• Am I My Brother's Keeper?
• A discussion with Alan Doshna about the book Thieves Of Bagdad and The Six Million Dollar Man
• Alan Doshna discusses C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia and THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER on Cable TV
• NEW IN FILMFAX #123 - An Interview with Sara Karloff about her father, horror icon Boris Karloff
• PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE - A Different Perspective
• SHORT VIDEO "DOUBLE FEATURE", edited by "Balloon Boy" mom Mayumi Heene at My You Me Studios.
• KELTON'S DARK CORNER on MySpace Russia

• JUNE WILKINSON QUEEN OF ALL MEDIA
• IRON MAN: BIRTH OF THE WAR MACHINE
• THE ARMOUR WITHOUT, THE SPIRIT WITHIN
• THE YIN AND THE YAN OF MR. YORDAN
• WHY THE WORLD NEEDED THE BEATLES
• JAMES DEAN – THE ROAD TO EDEN

• 3 Profiles: John Carradine | Nicholas Ray | Jean Vigo

---

JUNE WILKINSON QUEEN OF ALL MEDIA By Alan Doshna (Collage, Photos and Layout by Ed Canfield) Bomb-shell 2. One that is sensationally shocking, surprising or amazing. -American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. “Look at you!”. – One perhaps overly familiar fan, to Ms. Wilkinson(understandably) upon approaching her at a fairly recent convention. The “Blonde bombshell” phenomena of modern popular culture, as we think of it, more or less began in the films of the early 1930’s. Since then, a number of iconic female stars have made their mark in this way, seeming to have an almost mystical amorous charm, vitality and influence over men. Tragically, however, too many of these have had personal lives and careers beset by illness, problems and premature death. Jean Harlow, Veronica Lake, Barbara Payton, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and others trod upon their respective paths seemingly overgrown with thorns. Such a one, then, who, unannounced and to all appearances casually seems to defy such preconceptions and outcomes is certainly worthy of attention. Two noteworthy, yet seemingly unrelated events occurred in Eastbourne, England in the year 1940. The first residential property attack on Britain of the second World War occurred there on July 7th(By the end of the war, it had received more attacks{98 raids} than any other town in South East England). The other was that at this time of looming conflict and distress in the world, one little June Rose Wilkinson was born on March 27. “I didn’t really sleep in a bed till the was was over. When the sirens went off for an air raid, you would seek shelter under a table, so if the building collapsed, you would be protected. We had this big steel table, and we would sleep under it so we wouldn’t be disturbed by the frequent air raids…I do recall one time when we were living on the coast watching a plane come in, and it was shooting at people down the street. I didn’t really understand what was happening, and I was far enough away that I didn’t see the blood and devastation that occurred”(Interview with Paul Parla, “Screen Sirens Scream” by Paul Parla and Charles P. Mitchell). Determined to make a career for herself as a performer, her mother Lily took in needlework to help pay for June’s ballet, tap, and ballroom dancing lessons from the age of five. She started on stage at age 12 in the pantomime “Cinderella” at the Devonshire Park Theater in the principal ballet dancer’s role. “I was an ugly duckling kid” she recalled. As one writer put it: “The storybook metaphor held true; just five years later she metamorphosed into the glamorous 17-year old who almost took America by storm”. Eventually, however, two factors led to June eventually giving up her dancing career. “It is a very hard life, and it’s much more difficult to make a name. You could easily name hundreds of film actors, stage actors and even models. But you would have a hard time naming 20 ballet dancers”(Parla). And, as she had earlier told Earl Wilson: “Anyway, I’d begun to develop too much. Big bosoms and Swan Lake don’t go together.”. Utilizing expert “lemon-into-lemonade” reasoning, however, her teacher at the Sussex School of Dancing thought she would be perfect for the lead dancer at the Windmill Theater. The Windmill Theater, whose motto was “We Never Closed” even during the darkest days of the Blitz, was the English equivalent of the Ziegfeld Follies and Vaudeville. It was also the subject of the films TONIGHT AND EVERY NIGHT(1945) with Rita Hayworth and MURDER AT THE WINDMILL(1949) one of the first films of writer/director Val Guest(The “Quatermass’ films). It also broadcast what became the BBC radio program The Goon Show, starring Peter Sellars, in the 1950’s, a forerunner of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Hired on the spot one week before her 15th birthday, June was immediately put in as the (youngest)lead dancer for the Can-Can and fan dance(though not as a stripper), and also played roles in the theater’s comedy sketches. Her modeling career began around this time as well. Originally, the pictures came from her stage shows, but sometimes afterwards they would take the dancers to the beach for some additional shots. She became friends with Mark Harrison(a.k.a. Harrison Marks) who, as a “big time” photographer, took what were considered the best pin-up photographs in England, and was able to get her pictures in a lot of magazines and newspapers. Harrison/Marks formed Kamera Productions Ltd, a magazine publishing company with then-wife, noted model and actress(PEEPING TOM) Pamela Green, whom he later directed in the nudist cult film NAKED AS NATURE INTENDED(1962). By the fall of 1956, June was receiving lucrative offers from cabarets all over London, and decided to seize the opportunity and strike out on her own. She continued with her fan dancing, and began a variation of the Dance of the Seven Veils. Not long afterwards, the Embassy, the classiest club on Bond Street offered her an exclusive contract. At the Embassy, June came up with what is considered the most memorable striptease routine of her career, as only the daughter of a professional window cleaner could: wearing only a multi-layered bikini, she stood behind a non-opaque sheet of glass, while front row customers would take aim and fire suction cup darts her way, in the hopes of scoring a hit over a garment, which would then be removed. Then they would reload and the unveiling continued until she was down to the “bare essentials” or what was allowed by the law. As the prize, the lucky winner with the last, best aim received a hug and a kiss, as well as a bottle of champagne . Although declining numerous marriage offers(one Eastern prince offered her an elephant as the supreme expression of his love), she did, however, accept a job offer from a plastics manufacturer who saw her dancing at the Embassy, to represent his company at a plastics exhibit in Chicago. Her title was “Miss Plastic Houseware”. On her first day in the states, June appeared on the “Today” show. On her second night in America, at a party to which she was invited by designer Oleg Cassini, she met producer Ray Stark, who signed her for a $250-a-week movie contract with Seven Arts. Question: Was there a particular movie star that inspired you to want to be an actress around the time you decided to pursue that goal? June Wilkinson: Yes, I don’t remember the star, I probably was about ten years old, and there was a movie out, that was in black and white that was about a circus, and this very glamorous blonde, her job was diving off the diving board at a very high level in a really sexy, sparkling outfit, and I remember saying to my father, “That’s what I want to do, I want to be a movie star, and glamorous like that”. He picked me up and looked in a mirror and he said, “Hey, I think you have a nice face, but it’s not a movie star face, so get a career”. And I never forgot that, and when he came to see me on Broadway, I reminded him about that and he said, "Hey, I still think you’re doing a con job on the American public”. That was my father’s comment…! Q: Do you remember if it was a British movie, or… JW: you know, I don’t even remember. I don’t even remember who the star was. But she was a, it was one of those movies where she was a high dive, where she dived into a little (tank) but making it very high up. Q: Maybe Esther Williams? JW: I don’t think so. No it wasn’t. She was blonde. While in Chicago, after viewing a copy of Playboy magazine, she said “I think my body’s better than anyone in there.” Realizing her time was limited on this trip, and thinking the publicity would only help her career, on a whim, she called Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner at midnight. He knew who she was, called in a photographer and shot right then and there, which photos appeared in the layout “The Bosom” in the Sept., ’58 issue. (Proud to have pronounced her as having “a Bosom worthy of a capital B”{not a title to be given or taken lightly}, she has since then appeared six more times in the magazine{never as a centerfold, however}, more than any other model. She had also appeared as a Bunny for a week at the then-newly opened Playboy Club in Chicago not too long after that). Upon her trip back from