[78-L] Happy 100th, Johnny Mercer

[Cary Ginell]

I didn't have any trouble following along at all. I think the strict chronological approach is overrated and tends to be dull and predictable. This was more of a celebration of Mercer's life, not a documentary. For me, I didn't need to see a whole lot of any one performance. This wasn't a concert tribute. I would rather see a large variety. I liked that they lingered on some of the duets he did with Jack Teagarden. I also liked the fact that no matter how fast the intercutting was, subtitles were always placed where you didn't really miss anybody, even the interviewers (I never would have recognized Humphrey Lyttleton!). I also didn't miss the usual documentary device of talking heads pontificating ad nauseum. The editors limited these statements to a well-stated sentence or two and then cut to something else. 

 

Also loved the newsreel-type footage of the early years at Capitol Records!

 

If you want to analyze Mercer's lyrics, there are other ways to present this. I don't believe this was Eastwood's intention. Mercer's lyrics, incidentally, are not all that deep or difficult to figure out, unlike Gershwin, Hart, or Porter. They were personal, they were romantic, and they reflected his Southern roots. Plain and simple. No need for extensive analysis in this type of show. 

 

My bottom line: it was a different kind of show, but I couldn't help enjoying it. When you're dealing with a talent like Mercer, there's not enough time to dwell on any particular song. There are just too many to include that there are bound to be great ones that would be missed.

 

Cary Ginell
 
> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 12:37:25 -0800
> From: forwardintothepast at yahoo.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Happy 100th, Johnny Mercer
> 
> I saw the Johnny Mercer documentary on TCM last night. Cluttered. I think
> that's the best adjective for it. I would like to see a three-hour cut which
> allowed all of those clips to play out fully, or see about half of the clips
> omitted from the 90-minute version they showed.
> 
> As it was, they tried to cram everything including the kitchen sink into it,
> which meant that instead of just one person singing "Lazybones," they showed us
> this:
> 
> Famous Singer one: Lazybones, sleepin' in the sun, how you 'spec' to
> 
> JARRING CUT TO Famous Singer two (with jarring key change as well): get your
> day's work done? Never get your
> 
> JARRING CUT TO Famous Singer three (with another dissonant key change): day's
> work done, sleepin' in the
> 
> VOICE OVER NARRATION COMES IN AT THIS POINT: I think the brilliance of Johnny's
> lyrics was that he
> 
> CUT TO CLOSE UP OF TALKING HEAD; rest of lyric indistinct or omitted
> 
> This was put together by someone who concentrated almost entirely on the visual,
> which meant that the point of the whole show, Johnny Mercer's words, were so far
> in the background as to be unnoticeable. I'm not sure the producer/director
> understood that 95 percent of the time, Mercer was a lyricist only. Yes, he
> wrote the music to "Strip Polka," "Dream," "G.I. Jive," "Something's Gotta Give"
> and many other good songs, but he was mainly a lyricist, and his words were
> given very, very short shrift.
> 
> Most of the best stuff in the show came from a couple of talk shows Johnny did
> in England in the early '70s. There was one moment when it was just he and the
> host and a pianist, and Johnny began singing "I'm Old Fashioned," just sitting
> with the host and singing a capella. The pianist began to play some chords and
> Johnny began to really get into the song, his eyes growing faraway as he really
> began to reveal all the tenderness and beauty in the lyric, and then there was
> another ABRUPT CUT to Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth dancing to a tacky
> chica-chica-boom-chic arrangement of it from "You Were Never Lovelier" -- an
> INSTRUMENTAL, mind you, with no lyric at all!
> 
> I believe this may have been the point where I screamed at my television, "G**
> D*** IT, LET HIM SING THE F*****G SONG!!" However, there were other times when
> I was thinking the same thing.
> 
> Beyond those problems, Mercer's story was told in a very non-linear and
> disorganized fashion--they started talking about his work with Benny Goodman on
> radio in 1939 about 3/4 of the way through the show, after they'd already
> covered several events that came later in his life.
> 
> Man, would I have loved to edit this one.
> 
> A better tribute to Mercer would have been just to show those two British talk
> shows, with Mercer's thoughts, and his work, uninterrupted.
> 
> Anyway, it's worth seeing but be forewarned.
> 
> --Randy Skretvedt
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
 		 	   		  
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft's powerful SPAM protection.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/