I am sure we must have been here before, but regardless.
My boss at work has no taste for the finer things we tend to take for granted. On Friday, our conversation somehow came aroud to me mentioning a scene from Some Like it Hot. He looked at me, had never heard of the film. He’s not young, about 10 – 15 years younger but like Barry Wom, I was shocked and stunned. Previously, we had been talking about books and he was talking about Angels and Demons which I foolishly admitted I had never heard of. It was only when he mentioned The Da Vinci Code that something clicked and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that this was rubbish and I was thinking about someting a little more elevated.
What do we all do when we find ourselves us in this position ? I am more accepting these days, but still never having heard of Some Like it Hot or seen that scene of Marilyn playing the uke. That’s just plain weird.
Rufus T Firefly says
Scoff pointedly and repeatedly in front of others. Start looking for another job…
Jackthebiscuit says
Just read your comment Rufus, & now have coffee coming out of my nostrils.
PMSL – I don’t think my pants are ever going to dry
– Thanks a fucking bunch
Rufus T Firefly says
Coffee / nostrils / pants collision. I’m impressed!
The Muswell Hillbilly says
Your boss is a fucking idiot by the sounds of it and needs your help. Art is subjective, of course, but nonetheless if he’s wading about in a world that contains Dan Brown sequels but no Billy Wilder then who knows what sort of a mess he’s liable to get himself into. He’ll probably thank you for it.
aging hippy says
How weird. I’ve just this minute finished watching All You Need Is Cash on youtube, drop in here and the first thing I read references Barry Wom.
Paul Wad says
Whereas I spent Sunday watching Some Like It Hot with my 12 year old daughter, who said she enjoyed it, but might just have been trying not to hurt daddy’s feelings. She stayed with it till the end though and she’s not averse to declaring something rubbish 10 minutes in. I had to provide a bit of commentary to her, to help her understand certain bits and put it into context. Telling her that Curtis was sending Cary Grant up, however, means nothing to someone who has never heard of Cary Grant, although North By Northwest is on the list of films to try to show her.
I have to appreciate that when I first watched Some Like It Hot, around her age, the film was 22-23 years old, so in today’s terms something like Pulp Fiction. Whereas my daughter gets to watch it when it’s nearly 60 years old, so in relation to the time when I first watched it you’d be going back pre-talkies! It’s why I have trouble getting her to watch Hammer films or the old Universal films, when she likes horror films. I’ve run out of more modern horror films that I’m prepared to let her watch just now, and yet there are some of the greatest of all horror films just sitting there on the shelf, too old fashioned to be of any interest to a 12 year old.
The only pre-80s (non-Disney) films that have proved to be guaranteed winners with both of my kids were Laurel and Hardy. My daughter had to have the colourised versions though, whereas my 7 year old lad is happy with the black and white ones. Maybe I should try him with a Will Hay film? There’s hope…
LordTed says
I got one of my sons into Will Hay at the age of 16 ( him, not me or Will). Although he couldn’t get any enthusiasm for Norman Wisdom, which is odd as I’d have thought he was the natural heir to Will Hay , via Ealing of course.
Paul Wad says
I bought a pirate (although I’m guessing they’re out of copyright anyway) complete Will Hay collection ages ago, cos there were one or two films missing in the official box set. It’s been at the side of the telly for a few weeks, as I’m trying to find an opening to get the kids to watch one. I’ll start with Ask a Policeman, as that’s my favourite. One of my favourite films by anyone, come to think of it. I’m sure they’d find it funny, but I’m competing with what they usually watch, i.e. other people playing minecraft on the iPad.
I’ve also bought the Norman Wisdom box set, which we’ll move on to after. As I say, the boy is enjoying the Laurel and Hardy box, so there’s hope. I’ve also got boxed sets of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers. I’d love it if one or both of them would start watching these with me. I’ll leave it till they’re a bit older before showing them the Carry On films though. Although I was a firm fan of those when I was around 7 or 8 years old.
metal mickey says
Some of my happiest childood memories from the 70s are of sitting up with my Mum watching late night BBC2 showings of Marx Brothers movies… I’d suggest they’re a good possible shout for your kids because there’s something for everyone – younger kids love Harpo, older ones like Chico, and the rest like Groucho’s attitude & wordplay (before you work your way ’round to loving Harpo again…)
Bingo Little says
The Marx Bros movies are timeless and perfect for all ages. No one appreciates top quality clown work like a three year old.
