When I was researching last month’s entry about Paul Desmond and the Scopitone, I encountered a film that seemed so unlikely, I set it aside to share with you later and only now remembered it. The divine Sue Raney, it turns out, was a Scopitone artist. I doubt that this song survives in her repertoire, but it certainly fit Scopitone’s ’60s European mod ethos.
I somehow missed last month’s tutorial on Scopitone and the Kessler Sisters — all more or less new to me. Alas, I was a mere toddler when the sisters were in their prime. On a related note, these posts went a long way to finally putting in context this amazing and frankly disturbing youtube find of Frank Sinatra Jr. singing “Love for Sale.” God only knows whar Paul Desmond would have made of this. From my perspective, there are no words.
A quite cheesy, but also quite lovely video, and pretty untypical for Rifftides. It’s like a predecessor to — or a parody of? — the Sunshine Pop productions of the 60s by Margo Guryan, Pat Shannon, The Love Generation, and of course the great Curt Boettcher, good-timin’, sugary, groovy, parents compatible teen-market-style. In any case, a remarkable addition to Raney’s jazzier efforts, as on “Song for a Raney Day” (1959). Thanks for this gem.
Wonderful! How does she keep singing while kissing that guy? And the
dancing! The White-Bread Hop, wasn’t it?
Unfortunately, this video made me think of Mr. Rogers having sex, which is very disturbing.