Robert Nelson

Robert Nelson died recently. He was an experimental filmmaker.

I hadn't heard of Robert Nelson but I had seen a few of his films in college.

I was a member of the Tech Weathermen. The club had nothing to do with the Weather Underground. The Tech Weathermen was formed by my friend Walter Kubilius mostly to put on film festivals. It had some beer busts, too, I think.

Walter would program the little festivals with experimental films, safety films, pornographic films and certainly other interesting genres (I wish I had a better memory).

Walter included some of Robert Nelson's films in these programs. I had only vague memories of these films.

One that is on YouTube is "Oh Dem Watermelons." (WARNING: If you would be offended by a scene featuring a naked woman and a watermelon, don't click on that link!) My memory of that film was simply the last scene with the watermelon chasing the people up Lombard Street. (That scene involves the same technique we used in my own "Silly Backward Antics" video.) The music is by Stephen Foster and Steve Reich who has gone on to become an influential composer. Thank you, YouTube, for letting me relive that film.

The other Robert Nelson film Walter showed us was "Hot Leatherette." I seem to recall its big scene was a loop of a pickup rolling down a cliff. Over and over and over. If anyone can point me to a video of this film I'd be forever grateful.

For your convenience, here is "Oh Dem Watermelons" (but if you're interested in seeing it you've probably already watched it when you clicked on the link above):


There are a few other films I remember from the Tech Weathermen Film Festivals. One was "Tale of a Tailgate." This was a safety film from the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (I think it was still called that then). It taught us that we need to aware that equipment can malfunction and we should always prepare for the worst. We got to see someone operating the hydraulics that lift a truck's liftgate. In the film something goes horribly wrong and the lift falls and lands on the operator's foot. That's bad. He should have stood more to the side so that such a malfunction wouldn't result in tragedy. We got to see the failure from several different angles and in slow motion. Gripping!

The movie that still gives me nightmares was one where I was in charge of running the projector. Some of the films were 16mm. Those were shown with projectors in the theater's projection booth. Some were 8mm films. We set up projectors in the middle of the theater for those. I got to run the 8mm projector for one of the pornographic films. The film featured a woman being man's best friend's best friend. And we're not talking just in the style of South Park's "Red Rocket" episode. No, she really put her teeth into her role. Well, maybe not her teeth but something quite close.

The film broke before the climax of the movie. There were boos. I don't know how a stoned person sitting in the dark could thread the film through the projector and get it going again while being booed but I managed. It broke again. Again, I managed to get it going, boos and all. After it broke a third time we gave up on that film. I am so glad I didn't have to see the end of that one.

I wish I had a better memory. I'd like to remember what other movies I got to see in these little festivals (except for those that give me nightmares).

I'm glad I had enough of a recollection of Robert Nelson's movies to search for them after YouTube came along. Now if only someone would post "Hot Leatherette."

By the way, I am a member of the Weather Underground these days! My home weather station uploads its data to their site and they let the world know what the weather is at my house. You might have noticed their weather widget at the top left corner of this blog.

Circle of Life

Jerry and I went to the Wild Animal Park the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on Saturday. We got there early and snagged a primo parking spot that's about as close to the entrance as mere mortals can get.

A hybrid vehicle

We used our membership cards to get right in without waiting in line. We headed to the Journey Into Africa by way of an aviary. Someone there seemed to want Jerry to feed him (or her).

Big bird (not being fed)

On our way to the Journey into Africa we approached a circle of people all studying the walkway. One was poking at something with a stick. A little crayfish (or some relative) was standing on its tail threatening the group with its pincers. They wanted to rescue the little creature but were afraid of getting pinched.

So I grabbed it by its thorax and wondered what they wanted me to do with it.

They were just trying to get it out from underfoot. But the thing needs to be in water. It was far from any water. I suppose a bird was going to snack on it but it somehow escaped from the jaws of death.

The circle of would-be rescuers dispersed and they thanked me several times for rescuing the creature.

