The Bootleg Files: The TV Cubana Version of “Hello, Dolly!”

Posted on January 13, 2023 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 825: The TV Cubana Version of “Hello, Dolly!” (1985 Cuban television recording of the Havana theatrical staging of the Broadway musical).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Rights clearance issues and a perceived lack of commercial viability.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nope.

One of the most polarizing films ever made was, oddly, the 1969 musical “Hello, Dolly!” This is not a film that inspires indifference – either you embrace as a grand, old-school screen musical with Barbra Streisand giving one of her best performances or you condemn it as an over-produced mess burdened by a star who was much too young for her role. And if you should ever stumble over a Facebook forum debate on the film’s merits and deficiencies, prepare yourself for one of the most rancorous discussions on social media – trust me, I’ve been audience to several of them!
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The Bootleg Files: Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel

Posted on January 6, 2023 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 824: “Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel” (1967 special for British television).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Rights clearance issues and a perceived lack of commercial viability.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

In March 1967, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel traveled to England for a brief concert tour that included London’s Royal Albert Hall and venues in Birmingham and Manchester. While in Manchester, they taped a television special at Granada TV where they performed their songs before a small audience.
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The Bootleg Files: The Hero

Posted on December 30, 2022 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 823: “The Hero” (1917 short starring Billy West and Oliver Hardy).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On public domain labels.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A blatant (if effective) rip-off of Charlie Chaplin’s act.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: There is no great call for a Billy West revival.

When Charlie Chaplin’s popularity exploded into superstardom status during the mid-1910s, the demand of his films became greater than his ability to create original new works. To fill the void, a number of comic actors began to dress up in Chaplin’s distinctive Little Tramp costume and make-up and churn out short films of a Chaplinesque nature. Most of these imitators were not that special and their work has been lost to oblivion. But one copycat created a near-perfect facsimile of Chaplin’s act, to the point that his films were occasionally marketed as being genuine Chaplin films.
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The Bootleg Files: John Denver and the Muppets – A Christmas Together

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 822: “John Denver and The Muppets – A Christmas Together” (1979 television special).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It was never made available on any home entertainment format.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Maybe next Christmas?

When I was kid in yesteryear, every Christmas season would bring a surplus number of television specials tied to the holiday. Some specials became annual events, such as “A Charlie Brown Christmas” or “Frosty the Snowman,” but most seemed to be one-and-done affairs that might have been lost to obscurity had it not been for the prescience of pop culture vultures to videotape those shows and save them for future viewing.
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Every WWE Studios Film Ranked

Posted on December 19, 2022 by Phil Hall

When you think of WWE, you immediately think of the wrestling ring. But the company has also been an active participant in the movie world, and this year marks the 20th anniversary of its foray into cinema.

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Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (2022)

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Phil Hall

The Walt Disney Co. hasn’t done very much since it acquired the trademark to the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character in 2006 – for those unfamiliar with the back story, Walt Disney created Oswald for Universal Pictures in 1927 and made 27 silent black-and-white shorts. But Disney lost the rights to the character, at which point he created a new character called Mickey Mouse.
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Stonks Goes the Distance! (2022)

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Phil Hall

Stock trading and investing might not sound like the most obvious choice a children’s book, but the 2021 “Stonks on the Moon!” by the pseudonymous Professor Clark offered a playful mix of child-friendly fiction (complete with anthropomorphic animals and a story about believing in one’s purpose) with sly tributes to investing world’s machinations – including the “to the moon” focus of “apes” and characters that bore more than a coincidental resemblance to Tesla chieftain Elon Musk and financial analyst Keith Gill.
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