The Exciters – Tell Him (’62, filmed in Central Park): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah-tui1ubnU

Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made for Walkin’:

Nino Tempo and April Stevens – Land of 1000 Dances:

Brigitte Bardot (!) and Serge Gainsbourg – Comic Strip:

Della Reese – If I Never Get to Heaven:

Brook Benton – Mother Nature Father Time:

Vic Damone – Lost and Found:

Bobby Vee – The Night Has a Thousand Eyes:

Lesley Gore – Wonder Boy:

Petula Clark – Calcutta:

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass – Bittersweet Samba (directed by Robert Altman):

Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade of Pale:

Mercurie – I appreciate your insight! I had thought that Color-Sonics was a sort of film-making process for Scopitones sort of like Cinemacope if that makes any sense? I didn’t realize it was a different technology all-together. Scopitone machines could play Altman’s Color-Sonic films so I guess there was a lot of crossover between competing film-jukeboxes in the ’60s. It seems so strange to me that the music industry didn’t realize the power of music videos until the ’80s.

Medusamorlock – Thanks for sharing more info about Bobby Troupe! He’s was a fascinating & talented guy and I enjoyed watching him in Emergency with Julie London when I was a kid too.

smallerdemon – That’s a great Scopitone and a great song. I really like France Gall’s early recordings. I also enjoyed Grindhouse too and I’m glad the movie has encouraged people to seek out the original music heard in the movie.

Al Lowe – Thanks for sharing all that info! Joi is pretty amazing and I really enjoy the sc-fi movies she made (Queen of Outer Space & The Atomic Submarine). I don’t know if you own the book ‘Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood’ but it has a nice section on Joi complete with photos of the actress. I think you’d enjoy the book. I don’t know if Altman directed the other Troup clips you saw but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. It’s definitely worth looking into.

ratzkywatzky – Great story! I think the first Scopitones I saw were on Something Weird Videos. And I love Jody Miller’s “Queen of the House.” Great song and it’s one of my favorite Scopitones as well!

smallerdemon – No worries. Your earlier comment is visible now. Sometimes it takes awhile for comments to show up on the blog so don’t be alarmed if there is a delay.

According to Kitty Kelly, Joi Lansing dated Frank Sinatra, who, of course, had notorious mob connections. Did Joi? Was she a girl that the Mob passed around? She made movies with Sinatra and – as I mentioned – Dean Martin.

As for Troup, he actually has quite a memorable small role in MASH. He is the sergeant escourt who curses a lot (perhaps because he hates accompanying officers). At the end of the movie, Altman has the acting credits announced over the loudspeaker system. The last credit is Troup’s and the last words in the movie are his. “Goddamn Army!”
As you noted, Altman directed Scopitones with Troup. I was stationed in Long Bihn from March, 1969, to March, 1970. Is it possible that Altman, not long before he directed his groundbreaking anti-war film, directed the “For the Boys” clips that Troup starred in and that I saw?

I checked the TCM database for info on Joi. She died from cancer at the age of 43. How sad.

I remember Joi Lansing from when I first started noticing girls. She was fun to notice. She had a small role in several episodes as a model on the TV show “Love That Bob,” featuring Bob Cummings as a girl loving photographer who lived with his sister and teenage son. She played Shirley Swanson. She never had a lot to say or do; it was assumed that she was smitten with the irresistible Bob.
Orson Welles used her that way too in TOUCH OF EVIL. She doesn’t make it past the credits. She is in the car that carries the fatal bomb.
She and another attractive lady guested on “The Beverly Hillbillies,” created and produced by Paul Henning, who also did the Bob Cummings program. They were girlfriends or wives of Flatt and Scruggs, the musicians who were visiting Granny. Joi and her friend assumed that Elly Mae was Granny and decided to go back to the beauty parlor so they could look better.
I, of course, have many VHSs and some DVDs. Only one features Joi, along with Barbara Nichols, who also guested on “Love That Bob.” They date the married Tony Curtis and his buddy Dean Martin, as Tony’s wife Janet Leigh watches, in WHO WAS THAT LADY?
And I will admit that I probably purchased the DVD because I wanted to see Joi.
I suspected in my later years that she was one of those people who looked much better in black and white than in color. There are some people like that and they benefited enormously from the Golden Age of Movies and Television.

As for Bobby Troup, I know him from MASH and “Emergency.” But I have an odd story to tell. When I was stationed in Long Bihn, Viet Nam for a year, we had television, thanks to the Armed Forces Television Network. We did not get to watch it much because they kept us pretty busy. When we did we were treated to reruns of “Wild Wild West” and “Carol Burnett.” However, Mr. Troup taped 10 minute segments of himself singing standards that they aired occasionally. As you say, this was probably not geared to the tastes of the young people at the time. I remember that it aired and no one commented about it.

Have a good day!

I can probably tag the most modern song used that was distributed via Scopitone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9iAcUjQ4WI

This exact version wasn’t used, but THIS one was:

:) I love both of these versions (and I loved Grindhouse, so this is the kind of crap I know).

I mean, Joi Lansing, Bobby Troup and Debbie Reynolds — doesn’t get better than that.

Troup is also possibly best known to babyboomers from his starring role in 1970s TV’s “Emergency” series alongside his wife Julie London, who earlier had been married to series creator Jack Webb. Pretty cozy, eh?

It’s great that the films are turning up and being shared around!

Fun post!