Rigid Digit says
My kids never showed interest in Dads “mad enthusiasm” for Harold Lloyd or Buster Keaton (“or any of that silly black and white stuff”).
Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em was an instant hit though (strange when most of the stunts owed a debt to Keaton and lloyd – maybe it was just the fact it was in colour)
Sewer Robot says
Indeed. But could also be cos Frank is more “like a big kid out of place in the grown up world” than the others – see my comment elsewhere about Jerry Lewis…
moseleymoles says
I would agree that the late 70s is some kind of watershed for my kids too. They can enjoy Star Wars, Indiano Jones and 80s fare like Top Gun, the Arnie canon, and Ferris Bueller. But anything earlier is likely to be swiftly dispatched. All of these are thirty years old, so the equivalent to a 1947 film when I was their age.
dai says
My 10 yr old daughter fails to see much point in watching B/W movies. She has enjoyed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from the 60s(?), the Herbie movies and Grease.
I think being an adult helps with Some Like it Hot, not really for younger viewers.. It has dated somewhat, but I did buy the Blu-ray a few weeks ago for $5.
Lemonhope says
I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code
Mousey says
I tend to let those conversations go through to the keeper these days
“Oh I just LOVE Celine Dion/Mariah Carey/Barbra Streisand/U2…”
“Yeah they’re good” I say, lying grovelling shit that I am. Then I change the subject, or move away, or, or something. As an angry young pompous snob I would have said “REALLY? YOU LIKE THEM, GOD I HATE THEM” but now I’m old and mellow…
minibreakfast says
LEAVE BABS ALONE!
Moose the Mooche says
I have great difficulty leaving babs alone.
minibreakfast says
Or indeed baps.
Is it lunchtime yet?
Moose the Mooche says
Well, as you can see, I have my lunchbox ready.
minibreakfast says
Ah, button mushrooms again I see.
Moose the Mooche says
It’s been in the fridge!
Mousey says
NO SHE’S AWFUL!! … oh sorry…
*adjusts to supposed 63 year old “let it go through to the keeper” mentality*…
Yes, she’s so good isn’t she?
Such a long career – Funny Girl, that album with Barry Gibb (suppresses rising vomit)…
minibreakfast says
You might want to avoid the upcoming episode of Car Boot Vinyl Diaries then, Mousey old bean (Babs does Bowie!).
Moose the Mooche says
Let me guess. Is it…
I’m Deranged
Yassassin
The King of Stamford Hill
Please Mr Gravedigger
… getting warm?
minibreakfast says
I certainly am!
retropath2 says
I find the 2 words Never Mind helpful in this situation.
Moose the Mooche says
Oh come on. Nobody’s perfect.
Dodger Lane says
and that brings this thread to an end.
johnw says
“Nobody’s Perfect”?! that’s my touchstone too. If you don’t have the album then your opinion is obviously worthless!!
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I find a quiet smile just this side of a sneer followed by “Each to his own” usually works. I have only been punched a handful of times….
As the hands of time rush towards my own midnight I increasingly realise a lot of the stuff I love is full of references and acknowledgments that most ‘young’ people (ie anyone under forty, maybe even fifty) simply have no knowledge of – Paul’s Tony Curtis-Cary Grant thing is a perfect example.
Sewer Robot says
You talk about introducing kids to “the greats” and how 60 year old Cary Grant impersonations float over their heads as though it’s a bad thing, but one of the absolute joys of culture is the breaking of those second and third waves of recognition: when we were kids watching Top Cat, I don’t feel we were “missing out” because we weren’t aware the characters were based on Phil Silvers’ Bilko show, rather it added to our enjoyment when they did run the Bilko repeats and it made us appreciate TC more when revisiting it again with our own young ‘uns..
Re snobbery, I think it’s reasonable to accept that some things can be deemed to “have a place” – like the teenager’s metal phase which she will someday look back on and groan or like when I was wee my favourite was Nutty Professor era Jerry Lewis but I find that stuff unwatchable now…
garyjohn says
If you listen really carefully, you will hear the collective voices of every civilian’, ‘straight’ or ‘square’ accidentally reading this thread.
Quiet now …
“Well. At least I’m not a twunt”.
(That’s a word for someone who’s not only a twat, but a cunt).
