Tuesday, 31 May 2011

1904

"At eight o'clock a girl she wakes, at five past eight a bath she takes. At ten-past eight my ladder breaks, when I'm cleaning windows."

(L-R) Count Basie, Jean Gabin, George Formby, Peter Lorre

The demise of Czech classical composer Antonín Dvorák was the most significant death in music for 1904. Coleman Hawkins (american jazz tenor saxophonist) and Glenn Miller (trombonist/bandleader) were born in america's mid-west whilst Count Basie was born in New Jersey. Across the atlantic, in Lancashire, England an unlikely hero (& influence to those who followed) was born. George Formby.

Formby began performing on stage as a teenager. By 1926 he began making records, and by 1932 started appearing in films. For years Mr Formby was the highest paid entertainer in Britain, remaining the UK's top comedian throughout most of the 30's & 40's. After signing with Columbia in 1941 he became the fifth highest-paid movie actor in the world, ahead of superstars like Errol Flynn and Bing Crosby! 150,000 people lined the streets during his funeral in 1961, and his more famous fans included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ray Davies. I once read somewhere that Harrison spent an entire evening playing Formby's records to Bob Dylan. From what I remember, Dylan wasn't overly impressed. He just just didn't "get" it.


George Formby

From 1904, we also start seeing some of cinemas biggest names appearing from here onwards, and this particular year brought us Cary Grant (see previous post), Peter Lorre, John Gielgud, Robert Montgomery, Jean Gabin, Dick Powell, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers. Also directors George Stevens & Jacques Tourneur.

This months featured year seems to start and end with the work of Georges Méliès, who continues to be a major contributor. Conceived as a sequel to 1902's Le voyage dans la lune, An Impossible Voyage has some great sets and effects, and now becomes the longest film mentioned so far (at 24mins!?! Is the world ready to devote this amount of time to the passing fad that is the motion picture?). Méliès also made Le bourreau turc, Les cartes vivantes, The King of the Mackerel Fishers, La sirène and Sorcellerie culinaire all achieving a respectable 6+(/10) on imdb.

Following on from 1901's Fire! and The Big Swallow, James Williamson offers some slapstick in An Interesting Story.


Les cartes vivantes
(This negative has been preserved very well, or an
excellent job has been done on its restoration)


The King of the Mackerel Fishers

James Williamson pops up again with An Interesting Story.

An Impossible Voyage

The shortlived Art movement 'Fauvism', led by Henri Matisse and André Derain, appears in France.

During some youtube searches, I happened upon TheBirthOfFilm and their wonderful collection of early movies. Many b&w's from the 1890s through to the 1940's. Certainly worth a visit if you're into that kind of thing.

Alas, I was unable to find any noteworthy songs from 1904.


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Sunday, 15 May 2011

(125 years of) New York City

"New York, New York, it's a helluva town. The Bronx is up but the Battery's down. The people ride in a hole in the groun'." (1881-2005)

That "hole in the ground" originally opened in 1904 and, over the years, the city subways growth has made it synonymous with the city. It has been widely referenced in literature and song and frequently captured in paintings and motion pictures. The first ones to spring to mind are The Warriors, Midnight Cowboy, The French Connection and Seinfeld's 3rd season episode "The Subway".

Can You Dig It?

But New York's film roots go way back into the 1800's. In 1881, African-American inventor Lewis Howard Latimer added the carbon element to Thomas Edison's lightbulb (having previously improved the patent design of Alexander Graham Bell's telephone), and whilst working for Edison, supervised the installation of the first electric lighting systems in New York and London.

Of course, New York's film industry started with Edison, across the Hudson in West Orange, NJ. In 1889, using film recently developed by George Eastman of upstate New York, Edison captured his first "film". Over the next few years he continued to improve the method and its results, and in 1893 he built America's first movie studio (The Black Maria), again in West Orange, NJ, making it the heart of America's film industry. And, with the emergence of Tin Pan Alley in the mid 1880's, New York had now established itself as the centrepiece of the USA's music industry.

New York has always been a breeding ground for talent and inspiration, and continues to be, right up into the 21st century. The great thing about the place is that its history is so diverse.

Bird's-eye view print of Manhattan & New York City, 1873

Not forgetting the Native Americans (in this case, The Lenape) who lived there first (as is nearly always the way with the West), New York City was founded throughout the 1600s - 1800s mostly by Dutch and English settlers (hence the renaming of the city thanks to the 'Grand ol' Duke of York' - Yay, Yorkshire gets yet ANOTHER credit!) aswell as numerous European immigrants; particularly Germans, Italians, Irish and also Jewish. Soon after, following a large increase in Chinese immigrants, aswell as the "Great Migration" of African-Americans from the southern states, New York had been described as a "melting pot" and referred to as a "fusion, as of elements in solution in a vast hot pot" due to its vast variation of culture. Therefore it's quite easy to conceive that New York had the necessary roots to be at the centre of many great artistic movements in modern history.

Typical NY Chinese Theater (inside & out)

It would be impossible for me to list everything New York has offered the world, but I can mention those that have been important for me.

There are some prime examples of Art-Deco in New York City and, despite the style originating in Paris, and spreading throughout Europe, I tend to automatically link NY/USA buildings with the movement ahead of those from its place of origin. Maybe Europe's evolution suffered too much financially throughout the 20's thru 40's, whilst America was able to flourish rather unaffected by WWI & II.

