Supermax

Artist: Supermax

LP: Fly With Me

Song: "African Blood"

[ listen ]

This morning I was starting to have a lovely and elaborate gay Busby Berkeley dream where at first all I could see was a ring of champagne glasses being filled with bubbly pink champagne, then the "camera" pulled back to reveal that the bottles were being poured by debonair gentlemen dancers in 1930s attire—but without any shirts on! ...and just then my alarm-clock radio flipped on and I woke up. I was pissed! Anyway, this third Supermax album, released in 1979, is one of the things I picked up during my trip to Austin, TX back in October. The group was the project of leader Kurt Hauenstein, "Fly With Me" was their international breakthrough LP, and Supermax was the first mixed-race group to tour in South Africa and Venda in the 1970s, which evidently caused quite a stir. You can read about Supermax on Wikipedia here, and find the group's year-by-year biography, discography, lots of photos and other neat things on their official website here. Unfortunately, the website doesn't explain what bass guitar player Kenneth Taylor is wearing on his head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Icehouse

Artist: Icehouse

LP: 7" single

Song: "Paradise"

[ listen ]

During my lunch break on Friday I was reading the nightmarish, heart-breaking accounts of people caught in the floods in the Australian state of Queensland. That same evening I found this map of Australia, which is also an Icehouse single, in the "new arrivals" bin at one of the local record stores. It's photographed against my blue t-shirt, which sorta looks like the ocean. Here's hoping for much dryness in Australia soon—and in Brazil too, where recent floods have killed more than 600 people.

Wilfrido Vargas

Artist: Wilfrido Vargas

LP: El Funcionario

Song: "El Hombre Divertido"

[ listen ]

I finally replaced my stolen camera! Now I can photograph my LPs without having to use the rinky-dink camera inside my cell phone. The energy of this song from Wilfrido Vargas' 1983 "El Funcionario" LP, picked up for $4 Friday night on Capitol Hill just two blocks from Jimi Hendrix, accurately reflects my excitement about owning a new camera—it's a Nikon. You can read about Wilfido Vargas here.

The Tourists

Artist: The Tourists

LP: 7" single

Song: "Don't Say I Told You So"

[ listen ]

Song: "Strange Sky"

[ listen ]

Before they became an international sensation as Eurythmics in 1983, Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart were members of The Tourists. "Don't Say I Told You So" reached #40 on the U.K. singles charts in 1980, but it's the haunting "Strange Sky" that I like best. This b-side wasn't included on any of The Tourists LPs, but it was added to their 1999 Greatest Hits CD, which you can pick up for peanuts on Amazon dot com. Click here to read all about The Tourists.

Greenfield & Cook

Artist: Greenfield & Cook

LP: 7" single

Song: "A Day Begins"

[ listen ]

It's a typical January morning in Seattle—windy, rainy, cloudy, and coffee. A day begins. Actually named Groeneveld and Kok, Rink and Peter were in the band Hurricanes before forming a musical partnership called Popshop, after which they changed their name to Greenfield & Cook. They had several hits in The Netherlands, including this string-filled bit of loveliness from 1971, before parting ways in 1974. You can read about them here and see some of their album covers here and here. There's another neat picture of them here.

Maria Pereira

Artist: Maria Pereira

LP: 7" single

Song: "Saber Esperar"

[ listen ]

Went for a walk into downtown Ballard last night during a rare Seattle snowstorm, then warmed myself at home with the melodious warblings of Portuguese singer Maria Pereira. I couldn't find much info about Maria on the web (unless she was a member of the Portuguese American Club and former president of the Women's Auxiliary and she died in November of 2010...but probably not.) Pereria is mentioned briefly in this blog post about a 1958 painter's manual that someone bought while "shopping completely absurd," but the English translation keeps referring to Maria Pereira as a "he." In any case, the liner notes from the back of this 4-track EP are included below.

ps. Happy 101st Birthday to actress Luise Rainer!

