Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to yet more Prokofiev, this time his two violin concertos, but not at the same time, because that would result in an unseemly musical cacophony and we can’t have that, can we? No, we cannot. So, I am listening to them one at a time and I don’t care who knows and I don’t care who looks askance. These are marvelously marvelous performances in monophonic sound with David Oistrakh, who has a real way with these pieces. I also have them in stereophonic sound with Erich Leinsdorf conducting and Itzhak Pearlman doing the violin honors. I really like both concertos very much and I don’t care who knows THAT either. Prior to that, I listened to no music whatsoever, but I did finish the motion picture on DVD entitled Hopscotch, starring Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Ned Beatty, Sam Waterston, Herbert Lom and, I was most surprised to see, a fellow LACC theater chum from my days as a student, one Douglas Dirkson, who I was quite friendly with back then. I knew he’d done a lot of film and TV after leaving, but I didn’t remember him in this at all. I didn’t see it when it came out but did watch this DVD when it came out from Criterion. I know some people absolutely think it’s a classic, but I certainly don’t. It’s entertaining, but very one-note, but the actors sort of save the day, because the script isn’t all that. Apparently, the novel on which it’s based is very serious in tone, while the film is light as a feather and rather silly at times. The 2002 DVD transfer is adequate – a little too brown for its own good. They released it on Blu-ray in 2017 in a new 2K transfer, but I don’t like it enough to get it just to see if they fixed the color.
Then I watched another DVD I’ve had since heaven knows when but had never actually watched – Teenagers from Outer Space, a motion picture filmed in 1957 or thereabouts but not released until 1959, on a double bill with Gigantis, the Fire Monster. Amusingly, the imdb has a June release for Teenagers and a May release for Gigantis – fascinating, huh? In true imdb fashion neither are correct for Los Angeles. One thing I read said it went up against the release of The Mysterians – that one I found easily, and it had no competition that week from any other like-minded film. In fact, I haven’t actually found the Los Angeles release yet. I’ll keep looking, I suppose. May is out, so I’m pretty sure I also checked all of June, so I’ll check end of April and beginning of July. Anyway, this is an amazing film, shot on a budget of $14,000 right here in Hollywood, California, USA. The first location, as is typical for these low budget sci-fi/horror things was, of course, Bronson Canyon. More creatures have come out of that cave than you can count. The main house in the film is a 1243 address, which means a north/south street and I’m guessing it’s between Vine and Highland. As to the driving locations, I was sure it was either Santa Monica Boulevard or Sunset, just given the feel of it. But when they park in front of “City Hall” I knew we were somewhere on Sunset, and then there’s a ton of shots right there. Now, City Hall was a church because you can see the cross and some church lingo above the doorway and it looked totally familiar. In a wider shot I saw a John E. Reed sign next door and that just really clicked instantly because that is who took my very first actor photos and I’d remembered it being on Highland at Sunset, but this totally made sense. So, I had that to go on, and then in a reverse shot I clearly saw a building with a sign that said Ray Patin Productions. From there, it was a breeze. I Googled John E. Reed and found that address on eBay – someone selling a business card from the 1960s. Then I Googled Ray Patin Productions and while he started in Burbank out of his house, literally about eight doors down from Doug Haverty’s house, he’d moved to Sunset in the mid-1950s. Apparently, Mr. Patin was very famous as an animator, worked for Disney for a while, but then became the most successful TV commercial animator in history – and once you see those images you know just how famous as they’re all recognizable instantly. I Googled those addresses and there it was – everything on the north side of the street (City Hall) is still there and looks exactly the same – the church is directly to the east of Crossroads of the World, and John E. Reed, the house-like structure could still be there but there are bushes all the way to the end of that block and you can’t tell. We also glimpse Hollywood High later on. The south side of the street where Ray Patin Productions was is completely gone – it’s sickening.
But back to the movie. It’s hard to imagine an inepter film and it’s kind of right up there with Plan Nine from Outer Space. The acting is hilariously bad – just when you think it can’t get worse, another actor shows up to prove you wrong. Most of the actors only have a handful of imdb credits and all minor stuff. The only one with a lot of credits is Harvey Dunn, who did a lot to TV work – one wonders how he got any of the shows he did if his work here is anything to go by. The back of the DVD box promises a pristine film to video transfer from original elements. What we get, however, is a zoomed-in open matte mess, with scratches and dirt galore. Thank you, Mr. Wade Williams. He must have had a print sitting in his house. The film is in the public domain so if I had a print, I could put it out, too. Anyway, there’s some stuff that’s so bad it’s amusing.
Yesterday was a fine day with one nice surprise. I got up at six after three hours of sleep, then went back to bed at eight and slept until one, so eight hours of sleep. Once up, I got the nice surprise, a healthy order from an overseas dealer, so that was good. I answered e-mails, then made some ham and eggs and that was good. I then wrote the blurbs for our two new releases and did all the prep work for it, including getting the sample audio tracks where they needed to go. One title’s packaging is already approved and I’m waiting on the other. After all that, I had a long telephonic conversation with the Blu-ray guy about what we could include. I already knew we could do the commentary for Tonight’s the Night and include the Dirty Harry uncut trailer and the movie marathon trailer. And I knew if he’d work with me just a little, we could do commentary on all twelve Outside the Box episodes – he did, and we will. But then I found out the most astonishing thing – apparently, when we first spoke about the project, I told him it would basically be Tonight’s the Night and Outside the Box, but that we were also about to livestream Revenge. And I guess I didn’t realize it, but he included Revenge in his initial cost breakdown, which is what the $7,500 goal was covering. So, that’s going to now be on the Blu-ray, and I’m thrilled about it, actually. So, all the extra dough we raised will just cover all these other wonderful things we get to include. Not included at the moment, is a commentary for Revenge, which I actually wouldn’t mind doing, and I mentioned it. But he’s been so good about making it work for the money we have it probably won’t happen.
Then I did a quick Gelson’s run to get a head of lettuce, then came right back home. As I pulled in the driveway, I saw the car was smoking like crazy. The service light has been on for months, I’m afraid, but since I was driving so little, I didn’t do anything about it. So, hopefully I’ll be okay until I get to Jiffy Lube, which is just down the street from me. I’m sure it’s got no oil and no water and hopefully that’s it. I also have to get a smog check and I think there’s a place right near there, so I’ll take care of that, too.
Today, I’ll be up by nine or ten, I’ll go right to Jiffy Lube and then smog check, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll start planning the May Kritzerland, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same and towards Friday we’ll need all those most excellent vibes and xylophones coming this way. Saturday at three, we do all the commentaries and I’m hoping that can be followed by a nice meal somewhere nearby.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by nine or ten, go to Jiffy Lube, go to smog check, eat, hopefully pick up packages, start planning the May Kritzerland, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a day with a nice surprise.