"Madhouse on Castle Street" - (1962 ) BBC-2 Bob Dylan, Andrew Loog Oldham, David Warner

In late1962 Albert Grossman brought Bob Dylan over to England to perform in a beatnik style drama called "Madhouse on Castle Street" for BBC 2.  The play was written by Evan Jones and directed by Philip Saville. The production featured a  young Bob Dylan, who was soon to become a major star. (You can find the full 57 minute documentary on You Tube. I was unable to upload it here.)

The original film was made between December 18th,1962 and finished by January 3rd, 1963 and broadcast on January 13th. Starring David Warner, Maureen Pryor, James Mellor, and Ursula Howells, the play was about a young man who is so disillusioned with society that he decides to lock himself in his room until society changes. That part was supposed to be played by Bob Dylan, but his inability to learn his lines changed that. Another problem was keeping him on the set. He kept wandering off to smoke pot. 

The play was made with electronic video cameras, but recorded onto film rather than tape. No full copy of the show survives because in those days BBC erased the tapes for re-use. Britain was still suffering shortages of everything due to the Second World War. There were just 2 copies left, but these, too, were destroyed in 1968, which is odd because by that time Dylan was a world wide sucess. 

Peppered with hits of the time, the archival footage provides an insight into the winter of 1962, which was one of the coldest on record. 

Dylan performed 2 songs,  "Ballad of a Gliding Star" and "Blowing in the Wind." His "minder" for the week was Andrew Loog Oldham. He earned £5 for the trouble. This was just before he began to manage the Rolling Stones. 

"I Am a Camera" (1955) Laurence Harvey, Julie Harris, Shelley Winters

I first saw the Original Broadway cast of Cabaret when I was about 12 years old. It was wonderful. It was so good that it took me about 15 years until I could even watch the film with Liza Minnelli. Now it is one of my favorite films. They dropped a few of my favorite numbers from the show, but added a few new ones which are equally superb.

But, before there was a Broadway show, or the subsequent Hollywood film, there was this often overlooked gem based on the original play called "I Am a Camera" which came from a story in the book "The Berlin Stories" by Christopher Isherwood. He is the Chris in the story. The play, by John Van Druten, used this story to craft it. The plot and the characters are the same, minus the music.

Just before the Nazis come to power in Berlin, Chris, a would be novelist from England, played by Laurence Harvey meets the cabaret entertainer Sally Bowles, played here with great exuberance and charm by Julie Harris. The two form an unusual friendship borne of financial necessity. Shelley Winters plays the part of Chris' English student.

As Sally indulges her fantasies of becoming a great star, Chris goes along for the ride, much to the detriment of the great novel he is intending to write. Little does he realize that this interlude with Sally will become that great novel. The play, and film, are told in flashback years later at gentleman's club of writers years later, in London.

The format of the link below is a bit different than You Tube, but you should be able to figure out all the bells and whistles involved. If you cannot cast it to your TV then just access it direcly on your big screen.

https://archive.org/details/IAMACAMERA1955 

Our Noble Experiment - Democracy

John Adams wrote, in 1814, "Democracy never lasts long, it soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a Democracy yet, that didn't commit suicide." The next 2 months will tell us if he was right, or wrong.

Now the Democrats will start the Court challenges. As would the Reublicans had the outcome been reversed. Remember, they said they would accept the outcome. Of course, now they won't. Here is something to think about before our country descends into Civil Unrest.

The total death toll of the American Civil War is generally accepted to be around 620,000 soldiers and approximately another 130,000 civilians, for a total of 850,000 in the 48 months from April 1861 through April of 1865. Then it took a century more to recover from that conflict, and arguably that recovery is still going on today.

Comparatively the total deaths incurred during the 45 months of the Second World War, from December 7th, 1941 to the first week of September of 1945 was far less,  approximately 113,842 in both Europe and the Pacific combined. And when the war was over we recovered almost immediately,  into a post war boom both socially and economically.

The lesson to be learned is quite simple; we lose more when we fight amongst ourselves than we do when we are fighting others. Think about that.