England, however, Seven Arts was “less than thrilled” about her exposure. In the late 50’s, such a career move by an aspiring starlet was considered shocking. Later on, a 1978 L.A. Times article about June stated: ”She regards the titillating modeling work as a major tactical error. She assumed the publicity from her posing could only help her career. ‘But there was a hitch”, she said with a sigh. “People thought of me as a model’ and not an actress. “if I had it to do over again, I would have waited and done it the right way’”. Seeing the opportunity, however, Seven Arts set about to make her “the most photographed nude in America”, and introduced her to Russ Meyer, who promptly took “a ton of pictures”, and used her (or rather her torso) in his now “classic” feature film THE IMMORAL MR. TEAS(1959). Commenting on the publicity regarding the greatly varying accounts of her exact measurements, she said “The way reporters covered me, I thought my name was June Wilkinson 44-23-36. I mean they would always put my measurements behind my name. I got a little tired of that (so) if the reporter was a jerk, I would give him some ridiculous measurements and if he was a nice guy, I would give him an honest answer. I had a heavier bust when I was in my teens. When I was in my twenties I went for a thinner look…so it was normally about 40 inches”(Parla). She feels all of this publicity, however, did later benefit her stage career, but that’s getting a little ahead of the story (Many of June’s countless magazine and other types of covers from throughout her career can be viewed at www.magazineframes.com). Q: How do you differentiate, for people who ask, between the type of modeling Work that you’ve done and what some people would consider to be pornography? JW: Well, I consider nude, just because I’m nude it’s not pornography, like Venus De Milo is not pornography, David is not pornography. What makes… it’s a very grey line,but when something is art and something is just for, is crude, rude and lewd, and just vulgar, you know, it’s a very fine line, but I think it’s very distinguishable. And I always have tried to do things that were classy, things that I thought would be good and always hold up and, many years from now, will be considered classic photographs. I mean pornography is you know, feeling yourself up and down, or you know, showing yourself wide spread open just to, you know just for the view. Which I’ve never had any frontal pubic hair shots done on me, so. I don’t think I could in any way be considered “pornographic”. It was around this time as well that naturally brunette June was persuaded to become a “blonde bombshell”, ironically and almost as a triumph, given the wartime circumstances of her childhood, described earlier. Q: Burt Bacharach, with whom you had a relationship years ago, was one of the great composers of the 1960’s. Did he ever tell you, or do you feel, that you were the inspiration for any of his songs? JW: Uhh, no, he didn’t, but I dated him for about a year, and actually I was introduced to him by Marlene Dietrich. I was in Marlene’s dressing room in Las Vegas, and Burt was her conductor at that time. And he also had two hit records at that time, I think one by Marty Robbins, and that was The Story of My Life, and another one by Perry Como, which I think was Magic Moments. Anyway, we started dating, and a lot of times he would be conducting, I know I flew into San Francisco when he was conducting for her and you know, in a few places, and I was in SHOCK, recently, when I read Marlene’s biography, and found out that he was her last lover! I don’t know what kind of arrangement THAT was, but I never knew anything about him having an affair with Marlene at the time and he never said anything to me! No, I don’t think I ever was. I’d like to SAY I was, but I don’t think so. If her film career was not all she wanted it to be, it’s impact and significance is still worth considering. She made her made her true film debut in the “odd western” THUNDER IN THE SUN (1959)(with screenplay adaption by Stewart Stern{REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE}). After being released by Seven Arts, besides MACUMBA LOVE(1960), perhaps her best known film, she got to appear in a number of films by some very interesting and noteworthy directors. In addition to Russ Meyer, mentioned earlier, she appeared in Albert Zugsmith’s THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ADAM AND EVE(1959), which was kind of an attempt at a Cecil B. DeMille-type Biblical (in this case comedy)extravaganza with a huge cast of stars(including Mickey Rooney, Mamie Van Doren and Paul Anka), except on a low budget, and John Cassavetes’ TOO LATE BLUES(1962), who had originally considered June for the lead role. THE PLAYGIRLS AND THE BELLBOY(1961) (in 3D) was directed by a pre-GODFATHER Francis Ford Coppola and Jack Hill(SPIDER BABY) in the “grand” tradition of Jerry Warren, Roger Corman, Al Adamson and Woody Allen’s WHAT’S UP TIGER LILY?(1966), where a foreign film,(in this case German) was interspersed with scenes shot in the U.S. and dubbed into English to make it more palatable for home audiences(Coppola and Hill had previously done the similar (3D) TONIGHT FOR SURE {1961} without June). In the midst of the hodgepodge and considering the budgetary limitations, June fends for herself pretty well, particularly one cute scene where the male lead, in drag, “auditions” to be one of her girls. She ponders what would be an appropriate exotic name for “her”, and, with a flourish, decides upon “Frou-Frou”. At the time of it’s release (1961) a group of U.S. Army and Air Force G.I.’s stationed in Germany who watched TWIST ALL NIGHT decided to cut and keep the last 50 feet of it with her in it, and 35 years later, appropriately, invited June to their reunion! Footage from the film where she appears was also included in the documentary TWIST (1994), and John Waters later paid homage to the poster for TWIST ALL NIGHT, including June’s horizontally patterned skirt, on the one for his HAIRSPRAY(1987).    Conversations she had with Brian Donlevy (“Professor Quatermass”) while she was is in Brazil shooting MACUMBA, and he was filming THE GIRL IN ROOM 13 (1961) (Directed by Richard {FRANKENSTEIN’S DAUGHTER} Cunha led to her being approached for Astor’s CAREER GIRL (1959), which played on 42nd Street for years. The fact that it may have been due, at least in part, to a scene towards the end where she dives nude into a swimming pool…is beside the point! In fact, to her slight embarrassment, it was still playing when she was on Broadway!! During her contract with Seven Arts, she began appearing at hotels and clubs with comic bandleader Spike Jones, doing a little singing and adding sex appeal. Jones is best known today by his recordings which are often heard on the Dr. Demento radio program, and included on CD collections tied in with the show, and was also a Monty Python precursor. Q: Could you tell us how you came to meet Criswell, and do you have any anecdotes or observations about him that you’d like to share with us? JW: Through Christine Jorgenson. She introduced me to him at some function. And then he got my telephone number from her, and he started making predictions in the paper. I was totally unaware, I want you to know, that he had been an actor. I only ever knew him as an astrologer, predictor, fortune teller, you know. And it wasn’t till years later that the people told me that he was one of the stars in all of Ed Wood’s movies. Criswell (upper left) and Christine Jorgensen (second from right) at the premiere of THE CHRISTINE JORGENSEN STORY(1970) at the Hollywood Theater in Los Angeles. Also, from right to left, Paul Marco, Mary Beth Hughes, Judy Canova, John Hansen (who played Christine in the film) and his girlfriend Lindsey. It was an L.A. production of Tennesee Williams’ Baby Doll, playing the role made famous by Carroll Baker in the film version, that led to her greatest success as an actress. Producers, seeing her in the play cast her in the lead role as a sexy mistress in Pajama Tops, an American version of the French sex farce Mou Mou. The play, which had been running since the early 50’s finally found it’s embodiment(ahem!) and driving force in June. From there, it played the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, three national tours, and eventually Broadway. The overwhelming success of the play, for which she received 10% of the grosses in addition to her regular earnings, reportedly made her the highest paid stage actress in the United States. Other stage productions which followed Pajama Tops were the Marriage-Go-Round, succeeding Julie Newmar in her successful role, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter, in the Jayne Mansfield part, Fanny, Any Wednesday, and Come Blow your Horn. Q: One of the photos you offer is of you standing next to George Harrison. For the benefit of us Beatle fans, could you tell us where and when the photo was taken, and any anecdotes you may have related to it? JW: yes, that was taken in Los Angeles, in the sixties, and we were at a cocktail party. I don’t remember the who’s, what and where of it