Beemer memory 32: Biker days, Enrico Banducci & a hungri i

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The hungry i 

date & photographer unknown 

 

About this time every year I remember January of 1980, the last days of my dancing career at the hungry i nightclub on Broadway in San Francisco, more about this below.       

 

When the hungry i opened in 1950 it played a major role in the history of stand-up comedy and music in the US. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold it to Enrico Banducci in 1951; Banducci also owned Finocchio's Club, an upscale nightclub where famous people, movie and stage celebrities, politicians, etc., came to see the drag shows staged there.   

       

Enrico Banducci - 1969 

photographer unknown

 

 

In its heyday the hungry i featured comedy and folk and other music, with acts such as Maya Angelou (as a Caribbean singer, early in her career), Woody Allen, Malcolm Boyd, Lenny Bruce, Godfrey Cambridge, Dick Cavett, Professor Irwin Corey, Bill Cosby, the Gateway Singers, Vince Guaraldi, The Kingston Trio, Tom Lehrer, The Limeliters, John Phillips (of The Mamas & the Papas led the house band), The Journeymen), Mort Sahl, Ronnie Schell, Barbara Streisand, Jackie Vernon, We Five, Jonathan Winters, and Glenn Yarborough, among others.           

A young Barbra Streisand begged Banducci for a single night at his nightclub, insisting that she would soon be a huge star. Banducci agreed to sign the singer, who had never performed professionally but was soon starring in I Can Get It for You Wholesale on Broadway. The resulting concerts (March–April 1963) were well-attended, giving Streisand nationwide acclaim.      

The hungry i moved to Ghiradelli Square in 1967, where it was primarily a rock venue; it closed there in 1970. When it opened in a new location at 546 Broadway at the corner of Romolo Place in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, it became a strip club.   

 

It would be six or so years later, during my early biker days, that I found myself dancing there. It's hard to believe this was over forty years ago.        

         

The hungry i is where I danced with Pillow, long past its glory days, it became our home base. But we also danced at the Roaring Twenties (where the first of the Dirty Harry series with Clint Eastwood was filmed), Big Al's, the Mabuhay Gardens (when punk bands weren't performing) The Garden of Eden and the On Broadway on the corner of Columbus and Broadway.  

 

I will never forget my time at the hungry i as it was an intrinsic part of my early biker days; I have so many wonderful tales from those days (link below); some I can and will retell; others I cannot and will not. I miss those days but their memories bring me great joy!       

 

The hungry i is still there. The barkers are still hawking on the sidewalk in front and the girls are still doing their thing inside.            

         

 

Viewfinder links:       
               

Joan Baez         

Lenny Bruce          

Ace Cannon         

Bill Cosby         

Clint Eastwood        

hungry i articles       

The Kingston Trio         

The Mamas & the Papas        

John Phillips         
Pillow (She-Beast)       

Barbra Streisand          
Styrous®                

Jonathan Winters          
     

Net links:                    
      

MisterSF ~ Farewell Favorites: hungry i      
   
     
YouTube links:       
     
Hungry i Club, San Francisco - Video Tour     
                  
    
   
     

“Life moves on but memories linger.“
                           ~ Styrous®

     
     
      

Styrous® ~ Tuesday, Jamuary 1, 2021            

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Beemer Memories 
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20,000 vinyl LPs 253: Burgess Meredith & Howard O. Sackler ~ Everyman

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Burgess Meredith & Howard O. Sackler ~ Everyman

vinyl LP front cover detail

woodcut ca 1500 

coloring & calligraphy by Gogin Stair

detail photo by Styrous®

 

 

The Somonyng of Everyman (The Summoning of Everyman), usually referred to simply as Everyman, is a late 15th-century morality play. Like the John Bunyan 1678 Christian novel The Pilgrim's Progress, Everyman uses allegorical characters to examine the question of Christian salvation and what Man must do to attain it. An excellent topic for our world today!        

 

 

 

Burgess Meredith & Howard O. Sackler ~ Everyman

vinyl LP back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®  

 

 

In 1955 Burgess Meredith recorded a reading of the play with a cast of a stunning array of artists under the direction of Howard O. Sackler. Today is the birthday of Meredith and this is my tribute to him.   

       

 

Burgess Meredith & Howard O. Sackler ~ Everyman

vinyl LP front cover 

woodcut ca 1500 

coloring & calligraphy by Gogin Stair  

photo by Styrous®

          

The play is set in a wooded world of mystery and intrigue, this 600 year-old play follows the journey of the character "Everyman" who is tasked by "Death" to meet his maker "God" for a reckoning. Stalling for time, Everyman begs for the chance to bring a single companion with him to his death. He tries to enlist his Kin, Cousin, Goods, Beauty, Strength, and 5 wits, but none will follow him to his death.      