Moose the Mooche says
Snobbery, openly expressed, doesn’t win you friends. Well it does, but they tend to smell funny.
It’s still fun though.
DogFacedBoy says
Bunch of old cunts with their old unfunny films, innit? – a yoof today
GCU Grey Area says
I find a simple ‘Really? How Interesting’ suffices.
(at 1:17 approx)
Leicester Bangs says
Well, things have changed. Growing up I had an awareness of ‘the classics’, but that was as much a function of the relatively small and coherent media environment as it was an interest on my part.
In the last 20 years the media *noise* has grown so much that you can’t necessarily expect someone without a vested interest to simply ‘know’ the stuff we once took for granted.
moseleymoles says
@leicester-bangs I agree that in terms of music we live in a perpetual present where The Rolling Stones, Technotronic and Stormzy are all equally available and on the grid views of Spotify or itunes they look exactly the same. It’s not so much case of ‘new music’ or ‘the classics’ anymore but just ‘new to me’. My daughter, 15, is going through a big metal phase at the moment – sigh – so her playlists jump around from Deep Purple to Metallica without anyone being more or less new than anyone else.
Film is more complicated. My current theory is that there just so much ‘present’ – and watching a film demands a bit more time and effort than listening to a playlist – that the ‘classics’ are much less visible than they were even 20 years ago. Box sets, the iplayer and Netflix have clearly displaced something, and one of the things is that notion of the BBC2/Videodrome repertory of ‘classics’. And of course both film and rock and roll have an ever-growing tail – so every year there’s more past. Clearly there’s a massive gap for a properly-done itunes or spotify for the movies, but studio policy suggests this is never going to happen soon.
Bingo Little says
Itunes does movies, and Netflix is Spotify for movies (albeit with library content).
Movies are a very different product to music. Your average movie (certainly your average studio movie) costs far more to produce than your average album. The value chain is longer, and more clearly stratified (cinema/new release home entertainment/catalogue home entertainment/TV). You’ll see some of those dividing lines start to blur over the next decade, particularly at the top end, but it’s a pretty efficient model – content value degrades with time.
moseleymoles says
I think @bingo-little with itunes and spotify what we are seeing is pretty much everything there is (of course some artists are still not on it but the Floyd/Beatles/AC/DC spotify seemed to be big moments) available for streaming, whereas netflix is nowhere near having a comprehensive selection of even Major Studio movies from the last fifty years. We’re a long way from that kind of service for movies, if it ever arrives. But good points about the costs of production and the value chain.
Bingo Little says
iTunes has a massive library of movies for streaming, it’s just not an all you can eat model.
Netflix selection is limited partly by the willingness of the studios to play ball, partly by design (their UI is far more focused on content discovery than Spotify, and accordingly there’s a limited amount of shelf space they’re willing to permit), and partly by the value chain (no new release titles). Some of those aspects will vary more than others.
Personally, I think the gaps in the movie industry distribution model are to do with allowing people to buy content sooner (potentially at the tail end of the theatrical window – we’re already seeing this in the States, and it’s where the real consumer demand is) and providing greater value incentives for ownership (i.e. additional utility, not just get it sooner and watch it more often).
Better movies never hurt either!
moseleymoles says
We have discussed here before how different the music industry would be if for the first thirteen weeks after an album is released you had to go a record shop and book a time to pay to hear it on a really good system.
Bingo Little says
That would be kind of cool.
I don’t think that a superabundance of content really makes people all that much happier in the long run. I’m always happy to pay to go to the movies and sit in the dark for a couple of hours, focusing on one thing, no one bothering me.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Dan Brown? Oh, yeah. Those are a hoot.
Black Celebration says
I want to air this again because it was so astonishing :
25year old – “I saw Mick Jagger and his band at Glastonbury”
Me – “Do you mean the Rolling Stones?”
25 year old – “YES! That’s them.”
Moose the Mooche says
Well, we know what would happen if he referred to Charlie as “Mick Jagger’s drummer’…
Kaisfatdad says
Have an Up, Black. That was hilarious. It’s the “that’s them” which is the killer.
The kind of phrase I’d use if I was looking for a slightly obscure variety of sausage in the supermarket and the shop assistant gave me a helping hand.
Baron Counterpane says
Again, I’ve probably aired this before but:
Scene – a real ale pub near Sheffield full of talented young folkies.