 

 

Emil Coleman & His Orchestra

Artist: Emil Coleman & His Orchestra

LP: 7" single

Song: "Walter Winchell Rumba"

[ listen ]

Born in Odessa, Russia (it's now Ukraine) in 1892, Emil Coleman (and his orchestra) became a fixture in New York City's high-society nightlife during the first half of the 20th century. He had a regular gig at the Empire Room of the Waldorf Astoria and was always good for an invigorating "Bunny Hug" or even a "Turkey Trot" if you caught him in the right mood. Also, Emil Coleman collected watches. You can read more about him in the notes from this two-disc EP which I believe is from 1958. As for Walter Winchell & His Rumba...I chose this track for posting since Walt had a cameo in DAISY KENYON, a 1947 Joan Crawford vehicle my friend Ryan and I watched last week—Winchell appeared briefly as himself in a scene set at NYC's Stork Club, which was re-created on the sound stages of 20th Century Fox. A famous news and radio personality who evidently invented the gossip column, Winchell was also an early supporter of Senator McCarthy, and used his radio program to denounce people as Communists—including Josephine Baker, who, as a result, was denied a Visa to re-enter the USA. Winchell was reportedly taking revenge on Baker, who had criticized him for not taking a stand against the racist, discriminatory policies of the afore-mentioned Stork Club—but the real one. You can read more about Walter Winchell on Wikipedia here, where they fail to mention how he ended up having a rumba named after him. They do, however, note that only one person showed up at his funeral.

 

 [ Emil Coleman: June 19, 1892 — January 26, 1965 ]

Latin Rascals

Artist: Latin Rascals

LP: 7" single

Song: "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"

[ listen ]

"Rascals" is probably too strong a word, but you have to admit that this hunky Latin duo is kinda' cute in a stupid-ass way. With their unbuttoned shirts and sultry, come-hither expressions, it's unlikely these guys will be misunderstood. But in case you don't understand, there are pink clues splashed across the cover of their 1988 single—even a pair of pink triangles! You can read about Albert Cabrera and Tony Moran, aka Latin Rascals, on the answers.com website here and here.

[ Don't let him be misunderstood. ]

[ Don't let him be misunderstood either. ]

 

 

 

The Latin Poets

Artist: The Latin Poets

LP: 7" single

Song: "Viva La Musica!"

[ listen ]

Though "poets" may be too strong a word, you've got to admit this 1988 rap song by Mexican-American duo The Latin Poets is awfully catchy. The single was co-produced by Michael Sembello and executive produced by Jellybean, who also did lots of work with Madonna in the early '80s when he was extremely sexy. It's hard to imagine a grown man wanting to be called "Jellybean"—but then I also wouldn't have imagined grown men wanting to wear their sports socks yanked up over their pant legs.

Fiction Factory

Artist: Fiction Factory

LP: 7" single

Song: "(Feels Like) Heaven"

[ listen ]

Here's a 1983 single from new wave Scottish band Fiction Factory. "(Feels Like) Heaven" made it into the top 10 in Germany, which is where my copy of the single is from. More recently, the song was used in a TV commercial for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups—and I have to admit, eating them does feel like heaven. You can read about Fiction Factory on Wikipedia here.

C.J. & Co.

Artist: C.J. & Co.

LP: 7" single

Song: "Devil's Gun"

[ listen ]

This 1977 single by Detroit's C.J. & Co. was reportedly the first record ever played at NYC's Studio 54 when the club opened in April of '77. My copy of the single was made in Germany. You can read about C.J. & Co. on Wikipedia here and see alternate covers for "Devil's Gun" here and here. I kinda' like the idea of the devil as a handsome green alien-type fellow who carries a really big gun.

Keith Marshall

Artist: Keith Marshall

LP: 7" single

Song: "Only Crying"

[ listen ]

Though the ocean, pictured here, plays a large role in this sad little love song by Keith Marshall, the singer wouldn't allow himself to be photographed on its sandy, windswept shores. In fact, he insisted that photos for the sleeve of his 1981 "Only Crying" single be taken only within the controlled environment of the studio, where his carefully arranged hairstyle wouldn't be compromised by the elements. You can read about Keith Marshall (formerly of Hello) here, and find the "Only Crying" lyrics here.

