Film Albums: Brazen Brass Goes Hollywood (1961)

I wonder how many people heard of Henry Jerome & His Orchestra? Very few, I'd imagine! And even fewer have ever heard of Geffen Records. So you lucky readers are in for a treat (and an education)!

Henry Jerome was a popular bandleader in the 1930s and 1940s who performed on ships, at ballrooms, restaurants, and naturally on the radio. He had a soft, mellow style (influenced by Hal Kemp) with brass-heavy arrangements. In the 1950s, ABC Radio Network aired "Dinner at the Green Room," a weekly radio program which featured Henry's orchestra playing live from the Green Room at the Hotel Edison in New York City. 

In the early 1960s, Hal Jerome had a popular series of "Brazen Brass" albums which featured - brazen brass, of course. This one, released by Geffen Records in 1961, spotlights Hollywood classics in unique arrangements, such as Around the World in 80 Days, Three Coins in a Fountain (as a cha-cha), a highly danceable version of High Noon, a scrumptious "Beyond the Sea"-style version of Love is a Many Splendored Thing, and The Third Man Theme without the zither! 

Jerome is probably best known for his work "behind the label" as an A&R director at Decca Records, Coral Records, MCA, and United Artists. You can read more about him here, but first check out this album here on Youtube. 

Track Listing

Side One:

Around the World in 80 Days

Moonglow (from Picnic)

Three Coins in the Fountain Cha-Cha

High Noon

Gigi

Main Title (The Man with the Golden Arm)


Side Two: 

The Third Man Theme

The Song from Moulin Rouge

Tammy Cha-Cha

Theme from A Summer Place

Love is a Many Splendored Thing

Colonel Bogey March (from The Bridge on the River Kwai)

Top Picks: Moonglow, Tammy Cha-Cha, A Summer Place, Love is a Many Splendored Thing

From the Archives: Come Fly With Me (1963)

"Is this yours, ma'am?" Oops! Someone got tricked into smuggling...and you don't need three guesses to see who's the victim. 

This mini lobby card is from the romantic-drama Come Fly With Me (1963) starring Dolores Hart, Hugh O'Brian, Carl Boehm, and Pamela Tiffin. If the Frank Sinatra song pops into your head whenever you read that title, you'd be surprised to discover that it is actually another crooner who sings that famous tune over the credits - Frankie Avalon. 

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 

Rewind Review: The Barefoot Executive (1971)

"He's gonna make it!"

Steven Post (Kurt Russell) is a young mailroom clerk with high ambitions and a lot of enthusiasm. He wants to see UBC, the faltering television studio that he works for, become the leading network but his boss Mr. Wilbanks (Joe Flynn) won't listen to any of his suggestions, one of which is making a series called Abraham Lincoln's Doctor's Dog. 

Steve's girlfriend Jen (Heather North) recently found herself caring for a chimp named Raffles who loves watching television. Steve thinks the shows that Raffles likes to watch are awful, but they seem to be what the public enjoys as well. After a few days of studying his primetime TV picks, Steve is convinced that the chimp knows the public's taste and can predict which pilot shows will become the next top-rated series. He is clever enough to know that he cannot go to his boss with this information, so Steve pretends that he himself has the knack for picking winners. This plan works well for a time, but Steve soon begins to feel undeserving of all of the praise that he is receiving for being the boy wonder of the studio. 

Kurt Russell began his film career with Walt Disney Studios as a child star and, when he got older, he played the leading man in a number of great comedies for the studio. The Barefoot Executive was released right in the midst of a series of college-themed comedies (beginning with The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes) that featured the recurring character Dexter Reilly (Kurt Russell). Instead of attending college, Steven Post goes to the Moonrise Night School, something that his rival Roger (John Ritter) finds laughable. 

Like most Disney films, the movie has a lot of humor, most of which is delivered by the straight-faced character actors. In The Barefoot Executive, it is Joe Flynn and Wally Cox who steal all the funny moments. These two comedians made a great team and are especially entertaining when they are walking on the ledge of a high-rise building attempting to steal Raffles the chimp. 

"Maybe I shouldn't say this, but you've been complaining ever since we've been up here. If you don't like the way I wheeze and hiccup, why don't you go find your own ledge to stand on?" - Wally Cox

Incidentally, Raffles was making his film debut in this movie and then took a hiatus from Hollywood before returning for one last film in 1975 - an X-rated sex comedy called Sodom and Gomorrah (he needed a better agent). Raffles has such a sweet and expressive face and looks especially cute in the plumber's outfit that Steve dresses him in. 

John Ritter's role is rather small and, as Roger, he does not have any of the charms of Jack Tripper. All of the charisma belongs to Kurt Russell who was a wonderful clean-cut role model for young teenagers. It's no wonder he had such a long career at Walt Disney Studios. Not just any actor can build a convincing rapport with a chimp co-star. 

Also worth mentioning is Heather North, who is adorable as his girlfriend Jen. This lovely girl is best known for voicing Daphne for the Scooby-Doo franchise. Harry Morgan, Alan Hewitt, Hayden Rorke, and Iris Adrian round out the cast on this fun family classic. 

Book Review - "Character People" by Ken D. Jones

Authors Ken D. Jones, Arthur F. McClure and Alfred E. Twomey assembled a nice selection of short bios of some of the lesser-known character actors from Hollywood and British films for "Character People", published by The Citadel Press in 1976. 

Each encyclopedia-style entry includes a photo of the actor followed by a brief biography and a listing of some of their memorable films. McClure and Twomey had previously published "The Versatiles" which covered more of the popular character actors such as Mary Wickes, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, etc., so "Character People" was published as a follow-up. 

