Another Photo Gallery of a Special Weekend

Thanks to Pam Jones Hazelwood, here's another photo gallery looking back at the wonderful weekend we all had for the 45th Reunion of Sing-Out South at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel. The photo above includes (on either side of me) my two "little sisters" from the cast, Debbie Jones Bauder and Ann Garrett Clay.

It's always great to see both of them! Ann was a valuable member of our Planning Committee and Debbie played an important role over the Reunion weekend making sure everyone's nametag was large enough to be read. Take close look at the name badges and I think you'll see what I mean.

The former SOS cast members who made the longest journey to attend the Reunion had to be Bob and Harriet Hall Cates who have been living in Costa Rica for the past few months. Thanks to Harriet for making availalable (courtesy of her late grandmother who saved it all back in the day) a lot of the memorabilia items on display during the Reunion. There was always a crowd of people at the memorabilia tables looking at what was there. That sparked lots of special memories and stories and answered a few questions as well.



Thanks as well to Bob Cates (above center) for his rendition of the song he used to sing in Up With People called "Up The Holler." The song was written by his brother Bill Cates of Sing-Out South & UWP, and complete with kazoos and help from Buster Barry (left) and Hazel Robinson (right) their performance (above) of the "Holler" song (which was also performed by SOS) was one of the many highlights of our talent show Saturday evening.



Another person everyone was so glad to see (he was a last minute addition to the list of those coming to the Reunion) was Ted Overman (above). Ted is an original SOS cast member, our first music director, and a member of the original trio (along with Eddie Lunn and Cabot Wade). Later, after traveling with the national cast of Up With People, Ted returned to Nashville to be our cast director from the fall of 1966 to the late spring of 1967. Ted, along with Paula Thompson and her husband, made the longest journey to come to the SOS Reunion from within the continental United States, flying in from Arizona.



Another original SOS cast member who attended the Reunion weekend was George Thomas (seen above). The Reunion dates actually coincided (to the day) of when the premiere shows of Sing-Out South were performed at Hillsboro High School 45 years ago on March 25-26, 1966.



Along with having close to 60 former cast members (along with some spouses and friends) from all eras of Sing-Out South (1966-1971), we were blessed to have 15 original cast members join us for this 45th Reunion weekend. That includes (above) not only Buster Barry (left) but also Bobby Johnston (right). Bobby was able to complete a couple several business trips to South Africa early in order to be in attendance.

All the original cast members were honored Saturday night with the presentation of a special commemerative book about the history of the cast.

Thanks again to Pam Jones Hazelwood for providing this photo gallery. We plan to post even more photos from other sources in the days to come. So, if you attended the Reunion, and have some of your own photos to share, please e-mail them to me and we get them up on this blog.

Thanks! And thanks to everyone who came to the Reunion weekend. As we hoped, it truly was a special weekend for all of us!

An Evening To Remember! A Photo Gallery

It was a wonderful evening Friday night, March 25 for former members of Sing-Out South to renew old friendships at our 45th Reunion held at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel.

We began with a dessert reception where (see above) Paula Thompson Winter (center) got a chance to reconnect with old friend, Edna Vilars Grable and introduce Edna to her husband, Chris.

See all the smiling faces in the photos below as linking up with former friends was the order of the evening and the sweetest thing about this dessert reception.....

Margaret Stokes Johnson and Tommy Sloan

Allison Smith Ricks, Edna Vilars Grable and Ann Graham Bozman

Dave Cannon and Ted Overman

Ann Garrett Clay reads a letter of welcome and congratulations to Sing-Out South for its 45th Reunion from Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam. We also received similar proclamations from Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Nashville State Senator Thelma Harper.

Hazel Robinson, a member of both Sing-Out South and the international cast of Up With People, played a major role in getting those proclamations and letters of support from our political leaders. She also spearheaded putting together those wonderful goodie bags we are giving out to everyone who is attending the Reunion. It's a lot great stuff!

Linda Blackmore Cates, one of the original stars of Sing-Out '66 and Up With People (and married to SOS Musical Director Bill Cates), closes our memorial service remembering those SOS and UWP cast members who have passed away.

Thanks to Alan Mayor for all the photos....more to come!

