The odd thing about her song "I am Woman" is that even in the 1970s as a small child, I was aware of the song because it was often referenced, but by the mid and late-1970s, the song seemed so old, like a Brady Bunch rerun seemed to me then.
I never once remember hearing it on the radio, or on "oldies radio" in the decades that followed. Ever. It wasn't until the last couple of years when I made a point to look it up on YouTube that I finally heard it.
Not a great song, but not bad either; I could see (hear) why it was a hit.
The odd thing about her song "I am Woman" is that even in the 1970s as a small child, I was aware of the song because it was often referenced, but by the mid and late-1970s, the song seemed so old, like a Brady Bunch rerun seemed to me then.
I never once remember hearing it on the radio, or on "oldies radio" in the decades that followed. Ever. It wasn't until the last couple of years when I made a point to look it up on YouTube that I finally heard it.
Not a great song, but not bad either; I could see (hear) why it was a hit.
I remember hearing it at the time. It played a lot. There was a resurgence in the feminist movement at the time. Which was warranted. Women were leaving the home and working and were clearly treated horribly in the workplace. (just as one example.)
I just find it strange--inexplicable, really--that "I am Woman" failed to leave a musical "footprint" in the decades after its release. After all, it was quite well known, if for nothing but its title. It should have been a staple on oldies radio.
She had such a unique voice -- and I wore out the grooves of her first two albums as a teen. No one else sounded like her, and I thought she was amazing. Our own Bruce Kimmel also produced an album of hers back in the day. I also thought she was totally charming in the Disney film, "Pete's Dragon." I always looked forward to her appearances on TV -- and tried to catch as many of her own series as I could. Condolences to her friends and family.
Jackie Cooper made his directorial debut with the film STAND UP AND BE COUNTED. Helen Reddy’s signature song, “I Am Woman” was heard on the soundtrack of this 1972 women’s liberation film.
In AIRPORT 1975, among the large swath of humanity on Columbia Airlines Flight 409 is “Sister Ruth” (Helen Reddy) and a kidney transplant hopeful, young“Janice Abbott” (Linda Blair).
Linda Blair and Helen Reddy in AIRPORT 1975
Reddy sang a song in the film, “Best Friend,” that she wrote along with Ray Burton. Reddy received a prominent place in the film’s trailer:
Jack Smight directed the 1974 release. John Cacavas' score was most recently issued on CD by MCA Records Japan in 2013. Helen Reddy was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for this film as Best Newcomer - Female in 1975. She lost to Susan Flannery in another entry in the disaster genre, THE TOWERING INFERNO.
Reddy’s role in the film was among many notable spoofs of AIRPORT 1975 in 1980’s AIRPLANE!, which had a “singing nun” comforting a gravely ill young teenage girl and the flight attendant with a pilot boyfriend who are both forced to take over flying and landing a passenger jet.
Sad news. My chief memory of Helen Reddy from UK radio in the 1970s was actually Angie Baby, which seemed to be everywhere for a while. I remember finding it deeply unsettling at the time and it seems to have defied a definitive interpretation for almost 50 years.
She had such a unique voice -- and I wore out the grooves of her first two albums as a teen. No one else sounded like her, and I thought she was amazing. Our own Bruce Kimmel also produced an album of hers back in the day. I also thought she was totally charming in the Disney film, "Pete's Dragon." I always looked forward to her appearances on TV -- and tried to catch as many of her own series as I could. Condolences to her friends and family.
Yeah, I don't know how to describe her voice. It wasn't very feminine. But it was unique, powerful and beautiful all the same. She was extremely charming in Pete's Dragon.
PETE’S DRAGON is set in 1900s Maine, where an orphan named “Pete” (Sean Marshall) rides his invisible pet dragon, “Elliott” (voice of Charlie Callas), through the forest to escape the Gogan family (headed by Shelley Winters), who paid $50 to use Pete as a farmhand. Pete sees a sign for the nearby town of Passamaquoddy and orders Elliott to remain invisible so they do not frighten the residents; however, the friends unwittingly wreak havoc as they enter the village. When Pete bumps into a schoolteacher, “Miss Taylor” (Jane Kean), and apologizes for his pet dragon, he is scolded for telling tales and presumed to be a delinquent.
As Elliott creates more mischief, the townspeople complain that Pete is creating chaos with his imaginary dragon, and the boy scolds Elliott. Just then, an intoxicated lighthouse keeper named “Lampie” (Mickey Rooney) sees Elliott and runs back to the Passamaquoddy Tavern to warn others, but he is discredited as a drunk. Lampie’s daughter, “Nora” (Helen Reddy), guides the old man to their home at the lighthouse and puts him to sleep. She sees Pete walking on the beach below and follows him to a cave, where he and Elliott are taking refuge. As Elliott hides, Nora learns that Pete is an orphan and she invites him to the lighthouse.
Helen Reddy and Mickey Rooney in PETE’S DRAGON
Disney considered Olivia Newton-John to play Nora, but she was not available. Helen Reddy took the role because it was the best script she had been offered after her role as a singing nun in AIRPORT 1975 and because she felt it would be the most appropriate for her as-yet unborn grandchildren to watch. Coincidentally, given that alcoholism is a key theme in the film's plot. Helen Reddy, Mickey Rooney, and songwriter Al Kasha all had alcoholic fathers.
Don Chaffey directed the live action sequences, while Don Bluth directed the animation. The picture marked the first time that Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” who had worked on every Disney animated feature film since the 1930s, were not hired to participate in an animated Disney feature. Don Bluth was described as “partially responsible for recruiting and training the new generation of Disney animators” who were represented in the film.