The Journey into Africa ride wasn't taking its first trip for forty minutes so we wandered through a part of the park with ponds. We got to a bridge that is just a foot or so above the water. This should be a good spot to toss the little crustacean. There were ducks paddling our way. I quickly gave the little lobster a toss to give it a head start.

I didn't count on the catfish.

Hungry (cat?)fish

I think the little crawdad became a snack after all.

We saw some other animals eating (but not other animals).

Rhinoceros eating (and baby)

Porcupines eating

Poor little crawdad.

The Party's Over, Take 2

There have been two obituaries in the news in rapid succession for people with connections to "Bells Are Ringing."

First, I mentioned the death of Mary Printz in my previous post. Today, I heard of Sydney Chaplin's death. He and Judy Holliday both won Tonys for their performances in "Bells Are Ringing."

Of course, I knew of Mr. Chaplin more for his performance of Nick Arnstein in "Funny Girl" with Barbra Streisand.

I'll have to watch again "Bells Are Ringing" sometime soon.

The Party's Over

Several years ago the Broadway channel on Sirius Satellite Radio had songs from the musical "Bells are Ringing" featured heavily on their playlist. I enjoyed them no matter how many times they played them. Most of these songs have been dropped from Sirius's playlist. Silly them.

The heroine of the show is an operator at an answering service who does more than just take messages for the clients. She solves problems for them. And she falls in love with one of them. She's never met him and has only heard his voice but she knows all about him from the messages she gives him and the binds she gets him out of. She decides that she has to meet him and madcap romance ensues.

You should rent the movie version if you've never seen it. (At least if you like musicals.) It's got fun songs and a zany story. Several of the songs are standards you can sing along with.

The main character of the show was based on a real answering service operator, Mary Printz, who recently died. Her obituary is one of those that makes me smile. It's the sort of obituary that is a mixed bag...while she's living there's no knowing about her, but on her death I'm happy to have heard of her.

In case you're interested, here are some of the songs from "Bells Are Ringing." If it hadn't been for Mary Printz, we might never have gotten to hear them. They're a delight (just as Ms. Printz seems to have been). Vincente Minnelli's direction is rather dull. It looks like a camera was put in a theater where the play was performed. Music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

Judy Holliday — The Party's Over

Seriously, if we couldn't laugh we would all go insane

Back when Sirius and XM's programming was combined, I said that I was looking forward to listening to the channel that plays music from the 1940s. The music that was popular before the Rock-and-Roll era is interesting, varied, and sometimes very silly. I am enjoying that addition to my satellite radio's programming.

There seems to have been a need for happy, silly songs back then. I guess with a war going on that was taking a terrible toll on the world, perhaps people got to have their spirits raised a bit by hearing these novelty songs.

Recently, I fell asleep while listening to the '40s channel. I woke up to a strange, silly song that started to sound familiar. It was "The Hut-Sut Song."

Why, you ask, would I be familiar with a silly song like that? Well, back at the turn of the millennium, there was a spate of obituaries of people who had written some of the World War II-era novelty songs. (This was at the real turn of the millennium, not that faux one when the whole, misled world, even the parts that don't use the Christian calendar, celebrated at the end of 1999. Fools!)

One of the obituaries that I remember was for Leo Killion, a co-author of "The Hut-Sut Song (A Swedish Serenade)."

Whenever I read about an obscure song like that I would head over to Napster and search for it. I miss Napster. I used it mostly as an on-demand radio service to listen to long out of print music. And my searches would find music I would never have encountered otherwise. For responsible people like me, Napster could have generated sales of recordings but it's gone. YouTube is mostly filling its role now.

I found several recordings of the song and smiled. I hadn't heard it since. Till that nap. And I got to smile again.

A few months after Mr. Killion's obituary ran, another novelty song's author's obituary came along. This one was for Jack McVea, the writer of "Open the Door, Richard." Off to Napster I went. There was The Merry Macs' version, a happy, cheerful story of somebody locked out of the apartment. And I found this version that includes the vaudeville routine that inspired the song. Not being part of the time, its appeal escapes me. I haven't heard it in any of its versions on Sirius XM.

