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Post by eddiejinnj on Jun 11, 2020 14:11:24 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum, ted!!! POP was the first ever ppv movie,tmk. I tried putting in the question "What was the first pay per view movie ever?" in search and no movie results came up just fighting events. eddiejinnj
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Post by Partridge on Jun 11, 2020 15:47:00 GMT -5
I don't think it was the first PPV movie, but it was the first to debut on Pay Per View and in theaters on the same day. Therefore, most theater chains, maybe all of them, boycotted the movie. I don't think it ever showed in a single theater here in the Republic of South Carolina. more info here: Pirates of Penzance (Home Video) The info here seems to suggest that you may be right about it being the first:
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Post by rick on Jun 11, 2020 20:15:20 GMT -5
I remember going to a theater in Beverly Hills to see the film of "Pirates of Penzance" the evening on the day it opened. There was a line to get in to the theater. I did go back again in the first week of the release as I wanted to support it. Didn't have cable back then, only over-the-air TV so Pay-Per-View was not an option.
When "Pirates" was on Broadway, I was fortunate to be living in Boston and was able to go to New York to see the production with Linda at The Uris (now Gershwin) Theatre.
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Post by fabtastique on Jun 12, 2020 0:47:17 GMT -5
The recent bluray release is wonderful quality .... the production was always very colourful and cartoon-like in style but it really pops now.
Definitely worth buying and I absolutely love it!
Would have been wonderful to see Linda on Broadway
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Post by fabtastique on Mar 13, 2021 9:01:34 GMT -5
Yesterday I watched the Broadway version of the show and today I’m watching the film.
Both are actually quite wonderful, in my view, showing a great deal of charm, comedy and of course fun musical numbers.
It’s such a shame the film was not better received and more of a hit .... not that it would have pushed Linda into more films I don’t think but who knows.
Interesting that there were three Ruth’s .... Patricia Routledge, Estelle Parsons and Angela Lansbury - all great in the performance !
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2021 14:46:48 GMT -5
Linda has said more than once that she was not comfortable performing in an acting role, either onscreen or onstage. I think that she was wise in sticking with her strength - her peerless vocals....
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Post by guest on Mar 13, 2021 16:40:29 GMT -5
The movie was sabotaged from the beginning. It was the first ever major film to open simultaneously in the movie theaters AND pay per view television. Movie theater owners were furious about it which led to opening on minimum screens and poor venues around the country. Had the movie been more successful I have no doubt Linda would have pursued more film roles. She was considered for the movie Ragtime, Jesus Christ Superstar and as Belle Starr. oh well...too late now as it is best to strike when the fire is hot...
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Post by fabtastique on Mar 14, 2021 2:36:50 GMT -5
ironically many movies are now having their premieres on TV due to the pandemic.
I would like to see this on the big screen though!
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Post by rick on Mar 14, 2021 5:36:54 GMT -5
Fab, after seeing “Pirates” live on Broadway with the original cast, I eagerly awaited the film’s release. Despite the day-and-date release on cable, a group of friends and I attended “Pirates” at a showcase theater in Beverly Hills on the Friday it opened. I remember that a lot of Linda fans were there, the line went down the block. I went back again to see it in that same theater a few night later. So glad to have lived in a time before multiplexes ruined moviegoing. Sadly, even here in L.A./Hollywood many of the big movie theaters are being carved up or turned into office buildings or demolished. The Aero in Santa Monica is one of the genuine revival movie houses left here. Good luck finding it playing in an actual cinema. If you do, I bet they’d just run it off the Blu-Ray instead of using an actual film projector.
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Post by erik on Mar 14, 2021 12:35:28 GMT -5
Quote by rick re. "Pirates":
God help us if that ever happens...with this or any other film!
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Post by PoP80 on Mar 14, 2021 12:58:52 GMT -5
Quote by rick re. "Pirates": God help us if that ever happens...with this or any other film! I don't think it played very long in movie theaters when it opened originally because of unfavorable reviews. It pales in comparison to live stage versions and it's disappointing that it didn't translate well to the screen. As much as I love Pirates (and saw it live countless times), I find the film pretty unwatchable.
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Post by erik on Mar 14, 2021 13:44:20 GMT -5
Quote by PoP80:
I think the problem stems from this being such a unique and, to my knowledge, virtually unprecedented undertaking. Doing film versions of Broadway shows and musicals is by no means out of the ordinary. Doing film versions of operas is a bit less common (though Ingmar Bergman did a filmed version of W.A. Mozart's beloved 1791 opera "The Magic Flute" in 1975, and a very good one in a lot of people's opinions). Making a musical film out of a Broadway production of an opera, especially an English-language comic operetta of the late 1880's--folks, if anyone can name any other occasion when this was done prior to Pirates, then please do, because I don't know of any instance of that.
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Post by rick on Mar 14, 2021 15:04:36 GMT -5
Quote by rick re. "Pirates": God help us if that ever happens...with this or any other film! I don't think it played very long in movie theaters when it opened originally because of unfavorable reviews. It pales in comparison to live stage versions and it's disappointing that it didn't translate well to the screen. As much as I love Pirates (and saw it live countless times), I find the film pretty unwatchable. Erik, most theaters do not use film anymore. Most use digital. This is why I love seeing films at The New Beverly Cinema -- always on film is the motto. 'Always on Film' After 10 years of being a benefactor of the theater, Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino became owner and head programmer. Committed to celluloid, Quentin made the unique decision to have the New Beverly solely project film prints. "I want the New Beverly to be a bastion for 35mm films. I want it to stand for something. When you see a film on the New Beverly calendar, you don’t have to ask whether it’s going to be shown in DCP or in 35mm. You know it’s playing in 35 because it’s the New Beverly." About two years ago, a friend of mine had rented a theater to show Barbra Streisand's "Yentl" and the theater told my friend that they do not use film, only digital. I happened to have given my friend a copy of the Blu-Ray of "Yentl" and the theater owner said that that is often what they show -- Blu-Rays. So, Erik, very few theaters nowadays show movies on film. Film is the exception now, not the rule.
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Post by fabtastique on Mar 15, 2021 0:59:53 GMT -5
Yes several cinemas in London will do showings for any film .... they will try and source an actual copy of the film to show but otherwise will use the best digital version they can get hold of !
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Post by rick on Mar 15, 2021 2:21:23 GMT -5
Fab --- do you have to rent out the theater? And pay for the rental of a pristine film copy? Or ....? Or would it be a revival house and you have to wait for them to program it?
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Post by moon on Mar 15, 2021 11:40:56 GMT -5
Never saw the movie but I heard it didn’t get the best reviews. I have watched the snippets available on YouTube of a performance in , Central Park? Makes me wish I had been able to see it live. I was a late comer fan of LR. It was the Pirates of Penzance that started to make me a fan her. Prior to that I never paid much attention to her music or cared much about it. It was this and the Nelson Riddle recordings that changed my opinion on her and made me a huge fan.
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Post by moon on Mar 15, 2021 11:54:47 GMT -5
The movie was sabotaged from the beginning. It was the first ever major film to open simultaneously in the movie theaters AND pay per view television. Movie theater owners were furious about it which led to opening on minimum screens and poor venues around the country. Had the movie been more successful I have no doubt Linda would have pursued more film roles. She was considered for the movie Ragtime, Jesus Christ Superstar and as Belle Starr. oh well...too late now as it is best to strike when the fire is hot... A little off topic. I would have loved to hear LR sing the major role in Phantom of the Opera
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Post by fabtastique on Mar 16, 2021 0:51:15 GMT -5
Fab --- do you have to rent out the theater? And pay for the rental of a pristine film copy? Or ....? Or would it be a revival house and you have to wait for them to program it? I'm not sure of the details but am going to investigate .....I had seen more info previously on their website, including one option where as part of the rental you get allocated a number of tickets but then they open the viewing up to the public - which I think is nice as you may get the chance to speak with other fans of the genre, film or Linda. Or you can suggest the film to them and they try and include it in future programming .... the BFI / NFT have regular film festivals on a huge variety of themes. Previously I've seen loads of film noir there, as well as some great old musicals
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2021 13:45:15 GMT -5
The oldest songs Linda ever sang, first performed 31/12/1879, Puccini's "La Bohème" was 1/2/1896.
A point to consider, Linda's mother died from cancer while she was in her PoP performing season, a "bad death" Linda called it. I am sure she wanted to be home with her family then. She might indeed have looked unwell, it was very professional of her to continue.
There were lighter times, especially the giggling incident, when Linda and then Rex Smith were tickled by an out of key trumpet player, and were told to apologise to the audience. Linda's giggles are infectious and spontaneous, as in her Nelson Riddle concert over the bubbles at the start of her ensemble "Dreaming".
The "Charming Interview" thread has a link to the interview, where Linda chats about her PoP time. She says that the movie was "miked", and the cast were lip synching.
I have the DVD of PoP, & also LP. Don't know if there is a movie soundtrack, but my LP is of the "original" NY performing cast.
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Post by MokyWI on Jun 18, 2021 10:02:08 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2021 14:05:23 GMT -5
Linda may not have wanted the dancing etc. Been a good Rizzo!
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Post by PoP80 on Jun 18, 2021 15:28:15 GMT -5
I think the PoP thread was locked temporarily, & forgotten about. Linda may not have wanted the dancing etc. Been a good Rizzo! Sorry to sound critical, but Linda's talent doesn't lie in dancing or acting. Her best acting performance was with Kermit and Miss Piggy, but that does not an actress make. Her incomparable voice, however, more makes up for her lack of prowess in other areas!