PETE’S DRAGON was initially planned with only one animated sequence, in which “Dr. Terminus” (Jim Dale) would chop up the dragon for his get-rich scheme. “Elliott” was to remain invisible through the rest of the picture. However, animation art director Ken Anderson argued that audiences would “lose patience” with this scenario, and he convinced the studio that the dragon’s personality must be illustrated. He based his design drawings on traditional Chinese dragons that were aligned with goodness rather than evil, as well as the facial characteristics of actor Wallace Beery.
The film marked the first time in Disney’s fifty-year history that a starring animated character was integrated into live-action sequences after principal photography was complete. Previously, all drawings were created before filming began, and the live-action characters were composited into the animation. Careful attention was paid to keeping the shadows and coloring of human characters consistent with Elliott so the images would blend convincingly. In addition to a nineteen-foot mechanical model of the dragon that was used on set, a “handheld shadow box,” nicknamed the “dragon finder,” allowed filmmakers to visualize how Elliott would appear in each scene after it was animated.
Unlike most Disney films, the original soundtrack album was released by Capitol Records because Helen Reddy was signed to that label at the time. Reddy sang on a half dozen songs in the film, but her big number was “Candle on the Water.”
She also recorded a version of "Candle on the Water" with a different arrangement that was more in the “power ballad” vein. This was released as a single, and both it and the film version of the song were on the soundtrack LP. The single did not make the pop charts but reached #27 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.
Walt Disney Records acquired the rights to re-issue it on CD in 2002, but only the film version of the song was kept, while the single version has appeared on CD on Helen Reddy compilation albums.
Don Chaffey directed the live action sequences, while Don Bluth directed the animation. The picture marked the first time that Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” who had worked on every Disney animated feature film since the 1930s, were not hired to participate in an animated Disney feature. Don Bluth was described as “partially responsible for recruiting and training the new generation of Disney animators” who were represented in the film.
Correction: One of the "Nine Old Men" I forget which one designed Elliot. So one of them did work on the production.
Don Chaffey directed the live action sequences, while Don Bluth directed the animation. The picture marked the first time that Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” who had worked on every Disney animated feature film since the 1930s, were not hired to participate in an animated Disney feature. Don Bluth was described as “partially responsible for recruiting and training the new generation of Disney animators” who were represented in the film. ----------------------------------------------------
Correction: One of the "Nine Old Men" I forget which one designed Elliot. So one of them did work on the production.
If you figure out who it was, you can make a change to the Wikipedia page for the "Nine Old Men," which currently doesn't show any of them working on PETE'S DRAGON. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney%27s_Nine_Old_Men
Apparently, however, some of them did return for later Disney animated films. For the record, the credits for PETE'S DRAGON state "Elliott created by Ken Anderson."
Don Chaffey directed the live action sequences, while Don Bluth directed the animation. The picture marked the first time that Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” who had worked on every Disney animated feature film since the 1930s, were not hired to participate in an animated Disney feature. Don Bluth was described as “partially responsible for recruiting and training the new generation of Disney animators” who were represented in the film. ----------------------------------------------------
Correction: One of the "Nine Old Men" I forget which one designed Elliot. So one of them did work on the production.
If you figure out who it was, you can make a change to the Wikipedia page for the "Nine Old Men," which currently doesn't show any of them working on PETE'S DRAGON. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney%27s_Nine_Old_Men
Apparently, however, some of them did return for later Disney animated films. For the record, the credits for PETE'S DRAGON state "Elliott created by Ken Anderson."
You answered your own question. Ken Anderson it is. Good job!
Also the wording "not hired to participate" is very weird and probably an inaccurate statement. They either were still "employed" by the company (as advisors for the new young group of animators) or willingly retired.
Correction: One of the "Nine Old Men" I forget which one designed Elliot. So one of them did work on the production. ---------------------------------------------------------------- For the record, the credits for PETE'S DRAGON state "Elliott created by Ken Anderson." ---------------------------------------------------------------- You answered your own question. Ken Anderson it is. Good job!
According to Wikipedia, the "Nine Old Men" were:
Les Clark (November 17, 1907 – September 12, 1979) Marc Davis (March 30, 1913 – January 12, 2000) Ollie Johnston (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008) Milt Kahl (March 22, 1909 – April 19, 1987) Ward Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) Eric Larson (September 3, 1905 – October 25, 1988) John Lounsbery (March 9, 1911 – February 13, 1976) Wolfgang Reitherman (June 26, 1909 – May 22, 1985) Frank Thomas (September 5, 1912 – September 8, 2004)
None of them seem to be named Ken Anderson. Anderson was born in 1909 and worked on SNOW WHITE. Were there perhaps ten old men?
SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND begins in 1918, in Fleu ‘de Coup, France, where a battle rages in the streets. But Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band marches along playing uplifting music, and the enchanted troops lay down their weapons. Later, Sgt. Pepper’s band receives the prestigious Golden Eagle Award for making peace. The band continues to play for another forty years until the band’s leader, Sgt. Pepper (Woodrow Chambliss), dies in 1958, leaving his instruments to his hometown of Heartland. In his will, he writes that the instruments have magical powers and as long as they remain in Heartland, the town will prosper.
Many of the scenes set in the film’s idyllic all-American town, Heartland, were filmed on the same MGM lot as Vincent Minnelli’s AN AMERICAN IN PARIS and the classic Andy Hardy movies. Principal photography ended mid-December 1977 with an all-star grand finale at the Culver Studios in Culver City, where over 100 celebrities from film, television and music sang a reprise of the song “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Helen Reddy was one of those celebrities. The eight-hour shoot cost $200,000 to film and an additional $300,000 in travel and hotel accommodations for the celebrity guests.