It's a quick read and a fun book to flip through. You'll find yourself continually saying, "Oh, I know him!" or "So that's her name!" 

Remember this fellow? His name is James Westerfield. In addition to acting, he was also a director of stage productions. On film he usually played policeman. The authors neglected to mention that he was featured in numerous Disney films, again often as a policeman. 

Did you know that William Conrad starred in over five thousand radio shows? He should have been named Mr. Radio. 

Did you know that Henry Kulky became the judo champion of South America in the 1940s? These are just a few of the tidbits Jones, McClure, and Twomey share. Other actors featured in the book include Pert Kelton, Millard Mitchell, Bill Goodwin, Frank Cady, Hayden Rorke, Hope Summers and Bryant Washborne. 

Used copies of "Character People" are available on eBay and through Abebooks.com, but see if your library has it - it's worth a look see! 

Film Albums: David Lloyd Orchestra - Film Hits (1966)

David Lloyd & His London Orchestra wasn't the most popular name in the instrumental field during the mid-century, but this album – Film Hits (1966) – has some great arrangements of popular film themes and it makes one wonder why he didn't become more popular than he was. Admittedly, he had twelve albums released in the decade including two more film theme albums and two spy-themed albums which we'll review later this year. 

This LP (from Polydor) includes popular themes from the mid-1960s including the ever-present "Lara's Theme" (from Doctor Schiwago as it is listed on the cover) and "The Shadow of Your Smile" from The Sandpiper (what, no "More" from Mondo Cane?) but they are arranged in such a unique way that they sound completely new. Lloyd uses a nice mixture of unusual instruments to lead some of these songs, including muted horns and an accordion for both "What's New, Pussycat?" and "Zorba the Greek". 

You can listen to the full album here on Youtube. 

Track Listing

Side One:

Lara's Theme from Doctor Zhivago

The Cincinnati Kid 

The Phoenix Love Theme (The Flight of the Pheonix)

The Shadow of Your Smile 

What's New, Pussycat? 

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 

Zorba, The Greek

Side Two: 

Chim Chim Cheree (Mary Poppins)

Darling 

Girl Talk 

A Shot in the Dark 

Baby, The Rain Must Fall 

The Mechanical Pianos 

Juliet's Theme (From Juliet of the Spirits) 

Top Picks: The Cincinnati Kid, The Pheonix Love Theme, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Chim Chim Cheree

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

Now here's a distinguished looking fellow... and he is obviously watching something or someone in the distance. We'll let you ponder what that something could be and who this handsome young man is. If you ponder long enough, you'll remember what film this screenshot is from - and then you'll leave a comment below so everyone will know that you know, or think you know what you know. 

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

It Happens Every Spring (1949)

Yes, it happens every spring - baseball fever. And it hits us sports fans hard. For Professor Vernon Simpson, he becomes a different person altogether when baseball season starts. As the dean of the college where he works says, "Every spring he seems to undergo a peculiar change, he becomes absent minded to a degree. It's like spring fever - only it lasts all summer."

20th-Century-Fox released a number of comedies in the late 1940s-early 1950s, many of which featured plots involving some kind of fantasy element. It Happens Every Spring (1949) is all about a chemistry experiment gone wrong. 

Vernon Simpson (Ray Milland), a college chemistry professor, is working on a formula that repels insects from wood when a baseball crashes through the window and knocks over his experiment. The ingredients to his formula get all messed up and eureka! a new discovery is made. The baseball sitting in the fluid acts like a magnetic repulsion to any object of wood that it gets in contact with - including wooden baseball bats! Being the clever professor he is, he requests a sudden leave of absence from the college, takes his invention to the big league, and offers himself as a pro pitcher who can strike out any hitter. He gives his name as Kelly and hopes to stay anonymous, but naturally that doesn't happen when "King" Kelly becomes a pitching sensation. 

Why is he attempting all of this? Well, back in the day, college professors were underpaid and Vernon wants to marry his girl Debby (Jean Peters).... one season of baseball would set them up for years. The only trouble is, Kelly's roommate Monk Lanigan (Paul Douglas) keeps using Kelly's "hair tonic" (his formula) and when their St. Louis team head to the World Series, Kelly finds he has no more of his magic potion left and attempts to pitch a clean game himself. 

It Happens Every Spring is one of those laid-back kind of comedies that is entertaining to watch no matter how many times you've seen it. Ray Milland does a great job in the role of Vernon, even though he seems a bit old for the part (the other characters refer to him as a "young man" and "kid"). Also in the cast is Ray Collins as Debby's father and the dean of the college; Jessie Royce Landis as her mother, and a young Alan Hale Jr. Oddly enough, the film would have worked equally well even if the entire cast was changed. One can imagine Charles Coburn taking the role of Ray Collins, William Bendix playing Paul Douglas' part, Jean Hagen in Jean Peters place, and Robert Cummings or Danny Kaye as King Kelly and it would still be fun. 

Vernon is actually a cheat for using the fluid to win the ballgames but, refreshingly, this isn't addressed in the film and even to the end, he calmly lets everyone think he was the greatest pitcher of the season. 

Lloyd Bacon, a veteran Hollywood director of dramas, did a great job filming this comedy. It Happens Every Spring premiered on May 26th in St. Louis and then opened in theaters across the country on Memorial Day weekend and reaped a comely profit for Fox studios. They followed it up with films like Father was a Fullback, Everybody Does It, and Monkey Business. Walt Disney Studios would later adapt experiments-gone-wrong plots similar to this in such classics as The Absent-Minded Professor and Now You See Him, Now You Don't.