The Big Stink Over the Beatles Concert 50 Years Ago

MINNEAPOLIS — The Beatles left Minneapolis this date 50 years ago and never looked back, at least until Paul returned last year for a sold out concert.  The big stink was over girl fans who breached security after the Met Stadium concert and entered the hotel rooms of the Beatles.  (I am sure they were gathering autographs from the mop head singers.)  A representative of the rock group’s entourage said Minneapolis was a “narrow minded town” when police demanded that the girl leave Paul’s room or they would break down the door.  Indeed!

On the anniversary radio special the police chief commented about the welfare of the “kids” and wished the Fab Four would never return to the Twin Cities.  And they never did.  

The anniversary show aired last night on WDGY included the press conference for the concert that was “hosted” by WDGY but that didn’t prevent cross town rival KDWB from horning in on the action.  WDGY DJ Johnny Dollar was the anchor for the radio coverage of the concert. 

Dennis Mitchell’s anniversary show was actually a tape from a Hollywood Bowl concert with screaming Beatle fans who are now grannies. 

The show includes a promo for “Help,” the movie.

I was living in Berkley at the time and not a Beatle fan.

DISTURBING NEWS VIEW DISCRETION ADVISE

At first I thought the Jake Gyllenhaal film noir “Night Crawler was a commentary on the sad state of broadcast news, but now I think otherwise.  Writer-director Dan Gilroy actually provides a commentary on our society where a crazed sociopath can swim nicely with the capitalist sharks and profit handsomely in the business world.

I ask myself, who is the greater monster in this sad story?  The bug eyed gaunt zombie news photographer Lou Bloom played by Gyllenhaal is the initial focus of our contempt, but things change moving along.  The aging TV station gatekeeper Nina played by Rene Russo may be the real villain in the film as she aids the demented Lou to provide her with blood and gore video that will boost the news program ratings.  The Nina character resembles Bette Davis as “Baby Jane” with more eye makeup than Tammy Faye ever contemplated.

There’s some kvetching about what she will and won’t do with the photographer sexually, but otherwise they get along swimmingly.

Gilroy, in an interview on the DVD, provides a perspective on the Lou character who spews Management by Objective nonsense and other business school dictums to his homeless sidekick employee.  Gilroy said that Lou is a product of the generation who spends a lifetime glued to the internet with little socializing.  This explains his lack of compassion and humanity in part.  So if it’s a slow news day one needs to stage manage events with a macabre twist and sell it to Channel 6 for the 11 pm news.

The real star of “Night Crawler” may be the 2014 Dodge Challenger SRT that is but a blur of red flashing before my eyes but I love that blur.

Documentary Revives VHS Nostalgia

REWIND THIS!

Sentimental saps like me are holding onto their VHS tapes and that subculture is pictured in Josh Johnson’s engaging documentary “Rewind This!”   I paid $230 for a Hitachi VCR in 1997 and most recently I bought a used Panasonic for $3.  Prices have dropped.

Afficianados of magnetic tape point to classics made by backyard Spielbergs like David  (the Rock) Nelson who claims “Dracula vs Sadam Hussein” as his VHS production. 

VHS attracted fans of chunk blower bootlegs and titles like “Heavy Metal Parking Lot” that are much appreciated by nerds who cruise flea markets in hopes of getting lucky.

I sometimes wonder as well why I persist with VHS given that it takes two players to watch the full array of my limited collection.  

With YouTube I have dispensed with many cassettes but even that’s a problem finding anyone who wants them or has a working VCR.  

One observer reminds us that in a few years 2 out of 10 tapes in our collections will be unplayable.  Since VHS opened a new world of movie viewing for many of us, it’s difficult to break the habit.  And I am aided and abetted by a friend who still records on VHS.

Diehards detect a resurrection of the beloved VHS, with Mongo now selling new tapes.  Whatever.

MILKMAN WARS

As a college student on summer vacation I was on the front line of the “milkman wars” when I solicited accounts door-to-door for Carnation Co. home delivery.  Using our own transportation, we shadowed delivery trucks from the Erie Dairy and Arden Farms, writing down the addresses of their customers.  Then we would followup, knocking on their customers’ doors and trying to get them to switch to Carnation home delivery.  It was a dirty business.  The Erie Dairy driver was not amused and who could blame him.

I think we were a public nuisance and the police were called.  I was conspicuous driving dad’s red and white Olds 88.  I made friends with the other boy “salesmen” and our leader was a mature man who told off color jokes on breaks.

A very notorious experiment in capitalism, was my two months with Carnation.  The cows were content but I wasn’t.  I got the job through the state employment agency and I thought it would be better than selling shoes for Edison Bros.  I was wrong.  

Carnation sponsored “Burns and Allen” on KXLY/CBS on Thursday night and is famous for evaporated milk.  Donald O’Connor and Jimmy Durante were in the U-I musical comedy, “The Milkman.”

(Darigold is the major Washington State dairy but I don’t think we tailed their drivers.)

Very Bad Reality Shows on Cable TV

DR. PEPPER PEEKS IN PANTRIES

Sean and Davina hit a rough spot on cable TV’s reality series “Married at First Sight” last night but not to worry because noted sociologist Dr. Pepper Schwartz, University of Washington professor, was on the scene to investigate.  Suspicions instantly arose when the good doctor found the fridg bare except for a soda can and potato chips and there were no family photos on the wall.  It looked like they were only staying for the weekend. She immediately put the recently betrothed on notice and enrolled them in a cooking class so they can hopefully bond.

Such is the state of matrimony in the Big Apple that couples are resorting to cable TV where they can star in their own mini-dramas while avoiding the pesky cost of dating.  It also silences family and friends who nag them about being single.  The first time they laid eyes on each other was at the altar and then it was too late to turn back without creating a nasty scene.  In the case of Shawn, eyes are the only thing he has laid on Davina after a month, but Dr Pepper is frothy with optimism.  Davina remains unconcerned about Shawn’s disinterest.  After all she’s getting weekly exposure on cable.  The sky’s the limit.  We truly live in amazing times particularly when we have friends like Gary H. who invite me over to watch cable TV. http://www.fyi.tv/shows/married-at-first-sight/cast/dr-pepper-schwartz

BINGING ON CABLE TV

The Belle of the South was relaxing in bed with a coke and potato chips when the doorbell rang on the cable TV reality show “Arranged.”  Surprise; it was the mama inlaw calling to investigate her new daughter inlaw’s domesticity deficiencies.  Sadly things were amiss in the newlyweds love nest including dirt on the ceiling fan and the bride hadn’t made Beauregard’s favorite casserole.  Good news:  Mom was staying the weekend to set things straight.  You can’t top that for southern hospitality or chutzpa.

With last night’s “Arranged Marriage,” I shared the concerns of a Gypsy family’s aggressive plans to find spouse’s for their teenage sons even if the boys were disinterested.  Much to every one’s chagrin we learned that 17-year-old boys generally are poor husband material, but the parents charged ahead without changing course.  It’s tradition, don’t you know!

Some of this had to scripted and rehearsed because no one could be that stupid.  Stay tuned.

http://www.fyi.tv/shows/arranged

SWORD AND SANDALS

In an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the Maria Montez Universal movies, Columbia in 1953 issued the hilariously awful “Prisoners of the Casbah” with Cesar Romero, Turhan Bey and Gloria Grahame.  The costumes are decent but the acting and sets are strictly poverty row studio shlock.  

Ms. Grahame is totally unbelievable as any kind of Arabian princess.  Bey is the butt of many jokes but he is sexy as the dashing hero.  (Bey was a co-star in the Montez movies.)  Romero, as the corrupt king, must have been rehearsing for his Joker shtick in the ‘60s campy “Batman” TV show.  Can you believe this mess?

EINSTEIN AMONGST GOMERS (by Dave Zarkin)

If you read “Drafted:  Vietnam at War and Peace” you will learn about a friend and coworker at the Idaho Statesman who turned lemons into lemonade while serving in the US Army in Saigon starting in May 1967 as a clerk.

David R. Frazier soon advanced from that lowly position into a sergeant and public information officer using photojournalist skills he learned at UPI.  He schmoozed generals and politicians with the greatest of ease.  The Tet Offensive was but an annoying sidebar to Frazier who wrote and edited a publication for the Armed Services in Vietnam.  He parlayed a dicey situation into a tropical beach party, almost.

In Vietnam, Frazier quickly concluded that the usual military confusion and stupidity could work to his advantage.  Through skillful maneuvering and luck he found a sweet spot where he was making money on the side by selling “hometown news” to newspapers in his native Michigan and not dodging bullets and land mines.  In Vietnam, he was an Einstein amongst countless Gomers.  This is not “Catch 22” or “Mash” but you get the idea.

By pushing yourself to the limits, you could earn “density points” in Vietnam, Frazier would say on the Idaho mountain fishing trips we took shortly after he was discharged from the Army.  He earned his density points but I had to read the book to find out what he did in the war.  While he was in Vietnam, I had completed active duty four years earlier with the Coast Guard Reserve and was a local government reporter for The Statesman.  www.drfphoto.com

REMARKABLE DJ Alan Freed

I binged this weekend on Alan Freed movies — “Rock Rock Rock” and “Don’t Knock the Rock” from the mid-50s.  Freed was somewhat of a stiff but somehow he convinced Hollywood that he had box-office appeal.  In fact, he sings on a Coral label single, “Rock Boogie,” which could be a collectable if you have it.  RRR features a 16-year-old Tuesday Weld who is conniving to get $30 to buy a prom dress and then there’s an abrupt segue where Freed introduces several rock acts including Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Chuck Berry and a bunch of unknowns.   Connie Francis sings while Weld moves her lips.  RRR,  from DCA a poverty studio, is inept in several area:  acting, editing, script and directing.  But there are some good acts and others so obscure you have to watch.  The actor/singer who plays Weld's love interest looks old enough to have children in high school himself and was recruited for his biceps rather than his acting chops.  The same DVD has a documentary on Freed which is worth seeing.  
 “Don’t Knock” from Columbia is almost high art compared to RRR with crooner Alan Dale who is about 40 romancing a teenager.  Production values are quite professional and the dance numbers are the best in any '50s rock musical.  Sony gets high marks for remastering "Don't Knock the Rock" and the companion DVD, "Rock 'round the Clock."

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Abandoning self interest and coming together for the common good is what advances humanity,  So this message is wrapped up in the blockbuster Sondheim musical “Into The Woods” which director Rob Marshall (Chicago, Nine) delivers with gusto, dramatic pacing and a star studded cast.

As the Wicked Witch, Meryl Streep’s character is self absorbed and makes the baker and his wife crazy getting her a magic potion to reverse the ravages of old age (and who doesn’t need that?).  Ms. Streep gets a couple of extreme makeovers in the movie.

Johnny Depp recycles some of the makeup left over from “Pirates” as the Big Bad Wolf who seduces Little Red Riding Hood.  So the “woods” are the real world after you leave fairy tale land.

If you go for the handsome prince hang onto your popcorn because you get a double dose in the campy duet “Agony” performed by Chris Pine and  Billy Magnussen.  As Prince Charming tells Cinderella, “Although I am charming, I am not faithful.”  That sums up the false promise of that fairy tale.

In a rare moment at the West End Theater, the audience applauded during the closing credits.  Although it’s a Disney release, it’s too scary for small children but then so are most fairy tales. 

Horror Festival Is A Weird Universe

BLOOMINGTON CRYPTICON

I could barely contain my excitement at getting a photo with the outstanding Zach Galigan, movie star known for “Gremlins” (1984) and “Waxwork.”  Zach is still stunning. What a life!  One day you’re making movies for Spielberg and 30 years later you’re getting a $5 bill from Dave Zarkin to have your photo taken by a stranger.

MORE CRYPTICON

Felix Silla of “Return of the Jedi” was a featured celebrity at the Bloomington Crypticon.  The “exhibitors” and discussions were outstanding at my first spooky convention devoted to horror movies and related media.

CRYPTON MADNESS

Adams Family and Star Trek Next Generation actor Corel Struycken was kind enough to pose for a guy in a Spooky World t-shirt that Evon Minelli gave me in 2006.  I need to wash it.

BAD MOVIE PRODUCER AT CRYPTICON

Craig Muckler, producer of ”Microwave Massacre,”  is just one of the many crazy stories at Crypticon in Bloomington last night.  The movie is several years old and features the tag line:  “they came for dinner to find they were it!”  Comedian Jackie Vernon starred in this epic.