By the way, did you know that the Andrews Sisters didn't realize that "Rum and Coca Cola" is a dirty song? And it was scandalous not just because of its celebration of prostitution but because it advocated drinking rum. And Coca Cola. And I thought that political correctness was a recent phenomenon.

While we're on the topic of laughing in lieu of insanity, here's a review of the latest Liō desk calendar: You should have bought the latest Liō desk calendar. It is full of wit and insight. This weekend's page fits the theme of this post.

But I digress...

Yma Sumac

Along with Judy and Babs, we had Yma Sumac to be enthralled with. Or so a friend who lived through her heyday told me. On his recommendation, I got her first album, "Voice of the Xtabay," and was completely bewildered by what could be the attraction. All I heard was a bunch of wailing.

Was it camp? Or was she like Florence Foster Jenkins and was loved for the sincerity of her performances? Or was she great and I just didn't get it?

Yma Sumac died yesterday. There is now a room in heaven where her fans will be eternally enthralled with her. (And there is a room in hell that will get a broadcast of the performance in HD with surround sound where people with my appreciation of her Art will be in agony.)

So, until we get to have our seat in one of those rooms we'll just have to dream about Yma.

For samples of her singing you might try some that you can find on YouTube.

And here is another version of Yma Dream:


Her obituary from The New York Times.

Comics I do understand

There are few comics in one of today's posts to Comics I Don't Understand that made me laugh.

Alas!

Way back at the end of January Poss asked if I was still using my original coffee roaster. I was and I posted a movie of it in action (perhaps you remember). Its original roasting pot had cracked so I was on my second one of those. A couple of weeks ago I finally got tired of the bad fit with the lid so I got a third roasting pot. The lid fits that one just fine.

A couple of days ago I was roasting coffee and at the end of the cooling period instead of saying "whirrrrr" it ended with "squaaaaawK!" I asked "squawk?" then dumped the coffee into the colander and put the roaster away.

Today I set it up to roast a new batch. When I pressed the start button it said sadly "rrrrrrr-r-r." It has given up the ghost.

It was a sad day.

I went online and ordered a new one from Sweet Maria's. It's supposed to be delivered Friday. In the meantime we might have to open the can of Illy coffee Jerry got for Christmas from his work and use the French press.

I Was a Teenage John Bircher

Today we heard that William F. Buckley, Jr. died. In high school I would watch "Firing Line" religiously. But my poor little brain seems to have forgotten whether I watched to see Mr. Buckley beat up on the liberal guests or whether I was rooting for his victims. I loved listening to (and watching) Mr. Buckley's delivery of his big words (most of which flew past me ununderstood) and ideas.

One thing that Mr. Buckley gave me was the love of Baroque music. I do believe that his use of the part of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #2 as his program's theme music made me look into the rest of the piece then the rest of the Brandenburgs then maybe the rest of Bach. Go, Bach!

But maybe I watched because I thought I believed in the Conservative ideals. You see, there was a conservative (to put it mildly) radio program I listened to I am very ashamed to admit.

When KRSN was signing off for the day, they would play H. L. Hunt's "Freedom Talks." I would listen. Regularly. Fortunately, I have no recollection of what any of the little talks were about. (Sometimes I think it is good that I have blocked so much of my youth out!)

I'm sure Jack wasn't proud of this interest since he was surely asleep and had no knowledge of what I was listening to. I wonder if I gave any of the rest of the family nightmares. (My big sisters were probably off at college by that time. Did Mom worry about me?)

Whew! That's off my chest! I'm off to say my three dozen Hail Marys.

Nothing much today

• The birdbaths froze over again
• The mushrooms continue to grow
• Bobby Fischer died. Don Montoya and I took up chess during the Spassky vs. Fischer tournament. I haven't given the game any thought since then (and didn't really back then).
• The brownies are still good (still haven't gotten to the mac-n-cheese)
• I had a nice nap