but I’m not, I was never a girlfriend of his, um, he was very nice, and I found him always a lot of fun and rather shy, actually. But it was very obvious he was having a good time that night, you can tell from the smile on both our faces that it was a real fun party. We were having a good time. June’s favorite and best received film, the Mexican-U.S. LA RABIA DE DENTRO (1964) (American title:THE RAGE WITHIN) was unfortunately, not widely released in the U.S. THE CANDIDATE(1964) co-starring Mamie Van Doren once again, enabled her to sing a duet with Mamie , “The Girl In the Bikini With No Top On Top” which was released as a single. As the story goes, both June and Mamie performed the song in much the same manner as described in the title, to keep in the spirit of things, predating some of what goes on currently in morning radio. The song is included in the recent CD release Hollywood Hi-Fi. Q: Have you had any luck in finding two of your “lost’ films, CAREER GIRL(1959) and LA RABIA DE DENTRO? JW: Uh, no, actually there’s three of them. Mamie Van Doren and I both want the film that we did together with Ted Knight, that was called THE PLAYMATES AND THE CANDIDATE. So it’s three movies we’re looking for. Three I’m looking for. One with Mamie. As alluded to earlier, June was close friends for 20 years with Christine Jorgenson, who had the sex change operation in the early 1950’s and that Ed Wood’s GLEN OR GLENDA was intended to be the biography of originally. (THE CHRISTINE JORGENSON STORY was eventually filmed in 1970). JW: Yes, I knew Christine Jorgenson. I was doing a show at the Seattle World’s Fair at the Wharf Theater, and the show was Pajama Tops, and Christine was doing a nightclub act there. And so we met at a cocktail party and we became friends. She wanted to ask me all kinds of stuff about makeup and my clothes, and she was very into fashion, I remember that, and discussed what I did with this, that, and the other. And we remained friends until her death, and actually I went to her, uh, she had in her will I guess it was, she had put in that she wanted a party to celebrate her life. So they gave a party for Christine, they had a big portrait of Christine there. And I showed up with Johnny Ray the singer, and Mike Sather, who is the Vice President of my fan club, and we all “celebrated” Christine’s death. So I had known her for a lot of years. June’s career, which seemed to begin in earnest on tv with her Today show appearance, also includes other notable credits in this medium. Of particular note is her appearance as “Evilina” in an episode of Batman entitled “Nora Clavicle and Her Ladies Crime Club” in 1968. Interestingly, one of the most requested photos of her by her fans is in costume for this episode, with mask and almost fully clothed. Q: How do you account for the popularity of the photos of you as Evilina, mask and all? JW: Well, you know, I don’t know. Umm, it’s hard to say, but there’s a huge popularity on it. The one photograph that I have, (it) seems like everyone wants that when I do memorabilia shows. I usually sell out of that one because everyone wants it. I don’t think I can take full credit for that, I think part of it is the huge popularity of Batman. And maybe, the thought of having me in Batman. Q: How about the whole phenomenon of the ‘60’s Batman series? JW: I think the popularity of that is that we all like these super heroes. And just the fun, the fun of it and you can sit down and just laugh and have a good time, and it was pure entertainment. And I think it’s nice to have pure entertainment. She also appeared in a 1973 ABC TV Production of the comedy play Hellzapoppin with Michael Jackson, whom she remembers as being “pretty normal at the time”, and had made frequent guest appearances (and accurate predictions) on Las Vegas Sports Line while in town for her shows. In 1972, June married NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini, with whom she co-starred in one of her few film appearances of the 70’s, entitled WEED (1975), later released on video as THE FLORIDA CONNECTION. They had one daughter, Brahna, who was later a USTA ranked junior tennis player(Appropriately enough. Devonshire Park, in June’s hometown of Eastbourne, in which theater she debuted as Cinderella, is probably best known for it’s Ladies Tennis Championship, the preparatory test for Wimbledon) and has herself appeared in a film. The couple divorced in 1982. Unhappy with the movies she was making, she continued doing shows, not only what she called her “unemployment job” Pajama Tops, which still drew crowds, but Ninety Day Mistress, Norman Is That You? with Milton Berle and Mr. And Mrs. With Jackie Coogan(“Uncle Fester”) among others, as well. Unfortunately, however, June was replaced with Pia Zadora for a cable tv production of Pajama Tops. This, however, was not the first time the show experienced the vacuum left without June in the role, and the production flopped. For many years afterward she refused to do PT on stage, but did accept an offer in the mid nineties, which was a hit all over again in Canada. Although now playing the role of the wife, it was acknowledged that it was June who stole the show. After her divorce she decided she wouldn’t mind doing movies again, in the hopes of being offered something good somewhere down the line.down the line. Her subsequent films include FRANKENSTEIN’S GREAT AUNT TILLIE (1983) with Donald Pleasance and Zsa Zsa Gabor and the “rather creepy anthology” TALKING WALLS (1984) with Sybil Danning and in which June had a brief topless scene. In a Pasadena Playhouse production of the Tony Award-winning musical The Mystery Of Edwin Drood, based on the story by Charles Dickens, June appeared as one of a number of special, one line guest stars. The show’s author/composer Rupert Holmes(whose credits include The Buoys’ of-beat hit “Timothy” and “The Pina Colada Song”) had her come on wearing a gasp-inducing, strapless blue sequined gown. Acknowledging her presence, one of the cast members reacted with “… If you say her name three times you’ll go blind”. Years earlier, she recorded the exercise album Calendar Presents June Wilkinson and Her Physical Fitness Formula. Although seemingly for the ladies, the producers no doubt strove to reach for the “broadest possible audience appeal” by using a seductive cover photo of her in a nearly negligible negligee, and including a photo insert with a bikini-clad June demonstrating the excercises. Still ahead of the fitness craze of the eighties, she opened the June Wilkinson Aerobic Workshop Center in Toronto in 1976, which was the first aerobics studio ever in Canada, having as many as five at one time, but that she has since sold. One of June’s personal favorite photos In an issue of the magazine Glamour Girls Then and Now, Vol. 2, in the article “June Wilkinson: the Goddess’s Magic Endures’, Steve Sullivan writes: “On an episode of Vegas in the late 70’s, there was an extended shootout sequence on the Union Plaza Hotel with a gigantic neon sign emblazoned in front advertising “June Wilkinson in Pajama Tops”. Robert Urich, the star of the series, happened to meet her for the first time at the Playboy Mansion. ‘June Wilkinson’ he declared with delighted surprise. ‘I just spent a whole week with your name in front of me…I’ve never seen anyone’s name that big’ Urich marveled”. This author had his own experience with the same marquee as well. One of the few times my mom came out west from New York was when she and my brother took a vacation in Las Vegas around that time. I hopped on a Greyhound bus from Pasadena, CA to visit them for a day or so, and as we approached the station for arrival, it passed by the sign with June’s name on it. Having then moved out from upstate New York fairly recently, I had the realization that I was now in the land where the stars of my favorite movies dwelled, and it just seemed like there were some exciting times ahead. In 1997, June appeared in her first photo spread in years, in the issue of Celebrity Sleuth entitled “Sexiest Women of 1997”, as well as being #9 “Goddess of the Ages” in Glamour Girls: the Illustrated Encyclopedia. In 1999, she came in at 30 for Playboy’s “100 Sexiest Stars of the Century” Q: Having accomplished as much as you have in your life, do you have any kind of philosophy of living, including what lies beyond this physical lifetime? JW: Well, I don’t belong to any particular religion, I actually think more harm is done in the name of religion than good, but I do believe in the law of karma, and I think what you give out you get. I think there probably is a hereafter, but I don’t know, and I just hope that I, if there is a judgment day, I’ll be judged kindly. Besides appearing at numerous autograph shows, memorabilia conventions, and in documentaries (she has agreed to appear in an upcoming one on the life and career of Criswell, after which the producers plan to do one devoted to her) June has also recently been working on the production side of the business.   