Ping! Feets? Yu dere? Does your memory go back this far?

Inmate Central

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DevillEars

The scene: The year is 1961; the place is Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia
A rumour started at school that there was a new movie on the circuit that combined those elements that 15 year-old boys held so dear back in those days - cool music and hot chicks (a year or two later, and the sequence would reverse....).
Being a boarder in a rather small (and easily monitorable) hostel, there was also the added attraction of the "forbidden fruit" and potentially going AWOL to see this movie.
Meanwhile, the rumours regarding the movie began to spread and grow and the pressure to actually do something besides hanging around and plotting, had reached critical mass. So, one Saturday afternoon (when we were supposed to be supporting the 1st XV at an away match) off we went to town to the Rhodes Cinema wearing civvies that were intended to make us look older than the upper level of the expected age restriction.
Our first disappointment WAS the age restriction of "No persons 4-14" - I mean, what kind of restriction was that?
The movie itself was the next disappointment - virtually zero plot line, a cast of actors that couldn't sing and singers that couldn't act, the very brief exposure of a nipple that was not that great, etc, etc.
On the plus side, the sound track music was really good (for the time) and the one female vocalist starred in many a subsequent fantasy...
"What was this movie?" do I hear you ask???
That was a Saturday afternoon! The next opportunity we had to get out (legally, this time) was about a month later, and off we went to the local music store (there was only one in town then...) to buy an LP record:
Yes! The soundtrack album! Needless to say it got played to death on turntables equipped with - hold your breath - "NEEDLES!!!"
Anyway, the initial fervid playing of the album gradually subsided and eventually, by year-end, the album was virtually forgotten.
Next scene: The year is 1967 and the place is the University of Cape Town and the setting is a Music Society meeting at which I produce the above rather battered and worn album.
To understand the background, you need to be aware that, while the film of "Beat Girl" had been released on circuit in the Rhodesias, it was most definitely banned by the infamous South African Publications Control Board who also, rumour has it, lobbied the radio stations to keep the soundtrack off the air.
A group formed out of this Music Society meeting that - 40 years later - still keeps in contact and discusses music of "the good old days" whenever an opportunity presents itself.
It was this "continuity" and constant "revival of awareness" that led me to a record store's "bargain bin" wherein I located this CD:
Naturally, I snatched it up in my sticky little paws and, after a perfunctory glance at some other CD's, paid half-price and hurtled home to play it...
Looking back, I'm pretty certain I would not bother to go see the movie were it to be re-released - it was THAT bad. The music gets the occasional play - usually when the "diaspora-ed group" reconvene and the booze flows.
Is the music that good? In the context of 1960, and what John Barry was later to produce, I think it still is good stuff - although the arrangement and instrumentation (particularly of the John Barry Seven combo's material) has probably lost it's flavour on the bedpost overnight.
Finally, a footnote on the infamous South African Publications Control Board (PCB)...
The author Tom Sharpe was working in SA back in the late 1950's as a photojournalist and, due to his rather outspoken views, often fell foul of the PCB. Eventually, Tom was invited to return to from whence he came by an ungrateful government who just could not appreciate his talents. On the bright side of all this is the fact that this unceremonious "invited departure" caused Tom to pen THE two works of black satire that would always make their way onto my "Desert Island Books" list - "Riotous Assembly" and "Indecent Exposure".
The moral of the story: "Every cloud may have a silver lining, but not all bring rain."

DevillEars

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Topic - Ping! Feets? Yu dere? Does your memory go back this far? - DevillEars 03:04:32 03/21/07 (1)

Not the first time round, Dave... - feet's too big 05:14:30 03/21/07 (0)

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