Kate Rusby – Polly
An evening pause: Kate Rusby, singing her song Polly. The video and audio might not be great, but the performance is stellar. And the lyrics, telling such a simple story of love, make it worthwhile regardless.
Category: The Evening Pause
A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
Superman – The Underground World
The Moon and I
Duck Amuck
ABBA performing Dancing Queen
An evening pause: ABBA, performing Dancing Queen in 18th century costumes for King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
Farewell song from Davy Crockett
An evening pause: From Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955), a moment of quiet reflection.
Muppets: Playing the Sax
Rube Goldberg machine, part 1
An evening pause: We’ve had animated machines and actors pretending to be machines. Now, let’s have a Rube Goldberg machine.
Eddi Reader singing Willie Stewart
An evening pause: Not only does Eddi Reader probably have one of the most beautiful voices in the singing world today, she links that voice to some of the best Irish instrumentalists in the game. Watch her and her band bring down the house in this live performance of “Willie Stewart”.
Your Show of Shows: the clock skit
An evening pause: Yesterday we had a modern animation of a machine that made music. Tonight let’s watch a very different take on a vaguely similar idea, this time to produce comedy. This is a classic skit from Your Show of Shows, Sid Caesar’s variety show from early television. The four performers are, left to right, Sid Caesar, Imogene Coco, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris.
Pipe Dream by Animusic
An evening pause: Though it might look real, the music machine in this short is animated, a creation of Animusic, a company dedicated to producing animated shorts set to music.
Poker face, by geeks
An evening pause: Here’s some modern music, Poker Face, performed not by its original singer, Lady GaGa, but by Molly Lewis, someone far more appealing.
Chamberlain’s speech from movie Gettysburg
An evening pause: In our modern “politically correct” society, many people object strenuously when I express my unwavering preference for the British-American culture that founded the United States. It seems that today’s polite society considers it judgmental and unfair to suggest our way of life is superior to others. Well, before you protest, please listen to this speech from the movie Gettysburg, in which Colonial Joshua Chamberlain explains why he decided to fight for the Union in the Civil War. To quote, “We are here for something new. This has not happened much in the history of the world. We are an army out to set other men free.” Then he adds this most important point: “Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was.”
That is our culture. That is what we as a society have always stood for. And it is these values that I wish to propagate to the stars, a desire for which I will make no apologizes.
Whisper of the heart
An evening pause: Of all the animators in the world today, Hayao Miyazaki is probably the best. Every single one of his films is an incredible viewing experience. Here is a clip from Whisper of the Heart (1995), a truly wonderful film about young love and hope. Though he didn’t direct it, Miyazaki wrote the screenplay and storyboards as well as produced it. Not surprisingly, the film is seeped in his style, with the same unique but believable characters, unpredictable but compelling story-telling, and a magical originality that is rare in movies today.
Jackie Gleason and Frank Fontaine
An evening pause: In the 1960s, the Jackie Gleason Show was one of television’s most popular variety shows. Each episode had one regular routine, where Gleason played Joe the bartender, visited by an unseen Mr. Dunnaghy. Invariably, Joe would bring out his friend, Crazy Guggenheim, played by Frank Fontaine. Fontaine, as Crazy, would then hold everyone spellbound for five plus minutes with the most silly charactor humor one can imagine.
Tell me on a Sunday
An evening pause: Sarah Brightman again, this time singing “Tell me on a Sunday,” a lovely song from the musical Song & Dance.
Julie Andrews and Cass Eliot medley
An evening pause: Though the sound and video quality from this recording from the Julie Andrews Hour (1972) is not the best, watching Julie Andrews and Cass Elliot do this medley of some of Cass Elliot’s hit songs is still breathtaking.
Footage of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon
An evening pause: Since it is the anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, let’s watch it as it happened on July 20, 1969. This footage, in a single continuous shot, shows the view out of the lunar module window, beginning when the spacecraft was approximately 40,000 feet above the lunar surface. The key quote as they drop to less than 100 feet off the surface is a voice that first says “60 seconds,” than later “30 seconds.” This is astronaut Charlie Duke, the capsule communicator (capcom) in mission control, telling Neil Armstrong exactly how much time he has left before running out of fuel. Despite these warnings, Armstrong took a careful, almost deliberate look at the surface, realized they were heading for a crater and decided he needed to reposition the landing site. As a result he used almost all the fuel in his tanks, which had people in mission control going nuts as they watched.
