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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, Julia, On Golden Pond, Klute, Coming Home, The 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.
.jpg)
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
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.
 | |||||
photo by Styrous® |
detail photos by Styrous®
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.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
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
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
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