Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got (1985)

Posted on April 20, 2025 by Phil Hall

When Brigitte Berman’s “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” won the Academy Award as Best Documentary Feature Film for 1986, the Canadian production had yet to secure a theatrical release. Unfortunately for Berman, the film’s subject – clarinetist and band leader Artie Shaw – sued her to secure a greater share of potential box office profits. Due to the litigation, the film never played theatrically after its Oscar win – Shaw died in December 2024 and Berman’s production didn’t have its theatrical premiere until January 2024.
Continue reading →

The Bootleg Files: Second Chorus

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 832: “Second Chorus” (1940 musical comedy with Fred Astaire, Paulette Goddard and Burgess Meredith).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On public domain labels.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A lapsed copyright.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely, although in theory there could be a rescue it from public domain hell.

In 1968, Fred Astaire returned to films after a six-year absence to star in the big-budget musical “Finian’s Rainbow.” In the media push for the film, Astaire was asked by a reporter which one of his film’s was his worst – the star stated without pause that the 1940 “Second Chorus” was the low point of his career.
Continue reading →