 [ Keith Marshall, with guitar and hair. ]

Boney M.

Artist: Boney M.

LP: Oceans of Fantasy

Song: "Calendar Song"

[ listen ]

Happy New Year! I took a little road trip up to Bellingham for the occasion—a small, fairly quiet coastal college town near the Canadian border. I stayed at the charmingly dumpy Aloha Motel (they advertise free wireless internet, but it only reaches rooms 1—12 and I was in room 15) and I had my last 2010 dinner and my first 2011 breakfast at downtown Bellingham's neat old 24-hour diner, The Horseshoe Cafe. Of course I also found some records on my trip, including this 1979 LP by Boney M. If you still haven't got your 2011 wall calendar up, this song can help you keep track of what will be happening over the next 362 days.

 

[ Aloha Motel — Bellingham, WA ]

 

 [ Horseshoe Cafe & Ranch Room ]

 

 

 [ My first breakfast of 2011. ]

The Oscar Project: 1936

For round two of The Oscar Project I picked the year 1936. I was looking forward to making my way through this particular list of Oscar nominees, since I hadn't seen a whole lot of films from the 1930s—compared to later decades, anyway. The year 1936 was a good one for William Powell. Not only was he nominated for Best Actor for MY MAN GODFREY, but he starred in four of the twenty Oscar-nominated films of the year, including Best Picture winner, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD. An entertaining three-hour musical biopic about Florenz Ziegfeld, a showbiz dynamo who glorified the all-American girl on the stages of NYC in his elaborate Follies, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD was also nominated for Best Director (Robert Z. Leonard), Best Actress (winner Luise Rainer—she's luminous!), and Best Original Story. I first watched this lavish production nearly two years ago, during my own personal Luise Rainer craze, but this time I was also impressed by Virginia Bruce's portrayal of Audrey Dane, a Ziegfeld showgirl who can't stay sober long enough for Florenz to make her a star. 1936 was the first year to include a category for Best Supporting Actress, and it's a shame Virginia Bruce wasn't listed among those nominees. In any case, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD is filled with extravagant sets, musical numbers, and terrific stars of the era like Myrna Loy, Frank "The Wiz" Morgan, Reginald Owen, Fanny Brice, and Ray Bolger—who's best known for playing the Scarecrow in THE WIZARD OF OZ.

The other 1936 nominees I'd previously seen are MY MAN GODFREY, THESE THREE, DODSWORTH, and THE GORGEOUS HUSSY. A well-known and much-loved screwball classic, it's hard to imagine how MY MAN GODFREY didn't turn up amongst the year's ten Best Picture nominees. The film was nominated in nearly every other category—Best Director (Gregory La Cava), Best Actor (William Powell), Best Actress (Carole Lombard), Best Supporting Actor (Mischa Auer), Best Supporting Actress (Alice Brady), and Best Screenplay (Eric Hatch, Morrie Ryskind). William Wyler's THESE THREE, a smart and intense drama based on a 1934 Lillian Hellman play, features an Oscar-nominated turn by the young Bonita Granville as a deliciously-fun-to-hate, whiny little snot whose vicious lies destroy the reputations of her schoolteachers, played by Merle Oberon and Miriam Hopkins. Fortunately, Granville eventually reformed and went on to play a key role in solving several high-profile mysteries a few years later. Director William Wyler re-made THESE THREE in 1961, when he was allowed to include the play's lesbian themes that had been too shocking for film audiences of the 1930s. The later film version stars Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine as the teachers, it also has THESE THREE star Miriam Hopkins in the cast, and it uses the original title of Hellman's play, THE CHILDREN'S HOUR.

Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actor (Walter Huston), Best Supporting Actress (Maria Ouspenskaya—in a cameo, really), and Best Screenplay (Sidney Howard), DODSWORTH is one of my all-time favorite films. Based on Sinclair Lewis' novel, the film is a moving, witty, and timeless drama about love, marriage, snobbery, and the universal search for everlasting happiness. DODSWORTH features a terrific performance by Huston as retired auto manufacturer Sam Dodsworth, Ruth Chatterton is excellent as his spoiled, social-climbing wife, and the film also includes nice bits from actors David Niven, Paul Lukas, Spring Byington, and Harlan Briggs—but it's Mary Astor as the kind, observant, patient, and lonely ex-pat Mrs. Edith Cortright who really makes the film for me. As she and Sam Dodsworth gradually get to know each other and begin to realize how much they have in common, they both light up like street lamps.

There are only two relative stinkers in the list of Oscar-nominated films of 1936. THE GORGEOUS HUSSY is a bland, overdressed historical costume drama-comedy-romance in which a 32-year-old Joan Crawford is supposedly an early-19th century love-struck lassie just out of pigtails—she's also an innkeeper's daughter who happens to be pals with Andrew Jackson (!). There's really not much to recommend the film. Cinematographer George J. Folsey likely seduced Academy president Frank Capra to get his name included amongst the year's nominees, since there's nothing about the film's camerawork that warrants special mention. True, Best Supporting Actress nominee Beulah Bondi is fun to watch as the backwater, cigar-smoking wife of Andrew Jackson, but she dies halfway through the film. 

The only other real disappointment was Best Picture nominee THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR—a heavy-handed biopic about the famous doctor who discovered that germs were the cause of deadly infections that were killing scores of people in the unsanitary hospitals of Europe. I don't really mind that Paul Muni took home the Oscar for Best Actor for playing Pasteur (I like Muni, and he's good here), but I'm mystified as to how THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR managed to elbow its way past superior fellow-nominees DODSWORTH, MY MAN GODFREY, AFTER THE THIN MAN, and MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN to waltz away with the award for Best Screenplay of the year. The Pasteur film is filled with annoying, obvious dialogue tailored to encourage audiences of the '30s to repeatedly wink knowingly at one another and pat themselves smugly on the back for being smarter than doctors who were practicing medicine in the year 1860.

 [ Joan Crawford in THE GORGEOUS HUSSY ]

There were lots of good films made in 1936 just waiting for me to discover them—and five great ones too, but I'll get to those later. Although not really on par with most of its fellow Best Picture nominees, THREE SMART GIRLS is a light and funny comedy about a trio of bright and resourceful sisters living in Switzerland who sail to New York to thwart their estranged father's plan to marry a brassy gold-digger. This is the film that first introduced singer/actress Deanna Derbin to the world, and she's given several delightfully shrill, gloriously earnest musical numbers to perform with the camera situated about three inches away from her face. PIGSKIN PARADE is a similarly lively, wacky, and enjoyable comic romp—this one about college football! The film is filled with zany musical bits by the likes of The Yacht Club Boys and Robert McClung. Just like THREE SMART GIRLS, PIGSKIN PARADE also introduced moviegoers to a promising new young singer—Judy Garland! She plays the country bumpkin younger sister to Best Supporting Actor nominee Stuart Erwin's incidental football hero—he's discovered while throwing perfectly-football-shaped melons across a large melon field and into a gunnysack held open by Garland. Jack Haley (best known as the Tin Man) plays the small-town football coach who's trying to wrangle together a winning team, and Patsy Kelly plays his sports-savvy, put-upon wife. The second she appeared onscreen, I immediately recognized Kelly as one of my childhood favorite NORTH AVENUE IRREGULARS; she's somehow changed very little in looks, voice, and manner between 1936 and 1979. Patsy Kelly also appeared as an elderly Satan-worshiper in ROSEMARY'S BABY in 1968. There's something admirable and exciting about an actress who's career spans all the way from PIGSKIN PARADE to Polanski.