Q: When did you have the first inkling that you would like to be a producer, and how did it actually come together for you? JW: Well, I hadn’t really thought about it. And then I had this idea for a television Show, and I was watching television, and I saw the credit of Bob Emery. And he owns Media Entertainment, and he had directed a film that I had done years ago called WEED, which was then changed to FLORIDA CONNECTION. And he lived in Florida, with his wife, and I made a phone call, not expecting him to still be there twenty some-odd years later, and his wife answered the phone, and she said “Oh, Bob is gonna be in L.A. next week! I’m gonna have him call!” So he called me and we made a lunch date. I gave him my idea, and he says “Don’t tell anyone!” And the next day he called me up and he said “We’re On!” And then, after we did that, he said to me, he had this show, The Directors, and he wanted me to , I think he was in trouble with some, somehow he needed me to handle the one shoot and I guess he liked the way I did it because I became the regular Los Angeles producer for him, and I also produced, was Associate Producer on the movie with Michael Moriarty and Kelly Rutherford and Ben Savage called SWIMMING UPSTREAM. Which, by the way, also won the Los Angeles Film Festival Award for Best Dramatic Movie, so all my producing things have been better quality than the movies that I had personally been in. Even though MACUMBA LOVE has become a classic, a cult movie. She has been involved with four projects as producer along with long time associate, producer and director Robert J. Emery (THE FLORIDA CONNECTION) and his production company, Media Entertainment, Inc.: The Directors: In partnership with the American Film Institute, it is shown on Encore cable. The show has profiled directors such as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee (one could say, then, that June provides the “bridge” over the chasm between Spike Jones and Spike Lee) Tim Burton and many others, and has provided the basis for several books compiling the full length interviews. At this writing, the series has been renewed for it’s seventh season,(through 2004), and the episode The Films of George Lucas has received the following 3 awards: Platinum Best of Show Award(in the documentary-biography category) from The Aurora Awards Film & Video Competition The 2003 AXIEM Award for Absolute Excellence in Electronic Media The Crystal Reel Award(in the television documentary category) from the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association Swimming Upstream: A feature film starring Michael Moriarty. Director Emery shot the entire film on Sony’s new High definition 24P Digital system, “only the second film worldwide to be completed in this new cutting edge technology format”, and which was the winner of the 2001 Best Drama Film Award from the Angel Citi Film Festival/Los Angeles. Absolutely Glamorous: Teamed with June’s own Wilkinson Productions, Media, Inc. shot a pilot for this proposed series, with the intent of conveying “Forty years of women of glamour in films, television and print”, featuring a different subject every week, the first being Julie Newmar (“Catwoman”). The Genocide Factor: With Jon Voight as “Commentator”. On the other end of life’s spectrum; “About genocide from biblical times to the present”. Q: You once said that you believe that the best is yet to come… JW: I still believe that! It’s not over till you’re dead. And then, as we said, we’re not sure it’s over then, either. Q: Exactly. So, is there a particular role or type of role, and/or project that you would love to see come together? JW: I want to do quality stuff. And right as we’re speaking right now. There’s a script that I really love called The Missing Link, and we’re trying to put that together. Because I think this is a wonderful script. And so, that might (be the) next, fingers crossed, movie that I’d like to see done. Q: So what genre would it be? JW: Uh, sort of like E.T. But totally different! Although this author was aware of June’s work in MACUMBA LOVE, PRIVATE LIVES…and others for quite some time, it wasn’t until the article about her by Ian Johnston in Psychotronic Video #20 that I had my eyes opened, let’s say, about the extent of her career, and decided to make a point to meet this lady, reportedly “more glamorous than ever” at the earliest fan convention that presented itself. Well, that opportunity finally came at the Cult Movies Convention of about a year or so ago, which took place in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, and yes, those reports were true. Luckily for me, my friends Dolores Fuller and her husband Philip Chamberlin were at the table next to hers, so that when our conversation began to trail off, and other fans began to show up, I “casually” took a look over at what Ms. Wilkinson had to offer for sale. Perhaps sensing my hesitancy she told me “Don’t feel like you have to buy anything here. You can just look if you want”. “Oohh-kay!” It says much about her graciousness that while the “old Al charm” which I hoped would accompany me was conspicuously absent, it was really nice to meet and speak with her. And I DID buy an 8 by 10 of her as “Evilina”, which she signed. Wrote Steve Sullivan in the chapter about June in his book VaVaVoom (for it’s follow-up, Bombshells, June wrote the forward): “It’s not merely that her beauty, figure, robust sex appeal ardent popular following place her among the half-dozen leading glamour girls of the postwar era; rather, and even more impressive, it’s the fact that—unlike 99 percent of the women who first rose to fame as nude or pin-up models—she carved out a show business career of great longevity”. For which reason, among the remaining one percent, she qualifies as “Queen of All Media”. “Surprise for you” Some things (and people) never change. June at a recent convention. As actress or as herself, unless indicated otherwise: 1957: Pleasure Boat(BBC) 1958: The Today Show 1959: THE IMMORAL MR. TEAS (uncredited) aka MR. TEAS AND HIS PLAYTHINGS aka STEAM HEAT THUNDER IN THE SUN THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ADAM AND EVE Late 50’s: The London Palladium Show(BBC) Spike Jone’s Show 1960: MACUMBA LOVE CAREER GIRL PEPE PLEASE DON’T EAT THE DAISIES(poster used in film) Playboy’s Penthouse ’60-1: 77 Sunset Strip The Jerry Lester Show Alcoa Theater The Garry Moore Show The Joey Bishop Show Dutch Masters commercial 1961: TWIST ALL NIGHT aka THE CONTINENTAL TWIST aka THE YOUNG AND THE COOL THE PLAYGIRLS AND THE BELLBOY aka THE BELLBOY AND THE PLAYGIRLS 1962: TOO LATE BLUES 1963: LA RABIA POR DENTRO aka LA RABIA aka THE RAGE WITHIN aka THE RAGE WHO’S GOT THE ACTION(uncredited) 1964: THE CANDIDATE aka PLAYMATES AND THE CANDIDATE aka PARTY GIRLS AND THE CANDIDATE 1968: Batman 1970: HOLLYWOOD BLUE 1971: The Doris Day Show 1973: THE MACK aka THE MACK AND HIS PACK Hellzapoppin 1975: WEED aka THE FLORIDA CONNECTION Late 70’s: Las Vegas Sports Line(frequent guest) Early 80’s: The June Wilkinson Special The Phil Donahue Show The Regis Philbin Show 1983: FRANKENSTEIN’S GREAT AUNT TILLIE 1984: SNO-LINE aka DEATHLINE aka TEXAS GODFATHER 1986: VASECTOMY 1988: KEATON’S COP 1994 TWIST (archival footage) 1995-: The Directors (Producer) 1996: Absolutely Glamorous (pilot show, Producer) 2000: SWIMMING UPSTREAM(Producer, photos) 2002: The Genocide Factor(Producer) 2003: HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES (Photos) Christine Jorgenson (A&E documentary) Curtis Turner (History Channel documentary) Plays include: Baby Doll Pajama Tops The Marriage-Go-Round Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Fanny Any Wednesday Come Blow Your Horn Ninety Day Mistress Norman Is That You? Mr. And Mrs. A Bedful of Foreigners The Owl and the Pussycat What the Butler Saw Murder At the Howard Johnson’s Wally’s Café The Mystery of Edwin Drood Special thanks to June Wilkinson For a June Wilkinson catalog: s/a stamped envelope to Mike Sather 1025 N. Howard St. Dept. GG Glendale, CA 91207 June Wilkinson Fan Club Scott Hughes, President 7901 Iroquois Court Woodridge, IL 60517 Bibliography: The Best of Glamour Girls: Vol.2, Winter, 1997 “June Wilkinson: The Goddess Endures” By Steve Sullivan Bombshells By Steve Sullivan Forward by June Wilkinson Dirk Jasper Filmstarlexicon, “Peter Sellars” www.filmstar.de Eastbourne – A Brief History (Uncredited) www.gic.co.uk/ebhistory.htm Glamour Girls: Then and Now #15, Fall,Winter 2000, “June the Producer”(Uncredited) June Wilkinson fan Club Newsletter #6, 2000 June Wilkinson Fan Club Site members.tripod.com/junewilkinson0/ Kamera Publications www.kamera-publications.co.uk Los Angeles Times, 6/4/78 “A Trio of Temptresses” By David Lees and Stan Berkowitz Media Entertainment, Inc. http;//www.mediaent.net/films.html Psychotronic Video #20, Spring 1995 “June Wilkinson” by Ian Johnston "Screen Sirens Scream:" Interviews with 20 Actresses from science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir and Mystery Movies, 1930's to 1960's (c) Paul Parla and Charles P. Mitchell by permission of McFarland & Company, Inc., Box 611 Jefferson, NC 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com Triviazine #100 email@webtv.net “The June Wilkinson Fan Club”(Uncredited) VaVaVoom By Steve Sullivan, Thanks to Jimmy Mendoza   back to top

