Yep, I Was In Love With Belle!

As I’ve mentioned a number of times on this blog,  I was a HUGE Disney fan as a kid, from live action movies like ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, HERBIE THE LOVE BUG and THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES to the classic animated features like ALICE IN WONDERLAND, THE JUNGLE BOOK and THE RESCUERS. But it wasn’t until around 1988 (About the time OLIVER AND COMPANY came out) that I dove head-on into the wonderful world of Disney Collecting, or Disneyana, as they call it.

  The format of choice for me at the time was the LASERDISC, a doomed format, to be sure, but my, did the Disc Jackets looked nice! I wanted to get every one of them! Unfortunately, as any collector of Disney Movies knows, I was to be rudely awakened  from my dream of owning all the movies, When I would find out that most of the films were OUT OF PRINT, or MORATORIUM, as they called it! Gasp!

Even worse was the fact that one of the titles that was out of print was SLEEPING BEAUTY, one of the MAIN motivators for me STARTING  my collecting dream!

Oh well, although there were a lot out of print, there were more than enough still available to keep me (and my checkbook) busy for awhile!

   Strangely enough, even though I was struggling in earnest to collect the Disney movies of my childhood, I didn’t have all that much interest in seeing the latest film THE LITTLE MERMAID, my friends had to practically DRAG me to see that one…I think at the time I was collecting from a “nostalgic” angle, and the “newer” didn’t really do anything for me. But of course, I ended up loving The Little Mermaid, and by the time I’d seen THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, I was a rabid fan, collecting anything and EVERYTHING associated with my beloved animated films!

  We made a trip to Disneyland that summer,, and I blew almost all my money in the Disneyana stores on Main Street more than anything else!  I didn’t have time for rides- there were official Alice In Wonderland Teacup Sets  and Collectible Sleeping Beauty Plates to be purchased! Took a lotta pics inside Sleeping Beauty’s castle, though!

  Now that I’ve set the stage, you can understand just how excited and worked up I was when Disney announced it was beginning work on its 30th animated feature, a movie called BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!

  Disney was beginning this routine of always giving a “Sneak Preview” of the upcoming Theatrical release at the beginning of the latest Home Video release, and though I’m not sure, I believe it was on the release of Rescuers Down Under that we first got a glimpse of Beauty and The Beast, or more specifically, Belle, the “Beauty” of the film, in a partially done scene of the girl singing and walking through town.

I was…CAPTIVATED! I remember watching that sneak peek clip over and over…Couldn’t wait for it!

  Soon Disney released the Soundtrack to Beauty and the Beast, and I thought it would be great to get to hear some of the songs BEFORE we saw it, so I ran out and bought it! Now at this time I had just moved from a cramped little apartment into a big empty house, and didn’t really have much in the way of furniture. So all we did was sit around on  the bare (though carpeted) floor and play cards. I used this as a great opportunity to really get to know the tunes, and I have great memories of "Belle's Theme" echoing throughout that empty house as we dealt each other cards! Before you knew it, all of us had memorized all the songs and even had kind of worked out he whole story, through

the songs and snatches of dialog scattered within the score.

  It’s pretty interesting to learn songs without knowing the context.  I remember, when listening to “Belle’s Theme”, a lady cries “I Need…Six Eggs!” in a strangled voice, and my friend said, “What the heck is wrong with Belle?” I said I didn’t THINK it was Belle, but we just had to wait to be sure! (Turned out to be some anonymous haggard mother!)

Well, finally the day came around when Beauty and The Beast arrived in theaters (over here was at the WAIKIKI 3 Theater, long gone now…) and even with my high expectations of the film,, I was still completely and utterly overwhelmed! I don’t know how much of it was due to the fact that I already knew all the songs, but it was like seeing pictures of a place for years and then finally getting to visit the place for real- everything seemed so familiar, yet so vibrant and ALIVE!

All the songs came alive for me watching the movie, but there WERE a few songs from the soundtrack that were slightly different in the movie, For example, Gaston’s’ Song had it’s ending (where Lefou tries to cheer the letters of Gaston’s name and realizes he can’t spell) cut off when Belle’s father bursts into the bar, and I was especially annoyed at the ending of “Something There”(probably my favorite track in the movie), where the sweet ending is talked over by a whining Chip! Ahahahaha!

One of the greatest things about this movie was the CHARACTERS- every one seemed so well thought out and realized- especially the three main ones- Belle, Beast and Gaston.

Beast had to show you he was a raging monster who was gentle inside, and Gaston showed you a boor who went from a conceited buffoon to an all-out murderer!

 And Belle.

