines on “Queen Bitch”. “Changes” struts more prominent horns, an essential saxophone solo towards the end. And the original ending version of “Life on Mars?” is flat-out hilarious; Scott recently described in an interview with Record Collector the story, involving the master take and a phone ringing in the studio. Like David Bowie himself, his songs will continue to change identity for years to come.

[girlflapper]

<strong>Test Pilot (1938 / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/klaatucarpenter/">by KlaatuCarpenter</a></strong>

The cover illustration is by Roland Valliant.

[mad-prophet-of-the-airwaves]

Top 20 new to me movies of 2021

1. Lars and the Real Girl (2007, Craig Gillespie, Canada/USA)

2. 20th Century Women (2016, Mike Mills, USA)

3. The Kid Detective (2020, Evan Morgan, Canada)

4. Honey Boy (2019, Alma Har’el, USA)

5. The Beguiled (1971, Don Siegel, USA)

6. Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020, Kirsten Johnson, USA)

7. Valentine Road (2013, Marta Cunningham, USA)

8. Captains Courageous (1937, Victor Fleming, USA)

9. Comic Book Confidential (1988, Ron Mann, USA/Canada)

10. American Honey (2016, Andrea Arnold, UK)

11. I Lost My Body (2019, Jérémy Clapin, France)

12. 99 Homes (2014, Ramin Bahrani, USA)

13. Gods and Monsters (1998, Bill Condon, UK)

14. Raw (2016, Julia Ducournau, France)

15. Uncle Buck (1989, John Hughes, USA)

16. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966, Mike Nichols, USA)

17. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018, David Slade, UK)

18. A Simple Plan (1998, Sam Raimi, USA)

19. Catch Me If You Can (2002, Steven Spielberg, USA)

20. Baby Driver (2017, Edgar Wright, USA)

[scenesandscreens]

Peace on Earth (1939)

Director - Hugh Harman, Animation - George Gordon, Arnold Gillespie, Stan Quackenbush, Carl Urbano, Irven Spence, Emery Hawkins, Don Tobin & Cecil Surry

[lifejustgotawkward]

365 Day Movie Challenge (2017) - #262: Green Dolphin Street (1947) - dir. Victor Saville

MGM pulled out all the stops with this lengthy costume drama based on a popular novel of the time, Green Dolphin Country by Elizabeth Goudge. The mid-nineteenth-century-set story focuses on a pair of French sisters, Marianne (Lana Turner) and Marguerite Patourel (Donna Reed), who both fall in love with a handsome young man who moves in next door to them, William Ozanne (Richard Hart in one of his few films before his untimely death). William’s father, Edmond (Frank Morgan), was once in love with Marianne and Marguerite’s mother, Sophie (Gladys Cooper), but the romance ended when Sophie wed a wealthier man, Octavius Patourel (Edmund Gwenn) – a fact unbeknownst to Sophie’s daughters when they become acquainted with Ozanne fils and père.

William’s heart belongs to Marguerite and they plan on marrying when he completes his service with the navy. After an unfortunate incident causes William to miss his ship’s departure from a port, he is unfairly labeled a deserter; he is forced to flee to New Zealand, where the military won’t find him. He finds work with a sheep herder, Timothy Haslam (Van Heflin), who is hiding in the country for similarly criminal reasons. Coincidentally, Timothy used to live in the same French town as the Patourel family, and he has loved Marianne from afar for years.

One night, a drunken and lonely William writes a letter home, intending to ask for his beloved’s hand in marriage, but in his stupor he scribbles “Marianne” rather than “Marguerite.” When the letter reaches at the Patourel house, Marguerite is devastated, but Marianne jumps at the chance to be with William and boards the next boat bound for New Zealand. William is horrified to realize the mistake he must have made when he sees Marianne on the day of arrival, but he does not admit his error and he marries the wrong sister, uneasily building their union on a set of lies.

Green Dolphin Street packs a lot of melodrama and heartache into its 141-minute running time, including an earthquake scene created by A. Arnold Gillespie, Warren Newcombe, Douglas Shearer and Michael Steinore, which won them the Academy Award for Best Special Effects. (Three other nominations honored the film’s black-and-white cinematography by George J. Folsey, editing by George White and sound recording by Douglas Shearer.) Much of the film is melodramatic to the point of ridiculousness - many problems could have been avoided or fixed with clearer thinking or apologies - but at least the actors all look terrific in the costumes designed by Walter Plunkett and Valles. I also enjoyed the scenes in which the jilted Marguerite finds comfort in the church run by a compassionate Mother Superior (Dame May Whitty); Donna Reed does the best acting in the film, followed by Edmund Gwenn as her kindhearted father and Richard Hart as Marguerite’s suitor/Marianne’s husband. Hart reminds me a good deal of Joaquin Phoenix, which may have influenced my decision to watch The Yards shortly afterward - neither is a bad thing by any stretch.

[byneddiedingo]

Lon Chaney and Renée Adorée in The Blackbird (Tod Browning, 1926)

Cast: Lon Chaney, Owen Moore, Renée Adorée, Doris Lloyd, Andy MacLennan, Willam West, Sidney Bracey, Ernie Adams. Screenplay: Tod Browning, Waldemar Young; titles: Joseph Farnham. Cinematography: Percy Hilburn. Art direction: Cedric Gibbons, A. Arnold Gillespie. Film editing: Errol Taggart.

The Blackbird begins with an atmospheric re-creation of Victorian Limehouse, but it turns into a routine melodrama, a showcase for Lon Chaney, who plays both the title character, a thief, and his alter ego, the Bishop, who pretends to be a missionary in the district. No one seems to suspect that the Blackbird and the Bishop are the same person, because in the latter persona Chaney contorts himself, holding one shoulder higher than the other and twisting one leg into an impossible position. Eventually, this masquerade will prove the truth of your mother's warning that if you keep contorting your face or body like that, it'll freeze that way. But in the meantime, the Blackbird falls for a music hall performer, Fifi Lorraine (Renée Adorée), who is also being pursued by a society toff (Owen Moore) known as West End Bertie. He's a thief, too, but in his case love for Fifi proves stronger than larceny. Tod Browning, who also wrote the screenplay (with Waldemar Young), handles this nonsense well. Adorée is charming, and her slightly risqué puppet show is fun, but the only real reason to see this movie is to admire Chaney's unfailing commitment to his considerable art.