The Art of Clairtone: The Making of a Design Icon, 1958-1971 is a fully illustrated stylish look back at the stereo story behind a Canadian design icon. This handsome hardcover is by Nina Munk and Rachel Gotlieb and is available on Amazon.
“At its peak in the 1960s, Clairtone Sound Corporation was one of the most admired companies in the field of electronics. Founded by Peter Munk and David Gilmour in Toronto, Canada, Clairtone made the wildly modern Project G hi-fi system and, later, the G-TV. The commercial, shot in July 1967 by famous Canadian cinematographer Frank Spiess, was produced by Young & Rubicam. It features Munk and Gilmour, then in their 30s, at a studio in Toronto and includes footage from Clairtone’s infamous factory in Stellarton, Nova Scotia.” east19thstreet via YouTube
For a decade, in the 1960s, Clairtone Sound Corporation captured the spirit of the times: sophisticated, cosmopolitan, liberated. From its modern oiled-walnut and teak stereos to its minimalist logos and promotional materials, Clairtone produced a powerful and enduring body of design work. Founded in 1958 by two young Canadians, Peter Munk and David Gilmour, Clairtone quickly became known for its iconic designs and masterful advertising campaigns.
Its acclaimed Project G stereo, with its space-age styling, epitomized the Swinging Sixties. Famously, Hugh Hefner owned a Project G. So did Frank Sinatra.
Oscar Peterson affirmed that his music sounded as good on a G as it did live.In 1967, suggesting how deeply Clairtone’s G series had come to be identified with popular culture, the G2 appeared in The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft.
With 250 illustrations, including previously unpublished drawings, rare film stills, confidential memorandums, and original photography, The Art of Clairtone is a candid and in-depth look at the company’s skyrocketing success — and sensational collapse. Through the recollections of those who knew Clairtone best, from its founders to its designers, engineers, and salesmen, and with comments from Karim Rashid, Douglas Coupland, Tyler Brûlé, and Bruce Mau, among others, this elegant book, published on the 50th anniversary of Clairtone’s launch, celebrates an iconoclastic company that once seemed to represent the promise of Canada.
The set also includes a variety of rare related features and TV episodes, expanding the worlds of several of the included films—some of which haven’t been available in decades! From a 1932 cinematic incarnation of Annie to a nearly five-hour 1979 TV miniseries adaptation of FROM HERE TO ETERNITY—and much more!—these supplemental additions round out this must-own gift set, perfectly timed for holiday gift-giving.
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert team up for laughs as mismatched lovers in this 1934 screwball comedy classic. Spoiled Ellie Andrews (Colbert) escapes from her millionaire father (Walter Connolly), who wants to stop her from marrying a worthless playboy. En route to New York, Ellie gets involved with an out-of-work newsman, Peter Warne (Gable). When their bus breaks down, the bickering couple set off on a madcap hitchhiking expedition. Complications fly when the runaway heiress and brash reporter fall in love. Directed by Frank Capra, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT was the first movie to be honoured with all five major Oscars®: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
o Audio Commentary featuring Novelist E.R. Braithwaite and Author / Teacher Salome Thomas-El
o NEW: TO SIR, WITH LOVE II – the 1992 TV-movie sequel to the 1967 classic, starring Sidney Poitier and directed by Peter Bogdanovich, presented in HD!
o NEW: To Potter, With Love Featurette
o NEW: Beginnings of an Acting Career Featurette
o Those Schoolboy Days Featurette
o Look and Learn Featurette
o E.R. Braithwaite: In His Own Words Featurette
o Lulu and the B-Side Featurette
o Miniskirts, Blue Jeans and Pop Music! Featurette
o To Sidney, With Love Featurette
o Principal El: He Chose to Stay Featurette
o Theatrical Trailer
TO SIR, WITH LOVE has a run time of approximately 105 minutes and is rated PG.
Released in 1971 to critical acclaim and public controversy, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW garnered eight Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture, and was hailed as the most important work by a young American director since Citizen Kane. A surprisingly frank, bittersweet drama of social and sexual mores in small-town Texas, the film features a talent-laden cast led by Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd and Timothy Bottoms. Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson each won Oscars® for their work in supporting roles. Featuring both director Peter Bogdanovich’s preferred 1999 Definitive Director’s Cut and the 1971 Theatrical version on 4K Ultra HD.
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW Disc Breakdown
· Director’s Cut 4K Ultra HD Includes:
· Director’s Cut presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision, restored from the original camera negative
· Original Mono DTS-HD Master Audio
· Theatrical Version 4K Ultra HD Includes:
· 1971 Theatrical version presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision, restored from the original camera negative
· Original Mono DTS-HD Master Audio
· Feature Blu-ray Includes:
· Director’s Cut presented in high definition, sourced from the 4K master
· Mono DTS-HD Master Audio
Special Features:
o Audio Commentary featuring Director Peter Bogdanovich
o NEW: A Tribute to Peter Bogdanovich
o The Last Picture Show: A Look Back Documentary
o A Discussion with Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
o Location Footage
o Promotional Featurette
o Theatrical Trailers
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW has a run time of approximately 118 minutes and is rated 18A. THE LAST PICTURE SHOW: DIRECTOR’S CUT has a run time of approximately 126 minutes and is rated 18A for sexuality, nudity and language.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, ANNIE is the story of everyone’s favourite plucky, red-haired orphan! One day Annie (Aileen Quinn) is chosen to stay for a week with the famous billionaire “Daddy” Warbucks (Albert Finney). One week turns into many, and the only person standing in the way of Annie’s fun is Miss Hannigan, the tyrannical ruler of the orphanage (played to hilarious perfection by Carol Burnett). Will Miss Hannigan’s zany attempts to kidnap the irrepressible Annie succeed? Sing along with the unforgettable songs and experience this beloved musical!
Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear and Cuba Gooding, Jr., star in James L. Brooks’ hit comedy, AS GOOD AS IT GETS, now celebrating its 25th anniversary. Nicholson gives a show-stopping Academy Award®-winning performance as Melvin Udall, an obsessive-compulsive novelist with Manhattan’s meanest mouth. But when his neighbor Simon is hospitalized, Melvin is forced to babysit Simon’s dog. And that unexpected act of kindness, along with waitress Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt, in an Academy Award®-winning performance), helps put Melvin back in the human race. Nominated for seven Academy Awards®, including Best Picture (1997).
AS GOOD AS IT GETS Disc Breakdown
· 4K Ultra HD Includes:
· Feature presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision, restored from the original camera negative
· Dolby Atmos English audio
· Original 5.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
· Feature Blu-ray Includes:
· Feature presented in high definition, sourced from the 4K master
· Original 5.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
· Special Features:
o Audio Commentary featuring Director James L. Brooks, Stars Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear, Editor Richard Marks, Producer Laurence Mark and Composer Hans Zimmer
o NEW: Deleted Scenes
Melvin Stalls Victor with Intro from James L. Brooks
“Kiss Her, Man!” Original Ending
o NEW: Behind the Scenes Footage
o NEW: The Making of As Good As It Gets Featurette
o NEW: Archival Theatrical EPK Soundbites
o Theatrical Trailer
AS GOOD AS IT GETS has a run time of approximately 139 minutes and is rated PG for strong language, thematic elements, nudity and a beating.
EXCLUSIVE BONUS DISC INCLUDES:
· FROM HERE TO ETERNITY – the nearly 5-hour 1979 TV miniseries starring Natalie Wood, William Devane and Peter Boyle, presented in high definition*
* Select instances of music have been removed for this presentation.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Starting in 2022 it will be possible to ask for the beloved’s hand in marriage while flying over the lunar surface to the sound of Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon”. The one-week interplanetary flight will be carried out using a self-contained and autonomous spacecraft allowing the two lovers to travel alone.
The ApoteoSurprise agency, a French marriage proposal planner specialized in creating extravagant proposals, introduces a whole new service for 145 million dollars which will allow 21st century handsome princes to propose while flying around the Moon. Reaching for the Moon in the name of love is about to become a reality, the ultimate goal of the Paris-based agency being to “stage the craziest and most outstanding marriage proposal of the last 13.8 billion years“.
From March 2022, elite lovers will be able to book the all-included service on the site www.proposeinparis.com and five months later find themselves enjoying the following program:
– Twelve weeks of pre-requisite technical and physical training.
– Takeoff on D-Day from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
– Richard Strauss’s “Thus spoke Zarathustra, Op.30” (Theme from 2001 Space Odyssey) resounding in the two space tourists’ helmets when the first effects of weightlessness are felt.
– Arrival in lunar orbit, three days later, flying over the satellite’s grayish surface at only 200/300 kilometers altitude.
The famous ‘Earthrise’ photo from Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon. The crew entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts held a live broadcast, showing pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. photo:NASA
– Cut-off of all communication with Earth for around thirty minutes while the capsule flies over the dark side of the Moon.
– The Frank Sinatra song “Fly Me to the Moon” played halfway through the orbital flight, allowing the suitor to make his marriage proposal far from any form of human life (engagement ring secretly hidden in his spacesuit).
– A spectacular Earth-rise seen from behind the lunar craters and return trip of nearly four days before atmospheric re-entry and final touchdown.
The flight-plan followed by the space capsule will mirror that of the mythical Apollo 8 mission in 1968. The spacecraft, traveling at a speed of up to 38,000 km/h, will be equipped with eight cameras allowing the couple to immortalize their entry into the history of the conquest of space and the conquest… of love! For the Silo, Nicolas Garreau.
From http://www.thelooploft.com/blogs/ryans-corner/41775169-the-most-recorded-drum-set-in-history-hal-blaines-monster-kit : “Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame drummer Hal Blaine played on more Top 10 hits than any other musician. In fact, he played on 40 #1 singles, 150 Top Ten singles and 8 Grammy Records of the Year. If you don’t know his name, you certainly know his drumming. As a pivotal member of the loose group of crack session musicians known as “The Wrecking Crew”, Hal played the iconic beats on such diverse hits as “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes, “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys, “Strangers In The Night” by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley’s “Return To Sender”, and literally thousands of other songs from the 60’s and 70’s. The Monster Kit was developed by Hal along with his drum tech Rick Faucher and builder Howie Oliver can be seen [along with a video] at the link above.”
The Art of Clairtone: The Making of a Design Icon, 1958-1971 is a fully illustrated stylish look back at the stereo story behind a Canadian design icon. This handsome hardcover is by Nina Munk and Rachel Gotlieb and is available on Amazon.
