December 21, 2023

20,000 vinyl LPs 346: Jane Fonda ~ They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

 ~  
vinyl LP front cover detail
 cover design: Apple Graphics
detail photo of front cover by Styrous®


Today is the birthday of American actress and activist, Jane Fonda. She was born on December 21, in 1937, and is the recipient of various awards, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Honorary Palme d'Or, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. That's quite a track record!        
 
In 1977, Fonda announced that she would make only films that focused on important issues. Although there are many of her films I consider truly momentous, JuliaOn Golden Pond, Klute, Coming HomeThe China Syndrome and others, my favorite film of her's is They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. Although it is of a long gone period, the issues in Horses are still relevant today.     
 
I chose Horses because having been raised in not exactly poverty, I know the difference between being unable to rise out of a poor lifestyle as opposed to willfully choosing one and I could relate to the film. Fonda brilliantly captured the despair, anger, bitterness, frustration, cynicism and ultimately resignation in her character trapped in it. The character Michael Sarrazin portrays is a beautiful study of innocence and hope that is an amazing counterpoint to Fonda but useless to her in the end. A situation I may have to face one day.    


 
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is a 1969 American psychological drama film directed by Sydney Pollack, from a screenplay written by Robert E. Thompson and James Poe, based on the Horace McCoy 1935 novel of the same name. In addition to Jane Fonda, it stars Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, Bonnie Bedelia, and Red Buttons. The story focuses on a group of individuals desperate to win a Depression-era dance marathon and an opportunistic emcee who urges them on ot what will be their ultimate destruction.              
 
Dance marathons (or marathon dances) are events in which people dance or walk to music for an extended period of time. The marathons started as dance contests in the 1920s and developed into human endurance contests, or exploitative entertainment events during the Great Depression, a time of desperation in the world, in the 1930s. According to Professor Carol Martin of New York University, the revival of the Olympic Games created a widespread interest in feats of strength, endurance contests, and world records that led to dance marathons.      
       
On February 18, 1923, Olie Finnerty and Edgar Van Ollefin set a record by dancing seven hours without stopping in Sunderland, England. Twelve days later, dance instructor Alma Cummings set a new record at the Audubon Ballroom in New York. She danced continuously for 27 hours with six different partners. Within three weeks, her record was broken at least nine times across the United States.     
       
As the prosperous 1920s faded into the struggling 1930s, dance marathons boomed and offered cash prizes equivalent to a year's salary. They provided contestants and spectators food, shelter and the opportunity to earn cash prizes at a time when many people needed a free meal. In her book Dance Marathons: Performing American Culture of the 1920s and 1930s, Carol Martin writes "in their heyday, dance marathons were among America’s most widely attended and controversial forms of live entertainment. The business employed an estimated 20,000 people as promoters, masters of ceremonies, floor judges, trainers, nurses and contestants." According to Martin, nearly every American city of 50,000 people or more hosted at least one endurance dance marathon at the peak of the craze.    
      
Dance marathons have occurred in most large cities, such as M.D Crandall’s at Madison Square Garden. Smaller cities didn't have as many social issues compared to the contests in larger cities. Though promoters made less money in smaller towns, they looked for a place where a large crowd could fit in for the dance marathon, and the local community helped advertise.[9][page needed] Most promoters were known to have bad business practices, such as not paying for the event bills and ditching the contestants. On the other hand, a few promoters like Hal Ross, made efforts for the events, and paid off the bills.   
       
Participants had to remain upright and moving for 45 minutes out of every hour, around the clock. A live band played at night, while a radio or record player often sufficed during the day. Contestants were expected to dance full-out during the heavily attended evening hours. Every few hours a klaxon would sound and couples were allowed 15 minutes of rest in beds that were sometimes set up on the dance floor. These rest areas were segregated by sex. Contestants trained themselves to drop instantly into deep sleep as soon as their bodies touched the cots. Women who did not get up were given smelling salts and sometimes slapped. Male contestants who were slow to wake were often dunked in a tub of ice water. At times, couples were tucked on dog chains together like prisoners. "Cot Nights," in which the beds from the rest areas were pulled out into public view so the audience could watch the contestants even during their brief private moments, were popular.           
 
Most marathon promoters fed contestants 12 times a day, although contestants were required to continue the shuffling dance motion while they ate. Although the meals were simple foods like eggs, oatmeal or toast, in a time of great hunger food was a powerful inducement to contestants. Many marathon contestants reported that, despite the constant motion, 12 meals a day meant that they actually gained weight. Once admission was paid, spectators could stay as long as they liked. Marathons took on an almost theatrical role for spectators, as spectators gained a sadistic sense of pleasure from watching the participants physically suffer. Dancers could often be seen dozing off while their partners held them up to keep their knees from hitting the ground (which would result in disqualification). To encourage lagging couples to continue moving, the floor judge sometimes used a ruler to flick the legs of contestants who were not shuffling with sufficient alacrity. Tasks such as eating, bathing, shaving, and reading the paper could be done while dancing. In her first autobiography, June Havoc described how the contestants shaved onstage, wrote letters, washed themselves, ate while keeping their feet moving, even had sex under blankets on the dance floor.                    

