Okay, here's another international production of Fiddler on the Roof, but one I especially wanted to post since I find it particularly appropriate. The story of the musical takes place is Russia, as you no doubt are aware, and this is about as close to that as I've come across. It's from the Estonian National Opera. Estonia was an independent nation that had been occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. However, it regained its independence in 1991 after the breakup of the USSR. The production comes from 1990. The performers here, playing Tevye and his wife Golde singing "Do You Love Me?", are Jüri Krjukov as Tevye and Helgi Sallo. When I first saw the description, I mis-read things and thought it said that Krjukov was one of the most beloved performers in Estonia. He does a nice job here, but it was Helgi Sallo as Golde who I thought was particularly wonderful. Then I re-read things, and it turns out that while Jüri Krjukov was a well-regarded actor from the Estonian Drama Theatre, it was indeed Ms. Sallo who was so beloved, performing for half a century in operas, operettas, musicals (including starring in Hello, Dolly!), drama plays and TV series..
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I've written several stories this past year about a company called Stream TV Networks, beginning with this piece here last August. The company makes a product called Ultra-D, which is a stunning technology they license for 3D-TV without glasses.
I've been following the company for several years, being in regular communication with its president Mathu Rajan, and have seen their TV sets in operation, and it's quite stunning. The products are at brilliant 4K-compatible quality, and among other things can convert regular on-air TV to glassless 3D in real-time. (I know that some analysts feel that the window for 3D-TV has come and gone, flopping poorly. But that's for 3D-TV with glasses, a technology I've long-written is very flawed and destined to fail. But 3D-TV without glasses is a completely different dynamic, I feel. And a technology, too, that can be adapted to other media, like monitors, tablets, large screen mobile phones, even potentially movie screens one day -- who knows? --and more.) Release to the market for the Ultra-D TV sets is another issue, and has been a long time coming, where I've gotten a lot of calls from Mathu about new deals and products being close for release. The deals are real, but at that point the manufacturing and distribution is out of Stream TV Networks' hands. Thus far, most of the companies they've had TV manufacturing deals with have been based in China -- although they distribute the U.S. -- and thus far there have been delays. But a month ago, Mathu called, full of excited anticipation for some news deals upcoming. And the past week, those have finally been announced. One is a deal with a U.K. TV manufacturer, Cello Electronics. Another is the first deal I've seen them announce with a U.S. manufacturer, Izon. It's a small company, but I've seen their presence at CES in the past. The third press release isn't incredibly clear what it's announcing (never a good thing for a press release), but after some investigation it's a deal with the company, Inception Digital, that makes sets that are placed in restaurants or other such-business to display ever-changing ads and information, and they’re doing a test with about five restaurant chains, one of which is Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. Though this latter company isn't a TV manufacturer, it's noteworthy nonetheless, because one of the things that Stream TV Networks has been pursuing and developing has been application for their technology in products other than just televisions -- as mentioned, like for tablets and monitors and more. So, this is evidence of progress in that area. After getting all this information, I contacted Mathu Rajan again, and he filled me in enthusiastically with more updates. (Though, to be clear, he tends to speak with excited enthusiasm as a general rule.) None of these deals are for imminent distribution in retail stores. However they all have expected market dates in the coming year, some in the early part of the year. Izon and Cello Electronics, for instance, are both expected to have sets in the stores during the first quarter of 2015. They also have a commitment from several large Chinese companies to roll out their sets with Ultra-D technology during the coming year. Skyworth (which is #1 in China selling 4K sets and #7 for global TV manufacturers) will be showing their Ultra-D sets at CES next month and expect to have them on the market in Q2. Konka (#9 in the world) will be presenting its 65" Ultra-D set at CES, as well, and also plans to have them in stores in Q2. And there is the continuing deal with Hisense. SkyMedia -- which is #3 in TV sales in South Korea -- should have their Ultra-D sets in the market in Q1. Additionally, there are several other new relationships with substantive companies who have already taken their sets with the Ultra-D technology to display in public at trade shows, which is a significant step. It's particularly significant since these include Panasonic and NEC. Two other very big Japanese companies he mentioned (though not ready to name for public consumption yet) are expected to be ready in the third quarter of the year. As I mentioned, Stream TV Networks has also been developing their glassless 3-D technology in areas other than just TVs, like computer monitors, tablets and large-screen mobile phones. In that regard, they have a deal with Epic Entertainment, who is developing games for the glassless-3D platform and will be showing their products at a a "gaming area" of the Stream TV booth during CES. And also at the booth, Stream TV Networks will have a "mock" TV studio giving demonstrations with equipment that can broadcast directly in glassless 3-D. And they're in talks with several high-end PC makers, expecting to display glassless 3D-monitors at the huge IFA Berlin trade show in September.. I have no idea what will come of this, after all there have been starts-and-delays along the way, but it does appear that some significant, meaningful steps forward have been taken. When companies have already displayed their Ultra-D sets at trade shows and others will doing so at CES in just two weeks, it seems like the "expected" market dates -- some as soon as the first quarter of 2015 -- are definitely worth watching. Updates as they occur... Back in my initial posting here about Kukla, Fran and Ollie, I wrote about how puppeteer Burr Tillstrom won an additional Emmy Award that was not involved with KF&O, but for his work on his own. It was for one of the "hand ballets" that he performed on occasion for the satirical news series, That Was the Week That Was. That Was the Week That Was was a smart, pointed, very sharp British sketch-comedy show which was brought over to the U.S. in the early 1960s. Among other things, it introduced to American audiences one of the original British cast