 

 

Burgess Meredith & Howard O. Sackler ~ Everyman

vinyl LP front cover detail 

woodcut ca 1500 

coloring & calligraphy by Gogin Stair

detail photos by Styrous®

 

This was a seminal project as many of the readers on the recording went on to other famous, fun and strange projects that influenced many segments in the world of entertainment.         

 

 

Burgess Meredith & Howard O. Sackler ~ Everyman

vinyl LP back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®
 

 

Cavada Humphrey would appear in the very weird soap opera, Dark Shadows: the show's inhabitants were ghosts, werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and a parallel universe (link below). John Heldabrand would appear in The Immoralist, a 1955 play written by Augustus and Ruth Goetz based on the novel by André Gide, which also starred James Dean, Louis Jourdan, and Geraldine Page. Heldabrand also in the 1956 television play A Night to Remember for the  Kraft Television Theatre.   

          

David Hersey is is one of the readers. however, he is a lighting designer who designed the lighting for over 250 plays, musicals, operas, and ballets. His awards include the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for Evita, Cats, and Les Misérables, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for Cats, Miss Saigon, and Equus, and the 1996 Laurence Olivier Award for Lighting Design.    

Janet Ward appeared in the films Fail Safe (1964), The Anderson Tapes (1971) and Night Moves (1975). She appeared in the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, The Defenders, N.Y.P.D., Cannon, Barney Miller, Kojak and Law & Order.         

 

Darren McGavin has a role in the reading; he was one of the stars in Summertime and in The Man with the Golden Arm (link below) which starred Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang (both 1955). From 1958 to 1959, he played the title character in the 1950s television series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, and subsequently starred in the NBC Western series Riverboat, first with Burt Reynolds and then with Noah Beery Jr. McGavin went on to have a prolific career in television, appearing in numerous guest-starring roles throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He starred in the successful TV movie The Night Stalker                   

Julian Barry is an American screenwriter and playwright; his script for the 1974 film Lenny about comedian Lenny Bruce won him an Oscar-nomination. Barry adapted the script from his successful Broadway play of the same name. The film, directed by Bob Fosse and starring Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine, was nominated for the so-called Oscar Grand Slam, one of some 40 films to be so honored. Barry wrote or rewrote screenplays for several notable films including The River starring Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek, Eyes of Laura Mars starring Faye Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones, and Rhinoceros, starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, Me, Myself and I, starring George Segal and Jobeth Williams, and the American Playhouse production for PBS, A Marriage - Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, starring Christopher Plummer and Jane Alexander.               

 

Frederick Rolf has been active in American theatre for over six decades. On Broadway he was featured as the Inquisitor in Saint Joan and in Time Remembered with Helen Hayes and Richard Burton. Some of his film credits include (Witness with Harrison Ford, Street Smart with Morgan Freeman and five Woody Allen films).        

 

Stefan Gierasch made over 100 screen appearances, mostly in American television, beginning in 1951. He appeared in many films including in The Hustler (1961), The Traveling Executioner (1970), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), What's Up Doc? (1972), High Plains Drifter (1973), Carrie (1976), Silver Streak (1976), Victory at Entebbe (1976), Blue Sunshine (1977), The Champ (1979), Blood Beach (1980), Perfect (1985), and in 1994 he appeared in the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito film Junior.        

 

Terence Kilburn is known for his roles as a child actor, in films such as A Christmas Carol (1938) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) in the late 1930s and the early 1940s. He was in the film National Velvet with a VERY young Elizabeth Taylor and the notorious 1962 film Lolita directed by Stanley Kubrick. He was also in Slaves of Babylon, a film with Richard Conte, Linda Christian and Julie Newmar, I loved Newmar and thought she had the strangest looking face that was sensual and exotic in a bizarre way, I guess that's why she was cast in so many films like Babylon.        

The Portland Community College For the Performing Arts Center staged a brilliant production of Everyman with stunning lighting and sets (link below).         

 

 

Burgess Meredith & Howard O. Sackler ~ Everyman

vinyl LP back cover

photo by Styrous®
 

 

Burgess Meredith was born in 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Methodist revivalists, a religion to which he adhered throughout his lifetime. He became a reporter for the Stamford Advocate. In 1942, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After transferring to the Office of War Information, he made training and education films for America's armed forces. In 1943 he performed in the USAAF's recruiting short The Rear Gunner and the U.S. Army training film A Welcome to Britain for troops heading to the UK in preparation for the liberation of Europe. He was released from duty in 1944 to work on the movie The Story of G.I. Joe, in which he played the war correspondent Ernie Pyle.          

