Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Children of all ages! May I have your attention, please?
This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s music from movies about the circus!
In 1964, George Pal produced and directed an adaptation of Charles G. Finney’s dark fantasy novel, “The Circus of Dr. Lao.” “7 Faces of Dr. Lao” was envisaged as a real showcase for its star, Tony Randall, who plays not only the mysterious proprietor of an itinerant Old West circus, but also Merlin the Magician, the great god Pan, a Serpent, the fabled monster Medusa, the blind fortune-teller Appolonius of Tyana, and the Abominable Snowman!
The unusual score is by Leigh Harline, who freshens up tropes of the American Western by applying some Eastern spice. We’ll hear selections from the film’s original elements, remastered for the Film Score Monthly label.
We’ll also have music from two Academy Award winners: Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Greatest Show on Earth,” voted Best Picture of 1952, with a score by Victor Young, and Federico Fellini’s “La Strada,” Best Foreign Language Film of 1956, with music by Nino Rota.
Malcom Arnold wrote the music for “Trapeze,” Carol Reed’s 1956 love triangle on high (with Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Gina Lollobrigada), and Danny Elfman understands that every day’s a circus for Paul Reubens in “Big Top Pee-Wee,” from 1988. I know you are, but what am I?
Further emphasizing the dark underbelly of the big top, we’ll hear a suite from Hammer Film Productions’ “Vampire Circus,” from 1972, in which all of the attractions, even the panther, are vampires! And you thought clowns were scary. The composer is David Whitaker, of “The Sword and the Sorcerer” cult status.
Step right up! It’s a clown car full of calliopes, as music for the circus takes center ring on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)
Stream them here!
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