Disk-O-Tek Holiday
(1966)
Directors: Vince Scarza &
Douglas Hickox
Shed a tear now for our poor parents, who never had a
childhood full of the joy of MTV and toe-tapping musical artists such
as
Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys. Okay, there are plenty of good
modern day musicians out there - this was just a reminder to those who
may laugh and sneer at the musical taste our poor old parents several
decades
ago, and wonder what they were thinking when they bopped to music that
sounds quaint now. You better start planning how years from now you'll
have to answer to your children as to why you liked Vanilla Ice and
Milli
Vanilli.
Of course, anyone with taste will find a lot of good
music
from any decade, and there certainly were some songs in the mid 60s
that
are entertaining to listen to today. Yes, some in a campy sense, but a
lot of genuinely good songs as well. A good song never goes out of
style.
And though our parents were deprived of MTV, they were at least around
during the very interesting part of musical history when the concept of
a music video was starting to evolve. Disk-O-Tek Holiday has
the flimsiest of plots used in order to have the excuse to not just
play
over 20 songs of the period, but to show the bands performing the songs
in segments that could be considered early music videos. Because of
that,
it's a very important historical document, and it's kind of puzzling as
to why this movie is today fairly obscure. Perhaps it's because people
today will not have heard of most of the songs and the groups, possibly
because a number of the songs aren't "great". But it's a real time
capsule
that captures just what the music scene was like in 1966, which by
itself
makes it worth seeing. And there are some numbers that are really
entertaining
either for the great songs, or because of some campiness.
The first song in the movie is performed by the group
A Band Of Angels. You can see how deeply Beatlemania had affected
musical
groups with this number, because all the band members are dressed in
grey
suits that look the same as the Fab Four wore early on in their career.
Perhaps to prevent accusations they were trying to imitate the Beatles,
the band members also wear Buster Keaton-like pork pie hats. Maybe they
were trying to make us laugh, for the number has some unintended
laughs,
such as a woman working under the hood of a car who has her ass
practically
sticking into the camera, and that she and the rest of the women in the
number come across as being quite stuck up around these Brit boys. The
song the group sings is Hot Seat. Or is it? Certainly sounds
like
it, until the DJ seen after the number says they were singing Hide
And
Seek. Those dumb Brits - don't they know how to speak their own
language?!?
Next we hear Carolyn, Roy, and Judy singing Teenage
Valentino. The two girls in the group, dressed in tarter Sherlock
Holmes
getups sing to the very bemused Roy some extremely goofy lyrics, which
include "Big man, loverboy, teenage Valentino / You don't know how
funny
you have been / With your six button suit / and your patent leather
booties
/ and your sideburns right down to here." The highlight of the number
is
when Roy gets down, and starts doing a screamingly funny seizure that I
think was supposed to be a dance. (Sharp eyed viewers will notice the
cigarette
disappear from his mouth during the dance.) What makes it even more
funny
is that Roy face clearly shows that he's convinced he's so cool doing
this
dance. I would pay good money to see the expression on Roy's face
watching
this footage today.
The third number, The Fox, is performed by The
Bachelors, and it's a nice tribute to the skiffle songs that were a big
hit in England a decade earlier. Despite the subject of the song, and
the
opening shot being that of a stuffed fox's head, the band sings the
song
while....shooting pool. Yes, pool. Must be some English slang that my
parents
never taught me.
A little later in the movie, we are treated to Peter
&
Gordon, a British duo who had several hits in the States with songs
written
by Paul McCartney and John Lennon (such as Woman and Nobody
I Know). They sing in this segment Leave Me Alone, and
later, Soft As The Dawn. Though I don't believe these two
songs were written by McCartney and Lennon, they do sound very
Beatlesque,
and they are quite pleasant to listen to. The biggest impression both
numbers
make is that Peter (or is it Gordon) is one of the ugliest rock
stars to be found anywhere, with his red hair, thick glasses, and buck
teeth. Still, his success could be a source of comfort to those teased
on the playground.
The Chiffons then sing Nobody Knows What's Going On
In My Mind But Me. If you haven't heard the song, here are the
lyrics:
"Nobody knows what's going on in my mind but me" x 20, more or less.