The images below give some indication that the events were not in the least bit entertaining but very serious business. The only person really looking happy is the fellow in the white shirt in the first photo below. The rest look like they couldn't care less and they'd rather be ANYWHERE else.       
 
 
 
photographers unknown
 
 
 
By the late 1930s, dance marathons had faded and had disappeared until they were revived in the seventies for charities.          
          
The album, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is in a gatefold format and there are wonderful images of the film available on it.            


 Jane Fonda ~ They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
 cover design: Apple Graphics
photo of cover by Styrous®
 
 

 
 

 
Jane Fonda ~ They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
vinyl LP gatefold cover details
 cover design: Apple Graphics
detail photos of cover by Styrous®





Jazz drummer, Shelly Manne is one of the many talented musicians that perform on the soundtrack for the film.           
 

 
 









 
 
 
 
 
 



















































Drowning in the depths of desperation, Gloria (Fonda) confesses to Robert (Sarrazin) how empty she feels and that she is tired of her life. She removes a gun from her purse but cannot bring herself to pull the trigger. She asks Robert to shoot her, which he does. Police officers arrest Robert and remove Gloria's body. Asked why he did it, Robert tells the police that she asked him to. After they press him further, Robert says: "They shoot horses, don't they?"       

The marathon continues with the few remaining couples, barely moving, having already reached 1,491 hours.    

          



vinyl LP labels, side 1 & 2
detail photos by Styrous®


  
Tracklist:
       
Side 1:
        
A1 - Main Title: Easy Come Easy Go1 - 2:40

A21 - Sweet Sue, Just You1 - 2:21

A31 - Paradise1 - 2:00

A41 - Medley: Coquette/I'm Yours1 - 2:56

A51 - The Japanese Sandman1 - 3:08

A61 - Derby I: By The Beautiful Sea/Can Can1 - 4:29
       
Side 2:
       
B11 - Easy Come, Easy Go1 - 4:17

B21 - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea, Vocals – Lynn Willis1 - 1:59

B31 - The Best Things In Life Are Free, Vocals – Bonnie Bedelia1 - 1:34

B41 - Medley: Body And Soul/I Cover The Waterfront1 - 4:26

B51 - Medley: Brother, Can You Spare A Dime/I Found A Million Dollar Baby1 - 2:24

B61 - Out Of Nowhere1 - 2:41

B71 - Derby II: California, Here I Come/The Derby Fanfare1 - 4:15
       
Companies, etc.
       
    Pressed By – Monarch Record Mfg. Co. – △14479
       
Credits:
       
    Coordinator – Randy Rayburn
    Design [Album] – Apple Graphics
    Liner Notes – Arthur Knight
    Orchestrated By – Albert Woodbury
    Photography By [Photographic Stills From The Film By] – Bob Willoughby
    Producer, Music Director, Arranged By, Orchestrated By – John Green*
    Recorded By [Album Track Recordist] – Grover Helsley
    Recorded By [Original Film Track Recordists] – Daniel Wallin*, Lyle Burbridge
       
Notes:
       
Gatefold jacket.

Made in USA
       
Barcode and Other Identifiers
       
    Matrix / Runout (Runout, side A, variant 1): SO1 93176 W2 #1
    Matrix / Runout (Runout, side B, variant 1): SO2 93176 W1 #1
    Barcode (Runout, etched, side A, variant 2): OC-IOA ABCS-OC-A [circled MR logo] X △14479 [scratched numbers]
    Barcode (Runout, etched, side B, variant 2): ABCS-OC-IO-B [circled MR logo] △14479-X
    Rights Society: ASCAP

John Green* – They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Label: ABC Records – ABCS-OC-10
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1970
Genre: Jazz, Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack
         
Viewfinder links:        
         
Bonnie Bedelia           
Red Buttons         
Jane Fonda         
June Havoc            
Shelly Manne         
Sydney Pollack        
Michael Sarrazin        
Susannah York         
        
Net links:        
        
         
        
         
         
        
        
YouTube links:        
        
         
        
        
         
        
        
        
Styrous® ~ Thursday, December 21, 2023       
       
 
 






















No comments:

Post a Comment

PLEASE NOTE: comments are moderated BEFORE they are posted so DO NOT appear immediately.

Thank you.