June 29, 2019

20,000 Vinyl LPs 188: Bernard Herrmann ~ The Day the Earth Stood Still




Bernard Herrmann was born in New York City on June 29, 1911, under the name, Max Herman. There are maybe 10 film score composers that I think are the greatest, Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, Jerry Goldsmith, etc., but at the very apex of the greats are Rota and Herrmann.    

Herrmann is known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo; his scores are brilliant. He also composed scores for many other films, including Citizen Kane for Orson Welles, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Cape Fear, Fahrenheit 451 for François Truffaut, and Taxi Driver for Martin Scorsese. He worked extensively in radio drama (composing for Orson Welles), composed the scores for several fantasy films by Ray Harryhausen and many TV programs, including the Rod Serling Twilight Zone series, and Have Gun – Will Travel. At the top of these film scores is the one that has never been matched for sheer terror and suspense, Psycho (link below).      

However, at the very top of this amazing pinnacle is what I consider his absolute best score, The Day the Earth Stood Still.         


 movie poster


After seeing the film who will ever forget the themes he composed for the soundtrack with his signature use of the theremin? However, he did not rely entirely on a theremin or synthesizers; his use of the piano on Radar is brilliant (link below). This recording of four of his film scores includes The Day the Earth Stood Still.   


art direction: Glenn Ross
illustration: Richard Krieger
photo of album cover by Styrous®




Then there is, "Klaatu Barada Nikto"; seems to me it's one of THE most well-known film lines EVER delivered (link below)!        


front cover detail
art direction: Glenn Ross
illustration: Richard Krieger 
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®


And last, but certainly NOT least, there are the spectacular special effects! You could say they were ahead of their time, however, even by today's high-tech standards, they are stunning!!!!        


front cover detail
art direction: Glenn Ross
illustration: Richard Krieger 
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®



One of the special effects was the robot "bodyguard", Gort, that spews forth laser-like death rays when danger threatens Klaatu, the extraterrestrial (back then they were called aliens) portrayed by Michael Rennie. What an amazing creature! It is the very best rendition of a robot EVER created which has never been surpassed.       



Gort was portrayed by seven-foot, seven-inch (231 cm)-tall actor Lock Martin wearing a thick foam-rubber suit designed and built by Addison Hehr. Two suits were created, fastened alternately from the front or back so that the robot would appear seamless from any angle in the completed scenes.               

photo by Styrous®


The Day the Earth Stood Still was directed by Robert Wise, who edited Citizen Kane in 1941 and The Magnificent Ambersons in 1942 for director Orson Welles before going on to direct such major 1960s musicals as West Side Story in 1961 and The Sound of Music in 1965.      

The Day the Earth Stood Still was based on the story Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates (link below), which was first published in the October 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.    
      
As with most films Day follows the story line of the book somewhat, with some major changes, it diverges radically in that  in the book the major character is Cliff Sutherland, a free-lance picture reporter. Klaatu is killed right off the bat and the robot is "Gnut" and green. 
      
Also, at the end, when Gnut is implored by Sutherland to tell his masters that the death of Klaatu was an accident, Gnut replies, "You misunderstand, I am the master!"       


detail photo by Styrous®


The Lux Radio Theater performed a dramatization of the script with Michael Rennie and Jean Peters on January 4, 1954 (link below).       
   

detail photo by Styrous®


In 1973 a Canadian progressive rock group, formed by John Woloschuk and Dee Long, named themselves Klaatu after the extraterrestrial, in the film The Day the Earth Stood Still. The band released the singles Anus Of Uranus / Sub-Rosa Subway and Dr. Marvello. More on them in a future article.                  


date & photographer unknown
 

The band struggled to get radio recognition. By 1975 Davies, along with producer Terry Brown, managed to land the band a deal with Capitol Records in the US and worldwide. Then, on February 17, 1977, a feature headlined ‘Could Klaatu Be Beatles? Mystery Is A Magical Tour’, written by Steve Smith, he asked, "Why did the album sound so much like the Fab Four? “It struck me almost immediately,” he says. “The track Sub-Rosa Subway is completely Beatlish.” 


detail photo by Styrous®


The Day the Earth Stood Still has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry and is ranked in the top 50 on the Time Out highly regarded list of the 100 Best Sci Fi Movies.          



detail photo by Styrous®


The Day the Earth Stood Still has aged better than almost all of its peers. The ideal of a society based on the predication of universal peace with a benevolent police state is a dream yet to be realized, if ever. The special effects are still effective, and the eerie Bernard Herrmann score sets the mood perfectly. Decades later, it remains a thought-provoking, worthwhile parable.       
      

detail photo by Styrous®


   



photo by Styrous®

photo by Styrous®









photo by Styrous®


      
Viewfinder links:
        
Jerry Goldsmith         
Bernard Herrmann         
Alfred Hitchcock       
Lux Radio Theater        
Ennio Morricone     
Nino Rota       
Rod Serling            
The Twilight Zone      
Orson Welles           
Robert Wise        
        
Net links:
        