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Post by MokyWI on Jun 18, 2021 17:58:50 GMT -5
I am glad Linda stuck to singing.
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Post by erik on Jun 18, 2021 18:18:17 GMT -5
Quote by PoP80:
Well, the dancing part is obviously not in her wheelhouse. The acting part....well, that depends. I have said more than a few times that, early on her career, like the early 1970's or so, she could have done something inside the Western genre and made it work, given her Arizona background, riding horses and the like (and the fact that a lot of films in the genre were filmed on location in and around Tucson). Still, yes, she is matchless in singing (though she has proven herself pretty good at playing acoustic guitar).
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2021 13:09:22 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2021 15:41:05 GMT -5
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 21, 2021 20:03:44 GMT -5
Well, the dancing part is obviously not in her wheelhouse. The acting part....well, that depends. I have said more than a few times that, early on her career, like the early 1970's or so, she could have done something inside the Western genre and made it work, given her Arizona background, riding horses and the like (and the fact that a lot of films in the genre were filmed on location in and around Tucson). Still, yes, she is matchless in singing (though she has proven herself pretty good at playing acoustic guitar). Linda should've been put into a few movies when she was 21 or 22, just to get her feet wet. It's worth noting it was mentioned in one of the early articles on Linda that she had enrolled in acting classes and that Screen Gems was interested in developing a TV series for Linda. As I have mentioned before (I think), Screen Gems had a 1971 pilot for a TV show, which I think was done with possibly starring Linda. Its title was Bobbie Jo and the Big Apple Goodtime Band, about a band of country rockers. And if it was written and produced with Linda in mind, she passed on it, because the pilot was terrible. It starred Season Hubley as Bobbie Jo and a nondescript group of fake singer-musicians, who neither sang nor played. Season didn't sing either. All of the vocals were done by others and session musicians made the music. I couldn't see Linda wanting to star in that dreck as it wasn't very funny and the music wasn't very interesting. For Season, it was her start and it almost could've been something that killed her career before it ever got to start. And as Linda was just a matter of degrees separate from Mike Nesmith, I think she would've been like him in wanting a say in the songs chosen and the musicians who played on them. If she made those demands, maybe the Screen Gems executives recalled when the mercurial Nesmith led a revolt with his fellow Monkees against Don Kirshner and the other powers that be in wanting to pick the songs and play on the recordings. I'm sure they didn't want a repeat of that bit of history. There were a number of B-movies in the late 60s and early 70s Linda's managers could've gotten her signed to appear in, which would've allowed her to test her acting chops. Linda's naivete then probably wouldn't have allowed her to demand to star in A-list vehicles only, but I think the actors and actresses she might have worked with would've given her tips and encouragement so that if she wanted to pursue an acting career, she wouldn't be nervous each time she started a new movie. Like Elvis, though, she would've needed a great director to guide her. Many ripped Elvis's favorite movie director, Norman Taurog, as not being a very good director, but Taurog mentored Elvis on his acting and got him to relax in front of the camera. That's what Linda would've needed early on, in order to have made the transition to movies. As for the POP, I've only seen it once and once was too much. It's in my list of terrible movies starring rock performers, such as The Fastest Guitar Alive, rock's version of Plan 9 from Outer Space (with Roy Orbison), C'mon Let's Live A Little! (Jackie DeShannon and Bobby Vee). Should've been titled C'mon! Let's Don't Live A Little! The problem wasn't Linda. The problem was the whole movie and cast. Someone should take all the known copies of the movie, pour gasoline on it and light it up! If Linda entertained any notions about an acting career during the movie production of the Broadway play, the POP probably killed those notions. Just because it was a Broadway play didn't make it a work of art and notches above most movies. It was actually down in the dungeon of bad movies, rock or otherwise.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2021 3:30:51 GMT -5
Another way could have been a bit part in a TV show, as Suzi Quattro had in "Happy Days". Just a few lines and appearance.
I prefer natural Linda though, she is a real life character to be sure!
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Post by eddiejinnj on Jun 22, 2021 7:05:22 GMT -5
How about a musician character that has a recurring role in WKRP in Cincinnati? Maybe Loni's singing sister? I guess they couldn't have a Linda poster up but there were others up. just supposin' eddiejinnj
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 22, 2021 10:57:37 GMT -5
How about a musician character that has a recurring role in WKRP in Cincinnati? Maybe Loni's singing sister? I guess they couldn't have a Linda poster up but there were others up. just supposin' eddiejinnj That would've been a good choice. WKRP In Cincinnati was a good, well written show which never had a drop in quality. Linda as Loni's sister? That would've been an interesting jutaxposition, two successful sisters. I guess the key to the success of episodes would've been whatever tension was put into those episodes to make the comedy work. That could've also been done as Bailey's older, successful sister as well.
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