Life as it should be
An evening pause: Tomorrow will be the 41st anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. So, let’s start the week with a clip from the 1972 film version of Man of La Mancha to show why some impossible dreams are certainly possible. In this short scene, Peter O’Toole, as Cervantes, explains why he does not like to look at life, “as it is.”
Vera-Ellen dancing to the Ocarina
An evening pause: Though Vera-Ellen made only a handful of films and is not that well known today, during the late 1940s and 1950s she was one of Hollywood’s top female dancers. Here she performs a delightful dance number from the film Call Me Madame (1953).
Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli
An Evening Pause: Let’s have some more music, this time something so deeply beautiful it makes the heart ache: Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli singing Time to Say Goodbye.
Knowledge or Certainty
An evening pause: One of the best television science series ever produced was The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski. Rather than simply describe science and knowledge, Bronowski instead pondered the nature of humanity. The best episode of the series was Knowledge or Certainty, in which Bronowski compared the humane uncertainty of science with the terrible consequences of dogma. As Oliver Cromwell said, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.”
Galaxy Song from Monty Python
An evening pause: Last night was Judy Garland and Trolley Song. Tonight, how about Galaxy Song from Monty Python? (Thanks to Jeff Wasserman for the tip)
Judy Garland singing Trolley Song
An evening pause: How about some great music tonight, sung by Judy Garland. This is the Trolley Song from Meet Me in St. Louis. The last line of the song says it all, about life and love.
White Heat- I gotta get out
An evening pause: Whoever says that the Hollywood of the 1930s and 1940s only made feel-good films with happy endings has never watched very many of those films. Here’s some stark uncontrolled anger, from one of James Cagney’s best films, White Heat (1949), directed by Raoul Walsh.
Wyatt Earp goes dancing
An evening pause: Here is an iconic movie scene from an iconic director (John Ford). The film is My Darling Clementine (1946), one of the best westerns ever made. Tough guy sheriff Wyatt Earp, played by Henry Fonda, makes the toughest decision in his life. And it has nothing to do with firing a gun!
An evening pause: Here is an iconic movie scene from an iconic director (John Ford). The film is My Darling Clementine (1946), one of the best westerns ever made. Tough guy sheriff Wyatt Earp, played by Henry Fonda, makes the toughest decision in his life. And it has nothing to do with firing a gun!
Julie and Dick at Covent Garden
An evening pause: In a previous post, I described how I have always felt that Julie Andrews’ incredible screen presence was only rarely taken full advantage of during her career. In Mary Poppins — one the films that did showcase her wonderfully, Andrews’ co-star was Dick van Dyke, an amazing talent in his own right. For that film, Andrews and van Dyke had a chemistry that was riveting. In an earlier movie era, the studios would have taken advantage of that chemistry and cast them together again and again, much as Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn were repeatedly cast together throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Unfortunately, by the 1960s the studio system was dead and such casting was impossible, and Andrews and van Dyke have never again appeared on the big screen together.
However, in 1974 they did do a television variety show special together, Julie and Dick in Covent Garden. One particular skit from that show not only demonstrated vividly the chemistry between Andrews and van Dyke and how we had lost something precious by not having them appear together in many films, the skit’s story itself illustrated in a most ironic manner these lost opportunities of life. Enjoy.
Benny and Blanc on Carson
An evening pause: Jack Benny and Mel Blanc on the Johnny Carson show, 1974. After you have watched and laughed, ask yourself this question: why is it funny? The answer: because sometimes the best “funny” is in how it’s done, not in what is said.
An evening pause: Jack Benny and Mel Blanc on the Johnny Carson show, 1974. After you have watched and laughed, ask yourself this question: why is it funny? The answer: because sometimes the best “funny” is in how it’s done, not in what is said.
Lonesome Polecat from 7 Brides for 7 Brothers
An evening pause: This haunting song from the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is notable not only because of the beauty of the music and dancing, but because the entire number is shot as one take, no cuts. Everyone, from the actors with their axes to the crew moving the camera on its dolly and crane, had to be right on cue for everything to work. Note also that this version uses the original voices. In the movie the voice of the lead singer, Matt Mattox, was dubbed.
Tim Conway and the Elephant
An evening pause: a classic comedy moment from the Carol Burnett Show. Tim Conway says a few simple words that on their face are not that funny, but somehow he not only puts you and the audience in tears, he destroys everyone on the set as well.
An evening pause: a classic comedy moment from the Carol Burnett Show. Tim Conway says a few simple words that on their face are not that funny, but somehow he not only puts you and the audience in tears, he destroys everyone on the set as well.