The Yin and the Yan of Mr. Yordan

By Alan Doshna

Considered by many to be one of the most colorful figures in Hollywood history, Writer/Producer(and sometimes Director/Actor) Philip Yordan is known for films that run the gamut of 1940's Monogram thrillers, Film "Noirs", 1950's "Cult" movies, historical epics, "Spaghetti" westerns, British sci-fi chillers and offbeat video features.

The Chicago-born Yordan was brought to Hollywood by director William Dieterle in the early 1940's, to co-write his first feature script, SYNCOPATION(1942),
and has been busy ever since.

Although much has been written about his collaborations with various writers, producers and directors, the amazing scope and resonance of his films has only been touched upon. I had originally intended to focus on his work from 1970 on, which has
received only scant attention, and to build interest at the start for contemporary readers. Intrigued at what I found, I decided to expand it into the article itself.

Long before the recent trend of producing Shakespeare in a modern context, in such films as RICHARD III, ROMEO AND JULIET, LOVE'S LABOURS LOST and even TROMEO(!) AND JULIET, Yordan wrote some of the first contemporary cinematic adaptions of the Bard's work.

HOUSE OF STRANGERS(1949) was kind of a cross between King Lear and the Biblical story of Joseph(which, by itself, was the source of the recent stage musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber,Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). Based on a book about an Italian family that, according to Yordan "didn't make any sense at all", he decided to come up with his own original storyline, touching on some of the classic themes. Leonard Maltin had this to say about it in his Movie and Video Guide: "(The) Unique plotline has been used in various disguises for many subsequent films-most memorably, five years later in BROKEN LANCE".

Twentieth Century/Fox used this as the basis for a remake in a western setting in 1954, entitled BROKEN LANCE, which starred Spencer Tracy, and won Yordan an Academy Award for Best Original Story. The tv series Bonanza used characters strikingly similar to those in both films: the patriarch and his four sons, the youngest named Joseph.

Thus, Broken Lance can be included in an even rarer category(including the non-Yordan spaghetti western JOHNNY HAMLET(1969)), a Shakespearean western! Still another western adaption of King Lear was Anthony Mann's THE MAN FROM LARAMIE(1955) which Yordan co-scripted. Along similar, though more obvious lines, he also wrote the script for JOE MACBETH(1956) which placed one of the playwright's most famous plays into a modern gangster setting.

Although not an actual adaption, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE(1955), starring James Dean and Natalie Wood, has been likened to the play Romeo and Juliet. Directed by noted Yordan collaborator Nicholas Ray, and with uncredited contribution to the script by the writer, the film has influenced a later, even more direct version, the 1950's musical and 1961 film WEST SIDE STORY, which even included leading lady Wood.

JOHNNY GUITAR (1954), also directed by Nicholas Ray, is a cross-gender western starring Joan Crawford, and a true cult film. Based on Roy Chanslor's book and scripted by Yordan, it is one of his best known works of and by itself, but whose themes and subjects have found their way into a number of amazing places.

Director Roger Corman did a quickie version of the same theme shortly afterwards in GUNSLINGER(1956) starring Beverly Garland, which, more recently was itself the subject of an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST(1969), directed by Sergio Leone and starring Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson, also draws plot inspiration from JOHNNY GUITAR, concerning the impact of the railroads' expansion. In his Leone biography, Something About Death, author Christopher Frayling quotes Bernardo Bertolucci, one of the films' writers, this way: "(JOHNNY GUITAR was) one of the more explicit references in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST".
CEMETERY WITHOUT CROSSES(1967) is another "spaghetti"co-written by Dario Argento, (who also co-wrote ONCE UPON A TIME...) and with Sergio Leone himself in a small role. Frayling writes: "The film owes a lot to JOHNNY GUITAR".

Other films including both female gunfighters and Leone homages include Alexandro Jodorowsky's EL TOPO(1971) and Sam Raimi's THE QUICK AND THE DEAD(1995).
Director Francois Truffaut also included an homage to JOHNNY GUITAR in MISSISSIPPI MERMAID(1969).

Another fan, Martin Scorsese, included JOHNNY GUITAR in a line of video releases bearing his name, for which he provided the on-camera introduction. He said: "Johnny Guitar is an example of a minor film grown to achieve the status of a classic. There is really no other film like it". In fact, perhaps due to the earlier film's success, author Chanslor wrote CAT BALLOU (1965) which starred Jane Fonda as a gunfighter!

An early Liverpool rock'n'roll group named Rory Storm and the Hurricanes capitalized on the then-popularity of western films and tv series by having it's leader bestow "colorful stage names on each Hurricane". Band member John Byrnes thus became "Johnny Guitar", owing to the film and it's title character.

(Another band member,one Richard Starkey, had a bit of a back door rechristening along these lines. He became known as "Rings", according to a biographer, for his "Teddy Boy habit of adorning each hand with four increasingly splendid rings". Unfortunately, however, the name of a particularly appropriate American gunfighter was already in use by a musician in another group. As it turned out, the drummer ended up appropriating it anyway, with a little switch here and a modification there, and later became a member of a popular 1960's group which had a string of hits.
His name? Ringo Starr. (The aforementioned quotes were from Alan Clayson's book Ringo Starr-Straight Man or Joker?)

Another Beatle-related connection was through scriptwriter Marc Behm who co-wrote HELP!(1965). His novel, Eye of the Beholder was originally written as a script for Yordan, although it was never produced by him. However, it was filmed twice, in France as MORTELLE RANDONNE(1983), directed by Claude Miller and starring Isabelle Adjani, and in English as EYE OF THE BEHOLDER(2000) starring Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd.

The recent award-winning box office hit GLADIATOR was partially inspired by and was based on the same time period as was Samuel Bronston's THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE(1964), for which Yordan was co-writer.

Yordan was nominated for an Academy Award three times: for DILLINGER(1945), DETECTIVE STORY(1951), and the previously mentioned BROKEN LANCE(1954,) for which he won. In the book Backstory 2, Interviews With Screenwriters of the 1940's and 1950's, he told author Pat McGilligan that he believes he won belatedly for DILLINGER, as the major studios in the 1940's had signed a consent agreement to not make gangster pictures at that time. The Academy took the path of least resistance, by not giving the award to the Yordan film, which was produced by the non-signatory Monogram Studios. Ironically, according to Yordan, "Darryl Zanuck (later) ran that picture again and again, and was used as the basis of many pictures at Fox. In other words, I had created a style".

He held back the script until Lawrence Tierney(RESERVOIR DOGS) was cast in the lead as Dillinger, who attained stardom in the role.

I came into contact with Philip Yordan when I was the Associate Producer of what later became THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EDWARD D. WOOD, JR.(1996). While working for the late Crawford John Thomas, who produced Ed Wood's first, aborted film CROSSROADS OF LORADO (sic)(1946), I ran across The Phantom's review of Yordan's NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR (1986), which consisted of three compressed horror features surrounded by a wild framing device. I sent Yordan a prospectus concerning the project and a video of CROSSROADS, to see if he would be interested in doing something along those lines to bring our film to feature length.

He fell in love with the idea of doing an "Ed Wood goes to Hollywood"-type biography, before ED WOOD was a twinkle in Tim Burton's eye. He envisioned something along the lines of CITIZEN KANE, with a reporter ferreting out the real story. Unfortunately, Thomas pretty much had his heart set on doing a documentary, and didn't actually have the financing to do the type of feature Yordan had in mind. Efforts to raise financing for the project on his own were, sadly, met with indifference.

Interestingly, in BRIDE OF THE MONSTER(1956), Ed Wood let actor Ben Frommer provide his own dialogue in a police interrogation scene, which was lifted verbatim from DILLINGER!
(cf. Nightmare of Ecstacy by Rudolph Grey).

Yordan also figures prominently in the recent, absorbing book Hollywood Exile; How I Learned to Love the Blacklist by Bernard Gordon, one of the writers adversely affected by the HUAC Hearings in the 1950's.
He hired Gordon as a surrogate writer during the 60's and 70's for numerous film projects he produced overseas, (including DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS(1962)) mostly in Spain. He is quoted on the back cover: "Everything Gordon writes about me is untrue, but I found the book fascinating".

Both Yordan and Gordon as well as numerous other Hollywood "survivors" were recently interviewed by Turner Classic Movies. According to Hank Rosenfeld, who covered the project for the L.A. Times Sunday Calendar Section("Ah, Yes, They Recall It Well", 12/26/00), "the interviews are employed as clips to tickle and teach viewers during TCM 'film festivals'".

Yordan still remains active in film. JOHNNY DILLINGER, a modern version of his classic script is in the works, and OUT OF THE BLACK, an independent feature for which he is Executive Producer,is in post production, at this writing. He has also assisted in my development of a sequel to the late Jerry Warren's WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN(1966).

Author Rosenfeld's words in winding up his article concerning Yordan and Gordon seem especially applicable to Yordan and his films: "TCM packs up another collection of archived memories of old men who will live forever, as classics".

Philip Yordan (1913-) Filmography (With acknowledgment to Pat McGilligan)

1941: All That Money Can Buy (a.k.a.The Devil and Daniel Webster)(Uncredited contribution)
1942: Syncopation (Co-Script)
1943: The Unknown Guest(Story, script)
1944: Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Co-script)
1945: Dillinger (Story, script)
Why Girls Leave Home(Uncredited contribution)
The Woman Who Came Back(Story suggestion)
1946: The Chase(Script)
Whistle Stop(Script)
Suspense(Script)
1948: Bad Men of Tombstone(Co-script)
Tap Roots(Uncredited contribution)
1949: House of Strangers(Script)
Anna Lucasta(Co-script, from his play)
The Black Book(a.k.a.Reign of Terror)(Co-story, co-script)
1950: Edge of Doom(Script)
1951: Detective Story(Co-script)
Drums in the Deep South(Co-script)
The Enforcer(Uncredited contribution)
1952: Mara Maru(Co-story)
Mutiny(Co-script)
1953: Houdini(Script)
Blowing Wild(Story, script)
Man Crazy(Co-story, co-script, co-producer)
1954: The Naked Jungle(Co-script)
Johnny Guitar(Script)
Broken Lance(Remake of House of Strangers)
1955: Conquest of Space(Co-adaption)
The Man from Laramie(Co-script)
The Last Frontier (Co-script)(aka Savage Wilderness)
The Big Combo (Story, script)
Rebel Without a Cause (Uncredited contribution)
Scarlet Coat (Uncredited contribution)
1956: The Harder They Fall (Script, producer)
Joe MacBeth (Script)
The Wild Party (Uncredited contribution)
1957: Four Boys and a Gun (Co-script)
Men in War (Script)
Gun Glory (Based on his novel Man of the West)
No Down Payment(Script)
Street of Sinners(Script)
1958: The Bravados(Script)
God's Little Acre(Script)
Island Women(Script)
The Fiend Who Walked the West(Co-script)
Anna Lucasta(Script, from his play)
Edge of Fury(Uncredited contribution)
Murder by Contract(Uncredited contribution)
The Lost Missile(Uncredited contribution)
1959: Day of the Outlaw(Script)
The Bramble Bush(Co-script)
City of Fear (Uncredited contribution)
1960: Studs Lonigan (Script, producer)
The Time Machine (Uncredited contribution)
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond(Uncredited contribution)
1961: King of Kings(Script)
El Cid (Co-script)
1962: 55 Days at Peking (Co-story, co-script)
The Day of the Triffids (Executive producer, script credited to Yordan, actually by Bernard Gordon)
1964: The Fall of the Roman Empire(Co-script)
The Thin Red Line(Uncredited contribution, producer)
Battle of the Bulge(Co-story, co-script, co-producer)
Crack in the World(Uncredited contribution, producer)
Circus World(Co-story suggestion)
1965: Bikini Paradise(Uncredited contribution, producer)
1968: Custer of the West(uncredited contribution, producer)
1969: The Royal Hunt of the Sun(Script, co-producer)
Krakatoa, East of Java(Uncredited contribution, producer)
1971: Captain Apache(Co-script, producer)
Badman's River(Co-script)
A Town Called Hell(aka A Town Called Bastard)
The Ying and the Yang of Mr. Go(Uncredited contribution)
1972: Horror Express(Uncredited contribution)
1973: The Mad Bomber (aka The Police Connection)(Uncredited contribution)
1974: Psychomania(Uncredited contribution)
1975: Pancho Villa(Uncredited contribution)
1977: Brigham (aka Savage Journey)(Script contribution)
1978: Cataclysm (aka The Nightmare Never Ends, aka Satan's Supper, aka Shiver)(Director, script)
1983: Death Wish Club(aka Carnival of Fools aka Erskine Caldwell's Gretta)(Script,actor)
Scream Your Head Off(Script)
1985: Night Train to Terror(Script)
1986: Cry, Wilderness(Script, producer)
1987: Bloody Wednesday(aka The Terrorists)(Script contribution, producer)
1988: The Unholy(Co-script)
1992: Too Bad About Jack(Script)
Marilyn Alive and Behind Bars(Script)
Dead Girls Don't Tango(Script)
2000: Out of the Black(Executive Producer)
Crossroads (Crossroads Films) (Executive Producer)

Novels include:
Man of the West

Plays include:
Any Day Now, Anna Lucasta, The Bride Got Farblondjet, and The Windy City.

Special thanks to Philip Yordan, Stephen R. Golden and Jimmy Traynor

Philip Yordan passed away on March 24, 2003.

WHY THE WORLD NEEDED THE BEATLES

It has now been more than two decades since a then-unknown singing group named “The Beatles” appeared on the “Ed Sullivan Show” one therwise ordinary Sunday night in 1964 . Twenty years after a global hurricane called “Beatlemania”, which swept the world soon after, the impact of the Beatles - the late John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – still persists. Magazine cover stories, newspaper articles, TV programs and even a laser show in southern California have celebrated their first appearance in the United states.