The SOS 45th Reunion---Day II

We had quite an opening evening at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel last night for our Sing-Out South 45th Reunion!

Over 50 former cast members, spouses and friends attended the opening event, a dessert reception where the best treat for everyone was reconnecting with people who, in some cases, they had not seen in over 40 years. The laughter and squeals of delight echoed throughout the hallways of the hotel. Soon conversations were picked up in mid-sentence as if the years had melted away. (photos will soon follow)

Echoing back to the days when Sing-Out South was active (1966-1971), local and state political leaders sent their greetings and strong support to those attending the Reunion. That included Nashville Mayor Karl Dean (seen above) along with new Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and Nashville State Senator Thelma Harper.

All their special proclamations and letters of welcome were read to those attending the Reunion, receiving rounds of applause and several requests for personal copies.

Day II of the Reunion promises to be even more fun. After time this morning and early afternoon for smaller personal gatherings and for some to rehearse and get ready for tonight's talent show, we will all gather back at 4:00 p.m. for a group discussion about our thoughts and memories of Sing-Out South and Up With People 45 years later.

A special DVD video produced by former SOS member and cast photographer, Alan Mayor, will begin our look back (to get the memories and thoughts flowing). The DVD will feature photos from all eras of Sing-Out South and will also contain the soundtrack of one of SOS's TV shows (seen in the photo above). Entitled "Memorial For Tomorrow", the 30-minute special was taped at the studios of (then) WSIX-TV, Channel 2 for broadcast Memorial Day weekend of 1967.

Hopefully our retrospective discussion will continue and enhance our fellowship later in the evening when we gather for a buffet dinner and then the talent show.

It's already been a wonderful weekend and it's not even halfway over!

After 45 Years, Today's The Day

It was 45 years ago this very day, March 25, 1966 that Sing-Out South burst on the Nashville scene performing its premiere shows at Hillsboro High School before jam-packed audiences who (according to reports in THE NASHVILLE BANNER)cheered for up to 20 minutes during encores at the end of the show.

It was the beginning of a five-year adventure that saw hundreds of SOS cast members perform dozens of shows entertaining and inspiring thousands of Middle Tennesseans.

Tonight and over this coming weekend (March 25-26) at the Millenium Maxwell House in Nashville, up to 60 former SOS cast members will be joined by family and friends to look back on those exciting times with a special Reunion.

At least 17 original SOS cast members are expected to be present along with a strong representation from all eras of the cast (1966-1971).

One of those coming who has just confirmed his attendance is Ted Overman (seen far right in the photo above), who played a number of different roles in the cast, beginning as a drummer, bass player, trio member and Musical Director of the original SOS group and then (after a stint traveling with the national cast of Up With People) came back to reform Sing-Out South in the late summer and fall of 1966, serving then as Cast Director until the late spring of 1967.

We are so happy Ted can join us, traveling all the way from Arizona, which is also where former cast member Paula Thompson Winter is coming. Both appear to be tied for the longest distance to come, within the continental United States. Bob and Harriet Hall Cates are coming back from Costa Rica where they now live!

We will begin this 45th Reunion with a dessert reception Friday evening beginning at 7:30 p.m.. The event will allow everyone attending to get back together and get requainted, as well as begin to look through the massive memorabilia display that will be on hand all weekend. A special memorial service will also be conducted to honor those cast members who have left us over the years.

Saturday morning will be free time followed an opportunity at 1 p.m. at the hotel for those participating in Saturday night's talent show to get ina little practice. At 4 p.m a special DVD video on SOS history will be shown followed by a group discussion looking back on our Sing-Out/Up With People experience 40-plus years later. Bring your best stories, especially the funny ones!

Then at 6:30 Saturday night will be our buffett dinner followed by the talent show where many of our colleges will show us how they've progressed musically over the years.

Don't forget the weather will be rainy and a bit cool this weekend in Nashville (highs in the upper 50s, lows in the high 30s) and there will be some road construction near the hotel and interstate so bring your patience and some extra time while traveling.

It is going to be a special weekend! See you tonight!

Five Years Ago

Our second and most recent Sing-Out South Reunion (before this weekend) was back in March, 2006.

This 40th anniversary gathering was also held on the same weekend as SOS held its original premiere shows at Hillsboro High School (March 25-26, 1966).