Talented Young Folkie No.1: Blah, blah, blah, Johnny Mathis…
Baron Counterpane: Listen, the production on that album was amazing…
Silence. Tumbleweed blows through lounge bar. Baron Counterpane realises that none of the Talented Young Folkies were born when Not The Nine O’Clock News aired.
Moose the Mooche says
I lay all my songs at Rowan Atkinson’s feet
Dave Ross says
It’s all relative. In my office stating I want Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now played at my funreal marks me out as a sad old music geek. Here I’m barely tolerated for my very basic music knowledge. See also politics, speakers, films etc..
Kaisfatdad says
But Dave, this place is extreme.
I know exactly what will happen if (rather proud of myself) I mention I’ve recently seen a cult Hungarian rom com from the 1950s. Someone will immediately mention the director’s name, another will be familiar with the ex-marital escapades of the leading lady (and her shoe size) and a third will make a derogatory comment about how it shamelessly plagiarises a Mexican zombie musical from the 40s.
You cannot win!
metal mickey says
A recent after-work drink found me in closer proximity than usual to our Finance Director, a pleasant enough chap, but a bit “beige” if you know what I mean… anyway, pint in hand, nowhere to hide, never having had a meaningful conversation with him, and looking for common ground, I decided to ask if he liked movies at all, and if he’d seen anything good lately…? His eyes lit up, and I thought I might just have accidentally hit the motherlode, when he says…
“No, nothing lately, but do you know what my favourite ever film is? “The Bodyguard” – isn’t Whitney just amazing in it?”
I couldn’t go on, made a feeble excuse and left, never spoke to him outside of the office again…
Kaisfatdad says
I was hoping that the punchline to your story would be that the beige bloke had some fascinating comments about Bergman’s camerwork or Fellini’s use of music.
Silly me!
There’s nothing more depressing than visiting a home where there are no books at all. Far better to be reading Dan Brown than to be reading nothing. I would not want to see the Potus’s bookcase.
bricameron says
I doubt the current Potus has ever read more than a single sentence on paper before declaring “This is too much!” Which accurately brings him up to date.
Somebody needs to dose him!
Moose the Mooche says
He can’t read.
Sewer Robot says
The story goes that he used to keep a copy of Mein Kampf by his bed. Maybe he can only read Dangerous Nutter?
Hawkfall says
“Fellini’s use of music”.
Oh, now there’s a thread. Paging @Mousey!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJQuZXoyc5U
Mousey says
Ha! Yes this post immediately made me think of my one last year https://theafterword.co.uk/?s=fellini
Which I re-read with interest – lots of great and funny comments. I do miss HP and JC.
bricameron says
Me too. Where are they?
Mike_H says
Last seen skipping towards a Pacific sunrise, hand in hand.
In shorts, Hawaiian shirts and sandals.
Or was that buck nekkid?
Dodger Lane says
Agree about this, house without books is just awful; front rooms used to be full of books, records, clutter and now they are all minimalist with no character. All poor imitations from House and Garden. Not sure about the argument about reading anything being better than nothing; picking and rolling a good nose bogey has got to be more enjoyable than reading Jeffrey Archer.
Bingo Little says
The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.
Sewer Robot says
The man who looks at photos has an advantage over the man trying to tell which is Mike Reid and which is Mike Reid merely by reading.
Bingo Little says
Too few photos; didn’t read.
Moose the Mooche says
Bad example, because picking and rolling a good nose bogey is more enjoyable than almost anything.
johnw says
Books! Ha! They’re for sad old people that don’t understand how to read stuff on their laptops and fondleslabs aren’t they? No self respecting techno snob would be seen anywhere near one!
retropath2 says
They weren’t as good as BK and MW……
Sewer Robot says
Of course, we’re missing the real quality stuff – contributions from the menagerie of former AW stalwarts who are now too cool to post here anymore..
Dave Ross says
I’ve just brought Cliff’s “75 at 75” for £9.99 from Amazon. Imagine me in the office tomorrow when I excitedly let that big news out. “hums “Wired For Sound……*
Sewer Robot says
Ah, the perks of having a rollerskate-friendly office…
Dave Ross says
Now that’s a plan. I think I have a towelling head band somewhere too
johnw says
Then plan a trip to Milton Keynes. The John Lewis tiled wall is still in place.