GEEZ, I have to say, Disney really created a masterpiece with her! One of the most perfectly developed (take that how you want) heroines ever, and the animation team really hit a home run here- her facial expressions and gestures were so realistic- my fave “quirks” of hers were the arching of her eyebrows when she was suspicious, and oh, that strand of hair that just wouldn’t stay in place! And I have to say, there couldn’t have picked a better voice for Belle than Paige O’Hara!

  Oh yeah, I fell in love! Yep. With a cartoon character! One of about five animated characters I fell in love with, actually. (And who were the other four? That’s for future entries!) After Alice (Of Wonderland fame) and Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), Belle became one of my favorite Disneyana things to collect, I was that far gone!

I went individually with each friend who was part of that card- playing group, and they all agreed it was great! Then I went with fellow co-workers who hadn’t seen it, All in all, I went about 9 times, and you know what, I actually started feeling possessive of the movie! It got to the point where I was excitedly waiting for people to laugh at certain places (Like Gaston’s “Every last inch of me’s covered in HAIR!” line, for one) and Ooh at others (Belle appearing at the top of the stairs in her yellow ballroom gown) and even now, when I watch my home videos, I miss those reactions!

Disney had tied-in Beauty and The Beast to Burger King, and they were going to have Happy Meals (or whatever the Burger King equivalent of it was) featuring a different  BATB action figure each week. I have to comment that these were pretty quality dolls. Heavy plastic, DEFINITELY collectible. First week was Beast, so I picked up that one, then when week two featuring Belle rolled around, my friend Gerg (one of the card-playing gang), who was as infatuated with Belle as I was, decided to accompany me down to Burger King to get one too. When we GOT there though, he chickened out, mortified to be seen getting a Belle figure. So I rolled my eyes and said I would order for both of us.

  So I get to the counter, with Gerg sheepishly behind me, and we ordered two Happy Meals (Or whatever it was called), and were shocked when we were handed two trays with small drink cups, small fries, small cheeseburgers, and…no figures!

  Gerg’s face turned to a face of concern, and I went back to the counter, saying, “Uh, didn’t these come with toys?” The old Filipino lady looked at us from above her glasses, and, holding up a Belle doll in her hand, said, “But the toy is THIS, you know!” And me and Gerg said “Yes Please!” to which the confused lady handed over the two dolls to the two weird dudes. But it was totally worth it! The dolls hands were even molded so they could fit together, and as you can see, I still have these cherished figures on my shelf of Disneyana, see below:

Along with the figures, there were books and other collectibles to be found, and when Disney released trading cards featuring stills from the movie, I had to get those, too! My dilemma was how to get the whole set without buying pack after pack, and every friend I knew that collected cards said that if I just bought a whole box, I was pretty much guaranteed to get at LEAST a whole set, maybe even more If I was lucky! So I invested the money and bought a sealed box of packs, and though at this moment I can’t recall just how many individual packs were in that box, after opening every one of them, I was still ONE CARD SHORT of making the complete 95 card set!  Well, I wasn’t gonna go and buy any more individual packs, and I sure as hell wasn’t gonna buy another BOX!

 Luckily for me, a Comic and Card store up the street sold recent trading cards individually, and for 75¢ I was able to pick up that last card! Offhand, I can’t remember which one it was- funny, you’d think I’d have that card burned into my brain! But BOY was I satisfied when I completed that set! Oh, and I even bought one of those snazzy plastic boxes to  store/display the set, too!

 Disney decided to release the “Working-In-Progress” version of the film that was shown to audiences before the actual film came out on laserdisc months before the “real” movie was set to be released (I suppose as a sort of teaser), and I have to say I was the first in line to get my copy! First off and most importantly, since the Laserdisc was kind of a avant-garde release, it warranted a more mature cover, and the image, taken from the soundtrack, is probably my favorite of all the one sheets made! I even had a poster of it mounted and framed, and as you can see hangs where it’s hung for over 16 years in my little office corner.

When the Laserdisc finally came out, I bought them both in CAV (Deluxe format) AND CLV (regular Format), though no one knows why! It’s not like I was ever gonna watch the CLV version, but I was THAT excited when it came out! Ahahaha! It was years (and only rather recently) that Disney finally got off their duffs and released a good and proper Deluxe DVD treatment of this Academy Award Nominated (YES!) Animated feature, and when I got it, I made myself put off watching It till I was really in my Disney Mood. So just the other week I finally brought it out and soaked it all in, and folks, it’s real! It’s still as good as I remember- BETTER, even!

 Car found it quite amusing when the movie was over and I mumbled “Man, I FORGOT how much I was in LOVE with Belle!” Ahahahaa! Yes, It's true!

Super-Vixens: Silver St. Cloud

One thing that legendary master storyteller Steve Englehart always brought to a comic when he began writing duties was to create brand new characters for his run of the strip. Like he did with the oriental character Mantis in The Mighty Avengers, Steve created an interesting new character for the BATMAN storyline in DETECTIVE COMICS, a love interest, at that, in a girl called Silver St. Cloud.

  Love Interest? For The BATMAN? Yep, you heard right!  Well, more specifically, a girlfriend for Bruce Wayne, and when you factor in his “Playboy” persona, that’s even more unbelievable than a girl going out with Batman!

     Silver was a fully developed character (Take that any way you want, it’s correct in either one), Cool , Sexy (more on that later) and most of all, INTELLIGENT! In fact, it wouldn’t be too long before the smart platinum haired girl would deduce (correctly) that her beau was none other that the Dark Knight! It would be this knowledge that would push them apart- She  just couldn’t imagine having to worry about him EVERY NIGHT when he became his alter ego.

  When Marshall Rogers came onboard Detective Comics, his pencils, along with master Terry Austin’s inks, became THE look for Silver St. Cloud, just this GORGEOUS creature! Fans of Rogers’ later run on DR STRANGE will agree, when it comes to pretty girls with white hair whether it be Silver St. Cloud or Clea, Marshall Rogers had it down! And Oooh, that pic above with her talking to Bruce in bed…probably my favorite Marshall Rogers illo ever!

 Now, I don’t know what kind of significance Silver St. Cloud has for comic readers of today, but back in my childhood, Silver was THE ONE, spoken in that same reverence used when talking about Tracy De Vicenzo, AKA “Mrs. James Bond” in ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, kind of like painted as “The great tragic romance of Batman’s life!”

 Silver St. Cloud

First Appearance: Detective Comics #470 (June 1977)

By  Steve Englehart and Walt Simonson & Al Milgrom

Moody Blues: To Our Children's Children's Children

The first Moody Blues album I ever owned was the amazing Long Distance Voyager, featuring the rocker “The Voice”. A friend of mine saw this interest I had with the group, and turned me onto the Moody Blues double album anthology “This Is The Moody Blues”, which covered the Moody Blues’ first seven albums, from "Days of Future Passed" to "Seventh Sojourn". At the time I dug it for the songs you’d expect the casual Moodies fan to like: “Nights In White Satin”, “Tuesday Afternoon”, and “The Question” among others.

  But once I started listening to the entire anthology as a whole, I  began to realize that EVERY song on the album was great. Great enough that I was curious as to what the individual albums themselves might hold! So I took the leap into the “classic” Moody Blues catalog, and I’ve been a MAJOR fan ever since! I love everything the group’s done, from “Days Of Future Passed” through “Octave” to “Strange Times”, but my hands down favorite album of all is their incredible “To Our Children’s Children’s Children”.

  This was the Moody Blues’ fourth album proper, and although ALL Moodies Albums have some kind of theme, this seems to be the most cohesive as a concept album. This album was released in1969, right as mankind had just set foot on the moon, and this album reflects the wonder and excitement of the amazing “leap for mankind”.

  The album opens with the thundering sound of a rocket taking off, leading us into the song “Higher and Higher”, about the amazing opportunities technology can take us. "Man with his flaming pyre has conquered the wayward breezes!"

Then off into “Eyes of A Child”, reflecting how small man is when thrust into the vastness of outer space. Then some fun moon dancing on the song “Floating” before the ultimate light-speed instrumental “Beyond”… Whenever I hear this song, I always get the rush of flying through space! This was terrific to hear for the first time in its entirety because on "This Is The Moody Blues", it was played only as a backing track to the poem "Om".

  For some reason, probably my favorite song here is Mike Pinder's “Sun is Still Shining”, a sitar-driven groover singing about enjoying life in outer space rather than being stuck bored at home on Earth. A cool song!

The second half of the album sees the Moody Blues getting quite philosophical with songs like “Gypsy”, ”Eternity Road” “Candle of Life” and the song Justin Hayward labeled the worthy successor to Nights In White Satin, “Watching and Waiting”.

  I remember when I first heard “Gypsy”, I thought it was about real gypsies moving from town to town, always looking for a place to call home. Then one day I realized it was about how in the future we will be constantly travelling to find new planets to colonize.

And with “Eternity Road”, I’d always imagined some Biblical road that led to the Pearly Gates, but upon closer listening, I realized they were singing about how space exploration is limitless in the infinite universe.

 Then there’s the epic “Watching and Waiting”. MAN, this is an awesome song. There was this great book writer George Gaylord Simpson penned called “The Dechronization of Sam MacGruder”

This novel was about a scientist who time-slipped back to the prehistoric age, and spent the rest of his life alone, knowing it would be millions of years before the creatures populating Earth would evolve into mankind…this song really seems to fit the theme of this story…It’s like Adam being born into a perfect planet, waiting for someone to share and appreciate life with him. An incredible closer to the album.

Candy Clark

The first time I saw American Graffiti must have been around 1978 on the telly, which would have made me about 12 years old, and I have to tell you, Debbie was everything a 12 year old kid could fantasize about: Super Cute, Loud, Naughty, Sassy, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, willing to give the unpopular loser (Terry the Toad, as played by Charlie Martin Smith) the time of day! Why, she was an…an…ANGEL! Ahahahaha!

So yeah, I was pretty infatuated with Candy Clark! I remember this one time, a kid brought to class the AMERICAN GRAFFITI novelized paperback that was the movie tie-in book, one of those books that had a bunch of pages with black and white pictures in the middle, you know the ones I mean. Anyway, I desperately wanted to see if there were any pictures of Debbie in that paperback, but that stupid kid refused to let me see it, because he was more interested in running around the class showing all the girls the picture from the movie of some guy mooning his butt out a driving car! Grrr…

I’ll tell you a funny coincidence… I was SO infatuated with Candy Clark: I remember a neighbor had a copy of HUSTLER laying around with a cute blonde on the cover, and the first thing my mind said was “WOW! that girl looks like…DEBBIE!” I remember wondering if it WAS Candy Clark! After all, this was the year when the scandal of Angie “Police Woman” Dickinson nude shots were all the buzz, so WHY NOT pics of Candy Clark?

Well, it wasn’t Candy Clark, and I would have forgotten all about it, but in an interesting turn of events, the model on the HUSTLER cover turned out to be none other than Dale Bozzio, she of MISSING PERSONS fame! I remember when they showed the cover of the magazine, I immediately recognized it, exclaiming, “Hey! Dale was that model I thought looked like Candy Clark!” (It’s the December 1982 issue, if you care to look it up) Funny thing though, looking at the cover NOW, she doesn’t look much like Debbie, after all! HAHAHA!

I remember a year or so after I’d fallen in love with Candy Clark, they released a sequel to American Graffiti called MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI (how original!), and I really had to BEG my friends to come down with me to see the movie, because I desperately needed to see it!! One of the main reasons I wanted to see this, of course, was because Candy Clark was one of the cast members from the original movie that would be reprising her role.

Well, I’d like to say that It was great and I was blown away, but the fact of the matter was, I hadn’t realized that the Debbie character was wearing a fluffy blonde WIG in the first movie, and no such wig was found atop the head of Candy Clark in the second one! GASP! Why, I didn’t even RECOGNIZE Candy when she first appeared…it was only after watching the scene that I figured it out, and folks, I mean to tell you…I WAS CRUSHED!

But to be honest, it wasn’t just her- the movie was supposed to reflect the late sixties hippie-culture, peace, Vietnam War, etc, and well, it just didn’t have that magic the first one had.

Oh well…I still had the original movie to keep me company!

Years later, the American Graffiti Movie came out on Laserdisc(!),and I was able to enjoy the movie without having to either rent it or wait for it to appear on TV, and once again, I was instantly taken back to my Debbie-obsessed days! THEN, even MORE years later, when the Collector’s Edition DVD came out, I watched it, and yep, fell in love AGAIN!

I may pass on ever needing to see “More” American Graffiti again, but the original will always remain one of my very favorite movies of all time, and you can be sure that each time I re-watch it, I will have Candy Clark on the brain, as well!

Favorite Songs: "Undertow" by Ivy

Years ago, a cool co-worker made me a tape mix of a peculiar new group by the name of IVY. They struck me as a sort of 4AD sounding band, and of course I fell in love with them immediately. The tape she'd made for me was from Ivy's first ep LATELY, and songs like "Wish it All away" and " Can't Even Fake it" are faves even to this day! From there I got their album REALISTIC, and wallowed in their dreamy, ethereal sounds...loving it all!

 Fast forward to 2001, and Ivy's come out with a new album called LONG DISTANCE. I didn't know what to expect, but NOTHING could have prepared me for their "new" sound- HUGE, droning, and TOTALLY ATMOSPHERIC! Songs Like "Blame it on Yourself","Lucy Doesn't Love You"and "Digging Your Scene"still retained that jangly IVY sound a bit, but it was in songs like "Edge of the Ocean", "Midnight Sun" and the incredible album opener called "Undertow" that I realized just how much IVY had "evolved" from its earlier days, and in a totally good way! 

This new sound has been more or less the direction the group has gone, with albums like APARTMENT LIFE and IN THE CLEAR, as well as side groups like PACO expanding their horizons even more!