Looking at that poll (I haven’t upgraded to 4K yet, so I’m not voting), the only thing I find more surprising than the presence of 1776 is the complete absence of Lawrence of Arabia, unless that one’s already in the works.
Tack, that has to be it. They leapt out of the gate with Bridge on the River Kwai, which was well reviewed (as a disc, I mean) pretty much everywhere.
As for voting, do anyway? If you do go 4K, which may eventually be as automatic as buying a TV, maybe your preferences will be around rather than not being around.
Even so, the current selection of 4K titles on the market is not convincing enough for me to upgrade to an expensive new system, and in the case of Lawrence, I’m quite content with my Collectors Edition Blu-ray with soundtrack CD (I mostly brought it up because it’s one of their biggest vintage titles).
Never noticed before last month's viewing Mr. Hopkins often swishing his mug of rum in the background. Ha! Oh I love the portrayal. The only other thing I'd seen Roy Poole in was Up The Down Staircase until watching TCM the other night. He played Glenn Ford's detective sidekick in Experiment In Terror. What a strange "[non-]evil eye" look on that mug of his.
And just as Tom here has written, we say to hell with Great Bri...SO our friends from across the pond have declared independence from the Covid plague and are opening up the pubs on July 4. Irony, anyone? As for Your Servant, I am going to the Bunch O' Grapes. I hear the turkey's fresh!
And just as Tom here has written, we say to hell with Great Bri...SO our friends from across the pond have declared independence from the Covid plague and are opening up the pubs on July 4. Irony, anyone? As for Your Servant, I am going to the Bunch O' Grapes. I hear the turkey's fresh!
200+ years apart and Britain's rulers are still mad men and idiots.
I started this thread 18 years ago waiting for a blu-ray release. I have watched 1776 every year since then on the 4th. This year I won’t be able to because I’m in Florida away from my movie collection. I’ll have to check to see if it’s available on any streaming services. Happy 4th to everyone here. Stay safe and healthy!
And just as Tom here has written, we say to hell with Great Bri...SO our friends from across the pond have declared independence from the Covid plague and are opening up the pubs on July 4. Irony, anyone? As for Your Servant, I am going to the Bunch O' Grapes. I hear the turkey's fresh!
200+ years apart and Britain's rulers are still mad men and idiots.
Developing herd immunity might be a better tactic than closing down the country every couple of months which is devastating our economy.
Meantime, I'll be watching the William Daniels 1776 today.
And then I'll spend some time listening to the Broadway cast version of Molasses to Rum by Clifford David and the movie version by John Cullum. I really like David's version.
from the NY Times (print) of 25 December re Brexit Trade Deal:
The deal, which needs to be ratified by the British and European Parliaments, came together in Brussels after 11 months of grinding negotiations, culminating in a last-minute haggle over fishing rights that stretched into Christmas Eve, just a week before a year-end deadline.
Oh, no. Not me, Johnny. No. Only William Daniels can do this justice.
This year I have a couple new items to offer to all regarding this great musical. First, I recently digitized a video of a production of the show I saw in 1996 at the Bickford Theater in Morristown, NJ which ran to high acclaim and was recognized as one of the best plays in NJ that year. The Bickford Theater was managed by Walker Joyce, who plays Franklin in this production and who also had a large number of theatrical credits over the years (he also has a small part in the "Bonfire Of The Vanities" movie and his father, Jimmy Joyce was a comedian in the 60s-70s). Through his courtesy he made their professional shot version available to me and I've put it on YT now for permanent posterity. While the Bickford was a small theater that couldn't use a full orchestra, they captured the spirit of the production perfectly (even better I felt than the 97 Broadway revival).
Also, for those whose LD players have died or who never had the LD to begin with, I managed to rip a DVD transfer a member of this board made for me many moons ago (probably before this thread began!) with the commentary track on it so for those who want to hear it, here's a download link to the LD cut with the commentary.
Thank you, Eric, for these links which I will check out.
Coincidentally, I'm in the midst of re-listening to my cast albums of the 1968-69 Broadway season and this reminded me that today is the obvious day for spinning the 1776 OC.
I've seen two Paper Mill productions over the years, first in 1988 and then the 2009 one that had John Schuck as Franklin. Of those two productions, the 09 was much better I felt. They cleverly blocked "But Mr. Adams" to have McNair and the Leather Apron putting away chairs in the background which allowed them to lean over and join in on the line "He's obnoxious and disliked did you know that?" which I've never seen in any other production.
This two and a half minute clip reel is the only recording I've ever seen of the 09 Paper Mill production.
What I remember about the 88 production was (1) they cut the second verse of "Piddle, Twiddle" but kept the third and (2) they also cut the dispatch interlude in "Cool Considerate Men". Since the LD hadn't come out yet, this was the first time though I had seen an extra verse of "Piddle" and "Cool Men" performed.
Still have my program from it. Susan Powell, who was Miss America 1981, was Martha Jefferson. The other names in the cast aren't familiar to me all these decades later. That was my second ever Paper Mill visit, the first being the 1986 "Damn Yankees" production that George Abbott personally directed at age 99.
I did see the original production of 1776 on Broadway. I was so disappointed at the cutting of Cool Cool Considerate Men when the film was released. The eventual reconstruction when the film came out on laserdisc was special. Of course, I was happy when they came out with the extended cut on blu-ray. I just finished watching it this afternoon. It never gets old. The only other film that I watch annually is A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim.
All lifelong fans of "1776" who have never heard this before......here is something that will blow you away. Sherman Edwards original demo record of the songs in which he performs all of them. Including songs and verses that were jettisoned long before Opening Night.
Some interesting takeaways that came from my listening to this:
1-"Piddle Twiddle" had an extra verse of Adams ripping Franklin for constantly falling asleep and doing nothing. What was the third verse came second, followed by the discarded Franklin one, while the second verse came fourth.
2-An extra verse in the middle of "He Plays The Violin" about how to make a violin.
3-It was Jefferson instead of Hancock that Dickinson had words with during "Cool Considerate Men" and some extra lyrics for Dickinson when he resumed.
4-Franklin's lost song from the cut New Brunswick sequence of the show, "Encrease and Multiply" as he brings in a prostitute while Adams is trying to sleep. When this got cut, Da Silva threatened to quit the show since it was his only big spotlight number.
5-An extra verse in "Momma Look Sharp" in its original New Brunswick version.
6-Another cut number from New Brunswick. "Manual of Arms, Bret'sh Style." A drill instructor trying to get the soldiers to hold and fire their rifles properly. Not really a song (no piano accompaniment) and more of a talk-rhythm piece.
7-After "Molasses to Rum", we had a cut number that begins with Adams singing "Gloomy Gloomy Doom" and then Abigail appears and has a song "Are You That Man?" and reminds him how her mother hated him when they were courting (Hunt alludes to this number on the commentary track with Joe) and how John stood up to her mother and vowed to marry Abigail. As Abigail bucks him up we get the recurring lyric, "John, John, you've got to carry on!" And then we get a near full reprise of "Yours, Yours, Yours" (John and Abigail's parts) before the arrival of the kegs and "Compliments."
8-No "Egg", no "Is Anybody There?" at this stage of the process yet.