In his best-selling book, Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation, author Philip Norman writes: “Their music, that vast, nonchalant treasury, pours out in undiminished strength on record, on radio, in supermarkets, elevators; is hummed on the unconscious breath; is drummed by the fingertips of two continents”(p.13).

How could four popular musicians from England have wielded such a powerful impact on our society, even being given MBE(Membership of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) medals by Queen Elizabeth? Let’s look at some of the factors involved.

The world “needed “ the Beatles because of the time in which they appeared. The assassination of President Kennedy cast a pall across the United States – and the world. Political assassination was virtually unheard of in the unites states for decades. Suddenly Camelot was over. In the absence of the President’s dynamic energy, charisma and leadership, all that was left in the minds of the public was bewilderment, despair, and a vacuum.

Author Norman vividly contrasts this with the nervous anticipation of the Beatles’ first manager, the late Brian Epstein, about their first appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show” “America, if Brian had only known it, was (in a position to be responsive to the Beatles), was moving nearer his unconscious grasp as, far away in Texas, the mechanism of a high-velocity rifle was cleaned and checked, and a vantage-point was selected. America fell to him on the morning in Dallas that the Presidential motorcade set off on its route, supremely confident and open to the sunshine, and the curbside cinema enthusiast turned his camera toward the limousine which carried a young man’s unprotected head. This was Nov. 22, the day the Beatles’ second album went on sale in Britain”(p. 104).

Now the U.S. found itself without a leader, not knowing the solutions to problems that only began to hint themselves. The world was quite a different place in 1964. Viet Nam had not yet come to a head. The drug and hippie movement, the sexual revolution were all in the future, as were the race riots and other violence that characterized the latter 1960’s women’s liberation was then virtually unheard of.

Although, for that time, they were completely different from anything that anyone had ever seen or heard before, they still represented the basic values of that time. The article “George, Paul, Ringo and John” in Newsweek, Feb. 24, 1964 states: “They have even evolved a peculiar sort of sexless appeal: cute and safe. The most they ask is ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’(p.54). Their songs were devoid of innuendo, controversy and drugs which later crept into theirs and other’s sings. The Beatles seemed to compensate for the grief and growing problems for which there seemed to be no solution.

The world needed the Beatles because human beings have a basic lack within themselves that needs to be fulfilled from an outside source. The public frenzy that surrounded them originated neither with them, nor in popular music. “Musical hysteria is as old as music. Women shrieked, fainted and fought when Franz Liszt sat down at the piano: the German poet, Heine, to account for the frenzy turned to ‘magnetism, galvanism and electricity…of histrionic epilepsy, of the phenomenon of tickling, of musical cantharides, and other unmentionable matters’”(Newsweek). This same effect could later be seen in the influence of such entertainers as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, which, can even be seen in “Gospel” music.

The world needed the Beatles because they touched a responsive chord common to most human beings – the desire to be “set apart” from others, to be considered unique, and appreciated for that uniqueness, a need especially acute in the young, young people, facing sometimes contradictory parental supervision, anonymity among peers, and characterized by and represented as stereotypes even in the mass media. A pretty, 14-year-old girl scout, nurse’s aide and daughter of a Chicago lawyer put it this way at the time: “They’re tough…Tough is like when you don’t conform. It’s not hoodlum…Jimmy Dean was in the same class as the Beatles because he was tough. You’re tumultuous when you’re young and each generation has to have it’s idols”(ibid, p.54).

It is for that reason that the then-outlandish hairdos, overall “look” and “cheeky”-type humor that they had caught on as it did. Popular singing groups had developed a nondescript, stagnant, precanned quality about them. Nationally known cartoonist and commentator on popular culture Fred Hembeck, in his publication Bah, Hembeck, put it this way: “When the Beatles conquered America in 1964, they did it with a fresh sound, a fresh look, and a fresh approach to a musical idiom that couldn’t sustain tedium for long”.

The world needed the Beatles because they created a unity among people. Brian Epstein, in his 1964 autobiography, A Cellarful of Noise, put it this way: “By 1964 it had become fashionable to be a Beatle fan. There were no longer any barriers of any sort. Grandmothers and tiny children joined the middle and teen age ranks…By the summer of this year, practically every senior citizen, king of commerce, aristocrat or charity organizer was clamouring to illuminate his name, or his industry or his promotion with the name ‘Beatle’. It became clear that if you had a Beatle at a party, you were made socially”(pp.76-77). It was exciting and satisfying to see so many people equally excited and enthusiastic. It created it’s own momentum.

The world needed the Beatles because 1964 seems more like an utopia compared to 1984, and those who wanted them to reunite actually seemed to want them as they first appeared in 1964, as though they could bring back the relative sanity of that society. Fred Hembeck opines: “…their earliest music was so joyful, so vibrant, so fresh! Yet it took ‘Sgt. Pepper”(their first album to openly refer to drugs and controversial subjects) to make them truly respectable in the eyes of the music world. Years after the fact, ‘Sgt. Pepper’ doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as it once did, while it’s the Beatles’ earliest work that remains the most timeless”(p.23).

Although the Beatles actually didn’t initiate drug abuse, shoulder length hair, and beyond on men, outlandish clothing and dabbling in Eastern religion and the occult, because of all the factors mentioned above, combined with their incredible range of talent, they became representatives of a lifestyle of change and experimentation, which has reached into every area of society.

Years after the Beatles have qualified or even changed in those and other areas, a new generation of rock performers have taken them to new extremes. Twenty years after the Beatles arrived in the U.S., Newsweek magazine ran a cover story on today’s rock music entitled “Britain Rocks America – Again”, with transvestite “Boy George” of the band “Culture Club” and Annie Lennox, with short orange hair and masculine attire, lead singer for the band “The Eurythmics”, on the cover.

The article describes the “look” of the new rock stars: “…lined up, they would form an improbable parade of ghouls, transvestites, bikers with spiked dog collars, mercenaries in battle fatigues, tie-dyed tramps and dapper young squires”(p.50). Whereas everyone seemed to look the same in the 1960’s, now everyone seemed to look the same by looking different.

The article concludes by describing this new, cynical, shock-value rock and roll culture this way: “Their pop scene can be empty, contrived, flippantly trendy. It’s emphasis on irony makes it hard to produce heartfelt music…So roll over America. Forget about nostalgia for the earnest pop optimism of the ‘60’s and face the era of cramped hopes and wild style. Here comes the rock and roll of 1984”(p.57).

America, however, and other parts of the world seem unwilling to “roll over” and play dead. Seemingly even more true today, author Philip Norman wrote several years ago: “A decade after their partnership officially ended and the magic entity split into four all-too-human fragments, rumors of a second coming persisted—even strengthened. In 1980, even more than in 1963, the world seemed to be waiting for the Beatles”(Shout, p.12). More than twenty years later, more than ten years after they broke up as a group, the world still “needs” the Beatles, perhaps, ironically, to restore things to what they were at the time of their initial impact, to remove some of the impact that they later had.

In his song “Imagine”, John Lennon envisioned a world that he believed that man could bring about, where all people could live their lives in peace. Jesus Christ came in His time to offer personal salvation and redemption, to the whole world, each man in his own time, in His spiritual Kingdom. A world which, in that time, and in reality, John Lennon will finally know.

Few, if any film stars have created as deep and lasting an impression over so long a time in so short a career as did James Dean. One need not walk very far down Hollywood Boulevard to be made aware and reminded of this. Posters, t-shirts, pictures, calendars all draw us in from behind display windows and sustain our memory of him.

Dean, who died at age 24 in 1955, only starred in three films: EAST OF EDEN, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and GIANT, yet he has proven to be as enduring a screen presence as many who came and went before him, and more so than some. A cult following arose after his death that continues onto today, and is going strong.

