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Posted on 8/8/24 at 10:38 pm to Kafka
Posted on 8/9/24 at 9:33 am to Big Scrub TX
From Rubber Soul and Revolver forward, they reinvented popular music. Even their earlier Top 40 stuff
was far more sophisticated than anything else during that time frame.
was far more sophisticated than anything else during that time frame.
Posted on 8/9/24 at 8:43 pm to VOR
Magicians
Posted on 8/10/24 at 2:19 am to Kafka
LINK
Mitzi McCall, the delightful actress and sitcom writer who partnered with her husband, Charlie Brill, in a sketch comedy act that famously floundered between sets by The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, has died. She was 93.
The pair thought they had gotten the break of a lifetime when they were booked by their manager, future Hunt for Red October producer Mace Neufeld, to make their national TV debut with a live performance on CBS’ The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964.
Unfortunately for them, that also was the day The Beatles were to perform on the show in their U.S. debut, and McCall & Brill were met with mostly silence from the throng of screaming teenagers there to see the Fab Four. “They didn’t have this expression then, but we sucked,” McCall said on a 2005 episode of NPR’s This American Life.
At Studio 50 in Manhattan, they did their act for Sullivan during rehearsals, but then the host called them into his dressing room. “What you’re doing is lovely, but not for tonight,” McCall remembered him saying. “My audience tonight is 14-year-old kids.”
Sullivan then rearranged their act, selecting the bits he wanted them to do. While they were scrambling to adjust, John Lennon stopped by, got a dime from Brill and bought a Coke out of the vending machine that was in the couple’s dressing room.
Then they were given perhaps the worst slot on the show.
The Beatles would bookend the program, opening with “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You” and “She Loves You” and closing with “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” In between, there were six acts: Dutch magician Fred Kaps, the cast of Broadway’s Oliver!, including future Monkees star Davy Jones; impressionist Frank Gorshin; banjo-playing Welch singer Tessie O’Shea; the tumbling acrobats Wells & the Four Fays; and then McCall & Brill. By the time they went on, the audience was dying for The Beatles to return.
In their 3 1/2-minute set, Brill played a director looking to cast a movie and Mitzi is his secretary and then three women — an aspiring starlet, a stage mom and a Method actor — who want to audition. McCall’s ad-lib joke about beetles (as in the insect) got them the biggest laugh. And when they were done, Sullivan didn’t call them over, as he would often do when a performance clicked.
Some 73 million Americans, or about 40 percent of the country, were watching. Even with the young audience, they were convinced that if they had done their original routine as planned, they would have gone over well.
They were heartbroken, but Gorshin bought them a drink at Sardi’s and told them life would go on. Back home, they didn’t hear from their agent for six months.
“We were in the midst of greatness. We didn’t know it,” Brill said. “People would come up to us and say, ‘Wasn’t that you that was on The Beatles show?’ And we said, ‘Yes, yes,’ waiting for them to say, ‘Boy, did you suck.’ And they went, ‘Oh my God, you’re famous.'”
Mitzi McCall, the delightful actress and sitcom writer who partnered with her husband, Charlie Brill, in a sketch comedy act that famously floundered between sets by The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, has died. She was 93.
The pair thought they had gotten the break of a lifetime when they were booked by their manager, future Hunt for Red October producer Mace Neufeld, to make their national TV debut with a live performance on CBS’ The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964.
Unfortunately for them, that also was the day The Beatles were to perform on the show in their U.S. debut, and McCall & Brill were met with mostly silence from the throng of screaming teenagers there to see the Fab Four. “They didn’t have this expression then, but we sucked,” McCall said on a 2005 episode of NPR’s This American Life.
At Studio 50 in Manhattan, they did their act for Sullivan during rehearsals, but then the host called them into his dressing room. “What you’re doing is lovely, but not for tonight,” McCall remembered him saying. “My audience tonight is 14-year-old kids.”
Sullivan then rearranged their act, selecting the bits he wanted them to do. While they were scrambling to adjust, John Lennon stopped by, got a dime from Brill and bought a Coke out of the vending machine that was in the couple’s dressing room.
Then they were given perhaps the worst slot on the show.
The Beatles would bookend the program, opening with “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You” and “She Loves You” and closing with “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” In between, there were six acts: Dutch magician Fred Kaps, the cast of Broadway’s Oliver!, including future Monkees star Davy Jones; impressionist Frank Gorshin; banjo-playing Welch singer Tessie O’Shea; the tumbling acrobats Wells & the Four Fays; and then McCall & Brill. By the time they went on, the audience was dying for The Beatles to return.