Irene Dunne is great as small-town-girl-turned-saucy-romance-novelist in THEODORA GOES WILD, a hilarious, forward-thinking romantic comedy that cleverly examines the hypocrisy of small-minded American towns. The film co-stars Melvyn Douglas as Theodora's love interest and features a really cute, floppy-haired blond newspaper boy/assistant who repeatedly exclaims, "Yes-siree! Hot-diggety!" The snappy mystery-comedy AFTER THE THIN MAN lives up to the series' reputation as top-flight entertainment of the 1930s, and also features an interesting supporting performance by Jimmy Stewart. In fact, I enjoyed this film even more than THE THIN MAN, which has me thinking I should probably give that first film in the series another look. If you can imagine something like ROMANCING THE STONE being set in China in the mid-1930s, you'd have a pretty good idea what you'd be in for when you watch the bizarre-yet-enjoyable adventure-romance romp THE GENERAL DIED AT DAWN. The film stars Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll—and Akim Tamiroff plays the Chinese General Wu (!). Cooper fares better in the Frank Capra comedy MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, a socially aware comedy about a small-town yokel who gets a large inheritance, then travels to the big city where he's immediately pounced upon by money-grabbing wheelers-and-dealers. Jean Arthur is super (as always) as the newspaper reporter who goes after the inside scoop on Mr. Deeds and eventually ends up falling for him, and Lionel Stander makes a strong impression as a big city thug who becomes one of Mr. Deeds' only true friends.

I've been a Gale Sondergaard fan since I first saw her in THE LETTER back in 1987, so I was excited to finally watch her Oscar-winning performance in ANTHONY ADVERSE—but to be honest, I thought she was a little stiff. The film, however, is operatic corn popped on a grand scale—with secret affairs, sword fights, lovers' rendezvous on a bridge, fainting spells, children born out of wedlock...and that's just in the first fifteen minutes. COME AND GET IT, directed by Howard Hawks (he started the film) and William Wyler (he finished it), with thrilling logging sequences directed by Richard Rosson, priovided my first chance to see lovely Seattle native Frances Farmer in a film—and I thought she was wonderful. Based on a novel by Edna Ferber, this 19th century logging saga features Walter Brennan as a kindly Swede who's saddled with the annoying habit of hollering, "Yumpin' Yiminee!" again and again...yet the role earned him the year's Best Supporting Actor award.

[ Walter Brennan, Frances Farmer, Edward Arnold in COME AND GET IT ]

The first of my five favorite film discoveries of 1936 is SAN FRANCISCO, starring Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and Jeannette MacDonald (she's not too annoying!). Gable plays Blackie Norton, the atheist owner of a Barbary Coast saloon in 1906 pre-earthquake San Francisco—MacDonald is his singing discovery, and Tracy is a local priest and Blackie's best friend. The triangular romantic sparks really start to fly via a quick and witty script—until everything suddenly turns to shit in a spectacular and breathtaking show created by some of the top special effects teams of 1936 — impressive! Tracy got a Best Actor nomination for his part in the film, but it's really more of a supporting role. Clark Gable turns in a dynamic, exciting performance, and if you ask me, he's the one who should have been nominated for Best Actor. The SAN FRANCISCO DVD features an interesting TNT bio on Gable, narrated by Liam Neeson, and a short documentary about San Francisco's Treasure Island-City of Lights, a breathtaking shoreline attraction that was demolished in September of 1940.

