Tag Archives: 1960s

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The Bootleg Files: That’s Life

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BOOTLEG FILES 944: “That’s Life” (1968-69 television series starring Robert Morse and E.J. Peaker).

LAST SEEN: Bits and pieces are scattered on YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It is complicated

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: None.

Earlier this week, I was very sad to learn about the passing of actress E.J. Peaker. She was a vivacious blonde who came to prominence in the late 1960s by playing the perky dress shop salesgirl Minnie Fay in the film version of “Hello, Dolly!” and as the female lead in a strange television sitcom called “That’s Life.”
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: The 1960s Commercials

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When Warner Bros. partnered with ABC in 1960 for the production of “The Bugs Bunny Show,” General Foods Corporation was signed as the sponsor of the show. It was the proverbial match made in Heaven, as the company offered a line of breakfast cereals and flavored drink mixes aimed at the kiddie consumer while the Warner Bros. cartoon characters were the ideal sales tools to entice the show’s juvenile viewers and their grocery shopping parents.
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The Bootleg Files: The World of Kurt Weill

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BOOTLEG FILES 901: “The World of Kurt Weill” (1967 television special starring Lotte Lenya).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Most likely, there is a music rights clearance issue.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, one of the most intriguing series on American television was “NET Playhouse.” NET stood for National Educational Television and it served as the forerunner of the Public Broadcasting Service.

“NET Playhouse” primarily focused on adaptations of classic plays and stories that featured both established stars and up-and-coming actors – then-unknowns Dustin Hoffman, Martin Sheen and Jon Voight turned up in the series’ 1966 premiere season. The series rarely offered musical presentations, and one of those tuneful diversions included the 1967 hour-long production “The World of Kurt Weill” that celebrated the career of the German-born composer.
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Help! (1965)

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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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The Bootleg Files: Let the Good Times Roll

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BOOTLEG FILES 883: “Let the Good Times Roll” (1973 concert film featuring Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Music rights clearance issues are a big obstacle.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

During the early 1970s, there was a wave of nostalgia for the music and pop culture of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Broadway musical “Grease,” the movie “American Graffiti” and the sitcom “Happy Days” were the most prominent examples of this retro celebration of the era, while Sha Na Na kept the old tunes alive with their kinetic stage and television appearances, but a series of concerts dubbed “The Rock and Roll Revival” brought a number of the prominent music stars from that period to perform their old hits for admiring audiences.
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What’s New, Pussycat? (1965)

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During the 1960s, there was a flurry of all-star comedy films that tried too hard to be zany. “What’s New, Pussycat?” stands out in this genre for its freewheeling approach to sex – and while it often fails to maintain its frenetic pace, it has more than a few redeeming features to keep the viewer entertained.
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