Petula (2007)

1. Music
2. Who Am I
3. The Life & Soul Of The Party
4. The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener
5. Elusive Butterfly
6. Imagine
7. Come Rain Or Come Shine
8. Just Say Goodbye
9. Color My World
10. Both Sides Now
11. On The Path Of Glory
12. Live For Life
13. Don't Sleep In The Subway
14. How Are Things In Glocca Morra?
15. Have Another Dream On Me
16. Downtown

DVD Bonus Features:
New interviews with Petula Clark, Harry Belafonte and Steve Binder Petula TV Promo & Photo Gallery Vintage Petula TV Commercials Vintage Petula Radio Interview Stereo TV Song Remix: "Live For Life" Petula Clark Movie Trailer

O Holy Night

A very kind friend gave me this DVD for my birthday (thank you Wayne Smith) and I've been watching it ever since Christmas on one knee, the way the three Wise Men dropped to one knee when they stumbled into the lowly manger in which the divine baby lay in straw. The television set seems to glow in a distance and my humble gifts of frankincense and myrrh suddenly seem inadequate, paltry. Here is Petula Clark in the moment before her US screen debut in FINIAN'S RAINBOW, when the steady stream of pop hits had just about dried up, but she was still filled with the confidence of having been a star since childhood and all that work with Serge Gainsbourg and Tony Hatch. Really there was no way to go but down from such heights, and if PETULA has a theme I would say, it was all about being wistful, wistful looking back at a long ago past.

For example she takes her TV audience on a tour of the QUEEN MARY, seen beached up at a pier in Long Beach in Southern California. The camera passes through staterooms and bedrooms, grand ballrooms and movie theaters, and you start hearing voices, the voices of wealthy Brits who sailed the great ship regularly on their around the world cruises. A little clumsily (or so I thought) these voices wind up giving us a potted history of the 20th century: "Don't you love Glenn Miller's big band?" "Harry says the market will stay firm in 1929," and so forth. Another example, her opening number "Music," in which Tony Hatch's clever arrangement allows for instrumental quotes from every one of her greatest hits in between the sung lines of the song at hand, which is pretty lousy, but that arrangement makes up for it. Has anything on TV ever been quite as self-reflexive? You'd think Spike Jonze directed this 1967 TV special.

What about that giant choral number in which huge standalone letters of the alphabet are painted in Bridget Riley "Op Art" patterns then shoved together to spell out the names of different Vegas hotels: Tropicana, Dunes, Stardust, and dancers cavort in and out of the vowels and consonants whule Petula sings a grim song about "Las-Vague-Oss," with each syllable given equal weight, and repeated about seventy five times? The dancers are great, whether they're throwing themselves along the floor like bowling balls speeding toward a strike, or pretending they're wacky guests at the sort of party Auntie Mame used to throw, with foot long cigarette holders and mad wigs.

The famous arm clutch of Harry Belafonte as they duet on a passionate antiwar track called "On the Path to Glory" is here, and man, she really is holding on to that arm for dear life! Good for her! (He wears a strange futuristic haircut which gives him an unsettling resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger's later "Terminator." Good for him!) January 6, 2008

Petula - What all the fuss was about. And She's Still Going Strong

I was too young to see this show when it aired in 1968. But I saw Ms. Clark on Broadway in Blood Brothers and again at a benefit she did in Manhattan for the stage manager of that show who died suddenly leaving a family behind. I was so amazed by her talent and voice that I sought out some of her earlier materials and learned she was a massive singing star in the 1960s, with many hits besides the one for which she's most famous, "Downtown."

This DVD is from a remastered source and could be broadcast on television today it's so sharp. The sound is fantastic. The songs are excellent and Harry Belefonte is given a showcase of his own before he sings with the star of the special.

I'd recommend it highly. My understanding is Petula Clark stopped performing so much in the 70s and 80s to raise her family. But that doesn't make her any less great than Sinatra and a lot of other superstars. One odd thing I heard about her is that the late Glenn Gould, probably the greatest classical pianist of all time was apparently obsessed with her voice. Probably that's because she has great pitch and seems able to move up and down the scales without effort. Try listening to her music or get this DVD. You'll probably be a little obsessed too, if you like great singers. October 3, 2007

GREAT VIDEO

PETULA AT HER BEST. VIDEO SOUNDS GREAT AND LOOKS EVEN BETTER THAN I REMEMBERED IT. THE 1968 MUSIC SPECIAL, PETULA AT HER BEST. September 26, 2007

What TV was like in 1968

The DVD of the 1968 special "Petula" featuring Miss Petula Clark, one of the most deservedly popular British songbirds of her time (Her song "Downtown" and the 5 Stairsteps' "Ooh Child" were my favorites as a small child) is somewhat of a history lesson with a beat you can dance to.

In the late 1960s and early 70s, television specials like this were commonplace. Lots of extravagant set pieces with dances and backup singers to buttress the popular songs of a particular artist. This kind of thing vanished from television in the late 70s, so this is certainly a museum piece for the children of today.

Petual does some things of added interest here to put this above the ordinary. Harry Belafonte is along for the ride, for one thing. He and an unidentified black kid do the "Hambone," a street precursor to what we now call rap. After his take on "Both Sides Now," he joins Petual in a song she wrote called "The Path of Glory," a thinly disguised antiwar anthem. Then, Miss Clark actually (gasp) hold hands with Harry in the midst of the duet. Of course this is no big deal today and would not get any attention even from hardocre bigots today, but this caused a firestorm of controversy in 1968 and Harry and Petula had to stick to their guns to keep this segment in the show. Glad they did. (Historical irony-this was telecast on April 2, 1968-two nights before the assassination of Harry's pal Dr. Martin Luther King!)

Interestingly, the song itself would cause more controversy today. Listen to the lyrics, compare them to current events, and you'll see what I mean.

Petula only does a couple of her signature tunes, such as "Dont' Sleep in the Subway, "Color My World," and (of course) "Downtown" at the end. Sorry folks, "My Love" and "I Know a Place" are nowhere to be found. The rest are lesser known tunes by her.

We also see some rare Plymouth commercials by Miss Clark that were quite typical of the times (trying to be hip by doing the jingle to the beat of Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe"-all that's missing are the go go dancers).And a rare and candid radio interview from the time about the show that is minus the Belafonte controversy (that is covered in a DVD extra).

Overall, watch, enjoy, and learn what TV was like in 1968. June 4, 2007

Petula Clark Show from '60's

It was OK, not to bad. It did kind of drag a little, I enjoyed some of her songs and just reminiscing back to the 60's. May 25, 2007

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