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shadowkatLast night – I went with my friends pumpkinpuss and cjl to see the promotional launch of the DVD release of the Beatles first four appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show at The Museum of Television and Radio. First a bit of history – Friday was the 40th Anniversary of the Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Prior to the Ed Sullivan Show, most Americans had not heard of the Beatles. Six months prior no one in the States had really heard of the Beatles, even if their records were selling like hotcakes over seas. Brian Kramer, the Beatles Manager at the time, convinced Capital Records to distribute the records in the states but only if they would spend at least 40,000 dollars promoting the band. This was unheard of at the time – in the 1960s – you did not spend much money on promotions and promotions were not directed to the buyer of the record but towards the record companies and usually just for singles. Capital did something they had never done before – they created a marketing campaign around a band and not a single. This included creating and sending out a newspaper called National Recording News, which was just about the Beatles. Their efforts resulted in radio stations playing their songs all summer, so by the time the Beatles reached the States to appear on Ed Sullivan, 4,000 people greeted them in front of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The event we went to was a combo premiere cocktail party and viewing of the DVD, a private party of no more than 150-200 people. Most industry people.
Very different bash than the one for the Who. First off, we got to see clips from the DVD, which included the Beatles performances, Cab Calloway, and an early performance by Davy Jones of the Monkees when he was just 16 years of age performing Oliver on Broadway. Afterwards there was a panel – it included Sid Bernstein, a huge music promoter in the 1960s, Louise Harrison, George Harrison’s sister, Billy Joe Kramer (sp?) – a singer who produced several hits and shared the Beatles lable, Vince Garadilla (sp?) who stepped in for Harrison briefly in 1964 for the taping of the Sullivan Show, and who worked for years on Sullivan, Davy Jones (of the Monkeys), a historian, and my old internship boss – Martin Lewis. Martin Lewis by the way made me appreciate the episode Party Animal – Lorne was Martin Lewis. Actually I think I liked Party Animal more than most people did because I had spent a week with a Lorne like character and got such a kick out of seeing it on screen. If you want to know what it is like to plan a promotional party with celebrities or to produce a DVD or what a producer is like? Re-watch Party Animal – ME nailed it. Not only did they nail the process – they nailed that odd creature known as the Hollywood/Music Promoter in Lorne. Charming, a mile a minute, cringing smile, jumping from person to person with perfect ease….
When Martin announced the panel, I just nodded my head – having never heard of most of these people yet feeling like I should have, cjl – the music expert, looked like a kid in a candy store, then it happened, they announced Davy Jones…my jaw completely dropped. If I’d ever wondered what would happen if I came in contact with a celebrity that I was a genuine fan of, I just found out.
Davy Jones. Ah Davy Jones. In 1970s, I religiously watched the Monkees in much the same way I watch BTVS and ATS now, except for the taping – we didn’t have VHS or DVD back then. I was in lurve with Davy Jones at the age of 7. So much so, that when my parents grounded me – by not allowing me to watch the Monkees this was a big deal. Everyone had their favorite Monkey. Mine was Davy Jones – even back then I was an Anglophile. I adored him. I remember when he showed up on the Brady Bunch and how I literally raced my best friend, at the time, home from school to watch the episode. Never in a million years did I expect to meet, let alone see the man in person. (I’ve had a few crushes on celebrities – not many and they are always odd ones: Jack Wilde (from H& R Puffn’Stuff and the original Artful Dodger in Oliver , he was also in the movie version) Davy Jones, James Spader, Kimba the White Lion (I was three) to name a few). Jones has aged, of course, it’s been over thirty years since he was on the Monkees, I watched them in syndication, and he was in his 20s then. Gray hair around the temples, and some more lines in the face, but he’s still Davy Jones, stock full of that celebrity charm. Also incredibly short. With four daughters. And a huge George Harrison fan. The best lines of the night were from Davy: “My daughter got a hold of my album of Paul McCartney’s Band on The Run, and looked at me, and said – Dad, I didn’t know Paul was in a band prior to Wings?” and “ John Lennon always did refer to The Monkees as more like the Marx Brothers.”