 

He was known later in his career for his appearances on The Twilight Zone and for portraying arch-villain The Penguin on the 1960s TV series Batman (link below) and boxing trainer Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky film series. For his performances in The Day of the Locust (1975) and Rocky (1976), he received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He later starred in the comedy Foul Play (1978) and the fantasy film Clash of the Titans (1981). He narrated numerous films and documentaries during his long career, including Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).             

 

Meredith played the Penguin in the television series Batman from 1966 to 1968 and in the 1966 film based on the TV series. His role as the Penguin was so well-received that the show's writers always had a script featuring the Penguin ready whenever Meredith was available. He and Cesar Romero (the Joker) are tied for number of appearances on the show^.  He also made a brief cameo appearance as the Penguin in the 1968 episode of The Monkees titled Monkees Blow Their Minds.         

 

My favorite film of his is Of Mice and Men (link below) based on the book by John Steinbeck. He portrays George trapped in his friendship with his sidekick, Lenny, played by Lon Chaney, Jr. The story takes place during the Depression. The score for the film was by American composer Aaron Copland.  

           

His autobiography, So Far, So Good, was published in 1994. In the book he wrote that he suffered from violent mood swings caused by cyclothymia, a form of bipolar disorder.          

 

Meredith died from complications of Alzheimer's disease and melanoma on September 9, 1997, aged 89, at his Malibu home. Friend Adam West spoke briefly at his memorial service.        

Burgess Meredith & Howard O. Sackler ~ Everyman

vinyl LP record labels, side 1 & side 2

photos by Styrous®

   

Tracklist:

Side 1:

    Everyman, Written By – Anonymous
   
A     Part One

Side 2:

B     Part Two

Companies, etc.

    Copyright (c) – Caedmon Publishers

Credits:

    Directed By – Howard Sackler
    Performer [Beauty], Voice Actor – Cavada Humphrey
    Performer [Confession], Voice Actor – John Heldabrand
    Performer [Cousin], Voice Actor – David Hersey (3)
    Performer [Death], Voice Actor – Frank Silvera
    Performer [Discretion], Voice Actor – Janet Ward
    Performer [Everyman], Voice Actor – Burgess Meredith
    Performer [Fellowship], Voice Actor – Darren McGavin (2)
    Performer [Five-Wits] – Julian Barry (4)
    Performer [God], Voice Actor – Frederick Rolf
    Performer [Good-Deeds], Voice Actor – Sybil Baker
    Performer [Goods], Voice Actor – Richard Purdy
    Performer [Kindred], Voice Actor – Stefan Gierasch
    Performer [Knowledge], Voice Actor – Carol Veazie
    Performer [Messenger], Voice Actor – Terence Kilburn
    Performer [Strength], Voice Actor – Richard Farmer (2)

Notes:

 Includes a 24 page booklet

 
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (A runout): TC 1031 A // C0101 SC E4
    Matrix / Runout (B runout): TC 1031 B // E4RP- 10110 - 1A // A1 // R
    Matrix / Runout (A label): TC-1031-A
    Matrix / Runout (B label): TC-1031-B

 

Burgess Meredith, Howard O. Sackler* ‎– Everyman - A Moral Play
Label: Caedmon Records ‎– TC 1031
Series: Monuments Of Early English Drama – Volume Two, Caedmon Literary Series –
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1955
Genre: Non-Music
Style: Spoken Word

   

         

Viewfinder links:        

        

Batman, Adam West & the Whole Gang         

Lenny Bruce

Richard Burton             

Dark Shadows @ 50        

James Dean         

Terry Kilburn           

Burgess Meredith           

Julie Newmar        

The Twilight Zone        

        

Net links:        

        

         

        

        

         

        

        

YouTube links:        

        

Batman '66 Reunion (1989) Adam West, Julie Newmar, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith    

Of Mice and Men  (1939) Burgess Meredith & Lon Chaney Jr (1 hr., 46 min.)     

       

Portland Community College ~ Everyman (49;18)       

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Monday, November 16, 2020       
       

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20,000 Vinyl LPs Archive
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Lenny Bruce articles/mentions

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Enrico Banducci & a hungri i     
Alice Cooper ~ Muscle of Love        

Burgess Meredith & Howard O. Sackler ~ Everyman         

Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie         
Mort Sahl ‎~ At Sunset on red vinyl     
Barbara Streisand ~ Greatest Hits    
     
     
     

Lenny Bruce - January 1, 1951

photographer unknown

        

       

       

       

        

       

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Theater/performance people

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101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 82: Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie

In addition to my vinyl LP record collection I'm selling, I have hundreds of reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes as well. This is an entry about one of them that is for sale on eBay (see link below). Interested? Contact me by email, please, not by a comment.

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Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie

reel-to-reel tape box detail
detail photo by Styrous©

41 years ago today, on November 6, 1973, Murray Roman was killed in a car crash. I hear you asking, "Who in the hell is Murray Roman?" Murray Roman was an American stand-up comedian born on March 8, 1929. His style and material was considered to be similar to Lenny Bruce. Roman was also a writer on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and, as part of the Comedy Hour writing team, won an Emmy for his work in 1969. His most noted sketch was "The Honey House," which mocked the syrupy 1968 hit song Honey, by Bobby Goldsboro. The skit featured a tour of the house where Honey (the fictional subject of the song) had lived and died, conducted with suitable melodrama by her husband, played first by Tom Smothers and then by Dick. Bob Einstein and Murray would occasionally write sketches together.

Tommy Smothers recalls, "He [Roman] didn't write so well - he talked his writing. I hired him as a writer on the show [because] good comedians were always pretty good writers ... and he was a pretty good writer. Most of his gift was sitting in the writer meetings and throwing one-liners out against the material. That's how he'd find his stuff ... but the reason I hired him was because of that album."

 A Blind Man's Movie

Out of Control was Roman's first comedy album; A Blind Man's Movie was his second. The vinyl LP record format (remember that?) of A Blind Man's Movie is remembered for its avant-garde design meant to demonstrate the look of “a blind man’s movie. ” The front and back covers are completely blank – covered in black, as is the album’s gatefold. Of course, they could not do that for the boxed reel-to-reel tape version.

 
Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie

reel-to-reel tape box cover  
photo by Styrous©

Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie

reel-to-reel tape box back 
photo by Styrous©

Murray Roman on TV

Roman made one appearance on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. He had a role on a 1966 episode of Batman which was known for its upbeat theme music, composed by Neal Hefti, and camp moral lessons which included championing the importance of using seat belts, doing homework, eating vegetables and drinking milk. Kind of incongruous considering the risqué tone of his monologues. He appeared in the season two episodes "Hizzonner the Penguin" and "Dizzoner the Penguin" on November 2 and 3, 1966, in a story that revolved around The Penguin running for mayor of Gotham City. Roman played a Penguin minion named E.G. Trendek. The episode also had Paul Revere and The Raiders playing at a "Penguin for Mayor" rally.

Roman had small television roles for about two years. Batman was followed by a part on ABC Stage 67 (broadcasting in the autumn of 1966). The Emmy Award winning series had a different format each week - sometimes as a variety show, sometimes a teleplay, occasionally a talk show. This particular episode featured a drama called "On the Flip Side" written by Robert Emmett, a former writer for the satirical "That Was the Week That Was" (see link below). It featured Roman as a hippie named Hairy Eddy Hopkin. He acted alongside Ricky Nelson and the program had a score by Burt Bacharach. The year finished up with Roman taping an episode of "That Girl" in which he played a bowling alley manager. He was on The Rat Patrol, on March 4, 1968, and the Fairytale episode of the The Monkees show on January 8 of 1968.

              

Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie

reel-to-reel tape box spine 
photo by Styrous©

The album was produced by David Briggs & Murray Roman

Produced by David Briggs & Murray Roman
Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie

reel-to-reel tape box back detail 
detail photo by Styrous©

His live act was a hit on the comedy circuit. With his material done in the vernacular of the hippies, he became a choice opening act for major bands like The Doors and Country Joe and the Fish.

Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie

reel-to-reel tape
photo by Styrous©

ok, the contents (note I don't say music)

As with his first album, Movie is a fusion (or collision) of music, stand up comedy and weird effects; there are snippets of music mixed with the monologues. There is a version of the song, Shake, by Otis Redding and a song by The Chambers Brothers. To hear what his shtick was all about there are links, at the bottom, to some of the tracks from Blind Man's Movie on YouTube.

Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie

reel-to-reel tape label detail 
detail photo by Styrous©

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1     Chicks    
A2     Snow White    
A3     The War    
A4     Ralph    
A5     Transplants    
A6     Cuba    
A7     Black People    

Side 2:

B1     Black Sambo Pancakes    
B2     Strip Bust    
B3     Fuzz    
B4     Theology

Label: Tetragrammaton Records ‎– X 120
Format: reel-to-reel tape
Country: US
Released: Jume 1969
Genre: Non-Music
Style: Comedy

  Murray Roman Discography:
 
Out of Control
You Can't Beat People Up And Have Them Say I Love You
A Blind Man's Movie
Busted
Backtrack 13 (You Can't Beat People Up And Have Them Say I Love You)

A Blind Man's Movie on YouTube:  

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

other net links:

More Murray Roman info on wfmu: The Forgotten Murry Roman

That Was the Week That Was 

Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie, reel-to-reel tape is for sale on eBay 

other reel-to-reel tapes on eBay

Styrous® ~ Thursday, November 6, 2014

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101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes Archive
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