The Bootleg Files: Henrietta and Myrna Sing ‘Go Tell It On The Mountain’

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 789: “Henrietta and Myrna Sing ‘Go Tell It On The Mountain’” (bizarre public access television segment from the late 1980s).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: People happily borrow the footage for their own wacky videos.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.

Viral videos emerge from the least likely sources, and without any planning they somehow take on a life of their own. As we sail deeper into the Christmas season, I would like to turn attention to a holiday-inspired viral video that has become something of an anti-classic that spawned tribute and parody videos.
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The Bootleg Files: Godspell at Plimoth Plantation

Posted on December 10, 2021 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 788: “Godspell at Plimoth Plantation” (1973 PBS production).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.

When the 1971 Off-Broadway musical “Godspell” was adapted into a 1973 movie, it was decided to eschew the black box setting of the intimate theatrical staging and lace the film’s sequences through the streets, rooftops and venues of New York City. In concept, it was a good idea by symbolizing how the parables and philosophy put forth by Jesus in ancient days still had resonance in the contemporary urban world. Whether it actually worked is a matter of opinion.
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The Bootleg Files: The Beatles Forever

Posted on December 3, 2021 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 787: “The Beatles Forever” (1977 all-star train wreck).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No serious person would put this out in front of the public again.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.

Fuck that three-part Disney+ rehash of mountains of discarded footage from the making of “Let It Be” – the real Beatles rediscovery emerged on YouTube last week via someone going by the handle of Denton115. This beautiful individual has brought back one of the most brilliantly embarrassing television specials ever dropped on an unsuspecting world: “The Beatles Forever,” a one-hour atrocity that NBC threw on an unsuspecting America on Thanksgiving night of 1977.
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The Bootleg Files: The Bottom Line

Posted on November 26, 2021 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 786: “The Bottom Line” (1975 corporate promotional film for Mobil starring Bill Cullen).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.

Corporate sponsored films have been part of the motion picture experience since the silent movies, but most people have never seen the works of this genre – if only because they were never intended to be seen by the general public. These works were company-specific endeavors designed to train and invigorate employees on doing a better job and, not surprisingly, many of these offerings were not particularly entertaining.
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The Bootleg Files: Paradise in Harlem

Posted on November 19, 2021 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 785: “Paradise in Harlem” (1939 all-Black feature).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On public domain labels.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: An absence of a copyright dooms the film to endless public domain duping.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.

From the 1910s through the late 1940s, there was a distinctive cinema geared exclusively to Black American audiences. These films starred all-Black casts and were distributed only to theaters in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
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The Bootleg Files: Sadie Hawkins Day

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 784: “Sadie Hawkins Day” (1944 animated short based on Al Capp’s “Li’l Abner” comic strip).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On VHS.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A film that fell through the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Only if someone restores the full series of animated shorts.

In 1934, Al Capp introduced the comic strip “Li’l Abner” that offered sharp satirical humor within the setting of a burlesque of Appalachian subculture – or what an earlier generation unapologetically referred to as hillbillies. Capp’s work quickly caught the favor of the newspaper-reading public and the characters and backwoods catchphrases that populated the comic strip quickly became fixtures in pop culture.
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The Bootleg Files: Summer Daze

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 783: “Summer Daze” (1932 short comedy starring Karl Dane and George K. Arthur).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A film that fell through the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.

In 1926, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cast two of its character actors, Karl Dane and George K. Arthur, in comic relief supporting roles in the film “Bardelys the Magnificent.” The actors were not teamed for this production, but someone in the studio came up with the idea of pairing the tall and gangly Dane with the diminutive Arthur in an Army comedy called “Rookies,” which was released to great popularity in 1927.
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