This is one of those things that gets the heading "This is a real treasure" and totally deserves it. This is a real treasure. I have been looking for this for quite-literally decades -- even before the Internet, hoping it might get rerun on television or somewhere, maybe released on a video or something. I actually have wanted to see it again since I was a kid and saw it originally performed on TV over half a century ago, in 1968. And...and I sort of finally found it!! "Sort of" because it’s not the video, but almost as good, the audio. And “almost as good” because there’s very little visual to it. It’s pretty much all about the audio. This was on The Jonathan Winters Show when he had a variety series, and one night they put on a Halloween special. And one of the guests was Boris Karloff. Hey, who better to have as a guest for a Halloween special?. But this particularly segment wasn't about Halloween at all or even anything scary-related. Rather, Karloff sat in a comfortable chair and, with music softly, wistfully playing to accompany him, he recited the song, “It Was a Very Good Year.” And even though I was just a kid, I was utterly bowled over by it. And have remembered it since. And wanted to see it, or just hear it again. And I finally tracked down the audio! O huzzah. I’ve actually been telling people about it ever since I saw it. But I couldn't ever come close to doing it justice because...well, I’m not Boris Karloff. It’s not that it’s “brilliant.” But it’s just so good, so rich and textured and different from any other interpretation of the song, that was originally recorded by Frank Sinatra. And it comes across like what the song is – an old man looking back on his life, with great tenderness. Yes, it would be nice to have the video to go with it, and perhaps one day I'll track that down, but ultimately he was just sitting in a high-backed chair. It’s his voice and performance that’s the thing here that matters. And it is such a huge treat to find it at last after 52 years. So, from October 30, 1968, this is Boris Karloff with "It Was a Very Good Year."
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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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