WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Frank Sutton Appreciation Society

What the hell, I'm going to presumptuously nominate myself to be president of the Frank Sutton Appreciation Society.   In his role as the bombastic Sgt. Carter on the CBS program Gomer Pyle - USMC, Sutton produced a richly hilarious body of work that deserves to be remembered. 

I know the reference books all list Jim Nabors as the star of the show, but I'm going to have to disagree and assert that Sutton was main reason to tune in.  I don't want to slam Nabors, who did a fine job with his role as an irritating moron with a good heart, but I think Sutton's contributions to the program cannot be overestimated.  Without Sutton's blustery and explosive reactions to Pyle's relentless stupidity, the show would have been lifeless and dull.  But Sutton was nothing if not versatile within the limited confines of the Sgt. Carter role.  Witness one of his trademark slow burn double-takes in the clip below.

And since Friday will mark the 85th anniversary of Sutton's birth I figured that this would be a fine time to salute him by sharing a bunch of magazine and newspaper clippings about him that I acquired via eBay.  Seems that some guy was auctioning off his dad's archives and his father just happened to have been in the publicity business in the 1960s and 70s, so he was making room for what I can only imagine was clutter of a far lower caliber.

Adam-12 Haikus

Adam-12 haikus
Not as good as Dragnet ones
Still equally dumb

First thing that you learn
Pig is a three letter word
You can spell it out

Arriving on scene
A fight group with chains and knives
Requesting backup

You can arrest them
And you can make them like you
We call it technique

Third day on the job
After the morning roll call
Reed dented the car

Pete grew a mustache
Wanted to try something new
Not a good idea

Rotten Code 7
Robbery at Duke's Cafe
Lunch will have to wait

Mr. DeLay...Sir...I Strongly Urge You NOT To Do This...Tom...TOM!...NO!!

Jerry Jer a/k/a Tampon Man, Connecticut Public Access Channel 34, 199?

Hildegard Knef (video)

Here is a vintage TV clip of one of the greats of German chanson, Hildegard Knef, live in Berlin in 1968. The original German title of the song is "Von nun an gings bergab", translated into English as "From Here On It Got Rough".

YouTube: [link]
Check out hoffmann9471's other uploads on YouTube if you want more of this.

Salvador Dali: Game Show Ham

Salvador Dali loved television and he loved attention. Evidence of this are his appearances on several Goodson-Todman game shows. Dali clips on What's My Line and I've Got a Secret have previously been YouTube sensations (by classic TV clip standards). Here's a new clip to the internets, Dali on the far less successful The Name's the Same hosted by the charming and underrated Robert Q. Lewis.

Victor Flick, and the British Invasion of Sesame Street

Today's posting deals with two subjects dear to me heart: The ersatz, fake-o, bogus, unlicensed 'cover' album' (for kid's, in this case) on a 'knock-off' or low-budget label; and the work of legendary guitar specialist, composer, conductor Vic Flick.
  Mr. Flick's guitar artistry on dozens of hit singles and lps is well documented, but his work as a composer and conductor somewhat less so.
I discovered Flick's foray into the world of Sesame Street in 2002 whilst compiling Muppet/Sesame material for a music project. A collector pal brought over his latest Sesame record score and not only was it obviously unlicensed but credited Vic on the cover--a must-listen!

Nouvelle Vague Live at WFMU - hot vidz!

Oh my gawd, y'all, when these people were in Love Room, it was all I could do to keep myself from reaching through the glass and gently stroking their faces as they sang.

The two sexiest voices in English-speaking Frenchpop, covering Sex Pistols, Violent Femmes, Depeche Mode, and Talking Heads....DANG!

Listen to the whole show here.

Thanks a zillion to Aldona Watts and Raymond Park for doing the video.

2 MORE VIDEOS AFTER THE JUMP!

Nouvelle Vague's new album "NV3" will be out in September.  It features guest performances from Martin Gore (Depeche Mode), Terry Hall (The Specials), Ian MacCullough (Echo and the Bunnymen), and Barry Adamson (Magazine).

prunella scales

Prunella Scales.  What more do I have to say?  The stage name alone offers up  a certain oddity and eccentricity that her physical appearance continues to suggest.  I fell in love with her portrayal of Sybil Fawlty, the off color and regal proprietress of the most ill-managed guest house in the history of England.  Her economy of manner, so precise and suggestive, was a wonderful foil to the physical stammerings and mishaps of Basil Fawlty.
     Sunday night I watched Prunella in a remarkably un-Sybil role in a new Masterpiece Mystery: Miss Marple.  The Jane Marple stories have a fair dose of stereotypes, quite purposely placed by Agatha Christie to illustrate her views on the universalness of evil.  Prunella Scales played a widow, Mrs Mackenzie, whose husband was purportedly killed by the rival family patriarch, many years ago.  Now in a sanatorium, Mrs. Mackenzie recounts how she had schooled her children in a nightly prayer to seek revenge on this robber baron, and pledge their filial devotion to this adult quest. 
     The first Miss Marple story was written in 1930 England, where conventional villages dotted the green landscape, city life offering a sharp contrast to these country ways.  A small town aging spinster was invisible and powerless, a stereotype that Agatha Christie used as an asset to the stealth-like powers that amateur sleuth Jane Marple possessed.  Like Hercule Poirot, her fantastically odd Belgian detective, Jane Marple was an outsider whose abilities to observe without seeming important gave almost philosophical weight to her crime solving puzzles.  Unlike legendary minds like Poirot or Sherlock Holmes who constantly remind you of their inner crime solving genius, Miss Marple does not proselytize from the book of Jane.   She offers up idiosyncratic stories from the day to day life of her local villagers in St Mary Mead as proof of the inevitability of wrong doing.  Decades before a shift in feminist sensibilities would demand scrutiny of the multiple unpaid roles that women perform, the zing of an old lady solving a dastardly crime before the local constable could fathom its' dark belly was quite the satisfying finale.  Agatha Christie would go on to write 12 Miss Marple novels, making her one of the most beloved detectives.

