Film Albums: Big Hits from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by the New Christy Minstrels

 

The MGM Classics channel aired Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) this afternoon and that was so enjoyable to watch that I followed up the pleasure by listening to the album "Big Hits from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" released by Columbia records. There were many Chitty albums released after the film became popular, but this one is unique because the songs are performed by the New Christy Minstrels folk group along with Arthur Treacher. Yes, you read that correctly, Arthur Treacher, the toe-tapping butler of the Shirley Temple films (or if you prefer, the founder of the fish and chicken fast-food chain).

The New Christy Minstrels had big hits with "Green, Green" and "Today" in the early 1960s, during the Hootenanny craze. You would think that these beautiful Sherman Brothers songs wouldn't sound very well converted to folk songs complete with banjo and tambourine, but it is actually an entertaining blend and Arthur Treacher's voice is well-suited for "Posh" and "You Two." The only unusual song added to the album is "Fun Fair" which may have been a music-only track on the original album that had lyrics added to it because it certainly wasn't in the original film.

Click here to listen to the full album on Youtube. 

Track Listing


Side One:

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

"Posh!"

"Hushabye Mountain"

"Doll on a Music Box/Truly Scrumptious"

"Chu-Chi Face"

"Fun Fair"

Side Two:

"Me Ol' Bamboo"

"You Two"

"Roses of Success"

"Lovely Lonely Man"

"Toot Sweets"

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Reprise"

Top Music Picks: Hushabye Mountain, Doll on a Music Box/Truly Scumptious, You Two, Lovely Lonely Man

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

This dapper gentleman is smiling at something...or someone. Doesn't he look familiar? We know what film this screenshot is from and even then we can't place where we saw him before! 

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

GAME OVER. 

Congratulations to the Tactful Typist for correctly identifying this scene from "Charlie Chan in Panama" (1940). In this scene, Godley (Addison Richards) is keeping an eye on the passengers coming off the clipper ship and heading to Panama City (note the Panama Airways clue!).

From the Archives: Jane Powell and Boxer Lauro Salas

 

Jane Powell and Ricardo Montalban get to meet boxer Lauro Salas in this candid MGM publicity photo from 1952. Powell and Montalban had teamed up in the delightful musical "Two Weeks with Love" in 1950. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures 

McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965)

Tim Conway cracks me up. I always enjoyed his antics when he was paired with Don Knotts, but now I find he is even funnier with Joe Flynn. Having not seen the television series McHale's Navy, nor the feature film, I plunged into this sequel regardless and loved it! You don't have to be familiar with the show or its characters to enjoy this one. I didn't even miss Ernest Borgnine who wasn't present in this McHale outing sans "McHale".

Why he isn't in this sequel is a mystery... even Borgnine later confessed that he never knew the reason why he wasn't asked to be in it. Perhaps Universal wanted to test the waters with Joe Flynn and Tim Conway as a new Laurel & Hardy-like comedy duo...or they may have been simply saving money by axing the main star. Whatever the reason, with or without him it is a hoot. 

The comedy all starts with a case of mistaken identity—Ensign Parker (Tim Conway) gets confused as a defecting Russian naval officer after having one gin too many, so Quartermaster Christy dresses him in the uniform of Air Force Lt. Wilbur Harkness (Ted Bessell), General Harkness' son, who has a reputation as a ladies' man. Before long, our clueless hero is suddenly irresistible to the likes of Susan Silo, Jean Hale, and other young women who are convinced he’s a legendary Romeo. Things spiral further when Parker is forced to pose as a bomber navigator, dragging a very unwilling Binghamton (Joe Flynn) along for the ride. The two manage to turn a routine flight into a catastrophe, eventually plummeting out of the plane in a jeep dangling from a rope!

Throughout the 1960s, Universal Pictures were outputting the best comedies of all the studios. McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force was a typical product of this studio, much in the vein of the Don Knotts comedies from that same era. Sure, the sets are basic (they look like they were made for the TV series), but the acting is a riot, and it is packed with familiar character actors like Tom Tully, Jacques Aubuchon, Cliff Norton, Henry Beckman, and Willis Bouchey. And let’s not forget Bob Hastings as Carpenter, Binghamton’s ever-loyal lackey.

Best of all, it has plenty of Tim Conway and Joe Flynn. I grew up with Joe Flynn from his Disney work so the character of Captain Binghamton is new to me but it's Flynn all over. He always played men of authority who were frustrated by the idiots around him - yet, he was often the biggest boob of the bunch! McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force has a number of great scenes with Binghamton getting frustrated with Parker...the best of which is when the two of them squeeze inside a link trainer and Parker keeps making remarks that imply that they are flying ("We must be hitting turbulence"..."I think we hit water!"). Binghamton's exasperation keeps growing as he blurts out, "Link trainers can't fly!".... yet they end up in the Pacific Ocean! Another fun scene is where Parker and Binghamton come across a shipment of brassieres without the faintest idea of what they are. It’s all silly, harmless fun—but crazy enough to get you laughing. 

Thankfully, McHale's Navy ran for four seasons on television so now that this film whetted my appetite for navy comedy, I'll be plunging into the series. If you want to check out McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force for yourself, it is paired with McHale's Navy (1964) on a double-feature DVD from Shout! Factory. 

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

Now here's a tricky one... a man, a horse, and a fence. Bet you haven't seen many movies with that threesome!

This screenshot comes from a movie that you may have seen. If you can name the film it is from, you've won this round of the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game....but you'll never know unless you guess, so give us your best shot down below in the comment box.

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

Get Smart: The Exploding Bomb Game (1965)

 Would you believe that there was a Get Smart boardgame with an exploding time bomb? That's a gimmick that only Ideal could have come up with and the toy company did a great job of capturing the spirit of the popular spy spoof series with this fun game. 

Each player plays Maxwell Smart (Secret Agent 86), who must collect clue cards from various locations to piece together a picture of an enemy KAOS agent. But watch out for Kaos agents for they are everywhere! Worse yet, there is an exploding (spring-driven) time bomb that is ready to go off at any second! 

The board featured some cute graphics of the four Kaos agents wreaking havoc and an ambulance with what looks like a caped woman hanging on by the bumper. The game usually sells for $50-$75 but often the spring on the time bomb is broken...or the bomb is missing completely (what kid could resist pocketing it?). 

Ideal also made a Get Smart Card Game for those who didn't want to mess with bombs. Don Adams lent his likeness to other toy companies in the 1960s and 1970s, namely for a line of "Skittle" games for Aurora toys. There was Skittle Tennis, Skittle Horseshoes and Skittle Tac-Toe among others. 

From the Archives: A Ticklish Affair (1963)

 
Little Grover (Peter Robbins) was taking a flight on some tethered weather balloons when he decided to cut the ropes and really soar in 1963's A Ticklish Affair. This brought Officer Key (Gig Young) and a fleet of patrol cars out trying to chase him down...a difficult task to do with San Diego's shifting winds.

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures