1960s – Page 42 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Twilight Zone – Ring-A-Ding Girl

★★★★★ December 27, 1963 Season 5 Episode 13

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

The Ring-A-Ding Girl is in the top ten of my favorite episodes. Maggie McNamara plays Bunny Blake and the character just sparkles. Bunny Blake is a little self-centered but likable. She is what you would think some stars of the 50s and 60s would have been like. It was written by Earl Hamner Jr…. the Waltons creator. He went on to write eight Twilight Zones. Some of his episodes are classics.

Bunny visits her sister in Howardville. The Founders Day picnic is the same day but Bunny has other ideas. You can see something is bothering her so she goes down to the TV station. She announces that she wants to do a one-woman play at the High School Gym. Everyone is upset because they think she is so full of herself that she is wanting people to come to see her and not go to the Founders Day picnic. Is she just full of herself because she is a big star? She has her reasons, and we find out at the end.

I cannot reccomend this one enough. It has a very original story.

IMDB Trivia

Bunny says to her sister Hildy, “Remember when we used to lie in bed on rainy nights and call to each other when we were kids?” This detail was inspired by the writer Earl Hamner Jr. and his seven younger siblings calling out to each other every night when they were children. It later served as the inspiration for the Walton children bidding each other goodnight at the end of every episode of The Waltons (1972), which was created by Hamner.

The headline of Bud’s newspaper, the Daily Bulletin Sports, reads “Jockey Banned from All U.S. Tracks.” This newspaper was a prop created for the earlier episode The Twilight Zone: The Last Night of a Jockey (1963).

The house set was previously used in The Twilight Zone: Living Doll (1963).

This show was written by Rod Serling and Earl Hamner Jr.

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Introduction to Bunny Blake. Occupation: film actress. Residence: Hollywood, California, or anywhere in the world that cameras happen to be grinding. Bunny Blake is a public figure; what she wears, eats, thinks, says is news. But underneath the glamour, the makeup, the publicity, the buildup, the costuming, is a flesh-and-blood person, a beautiful girl about to take a long and bizarre journey into The Twilight Zone.

Summary

Actress Bunny Blake receives an invitation from her sister, to return home. She arrives on the same day as the town’s annual picnic, and feels a sense of dread. She doesn’t get much cooperation and takes matters into her own hands.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

We are all travelers. The trip starts in a place called birth, and ends in that lonely town called death. And that’s the end of the journey, unless you happen to exist for a few hours, like Bunny Blake, in the misty regions of the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Maggie McNamara … Barbara “Bunny” Blake
Mary Munday … Hildy Powell
David Macklin … Bud Powell
Betty Lou Gerson … Cici
Vic Perrin … State Trooper (Jim)
George Mitchell … Dr. Floyd
Bing Russell … Ben Braden
Hank Patterson … Mr. Gentry
Bill Hickman … Pilot

Twilight Zone – Ninety Years Without Slumbering

★★★★ December 20, 1963 Season 5 Episode 12

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

Ed Wynn plays Sam Forstmann, a sweet older gentleman who is attached to a grandfather clock. Although he is sent to a psychiatrist, Sam remains unshakable in his conviction that when the grandfather clock he has owned all his life comes to a stop, he will die. In the fifth season I’ve stated on more than one review that some episodes remind you of earlier ones. Ninety Years Without Slumbering reminds me of Nothing In The Dark with Robert Redford about the older lady who is afraid to die. The Twilight Zone is started to repeat itself a little during this season. I will say though with different results and the best episodes are still up there with the best of the series.

I like this episode. Ed Wynn carries this show. Carolyn Kearney and James T. Callahan play Marnie and Doug Kirk fine but they are a back drop to the legend Ed Wynn. Wynn also appears in an earlier episode called One For The Angels.

When George Clayton Johnson handed the story in called Tick of Time…William Froug had assumed the producer’s role. He was not pleased by Tick of Time. He paid Johnson, then hired another writer, Richard deRoy, to entirely revamp the script. The original story had a darker ending, and some say it would have fit the story more. Johnson never worked with Froug again and never submitted another Twilight Zone.

Clocks are made by men, God creates time. No man can prolong his allotted hours, he can only live them to the fullest—in this world or in the Twilight Zone. That is one of my favorite narrations Rod Serling presented.

This show was written by Rod Serling, Richard De Roy, and George Clayton Johnson

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Each man measures his time; some with hope, some with joy, some with fear. But Sam Forstmann measures his allotted time with a grandfather’s clock, a unique mechanism whose pendulum swings between life and death, a very special clock that keeps a special kind of time—in the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Sam Forstman is an old man who lives with his granddaughter Marnie Kirk and her husband Doug. Sam lives a simple life and doesn’t sleep much anymore. He’s usually up at all hours tinkering on his grandfather clock, something that worries Marnie as his attention to the timepiece verges on the obsessive. The reason for that however is quite simple: he is convinced that should the clock ever stop, he will die.

Someone again had fun with this preview…beeping out words to make it sound like Ed Wynn was swearing.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Clocks are made by men, God creates time. No man can prolong his allotted hours, he can only live them to the fullest—in this world or in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Ed Wynn … Sam Forstmann
Carolyn Kearney … Marnie Kirk
James T. Callahan … Doug Kirk
William Sargent … Dr. Mel Avery
Carol Byron … Carol Chase
Dick Wilson … Mover #1
Chuck Hicks … Mover #2
John Pickard … Police Officer

Twilight Zone – A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain

★★★1/2 December 13, 1963 Season 5 Episode 11

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This one dishes out some Twilight Zone poetic justice to one of the characters. Patrick O’Neal plays Harmon Gordon who marries a much younger woman and then fails to keep up with her. He seeks an experimental serum from his brother Raymond that Raymond is heistant to give him. The serum is designed to make people younger but it has not been tested enough.

Ruta Lee plays Flora Gordon and it’s clear that why she married Harmon. Harmon acts blind to the way Flora treats him but Raymond sees through the situation. I don’t feel a lot of sympathy for Harmon because he had to know what he was geting himself into. The ending is a twist that I didn’t see coming the first time I watched it.

It’s not in the upper class of the Twilight Zone but not a bad one to watch.

From IMDB:

Until episodes became available on VHS and DVD, this was one of four “lost” episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959) that were not included with syndication packages during the 1960s through the 1980s. The other three were The Twilight Zone: Miniature (1963), The Twilight Zone: Sounds and Silences (1964), and The Twilight Zone: The Encounter (1964). This episode, “Miniature,” and “Sounds and Silences” were excluded from the package because of lawsuits that had been filed claiming those episodes were plagiarized. “The Encounter” had drawn complaints of anti-Japanese prejudice and epithets expressed by one of the characters. The episodes were finally re-released for broadcast television in a 1983 special hosted by Patrick O’Neal, the lead actor of “Fountain”.

This show was written by Rod Serling and Lou Holtz

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Picture of an aging man who leads his life, as Thoreau said, ‘in quiet desperation.’ Because Harmon Gordon is enslaved by a love affair with a wife forty years his junior. Because of this, he runs when he should walk. He surrenders when simple pride dictates a stand. He pines away for the lost morning of his life when he should be enjoying the evening. In short, Mr. Harmon Gordon seeks a fountain of youth, and who’s to say he won’t find it? This happens to be the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Harmon Gordon is now quite elderly but is married to Flora, an attractive woman some 40 years younger than him. She’s something of a gold digger and is now quite bored with her marriage. Harmon turns to his younger brother Raymond, a medical doctor who has been experimenting with cellular regeneration. Raymond’s experiments to date have been on lab animals and he’s reluctant to help Harmon as he has no idea what effect his youth serum might have on him. In the end, he administers his serum and by the next day Harmon is a new man, so to speak.

WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS

8 minute preview from Dailymotion

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

It happens to be a fact: as one gets older, one does get wiser. If you don’t believe it, ask Flora. Ask her any day of the ensuing weeks of her life, as she takes notes during the coming years and realizes that the worm has turned: youth has taken over. It’s simply the way the calendar crumbles…in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Patrick O’Neal…Harmon Gordon
Ruta Lee…Flora Gordon
Walter Brooke … Dr. Raymond Gordon

Twilight Zone – The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms

★★★★ December 6, Season 5 Episode 10

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

I like this one a lot. You learn some history and enjoy some Time Travel. Warren Oates, Randy Boone, and Ron Foster play three National Guardsmen on war game maneuvers on June 25th, 1964, near the Little Big Horn battlefield where, in 1876, General Custer held his famous last stand with the 7th cavalry against an army of Sioux, which led to their massacre. They find a canteen that appears brand new…but it was from 100 years ago.

As for the characters…There’s the true believer, the sergeant, who seems to have an unbelievably detailed knowledge of the historical event and the greenhorn kid. They all play their parts well. You will not see a lot of locations in this episode but you see the characters, even the skeptic, turn true into believers.

If I would have graded this on a personal scale…it would be a 5. I’m not sure it would be that for everyone. The funny thing is…the 5th season had some known classics and a few not graded so high. Two of those (near the ned) are two of my favorites but I try to grade this more on a masses scale when possible. The 5th season was a roller coaster.

From IMDB Trivia

The tank used is an M3A3 Stuart light tank.

Captain William Benteen, who is mentioned several times, previously served as the namesake of James Whitmore’s character in The Twilight Zone: On Thursday We Leave for Home (1963).

This episode takes place on June 25, 1876 and June 25, 1964.

The Battle of Little Bighorn occurred June 25-26, 1876 near Crow Agency, in Bighorn County, Montana. This is in the south central part of the state of Montana.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

June twenty-fifth 1964—or, if you prefer, June twenty-fifth 1876. The cast of characters in order of their appearance: a patrol of General Custer’s cavalry and a patrol of National Guardsmen on a maneuver. Past and present are about to collide head-on, as they are wont to do in a very special bivouac area known as….the Twilight Zone.

Summary

A National Guard tank crew on war games suddenly find themselves back in time to June 25, 1876, the day General Custer fought and lost to the Sioux at the battle of the Little Big Horn. They report what they’ve seen and heard but the officer-in-charge is more than a little dubious about what they claim. They return to the area, and when the attack begins, they join the fight. When the commander goes to locate them, he finds something else entirely.

