Got the Glenn Frankel book in the mail today; really looking forward to it.
https://images.macmillan.com/folio-assets/macmillan_us_frontbookcovers_1000H/9780374209018.jpg
― clemenza, Friday, 16 April 2021 23:33 (three years ago) link
From the Glenn Frankel book--this goes above and beyond the SCTV parody with Dr. Tongue and Woody Tobias Jr.
Hellman and Schlesinger shopped around Midnight Cowboy to various studios, starting with MGM, which contractually had the right of first refusal for John's next film. Someone there suggested that Joe Buck might be a great role for Elvis Presley, provided they could come up with some songs for him to perform and, of course, eliminate the gay overtones. Someone else suggested the gifted entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. for Ratso. John just shook his head in amazement: only in America.
― clemenza, Sunday, 25 April 2021 16:56 (two years ago) link
Elvis and Sammy dueting on "Everybody's Talkin'" in the back seat of the bus to Florida.
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 25 April 2021 17:16 (two years ago) link
"Hey, look--you're a groovy cat, man, but I am walking here. Can you dig that?"
― clemenza, Sunday, 25 April 2021 17:48 (two years ago) link
Wasn't Robert Redford also lobbying for Joe Buck?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 25 April 2021 18:05 (two years ago) link
Didn’t Leiber and Stoller get into hot water with the Colonel for proposing that Elvis appear in the film of A Walk on the Wild Side?
― A Stop at Quilloughby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 25 April 2021 18:58 (two years ago) link
(xpost) I'm 120 pages into the book, so it's been alternating backstory on Schlesinger, James Leo Herlihy, and Waldo Salt so far; they haven't really gotten into casting yet. This is probably the sixth or seventh making-of book I've read. It's a genre I really like.
― clemenza, Sunday, 25 April 2021 19:22 (two years ago) link
Wait is Hellman that is referred to Monte Hellman?
― A Stop at Quilloughby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 25 April 2021 20:56 (two years ago) link
Oh, it isn’t
― A Stop at Quilloughby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 25 April 2021 20:57 (two years ago) link
Have they started discussing the music yet? Walter Sear and John Barry!
― A Stop at Quilloughby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 25 April 2021 20:59 (two years ago) link
There's a chapter on Jerome Hellman, too.
― clemenza, Sunday, 25 April 2021 21:18 (two years ago) link
And I think the music gets a chapter.
According to the book, Viva was on the phone with Warhol, talking about being in a salon and getting her hair done for the party scene, when she heard Valerie Solanas's shots at the other end of the line.
― clemenza, Saturday, 1 May 2021 16:11 (two years ago) link
The theme music--that great Toots Thielemans bit--supposedly based on "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"; when Schlesinger originally ran those scenes, he had them play out against Dylan's song. (I already knew "Lay Lady Lay" was one of the songs considered before "Everybody's Talkin'.")
― clemenza, Sunday, 2 May 2021 23:19 (two years ago) link
Any mention of Nilsson's "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City"?
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 3 May 2021 00:20 (two years ago) link
Yes, in passing (can't really remember how it goes)--also the Warren Zevon song (ditto), and the two by Elephant's Memory.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 4 May 2021 01:34 (two years ago) link
Second half of the Graduate Zoomcast I posted the other day:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=olNXOvb7Ygc&t
― clemenza, Friday, 17 February 2023 02:18 (one year ago) link