Remembering Alan Arkin

I was very sorry to read about Alan Arkin's passing today, but what a career he left behind.  Here's a good piece on him in the Chicago Tribune.  My own first memory of Arkin had nothing to do with film, which is where most people likely came across him, I suspect, but came at a very young age.

Though radio station WFMT in Chicago was broadcast classical music, once a week they had a show on Saturday night (which was actually created years before by one of their staff announcers, Mike Nichols) called The Midnight Special -- which is still on the air after almost 60 years -- that played folk music, Broadway, comedy and offbeat things.  And the station had the rights to record all Second City performances.  And so, they would regularly broadcast sketches from the giants of that early company, people like my favorite Severn Darden, Barbara Harris (who went to win a Tony Award and having a big movie career), Richard Libertini, Paul Sand -- and Alan Arkin.  He was hilarious, and his future success was not a surprise.

(One of my favorite sketches with him was playing a beatnik trying to teach a reticent, withdrawn suburban housewife played by Barbara Harris how to be cool.)

I also have a recollection of WFMT playing a recording he made of Shel Silverstein's wonderful song, "Daddy, What If...?" that he performed with one of his then very-young sons -- I thought perhaps it might be Adam.  But I haven't been able to ever find it.  My friend Adam Belanoff is friends and worked with Adam Arkin, and he asked on my behalf -- but the answer I got back was that Adam had no memory of it.  But my own memory (right or wrong) still nags, and I'll keep checking.

There is a weird experience I had that concerns perhaps his most famous screen moment -- when he shocks the audience leaping across the dark room at a moment of high tension in the thriller Wait Until Dark, in which he played a vicious drug dealer killer.  It was showing at Northwestern University on "movie night," and the auditorium for packed.  And as the incredible tension grew and grew, the person behind me began kicking my chair.  And kicking and kicking it, until I couldn't take it any more and turned around to ask him to please stop.  And it was at that very moment that I heard the entire auditorium SCREAM, because it was when Arkin made his leap!  And...I missed it. I had to wait years until it was on television and I specifically watched so that I could finally see the leap.  And I did.  O huzzah!

I do have a few things from Second City on audio, some of which I've transferred to digital, but only one sketch with Alan Arkin.  But the even better thing is that I found a video of the sketch.  I've posted it here before, only only part of the sketch was available.  But I've now found the whole thing -- Second City's famous famous 1961 sketch, "Football Comes to the University of Chicago."  It's a look at an attempt to bring football back to the college by first offering a class that teaches the sport, in hopes of recruiting players.

Here then are Andrew Duncan as the professor, and his few students -- a very young Alan Arkin, Eugene Troobnick, and coming in last, perhaps my favorite performer from Second City the great Severn Darden, the fellow with the beard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOHOvKTIXdw

I also found another very early Second City sketch which isn't overly funny, though it has some good laughs -- most from Arkin.  But what stands out is that it shows how Second City worked, in part, in those early days because it's clearly all ad-libbed.  The premise is that Alan Arkin is 'Noah,' and all the other actors who show up are animals who Noah is interviewing to see if they can get a spot on the ark.

Fun, too, are some of the other cast members involved.  The first pair who come on stage are Eugene Troobnick -- and Barbara Harris.  (She later won her Tony Award for a musical, The Apple Tree, so it's nice to see her sing a bit here.)  And next is Severn Darden (not at his best here, but it's always a joy to see him -- and that's him below, with Arkin.)  And then finally, there's Paul Sand.  But it's Alan Arkin who's in control and is pretty funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaqaFcG0sy0

Finally, this is from an appearance on The Carol Burnett Show.  It begins with a pretty funny bit that appears at first to be an homage to the cool of Frank Sinatra, but then takes an Arkin twisted-turn.  But what I particularly like about it is that things move to a duet with Carol Burnett, and he sings two offbeat song, both of which he wrote.  (He began his career as a folk singer in the group The Tarriers, who had some success, notably with "The Banana Boat Song" and "Yellow Bird" -- I even remember that our house had a 45 of their "Banana Boat".)  And the first song he does here with Burnett, "I Like You," is one I first heard many decades ago as a little kid on WFMT's The Midnight Special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9DrkoBo9fE

Y'know, I think this all deserves a bonus.

When I mentioned The Tarriers and how they actually had some success, I figured it was worth checking out to see if I could find a video of them.  I was sure I would -- at least, one of their recordings.  But I lucked out and not only found footage of them, but a big production of "The Banana Boat Song" and "Yellow Bird"!  It appears to be two clips from a movie (or movies...) edited together.  And while you'll be able to pick out Alan Arkin in the first one, he is front-and-center singing lead in the second.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vt43PkAOEM