Friday, June 13, 2008

DEMENTIA (Daughter Of Horror) - George Antheil - Shorty Rogers - "Wig City" and more (1955)

"Dementia" or "Daughter Of Horror" or whatever you want to call it, is the coolest beat-noir film ever, and it is so full of music, we've written about it twice already, so check the archives for a ton of more info, and in case you missed it the first time, here's a link to a great review written in 2004 from our buddy over at the now defunct flickhead blog..
 
The medallion is where it all starts!! 
 
The first club they take you too has this dancer and some Cool Exotic Jazz to go with it!
 
I have no doubt that someday the Bruno Vesota bio movie will be made with Jack Black in the lead role! 
 
This is Bruno VeSota's wife Jebbie as the flower girl! Who they get to play her in his bio is going to be anybody's guess! How about Jessica Alba? 
 
So, you're watching this movie, and you have no idea how you got here, and now it's time for a rehearsal! 
 
Shorty Rogers and The Giants, the name alone lets you know these were the guys who understood the tongue in cheek humour of the whole deal! 
 
As The Chambers Brothers would later say, "Now the time has come", so here you go, Shorty Rogers and The Giants with "Wig City", one of, if not, the coolest tunes ever used in a movie!! Period!!! 
 
The hands really do tell the whole story!!! 
 
So, here's the deal! If you are hip enough to know what's happening in this film, then you are really, really going to dig it! If you watch this movie and don't have a clue what's going on, then you're going to hate it! It's that simple!! Mandatory viewing for all true jazz aficionados and artistes! For once in your life, experience the real thing, for this is truly untarnished Art! 
 
The original master of stand up comedy, Shelley Berman is one wacked out cool Daddy-O!!!

5 comments:

Uncle Gustav said...

Cool!

But I can't seem to get the "Wig City" link to work!!

Bummer!

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

Thanx for the heads up bud, a simple case of one too many https combined with one too many margaritas!! I usually test the links, but slipped up on that one! Figgers it would happen on the one request we ever got!!

Uncle Gustav said...

Positively UNsane!!!

It's like psychedelic Gershwin!

Thanks!!!

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

To this day, it truly is like nothing else, and it's cool to know I'm not the only one who thinks so!! Thanx again!!

zillagord said...

Eegah!! & Tabonga!:
This one is a true classic of the beat era, and a genuine psychedelic/noir treasure. Both versions, IMO, have their merits:
the one with just music is eerier, the one with narration has some purple prose that is unrivaled in both its heavy-handedness and beat poetry weirdness. I love it!

BTW, the narrated version can be streamed online or downloaded here:

http://www.archive.org/details/daughter_of_horror

So glad I discovered your site. It brings welcome relief to my days.

Peace,
Zilla

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