Great Lives
| Series | |
|---|---|
| Work In Progress | |
| Original Broadcast Date | |
| 1989 | |
| Cast | |
| Arthur Miller, Ryan Cutrona, Tim Jerome, Julie Renick, Joe Frank | |
| Format | |
| Improv Actors, Absurd Monologue, Panel Discussion, 59 minutes | |
| Preceded by: | Bad |
| Followed by: | Great Lives (Remix) |
"Well of course, Stalin was a very amusing man."
Great Lives is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series Work In Progress. It was originally broadcast in 1989.
Synopsis
The sound of a train, coming to a stop. The jovial side of Stalin. Hitler was a woman. Old man monologue- "I have been;" speaking about astronauts, cashew nuts, engineering. Confusion is created by god - trying to stop a woman from doing something she should not be doing. Einstein the bitter wash up, an obsession with going backwards, dating Marilyn Monroe. Old man (Ryan Cutrona) "I've seen god" in household objects monologue. Freud was in it to meet women. Picasso dates Gertrude Stein. Picasso as the link between modern art and contemporary marketing. Description of the young Marlene Dietrich. Discussion of an affair with the "multi-sexual" Dietrich who falls for a statue, becomes obsessed with going backwards, has an affair with Sammy Davis Junior. Old man: Hitler was a woman. Panel discussion: music as reality, the book "sound and nonsense," measuring beauty as ship-launching potential, traveling and looking for death, the face in the mirror. Drum solo. Panicked man begs "don't make me do it" accompanied by a bizarre moaning soundtrack. Panel discussion: falling asleep while falling asleep. A man moans and strains while a woman giggles, being buried alive. A woman moans. Panel discussion: the nature of time, life as a series of experiments, Spinoza's stones in motion. Old man: being in a cafe full of famous people. Woman singing show tunes, coached by Joe.
Music
This is an incomplete record of the music in this program. If you can add more information, please do.
- "The Animals" - Jan Hammer (from The First Seven Days, 1975) | YouTube [5:48]
- "Call It Love" - Yello (from One Second, 1987) | YouTube [27:31]
- "You Do Something To Me" - song composed by Cole Porter, tremulously sung by Julie Renick [56:11]
- Woman And Bull In Paint Factory
- Pledge Drive Show, KPFA, 2004-01-15
- Reprise
- Great Lives (Remix)
- Case Studies
- Five Part Dissonance
Additional credits
The original broadcast credits state: "With Arthur Miller, Ryan Cutrona, Tim Jerome, Julie Renick, and Joe Frank. This program was recorded at Westrax Recording Studios in New York City and at KCRW in Santa Monica."
Miscellanea
The programs "Great Lives" and "Great Lives (Remix)" from joefrank.com are identical, but KCRW originally broadcast a longer version of the program.
Commentary
Most of the panel segments are also in 'Case studies'. They sound of a piece; I speculate that they were recorded at the same time, that Joe didn't use all of them in 1986 ('Case studies').Arthur Peabody (talk) 17:59, 23 August 2021 (EDT)
Thanks to people in the German subreddit for help identifying the 2 Marlene Dietrich songs mentioned at 19 minutes; one said her voice is authentically German.Arthur Peabody (talk) 17:59, 23 August 2021 (EDT)