singing and dancing and screencaps, oh my

Clearly I was born in the wrong era. Born in '66, I came in on the tail-end of the great old variety shows, and that just ain't right. I have vague memories of some of the programs. I'm told I was, at age 3, a big fan of the Tom Jones show, to the point of grabbing a twirling baton as my mic while imitating his entrance. I may have blocked that out. The ones I remember watching faithfully were Sonny and Cher, Donny and Marie, Carol Burnett, and all those specials by Mitzi Gaynor and Shirley Maclaine. That was some good stuff. I've never understood why those kinds of shows just petered out.

As I said earlier, I recently bought the dvd, Excerpts From The Lennon Sisters Hour, which is sold through the official site. Here are a couple of pictures of the packaging.





It is fantabulous. The big production numbers are a blast. Man, did those girls work their tails off doing those demanding dances. They really get into it too. In the first number, when they flip their chairs and catch them, Kathy must've not known her own strength. She sent that thing flying high! Janet is just a total standout in so many of these numbers. That girl could move!

The clothes! And the hair! Scary to think everybody thought that style looked good back then.

I like the way they broke it down into sections of big dance numbers, the "home" songs, solos, and novelty numbers. Peggy is downright hilarious in the latter. Her comedic timing is right on target. I think my favorite of the dvd is Ain't Misbehavin' - it is simply sublime.

I took a bunch of screencaps - a little over 80. Too bad the old episodes couldn't have been remastered so we could have it in pristine high quality. I can dream right? Nonetheless, I am thrilled to get to see part of the show at all. I uploaded the caps into a gallery if you'd like to have a looksee. Enjoy!