***Before you watch this…they had a bit of fun beeping words to make it sound bad. It is funny I will admit. This is the only one I could find that is not a drawn out review…like the one you are reading!***

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Sergeant William Connors, Trooper Michael McCluskey, and Trooper Richard Langsford, who, on a hot afternoon in June, made a charge over a hill—and never returned. Look for this one under ‘P’ for phantom, in a historical ledger located in a reading room known as the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Ron Foster…Sgt. William Connors
Randy Boone…Pvt. Michael McCluskey
Warren Oates…Cpl. Richard Langsford
Greg Morris…Lieutenant Woodard
Jeffrey Morris…Finnigan
Wayne Mallory…Scout
Robert Bray…Captain Dennet
Lew Brown…Sergeant
Jacques Shelton…Corporal

Twilight Zone – Probe 7, Over and Out

★★★★1/2 November 29, 1963 Season 5 Episode 9

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

Probe 7, Over and Out sets up a situation filled with a number of dramatic possibilities. This is an episode that could have been an hour long to explore more avenues. It reminds me of the episode Two but goes a different route. The acting in this one is very good as always. Richard Basehart plays Colonel Adam Cook who just crash landed on a planet. His ship is beyond repair, and he doesn’t have hope his home planet will help him. He does have communication with his General back home but the General has bad news of a Nuclear war coming.

There will be no help for Colonel Adam, but he has a new world to explore. He meets up with Antoinette Bower who plays Norda. Norda is also stranded on this planet. There is a language and personality barrier that they will have to cross. It’s a good Twilight Zone that could have been better with a little more exploration.

From IMDB Trivia

Norda refers to the apples as “seppla,” which is an anagram of “apples.”

This was the first episode of the series to air since The Twilight Zone: Uncle Simon (1963) two weeks earlier. The Twilight Zone: Night Call (1964) was to have been shown on November 22, 1963, but the broadcast was canceled due to the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas that day. It was eventually shown on February 7, 1964.

Much, if not all, of Norda’s language is simply backwards-English. For example, “em” for “me” and “ouy” for “you”

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

One Colonel Cook, a traveler in space. He’s landed on a remote planet several million miles from his point of departure. He can make an inventory of his plight by just one 360-degree movement of head and eyes. Colonel Cook has been set adrift in an ocean of space in a metal lifeboat that has been scorched and destroyed and will never fly again. He survived the crash but his ordeal is yet to begin. Now he must give battle to loneliness. Now Colonel Cook must meet the unknown. It’s a small planet set deep in space. But for Colonel Cook, it’s the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Astronaut Adam Cook crash lands on an Earth-like planet several light-years away. His ship is badly damaged and beyond repair. He manages to contact his home base but they have little encouragement for him. They don’t have a replacement spacecraft to rescue him and the security situation is such that they may soon be at war. Cook readies himself to make a home on his new world when he discovers another inhabitant, a human-like female from another world. As they learn to communicate, he learns her name is Eve Norda and together set off to begin a new life

WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Do you know these people? Names familiar, are they? They lived a long time ago. Perhaps they’re part fable, perhaps they’re part fantasy. And perhaps the place they’re walking to now is not really called ‘Eden.’ We offer it only as a presumption. This has been the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Richard Basehart…Colonel Adam Cook
Antoinette Bower…Eve Norda
Harold Gould: General Larrabee
Barton Heyman: Lieutenant Blane

Beatles – One After 909

A pure rock and roll song by The Beatles. It’s always a joy to listen to because it goes back to their roots They played this song live in the early days before Beatlemania. When they recorded the final version on the roof you could see they were having a good time. George’s guitar playing on this is perfect.

A song that was recorded in January of 1969 but was written by John and Paul in the 1950s. Being a very early attempt at songwriting, John Lennon reluctantly brought it forward for The Beatles to record when they were looking for new material in early 1963. They recorded it but didn’t have a take that they liked.

In 1969 John pulled out “One After 909” from his memory and presented it again. On this occasion, it was reworked with enthusiasm and with a different feel and arrangement, the result becoming a cool presentation of early Beatlemania at their final live performance on the rooftop in 1969.

John, Paul, and George were talking about the song and John said he always wanted to change the words. Paul said no…it’s great like it is so they played the song on the rooftop. It would be included on the Let It Be album released in 1970

The song was about a lady who tells her boyfriend she is leaving on the train that leaves after train number 909. He begs her not to go, but she does anyway. He packs his bags and rushes after her and discovers that she is not on “the one after 909,” so he goes home depressed and goes into the wrong house.

John Lennon: “I wrote it when I was about seventeen, either right before or after ‘Hello Little Girl,’ and it was resurrected for (the ‘Let It Be’) album, probably for lack of material. Nine has always been around. I’m not sure why. I was born on the ninth of October, I lived at nine Newcastle Road, ‘Revolution 9.’ Numerologically, I’m apparently a number three or six, so I’m not sure where the nine comes from…but it’s all part of nine.”