The Reunion began with an impromptu reception at the Holiday Inn Vanderbilt Friday evening where many of the out of town guests were staying. The next day, there was a special SOS memorabilia display unveiled at the Metro Archives and all those attending the Reunion were special guests at a reception held at the Archives that afternoon.

That Saturday evening the Reunion partcipants gathered on the campus of Belmont College (where the first and several of the earlier practices of Sing-Out South were held. There was no formal program (such as the talent show we have planned this weekend on Saturday, but as you can see from the photo below, we did do some informal singing with some help from Bob Johnston and Eddie Lunn (Bill & Linda Blackmore Cates also performed during the evening....

Here's an early forecast for the weekend, after all our sunny and very warm weather, there's appears to be a good chance (up to 60%) of showers on Saturday with high temperatures in the 50s and low 60s over the weekend. Bring a jacket or a light sweater or coat!

Here's Who Is Coming This Weekend

Here's the latest list of those who are joining us this weekend (March 25-26) at the Millennium Maxwll House Hotel for the 45th Sing-Out South Reunion. There have been some late additions so read the list closely to find some new names just added:

(cast members only)

Revised Friday, March 25, 2011

Pat Nolan
Gene Nolan
Linda Blackmore Cates (Sing-Out '66 & UWP)
Bill Cates
Bob Cates
Harriet Hall Cates
David Cannon
Mrs. Raymond Cannon
Darlene Cannon Duncan
Hazel Robinson
Ann Garrett Clay
Patsy Hankins Kemper
Pam Jones Hazelwood
Lyn Neal-Walker
John Anderson
Debbie Jones Bauder
Molly Hudgens Fox
George Thomas
Randy Diamond
Paula Thompson Winter
Ricky Trotter
Scott Mayberry
Tommy Sloan
Jeanette Denami Coke
Michelle Abston
Buster Barry
Ann Graham Bozman
Colleen Dowd (UWP' 84)
Terry Hendrixson
Margaret Stokes Johnson
Ruth Hammontree Anstey
Allison Smith Ricks
Pam Mark Hall
Beth Amonett (Sing-Out Smithville)
Alan Mayor
Loie Vilars Diggs
Edna Vilars Grable
Jerry Baker
Ted Overman
Bobby Johnston
Wanda Ricks Horrell

Possible late additions:

Deborah Hutchison Fries
Jacki Hutchison


With spouses and friends, the total attending will just over 50.

It is going to be a very special weekend!

We've Done This Twice Before

As we gather this coming weekend at the Millenium Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville (Friday evening, March 25 & Saturday, March 26), it will mark only the third time there has been a Reunion of the cast since Sing-Out South ended its 5-year run back in 1971.

The first Reunion was held Saturday, December 29, 1989, also at the Maxwell House Hotel,(see the group shot above being taken by Alan Mayor). My wife Betty Lee, actually took all the Reunion photos seen in this posting, although Alan will take some again this time around at the Reunion this weekend.

The idea of a reunion started with a small group of us (Wendy Jones Sisson and I first discussed it over lunch when she was in Nashville visiting her folks that summer). More people got involved (Patsy Hankins Kemper, Ann Garrett Clay, Gene Nolan, Alan and others) and we thought doing the Reunion during the holiday season might make sense as it appeared a number of former cast people would either be in town to visit family for the holidays or already lived in the area.

While we started from almost zero in putting together contact lists and other information (no one had e-mail addresses or blogs or Facebook and only Al Gore had the Internet in those days), nevertheless using old cast rosters, letters and phone-a-thons, we gathered over 80 people from 20 different states to come. Some are coming back again this year!

One thing we will have more of for this 45th Reunion is memorabilia. The photo above shows about all we had then, along with a slide show Gene, Alan and I crafted together.

This time, Alan has put together a 30-minute DVD with photos from all eras of the cast along with the audio track music from our half-hour "Memorial for Tomorrow" TV show we did for Memorial Day weekend in 1967. It aired on then WSIX-TV, Channel 8 (now WKRN-TV, Channel 2). A photo from that show can be seen below.

