Ken, this one’s for you, coming courtesy of a link in Journalista! and WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. In 1969, ABC had a musical variety TV show called Music Scene. When the show ended, they got a very special co-host: the 79-year-old Groucho Marx. Sporting an absolutely amazing hat straight from an MIT graduation, he reminisces about his life and career in a uniquely Groucho fashion, replete with one-liners often delivered with wanton, joyful disregard for the show’s other co-host, David Steinberg. Man, I hope I’m having that much fun when I’m 79.
The other thing that I found amazing about the video clips on this page, aside from Steinberg’s tie, is the collage of text on set behind Steinberg during the opening. Among other buzzwords of the age like “Pollution” and “Ghetto” and musical terms like “Music Scene” and “Billboard” were “Fellini” and – get this – “McLuhan”. Good luck finding “Jenkins” or “Bordwell” on the backdrop of American Idol or Saturday Night Live now!
Wait for the moment about 14 minutes in when Groucho starts riffing on Bo Diddley. Man, they don’t make ’em like this anymore.
After researching transmedia storyworlds at MIT, guiding Microsoft in its CTO/CXO's think tank, co-founding Microsoft Studios' Narrative Design team, and exploring the future of entertainment and media as the Creative Director and a Research Fellow for USC's Annenberg Innovation Lab, I'm now the Creative Director for USC's World Building Media Lab, a storyteller, a designer, a consultant, and a doctoral student in Media Arts and Practice at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. more »
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