Did I meet Davy, well, not exactly. He brushed past my elbow and I watched him, I listened to him talk to Stevie Ray, realized he wasn’t feeling great that night, but kept my distance in the same way I wouldn’t go up to any other stranger at a very large cocktail party. I’m not good at going up to perfect strangers and talking to them – particularly when I know more about them than they do me, the unequal footing makes me feel awkward for both of us. I just don’t have the chutzpah to thrust myself on someone who has never seen me in their lives, while I’ve seen their performances, watched them age onscreen, and read their personal bios. I find the whole thing incredibly embarrassing, not to mention awkward. Also what do you say to them? I’m a fan? I’m loved your work in this film? Could you tell me how you did this? Besides it has an eerie way of breaking the fourth wall – that wall of fantasy and disbelief and there’s just no coming back from that. Basically, if I recognize the star, “I’m the Bunny in the headlights fan”. Completely tongue-tied and embarrassed. Pumpkinpuss suggested I go up and get an autograph from Davy, but I just couldn’t. I hate it when people want me to autograph things.
CJL on the other hand does not have this problem. Unlike Pumpkinpuss and I, with our stack of business cards, who sat in a corner and chatted with each other within eyesight of the buffet table, CJL worked the room. And Davy was “not” the only A list celebrity at the party. When I came out of the ladies room, CJL pointed out Martin Landau and Stevie Ray (the guitarist with Bruce Springsteen whose also on the Sopranos). CJL actually talked to Martin Landau – he asked him : “How did you prepare for the role of Bela Lugousi in Ed Wood?” Landau said – “I watched every Bela Lugoisi movie I could find, also watched all the Hungarian movies, listened to Hungarian music, until I could literally tap dance in Hungarian.” Method actor people. Method. Landau looks exactly like he does on film by the way. Tall, towers over me and I’m 5’11, completely white hair and a face chiseled with experience, very lined and chiseled face. Also very charismatic. You notice Landau. Apparently Landau was in the Beatles film HELP! Other celebrities that we saw were: Barbara Bach, Ringo’s wife and (was in the ladies room with Barbara) Rickey Lee (I think that’s his name, a character actor who also appears on the Sopranos and used to do a comedic magic act in the 70s.). Barbara has had some work done – but still looks lovely, she wore this very low cut leather jacket top and black pants, her hair was a darker blond than I remembered. Last time I saw her though was in the James Bond movie – The Spy Who Loved Me.
Realizing that I was not going to go talk to Davy Jones myself, every time I looked at the poor guy, he appeared to be signing autographs, CJL went up to him and got him to autograph the “Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show DVD package”. Each of us got a free DVD package as a door prize for coming to the party. So I now have a signed DVD package of the ED Sullivan show by one of the performers who appeared on the show at the time and the performer is Davy Jones. The lovely irony of this is Davy Jones went on to appear as a member of The Monkees – a manufactured version of The Beatles – or what my Dad refers to as the poor man’s Beatles. (Of course I don’t own a DVD player at the moment, so can’t see watch – but still.) Oh this is just ironically beautiful.
I end up at the party due to meeting people through my current obsession with an unrelated TV show, and because of meeting those people online, end up with an autograph from the person who marks my first obsession with a live-action television series (Kimba the White Lion does not count since it was animated). Feels a bit like coming full circle somehow. It also takes the whole notion of being a fan to a completely new level.
Watching the old rarely seen 1964 clips from The Ed Sullivan show was oddly moving. One brilliant clip was from Frank Gorshin, a 1960s comic who did impressions, he did a timely routine on the idea that sooner or later celebrities would try politics and take over the country – “can you imagine a movie star in government office”, he quipped. Pumpkinpuss and I were rolling with laughter. The other clip was the song HELP, the lyrics really hit me emotionally, I’m not sure I ever truly listened to them before now.