The DVD will be shown to begin our Saturday afternoon session at 1:00 p.m. at the hotel. It will replace the SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS documentary. That's unfortunate in a way, because I know several people really want to see it. The problem is the film has not yet been released on DVD and we faced possibly having to pay a $250 performance fee for showing it. While the producer Lee Storey was very gracious in trying to work something out, it still appeared someone would have to pay the fee and it could NOT be us (there is no money in our budget for it).

Nevertheless, Alan's DVD will do a great job in getting us in the mood Saturday afternoon to look back and reflect on our time in Sing-Out and Up With People from the perspective of 40 years plus! So be thinking about your best stories, especially the funny ones or the ones that still stick out in your mind so many years later.

Here's a brief re-cap of our schedule of events. I will try and e-mail this to everyone coming (about 50 folks) as well as post this again here on the blog several more times before the weekend!

Also if you have your own memorabilia, please feel free to bring it as well. The more the merrier. Just mark your name on it so it won't get lost or confused for someone's special stuff.

ALL EVENTS AT THE MILLENIUM MAXWELL HOUSE HOTEL ON ROSA PARKS BLVD NEAR METRO CENTER


FRIDAY, MARCH 25,2011

7:30---9:30 P.M.....An opening dessert reception, come get back in touch your former cast members (pick up those conversations again in mid-sentence) and see all our memorabilia. It will take you all weekend to see everyone (and everything). This will be a great beginning!


SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 2011

1:00 P.M.........Our look back at our time in Sing-Out and Up With People from a perspective of 40 years plus. Bring your best and funniest stories, then watch our 30-minute DVD that will bring back even more memories.

3:00---5:00 P.M......Time for those performing in the evening's talent show to practice and prepare! Will do our practicing somewhere in the hotel, maybe even the hallways if we don't disturb too many people. Don't forget, if you want to perform, please contact David Cannon (and he has a NEW E-MAIL address) rdavidcannon3@comcast.net.


6:30-----9:30 P.M....a buffet dinner and one last chance to see everyone, look back at the memorabilia (and try to remember again exactly who that person standing next to you in that picture really was back in the day), and then enjoy our talent show!

ONE LAST IMPORTANT NOTE: NAMETAGS WILL BE PROVIDED AND IT IS MANDITORY THAT EVERYONE WEAR THEM AT ALL TIMES AT THE EVENTS THIS WEEKEND!

It is going to be a special time! We will take time to remember our departed cast members. And we will take special note of the original SOS cast members who are with us. It was on this very weekend, 45 years ago to the day, that they performed in Sing-Out South premiere shows at Hillsboro High School.

We'll talk more about that in a future posting here, as well as look back on our second Sing-Out South reunion held five years ago this weekend in 2005.

Generally Speaking Very Well Received On The Hill

It was 45 years ago this week in March, 1966 that in preparation and promotion of our premiere shows to be held at Hillsboro High School, the original cast of Sing-Out South gave a thirty-minute performance to members of the Tennessee General Assembly on Capitol Hill in Nashville.

That's an honor not often given to a singing group and the cast was enthusiastically received by lawmakers who gave a standing ovation (see above) at the end of the show.

Governor Frank Clement was also a huge supporter of SOS and he met with a group of cast leaders while they were on the Hill that day. Later in the week, a letter of support from the Governor (as well as another from Nashville Mayor Beverly Briley) appeared in the programs for the premiere shows at Hillsboro.

That's pretty heady stuff in terms of the political support Sing-Out had at that time and which it continued to receive throughout its history, including from Governor Buford Ellington who succeeded Clement in the governor's office in 1967.

Governor Buford Ellington proclaims Sing-Out South week in August, 1967.

Mayor Beverly Briley proclaims PACE Magazine Week in Nashville in the fall of 1966.

All this and much more memorabilia will be on display this coming weekend (March 25-26) as we celebrate our 45th Sing-Out South Reunion at the Millenium Maxwell House Hotel. We are gathering on the exact days (and even the exact hours) that we gave our first public shows.

It is going to be a most memorable weekend!

At The Movies---1971!

I apologize for the much longer than expected intermission since my last At The Movies posting. Between getting ready for next week's (March 25-26) Sing-Out Reunion and taking a little vacation, time has gotten away from me.