In their 3 1/2-minute set, Brill played a director looking to cast a movie and Mitzi is his secretary and then three women — an aspiring starlet, a stage mom and a Method actor — who want to audition. McCall’s ad-lib joke about beetles (as in the insect) got them the biggest laugh. And when they were done, Sullivan didn’t call them over, as he would often do when a performance clicked.
Some 73 million Americans, or about 40 percent of the country, were watching. Even with the young audience, they were convinced that if they had done their original routine as planned, they would have gone over well.
They were heartbroken, but Gorshin bought them a drink at Sardi’s and told them life would go on. Back home, they didn’t hear from their agent for six months.
“We were in the midst of greatness. We didn’t know it,” Brill said. “People would come up to us and say, ‘Wasn’t that you that was on The Beatles show?’ And we said, ‘Yes, yes,’ waiting for them to say, ‘Boy, did you suck.’ And they went, ‘Oh my God, you’re famous.'”
Posted on 8/11/24 at 7:06 pm to Kafka
Posted on 8/13/24 at 8:51 pm to Kafka
He's down
Posted on 8/15/24 at 11:19 am to Kafka
I'm about halfway through the Lewisohn tome...is he ever going to release part 2 (of 3!) or do we have a Game of Thrones situation here?
Posted on 8/15/24 at 6:38 pm to Big Scrub TX
Posted on 8/15/24 at 8:21 pm to Big Scrub TX
I was at some youth meeting at church and had to haul arse home to see the Sullivan Show. My life changed that night.
Posted on 8/16/24 at 9:53 am to Big Scrub TX
Longtime lurker (mainly in Sports and Politics), but HARDCORE Beatles fan. I discovered the Music Board last night while searching for the now-defunct Olympics board.
Anyway, I thought I'd share these links to upcoming Beatles events in the NOLA area, for those interested.
This one is for the 60th Anniversary screening of A Hard Day's Night at the Prytania Theatre, this Friday and Sunday, August 16 and 18, with an introductory multimedia presentation by Beatles author and historian, Bruce Spizer:
LINK
Bruce will also be giving the presentation without the movie at the Jefferson Parish Library on August 29th.
LINK
Sorry for the short notice, but I just discovered the thread!
Anyway, I thought I'd share these links to upcoming Beatles events in the NOLA area, for those interested.
This one is for the 60th Anniversary screening of A Hard Day's Night at the Prytania Theatre, this Friday and Sunday, August 16 and 18, with an introductory multimedia presentation by Beatles author and historian, Bruce Spizer:
LINK
Bruce will also be giving the presentation without the movie at the Jefferson Parish Library on August 29th.
LINK
Sorry for the short notice, but I just discovered the thread!
This post was edited on 8/16/24 at 9:57 am
Posted on 8/16/24 at 11:35 am to VOR
quote:How old were you? I would like to hear more. How much was your school buzzing the next day? etc.
I was at some youth meeting at church and had to haul arse home to see the Sullivan Show. My life changed that night.
Posted on 8/16/24 at 11:36 am to Keep America Free
quote:Welcome!
Keep America Free
Dammit, I was just in NOLA over the weekend and will have to miss this.
Spizer was on Sirius 18 the past few days.
Posted on 8/16/24 at 1:08 pm to Big Scrub TX
I will see Bruce Spizer tonight to get a copy of his new book about "A Hard Day's Night" for my daughter. He is a New Orleans attorney and Beatles "expert" and also wrote the questions for the Beatles edition of Trivial Pursuit. You should check out his pubs.
Posted on 8/16/24 at 2:45 pm to LA Lightning
quote:Never knew they had these! Just looked on Amazon - $80. Some of the reviews say it's geared to the US releases and not the UK. No bueno.
Beatles edition of Trivial Pursuit
Posted on 8/16/24 at 2:48 pm to LA Lightning
quote:Never knew they had these! Just looked on Amazon - $80. Some of the reviews say it's geared to the US releases and not the UK. No bueno.
Beatles edition of Trivial Pursuit
Man, his first book from 1998 is $1500 on Amazon!
Posted on 8/16/24 at 6:07 pm to Big Scrub TX
quote:
Man, his first book from 1998 is $1500 on Amazon!
I will ask him if he has any old copies laying around!
Posted on 8/16/24 at 6:21 pm to LA Lightning
quote:You definitely should! Please report back here about the event. Have fun!
I will ask him if he has any old copies laying around!
Posted on 8/16/24 at 7:53 pm to LA Lightning
quote:invite him here
I will ask him if he has any old copies laying around
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