“When I was Younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
And now these days are gone
I’m not so self assured
Now I find I’ve Changed my mind
I’ve Opened up the doors
Help me if you can I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me get my feet my back on the ground
Won’t you please please help me?
And now my life has changed in oh so many ways
My independence seems to vanish in the haze
But every now and then I feel so insecure
I know that I just need you like I’ve never
Done before” from the Beatles CD, McCartney & Lennon.
Completely get those lyrics right now. They fit my situation so perfectly and that may in a nutshell explain the Beatles longevity. Why after all this time – they still get records bought, each member has gone on to have rich careers in music, and why there are still people out there who adore them regardless of age. The music crosses time. It’s not stagnant. The lyrics have a yearning in them that is not restricted just to the singer – as some lyrics are. As CJL told me the night before – McCartney had an ability to convey a sense of yearning in both his lyrics and his voice that was tremendous and soulful. I’d left for the party feeling very down and insecure. Nothing felt like it was going the way it should. My wandering through the internet in search of literary consultants and media licensing firms appeared to be getting me no where. Actually after reading the tenth website bio of a Harvard trained attorney with 30 years experience, I gave up. My writing seems to have hit an all time slump. Even this entry feels off somehow and I got so nervous about the preachy tone of my last entry that I went back and deleted over half of it. So…the party cheered me greatly. It wasn’t much – just a bit of time away from the pressure, just some time with friends of common interests, and a bit of time to see how the other half lives. I’ve been to enough cocktail parties in my life to realize, not that differently. It’s oddly reassuring to realize that my old crush Davy Jones is alive and well. Has four daughters. Is just another Dad who happens to have a great singing voice. It’s also oddly reassuring to see that he ages just like everyone else. Yet the memories can be preserved permanently on a bit of tape no matter how old we get. And memories of more innocent less insecure times, like when I was seven and my biggest worry in life was getting home in time to see Davy Jones on the Brady Bunch with my girlfriends, can be reassuring even if they sound a bit silly.
Very different bash than the one for the Who. First off, we got to see clips from the DVD, which included the Beatles performances, Cab Calloway, and an early performance by Davy Jones of the Monkees when he was just 16 years of age performing Oliver on Broadway. Afterwards there was a panel – it included Sid Bernstein, a huge music promoter in the 1960s, Louise Harrison, George Harrison’s sister, Billy Joe Kramer (sp?) – a singer who produced several hits and shared the Beatles lable, Vince Garadilla (sp?) who stepped in for Harrison briefly in 1964 for the taping of the Sullivan Show, and who worked for years on Sullivan, Davy Jones (of the Monkeys), a historian, and my old internship boss – Martin Lewis. Martin Lewis by the way made me appreciate the episode Party Animal – Lorne was Martin Lewis. Actually I think I liked Party Animal more than most people did because I had spent a week with a Lorne like character and got such a kick out of seeing it on screen. If you want to know what it is like to plan a promotional party with celebrities or to produce a DVD or what a producer is like? Re-watch Party Animal – ME nailed it. Not only did they nail the process – they nailed that odd creature known as the Hollywood/Music Promoter in Lorne. Charming, a mile a minute, cringing smile, jumping from person to person with perfect ease….
When Martin announced the panel, I just nodded my head – having never heard of most of these people yet feeling like I should have, cjl – the music expert, looked like a kid in a candy store, then it happened, they announced Davy Jones…my jaw completely dropped. If I’d ever wondered what would happen if I came in contact with a celebrity that I was a genuine fan of, I just found out.