THIN MAN stars William Powell and Myrna Loy team up with Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow in LIBELED LADY, which might just be the best screwball comedy I've ever seen. I'd never watched a Jean Harlow movie before—she's terrific! I was surprised I enjoyed George Cukor's ROMEO AND JULIET as much as I did. The sets and cinematography are gorgeous—and Norma Shearer, as Juliet, clears up any mystery as to why she's considered one of the best actresses of the decade. John Barrymore is fascinating as the erratic Mercutio, but it was Basil Rathbone and his approximately four lines of dialog that somehow took the Best Supporting Actor nomination for the film. I'm pretty sure Rathbone's incredibly sexy nose had something to do with it. Edna May Oliver gives a spunky performance as Juliet's nurse, a role not too distant from the one she played in another 1936 Best Picture nominee, A TALE OF TWO CITIES. Produced by David O. "Gone With the Wind" Selznick, A TALE OF TWO CITIES is a huge, thrilling, epic adaptation of the Dickens novel—featuring the dashing heroics of Ronald Colman, a stunning performance by stage star Blanche Yurka as Madame Defarge, and exciting scenes of the French Revolution staged by Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur (they staged the scenes, not the revolution). 

My favorite of all the 1936 Oscar nominees I was watching for the first time was the relatively small film FURY, directed by Fritz Lang and nominated for Best Original Story. Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney play lovers whose lives are forever changed by a series of unfortunate coincidences related to a local small-town robbery and kidnapping. FURY offers a bleak view of humanity that seems decades ahead of its time, illuminating how social standards like truth, reason, law, due process, and human decency all go flying out the window when a society eagerly whips itself into a fit of mad hysteria fueled by gossip, fear, sensationalism, and mob rule. It's a brilliant, dark little film that brings some of the worst aspects of American culture and politics of the past decade to mind.

As always, thanks to Scarecrow Video for making all these 1936 films available to rent on DVD or VHS. Unfortunately, there's one film from the 1936 Oscar list that I didn't get to see, since it's never been released on video or DVD: VALIANT IS THE WORD FOR CARRIE—a sudsy drama about a selfless woman with a shady past (Gladys George, nominated for Best Actress) who adopts and raises two orphan children. 

Here are the Oscar-nominated films of 1936, with the winners listed in red:  

Best Picture:

Anthony Adverse

Dodsworth

The Great Ziegfeld

Libeled Lady

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Romeo and Juliet

San Francisco
The Story of Louis Pasteur
A Tale of Two Cities
Three Smart Girls  

Best Director:

Frank Capra for MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN

Gregory La Cava for MY MAN GODFREY

Robert Z. Leonard for THE GREAT ZIEGFELD

William Wyler for DODSWORTH

Best Actor:

Gary Cooper in MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN

Walter Huston in DODSWORTH

Paul Muni in THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR

William Powell in MY MAN GODFREY

Spencer Tracy in SAN FRANCISCO

Best Actress:

Irene Dunne in THEODORA GOES WILD

Gladys George in VALIANT IS THE WORD FOR CARRIE

Carole Lombard in MY MAN GODFREY

Luise Rainer in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD

Norma Shearer in ROMEO AND JULIET

Best Supporting Actor:

Mischa Auer in MY MAN GODFREY

Walter Brennan in COME AND GET IT

Stuart Erwin in PIGSKIN PARADE

Basil Rathbone in ROMEO AND JULIET

AKIM TAMIROFF in THE GENERAL DIED AT DAWN

Best Supporting Actress:

Beulah Bondi in THE GORGEOUS HUSSY

Alice Brady in MY MAN GODFREY

Bonita Granville in THESE THREE
Maria Ouyspenskaya in DODSWORTH

Gale Sondergaard in ANTHONY ADVERSE

Best Original Story:

Pierre Collings, Sheridan Gibney for THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR

Adele Comandini for THREE SMART GIRLS

Robert E. Hopkins for SAN FRANCISCO

Norman Krasna for FURY

William Anthony McGuire for THE GREAT ZIEGFELD

Best Screenplay:

Pierre Collings, Sheridan Gibney for THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR

Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett for AFTER THE THIN MAN

Eric Hatch, Morrie Ryskind for MY MAN GODFREY

Sidney Howard for DODSWORTH
Robert Riskin for MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN

Best Cinematography:

George J. Folsey for THE GORGEOUS HUSSY

Tony Gaudio for ANTHONY ADVERSE

Victor Milner for THE GENERAL DIED AT DAWN