Scopitone Classics January 11, 2006

"We welcome film collector and curator Dennis Nyback for an evening of archeological discovery in which camp and kitsch collide. ?One of the most fascinating phenomena of the 1960s, the Scopitone was a tall video jukebox with a TV screen on top and a selection of three-minute musical numbers available for the price of a quarter. The concept wasn?t new ? there were plenty of ?soundies? in the 1940s that used a similar technology ? but the content certainly was. Scopitones were invented in France in the late 1950s, but soon became raunchy fixtures in America?s strip joints, tiki bars, and gambling parlors. What could you get for your two bits? How about lounge lizardette Jane Morgan, she of the glamorous overbite, singing ?C?est si bon? in a cheesy faux-Paris? Or Stacy Adams and Her Pussycats (who look like local whores) demonstrating the jerk, the monkey, and the twist at a tacky Vegas motel? Or third-generation blonde bombshell Joi Lansing (after Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield) crooning to a queen in a cobra costume while she?s ?cooking? in a jungle cauldron? And let?s not leave out Debbie Reynolds. Along with each song the viewer was treated to a now-hilariously choreographed parade of period pop couture, from Mondrian dresses to string bikinis to vinyl go-go boots.?(90 mins.)"