Paul McCartney: “It was a number we didn’t used to do much but it was one that we always liked doing, and we rediscovered it. There were a couple of tunes that we wondered why we never put out; either George Martin didn’t like them enough to or he favored others. It’s not a great song but it’s a great favorite of mine because it has great memories for me of John and I trying to write a bluesy freight-train song. There were a lot of those songs at the time, like ‘Midnight Special,’ ‘Freight Train,’ ‘Rock Island Line,’ so this was the ‘One After 909.’ She didn’t get the 909, she got the one after it! It was a tribute to British Rail, actually. No, at the time we weren’t think British, it was much more the Super Chief from Omaha.”

One After 909

My baby said she’s trav’ling on the one after 909
I said move over honey I’m traveling on that line
I said move over once, move over twice
Come on baby don’t be cold as ice.
Said she’s trav’ling on the one after 909.

I begged her not to go and I begged her on my bended knees,
You’re only fooling around, you’re fooling around with me.
I said move over once, move over twice
Come on baby don’t be cold as ice.
Said she’s trav’ling on the one after 909.

I got my bag, run to the station
Railman says you’ve got the the wrong location
I got my bag, run right home
Then I find I’ve got the number wrong

Well she said she’s trav’ling on the one after 909
I said move over honey I’m traveling on that line
I said move over once, move over twice
Come on baby don’t be cold as ice.
Said she’s trav’ling on the one after 909.

I got my bag, run to the station
Railman says you’ve got the the wrong location
I got my bag, run right home
Then I find I’ve got the number wrong

Twilight Zone – Uncle Simon

★★★1/2 November 15, 1963 Season 5 Episode 8

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This is not a top drawer Twilight Zone episode. On the surface… the problem is no relatable character and absolutely no sympathy. Uncle Simon is a sick, mean, and vindictive old man. He was being cared for by Constance Ford who plays Barbara Polk. Uncle Simon is quite mean to Barbara but she stayed for 25 years putting up with it. You have to wonder why Barbara is still there taking his abuse for years. As you watch you start finding out why.

Its a sad story about two sad people, both of whom make it a point to say everything thats on their mind but by this point. Uncle Simon tells Barbara at one point “You are the only woman I know who looks as if, underneath her clothes, she wore clothes.” That perfectly described the bland Barbara. I wanted so much to feel pity for Barbara…and in some ways I do but her reasons for being there are to inherit the mansion and money. You just get the feeling she wasn’t there for the right reasons.

There is one bright spot. Robby the Robot makes an appearance in this one. Robby has 30 screen credits from 1956 Forbidden Planet to 2014’s The Big Bang Theory.

From IMDB:

The Twilight Zone: Probe 7, Over and Out (1963), the next episode of The Twilight Zone (1959), would not air for two weeks. The broadcast of the following week’s episode on November 22, 1963, which was to have been The Twilight Zone: Night Call (1964), was canceled due to the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas that day.

Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet (1956) is used in this episode. However, the dome portion of his head has been altered. This is one of many instalments to use props from “Forbidden Planet”, since the series was frequently filmed at MGM, which kept the film props in use for many years.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Dramatis personae: Mr. Simon Polk, a gentleman who has lived out his life in a gleeful rage; and the young lady who’s just beat the hasty retreat is Mr. Polk’s niece, Barbara. She has lived her life as if during each ensuing hour she had a dentist appointment. There is yet a third member of the company soon to be seen. He now resides in the laboratory and he is the kind of character to be found only in the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Barbara Polk takes care of her elderly and mean-spirited uncle Simon. He is a scientist who spends much of his time in his basement laboratory but when he’s not there, he seems to take great pleasure in demeaning his niece. She can’t wait for him to die and doesn’t hesitate to tell him so. When he does die, things are… not quite what she expected.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Dramatis personae, a metal man who’ll go by the name of Simon, whose life as well as his body has been stamped out for him; and the woman who tends to him, the lady Barbara, who’s discovered belatedly that all bad things don’t come to an end, and that once a bed is made, it’s quite necessary that you sleep in it. Tonight’s uncomfortable little exercise in avarice and automatons, from the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Cedric Hardwicke … Uncle Simon
Constance Ford … Barbara Polk
Ian Wolfe … Schwimmer
Robby the Robot … Robotic Uncle Simon

Twilight Zone – The Old Man in the Cave

★★★★1/2 November 8, 1963 Season 5 Episode 7

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

As far as the rating on this one. I was in between 4.5 and 5…it could go either way. It is a great episode.

James Coburn (French) and John Anderson (Goldsmith) are terrific in this Twilight Zone episode. The Old Man in the Cave dwells on a small group of Atomic Holocaust survivors whose status quo is maintained by an unseen source that lives in a cave. Mr Goldsmith is the leader of this group and he is told what to do by this cave dweller.

Coburn’s character is the neighborhood bully with power. He swaggers in with his men and take over the group. He mock’s Mr. Goldsmith about the faith he has with the cave dweller’s instructions. Against Goldsmiths vehement objections, they distribute food and liquor branded contaminated by the Old Man in the cave. Resentful over their past restrictions, the townspeople force Goldsmith to open the cave. The “Old Man” is seen…but as what?