Then we get one of the best segments, with the entrance
of Freddie & The Dreamers. After all these years, You Were Made
For Me is still a fun, goofy, and joyful song to listen to.
And Freddie Garrity treats us to his famous goofy dancing, which
contributed
much to the group's success. Most of the song is filmed in one long
take,
and it's quite amazing to see Freddie doing all of this jumping and
dancing
around without missing a beat or a step. Later in the movie, the group
returns with Just For You, another pleasing number. In that
number, the band shows a willingness to poke fun at itself, and shows
comic
talent that could have been put to good use in movies or television had
the group managed to continue making hits.
There are some other hit songs that viewers will
recognize
and enjoy. We see Johnny B. Great pounding away at his piano and
bellowing If
I Had A Hammer, Jackie And The Raindrops doing The Locomotion,
and Freddie Cannon ("...on Warner Brothers records!" the announcer
reminds
us) squeezing Tallahassee Lassie and three other songs of
his in less than two minutes, yet still having enough time to inject
his
famous "Wooo!" several times. All great songs to listen to one more
time,
and their sometimes campy presentation is fun as well. For example, as
Jackie sings her song (set at a train station), some very British
businessmen,
complete with umbrellas and bowler hats, paste wide smiles on their
faces
and do a rather silly dance in the background.
Between all of these musical segments plays the flimsy
plot, concerning a youth named Casey Paxton going to several radio and
TV stations with his girlfriend, trying to convince them to play his
fabulous
song. Obviously, this was a ploy by the producers to try and introduce
a new singing sensation to the world, though some quick research on my
part reveals that Casey Paxton doesn't seem to have ever accomplished
anything.
Tough luck, Casey. Though also tough luck for us, because not only is
his
song East Is East (one of those I'm - poor - your - family's
- rich - and - they - don't - want - us - together songs) pretty bad,
but
we have to sit through his singing of it three times. At least
there
is some amusement during the second time, because he seems like he
needs
to go to the bathroom badly during the number.
A few other songs fall flat by well, songs that are by
groups I've never heard of before, and I wonder if they were even
famous
in England (where most of the performers in the movie come from.) Who
the
heck were The Applejacks? Or The Rocking Ramrods? The Orchids? All I
could
determine about Millie Small is that she must live in a place with a
lot
of helium in the air. Other weak moments in the movie include endless
sequences
of the young couple walking around the cities they visit, feeding the
pigeons,
going swimming, and on and on....
Fortunately, there are not that many moments in the
movie
where there's padding like this, or more than one lame song in a row. A
boring moment is usually followed by a great song and/or a campy
presentation.
The segments between the songs also have some amusing moments. One
person
actually says at one point, "That cat sounds kinda groovy! I dig him,
he's
all right!" The last segment (in Boston) is hosted by a DJ named Arnie
Ginsburg, who comes across as Ben Stein trying desperately to be
energetic
and hip, and it's hard not to chuckle when he's on the screen. There is
a lot of different kind of entertainment to be found in Disk-O-Tek
Holiday, so even people not nostalgic about the mid 1960s will
find a lot on display to entertain them here.
UPDATE: Thanks to Robert P. Flynn for sending
this in:
"The Rocking Ramrods were a band from Boston somewhat
popular locally around 1965-66? I saw them play at a clothing
department store call Cronins in Waltham, MA. Weird place to do a gig.
They had a song called 'Bright Lit Blue Skies', sounded like most of
the poppy music at the time."
UPDATE 2: Kim Tellert sent this in:
"Just a little more info on The Rockin' Ramrods who
appeared in the US version of the Disk-O-Tek Holiday movie.
"The "Surf" which appears at the beginning of their performance is
actually a short piece of film of the sign outside the dance club that
stood on Nantasket Beach in Hull, Massachusetts back in the 60's. The
Surf was the home base for the Ramrods, and a fabulous place to dance
Saturday nights away. "
Check
for availability on Amazon.
Check Amazon for availability of The Bachelors (CD)
Check Amazon for availability of Peter & Gordon (CD)
Check Amazon for availability of The Chiffons (CD)
Check Amazon for availability of Freddie & The Dreamers (CD)
See
also: The Apple, Shock
Treatment,
That's Black Entertainment
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