My eternal gratitude goes out to they that came before, who had the foresight to record the soundboards (two OBC down, two to go!), the footage, and they that did the dubbing and distributing.
There tends to be some discrepancy about the labelling of the video footage. I've heard Boston, I've heard NYC and I've heard that it's actually LA, prior to opening there. If it IS Boston, it would have had to have been very late in the run, since the overture is the overture we know now.
Pal Joey and I were in the old Footlight Records store. I was debating about buying the recording of "Rags," which some of you may recall featured Julia Mignenes-Johnson instead of Teresa Stratas. I was talking to the guy at the register, and this man nearby sort of muttered to me "There is a recording of Stratas, you know."
It was kind of funny--like he was offering to sell me a stolen watch. I wasn't sure if he was hitting on me (I was pretty cute then) or crazy . . . or just telling the truth. He gave me his number, I called him and set up an appointment. I asked if I could bring a friend--no way I was going to some Footlight lunatic's apartment by myself.
So PJ and I went to his apt. on Columbus Ave, filled floor to ceiling with recordings, LPs, show cards.
I actually went to his place on a number of occasions. All he ever asked for was replacement blank tapes. We never socialized, never had dinner. He never asked for anything in return--except our passion. It was like he fed on that. He wanted to know what we'd seen and we'd loved.
And one day he just never returned my phone call.
I haven't thought of him in years, but God (and/or Alexis Smith) bless him.
I had heard originally when I first came across it that the footage was in fact from a rehearsal for the LA production. However, upon rewatching it, Young Phyllis sounds like Virginia Sandifur but Young Vanessa doesn't seem to be wearing the wig that Graciela Daniele presumably wore in the Tango during the New York run. I can't really find another characteristics that would distinguish the video though to determine where it's from.
I forgot it all started at Footlights! Of course it did--where else?
Let's say a prayer of thanks for people who feed on passion, who ask nothing of others in return except replacement blank tapes, people who only want to know what you've seen and what you've loved.
I had heard originally when I first came across it that the footage was in fact from a rehearsal for the LA production.
Ugh.
That's been the "official" response from "people who know" for years: "It's can't be New York, it has to be LA! There IS NO FOOTAGE from the Winter Garden! Absolutely none!"
The 29:33 "Dubbed 2" file begins with the Prologue playing over daytime footage of the sky above the Winter Garden and the marquee, then has the footage that Follies in Miniature was taken from, the same footage from which I extricated the Lucy/Jessie, Who's That Woman and Right Girl.
Why would anyone splice the sky over the Winter Garden at the beginning of LA footage?
Because they like to make our lives as difficult as possible. :)
It's finally nice to have that cleared up though because there was really nothing within the clips that could be used to distinguish where or when it was from, at least not to me. I'm just still so thankful someone had the sense to film as much of the show as possible!
I believe the dubbed stuff is the Winter Garden. I'm talking about the footage of the rehearsal with the actual sound from that moment, which I've seen labelled as LA Final Dress, NYC Final Dress and Boston.
That's what I was speaking about too Phyllis, I have no doubt the dubbed footage is from the Winter Garden, but the source of the higher quality footage is still a mystery to me.
The one Stratas recording I know of is closing night, and it's a soundboard so it should be somewhat decent quality. However, there could be more than one recording.
It's really very simple, you just would have to download it first. Then you would just have to hit Split, then input how large you want each split file to be (in your case it would be 75,000 KB or somewhere around there if you just want to cut right down the middle) and it does it for you. You would end up with two files that could be sent over YouSendIt and anyone who wants to watch would use the same program to join them back together.
All this footage is absolutely amazing. I've been obsessed with Follies since my grandma gave me the OBC when I was 7 years old, all the stories and footage have only fueled my obsession even more.
Unforunately I was born exactly ten years to the day that Follies opened on Broadway and missed out on the original production.
Wow I completely forgot about Sendspace and Megaupload, sorry about all of that HJSplit nonsense! On a related note, I put Ah, But Underneath on my account on that site.
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