The ugly side of human beings is on full display in this episode. Humans without faith in something can be scared, frightened, and in turn… scary.

From IMDB: Based upon the short story “The Old Man” by Henry Slesar. Though it was copyrighted in 1962, the story went unpublished until 1980, when it appeared in the anthology Microcosmic Tales from Taplinger Pub. Co.

This show was written by Rod Serling and Henry Slesar

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

What you’re looking at is a legacy that man left to himself. A decade previous he pushed his buttons and a nightmarish moment later woke up to find that he had set the clock back a thousand years. His engines, his medicines, his science were buried in a mass tomb, covered over by the biggest gravedigger of them all—a bomb. And this is the earth 10 years later, a fragment of what was once a whole, a remnant of what was once a race. The year is 1974 and this is The Twilight Zone.

Summary

Ten years after an atomic apocalypse, a small group of survivors manage to eke out a very difficult existence. They’ve managed to survive in large part due to the advice they receive from an old man who lives in a cave outside of the town. Goldsmith acts as the intermediary and the old man’s advice on things like crops or the safety of a batch of old canned goods are usually correct. When four soldiers led by Major French arrive in the town, the social order is upended with the townsfolk attacking the old man’s cave but not really prepared for what they find inside

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Mr. Goldsmith, survivor. An eyewitness to man’s imperfection. An observer of the very human trait of greed. And a chronicler of the last chapter—the one reading “suicide”. Not a prediction of what is to be, just a projection of what could be. This has been The Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
James Coburn … French
John Anderson … Goldsmith
Josie Lloyd … Evie, townswoman who says, “We already took chances. The old man told us not to plant on the north acreage.”
John Craven … townsman who asks, “Been to the cave, Jason?”
John Marley … Jason
Uncredited (in order of appearance):
Natalie Masters … townswoman
Don Wilbanks … Furman

Beatles Rooftop Concert at IMAX

My son Bailey bought us tickets to see The Beatles rooftop concert in the IMAX theater on Friday night. If you get a chance to do this…do it. It sounds like you are there listening live. It lasts around 1:30 minutes. They added a brief Beatles history and a little followup after the performance.

They played on the freezing rooftop of Apple Records on January 6, 1969. It was the first time they played in front of an audience since August 29, 1966. You could see the breath of people on the roof and in the street. It is not easy playing in cold weather. Your fingers freeze and you cannot feel the strings. It’s a wonder their guitars didn’t go out of tune more.

It was clear that the Beatles could have toured like their peers The Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Who and sounded every bit as good. They were very raw and earthy sounding because of the type of songs they were writing at the time. Songs that could be played live, not the Sgt Peppers experimental music. The songs linked to the style of the White Album.

They had just written these songs and rehearsed them that month so the songs were new to them except One After 909. John and Paul wrote that one when they were teenagers. It’s hard to believe how young they were at the time. None of them were thirty but they had packed a lot of living in their years being The Beatles.

John Lennon was normally a rhythm guitar player but he plays the lead on Get Back and you can tell he enjoyed stepping up and doing that. They would complete one more album after this…and that was Abbey Road. That is called going out on top.

To see them in an IMAX theater was amazing. It looked like it was recorded yesterday…not 53 years ago. I’ve seen the Get Back documentary twice but it’s nothing like seeing the concert at a theater…it changes the dynamics of it…plus IMAX just makes it that much better.

It would have been interesting to see them play in a more controlled enviroment but I’m glad we got this. Right after John Lennon said ” I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we pass the audition.”…someone in the theater shouted out…”You most certainly did John”

That about sums it up.

….

Beatles – Help! ….Album

I don’t post many albums, but I wanted to go over this one. This will be the UK version of the album. The American version was a different album with the soundtrack music replacing some of the songs.

In my opinion, it was one of the most important albums the Beatles ever released. The album signaled a change with the Beatles. Rubber Soul is usually credited as the album that represented the Beatles transformation from pure a rock/pop band into something more. I’ve always seen Help! as the bridge from Beatlemania to the middle period of Rubber Soul and Revolver. With songs like You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, The Night Before, I’ve Just Seen A Face, and Ticket to Ride it was apparent that a change was coming.

Was the album as good as Rubber Soul? No, but it cleared the way for the change that was coming. In 1963 the Beatles released She Loves You…4 years later they recorded A Day In The Life. That is only 4 years…it would be like building a go-cart and 4 years later building a rocket and going to the moon. There were steps in between though and Help! was one of them. What makes the Beatles so special is they didn’t repeat themselves. They progressed with every album into a different sound and feel. It wasn’t only drugs but social issues, fame, isolation, and superior songwriting skills.

You can tell pot had some influence on this album. Most of the songs were not as fast-paced with a beat group mentality. You still had some songs that were the Beatles that everyone knew at the time. Songs like You’re Going to Lose That Girl, and the two covers Act Naturally and Dizzy Miss Lizzy. I’ve always liked You’re Going to Lose That Girl with the call and response and Ringo did an excellent job on Act Naturally.

I think the most underrated song on the album is The Night Before. If any other band did this song…it would have been a single. Other songs that I like (that were not hits) are It’s Only Love (although Lennon hated it), I’ve Just Seen A Face, I Need You, and Another Girl.

I shouldn’t rate Beatle albums because it’s hard for me to be objective about them but I would give this 5 out of 5 stars. A fun movie also if you get a chance …watch it.

Track Listing

Help!
The Night Before
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
I Need You
Another Girl
You’re Going To Lose That Girl
Ticket To Ride

Act Naturally
It’s Only Love
You Like Me Too Much
Tell Me What You See
I’ve Just Seen A Face
Yesterday
Dizzy Miss Lizzy

Twilight Zone – Living Doll

★★★★★ November 1, 1963 Season 5 Episode 6

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This episode launched a lot of horror movies like Child’s Play. It did have a future star…the great Telly Savalas as a stepfather named Erich Streator. Mr. Streator is not a likable character but yet you may have a little pity for him as the show goes along. He shows glimpses of being a decent human being but fails miserably with his role as a stepfather. You do have to look deep to find sympathy.

He has a great wife (Mary La Roche) and a stepdaughter (Christie) who loves her new doll. The doll can talk and move… “My name is Talking Tina and I love you very much.”

You have so much sympathy for his wife Annabelle…even without the doll. Some people might say that the episode is predictable but remember…there weren’t many shows out about talking dolls at the time…maybe none. There is no comedy in this one like the Chucky movies that came decades later. The doll is working as Christie’s protector…at least you think so. Is it all in Erich Streator’s head?

From IMDB:

June Foray, the voice of the “Talky Tina” doll, was also the voice of Mattel’s “Chatty Cathy” doll, upon which the doll in this episode was based.

Tina and Christie are both nicknames for Christina. The doll and the child share a name, so among many other interpretations it could be argued that the doll is a proxy through which Christie expresses hostility toward her stepfather and protects her shy, frightened mother.

According to The Twilight Zone Companion, this episode was written in one day by Jerry Sohl, even though credit was given entirely to Charles Beaumont.

The child actress who portrays Christie is credited as being the voice of “Lucy Van Pelt” in the classic TV special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.

This show was written by Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont, and Jerry Sohl

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Talky Tina, a doll that does everything, a lifelike creation of plastic and springs and painted smile. To Erich Streator, she is the most unwelcome addition to his household—but without her, he’d never enter the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Erich Streater is upset when his wife comes home with her daughter Christie having bought her yet another doll. Christie loves her new Talking Tina doll but her stepfather takes an immediate dislike to it. Anytime he is alone with the doll, it spouts abusive comments to the effect that it hates him and that it’s going to kill him. He’s convinced that his wife is behind it all, something she vehemently denies. He tries to get rid of the doll but it always seems to reappear – and also seems intent on following through with its threats.

WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Of course, we all know dolls can’t really talk, and they certainly can’t commit murder. But to a child caught in the middle of turmoil and conflict, a doll can become many things: friend, defender, guardian. Especially a doll like Talky Tina, who did talk and did commit murder—in the misty region of the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Telly Savalas … Erich Streator
Mary La Roche … Annabelle Streator
Tracy Stratford … Christie Streator
June Foray … Talky Tina (voice) [uncredited]

Beatles – Ticket To Ride

According to John Lennon, when the Beatles were in Hamburg, prostitutes had to have a piece of paper proving they have a clean bill of health…as in a Ticket To Ride. McCartney said it was “a British Railways ticket to the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight.” Lennon’s description caught a 9-year-old boy’s imagination much more.

George Harrison came up with the way the riff was played. Ringo came up with a distinctive staccato drum pattern for this song based on the way George played it. He said a big part of his drumming style is being a left-handed drummer trying to play right-handed.

I remember this the most by it being used in the Beatles movie Help! in the scene where The Beatles ski… poorly. Copies of the original single released on Capitol Records say: “From the United Artists Release ‘Eight Arms To Hold You’,” which was the original working title of Help!

The Beatles were one of the first groups to make music videos, which were done so they could promote their songs without showing up at TV stations. They made one for “Ticket To Ride” in a shoot where they did four other songs as well. All the footage was shot in the studio; this one saw the band performing in front of oversized tickets for trains and busses.

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, Canada and the UK in 1965.

Carl Palmer: “One of the most exciting, rhythmical patterns and parts and songs that I ever heard, which I thought was really big-time and had it all going is a track by The Beatles called ‘Ticket To Ride, the drum part on that I always thought was exceptional.”

From Songfacts

The Beatles taped a performance of this song that was broadcast on an episode of Ed Sullivan Show that aired September 12, 1965 (the last Ed Sullivan show broadcast in black and white). The Beatles recorded it prior to their Shea Stadium concert that took place August 15.

The Carpenters covered this in 1969 with the gender reversed to suit lead vocalist Karen Carpenter (“he’s got a ticket to ride…” Their mellow version was released as the duo’s first single and included on their first album, which was also called Ticket To Ride. Their rendition didn’t chart, but made its way onto plenty of light rock playlists.

