Glenn, Petula, Bruno...

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@abs.net>]

From: Mike Flemmer <mikejf@freewwweb.com>
>
>Regarding Petula Clark, there is a very good 2 CD compilation
>in the stores.  CD 1 is old mono stuff, but the great stuff is on
>CD2- all the popular hits- and it's all faithfully copied from
>the masters.  It has the original version of "Who Am I". And
>also "Downtown", (not the newer version, which is not to my liking.)


I bought that one for my mother as a birthday gift last year. I
figured I might as well get her something I'd like to listen to as
well. Besides, she has most of the Julio Iglesias CDs already. And
wasn't in the mood for Enrico Iglesias yet. When my cousin visited
this year, she recognized almost *all* of the songs on the Petula CD,
even the older ones.

Petula Clark was in Baltimore this year, touring in the musical
version of "Sunset Boulevard." That would have been interesting...
(Now I'm envisioning a great change to the script. Tell me how this
sounds. "I'm ready for my close-up, Monsieur Monsaignon.")

>> Or as Gould himself could have very well said: "Well, Bruno, Abba
is
>> a lovely word... How many times would you like me to say it?"
>
>When Gould says to Bruno, "Prelude you say?  How many times
>would you like me to say it?",  I was totally fooled that the
>whole conversation with Bruno was spontaneous (in the Bruno
>video).  Of course, now I know the conversation was all planned
>by Gould, and Bruno's questions and rebuffs are simply Gould's.


By the time I watched that video, I had read about GG's penchant for
scripting everything. So that line didn't fool me. But it was still
lots of fun watching Glenn try to pull it off. Even knowing that he
was using a script, I can still be caught off-guard. ("Wow, how did he
think of that answer so quickly?") Just as when I listen to Gould's
characters arguing on the Silver Jubilee album, I keep picturing these
different people sitting around and talking with Glenn. My mind knows
they're all *his* voice(s), but the aural illusion stays alive.

This guy sure did want to control the media.
>I'm surprised he didn't aspire to own CBC or CBS itself!


At least he didn't try to create a 24-hour TV series about a man who
didn't realize he was the star of the world's most popular program.
(Whoops, sorry about that, I watched "The Truman Show" this weekend.)

>Is there any film of Gould caught 'live', without him in control?
>Or, in a real spontaneous TV or press interview?


The "Glenn Gould: Two Portraits" video is a good choice for that. I
haven't watched enough of the other videos to have more selections.
You used to be able to go to the CBC and ask to view the outtakes of
the recording of the Goldberg Variations. I'm sure there are quite a
few spontaneous moments there. (I'm not sure if the CBC is still doing
this, though. It's also a veeeery long film.)

Well, at least Glenn gave more interviews than Thomas Harris. Come to
think of it, I've given more interviews than Thomas Harris. (I gave
one interview for the college paper.)