members, David Frost. It's also the show that introduced Tom Lehrer to most Americans. He wrote periodic songs for the series, and then recorded them for his now-classic hit album, That Was the Year That Was. And it also brought Burr Tillstrom into the national spotlight in a way people hadn't seen or expected. His hand ballets were little vignettes that didn't use any puppets at all, but merely Tillstrom's bare hands, using them alone to evoke some story in the news he wanted to get across. It was done with great artistry, often movingly. And one of them so artistic and moving that it won him an Emmy Award. In 1963, two years after the Berlin Wall had been erected, a very brief concession was made. The Wall would open for the Christmas holiday and allow those in the West to travel into East Berlin and visit family and loved ones, needing to return a few days later. This is what Burr Tillstrom did a hand ballet about shortly after. And I found the video of it. I was planning to post it at some point soon...but then I realized what better time to do so on Christmas day. The quality of the video is a little rough, especially at the beginning, but it's fine. And ultimately, as you watch -- one brilliant artist using only his hands -- the quality of the video won't matter one whit. And if anyone ever wonders where the humanity of Kukla, Fran and Ollie came from, to bring such life into puppets, now you'll know. Here it is. Earlier in the season, we had a lesser-known song from Tom Lehrer about Hanukkah, with his "Hanukkah in Santa Monica." Just to round things out a bit, here's another early lesser-known holiday song of his, from the album, An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer". Here is "A Christmas Carol." Side Note: Back in this post here, I wrote about how when the movie musical Scrooge, was released, its composer Leslie Bricusse told about how they had done research and had found that no song had ever been written called, "A Christmas Carol," and so he wrote the first one for the movie. And I noted that in a 1956 TV adaptation of the very same Dickens story, which they called The Stingiest Man in Town," they had a song, "A Christmas Carol." And now, here's yet another song with the same title, three years after that. (Though this song is "little-known," Tom Lehrer has and had a big following, and this album was not obscure.) I like the movie Scrooge and its score. But even given that this was in the days before the Internet, Leslie Bricusse needed better researchers. Indeed, I suspect if one doesn't even try to hard, one could find a bunch of others. It's just not possible to let Christmas go by without the wonderful classic from Stan Freberg -- the great, "Green Chri$tma$." This was done in 1958, and at the time it was very controversial. Some radio stations wouldn't even play it. That was largely due to outrage from advertisers. Some advertisers were all right with it being played -- but had the condition that their own ads couldn't be run within 15 minutes of it. Oddly enough, within about six months of the release of "Green Chri$tma$," two of the companies that are clearly satirized in the piece -- Coca Cola and Marlboro -- each asked Freberg about dong ad campaigns for them. He accepted Coke, but turned down the cigarette company. (Freberg, an acclaimed maker of satirical ads, in addition to his work as a humorist, had no problem with advertising. In fact his first-hand knowledge of advertising helps make "Green Chri$tma$" so effective. His issue was the commercialization of Christmas.) The single transcended the protests, and went on to have a healthy, long life. Today, half a century of mass-marketing later, it has an almost genteel quality to it. Yet, it's still pointed -- and even poignant -- and still wonderful. Every year around this time, there are articles about which recorded version of A Christmas Carol is "the best." Usually it comes down to the films that starred either Alistair Sim or Reginald Owen. But for me, it's this one. An audio version done for, I believe, the BBC, in 1960. It's quite wonderful and as good an adaptation of the story as I've come across. It stars Sir Ralph Richardson as Scrooge, and Paul Scofield as Dickens, the narrator. Casts don't get much better than that. I first heard this on radio station WFMT in Chicago which has been playing this every Christmas Eve for many decades. Eventually, I found it on audio tape. I've listened to it annually since I was a kidling. Some years I think I won't listen to it this year, but put it on for a few minutes for tradition's sake -- but after the first sentence it suckes me in. There are four reasons why, for me, this is far and away the best version. But one reason leaps out. First, the acting is as good as it gets. Scofield is crisp and emphatic,and almost every creak of his voice draws you in to the world, and Richardson is a Christmas pudding joy. Second, being radio, you aren't limited by budgets to create the Dickensian world. Your imagination fills in every lush and poverty-stricken, nook and cranny -- and ghostly spirit, aided by moody sound effects and violins. Third, the adaptation sticks closely to the Dickens tale, and Scrooge comes across more realistic, rounded-person than as a Mythic Icon. And fourth, and most of all by far, unlike any of the other version, this includes...Dickens. While the story of A Christmas Carol is beloved, it's Dickens' writing that makes it as vibrant as the story is. And that's all lost in the movie versions, even down even to the legendary opening line, "Marley was dead, to begin with." Or any of the other classic narrative lines. Or the richness of Dickens setting the mood and tone and description of the gritty and ephemeral and emotional world. All that's gone in movies, good as they may be. But all of that is here in this radio adaptation, and Scofield's reading of it is joyously wonderful and memorable. For many, this will be A Christmas Carol unlike any other you're aware of, giving it a meaning and richness you didn't realize was there. The ending of the tale is so much more moving and joyful here, as we listen to Dickens' own words, that begin with "Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more," and soar from there, to perhaps my favorite passage about the new Scrooge and how good he is in the "good old world. Or any other good old world." If you have the time or inclination, give it a listen. If only for five minutes to at least get the flavor. You might find yourself sticking around. Let it play in the background, if you have other things to do. It runs about 55 minutes. (Side note: speaking of Dickens, if you know the original cast album of Oliver!, the actor here who plays the Ghost of Christmas Present, Willoughby Goddard, was Mr. Bumble on Broadway and in the original London production.) This might not play immediately, since it's a large file and may have to buffer first. But be patient, it's worth it. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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