(L) Midtown/East River (Day) from Rockefeller Center in '35
(M) Rockefeller from lower plaza in '05
(R) Midtown/East River (Night) from Rockefeller Center in '05

It could be argued that, by the end of the 1920's, New York had become the centre of Jazz music, later giving birth to the 'Cool' Jazz scene of the 40's. Many of the Jazz 'greats' (such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and John Coltrane) started or found considerable success in NYC.

After witnessing the American folk music revival of the 40's, further advancements emerged throughout the following decade. The 'New York School' of the 50's, providing us with the Beat Generation, spawned such notable works as Howl (Ginsberg), On The Road (Kerouac) and Naked Lunch (Burroughs). Also abstract artists like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko, aswell as Pop artists Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers and Roy Lichtenstein.

"And don’t criticize what you can’t understand" - Bob Dylan

Greenwich Village suddenly became a hotbed of folk musicians and leftist political activists. Alternating sets would accomodate a wide variety of acts throughout Greenwich, and during this time popular performers would include Bob Dylan, Lenny Bruce, Simon & Garfunkel, Woody Allen, Nina Simone and Joni Mitchell.

Later NY would present the birth of Disco and Punk, and plenty more styles and genres in recent history (which I don't really care for, so won't go into further detail).

RateYourMusic tells me it has played a major part in my music collection, with the city and its immediate surroundings responsible for the largest percentage of american artists (and quite possibly ALL artists).

Wow. I've broken through! Yeah, I'm part of popular culture now.

....More to follow...
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Sunday, 1 May 2011

Cary Grant (1904 - 1986)

I've got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives and several bartenders that depend upon me, and I don't intend to disappoint them all by getting myself "slightly" killed."


Archie Leach was born in Bristol, UK in 1904. He joined a stage troupe after being expelled from school at 14. The group would perform various acts (mime, dancing, tumbling and stilt-walking), and in 1920 (at the age of 16) he travelled with them to perform in the USA (first New York, before Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston etc). In 1922, after a final performance in New York, the The Bob Pender Comedy Troupe returned to Britain, with Archie opting to stay in America to seek his fortune. Over the next 10 years or so, he performed with various outfits, on Broadway and throughout the country, perfecting his comedic skills & timing with acrobatics and juggling etc.

In 1931 he found himself in impressing the studios of Hollywood, CA, and at the insistence of Paramount Pictures, renamed himself Cary Grant shortly before his debut picture This Is The Night. He particularly disliked his role and it left him disillusioned with the film industry and ready to quit the business before a friend intervened. During his first few films, he was given supporting roles to many successful actors, such as Fredric March, Sylvia Sidney, Carole Lombard, Tallulah Bankhead, Gary Cooper and Charles Laughton, before his first lead role in 1932's Blonde Venus opposite Marlene Dietrich. This was followed by Mae West's successful She Done Him Wrong, which she would claim discovered Cary despite it being his 3rd year in film. His lead performances got off to a good start, as 1933 produced a further 2 notable movies (I'm No Angel, again with Mae West, and The Eagle and the Hawk).


The decade would see Cary appear in up to 4 films per year, but his next real success didn't come until '37, with Topper. With the great response to the film, Cary proved himself as box-office gold (quite literally), as his contract also allowed him a percentage of the profits. This was immediately followed up by an impressive string of major successes (The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, Gunga Din, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday, My Favorite Wife, The Philadelphia Story).

1941 marked his first of four collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Suspicion. He would later star in the fantastic Notorious (1946) and the equally awesome North By Northwest (1959), as well as To Catch A Thief with Grace Kelly.


By now, Cary had limited himself to just 1 or 2 movies per year, but that didn't stop his continuing success. CG was nominated for his first oscar, for his performance in Penny Serenade, but lost out to a 'GC', one Gary Cooper who won for Sergeant York. His second (and last) oscar nomination was for None But the Lonely Heart in 1945 (which he this time lost out to Bing Crosby). From 1942, the next 10 years would see him maintain an average of a 'hit' per year (The Talk of the Town, Mr. Lucky, Destination Tokyo, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Bishop's Wife, Bachelor Knight, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, You Can't Sleep Here, People Will Talk, Monkey Business).

In 1953, it was a different kind of 'hit' that would impact Cary Grant's life. The research for this post provided me with some unbelievable, but fascinating information regarding Mr. Grant's experiences with LSD. There's some really good reading out there, readily available if googled. Certainly recommended for anyone interested.

"You know, we are all unconsciously holding our anus. In
one LSD dream ..... I imagined myself as a giant penis
launching off from earth like a spaceship." - Cary Grant

His final dozen movies were all successful enough, and included the popular An Affair to Remember, Operation Petticoat, Charade, and Father Goose. His final film Walk, Don't Run was released in 1966, whilst still at the height of his career, but he retired at 62, as he felt his audience would not want to see him drop down to supporting roles. His only child, Jennifer, was also born this year, and he remained a devoted father for the remainder of his life. He died, at the age of 82, in November 1986.

I remember Cary Grant being a bit of a hero for me as a kid. I think it was my dad who first introduced me to his work (as he was also a hero to him as a child too). I've only ever seen about 15 of his movies, and I would assume they are his most popular, but I'm looking forward to seeking out the other great ones I've not yet seen.

"Good morning, darling. I trust you slept well.
I hope I wasn't too much of an animal."
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