“New” James Deans, from Steve McQueen to Henry Winkler to Sean Penn, have been around as long. Some, including Warren Beatty, Paul Newman, James Caan and Martin Sheen developed a style of their own, most disappeared, yet audiences continue to wait.

While it may appear that Dean burst onto the scene in EDEN, there was actually a lot of preparation and “dues” to be paid before that. He had small or bit parts in several movies, one of which, HAS ANYBODY SEEN MY GAL(1953), ironically, starred Rock Hudson, whom he was to co-star with in GIANT two years later. Additionally, there were parts in live TV programs, and he even tested “stunts” to be played on TV’s “Beat the Clock”, before being discovered in a New York play by director Elia Kazan, who cast him in the lead in EAST OF EDEN.

Dean’s biographer, David Dalton, in his book James Dean – The Mutant King, described many instances of things that Dean experienced which are common to aspiring actors. According to Dalton: “Jimmy was often turned away because he was too short, sloppily dressed, or wore glasses.” Actor Martin Landau, a friend of Dean’s, described the mass audition or “cattle call” at which he first met him: “You get a number and file past the casting director. If they like you, they would call you back for a reading. Jimmy and I recognized each other from that common humiliating experience and believe me, it was humiliating.”

Dean tested for the role of a Polish boy being shipped off to war in the film BATTLE CRY(1954). Although the executive in charge of talent described his audition as “Electric…Fantastic!,” Warner Brothers decided it wanted a “name” for the picture, so Tab Hunter was used instead.

One way he had of coping with these and other experiences was basic and practical: learn from them and make future use of them in your acting, He once said: “An actor must interpret life, and…so must be willing to accept all experiences that life has to offer. In fact, he must seek out more of life than life puts at his feet…He must be superhuman in his endless struggle to inform himself.’ This, in addition to whatever training and study one is involved with, prepares and equips an actor for the challenges a role may present to him.

James Dean will no doubt continue to inspire and influence aspiring actors for years to come. No less important, though less obvious than his acting accomplishments are his perseverance against discouraging circumstances as well as his desire to grow and develop as an actor.

The following three PROFILES… originally appeared in the independent publication CALL SHEET:

PROFILE: JOHN CARRADINE

He was the hunter who stumbled onto the Frankenstein Monster and the old blind man, thereby severing what was to be the monster’s only true friendship – in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. He was the man who shot Jesse James in the back as he was hanging up a picture, in the picture bearing his name. He crossed the Red Sea, dryshod, as the brother of Moses in THE TEN COMMANDEMENTS. In BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA, he…well, I’ll let you figure that one out. In about 500 films, he has appeared in more prominent roles and in more movies than any other actor.

I’m a film historian, especially regarding actor’s screen credits. One actor that has always been of particular interest to me was John Carradine, who died late last November{1989}. His career encompassed the entire Hollywood film spectrum, from some of the greatest movies of all time such as GRAPES OF WRATH down to an off-off poverty row, grade-Z ASTRO ZOMBIES and everything in between.

A Shakespearean actor with a deep, resonant voice and gaunt features, he had a theatrical bearing with which he could carry any role in his back pocket. He worked with some of the greatest directors from the 1930’s to the present…DeMille, John Ford, Fritz Lang and Coppola to name a few, as well as many of the legendary low budget favorites as Edgar Ulmer, Jerry Warren and Al Adamson.

He had also appeared with some of the greatest screen legends: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Bela Lugosi, Robert Deniro, Elvis Presley and Woody Allen are all on this very diverse list.

I once had the privilege of meeting him backstage after a performance of Arsenic and Old Lace in Syracuse, New York. I knew that he had turned down the role of the Frankenstein Monster in 1931, which later went to Boris Karloff, because the role had no dialogue. I was curious and asked him if he would have accepted it if the monster had dialogue, such as the eloquent monster of Mary Shelley’s novel. But he firmly, yet graciously maintained that, “If it was offered to me again today, I’d turn it down...I didn’t want to be typed as a MOON…STAH. They did Boris”.
With three sons and a daughter to carry on the acting tradition, with more films and TV programs than any other actor, death, in a sense, might seem to be a mere technicality. Yet, the words of his favorite author William Shakespeare, come to mind and ring true: “We’ll not see his like again.”

PROFILES: NICHOLAS RAY

In his book “The Illustrated Guide to Film Directors”, author David Quinlan had this to say about Nicholas Ray: “A huge cult has grown around this American director in recent years, bigger than almost any filmmaker.”

One of the actresses from his most famous film, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE(1955), had this to say about the movie-making maverick: “Nick was way ahead of his time, wearing Levis and walking around in barefeet. I mean, they just didn’t do that in 1955. Everybody wore a suit and tie.”

Early on, Ray wanted to be an architect and won a scholarship to study with Frank Lloyd Wright. Later, he became involved in theatre and started out with Orson Welles in The Mercury Theatre, which led to directing on Broadway and working with Elia Kazan. Eventually he would work in radio, TV and film.

Probably the most predominant theme throughout his work concerned “nuclear breakoffs” from society within a variety of issues and contexts. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE concerned a small group of young people who form a relationship between themselves apart from their peers, parents and society in general. THE SAVAGE INNOCENTS deals with the culture clash between an Eskimo family and their customs and the “civilized” people who come in contact with them. In THEY LIVE BY NIGHT, inspired by Bonnie and Clyde, a young couple become caught up in a life of crime and later become fugitives. KING OF KINGS concerned the ministry of Jesus Christ and the founding of the New Testament church. THE ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE, which Ray had considered directing but never filmed, was to have been a post-nuclear science fiction film starring The Rolling Stones.

Strangely, his last film touches on the same theme. LIGHTNING OVER WATER(1980), which was co-directed by Wim Wenders, was a filmed record of the last months of Nicholas’ life as he was dying of cancer and the small group of his admirers, including Wenders, that encouraged and worked with him. Though the film was not well received critically, it seems appropriate that the last of his “nuclear breakoffs” also happened to be a dedicated group of his fans.

PROFILES: JEAN VIGO

Although he made only four films, director/scenarist Jean Vigo has been placed by many “…in a position of eminence not only in the French cinema along with Rene Clair and Jean Renoir, but in all contemporary art…”

His biographer, P.E. Salles Gomes, describes him as “…the son of undernourished parents living in a dirty little attic full of scrawny cats.” His father, a militant anarchist, was strangled while in prison. His son was 12 years old at the time. Due to his rebellious nature, he and his friends often received a “zero for conduct” from the boarding schools they attended.

While living in the gambling town of Nice, he bought a second-hand camera and began his first film. The film, APROPOS DE NICE(1930) was subtitled POINT DEVUE DOCUMENTE( A DOCUMENTED POINT OF VIEW), capturing his unique observations of the city. Good reviews did not lead to it’s distribution, so he had to shelve plans for another film. He opened a film club while in Nice that showed works “banned or mutilated by censors”.

He did a short, TARIS, in 1931. A number of other film projects fell through. While at his lowest point, he met a successful businessman who financed the medium length ZERO DE CONDUIT(1933), based on Vigo’s boarding school experiences. It was the inspiration for Lindsay Anderson’s IF…starring Malcom McDowell.

His last film, L’ATLANTE(1934) was the story of a young barge captain and his marriage to a country girl. It depicts their lives along the inland waterways of France. During it’s filming, he had a relapse of tuberculosis, and died in his wife’s arms. The film received poor reviews from critics. It was extensively re-cut by the studio and renamed LE CHALAND QUI PASSE(THE PASSING BARGE) which was an extremely popular song of the day. The song also replaced some of the soundtrack score.

Almost forgotten during the thirties, interest in Vigo began to revive in 1945. attempts have been made to restore L’ATLANTE to its original form. That film, along with ZERO DE CONDUITE, are, according to his biographer, “among the seminal works of the French cinema.”