CRYPTICON CONFIDENTIAL

“Friday the 13th” star Betsy Palmer dismissed the script for this movie as a piece of bleep and did the movie because she needed $10,000 to buy a car, according to Adrienne King who played Alice in the movie.  King, who spoke at Bloomington’s Crypticon horror event Friday Oct. 24, 2014, said expectations for the movie were low, the script was written as the movie was being made and the production ran out of money twice during filming.  

King’s favorite scene in the movie involved a snake and a machete.  Palmer knocked King down in a scene where the Alice character is slapped.  Despite the rough stuff, King said that Palmer made her a better actress during the 10 days Palmer was on location in New York State with the 1979 movie.

King is a painter and operates Crystal Lake Wines (a homage to the movie) in Oregon.

HOW TO SCARE THE KIDS THIS HALLOWEEN

Chris Costello of Forest Lake is dedicated to Halloween, classic Universal Pictures Gothic horror films and building a front yard fright scene.  He spoke with boyish enthusiasm Friday night at Bloomington’s Crypticon fright festival.  Costello is featured on YouTube in a Halloween documentary filmed by a teenage fan.  You can find him on Facebook’s Thursday Night Fright Night movies for kids.

WHAT I DID FOR THE CONFEDERACY

When I first saw the 1939 “Gone with the Wind” it was in 1967 at the historic Ada/Egyptian Theater in Boise so I hadn’t much of a clue about the story before I saw it again (in HD) for the second time yesterday in a nearby mall cineplex.  In GWTW’s four hours we see Scarlett O’Hara (played brilliantly by Vivien Leigh) go from flirty school girl to a money-grubbing capitalist.

Scarlett is the strong take charge mistress of Tara, the family estate and cotton plantation, as the men are slaughtered on the battle field and her father goes insane.  In the first two hours, we learn of the horrors of war and anti-hero and river boat gambler Rhett Butler points out the futility and stupidity of the Confederacy going against the industrialized north.  The Butler character is a free spirit beholding to no one but himself who states the obvious throughout the film:  Scarlett is a self-centered opportunist and engages in marriage as a profit-making venture.  

1930s heartthrob Clark Gable had to be Butler with his winning good looks and sex appeal, but Ms. Scarlett is not swayed but his charms and yearns for the gentile manners of aristocratic Ashley Wilkes (played by British actor Leslie Howard.)  Her obsession with Wilkes and then her realization that Butler loves her leads to her sorrow but comes too late in her story.  Butler walks out the door, proclaiming:  “Frankly, I don’t give a damn.”

A post-war melodrama is the focus of the second two hours and is somewhat of a let down given the heightened drama of the previous two hours with the burning of Atlanta.  

African American actress Hattie McDaniel received an Oscar for her performance as the slave maid “Mamie” but was not allowed to attend the premier in 1939 in an Atlanta, Ga., theater in less enlightened times.  GWTW portrays African Americans in racial stereotypes associated with the 1930s and 40s in this country.  The movie is being shown during its 75th anniversary in theaters nationwide.  A PBS documentary on the war describes in greater detail the horrors of the Civil War with corpses of dead soldiers rotting in the fields.  I found it amazing that after 75 years an audience exists for any movie, but this one is special. 

Campy Gothic Horror Sendup is a Delight

I willingly drifted into Charles Ludlam’s ultra campy Gothic horror sendup “The Mystery of Irma Vep” last night at the Jungle Theater wherein Lady Enid and Lord Edgar attempt to learn more about the death of Edgar’s first wife, Irma.  A gander at the set for the British library drawing room country estate is worth the price of admission.  It’s like Roger Corman and Mario Bava on acid designed this nightmare.  I admit to being a willing captive of this subversive humor.  A garish portrait on the wall reminds us of Irma’s haunting presence as we are assaulted by a vampire, werewolf and mummy and are treated to that old standby, the wall that opens up to unspeakable horror.  No one slept while this three-ring zany circus was underway.

Bradley Greenwald and Stephen Cartmell are the incredible actors in this manic fast-paced tour de farce that has to be experienced up close to get the full measure of their insanity.  They play the roles of the butler, maid, werewolf, vampire, Egyptian guide and Lady and Lord Hillcrest.  We hold our breath as they do numerous costume and makeup changes in hopes that the maid will appear with Lord Edgar’s mustache, but to no avail. 