Davy Jones. Ah Davy Jones. In 1970s, I religiously watched the Monkees in much the same way I watch BTVS and ATS now, except for the taping – we didn’t have VHS or DVD back then. I was in lurve with Davy Jones at the age of 7. So much so, that when my parents grounded me – by not allowing me to watch the Monkees this was a big deal. Everyone had their favorite Monkey. Mine was Davy Jones – even back then I was an Anglophile. I adored him. I remember when he showed up on the Brady Bunch and how I literally raced my best friend, at the time, home from school to watch the episode. Never in a million years did I expect to meet, let alone see the man in person. (I’ve had a few crushes on celebrities – not many and they are always odd ones: Jack Wilde (from H& R Puffn’Stuff and the original Artful Dodger in Oliver , he was also in the movie version) Davy Jones, James Spader, Kimba the White Lion (I was three) to name a few). Jones has aged, of course, it’s been over thirty years since he was on the Monkees, I watched them in syndication, and he was in his 20s then. Gray hair around the temples, and some more lines in the face, but he’s still Davy Jones, stock full of that celebrity charm. Also incredibly short. With four daughters. And a huge George Harrison fan. The best lines of the night were from Davy: “My daughter got a hold of my album of Paul McCartney’s Band on The Run, and looked at me, and said – Dad, I didn’t know Paul was in a band prior to Wings?” and “ John Lennon always did refer to The Monkees as more like the Marx Brothers.”
Did I meet Davy, well, not exactly. He brushed past my elbow and I watched him, I listened to him talk to Stevie Ray, realized he wasn’t feeling great that night, but kept my distance in the same way I wouldn’t go up to any other stranger at a very large cocktail party. I’m not good at going up to perfect strangers and talking to them – particularly when I know more about them than they do me, the unequal footing makes me feel awkward for both of us. I just don’t have the chutzpah to thrust myself on someone who has never seen me in their lives, while I’ve seen their performances, watched them age onscreen, and read their personal bios. I find the whole thing incredibly embarrassing, not to mention awkward. Also what do you say to them? I’m a fan? I’m loved your work in this film? Could you tell me how you did this? Besides it has an eerie way of breaking the fourth wall – that wall of fantasy and disbelief and there’s just no coming back from that. Basically, if I recognize the star, “I’m the Bunny in the headlights fan”. Completely tongue-tied and embarrassed. Pumpkinpuss suggested I go up and get an autograph from Davy, but I just couldn’t. I hate it when people want me to autograph things.
CJL on the other hand does not have this problem. Unlike Pumpkinpuss and I, with our stack of business cards, who sat in a corner and chatted with each other within eyesight of the buffet table, CJL worked the room. And Davy was “not” the only A list celebrity at the party. When I came out of the ladies room, CJL pointed out Martin Landau and Stevie Ray (the guitarist with Bruce Springsteen whose also on the Sopranos). CJL actually talked to Martin Landau – he asked him : “How did you prepare for the role of Bela Lugousi in Ed Wood?” Landau said – “I watched every Bela Lugoisi movie I could find, also watched all the Hungarian movies, listened to Hungarian music, until I could literally tap dance in Hungarian.” Method actor people. Method. Landau looks exactly like he does on film by the way. Tall, towers over me and I’m 5’11, completely white hair and a face chiseled with experience, very lined and chiseled face. Also very charismatic. You notice Landau. Apparently Landau was in the Beatles film HELP! Other celebrities that we saw were: Barbara Bach, Ringo’s wife and (was in the ladies room with Barbara) Rickey Lee (I think that’s his name, a character actor who also appears on the Sopranos and used to do a comedic magic act in the 70s.). Barbara has had some work done – but still looks lovely, she wore this very low cut leather jacket top and black pants, her hair was a darker blond than I remembered. Last time I saw her though was in the James Bond movie – The Spy Who Loved Me.
Realizing that I was not going to go talk to Davy Jones myself, every time I looked at the poor guy, he appeared to be signing autographs, CJL went up to him and got him to autograph the “Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show DVD package”. Each of us got a free DVD package as a door prize for coming to the party. So I now have a signed DVD package of the ED Sullivan show by one of the performers who appeared on the show at the time and the performer is Davy Jones. The lovely irony of this is Davy Jones went on to appear as a member of The Monkees – a manufactured version of The Beatles – or what my Dad refers to as the poor man’s Beatles. (Of course I don’t own a DVD player at the moment, so can’t see watch – but still.) Oh this is just ironically beautiful.