AFI ~ The Day the Earth Stood Still           
Cast & Crew          
1950's science fiction films         
Classic Film & TV Café (review)   
My Meaninigful Movies ~ The Day the Earth Stood Still      
Farewell to the Master PDF           
       
YouTube links:           
            
The Day the Earth Stood Still ~           
        Klaatu Comes in Peace         
        Gort Appears         
        Klaatu Barada Nikto   
        Klaatu's Speech        
        The Choice Is Ours       
The Day The Earth Stood Still movie trailer
Lux Radio Theater ~ The Day the Earth Stood Still (1 hr.)           
Bernard Herrmann ~  
        The Day the Earth Stood Still Suite (11 min. 37 sec.)     
        Radar         
        
         
      
       


      
    
        
        
         
Styrous® ~ Saturday, June 29, 2019          
      
     

   

 











June 27, 2019

Doc Pomus ~ Doo-Wop Wonder

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date & photographer unknown
 
 
Doc Pomus was an American blues singer and songwriter but known predominantly for the lyrics he wrote for some of the greatest songs of the doo-wop and Motown era. He wrote Teenager in Love for Dion and the Belmonts, Suspicion for Elvis Presley, and hits for Big Joe Turner (A Boogie Woogie Country Girl being one of my favorite songs) (link below), the Beach Boys and, of course, Save The Last Dance For Me done by The Drifters (link below). 

When he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Pomus said, "Rock and roll wouldn’t have happened without Big Joe Turner."

He was born Jerome Solon Felder on June 27, 1925, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jewish immigrants. He became a fan of the blues after hearing a Big Joe Turner record.   


Jerome Solon Felder 
date & photographer unknown


When he was a boy, he had polio and was only able to walk with the help of crutches.   


Jerome Solon Felder 
date & photographer unknown


Later, because of post-polio syndrome exacerbated by an accident in 1965, Felder eventually had to rely on a wheelchair. His bus, known as the 'Docmobile', had a custom pneumatic elevator lift for his wheelchair.       


Doc Pomus - 1980's 
photographer unknown

          
Using the stage name "Doc Pomus", Felder began performing as a blues singer when he was a teenager. His stage name was not inspired by anyone in particular; he just thought it sounded better for a blues singer than the name Jerry Felder.    

Performing at various clubs in and around New York City, he performed with Milt Jackson, Mickey Baker, King Curtis and many others. He recorded approximately 40 sides as a singer in the '40s and '50s for record companies such as Chess, Apollo, Gotham and others.      

In the early 1950s, Pomus started writing magazine articles as well as songwriting for artists such as Lavern Baker, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles and Big Joe Turner. His first big songwriting break came when the Coasters had a hit with his song Young Blood; I love this song! There was a cool version of Young Blood (link below) performed by The Beatles for the BBC on June 1, 1963. This song was first released on the LIVE AT THE BBC album in 1994.      

He was married to actress and dancer, Willi Burke, who was in several Broadway musicals (On The Twentieth Century, Fiorello!, etc.) He wrote the song, Save The Last Dance For Me on their wedding night. It was later recorded by The Drifters (link below). 


photographer unknown


He collaborated with pianist Mort Shuman to write for Hill & Range Music Co./Rumbalero Music at its offices in New York City Brill Building. He asked Shuman to write with him because he didn't then know much about rock and roll, whereas Shuman was familiar with many popular artists of the day. They wrote the hit songs A Teenager in Love, Save The Last Dance For Me, Hushabye, This Magic Moment, Turn Me Loose, Sweets For My Sweet (a hit for The Drifters and then The Searchers), Go, Jimmy, Go, Little Sister, Can't Get Used to Losing You, Suspicion, Surrender and (Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame.      


date & photographer unknown 
 

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pomus wrote several songs with Phil Spector, Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber and other Brill Building-era writers. He also wrote Lonely Avenue, a 1956 hit for Ray Charles.     

In the 1970s and 1980s, Pomus wrote songs with Dr. John, Ken Hirsch and Willy DeVille for what he said were "...those people stumbling around in the night out there, uncertain or not always so certain of exactly where they fit in and where they were headed." These later songs are considered by some, musician and songwriter Dr. John and producer Joel Dorn, to be signatures of his best craft.
      
Alex Halberstadt published a book about Doc Pomus entitled, Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life & Times of Doc Pomus which refers to his hit song, Lonely Avenue. It was published by Da Capo Press in 1972. It was named a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and a Best Book of 2007 by The Times (London).


Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life & Times of Doc Pomus 

The documentary film A.K.A. Doc Pomus, conceived by Pomus' daughter Sharyn Felder, directed by filmmaker Peter Miller, edited by Amy Linton and produced by Felder, Hechter and Miller, details Pomus' life was released in 2012.





Doc Pomus died on March 14, 1991, from lung cancer, at the age of 65 at the NYU medical center in Manhattan.     
         