Of course the duo have to travel to ancient Egypt to converse with the mummy in hopes of learning how poor Irma met her untimely demise.  Having enjoyed Charles Busch’s “Die Mommy Die” I was a ripe candidate for this over the top nonsense.  It’s difficult to imagine how “Dracula the Musical” in October at the Howard Conn Theater will top this burlesque journey.  We shall see and then report to you faithful readers.  Stay tuned.  

"Yum Yum" Not a Tasty Treat in 1963

Didn’t we suffer through some rotten movies in the ‘60s?  Dean Jones doesn’t look like the dude who would agree to a chaste trial marriage with a sadistic professional virgin played by Carol Lynley in “Under the Yum Yum Tree.”  This movie got a lot of hype in LA in 1963 so I took a date to see it at Grauman’s Chinese Theater which was a big deal then. 

It’s being shown this month on GetTV so I revisited it and got a slice of the LA lifestyle circa 1963.  Horny bachelors of the day favored garish apartments with red walls and drove customized cardinal red Imperials.  Jack Lemmon played the lecherous bachelor landlord of the apartment building where the unwed couple cohabited while Walter Matthau or Don Rickles would be better.  The story dithers into a tit for tat Laurel and Hardy slapstick scene with Jones and Lemmon.  Reason to see this mess:  Paul Lynde as the gardener and Imogene Cocoa as the maid.  Lynley had an evil look that better suites her to “Dracula’s Daughter” than a romcom.  James Darren sings the title song and he could have handled the Jones role.  When it came to ‘60s comedies, AIP nailed it with the beach movies franchise.

THE LIFE LESS ORDINARY

He was the most famous wrier of his generation and she was determined not to be “a footnote to  someone else’s life” which didn’t bode well for the merger of Ernest Hemingway and pioneer woman war correspondent Martha Gellhorn.  Their tumultuous relationship is brought to the screen in the compelling “Hemingway and Gellhorn” film directed by Philip Kaufman.  I noticed this DVD at library checkout while I was picking up “A Stricken Field,” Gellhorn’s novelized account of covering the human tragedies in World War II Central Europe.  

With Gellhorn, the macho Hemingway more than met his match.  Nicole Kidman is outstanding as Martha and Clive Owen is memorable as the Hemingway who was boozing and fishing while the “misses” was covering the war for Collier’s magazine.  (I previously read her Collier’s articles.)  Hemingway dismissed Gellhorn as a “journalist” writing human interest stories.  When Hemingway stole her Collier assignment to cover the Normandy Invasion, she found a way to scoop him on that story by going undercover as a nurse on a British hospital ship accompanying the troops.  In a memorable scene, Joan Chen plays Madame Chiang Kai-shek  at a dinner with the Hemingways with Gellhorn raising unpleasant references to Chinese poverty and hunger.  While Hemingway feared being branded a communist sympathizer, Gellhorn confronted social justice issues head-on.

In the scenes involving the Spanish Civil War, John DosPesos, photographer Robert Capa and movie director Joris Ivens (“The Spanish Earth”) are featured.  European war scenes are shown in grainy sepia tone or two color (Cinecolor) process.  It worked for me, particularly when  matched with Richard Attenborough’s “In Love and War,” which is the “Fairwell to Arms” story about Hemingway being rejected by the nurse Agnes who recounts the affair thusly:  “The hurt boy became an angry man.”  Now I need to find a decent DVD of “Farewell to Arms,” the original.

“Philo Vance Returns” (after 60 years)

Imagine my joy when oldies.com advertised the long lost 1947 PRC Pathe thriller “Philo Vance Returns” which I last saw on KXLY’s Early Show in 1953 at the Barkers’ house on their Teleking TV set.  Vance solves the case of the killer lady with William Wright in the lead and directed by William Beaudine (one shot Willie) who is well known for his Monogram Charlie Chan mysteries.  Kudos to Films Around the World Video for making a viewable movie from both 35mm and 16mm prints.  I knew that the perpetrator was a woman but didn’t know her name.  

Even Big Budgets Couldn’t Save Musicals

In 1969 with Kent State, the Vietnam War and the cultural revolution, TCF released the 1964 musical hit “Hello Dolly” with a miscast lead and an inept director.  Anyone surprised that it flopped?  Young movie audiences were still grooving on “The Graduate” and “Wild in the Streets.”  Matthew Kennedy provides a history of movie musicals from 1960 to present day in “Roadshow: the fall of film musicals in the 1960s.”  Roadshow movies were a big city 70mm phenomena with tickets $4.50 and a souvenir program for sale in the lobby.   “Around the World in 80 Days” was  the only roadshow I remember in Spokane and Boise certainly was not a roadshow venue. 

