Ted Weems was born in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, learned to play the violin and trombone, and organized a band at Lincoln School in Pittsburgh. The Ted Weems Orchestra dates to 1923 when Weems was still attending the University of Pennsylvania. By 1925, Weems and orchestra had moved his band to Chicago where work was found in hotels and ballrooms.
The Weems orchestra was among those playing for the inaugural of President Warren Harding; it toured for the MCA Corporation in 1923. The band's first Number one hit was Somebody Stole my Gal for RCA Victor in early 1924.
By 1932, national broadcasts with Jack Benny and Fibber McGee and Molly gave the ensemble national exposure and a recognizable identity. Perry Como joined as vocalist is in 1936. But with the onset of World War II, the orchestra disbanded. Weems himself joined the Merchant Marines but formed a new band after the war. It remained active until the early 1950s.
Weems moved to Chicago with his band around 1928. The Ted Weems Orchestra had more chart success in 1929 with the novelty song "Piccolo Pete", and the #1 hit The Man from the South. The band gained popularity in the 1930s, making regular radio broadcasts. These included Jack Benny's Canada Dry program on NBC during the early 1930s, and the Fibber McGee & Molly program in the late 1930s.
The Ted Weems Orchestra gave singer Perry Como his first national exposure in 1936. His other famous discoveries included was whistler-singer Elmo Tanner, sax player and singer Red Ingle, and Marilyn Maxwell, who left the band for acting and motions pictures. Arranger Joe Haymes is credited with creating the band's jazzy-novelty style.
It was Weems who signed a budding young ventriloquist --14 year old ventriloquist Paul Winchell whose 'partner' Jerry Mahoney inspired a generation of Winchell wannabes of which the writer was one. Inspired by Winchell, I appeared on local TV programs in West Texas with none other than the now legendary Roy Orbison. The money raised on these 'telethons' went to the March of Dimes for polio research.
The whistling on Heartaches is by Elmo Tanner. In a 1960 interview, Tanner revealed that he and Weems had received nothing for the reissue as both men had let their contracts expire while they were in the Merchant Marine. Decca Records also seized the moment, and its reissue of I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now with vocals by Perry Como became another major chart hit.
When the hits began to dry up by the early 50s, Weems became a disc jockey in Memphis, TN, later moving into management positions with the Holiday Inn hotel chain. Perry Como played host to his old boss, Elmo Tanner, and three other Weems band members on his Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall show of October 18, 1961.Ted Weems died of emphysema in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1963.
by Len HartThanks to digital technology anyone can make a movie. Whether or not your movie will be seen outside your living room, YouTube, or Facebook depends primarily upon your script.
Every movie begins and ends with a script. It follows that great movies require a great script! If your movie is to be seen in theaters or DVD, you need a great script. The best scripts –from Euripides to Shakespeare, from Charlie Chaplin to Robert Towne or James Cameron –pit finely drawn heroes against equally believable villains! Along the way, a hero will encounter both obstacles and aids –tricksters, mentors and 'heralds and, of course, villains and other obstructions. What holds this mix of plot, character and motive together is called story structure.
One of the best contemporary examples of such a structure is the motion picture Elizabeth, 1998, starring Cate Blanchett. As an instructive example of great screenwriting 'Elizabeth' ranks with Robert Towne's great 'Chinatown' starring Jack Nicholson.
Act I: The Set-up
The first 30 minutes of a screenplay is called the 'set-up' in which we are introduced to the "hero" and other main and supporting characters; we are shown the setting and historical context --contemporary or period; we learn something of the "premise" of the story and something about the "primary motives" of the main characters. It is here that the work of Lajos Ergri [The Art of Dramatic Writing] is essential and timeless. A groundwork of motivations and relationships is laid for the web of conflicts to follow. Even action movies, whose very first sequence may be action-packed, as is the case in the Bond films, are primarily expository for those first 30 minutes.
Consider, for example, how much we learn in only the first 30 minutes of Elizabeth:England, under the rule of Queen Mary I, a zealous Catholic, is racked by financial and religious instability. The country buzzes with rumors of terrorism, conspiracy, and the burning of Protestants as Mary steps up her campaign to purge the country of heresy.
Mary is married to Phillip of Spain but it is doubtful that her marriage was consummated. Childless, her impending death will leave the succession in doubt.
We are introduced to two major antagonists: the enigmatic, ruthlessly Machiavellian Sir Francis Walsingham –in exile during Mary's reign and Norfolk, who covets the throne. Norfolk shares with Spain a desire that England remain Catholic. As long as Mary reigns, Norfolk's 'alliance' with Spain is not treasonous. A 'regime change' would --obviously --change things. Therefore, Norfolk has a great deal at stake. Something is definitely 'on the line'!
A plot to overthrow Mary and place Elizabeth on the throne is discovered and Elizabeth is suspected of complicity. While in the company of Lord Robert Dudley, of whom she is particularly fond, Elizabeth is arrested by Norfolk allies and imprisoned in the infamous Tower of London.
In a meeting with her half-sister, "Bloody" Queen Mary, Elizabeth affirms her loyalty and disavows any connection with plotters led by Thomas Wyatt. It is unclear whether her life is saved by her pleas of innocence or by the death of Mary who dies without naming an heir. Norfolk reluctantly orders that Elizabeth succeed to the throne.
Act II: The Game is Afoot
The Second Act then begins when the Crown is placed upon Elizabeth's head --an event which occurs at the end of a segment that is very nearly 30 minutes to the second.
The succession of Elizabeth to the throne is what author/script guru Syd Field calls the first "plot point". It almost always happens within thirty minutes of the start of the film give or take a minute or two. I began timing Elizabeth from the opening titles in which "supers" provided some essential expository information. I would not have begun timing with titles over a black screen or other non-expository footage.
Plot Point #1 is the beginning of Act II. Act II is always characterized by what Lajos Egri (The Art of Dramatic Writring) calls rising conflict. This rising conflict leads to Plot Point #2 one hour later, on page 90 of the script. It is called rising conflict because, like poker, the stakes rise at every step along the journey. All major characters have something 'riding on' various outcomes. It is in Act II that we learn why the winners are winners and the losers, losers.
Pages 90-120 comprise Act III. By timing and analyzing many movies, I have found Field to be accurate, either because screenwriters have read and emulate Field or because good story structure seems to naturally fall into that pattern.
Although there is no denying Field's influence, many "older", pre-Field films are easily found to fall into this pattern. Casablanca, Psycho, Notorious, Rebecca, Citizen Kane, High Noon, Chinatown come to mind. It was, after all, Aristotle who first described the structure of a play: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Field’s theories may have been inspired by Aristotle and are often thought of as refinements applying primarily to film.
Structure is story and story is character. Motivated characters act upon their motivations. Equally motivated characters oppose them. Strong characters do not merely lock into siege; they attack and counter-attack. Leading characters --heroes and heroines --are opposed and/or threatened. There is always something at stake--love, fortune, fame. Lajos Egri writes of 'rising conflict' that it is not mere 'tit for tat'! Rising conflict results when the stakes are raised. Audiences lose interest in heroes who have nothing to lose, nothing 'on the line'. A fortune on the line is good drama, but also lives, reputations, virtue, a sense of self. Thus, a good story is an unfolding, universal dialectic as old as Socrates. And with Plot Point #1, the words of Sherlock Holmes apply: "The game is afoot".
It is not merely because it happens 30 minutes into the script that the crowning of Elizabeth is the first plot point. The first plot point is not simply defined as whatever it is that happens thirty minutes into the story. It is, rather, the very beginning of the story at the end of background exposition. As soon at the Crown is placed upon her head, Elizabeth's 'protestant' regime poses a threat to the Catholic Norfolk, friendly with Catholic Spain. The game is afoot.
The "story" of Elizabeth is the story of her reign and how that reign changed her and the nation she ruled. That story must begin with her coronation. It is her coronation that is the catalyst for the rising conflict which propels the next one hour of film time. That conflict is nothing less than the conflict between those would plot to assassinate her and replace her with a Catholic monarch and Elizabeth's allies -- equally ruthless in her defense.
This is the stuff of high drama; it rarely gets better than this. It is, literally, a struggle of life and death, a drama of Shakespearean weight and profundity. Anything else is a "sub-plot" and, in this film particularly, the subplots are subtly interwoven into the main story line like a fine Belgian tapestry. They provide context, commentary, and perspective but also influence in subtle ways the main story line.
Syd Field attributes a "structure" to Act II:
a "pinch" on page 45;
a "mid-point" on page 60;
another "pinch" on page 75.
In my own analyses, I have found the "pinches" to be more specific. An event on Page 45 almost invariably defines a serious complication, obstacle or setback. In Elizabeth, the French "warrior queen" Mary of Guise, has amassed troops on the Scottish border; forty-five minutes into the film, Mary routs Elizabeth's soldiers in the field. This is a serious complication --a setback --which threatens Elizabeth's tenuous hold on her throne, undermines her efforts to unite her deeply divided realm, and incurs the murderous enmity of Mary of Guise.
This event leads causally to the arrival of the Duke of Anjou. A marriage to the Duke, an alliance with France, is deemed necessary to secure Elizabeth's tenuous throne and repair the deteriorating relationship with Mary of Guise. All this is in reaction to the conflict in Scotland. It sets the stage for the next big plot point of page 60.
The Point of No Return
Elizabeth angers Catholic partisans with the passage of the Act of Uniformity. This is, indeed, a point of no return for both England and Elizabeth. It is seen by the Vatican as heretical and sets the stage for yet another dialectical reaction. The Queen's actions inspire a Catholic plot to assassinate and replace Elizabeth. The Pope himself is in on it with local traitors and co-conspirators.