I end up at the party due to meeting people through my current obsession with an unrelated TV show, and because of meeting those people online, end up with an autograph from the person who marks my first obsession with a live-action television series (Kimba the White Lion does not count since it was animated). Feels a bit like coming full circle somehow. It also takes the whole notion of being a fan to a completely new level.
Watching the old rarely seen 1964 clips from The Ed Sullivan show was oddly moving. One brilliant clip was from Frank Gorshin, a 1960s comic who did impressions, he did a timely routine on the idea that sooner or later celebrities would try politics and take over the country – “can you imagine a movie star in government office”, he quipped. Pumpkinpuss and I were rolling with laughter. The other clip was the song HELP, the lyrics really hit me emotionally, I’m not sure I ever truly listened to them before now.
“When I was Younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
And now these days are gone
I’m not so self assured
Now I find I’ve Changed my mind
I’ve Opened up the doors
Help me if you can I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me get my feet my back on the ground
Won’t you please please help me?
And now my life has changed in oh so many ways
My independence seems to vanish in the haze
But every now and then I feel so insecure
I know that I just need you like I’ve never
Done before” from the Beatles CD, McCartney & Lennon.
Completely get those lyrics right now. They fit my situation so perfectly and that may in a nutshell explain the Beatles longevity. Why after all this time – they still get records bought, each member has gone on to have rich careers in music, and why there are still people out there who adore them regardless of age. The music crosses time. It’s not stagnant. The lyrics have a yearning in them that is not restricted just to the singer – as some lyrics are. As CJL told me the night before – McCartney had an ability to convey a sense of yearning in both his lyrics and his voice that was tremendous and soulful. I’d left for the party feeling very down and insecure. Nothing felt like it was going the way it should. My wandering through the internet in search of literary consultants and media licensing firms appeared to be getting me no where. Actually after reading the tenth website bio of a Harvard trained attorney with 30 years experience, I gave up. My writing seems to have hit an all time slump. Even this entry feels off somehow and I got so nervous about the preachy tone of my last entry that I went back and deleted over half of it. So…the party cheered me greatly. It wasn’t much – just a bit of time away from the pressure, just some time with friends of common interests, and a bit of time to see how the other half lives. I’ve been to enough cocktail parties in my life to realize, not that differently. It’s oddly reassuring to realize that my old crush Davy Jones is alive and well. Has four daughters. Is just another Dad who happens to have a great singing voice. It’s also oddly reassuring to see that he ages just like everyone else. Yet the memories can be preserved permanently on a bit of tape no matter how old we get. And memories of more innocent less insecure times, like when I was seven and my biggest worry in life was getting home in time to see Davy Jones on the Brady Bunch with my girlfriends, can be reassuring even if they sound a bit silly.
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Oooh! Davy Jones!
Date: 2003-11-02 10:11 am (UTC)This is Graffiti talking, right?
Date: 2003-11-02 10:23 am (UTC)I am unashamed
Date: 2003-11-02 09:03 pm (UTC)Way to go, Sara!!
Date: 2003-11-02 09:19 pm (UTC)Also remember, this is someone who paid money to get to see Iyri Limon in person not to mention her autograph. Excuse me? Isn't this the pot calling the kettle black? Methinks it is!! Besides we didn't pay money. I certainly didn't.
So there. ;-)
Being a fan
Date: 2003-11-02 09:42 pm (UTC)Normally I never go to these kinds of shindigs, but I was glad I went. During the screening, I really wanted to scream along with the filmed audience of teenyboppers. I think somebody in the live audience really did scream out Paul's name at one point, LOL! It was a kick to see these four boys who were to go on to change the world. In the moment, it seemed perfectly simple: what's not to love? I'm not a pop music geek, more of a jazzbo, so the comparison that came to mind was something that was once said about Ella Fitzgerald -- that there was a quality of joy that always came out in her singing -- the Beatles had that joy and it was infectious.
And, oh that Davy Jones! What a cutie pie! Such a funny, charming man! See, we need to be reminded that there are people and things worth celebrating, even in these jaded times. I'm proud to call myself a fangurl!
Alice