       
        
Viewfinder links:      

The Beach Boys          
Ray Charles           
The Drifters ~ Save the Last Dance for Me
Doc Pomus                      
Elvis Presley         
Big Joe Turner       
      
Net links:      
       
Boogie Woogie Flu ~ Doc Pomus        
CJ News ~ TJFF saves the last film for Doc Pomus review      
Felder Pomus ~ Doc Pomus     
Jewish News ~ Shouting The Blues: A pudgy Jewish kid reborn as Doc Pomus 
NY times ~ A.K.A. Doc Pomus  review        
NY Times ~ Lonely Avenue: This Magic Moment review       
Peter Guralnick ~ Magic & Flying: Doc Pomus
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ~ Big Joe Turner          
Stereophile ~ Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life & Times of Doc Pomus review  
Tablet Magazine ~ Blues Brother        
       
YouTube links:      
          
Doc Pomus ~        
        My Good Pott   
        Send For The Doctor   
        Save the Last Dance For Me and how it almost wasn't   
The Beatles ~ Young Blood                 
The Coasters ~ Young Blood          
Big Joe Turner ~ A Boogie Woogie Country Girl                
A.K.A Doc Pomus Official Movie Trailer - 2012    
The Genius of Doc Pomus (1 hr, 39 min.)  
          
        
         

date & photographer unknown

      
      
       
       
Styrous® ~  Thursday, June 27, 2019









Harrison Ford articles/mentions

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All things Star Wars                 
Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut   
Star Wars              
Star Wars @ 40        
The Story Of Star Wars picture disc        
 



 
 
 
Harrison Ford  
date & photographer unknown      
    


 
        








Ken Russell articles/mentions

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Kiss of the Spider Woman     
Gustav Mahler ~ Death In Venice    
The Who ~ Tommy: 50 years on    
     
       
     
     
     
      
    
     
Ken Russell - 1969   
BAFTA Award         
Central Press/Getty Images
     
    
     
     


















June 25, 2019

1,001 LaserDiscs 11: Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut

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Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut
LaserDisc front cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous®


Today is the anniversary of the release of the spectacular film, Blade Runner, released on June 25, 1982, in 1,290 theaters. That date was chosen by producer Alan Ladd Jr. because his previous highest-grossing films (Star Wars and Alien) had a similar opening date (May 25) in 1977 and 1979, making the 25th of the month his "lucky day".


Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut
LaserDisc front cover
photo by Styrous®


There have been many versions of the film and the history of them is very confusing (links below) but the Director's Cut without the voice over used in the original version is my favorite. In one story I read actor Harrison Ford objected to the voice over, in another Ridley Scott objected but in either case, the producers thought the audience would not get the story. A battle ensued but the producers won out and it was released with Ford doing the voice over which he has stated he hated.       


Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut
LaserDisc front cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous®


And of course, the score for the film by Vangelis (link below) is stunning! The music ranges from heartrendingly beautiful to disturbingly surreal and eerie to dramatically thundering. It is one of finest electronic scores ever written, a dark but melodic combination of synthesizers that mirror the futuristic film noir envisioned by director Ridley Scott.

The original soundtrack release was delayed for over a decade, until 1994, despite the music being well-received by fans and critically acclaimed—it was nominated in 1983 for a BAFTA and Golden Globe as best original score. The soundtrack is regarded as a historically important piece in the genre of electronic music
    

Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut
LaserDisc front cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous®
 

Blade Runner is a neo-noir science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer and Sean Young, it is loosely based on the Philip K. Dick novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). The film is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on off-world colonies. When a fugitive group of Nexus-6 replicants led by Roy Batty (Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly agrees to hunt them down.


Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut
LaserDisc back cover
photo by Styrous®


Back in the sixties I read the short story by Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which Blade Runner was based on. The book is nothing like the film version. In the book Deckard is not in the slightest bit sympathetic, warm or even human as Ford eventually becomes in the film. The story takes place in San Francisco in the book, in Los Angeles in the film. The story in the book is dismal from the start and remains so to the very end. The film ends with some hope. There are very many other differences (link below).      


Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut
LaserDisc back cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous®


So, the upshot is I loved the film not only better but in a way I have never loved a film; and I love many.                


Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut
LaserDisc back cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous®


Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut
LaserDisc back cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous®


This 1991 LaserDisc pressing is on two discs and is a special widescreen edition in CAV standard play format.            



Blade Runner ~ The Director's cut
detail photo by Styrous®
















Viewfinder links:   
       
Harrison Ford          
Vangelis         
   
        
        
Net links:              
        
Plot    
Cast           
Versions of Blade Runner         
Blade Runner Fandom ~ Blade Runner versions         
The Bonus View ~ A History of Blade Runner on Laserdisc      
         
YouTube links:              
        
Blade Runner (1982) Official Trailer         
Blade Runner original version opening (1982)                    
Final scene, "Tears in Rain" Monologue        
What Makes 'Tears in Rain" Special     
Vangelis - Blade Runner Soundtrack (complete)        
Blade Runner - book & movie Difference     
       
         
   
The Blade Runner LaserDisc will be for sale on eBay  
       
      
        
       
"Blade Runner needs no explanation."   
                        ~ Rutger Hauer   

 
       
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, June 25, 2019






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