Fifty Years Ago Today
Fifty Years Ago Today was Saturday, July 26, 1975…Pyotr Klimuk and Vitaly Sevastyanov return to Earth, having set a new Soviet space endurance record of 63 days (62 days 23 hours 20 minutes 8 seconds) and the mark for the most people in space simultaneously (seven) was tied during the mission. …The Hustle, by Van McCoy and celebrating the most popular new dance in America, became the #1 song in the United States...Born: Liz Truss (Mary Elizabeth Truss), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from September 6 to October 24, 2022 after being elected leader of the Conservative Party; in Oxford. Ms. Truss’s short term in office is apparently only referenced in the UK these days as either a joke or as a supreme example of failure.
Van McCoy - The Hustle (Official Music Video) [HD]
There was absolutely no debate, no question about the big movie of the day. Summer of ‘75 was the summer of JAWS. It was a sensation along the lines of, and perhaps more so than GONE WITH THE WIND, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and THE GODFATHER. It was, as everyone in the world has already noted, “The First Summer Blockbuster.” But that’s not the movie I saw this day. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t see the Spielberg masterpiece for another month.
At such a remove (it’s been half a century, after all), I can’t confidently explain why I delayed so long in seeing such a big movie. But I’ve got a pretty good idea, I think.
First, just like THE EXORCIST, there were all those news stories and images of people waiting in long, long lines. I was pretty sure that, like THE EXORCIST, the movie could wait till I could see it in a more comfortable, less crowded atmosphere.
Also, just like THE EXORCIST and THE GODFATHER, I was loath to jump on the popular bandwagon. If everybody else was het up about something, that was something I was likely to ignore, or, at least, delay.
So that’s why this entry is not about JAWS. Maybe next month.
Personally, I can’t be sure exactly what I was up to at the time. Sometime during the heat of summer, ‘75, I spent a couple of weeks rehearsing and performing a production of GYPSY. A friend of mine was directing it and found the actor playing “Herbie” to be insufficient. So he asked me to step in.
Buuuut…by this time I had joined Actors Equity, and this GYPSY was a non-Equity production, so I wasn’t supposed to do it. But the theater arranged with Equity for me to perform on a Guest Artist contract. The problem was that the theater group had no money. I mean NO money. So I agreed, gladly, to accept pay for the job, then, semi-secretly--donate the bucks back to the theater so they could pay for rent, costumes, electricity…everything and anything. If anyone in the Equity offices reads this (doubtful), that’s okay. I figure the statute of limitations has dissolved that ancient sin.
So I played Herbie in that production, which was no better than okay. My performance, likewise. But I don’t know the dates of the gig, so who knows? Maybe I was in the midst of performances at this time. Or maybe I wasn’t.
I at least know I didn’t have a performance this night because I was off to the Preston Drive-in, way out in distant, unexplored areas of Louisville. Not sure why I trekked all the way out yonder, when the movie was also playing at my drive-in, The Lakewood. Of course, at this time I was living in Louisville itself rather than, as usual, across the river in Jeffersonville. So, in actuality, the driving distance between The Lakewood and The Preston may not have been so much.
The movie, for which I was hopeful, but of which I was mostly ignorant was…
PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE
Another question with no answer-- why had I not already seen PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE by this time? It had been around earlier. In this engagement, PHANTOM served as a second feature in support of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (which I had already seen). I don’t know. You’d think that I would have jumped on a bigtime Brian De Palma horror musical as soon as it showed up. But I didn’t and I don’t know why.
I do know that I absolutely loved the movie that night. Adored it. Still do.
I loved the music, the design, the performances. A totally immersive movie love.
I became an instantaneous fan of Gerrit Graham. Let me make it plain-I freakin’ loved this movie.
I’ve watched it many times in the last 50 years, but I’m always ready to watch it again and, here, on this 50th anniversary of my first look at it, that’s what I’m a-gonna do.
Roll ‘em!
This movie references and pays homage to and, if you prefer, steals from a lot of sources, including of course PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, but also FAUST, FRANKENSTEIN, THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, PSYCHO, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, even Orson Welles’s TOUCH OF EVIL.
This opening narration is great, both in its writing and in Rod Serling's reading of it. But in this Shout Video Blu-ray it was so quiet that I had to turn the volume up to absolute maximum to even barely hear it. Then of course the musical number which follows is too loud, though not deafeningly so. I ended up watching the entire movie at about 80% volume.
I would eagerly buy a Juicy Fruits album.
Hey, I have a neat Death Records t-shirt and as soon as I lose 20 pounds I am going to wear that thing.
Hey there's Rainbeaux Smith! And, for the first time ever, she keeps her shirt on.
Ah, there’s a guy I worked with back in ‘82. Can’t remember his name….
The breathing we hear during the subjective camera sequence is interesting as it is not only pre-HALLOWEEN, it's even pre-Darth Vader. And if you would say, “well, that's coincidental,” which I'll admit it could be, I'll also note that other filmmakers definitely paid attention to Brian de Palma in those days. The most glaring example of that is the final shock in CARRIE which became de rigeur in all horror films after that. Did any horror film from 1976 to 1990 not have a final jump scare? It was a regular infection, I tells ya.
The Phantom’s mask is perfection.
Almost exactly halfway through the movie, “Beef” appears. The magnificent- and I mean that- Gerrit Graham blesses us with a golden turn. He probably should have won an Oscar, and definitely deserved a massive career boost from this, which he sadly didn't get.
“I am a professional. I have been in this business a long time. Now if I don't want to do a show, it's not because I got stage fright. It's because some creature from beyond doesn't want me to do the show.”
The “Somebody Super”/”Life at Last” number is set on a delicious black and white Frankensteinian lab set. Got to love it.
The makeup on the singers in that “Somebody Super” scene is very Kiss-like. The movie was released in ‘74 and, according to Google, the band was formed in ‘73. I suppose it’s possible that one entity may have inspired the other. Somebody call Gene Simmons.
The movie is not just wildly cinematic. It is also at times highly theatrical. A beautiful mix.
In the end credits we learn that the set dresser was Sissy Spacek. Not too surprising, since her husband Jack Fisk was the film’s designer.
Well, what is this? The 15th time I’ve seen PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE? Maybe the 20th? And it’s still great. Hopefully I’ll live long enough to log another dozen viewings or so.
Just for gits and shingles, here’s the Movie Clock for that day 50 Years Ago. What have you seen?
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