Author Archives: Phil Hall

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The Bootleg Files: The Strollin’ ’20s

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BOOTLEG FILES 856: “The Strollin’ 20s” (1966 all-star television special).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There is most likely a rights clearance issue.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

Black entertainers have been part of the American television experience since the medium’s beginning, with no less a figure than the legendary Ethel Waters starring in an eponymous special in 1939 when television was still mostly experimental and extremely limited in its reach. Once television became more prominent in American living rooms, Hazel Scott and Billy Daniels briefly had their own programs, while in the mid-1950s NBC’s decision to have Nat King Cole host his own variety show created unexpected controversy when no national sponsor was willing to back the program. Harry Belafonte headlined a 1959 special that was sponsored by Revlon, but he rejected further productions backed by the company when he was ordered not to integrate his song and dance ensemble.
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A Time Out of War (1954)

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Academy Award trivia buffs will know the 1954 production “A Time Out of War” was the first student film to win the Oscar – in the Short Subject (Two-Reel) category, beating out competition from the Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Disney studios. And when you experience the film, you’ll understand how a small no-budget student project could one-up the major Hollywood players.
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The Bootleg Files: Wolfman vs. Godzilla

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BOOTLEG FILES 854: “Wolfman vs. Godzilla” (unfinished fan film).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube and Internet Archive.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A right clearance issue.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

From a creative artist’s perspective, I could never understand the appeal of making fan films. I appreciate when teens and pre-teens create these cinematic tributes – there’s something very charming when the James Bond or Star Wars orbits are reimagined by an alternative universe of the under-18 crowd. But when adults spend a great deal of time and money in creating fan films, it usually leaves me cold.
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The Bootleg Files: Woody Allen

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BOOTLEG FILES 853: “Woody Allen” (1965 British television special).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Not yet.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A performance rights clearance issue.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

On February 10, 1965, British television audiences who tuned into ITV had their first look at Woody Allen, who starred in an eponymous one-off television special. Most viewers that night probably thought “Woody Who?” – he was unknown in Britain and his fame in his own country was mostly limited to occasional appearances on television talk shows and in clubs that featured up-and-coming stand-up comics.
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The Bootleg Files: The Woo Song

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BOOTLEG FILES 852: “The Woo Song” (2024 music video by Corey Rieman the Dilemma Band incorporating Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie”).

LAST SEEN: On multiple social media and online video sites.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Not yet.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: The underlying “Steamboat Willie” footage has been the subject of complicated copyright actions.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Some day, perhaps.

On New Year’s Day, Mickey Mouse was the center of attention because the copyright for the 1928 animated short “Steamboat Willie” finally expired and the groundbreaking film that helped usher synchronized sound into the world of cartoons was suddenly denuded of copyright protection. Less than two weeks after “Steamboat Willie” officially became a public domain work, footage from the film was incorporated into a bouncy music video for “The Woo Song” from the rockers Corey Rieman and the Dilemma Band.
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