Kennedy argues that the big studios had numerous roadshow failures because of inattention to details of casting and production.  When I was a Idaho Statesman reporter, my office mate Ken Burrows covered filming of “Paint Your Wagon” in nearby Baker, Ore.  This was a very expensive stinker with Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin, but a big deal for the Treasure Valley of Idaho and Oregon.   

Kennedy credits “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “The Sound of Music” as being among the winners.  The loser list is too long but includes “Star!”, “Dr. Doolittle” and “Hello, Dolly,” all from TCF which had to sell properties to raise cash and stay afloat.  The British got it right with “Oliver!” although Kennedy dismisses this movie even though it was commercially successful.  American International Pictures, with its beach musicals and horror movies, made money while the big boys hemorrhaged cash.  

Kennedy omitted “Across the Universe” and “Xanadu” in his discussion of movie musicals and these are two of my favorites.  With multiplex movie theaters today hungry for patrons, apparently the 3-D novelty is over, which is reminiscent of what became of big budget musicals in the 1960s.  Art houses are an alternative but often are not centrally located and are in areas with few parking possibilities.

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK

Amidst the regal splendor of Big Sur, beat novelist Jack Kerouac has an alcohol induced nervous breakdown in the 2013 movie “Big Sur” based on the Kerouac novel of the same name.  Kerouac is a conflicted tortured soul with feelings for Neal and Caroline Cassady.  Kate Bosworth plays Billie who is having affairs with both Jack and Neal.   Book store owner Lawrence Ferenghetti advises Jack that his problem is drinking red wine whereas he should stick with the white.  Jack is very much a pathetic mess here in his ‘40s and not enjoying the notoriety of “On the Road.”  If you are into the Beat Generation and all things Jack, this is for you (on DVD.)  The scenery is superb on the northern California coast.

BURIAL MARKETING 101

MINNEAPOLIS — What do I know about napkin etiquette lunching with ladies today at the turn of the century Woman’s Club (singular)?  Apparently, leave it on the chair when you excuse yourself to go to the buffet table.  We were guests of Margaret and Tom today for lunch at the club and a field trip to the Lakewood Cemetery on the shores of Lake Calhoun where Sen. Wellstone and Vice President Humphrey rest.  This was a choice marketing opportunity for Lakewood’s Mr. Joyboy who narrated an hour long slide show and conducted the bus tour of the grounds.  Most of us were long in tooth matrons contemplating the world beyond so we were prime prospects for Lakewood so we were treated to the grand mausoleum and the historic art deco chapel.  Joyboy nixed the notion that Uncle Charlie’s ashes go on the mantel but should rest in the mausoleum.  Lakewood is contemplating full service with a funeral home on the grounds.  Bowing to the technologically chic, they now have wifi on the grounds so there’s no need to show up for a funeral.  Get a friend to Skype the proceedings and watch it on your phone or computer without ever leaving home.  If any of this reminds you of Forest Lawn and “The Loved One,” we are on the same page.  

MY FAIR LADY

MINNEAPOLIS — It was SRO last night at the Guthrie and I was in the nose bleed section but what a night!  Tyler Michaels stole the show with “On the Street Where You Live” on a bicycle no less.  The ‘60s movie of the same name suffers by comparison to the Guthrie effort here which features leads who actually sing (unlike Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.)  And who didn’t have a MFL LP in 1956?  Here’s mine that I bought at Newberry’s in Spokane.  The movie is based on the 1938 RKO/Rank movie “Pygmalion” which is excellent.

Bizarre "It's All Happening" Exploits Brit 60s Pop Scene

For a hilarious look at the pre-Beetle pop music scene in England, have a gander at the British 1963 film “It’s All Happening” with teen idol Tommy Steele.  The “Boy on the Beach” number is quite campy and the last half-hour features several bizarre musical acts that must have been popular in Great Britain at the time.  In the U.S., we had “Rock Around the Clock,” which was also a mashup of pop music acts and an annoying plot.  The rock/pop exploitation genre has produced some wonderfully bad stuff from the 50s and 60s.