July 25th – a.k.a. Christmas in July. Remember: if you can’t sleep at night, it isn’t the coffee, it’s the bunk!
Whatever the cause, a wakeful hour could not be more profitably spent than in the enjoyment of this Preston Sturges classic. Even second-tier Sturges is sharper than most of what passes for comedy today. The complete movie is posted here:
Yesterday, a rainy day in Princeton, I finally got around to rewatching a Marx Brothers documentary I hadn’t seen in decades (“The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell,” 1982), kindly sent to me by a friend over Christmas. Naturally, among the clips were some from “A Night at the Opera,” which got me thinking about all the classical music used as grist for musical interludes and parody in the Marxes’ films – and soberingly, by extension, how far we’ve fallen as a culture that broader audiences today would likely not recognize some of these once indelible melodies.
Toward the end of the documentary, Dick Cavett remarks, prophetically, although perhaps not in the way he had hoped, “50 years from now, will the Marx Brothers be funny? Will the films live? I would have to say, I hope so, and I think so. Because if not, there’s something wrong with the people, not the films.”
At a time when so many are so easily offended at the first whiff of anything subversive (which, I would argue, is a substantial root of humor), and younger people such as my nephews claim never even to have heard of Groucho Marx, I’m not much encouraged to believe in the continued “life” of their films. It’s a source of amazement to me that the Marxes and the Universal monster movies of the 1930s still held such sway over all of us youngsters in the 1970s – 40 years later! I’d go further and say that Groucho Marx was one of my biggest, and perhaps least helpful, influences during my teens in the 1980s.
Hopefully, someday the pendulum will swing again – like Harpo through the painted backdrops of “Il trovatore” – but I can’t say that I think it is likely. How is it that, with everything seemingly spinning out of control, the world has become such an anodyne place? The Marxes were up against the Great Depression and World War II. Maybe a little inappropriate laughter, once in a while, would do us some good.
“I want my shirt” (“The Cocoanuts”)
“Il trovatore” (“A Night at the Opera”)
Earlier “Anvil Chorus” parody at 5:30 (“Animal Crackers”)
Rachmaninoff Prelude in C-sharp minor (“A Day at the Races”)
Harpo fantasy on Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (“A Night in Casablanca”)
Medley of Chico Marx numbers, in which he references the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, the Pizzicato from Leo Delibes’ “Sylvia,” and more.
What a mare’s nest! So many envelopes and crossfades in this session for tomorrow’s “Sweetness and Light,” a whirlwind tribute to Peter Schickele, who died on Tuesday at the age of 88. We’ll hear some of his classic PDQ Bach comedy skits interspersed with selections from his “serious music.” As always, the program is calculated to charm and to cheer. Stream it on Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon! https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
It may be cold and flu season, and the holidays may dish up, among other things, a banquet of contagion. But, as it’s said that laughter is the best medicine, this week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll laugh in the New Year with highlights from the notorious and uproarious Hoffnung Music Festival concerts.
Gerard Hoffnung was a boy when his family arrived in London, refugees from Nazi Germany. In his new home, he cultivated the persona of an English gentleman, though one with a decidedly impish bent. He attained celebrity through his work as a cartoonist, a sparkling panelist, and a public speaker. He was lauded as a brilliant improviser with a dry wit and a masterly sense of timing. He also played the tuba well enough that he was able to tackle the Vaughan Williams concerto.
Following a successful April Fool’s concert in 1956, Hoffnung embarked on the enterprise which, alongside his cartooning, ensured a kind of immortality – the first of the Hoffnung Music Festival concerts. The concerts brought together representatives of England’s finest musical talent to lampoon what, especially at the time, might have been perceived as a rather stodgy art form.
There would be three Hoffnung concerts in all. Alas, the third was presented posthumously. Hoffnung collapsed at his home in 1959, and died of a cerebral hemorrhage three days later, at the age of only 34. An untimely finish for a character who seemed his entire life to be a brilliant, fully-developed, middle-aged man, always at the peak of his form.
I hope you’ll join me as we celebrate Hoffnung’s whimsical legacy. We’ll hear Sir Malcolm Arnold’s “A Grand, Grand Overture,” for orchestra, organ, electric floor polisher, and three vacuum cleaners – the work was dedicated to President “Hoover” – and Franz Reizenstein’s “Concerto populare,” billed as “a piano concerto to end all piano concertos,” among others.
It’s a lighthearted playlist calculated to put a smile on your face and lend a boost to your spirits – to say nothing of your immune system. He who laughs last laughs best. So “Have a Ball,” on “The Lost Chord,” 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 those of you listening in the East. Here are the respective air-times for all three of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EST)
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW – Saturday on KWAX at 8:00 AM PACIFIC TIME (11:00 AM EST)
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EST)
Stream all three, at the times indicated, by following the link!
Lame (the gags) or lamé (the bathing suits)? I think you should be able to divine from the title whether or not this is the movie for you. Here, for you delectation, is Roy and my discussion about – and often around (there were certainly plenty of digressions) – “Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine” (1965). At the end, I share my annual “fan art” in celebration of Roy’s birthday, also now posted on the Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner Facebook page.
The show is barreling down on its 200th episode. However, the coming weekends will be busy ones. It’s possible Roy may conduct an interview or two in the meantime, but we might not reach that milestone until September. Watch this space for further developments!
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