But now, I'm back and let's take a final look back at the Best Picture nominees during our years together with Sing-Out South. 1971 saw the first R-rated movie win the Best Picture Oscar, THE FRENCH CONNECTION. That came two years after the first X-rated film won, MIDNIGHT COWBOY. Seems a little odd but that's the way it happened in Hollywood.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION is a movie drama (based on reality) that follows the exploits of New York City Police Detective "Popeye" Doyle. It specifically follows efforts to stop a narcotics smuggling operation that brought in drugs from Marseille, France and NYC.

The film made Gene Hickman a superstar as he took Best Actor honors for his portrayal of "Popeye" Doyle. In addition to Best Picture and Actor, the film also garnered 3 other Oscars for a total of 5, after earning 8 nominations. The other Academy Awards it won include Best Director (which almost always goes to the Best Picture winner), Best Film Editing and Best Screenplay Adapted From Another Medium. The film has been added for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Here's a look back through a movie trailer promoting the picture....



Somewhat ironically, one of the movies THE FRENCH CONNECTION beat out for the Best Picture Oscar was another film rated both R (and in some versions X), A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, produced, written and directed by Stanley Kubrick (of 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY fame).

A darkly satirical film with strong sexual violence themes and considered now both a horror and a science fiction movie, it was nominated for 4 Oscars but won none. Here's a trailer from the movie (which I never saw and have little desire to see even today)...



There were three other Best Picture nominees in 1971. One was one of my favorite musicals, the film adaptation of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

Based on the Broadway play, it won 3 Academy Awards for Best Score, Best Cinematography and Best Sound. The picture follows the life of Tevye and his Jewish family in a small village in Tsarist Russia in 1905. Here's an original movie trailer about the film and its wonderful, enduring musical score....



Another movie nominated for Best Picture in 1971 also has a Russian theme, NICHOLAS and ALEXANDRA. In fact, you might call the film, as compared to FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, the other part, or the rest of the story outlining the events leading up to the Russian Revolution in 1917. A biographical drama, it portrays the ill-fated lives of the last Czar of Russia, Nicholas, and his wife, Alexandria. Nominated for 6 Academy Awards it won 2, for Best Art Direction--Set Decoration and Best Costume Design. Here's the movie trailer from 1971...

The final Best Picture nominee for 1971 was THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.

A coming of age film set in a small Texas town during the early days of the Korean War in the 1950s, the drama, directed by Peter Bagdanovich, features a very strong cast, including, in the starring roles, Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottoms. The picture also contains the debut performances of Cybil Sheperd (from Memphis, Tennessee)and Randy Quaid. Shot in black and white and using contemporary hit songs from the era, the movie was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and won 2 (Best Supporting Actor--Ben Johnson and Best Supporting Actress--Cloris Lechman). Other notable actors in the picture include Ellen Burstyn and Eileen Brennan. That's quite a cast.

Here's a movie trailer promoting the film in 1971...



This concludes our look back At The Movies for the years we were together in Sing-Out South and Up With People. I hope you have enjoyed it and that it brought back some nice memories. You may have also noticed how much the movies and our culture was changing back in those times.

At The Movies---1970!

Despite four other popular movies, PATTON, much like the general the movie portrays (General George S. Patton of WWII fame), swept the Oscar field in 1970, being nominated for 10 Academy Awards and winning seven. That includes Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Art Direction.

Considered by some to be among the best war movies ever made, PATTON was dominated by the performance of George C. Scott, who seemed to be born to the role of playing the General. However, he strongly disliked acting competitions, and refused to accept his Best Actor Oscar.

Here's a movie trailer from the film back in 1970. I apologize for the language, but that's the way the movie (and the General) were...



One of the movies PATTON beat out was AIRPORT described as a melodrama about an airplane carrying a bomb, an airport almost closed by a blizzard and the variuous personal problems facing those on the plane. Actually the film now sounds more like modern-day aviation issues than what you saw back in 1970. It is considered the first of many "disaster movie" epics and featured a blockbuster cast of stars including Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, George Kennedy, Van Heflin, Helen Hays (who won the movie's only Oscar as Best Supporting Actress), Jacqueline Bisset and Jean Seberg.

Here's the movie trailer promoting the film....



Another film nominated for Best Picture in 1970 was FIVE EASY PIECES, starring Jack Nicholson, Karen Black and Susan Anspach.

