Vautrin
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Posts posted by Vautrin
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I have to give McGraw one tough guy demerit for matching with Dixon instead
of just taking the bed and blankie for himself. She had just pulled a trick on
him so Charlie should have told her to take the couch or the floor and like it.
And when the femmeist fataleist thing she ever does is pretend to be his
wife to get a reduced airfare, well that ain't much of a femme fatale. Maybe
that's why she turns out to be a good girl halfway through the flick. Charlie
was going to call off the robbery but someone, I think it was Webb, reminded
him that while she was okay with his crummy salary now, after a few months
(or maybe a few years) she might get tired of that and miss her mink coat
and high livin' fix. I give McGraw credit for not even being at the robbery,
but still getting his cut. In hindsight, the plan to stick around at his job
for a while to divert suspicion instead of getting out of Dodge, or rather
LA, proved to be a rather big mistake. I was halfway hoping McGraw would
get away with it and ride off into the sunset with Ms. Dixon, but we all know
that wasn't in the cards.
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1 hour ago, Bethluvsfilms said:
I have heard the age old story that Wayne supposedly 'chickened out' of going to serve in World War II. But it's my understanding he was refused because of his age.
You can disagree with his politics all you want (I must admit mine also differ from his in quite a few areas), but it doesn't make him a hypocrite.
Wayne bashing is something of a tradition on this forum and it pops up a few times a year
when Wayne becomes a subject of a thread. I don't think age had much to do with it, as
stars older than Wayne served. The details are on some places on the internet. The bottom
line was that Wayne didn't go and didn't try very hard to go. His hypocrisy is not due to
his politics but his gung ho attitude that he quickly abandoned when he himself might be
involved.
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1 hour ago, CaveGirl said:
Only the most addicted rock fan could have written the script for TIST, since it morphed legendary tales from the rock annals of misbehaviour and oddities, into a whole back story for the Tapsters. Odd rock deaths as in gardening accidents, or misinterpretation of words like "Dolby" for "Doubly" can only remind one of things like Joan Baez and her massacre of some of the lines in The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". The part about not knowing the difference between the markings for inches as opposed to feet, on the napkin is hilarious. But we feel for the Tap when they hear one of their old songs on the radio, and then the DJ says something like it should be filed under the where are they now category. Though silly and childish, the boys still kind of make you sad at the demise of their career and when we find they are big again in Japan, all ends well. Great movie and one of the funniest! The actual music was well done and the bit about Nigel showing off his guitar collection with the amp that goes to 11, just for that extra push, is legendary.
As for Zeppelin, their appropriation of things like Robert Johnson's "Terraplane Blues" for "Trampled Under Foot" is interesting, but most Johnson fans would recognize the original in it. Too bad Johnson was long dead. You make good points about their song attribution to earlier blues records, by people like Willie Dixon and so on. I did love the theremin usage on "Whole Lotta Love" I gotta say, no matter what it was cribbed from. I bet even Clara Rockmore might have enjoyed hearing it played in person.
All this talk about Spinal Tap has just made me remember that I own the collectors set of all three articulated figures, that I hope are now so rare I can make big money on them! Of course, Michael St. Hubbins is my favorite and there truly is a thin line between stupid and clever.
www.entertainmentearth.com/product/spinal-tap-collectors-box-set/sid35003
Thanks, Vautrin!Yes, Tap is funnier if one is familiar with some rock history. Just for sheer quantity of laughs
it is one of my favorite comedies. But perhaps all joking aside, we should pay attention to the
message to listen to the flower people. Very heavy that.
I remember the band that ran across the HOTH album. Being a bit of a control freak, I would at
first take it off and put it back on after each listening. Of course it started to wear out, so I then
just left it separate from the album.
For a brief time I was a DJ at an "underground" small wattage radio station, which technically
was illegal. They were eventually taken off the air by the FCC.
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7 hours ago, NipkowDisc said:
Wayne never gave any credit to himself as a great actor. he followed advice on how to deliver his lines in a certain way and it worked.
Wayne's ability was his skill at natural reactiveness which many actors do not have...
if you're gonna take a shot at wayne admit that you do so because you are intolerant of his conservatism and not hide behind a critique of his acting skills.
At least he knew his limitations and was smart enough to hew to them. I really don't mind
Wayne as an actor. You get what you pay for. I disdain Wayne as a yellow-bellied chicken
hawk hypocrite.
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6 hours ago, CaveGirl said:
Oh, lordie! The bits from the Tap movie about how they got their name was hilarious. Wasn't there something about they were first called The Originals but then found out another local group was also called The Originals? You could tell they have plundered all the old stories in teen magazines about how the Stones and Beatles and other groups had first been called the Ferrymen or the High Numbers or whatever.
