THE WALTER READE THEATER

COLUMBIA RESTORATIONS: ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK

August 1 - 8, 2004


left: Rock Around the Clock

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Bill Haley & His Comets' recording of "Rock Around the Clock." The song was overshadowed by Haley's other single, "Shake, Rattle and Roll," until "Rock" was included in MGM's The Blackboard Jungle (1955). This exposure made hits of both the song and the film - and inspired Columbia producer Sam Katzman to create a new genre. Katzman had worked his way up from Poverty Row to Monogram before landing at Columbia Pictures in 1947. His specialty was cheap action pictures, but with the rise of the youth market in the 1950s, he responded by making exploitation pictures for the teen audience, starting with Teenage Crime Wave (1955). While The Blackboard Jungle had used Haley's music as a sign of juvenile delinquency, Katzman placed Haley, and rock 'n' roll, at the center of a movie for the first time. The result, titled ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK (what else?), made movie and rock 'n' roll history. The other studios soon followed suit with their own rock films, but Columbia had a head start on the competition, which it maintained thanks to Katzman's experience at turning one film into a series of them. This program of Columbia restorations brings back the films that helped make rock music a national phenomenon. The films to be screened feature performances by Little Richard, Gene Vincent, the Platters, Dion, Danny and the Juniors, and Dusty Springfield. COLUMBIA RESTORATIONS: ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK highlights the ambitious program at Sony Pictures Entertainment's (SPE) to restore titles from the rich Columbia Pictures library.

We are grateful to Grover Crisp and Michael Schlesinger at SPE for their cooperation in organizing this series. Notes courtesy of the UCLA Film and Television Archive programming staff.

ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK
Fred F. Sears, U.S., 1956; 77m
After a record promoter (Johnny Johnston) happens upon Haley and his band in rural Pennsylvania, he whisks them to New York and turns them into rock 'n' roll stars. The thin plot allegorizes the meteoric rise of rock 'n' roll from a down-home hybrid of blues and country music into a national phenomenon, but never gets in the way of invigorating performances by rock and roll pioneers such as Bill Haley and His Comets and the Platters. Besides the music and the amusing time-capsule slang spouted by the film's hepcats, ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK also affords a look at famed (and ill-fated) DJ Alan Freed.
Sun Aug 1: 2:45; Tue Aug 3: 5:15 & 8:45; Thurs Aug 5: 7:15

DON'T KNOCK THE ROCK Fred F. Sears, U.S., 1956; 84m The generational gap between rock 'n' roll-loving teenagers and their parents is addressed in ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK's follow-up. When rock 'n' roll star Arnie Haines (Alan Dale) returns to his hometown, he finds that his folks don't cotton to the tomfoolery dominating the airwaves. With the help of local teens and other musicians, he draws connections between rock 'n' roll and 1920s jazz. It's a tough sell, but Little Richard belting out "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally" is evidence enough to persuade anyone to join rock 'n' roll's cause. Sun Aug 1: 4:30; Tue Aug 3: 3:30 & 7 Thurs Aug 5: 9

LET'S ROCK!
Harry Foster, U.S., 1958; 79m When young balladeer Tommy Adano (Julius La Rosa) finds his career faltering, his manager (Mork and Mindy's Conrad Janis) encourages him to give rock 'n' roll a try. He refuses, considering rock 'n' roll an example of everything wrong with contemporary music, so his songwriter girlfriend enlists Danny and the Juniors, Paul Anka and Della Reese to help him see the light. The result is a curious, and curiously charming, hybrid between a traditional musical and teen rock fare, featuring Broadway star Phyllis Newman as the love interest on the one hand, and Danny and the Juniors banging out "At the Hop" on the other. Keep an eye out for future game show host Wink Martindale in a scene-stealing role as a hip-to-it crooner.
Sun Aug 1: 6:15; Mon Aug 2: 4:30; Fri Aug 6: 8:30

TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK
Oscar Rudolph, U.S., 1956; 66m
When a music promoter learns that the word on the street is that rock 'n' roll is dead, he sets out to find the next craze to revive it. He finds it in the same place that rock 'n' roll began, the blues and country music bars of the American hinterlands. His discovery, the twist, quickly sweeps the nation as teens can't help but rotate their hips to Chubby Checker's infectious rhythms. If this sounds like a description of ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK , it should. Screenwriter James B. Gordon recycles his own script to that previous movie scene for scene but ups the sexual heat slightly, taking full advantage of the burlesque opportunities provided by the twist.
Sun Aug 1: 8; Mon Aug 2: 6:15; Thurs Aug 5: 5:30; Fri Aug 6: 7

BYE BYE BIRDIE
George Sidney, U.S., 1963; 112m
When the nation's singing sensation, Conrad Birdie (Jesse Pearson), is called to active duty in the army, his managers (Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke) arrange for him to give a farewell performance on television. To heighten the drama, he will give a good-bye kiss to a lucky young lady from the American heartland (Ann-Margret). BYE BYE BIRDIE satirizes the entertainment industry as it tries to reinvent the Hollywood musical for the rock 'n' roll age. The result is a widescreen ode to the pleasures of popular music on both sides of the generation gap.
Wed Aug 4: 4 & 8:30; Sun Aug 8: 6

IDOL ON PARADE
John Gilling, U.K., 1959; 88m
Anthony Newley found himself transformed from British supporting actor to singing matinee idol almost overnight thanks to this then-topical musical comedy. He plays Jeep Jackson, an up-and-coming rock singer drafted into the military. Naturally, his freewheeling ways don't endear him to his commanding officers, but they do draw the approving attentions of their daughters. In addition to its affectionate nods to Elvis Presley's own army career, the film includes several musical numbers, including "Idle Rock-a-Boogie."
Wed Aug 4: 6:30; Sun Aug 8: 4 & 8:15

IT'S TRAD, DAD! aka RING-A-DING RHYTHM
Richard Lester, U.K., 1962; 78m
Two years before being hired to direct A Hard Day's Night, Richard Lester honed his filmmaking skills with this inventive comedy. Lester's experiences with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers on the British TV hit The Goon Show clearly influence the almost surreal approach he takes to the film. American and British rock and jazz stars rise to the occasion when two teenagers (Helen Shapiro, Craig Douglas) mount a campaign to change a small English town's negative opinion of popular music. It's a tried-and-true story, but Lester's frenetic camerawork and 26 - count 'em, 26 - musical numbers keep the film fresh. Fri Aug 6: 3:30; Sat Aug 7: 4 & 7:30; Sun Aug 8: 2:15

JUST FOR FUN!
Gordon Flemyng, U.K., 1963; 85m
JUST FOR FUN!'s flimsy premise involves teenagers forming their own political party when Britain's stuffy prime minister makes the mistake of curtailing broadcasts of rock music programs. But story definitely takes a backseat to spectacle here, as the plot is forced to squeeze in between dozens of quick musical numbers, typically performed using eye-popping, if inexpensive, sets and costumes. (One number involves three fright-wigged beauties wearing candy-striped bodysuits and twisting in slo-mo.) Watch for Dusty Springfield, performing here as one of the Springfields. And check out who the cinematographer is. Fri Aug 6: 5:15; Sat Aug 7: 2, 5:45 & 9:15

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