In Stephen King’s 1977 novel The Shining, a supernatural Big Band ensemble plays a swing version of this at The Overlook Hotel.

Ticket To Ride

I think I’m gonna be sad
I think it’s today, yeah
The girl that’s driving me mad
Is going away

She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
But she don’t care

She said that living with me
Is bringing her down yeah
For she would never be free
When I was around

She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
But she don’t care

I don’t know why she’s ridin’ so high
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think twice,
She ought to do right by me
I think I’m gonna be sad
I think it’s today yeah
The girl that’s driving me mad
Is going away, yeah

She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
But she don’t care

I don’t know why she’s ridin’ so high
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me
She said that living with me
Is bringing her down, yeah
For she would never be free
When I was around

Ah, she’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
But she don’t care

My baby don’t care, my baby don’t care
My baby don’t care, my baby don’t care
My baby don’t care, my baby don’t care

Comedian Quotes III

This week we are going to feature some Comedians from the 70s and 80s. My personal favorite is Bill HIcks…the darkest comedian I have listened to but funny. Steven Wright takes the quotes to a different level.

Steven Wright

If a man says something in the woods and there are no women there, is he still wrong?

Right now I’m having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before.

The other night I was lying in bed, looking up at the stars, and I wondered, ‘Where the hell is my roof?

Last night I played a blank tape at full blast. The mime next door went nuts.

Whose cruel idea was it for the word “lisp” to have an “s” in it?

I have an inferiority complex, but it’s not a very good one.

Is it true that cannibals don’t eat clowns because they taste funny?

Bill Hicks

I loved when Bush came out and said, ‘We are losing the war against drugs.’ You know what that implies? There’s a war being fought, and the people on drugs are winning it.

We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.

I believe that there is an equality to all humanity. We all suck.

When two or more people agree on an issue, I form on the other side.

On the theft of his material by Denis Leary: “I have a scoop for you. I stole his act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and to really throw people off, I did it before he did.

It’s all about money, not freedom, y’all, okay? Nothing to do with fuckin’ freedom. If you think you’re free, try going somewhere without fucking money, okay?

The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God’s infinite love. That’s the message we’re brought up with, isn’t it? Believe or die! Thank you, forgiving Lord, for all those options.

Sam Kinison

If I get married again, I want a guy there with a drum to do rimshots during the vows.

Folks, I’ve been straight for seventeen days… Not all in a row.

My view of life is, ‘If you’re going to miss Heaven, why miss it by two inches? Miss it!

Rock Against Drugs, what a name. Somebody was high when they came up with that title. It’s like Christians Against Christ. Rock created drugs.

I don’t worry about terrorism. I was married for two years.

I look for women I know are gonna bust me up good. Come on, man, who can resist that? Who can resist that emotional pain? Yeah, they all have the same line, they’re so sweet: I’m not gonna hurt you like all the others. Really I’m not. I’m gonna introduce you to a whole new level of pain!

Jesus is still up in Heaven, thumbing through his Bible, going ‘Where did I say build a water slide?

I called a detox center – just to see how much it would cost: $13,000 for three weeks! My friends, if you can come up with thirteen grand, you don’t have a problem yet.

Eddie Murphy

I spent my 30s fixing everything I broke in my 20s.

The best way you hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people.

The advice I would give to someone is to not take anyone’s advice.

Getting divorced didn’t sour me on the institution of marriage. I’ll tell you what I’ll never do: I’ll never get divorced again.

As you get older, you get different, and I’m a mushier, softer person as I get older.

Steve Martin

You know that look that women get when they want to have sex? Me neither

I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy.

Boy, those French! They have a different word for everything

I gave my cat a bath the other day…they love it. He sat there, he enjoyed it, it was fun for me. The fur would stick to my tongue, but other than that…

Thinking too much also creates the illusion of causal connections between unrelated events.

George Burns

There’s an old saying, ‘Life begins at forty.’ That’s silly. Life begins every morning you wake up.

I get up every morning and read the obituary column. If my name’s not there, I eat breakfast.

You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.

It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can’t remember if it’s the thirteenth or the fourteenth.

I’d rather be over the hill than under it.

When I was a boy the Dead Sea was only sick.

Twilight Zone – The Last Night of a Jockey

★★★1/2 October 25, 1963 Season 5 Episode 5

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

Rod Serling was great at this kind of low-life character. They were not evil but just the bottom of society. Mickey Rooney plays Grady who was small in more ways than one. He was a jockey who was disqualified from racing and he blames everyone but the one responsible…himself. Mickey Rooney runs a gamut of emotions from rage to grief to terrible self-loathing and is credible throughout. He carries the show…although he must because he is the only actor in it. A bit of Twilight Zone justice is dished out at the end.

This is another character that you won’t have much sympathy with at all. It is an impressive one-man show. Agnes Moorehead did this in The Invaders and was incredible.

This one is by no means a bad episode. It’s just not a classic one. I think the basic story was done better in Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room, another episode of a self-pitying loser being lectured by his alter ego.