While Field recognizes an important "pinch" on page 75, I have found this point to be, in most cases, a "reversal of fortune". In Elizabeth, this occurs when Elizabeth, against the wishes of her loyal advisor, William Cecil, refuses the Duke of Anjou's proposal of marriage. Seventy-five minutes into the film, this move almost costs Elizabeth her life --an assassination attempt that just barely goes awry. In the meantime, Mary of Guise has vowed revenge.
When Mary's attempt to murder Elizabeth with a poisoned dress fails, the Machiavellian Walsingham (brilliantly portrayed by Geoffrey Rush), Elizabeth's "Master Spy" takes action. Walsingham –in response –tricks, seduces, and murders Mary of Guise. One enemy of the Crown --down! The stakes are raised to set up Plot Point #3.
Act III: It's Payback Time
Lesser movies bog down in Act III. Not Elizabeth, where Act III itself evinces three discreet sections of 10 minutes each. They flow seamlessly from one to the other. On page 90, Walsingham begins to fight back against the enemies of the Crown: the plotters who have conspired with Norfolk to install Norfolk --a Catholic --as King.
Walsingham secures the cooperation of informers and spies to secure the remaining evidence of plots against Elizabeth. He tortures a murderous priest whom it is believed was sent by his "holiness" to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, a protestant. Torture is not pretty.
Confronted with the evidence, Elizabeth gives Walsingham carte blanche to "round up the usual suspects". They are imprisoned in the tower until they can be tried and beheaded. It is not difficult to imagine the many ways this 'round-up' is received, the many ways in which one in danger might try to escape the Queen's anger and often vicious retaliation.
The final section I call the apotheosis of Elizabeth in which she becomes the Virgin Queen. The final section is worthy of note. Few movies have approached Elizabeth in the manner in which all the various threads, motivations and conflicts are resolved so profoundly, so poignantly, so tragically. Much of that effect is owed to the inspired direction. A montage of piked "heads" prominently includes the head of Norfolk. The montage dissolves into Elizabeth in contemplation before the statue of the Virgin Mary.
The enigmatic, ruthlessly loyal Walsingham, appropriately distant in the Cathedral shadows, addresses his Queen in hushed tones. The people need the Virgin, he tells her. "They must be able to touch the divine!" The people, he says, have found nothing to replace her. Walsingham, thus, proves himself much more than a ruthless and blindly loyal trickster and spymaster. He is both a psychologist and propagandist who understands the symbolic value of the Queen's 'virginity'.
A moving crane shot makes it appear that the Virgin is leaning beneficently above Elizabeth. CUT TO: a reversing angle above Elizabeth who is symbolically shorn of her long, red, worldly hair. In a straight on head shot in which she looks like Joan of Arc, Elizabeth intones to her unseen companion, Kat Ashley: "Kat...I have become a virgin". Thus, in a Protestant nation, England may "...touch the divine" but will do so via their Queen, not as Norfolk would have hoped, through the Church in Rome.
When Elizabeth appears in public, her court is awed, and as she passes among them, they bow to kiss the hem of her garment. She is transformed, deified, untouchable. She is the Virgin Queen. Elizabeth Part One
Many people talk movies. Few actually shoot them. Often budgets are drawn up on a napkin at the House O' Pies or Denney's. In Hollywood, I learned how to shoot a movie on a small budget or even no budget. A mentor prepared just such a budget over a coffee somewhere in Hollywood. Four days later, they were in production.
The producer was the legendary Roger Corman. The line producer working up the budget was Dov S-S Simens who now teaches other aspiring movie makers how it's done.
I not only attended Dov's film school in Hollywood, I hung out with some real distributors --folks making a good living producing films and/or 'distributing' films at Mifed, Cannes or the American Film Market in Santa Monica. I learned a lot from these folk and was confident enough to put a full length feature in the can.
I have written three screenplays and got one of them "in the can". The 'trailer' for it is among the videos in the playlist. Entitled "Portrait of Evil", it was done on a micro-budget over two weekends. The post production was computerized non-linear on bartered equipment. While this movie did not get into distribution, it did result in my getting three offers from a very well-known distributor of medium budget action films. And a conditional offer from a much bigger firm with respect to one of my screenplays.
This 1987 performance at the Ambassador Hotel's Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles is now legendary, consisting of Orbison by himself and numerous friends who volunteered to perform. Other celebrity admirers were in the audience; they included Billy Idol, Patrick Swayze, Sandra Bernhard, and Kris Kristofferson.
Backing up Orbison and his mega-star performers was the TCB Band, which accompanied Elvis Presley from 1969 until his death in 1977: Glen D. Hardin on piano, James Burton on lead guitar, Jerry Scheff on bass, and Ronnie Tutt on drums. Male background vocalists, some of whom also joined in on guitar, were Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, and Steven Soles.
The female background vocalists were k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, and Bonnie Raitt. During the end credits, several of the band members are shown talking about how Orbison influenced them.
Roy Orbison and Friends: Dream Baby from 'A Black and White Night'