     Masterpiece Mystery is running four new productions of Miss Marple stories this summer.  And of course the many fabulous Joan Hickson versions are available on DVD.  Caution: there will be graphic scenes of knitting.

Wild Oates: A Conversation With Warren Oates' Biographer

          

Writer Susan Compo recently authored an enormously entertaining Warren Oates biography and Oates fans who have not yet read the book can look forward to it with great anticipation.  For my money, Warren Oates: A Wild Life is the finest biography since 1998 when Ronnie Pugh's Ernest Tubb biography hit the shelves.  The book offers a richly-detailed and definitive portrait of Oates' intriguing life and career and upon finishing it, I decided it might be interesting to talk to the author about Warren Oates and how she came to write the story of his life.  I'd like to thank Susan for sharing several unpublished Oates photos (including above right, showing Oates in makeup for The Brink's Job) and for indulging me while I fumbled through my Brian Lamb impersonation.

Oates died of a heart attack in 1982, but if he were still with us he'd celebrate his 81st birthday on July 5.

Greg:  Let's start things off with a question about the title of your book, Warren Oates: A Wild Life.  Who chose that title?

Susan Compo:  The publisher, as happens sometimes in the book world.  I had Wild Oates, but they just didn't go for that.

(NOTE: I didn't want to see a good title go to waste, so I borrowed it for this post).

Worst of the Worst of the Worst... of the Worst

In my ongoing mission to torture Beware of the Blog readers with insufferable nineteen seventies kitsch I have sunk to a new low. I would have sunk to this earlier but this did not hit the internet until this week. I thought it could get no worse than The Brady Kids - Wonder Woman crossover. I was wrong. Roy Clark, jonesing for even more stomach-churning hokum than Hee-Haw could offer, called up the chick from One Day at a Time to help host a roast and celebration of Fred Flintstone. Not the real Fred Flintstone but one in a giant foam outfit. Along for the ride, defying all stone-age continuity, are other Hanna-Barbera characters in oversized cloth forms : Jabberjaw, The Banana Splits, Snagglepuss, Hong Kong Phooey, The Hair Bear Bunch and on down the line. The laugh track seems to be enjoying itself immensely (although if you listen closely you might hear a bit of a retch track). This is truly the worst thing I have ever seen - and although I appreciate the absolute awfulness of it all - even I can't bring myself to watch ALL FIVE PARTS that are on YouTube. Oh - one minor detail I forgot about. It is, of course, ON ICE.

This Just In... Breaking News

from pictures for sad children

Kramer

Ever scratch your head and wonder if Kramer was a Gomer Pyle fan? 

Yes, he was.

The World's Worst in Animation - Once Again

In my ongoing quest to make Beware of the Blog readers hostile and nauseas, here is another thirty seconds of "animation" destined for the trash heap.

W*A*L*T*E*R (videos)

About that third M*A*S*H spinoff CBS decided not to pick up because the Pacific and Mountain time zones were broadcasting the '84 Democratic National Convention and Radar wasn't a stooge anymore?  Endure:

(Apologies for the distractions in the form of the Cyprus Corners DVD logo and explanation leading off part one, which starts at :27 in).

Crap of the Highest Order

People seem to understand the appeal I find in nineteen fifties drive-in movies. It's all about the camp aspect. The same people, however, tend to be miffed about my obsession with nineteen seventies television animation. How can I stand it? How can I sit through multiple episodes of this shit? Don't I know it's horrible? It's bad, of course, but the camp aspect is entertaining as hell. Getting drunk along with it helps too. This 1972 ditty features a very unlikely cross over. Wonder Woman meets The Brady Kids. It just don't get any worse, folks.

A CAMP (f/ Nina Persson of the Cardigans) LIVE tonight - with HD Video!

Wow, you know, every once in a while, things really just turn out pretty awesome, like this performance from A Camp that will air tonight on Sound and Safe.  Four perfectly-rendered pop songs - including a cover of Eddie Noack's weird and wonderful "Psycho" - done by my favorite singer in the world, Nina Persson, with husband Nathan Larson (of Shudder to Think) on bass, and Niclas Frisk (of Atomic Swing) on guitar.

We got some really nice HD video of the songs - check out a preview here, for the song "Love Has Left the Room." 

Thanks very much to Tim Smith and Jacqueline Castel for shooting the video.

Tune in tonight to hear all four songs and to see all four videos.  Also keep an eye on the Free Music Archive for MP3s of the set.

A Camp kicks off a North American tour at Bowery Ballroom tomorrow night.  Their new album Colonia is out now.

Alf as rendered by David Lynch

These have been making the ol' internet rounds for a few days now. Funny or disturbing or dumb? I *think* I like them. Here's an Alf - Blue Velvet hybrid.

Look Around You - Music (video)

More Info | More Videos

Sainkho on Russian TV (videos)

Digging around on YouTube recently, I found several videos of amazing Tuvan avant-throat singer Sainkho Namtchylak. Here are two beautiful songs she performed on Russian TV, and I have no clue when this was recorded, who the other musicians are, and what kind of TV show this was. Maybe one of our readers knows?

The second song follows after the jump.