From IMDB: With exactly one performer appearing–either in image or voice, not counting Rod Serling’s routine turn as host–this episode features the smallest cast of any in the series. Close runner-ups include The Twilight Zone: Where Is Everybody? (1959), The Twilight Zone: King Nine Will Not Return (1960), The Twilight Zone: Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room (1960), The Twilight Zone: The Invaders (1961) and The Twilight Zone: Two (1961).

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

The name is Grady, five feet short in stockings and boots, a slightly distorted offshoot of a good breed of humans who race horses. He happens to be one of the rotten apples, bruised and yellowed by dealing in dirt, a short man with a short memory who’s forgotten that he’s worked for the sport of kings and helped turn it into a cesspool, used and misused by the two-legged animals who’ve hung around sporting events since the days of the Coliseum. So this is Grady, on his last night as a jockey. Behind him are Hialeah, Hollywood Park and Saratoga. Rounding the far turn and coming up fast on the rail—is the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Grady is a champion jockey who has recently been banned from the sport owing to his participation in race fixing and the drugging of horses. He claims he is innocent and currently has an appeal with the racing commission but his agent isn’t hopeful. Suddenly, Grady begins hearing a voice – his own as it turns out, speaking to him from his own mind. As Grady rages over the unfairness of it all, he is granted his one true wish.

WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

The name is Grady, ten feet tall, a slightly distorted offshoot of a good breed of humans who race horses. Unfortunately for Mr. Grady, he learned too late that you don’t measure size with a ruler, you don’t figure height with a yardstick, and you never judge a man by how tall he looks in a mirror. The giant is as he does. You can make a parimutuel bet on this, win, place, or show, in or out of the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling…Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Mickey Rooney … Grady

Hollies – Carrie Anne

I have a soft spot for the Hollies. They started in the early sixties and continued through the seventies without Graham Nash who quit the Hollies for what he thought was a hipper band…Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Soon to include the elusive Neil Young.

Hollies members Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks, and Graham Nash wrote this song and shared the lead vocals, with each taking a verse (Clarke, then Hicks, then Nash). The Hollies had great harmonies and also a secret weapon in Tony Hicks as a guitar player. He was and still is outstanding but was never as known as his later neighbor George Harrison and his other peers.

Tony’s son Paul Hicks was in Dhani Harrison’s band and has worked with Giles Martin on Beatle remastering projects.

This song is about the British singer and actress Marianne Faithfull, who is well known for her relationship with Mick Jagger. She also had a brief fling with lead singer Alan Clarke. For a short time. “Marianne” was changed to “Carrie-Anne” so it wouldn’t be so obvious.

The song peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100, #9 in Canada, #3 in the UK, and #2 in New Zealand in 1967. This song was a straight-ahead pop hit, but changes were coming. Sgt Peppers was released so The Hollies, with the urging of Nash, tried going the more psychedelic route. The next single was King Midas In Reverse which only peaked at #18 in the UK and was considered a failure. Personally…it’s my favorite early Hollies song.

A side note…The Canadian actress Carrie-Anne Moss, best known for playing Trinity in The Matrix, was named after this Hollies hit. The song was on the charts at the time of her birth in August 1967.

From Songfacts

The group didn’t let on that the song was about Faithfull until 1995, when Graham Nash spilled the beans in a documentary.

In the song, the singer recalls the schoolyard days when he and Carrie Anne were friends, but she went for the older boys. Now their older and he tells her that although she’s lost her charm, he’s willing to “be her teacher” and take her on. By the end of the lesson, he’s sure she’ll be his girl.

According to the book Forty Years of Steel by Jeffrey Thomas, this song marks the first use of steel drums in a commercial pop record. Steel drums evoke an island vibe, but there’s nothing tropical about this song and none of The Hollies played the instrument (it’s not clear who played it on the record, but their producer, Ron Richards, apparently arranged it). Still, inserting a steel drum solo where a guitar solo would be certainly made the song stand out. Stephen Stills, Nash’s bandmate in Crosby, Stills & Nash, incorporated steel drums into his 1970 hit “Love The One You’re With.”

The Hollies had a very impressive run of hits starting in 1963, but Graham Nash wanted to put hit-making aside so they could create songs with more weight behind them. He ended up leaving the group in 1968 and forming Crosby, Stills & Nash. In an interview with Bruce Pollock, Nash said listeners “want to hear songs that mean more to them than ‘Hey Carrie Ann, what’s your game.'”

Carrie Anne

Hey, Carrie Anne
Hey, Carrie Anne
When we were at school, our games were simple
I played a janitor, you played a monitor
Then you played with older boys and prefects
What’s the attraction in what they’re doing

Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play
Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play

You were always something special to me
quite independent, never caring
You lost your charm as you were aging
Where is your magic disappearing

Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play
Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play

You’re so, so like a woman to me
(So like a woman to me)
So, so like a woman to me
(Like a woman to me)

Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play
Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play

People live and learn but you’re still learning
You use my mind and I’ll be your teacher
When the lesson’s over, you’ll be with me
Then I’ll hear the other people saying

Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play
Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play

Carrie Anne, Carrie Anne, Carrie Anne

***WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS***

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Steven Wright

Bill Hicks

Sam Kinison

Eddie Murphy

Steve Martin

George Burns

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