According to Wikipedia, the movie tells the story of a surly oil rigger whose life belies his youth as a child prodigy pianist. Hearing that his father is dying, he comes home with his pregnant girlfriend where life gets even more complicated both on the way and after he arrives.

The movie was nominated for four Oscars (including Best Actor of Nicholson and Best Supporting Actress for Black) but did not win a single one. However it did win several awards from the New York Fim Critics competition and that's one thing this film trailer talks about.....



The two other films nominated for Best Picture in 1970 were wildly popular among young people. The first was MASH, an outlandish, dark comedy about a medical unit in the Korean War. Clearly a satire on the ongoing Vietnam War. Starring Don Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman and Robert Duvall, it was nominated for five Academy Awards, but it won only for Best Screenplay. A song in the film "Suicide Is Painless" also became a hit song on the pop charts (but not the version in the trailer). The movie also sparked a long-running TV show of the same name, that was one of the most popular shows of all time.

Here's the movie trailer from the theaters in 1970.....


The final Best Picture nominee from 1970 was surely one of the first "Chick Flicks" of our day. LOVE STORY, a romantic drama, starring Ali McGraw, Ryan O'Neill and Ray Milland (along with a brief cameo first appearance by Tommy Lee Jones) was both loved and hated for its sweet but ultimately tragic (and "preppy" story line.

It was nominated for seven Academy Awards to won only one (Best Original Score). It also led to a sequel, OLIVER'S STORY in 1978, which was not nearly as successful as the first film. It did contain a line of script that has lived on for decades now: "Loves means never having to say you're sorry."

Here's a trailer with highlight of the film featuring its the instrumental theme song from the movie.

Join us next time for our final At The Movies--1971, when we look back at THE FRENCH CONNECTION, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW and NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA.

At The Movies---1969!

By 1969, the world had changed a lot...that includes the movies.

For the first (and only) time so far, an X-rated film, MIDNIGHT COWBOY won the Best Picture Academy Award. Based on a novel of the same name written by Leo Herlihy, the film took three Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay).

It also continued the rise to stardom of Dustin Hoffman and made a star out of Jon Voight. The theme song of the picture, "Everybody Talking At Me" was also a major hit on the pop charts as recorded and sung in the movie by Harry Nilsson. In 1994, the movie was selected for preservation on the National Film Registry.

There were some of us in Sing-Out South, who were likely too young (under 17) to see this film when it first came out. Now that we're all plenty old enough, here's a trailer about the film from back in 1969...



There were several other popular movies that MIDNIGHT COWBOY beat out for Best Picture in 1969. One was the musical HELLO, DOLLY! based on the mega-hit Broadway play. It starred Barbra Steisand and Walter Matthau (in his one and only musical role). The film did not always win rave critical reviews, but it was a great date-night movie for the late 1960s and early 1970s. It won three Oscars (Best Art Direction, Best Music & Best Sound). Here's a movie trailer which also showcases much of the musical score which lives on today, including a brief snippet of Louie Armstrong singing the title song along with Barbra Streisand....


Hello, Dolly! - Trailer
Uploaded by enricogay. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

Another movie nominated for Best Picture for 1969 was ANNE OF A THOUSAND DAYS continuing an infatuation for the movies of the 1960s with King Henry VIII and his many wives. In this case it was Anne Boleyn, who lost her head when she lost favor with his husband (primarily for not having male heirs, although their child, Elizabeth did become one of the great rulers of England). In this film, Richard Burton was the King, while Genevieve Bojold, making his first English speaking film, became a star in the U.S.

The movie was nominated for ten Academy Awards, but won only one for Best Costumes. Here's from YouTube is the climatic scene of the movie and from which it got its title....

The final movie nominated for Best Picture for 1969 was perhaps the most popular among our age group, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. The film followed the careers of two legenday train robbers from the Wild West. The stars were Robert Redford and Paul Newman along with Catherine Ross, as their mutual love interest.

The film won four Oscars for Best Original Score, Best Writing (many lines from the movie have lived on for years), Best Song (Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head & Best Cinematography).

Here's a trailer promoting the film from back in the day...

Join us next time for: At The Movies--1970: PATTON, AIRPORT, FIVE EASY PIECES, LOVE STORY and MASH. What a year for flicks that was!

