Clay Tyson - Digs The Beatniks

Found at LP Cover Lover . There's lots of neato stuff there. Check it out.

Beats on TV - Our Hero - Maynard G. Krebs

Beatniks were portrayed on many TV shows, well into the 60's, but probably the most well known was Maynard G. Krebs from "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis". Maynard was Dobie's beatnik buddie, played hilariously by Bob Denver. So here at Like... Dreamsville, we've proclaimed Maynard G. Krebs - Our Hero.

"Boop ee doodlie op"

Director John Waters has claimed that he was influenced by beatniks in his youth, but not Kerouac or Ginsberg. He wanted to be like Maynard G. Krebs  !

Riff Ryan and Maynard.

Bashin' the keys at Charlie Wongs ice cream parlour. 31 celestial flavours.

Riff riffs on Maynard

Sadly, back in 2005 before I started this blog, Bob Denver passed away. I didn't have the chance then to post an obit so here's one now. Hey, better late than never. Like, Farewell Maynard, we hardly knew ye.

More Druggy Beats

You Must Be Weird Or You Wouldn't Be Here !

Beat club in Fort Worth Texas

Two-Beat Generation - Ray Bauduc & Nappy Lamare

What would it sound like if the beats dug Dixieland jazz ?

I know that's the question on the tip of everyone's tongue, and I have the answer right here for you. Ray Bauduc & Nappy Lamare - Top exponents of Dixieland generate twelve happy examples of modern two-beat jazz. Or so the back cover states.

Go down south

Zoot Suiter

     Los Angeles City Council actually made it a crime to wear a zoot suit in 1943, after the infamous zoot suit riots in May & June of '43 when American service men and civilians clashed with, primarily, Latino kids over rising racial tensions. It took the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to point out that the riots were rooted in long term discrimination against Mexican-Americans. 

They Live By Night - Nicholas Ray - 1948

     They Live By Night is a little different than the other noirs that I've covered here. Based on a novel by Edward Anderson, who I'm not that familiar with, it reminded me of noirs I've read by Jim Thompson. The action all takes place in rural Texas instead of the big city. The main characters, for the most part, all members of an eccentric family of criminals. The "law" is always present as the oppressive power they are all running from, but cops and detectives play very minor roles as characters. The focus is more about the interaction between all these criminal types, and the young lovers on the run from them and the law as well. Cathy O'Donnell as Keechie, is my favorite here. So pretty in that "girl next door" kind of way. She and Farley Granger have a great chemistry together. 

The google search for "Cosmo Nifties" didn't yield as much as I had hoped.

"Hole up in back of the sign. One of us will come back and get you tonight."

"You having trouble?"

"Could be."

"Who're you, you live around here?"

"Could be."

"Did'nt have a couple of visitors lately , did you?"

"That wouldn't be a sore foot makin' you limp, would it?"

"Could be."

T-Dub, Chicamaw and Bowie

"What'd that Chicamaw tell you about me?"

Losing the getaway car

"Now we can start struttin'. One thing you gotta learn kid - you gotta look and act like other people."

The newlyweds

"There wouldn't be anything for me if you were gone. There's no use thinking about it."

"I guess a woman is sort of like a dog. A bad dog will take things from anybody, but you just take a good dog, his master dies, he won't take food from anybody, he'll bite anybody that tries to pet him. There was a man back up home, after he died, his dog wouldn't eat or drink and he just died too.

"That bank's got real dough."

"I said, count me out!"

"Just promise me one thing Bowie. No matter what he says, you won't rob that bank."

"Get out, get out I tell you ! I can't miss, this close."

"Sure I'll get out. I don't need you. I can crack any bank in this country alone. I'm better off alone, and I always was."

"Where were you ?"

"Seein' a doctor."

"About what?"

"About the baby we're gonna have."

"Well that's just fine. That's all I need."

"You don't see me knittin' anything...Do ya?"

Marie Bryant singing Your Red Wagon

"What are your plans Bowers? I'll tell you what your plans are. You're leavin' town tonight. Nothing against you, you understand? We don't want a lot of trigger happy hillbillies around here.

A place to hide out

"Other people have done what you're doing, than they're sorry afterwards. You needn't be. Sooner or later Bowers'd be committing other robberies, killing maybe. He'd have to, it's the only way he can live.

"I love you, Bowie...."

Oops! Squaresville.

Well, it appears that the "Beat Beat Beatsville comp that I posted yesterday was some kind of copyright infringement or something. Honestly, I thought it was out of print. O.k. so no big deal, I removed the link, Divshare removed the file. I looked around online and there doesn't appear to be too many of them available. Amazon has a couple. I like to support the smaller guy, so if you want a copy of it, I would suggest Badabing CD's and Records. 

The Beatniks - Paul Frees - 1960

Well, I have to say, I was expecting a lot more from this film. I mean I knew going in that it was a low budget affair and that the title was actually quite a misnomer (the film has absolutely nothing to do with beatniks, the Beat Generation or anything. It's not even beatsploitation.) Basically just a run of the mill JD film, and as far as that goes, you could do better. 

The Beatniks was written & directed by Paul Frees who has been somewhat featured here before and is better known for being a famous voice in Hollywood than a writer or director. Honestly, The font on the title screen is the best thing going here, so there you go, now you don't have to watch it.

"Sideburns don't need your sympathy."

1960's "American Idol"

"Cool it daddy, now we're friends of the star, man !"

"What about Red here, how're you gonna explain the hole in him, say a vampire bit him?"

"I love you, you can't just go away and disappear like that with a telephone call."

"Don't worry, it's just the house dick."

Knife fight in the alley

Now watch the whole movie right here!

 

Beat Beat Beatsville - Various Artists

Them crazy kids and their rock 'n' roll. Me, I dig jazz, but here's a pretty swingin' comp of beatsploitation tunes and beatnik rock 'n' roll. Dig the track list:

  1. Herman Munster - Herman Munster Reads

  2. Paul Evans & The Curls - Beat Generation

  3. Edd "Kookie" Byrnes - Like, I Love You

  4. Royal Jokers - Beatnik

  5. The Beats - Beatnik Bounce

  6. Barbara Evans - Beatnik Daddy

  7. Johnny Beeman - Laffin' Beatnik

  8. Bing Day - Mama's Place

  9. The Champs - Beatnik        

 10. The Hermit - Guy Lombardo's Back In Town

 11. The Beehives - Beatnik Baby

 12. The Untouchables - Beatnik

 13. Huey "Piano" Smith - Doin' The Beatnik Twist

 14. Paul Gayton - Beatnik Bounce

 15. Louis Nye - Teenage Beatnik

 16. Rune Overman - Beatnik Walk

 17. Richard Pine - Beatnik Bill

 18. Mamie Van Doren - Beat Generation

 19. The Wildman Of Wildsville - Endsville

You may recognize some of the tunes here. both The Hermit and Herman Muster tracks come from a beatnik episode of The Munsters (post coming soon). The Mamie Van Doren track is the theme from the film "Beat Generation" (post coming soon) and the Wildman Of Wildsville comes from the Beanie and Cecil episode of the same name which you can view here.

Link removed - sorry for the inconvenience.

Junkie !