Prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Miami was a racially segregated city and Black visitors were not welcome in the fancy local hotels. The Hampton House Motel and Villas, originally opened in 1954 as the Booker Terrace Motel, was the most prominent lodging establishment that provided Black guests with accommodations.
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In retrospect, it’s a shame that “Help!” wasn’t presented as a one-hour TV special rather than as a 92-minute feature film. In trying to one-up the lightning-in-a-bottle success of “A Hard Day’s Night,” director Richard Lester and his mop-topped stars reaffirmed the axiom that bigger is not always better by creating a large-scale romp that only occasionally percolates with hilarity but eventually wears out its welcome long before the closing credits.
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BOOTLEG FILES 898: “No Exit” (1954 French film based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s play).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It was never released in the United States.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
In May 1944, Jean-Paul Sartre’s drama “Huis clos” had its premiere in Paris. The play came to New York in November 1946 with a production directed by John Huston – this would be the filmmaker’s only foray into directing for Broadway. Sartre’s title, which translated as “Behind Closed Doors,” was changed to “No Exit” for this production, and since then the work is known to American audiences by that title – in Britain, the play has been produced as “Vicious Circle” and “In Camera.”
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Upswept Hare (1953)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Charles McKimson, Herman Cohen, Rod Scribner, Phil DeLara
Music by Carl Stalling
Wealthy amateur botanist Elmer Fudd discovers a rare flower during a drive through the desert and decides to add it to his floral collection at his penthouse apartment. Elmer digs around the flower to ensure it remains in its native soil, but he inadvertently digs up Bugs Bunny who is sleeping in his hole just under the flower’s roots and transplants him with the flower in a large planter. Bugs awakens the next morning and is initially baffled at being in a swanky penthouse, but he quickly makes himself at home – much to Elmer’s consternation. Elmer’s effort to evict his unwanted guest results in him being tricked by Bugs to jump off the penthouse, where he plummets into a sidewalk popcorn vending machine.
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Shot in 23 days on a shoestring budget at the cheapjack Republic Pictures, Orson Welles’ “Macbeth” was poorly received by American critics and audiences when it first came out in 1948 and again in 1950 when its compact 107-minute running time was edited by about a half-hour and the Scottish burr used by the actors was redubbed into accent-free English. Even today, Welles’ original vision doesn’t carry the same level of respect that his later Shakespearean films “Othello” (1952) and “Chimes at Midnight” (1966) enjoy.
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BOOTLEG FILES 897: “A Special Valentine with the Family Circus” (1978 animated television special).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On VHS video.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Oh, God, I hope not.
If you ever want to encounter the most passionate vitriol to stain the Internet, type in the words “Family Circus Hate” into your search engine and then set aside several hours to read the blog posts and forum messages from people who have an aggressive loathing to that long-running newspaper comic strip “The Family Circus” about a wholesome family and their treacly-thick approach to life’s minor inanities. But if you really love to hate “The Family Circus” – or if you really hate yourself and you feel that you need to be punished for genuine or perceived character flaws – then please set aside about a half-hour to endure the 1978 animated TV special “A Special Valentine with the Family Circus.”
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Forward March Hare (1953)
Directed by Charles M. Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam
Music by Carl Stalling
A draft notice meant for Bertram Bonny – the envelope is addressed to “B. Bonny” – accidentally winds up down Bugs Bunny’s hole. Bugs opens the envelope and mistakenly believes he’s being drafted into the Army. He arrives at the induction processing center, creating confusion by his presence – but no one has the temerity to question why a rabbit is being inducted. But Bugs creates endless trouble for his drill sergeant, who is repeatedly demoted by the army base’s colonel after Bugs’ incompetence results in embarrassing assaults on the commanding officer’s authority.
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