At The Movies----1968

It was back to a musical for the Best Picture Oscar in 1968 as OLIVER! was the choice. The film, based on the stage musical of the same name and the Charles Dickens' novel,OLIVER TWIST,was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won 6, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, Best Sound and a special Academy Award for Choreorgraphy.

All of that is on display in this movie trailer about the film from 1968....



It was a good year for movie musicals in 1968 as FUNNY GIRL with Barbara Streisand was also up for Best Picture.

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, it won only one, with Barbra Streisand in her first motion picture, taking Best Actress honors(along with Katherine Hepburn). It was the same role Streisand played on Broadway and, as you both see and hear from this trailer, the movie contained many wonderful songs...and one line of the script...that lives on today...

As we mentioned, the Best Actress Academy Award was shared by Barbra Streisand with Katherine Hepburn for her role as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in the film, THE LION IN WINTER (the only such tie in Oscar history). The historical costume drama was a fictional account of King Henry II of England(played by Peter O'Tootle) and his very dsyfunctional family as Richard seeks to decide who will succeed him on the throne.

The movie was nominated for 7 Academy Awards and won 3, including Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Music Score.

Here's a taste of the film from this 1968 trailer....


The final 1968 Best Picture nominee film I want to talk about also comes from English history. In this case, it's William Shakespeare's immortal classic of star-crossed lovers, ROMEO & JULIET.The film was nominated for 4 Oscars and won 2 (Best Cinematography & Best Costume Design). The song from the movie, "A Time For Us" also became a major hit on the pop charts as an instrumental.

It made a major star (and teen-age boy heartrob) of Olivia Hussey and also featured a very young Michael York among the cast.The movie was also somewhat unique in casting the major roles to an actor and actress who were the young ages that Shakespeare envisioned in writing the play. It is often difficult to achieve critical acclaim in trying to put on film a timeless classic, but as you will see in this trailer, Director Franco Zefirelli made it happen...

As we continue to prepare for our Sing-Out South 45th Reunion March 25-26 at the Maxwell House Hotel, join us next time for At The Movies--1969, to look back as such diverse films as MIDNIGHT COWBOY, ANNE OF A THOUSAND DAYS, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID & HELLO DOLLY!

At The Movies---1967

When we were in Sing-Out South back in the 1960s, we did more than practice and perform shows together. We also went to the movies! To get your memory cells active for our 45th SOS Reunion March 25-26 at the Maxwell House Hotel here in Nashville, we are taking a look back at the Best Picture nominees and the winner of the Oscar back in those years when we were in the cast.

In 1967 one of the films we went to see was likely the year's Best Picture, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. Starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger, it tells the story of an African-American police detective from Philadelphia who becomes involves in a murder investigation in a racist small town in Mississippi. The movie won 5 Academy Awards including not only Best Picture, but also Best Actor (Steiger), Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Writing for an Adapted Screenplay. It spawned two movie sequels, THEY CALL ME MR. TIBBS and THE ORGANIZATION as well as long-running TV series starring Carrol O'Connor.

Watch this movie trailer from 1967 and listen again to several classic lines from the film that still live on in Hollywood lore....

The Best Picture category in 1967 was loaded with wonderful motion pictures that have stood the test of time. Much like IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT in addressing issues of race relations was GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER. It also starred Sidney Poitier along with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, who were paired together for the last time on the screen.The film won two Oscars for Best Actress (Hepburn) and Best Writing for an Original Screenplay.

Take a look back at this very special movie....

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? - Trailer
Tags: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? - Trailer

For the younger audience, another popular movie up for Best Picture in 1967 was BONNIE & CLYDE, which looked back on the exploits of the infamous bank robbery duo of the 1930s. The film starred Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway and won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Estelle Parsons) and Best Cinematography. It was a picture that began to explore the new ways that the movies would portray both sex and violence, especially the famous shoot-out scence when Bonnie & Clyde are killed which is not shown in this movie trailer...

One last Best Picture nominee from 1967 which still lives on in '60s pop culture is THE GRADUATE which launched the career of Dustin Hoffman. It is ranked 19th all-time in money grossed by a motion picture and it has been preserved in the National Film Registry because of its cultural significance. It also was one of the first, if the first movie, that had its song track written and performed by a pop rock duo, Simon & Garfunkel, a score that remains a classic to this day. Finally, our generation would never think about the word "plastics" quite the same way after seeing this film...