Hilarious!And as I recall, they then stylized themselves as the New Originals. Perhaps around the time
of Give Me Some Money. You always read about real bands having to change their names
because there was already a band with that name.
Zeppelin's only top ten hit in the U.S. was Whole Lotta Love. There was the album version which
ran about five and a half minutes and a shorter version which ran two minutes less, with the
middle distorto part left out. From what I can decipher the U.S. single was the full version.
The song also incorporated parts of another song and Zep settled a suit in
1985. Ramble on.
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1 hour ago, CaveGirl said:
Not to excuse Zeppelin for cribbing off other's glory but I do think back in that time frame, it was pretty common for some rock groups to riff off of famous blues numbers without feeling like it was a total rip-off.
Having anything addressed to Chumlee [sp?] would ruin it!What a piker. I only liked the old man on the show and now he is dead. Sad, ain't it?
I'm in shock that Dylan would even offer to do this. Hopefully it was his "Nashville Skyline" album.As for the Tapsters, I think when they descend to the level of being billed under a "Puppet Show" that it is the nadir of fame. The bit where they discuss the succumbing of some of their drummers, by electrocution or inhaling vomit is a high point for me, but seeing the little people running around Stone Henge and being taller than the pylons is a great scene. I also like when they get stuck in their pods on-stage.
I heard some horror stories like that once from a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee I knew, that were not much different from the stuff in "This is Spinal Tap". Probably where all these ideas come from like the Tap getting lost backstage just like Dylan was in "Don't Look Back". Thanks, Vautrin.
I agree that "borrowing" some old blues licks or parts of songs was likely SOP for some
groups back in the day. I remember coming across a website that detailed exactly which
Zeppelin songs contained these "borrowings" and from which songs and artists they were
taken. It seems Zep did indeed do it more liberally than other groups. I think Chumlee is
correct. I'm sure the meeting was set up and though I won't swear to it as it was some
time ago, to me it seems it was the Blonde on Blonde album that Dylan signed. Pawn Stars
is not as popular as it used to be, but I enjoyed watching it back in its prime. Chumlee got
a lucky break by knowing Corey since I doubt he would have achieved the minor fame he did
on his own. And the drummer died by swallowing vomit, but someone else's vomit. What a great
movie.
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6 hours ago, CaveGirl said:
I have that album with many of the precursor versions of songs Zep used and somewhat revamped. People like John Lee Hooker, Leadbelly, Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Johnson and others definitely were influences but I guess Zeppelin's records might have brought more attention to their earlier works. By the way, I just saw an episode of that pawnbroker show from Vegas where someone was trying to sell the "object" from Zeppelin album but it was in pretty poor shape. Just was sitting on the table, looking about the size of Spinal Tap's Stone Henge stage replica and all beat up from too much partying but not with red snappers!
Sad...Eventually the boys made amends or were forced to do so by impending lawsuits, and gave
writing credits and back royalty payments to the artists they had ripped off. I've always
wondered why they did it. Neither the shared writing credits or the payments would have
done much to stop the band's momentum, and they were writing enough good material
on their own. I wonder if there were a number of objects, just like there were a number of
ruby slippers. I recall one episode where Rick sent Chumlee to get Bob Dylan, who was in
Vegas, to autograph a Dylan album. They just happened to meet (yeah, sure) and Chum
had Dylan autograph it to Chumlee, which lessened the value of the autograph. That
Stonehenge scene is one of my favorites. The tiny model comes down from above and
the, um, little people dance around it and are taller than it. 11 Funny.
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Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a statue.
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Mommy, do the Germans really use actual bullets?
Act tough, the emphasis on the act. If Wayne ever had to truly act tough,
he would have wet his pinafore and hid under the porch.
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7 hours ago, darkblue said:
Always pushing your own style, aren't you? The way you look at home is of little interest to normal people just so long as you stay there.
Heck, I haven't worn socks in the past three months.
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A bad statue for a bad actor. Seems appropriate.
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Steverino's macho man, look at me I'm riding a motorcycle act is a bit frayed
at the edges, but it still occasionally works as a marketing tool. Cool has
its limits. Not even McQueen could make black socks and sandals cool.
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7 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
Please get started on your THE KILLERS KARAMAZOV slash fiction NOW!
That could be one hot mess, but I think it's best to let each one be. I haven't
seen The Brothers Karamazov in a long time, but I'm sure LJC found some
good ham explosions in the role of Daddy Karamazov.
One of the sleep hints I always see is that it's easier to fall asleep in a somewhat
cool room. No thanks, I like it nice and warm and cozy.
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I love The Killers, especially the first few minutes. Hey bright boy....what's on the menu
tonight, bright boy....You call this **** a BLT, bright boy....Yeah, he's a real bright
boy....Yeah, real bright....What's this hick town called, bright boy?....You don't know,
bright boy?....Yeah, maybe they should call it Brightboyville. Whad ya think of that,
bright boy?
I love Daddy Karamazov too. He's a gas, gas, gas.
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Christ Betsy, couldn't you find a car with a steering wheel
smaller than a miniature merry go round?
The Man in the Grey Flannel Suite
Tom Rath works for the non-profit group Goody Two Shoes which supplies used
Thom McCan wingtips to third world children. Rath still feels guilty because he
threw a grenade that killed his BFF during World War Two. No one said Tom was
the sharpest tool in the shed. His wife Betsy, who was runner up in the Mrs.
Connecticut Nag of the Year contest, complains constantly that he doesn't make
enough money. She also yells about him wearing nothing else to work but grey
flannel suits. In a moment of anger Tom says that he would cover his walls with
grey flannel if he could. And before you know it, Tom runs an empire of grey
flannel suite home decorators with the trend becoming mega popular in the
suburban homes of the post-war world. Tom divorces Betsy and marries his
nineteen year old secretary. All is going well until something that happened during
his World War Two service comes back to haunt him. Tom skipped out on an
Italian pro without paying. He doesn't know that Italian pros have a memory
even longer than an elephant. Monica soon shows up in the good old U.S.A.
and presents him with a bill plus interest of 1,000,000 lire for what he owes her.
Fortunately due to the exchange rate, Tom easily covers the old bill from his
grey flannel business account, and lives happily ever after in Nugatoatuck,
Connecticut.
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1 hour ago, CaveGirl said:
Yes, Zeppelin had reached a zenith that horrified some musical observers. And by putting things engraved on the inside ring of discs like "Do what thou wilt is the whole law" or whatever it was by Aleister Crowley, they started being criticized for being satanic and you know where that leads. All the aftermath with tragedies concerning Plant's progeny and inhaling vomit which can kill, seemed like fulfillment of the old Paganini myth about selling one's soul to the devil for some critics. I do give them total credit for not wanting to carry on without John Bonham just to make some bucks. Death in rock and roll can move one on to higher acclaim often though, or as someone said when Elvis died "Good career move."
I think Page was the only one who was into the occult and who knows how seriously even
he took it. I always thought the whole selling your soul thing was pretty ridiculous in the
case of Zeppelin. I think it was more of the old **** happens idea, a much more pedestrian
explanation. And the music wasn't quite up to the early Zep standards as time wore on,
which is quite common, even with the best of bands. By the time time Bonzo died it was
time to give it up anyway. I just recalled something that always gave me a laugh--the small
black sculpture from the Presence album that seemed to hypnotize people in the album's
photos. Maybe an inside joke about the bombast of the whole Zep project. Then there's the
lack of credit given to blue's musicians in the early albums, but that's a topic for another
day.
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7 hours ago, CaveGirl said:
It went down like a zeppelin, as Keith Moon would have said and most film reviewers did!
Zep had pretty much reached a peak of largesse by this point, and was roundly criticized for the self-indulgent nature of the project. But who cares...seeing it now is fun. I will have to watch it again to look for John Paul Jones wig! Thanks for that bit of wonderful trivia, Vautrin.Yep, a lead zeppelin. Zep was one of those groups that the punks would likely criticize
for their extreme pompous over indulgence. Maybe the concert sequences suck too.
I haven't seen the film in years, though it would be hard to mess up the best of LZ's
songs. And then there are Jimmy Pages embroidered pants. Thank Wikipedia since I
hadn't heard about the reshoot, another prime example of let's spend a whole lotta
money for nothing, until I read about it in the Wiki article.
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2 hours ago, CaveGirl said:
I have been collecting "Confidential" magazines for years. They make for some fun reading. I think there was some belief that if Confidential had the dirt on someone, that if they paid them off enough, they would just use the story and mess with another actor in similar circumstances, hence stuff they were gonna write about Rock Hudson, might be used to sully the name of someone like George Nader instead. A few of my magazines have stories on people like Kim Novak associating with Sammy Davis, that she has discussed on interview shows. It's bizarre to be able to read the original stories from the magazine.
I've never actually seen a full issue of Confidential, though I've seen some covers and
one or two page excerpts. I've also read about what you posted--that Confidential
would drop stuff about the big stars if they could publish things about the lesser
lights. Maybe they were more in sync with the studios for a while than it appeared,
but it seems that eventually the studios just got annoyed with Confidential. Yes
kiddies, some stars are just as perverse as your average person.
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6 hours ago, Princess of Tap said:
You talk about embarrassing. You've got to see that video of them questioning Sinatra about it. It's simply hilarious.
Ironically, the one cover of Confidential that I saw about this story also had Tab Hunter on the cover about an alleged gay party that he had attended in Hollywood.
I'm sure it was, especially as Frankie usually stayed out of those types of situations.
An elderly lady in my neighborhood once gave me a pile of movie magazines from the
early to mid 1960s. Can't remember the title, but it was the usual move star junk.
My dad had some Jerry Clower tapes. You know the old saying You can't unsee something
you've already seen. Thankfully, you can forget things you've heard.
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19 hours ago, Princess of Tap said:
It's true. The New York Times has reported the event.
And in reality there was a court case involving it in which the Confidential magazine was sued and they decided to dissolve the publication.
The lady whose apartment was broken into received an out-of-court settlement from Sinatra's lawyer.
And the whole end result was that Sinatra and DiMaggio were no longer friends.
I've actually seen video on YouTube of Sinatra being questioned about the whole incident in court. That's how I first found out about it and decided to do some research.
I go after all those historical things on YouTube and then some similar video will pop up and the next thing you know you've been doing it for 2 hours. LOL
There seems to be some disagreement about the details of this stunt. As to
Confidential, it appears they eventually made a deal to stop reporting on the
peccadilloes of movie stars, but as that was what the public bought the mag
for, the new, dull Confidential soon went out of business. Sinatra and DiMaggio
really sound like two dumb bunnies. They should have stuck to baseball and
singing and left the undercover stuff to the professional peepers.
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The **** has hit the fan. Actually there is a Portuguese Wiki entry for this
movie, which is easily translated into English. It is very brief with a one
sentence synopsis and a cast list and then a few references. The way is
open for someone to start an English one.
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4 hours ago, Princess of Tap said:
Speaking of knocking on doors--Do you know the story about what Frank did with his friend Joe DiMaggio?
Joe, who was recently divorced from his wife Marilyn Monroe, was eating dinner at a Hollywood restaurant with Frank Sinatra when he got a report from a private eye. Even though his wife had divorced him, DiMaggio had a tail on her. The private detective reported her whereabouts--visiting someone in an apartment building.
So Joe decided to bust in and have the detectives photograph her to humiliate her. Being a friend, Frank went along with them. LOL
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depends on how you look at it, they broke the door down to the wrong apartment.
This was the apartment of a single woman who was terrorized by the break-in and called the police. But she couldn't identify anyone because of the camera flashes.
Months later the story appeared in the infamous "Confidential" magazine and the whole thing was out in the open.
So Frank wasn't afraid to help a friend break down a door.
In Hollywood lore, this became known as the "1954 Wrong Door Raid".
I've never heard that one before. I wonder how much is true and how much is
lore. Got the wrong apartment, huh. Meanwhile in a different apartment across
town switch hitter Mickey Mantle is showing Miss Monroe his Louisville Slugger.
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17 hours ago, Princess of Tap said:
When I was a kid, we actually went to the movie theater and saw an American version of "Gunga Din"--it was called "Sergeant's 3".
It was a rat pack movie. It's been a long time, but I remember that the three sergeants were Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford and Dean Martin.
At this point I don't have to tell you who played the Gunga Din role, do I. Sam the Man was the former slave who also wanted to be in the cavalry. I don't remember much else, but I'm just guessing that Sammy Davis jr. ended up the same way as Sam Jaffe's Gunga Din. But it was a nice Technicolor movie for a Sunday afternoon away from black and white TV.
I just checked Wiki, and apparently Sammy is still alive at the end of the movie. In every way it pays to be a friend of Frank Sinatra's. He can even change the plot. LOL
I remember the title, but I've never seen the movie itself. Frankie will protect his buddies,
unless John Wayne knocks on the door at night and complains about the noisy party.
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17 hours ago, sewhite2000 said:
Ha ha, well, yes, that's happened to me, too.
It got so annoying that I got voicemail.
Noir Alley
in General Discussions
Posted
Speaking of the Hughes' harem, I once read that Howie hid Faith Domergue in some
"love nest," and then forgot about her. I don't know if that's just another Hollywood
story or if it actually happened. I wouldn't be too surprised if it was true.
Hughes also was working on some kind of complicated mechanism for a bra that would
make Jane Russell's boobs appear to be even larger. Talk about carrying coal to Newcastle.
Maybe he could have done the same thing for Ms. Dixon to give her a little oomph in
the upper body area.