FOLLIES 1971 Video Footage (and some Merrily 1981)- Page 4

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 8:53pm

Thrilling.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 9:03pm

I worked with Marcie Stringer for the Prince Street Players, she was their main character woman. She was also quite a drinker and rebel rouser. (I'm sure this is an old story) but once during a rehearsal, a young feyish guy who was playing the butch villian got this direction, "Play this character like you have a great big pair of balls!" From across the room Marcie yelled "PROPS!"
One of the nights I saw the show with a gal pal from college, Marcie took us to the Weinerwald next to the Winter Garden and got us quite drunk and proceeded to pull out a huge bag of weed and told me to take it downstairs and roll some Js, she then pulled a rolling machine out of her purse. On the way to Port Authority in a cab she also tried to feel my gal pal up. We laughed about that night for years and I lost touch with Marcie, and wondered what happened to her.
Marcie had a Merman like belt and was a great tapper.

Dortha Duckworth (love that name) can be heard on the OBC of FLORA, THE RED MENACE. Updated On: 6/7/11 at 09:03 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 6:16pm

I just got a DVD of Alexis Smiths "This Is Your Life" which was filmed on stage in LA after a performance one night. The show starts out with curtain calls and then you see each of the cast in costume. I'd never seen this before and if someone can pm me how to upload a DVD to YouTube or somewhere I'd love to share it.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 6:26pm

One way to do it is to put the dvd in your computer and open up the disc to view the folder files on it. You can ignore AUDIO_TS. Copy the VIDEO_TS folder to your computer. Then you need to split it with something like Hjsplit (that's what I use). It will split the file into however many pieces you want (I think you have to tell it what size to make each piece, rather than how many). Once you have those, you upload each one individually to megaupload or whatever.

I'd love to see it if you can it to work.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 6:29pm

Oh lord. I should just mail you a copy so you can do it. Lol

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 6:30pm

Ha. Dealing with vobs (the dvd parts) is really confusing at fist. After a while it starts to make sense.

Posted: 6/10/11 at 12:32am

"Back in the 70's how did they mic shows? I'm assuming that they didn't use body mics for performers then. When I'm listening to the Follies recording I'm hearing stomps which leads me to believe that they mounted floor mics everywhere into the set. Is this correct? "

They were floor mikes, although Follies was more complex than most shows at the time, I believe they also had mikes specifically pointed at key areas further upstage where key moments would take place. Follies also was one of the first shows to use some pre recorded tapes mixed in (I believe for the finale of Who's That Woman and the Loveland breakdown, if not other places), as well as using backstage dancers to make the tap sounds for Who's That Woman. If you read Everything Was Possible, they go into some detail about the disaster much of this caused in try out performances--out of sync use of the pre taped vocals, etc.

I actrually don't knwo when body mikes became common--but floor mikes really seemed to start up in the 60s (probably partly when more electronic instruments were used in the pits--Sw3eet Charity and Promises Promises being two obvious examples). Of course some rock shows like Hair (I think) and Jesus Christ Superstar as well as Grease used hand held mikes.

(I once got in a big fight with a poster on here who claimed that any performer who needed to be miked to do A Chorus Line wasn't respecting the strengths of the original cast who did it without any amplification, which of course is completely fault, although they didn't have body mikes, at least not at first.

Posted: 6/10/11 at 12:34am

Yeah, I still can't figure out how to rip DVDs, though I'm sure like anything else with computers I'm clueless on, after doing it a few times I'd get the hang. I'd love to see that footage!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/10/11 at 12:49am

No joke. I'll send it to someone if they can do it, I'm just too computer stupid.

I did figure out how to zip audio files though! Speaking of that, I think it was on this thread people were talking about the COMPANY audio from Boston from 1970. I have that if anyone is interested in hearing it. It's about 90 minutes long, all songs and some dialogue.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 6/10/11 at 1:02am

The show was fun but I suspect something of a cheat. The "curtain call" contained a very small percentage of the cast- mainly the leads and a couple of the show girls for window dressing. After the first commercial break, the other leads were gone and a not-too-surprised Alexis Smith was feted. I suspect the show was set up to sell tickets. Sales weren't doing too well in Los Angeles. The Shubert was a new theatre which, as Hal Prince has stated, didn't have a subscriber base.

Posted: 6/10/11 at 1:10am

Does Company run under two hours? Anyway I'm interested--particularly if it has Happily Ever After!

[justoldbill]

Posted: 6/10/11 at 1:17am

Are you saying you have a video of COMPANY from Boston in 1970?
DON'T GET US STARTED!!!!!!!!

Posted: 6/10/11 at 1:55am

He said audio... The only video of the original Company production I know of is from the tour in 1971 or 72.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 6/10/11 at 10:28am

This is my favourite thread ever.

Very few productions can claim legendary status in the way Follies can.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/10/11 at 11:38pm

The magic of Gene Nelson, performing "It's Magic":

http://youtu.be/gwL3WhMqOss

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/10/11 at 11:55pm

His timing and musicality are inspiring.

[bk]

Posted: 6/11/11 at 2:59am

I hope that guy has more clips - to see Loveland and The Right Girl like that just too my breath away. And there is the living proof that when the people who saw this originally back then say it was the best thing they've ever seen they know whereof they speak. No production has come within a country mile. And Gene Nelson was brilliant as you can see in that clip and Buddy's Blues. He WAS Buddy. The dance is killer watching it again was like being back in time and it's exactly as I remembered it, as was the Loveland transformation. I want more!!!

[Deester2]

Posted: 6/14/11 at 3:44pm

I am "that guy" and here's the latest, a second version of Loveland, utilizing 3 different sources, including the LA rehearsal footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iK_4ZbXCpY

[FIG]

Posted: 6/14/11 at 3:53pm

Thanks Deester@, that it's fantastic!

[FIG]

Posted: 6/14/11 at 3:59pm

PalJoy, Do you know if that is Gene Nelson's voice in "It's Magic"?

FIG

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/14/11 at 5:01pm

I'll listen again, but do you have any reason to believe he was dubbed?

[FIG]

Posted: 6/14/11 at 5:08pm

Nothing in special. The sound it's kind of funny, but that happens with YouTube a lot, and the voice didn't sound too much like the one in the Follies OBC, but obviously he was so much younger. And we know how much dubbing was done back then, so I wouldn't be surprise if he was considered more of a dancer and would get dubbed.

FIG

Posted: 6/14/11 at 6:26pm

He was partially dubbed in Oklahoma, wasn't he? I think they said that on the DVD.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/14/11 at 7:39pm

Maybe he's dubbed in these too, but they both have the same nasal quality his voice has in the other clip and he had in Follies.

http://youtu.be/onrNOHRXVVA

http://youtu.be/Ur272EZDl7o

Seems like if they were going to go to the trouble of dubbing, they'd hire a better singer to do the dubbing.

[Deester2]

Posted: 6/14/11 at 11:33pm

Gene is definitely dubbed in the clip you posted. His singing voice is dubbed, but his speaking voice is intact.