Our next posting: AT THE MOVIES: 1968, OLIVER!, FUNNY GIRL, THE LION IN WINTER and Romeo & Juliet.

At The Movies---1966

As we continue to get those memory cells working again in advance of our Sing-Out South 45th Reunion March 25-26 at the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, we are taking a look back at one of the favorite things many of us did in those days (other than practice and perform shows with Sing Out)...go to the movies!

The Best Picture Oscar in 1966 was won by A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, a epic movie that portrayed the life and martyrdom of Sire Thomas More, the 16th Century Lord Chancellor of England who was executed because he would not support King Henry VIII's divorce and his creation of the Church of England.

The movie made more than $20 million in both the U.S. and the U.K. It won 6 Oscars including Best Actor (Paul Schofield), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and, of course, Best Picture. Here's a trailer with a few scences from the film...

A Man for All Seasons - Trailer
Tags: A Man for All Seasons - Trailer

One of the movies A MAN FOR SEASONS beat for Best Picture (and Paul Schofield beat Alan Arkin beat for Best Actor)was the comedy, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, a hilarious cold-war slapstick about a Russian sub that crash lands near a small village in New England. THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING did turn the tables in the Golden Globe Awards, winning both Best Motion Picture and Best Actor.

Here's a rather different kind of movie trailer about the film courtesy of You Tube...



There is one other film I want to mention from 1966 (although most of us were probably too young to see it). WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF got more Oscar nominations than any other picture that year. In fact, it was nominated in every category possible (13) and won 5 Oscars including Best Actress (Elizabeth Taylor) and Best Supporting Actress (Sandy Dennis). But its very rough language and subject matter made it a very controversial film (much like the Broadway play it was based on.

When it came to Nashville, a Metro policeman touched off days of protest and controversy by going into the downtown movie theatre (The Paramount) and confiscating the film as "obscene."

Here's a trailer about the film which by today's standards would be quite lame....


Join us for next posting AT THE MOVIES: 1967, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, BONNIE & CLYDE, THE GRADUATE and GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER.

At The Movies!

As a part of getting ready for our Sing-Out South 45th Reunion on March 25-26 at the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, we've been remembering and listening to some of our favorite SOS and Up With People songs.

But, back in the day, we did more than just practice and perform shows, we did the things other young people did...we went to the movies and watched a lot of television!

In the aftermath of the latest Academy Awards presentation, over the next several days, I thought I would post a look back at the films that won the Oscar for Best Picture during our years together in Sing-Out South, and then, after that, go back and look at some of our favorite TV shows from that same era.....

THE SOUND OF MUSIC was released in March, 1965 and named Best Picture in the spring of 1966 not longer after SOS was formed. If you'll remember the Belle Meade Theatre here in Nashville kept showing the film for many, many months, surely helping it become the third largest grossing motion picture of all time ($1.046 billion dollars adjusted for inflation) behind only GONE WITH THE WIND and STAR WARS.

Besides Best Picture, the movie won 4 other Oscars for Best Director, Best Sound, Best Adapted Score and Best Film Editing.

It's become a true movie classic, being broadcast every year around Easter on NBC and being selected by The Library of Congress to be preserved forever as a part of the National Film Registry.

Much like Sing-Out South, the movie has been celebrating its 45th anniversary and here's a clip from YouTube where some of the surviving cast, (Julie Andrews and those the 7 actors and actresses, now grown, who played the Von Trapp Children) appeared on THE TODAY SHOW (November 10, 2010) a for reunion of sorts...

The movies THE SOUND OF MUSIC bested for that Best Picture in 1965 included DARLING, SHIP OF FOOLS, A THOUSAND CLOWNS and, frankly, one of my all-time favorites films, DR ZHIVAGO.

Surpassing the THE SOUND OF MUSIC overall, DR. ZHIVAGO won 6 Academy Awards including Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Writing, Best Costume Design and Best Musical Score.

Courtesy of YouTube, here's movie trailer that was used to promote the film after its success at the Academy Awards .....

Next 1966: A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!, and Nashville's unique relationship to WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF.