Perhaps the minority the audience least expected to see on the show, the elderly, fared best in that each time an elderly character appeared the Monkees actively worked to keep that character from being exploited by a middle-aged villain. It was as if the two ends of the generational spectrum needed each other to survive the generation gap.
You Can Please Some of the People Some of the Time… None of the People All of the Time: A History of the Art of Adaptation in Movies like Dune, The Godfather, Harry Potter and More!
Dr. Rosanne Welch speaks on A History of the Art of Adaptation in Movies like Dune, The Godfather, Harry Potter and More! at the California State University, Fullerton Library
Part of the program series for Dune by Frank Herbert: A 50th Anniversary Celebration.
Another change, having to do with the script, if you’ve seen the movie, of course, it’s about saving these American embassy officials who are hiding out in the Canadian Embassy during the Iranian hostage crisis. He creates this lovely — and it’s all true. He made them up to be a film crew from Canada. They were going to walk right to the airport, get on a plane and go home. In the real world, the tension that happened at the very end of the story happened inside the airport and it was because all of these embassy officials were made up to be stereotypical Hollywood people. So, the man who was one of the leading officials — who is a very straight-laced guy — who would always show up in a suit and a tie and all that, he was doing the Hollywood director bling thing with the chest hair and the gold necklace and he’s sitting at this airport. A women from another embassy, who recognized him, because she’d worked with him previously begins to approach him at the airport to say “hi” and of course she’s got this look on her face like “Why is he dressed up like this strange man? What is this Halloween or what?” And he’s sitting across [whispering] because they were afraid people would see who he was. So the women didn’t approach him. They all got on the plane and they all were safe. That moment of tension is what the screenwriter and what Affleck wanted to capture, but that is not very engaging — walking across an airport looking at a guy in an outfit. That’s not going to work.
About this talk
Dr. Rosanne Welch (RTVF) speaks on the craft of history of film adaptations from the controversy of the silent film Birth of a Nation (protested by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1915) to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (to which author Truman Capote famously said, “The only thing left from the book is the title”) to The Godfather . Naturally, the behemoth in adaptation – Harry Potter (which depended on the relationship created by adapter Steve Kloves and author J.K. Rowling) will be discussed, as will the subject of this month’s celebration: Dune.
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm
About Dr. Rosanne Welch
Dr. Rosanne Welch is a professor in the Low Residency MFA in Screenwriting Program from Stephens College, California State University, Fullerton, Mount San Antonio Community College and Cal Poly Pomona. In 2007, she graduated with her Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S./Film History from Claremont Graduate University. She graduated with her M.A. in 20th Century United States History from California State University, Northridge in 2004.
Welch is also a television writer/producer with credits for Beverly Hills 90210 , CBS’s Emmy winning Picket Fences and Touched By An Angel . She also writes and hosts her own podcasts on 3rdPass.media, her first one titled “Mindful(I) Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch.”
Long hair was in, then long, long hair was out, then short-long hair was in and all the while controversies raged on about what type of hairstyle looked best—on boys and girls. This didn’t apply to the entertainers alone. Teenage hairstyles are a constant battle since now long, long hair on girls is the thing and at the same time Twiggy has made short, short hair very popular. What are you to do?The only solution for you or your friends or even for the entertainers who are constantly seen by the public is to wear your hair according to what you think looks best. This is what Micky Dolenz did and what did he run into but a rash of protests from fans. This hardly seems fair.
“1960s TV Censorship and The Monkees” gives a brief overview of where censorship standards were in the era – and how The Monkees pushed the envelope with its mentions of the Vietnam War – and Sunset Strip riots – and even with the outrageous storytelling behind “Frodis Caper”, the episode that celebrated the saving of an alien plant that very closely resembled a marijuana plant…
Writer Treva Silverman said the staff got away with such jokes because the network executives were just old enough not to understand any of the references. Presented at Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting classes on Friday, August 5, 2016
Transcript:
Another episode that they have, that I like a lot is called “The Devil and Peter Tork.” It’s written by Gardener, Caruso and Kaufman. This is the Devil and Dr. Faustus and all those other versions of that story. Peter Tork wants the talent of playing the harp, because he is in love with the harp and so he sells his soul to the Devil to get that talent, but he doesn’t even understand who the devil is because he loves everybody and he’s all about peace. But eventually, the Devil shows up to take that soul and the boys won’t let him. They have a little dance sequence where they imagine what Hell might be like and theirs a lot of girls who look like Playboy bunnies. I’m not sure how we get away with that. And the whole point of it is, there’s a lovely little scene I’ll show you a clip of — they start talking about “Maybe Hell won’t be that bad.” but they bleep them every time they say the word “Hell” and eventually — well, I’ll show you that in a minute, Micky Dolenz looks at the audience and says something very funny – “You know what’s even more scary? You can’t say <cuckoo> on television.”
Dr. Rosanne Welch is a professor in the Low Residency MFA in Screenwriting Program from Stephens College, California State University, Fullerton, Mount San Antonio Community College and Cal Poly Pomona. In 2007, she graduated with her Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S./Film History from Claremont Graduate University. She graduated with her M.A. in 20th Century United States History from California State University, Northridge in 2004.
Welch is also a television writer/producer with credits for Beverly Hills 90210 , CBS’s Emmy winning Picket Fences and Touched By An Angel . She also writes and hosts her own podcasts on 3rdPass.media, her first one titled “Mindful(I) Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch.”
Since Gardner and Caruso had cut their writing teeth on television’s number one spy parody, Get Smart, “The Spy Who Came in from the Cool” tended to involve more homages to Buck Henry’s series buried within than stereotypes of Russians. Mostly that came from the characterizations of the two Russian spies. Arlene Martel as Madame had already played three different Russian females on Hogan’s Heroes and clearly played ethnic so well she was cast as the farthest thing from an American – T’Pring, the Vulcan bride of the alien Mr. Spock, in “Amok Time” on Star Trek.
You Can Please Some of the People Some of the Time… None of the People All of the Time: A History of the Art of Adaptation in Movies like Dune, The Godfather, Harry Potter and More!
Dr. Rosanne Welch speaks on A History of the Art of Adaptation in Movies like Dune, The Godfather, Harry Potter and More! at the California State University, Fullerton Library
Part of the program series for Dune by Frank Herbert: A 50th Anniversary Celebration.
So that was one change and that change happens all the time in movies and that’s regrettable because people need to be represented. We need to understand that we’re in a multi-cultural, diverse, country and every time we take a character that has some ethnic background — I mean imagine Vito Corelone — actually, when they went to make The Godfather, one of the people up for playing Michael Corelone was Robert Redford. As an Italian? How was that going to work? Right? But he was a big name. He was young. Whatever. So. that was one change that Affleck was forced to make or the movie wouldn’t have been made at all, which I think is interesting. He thought the story was worth getting out there.
About this talk
Dr. Rosanne Welch (RTVF) speaks on the craft of history of film adaptations from the controversy of the silent film Birth of a Nation (protested by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1915) to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (to which author Truman Capote famously said, “The only thing left from the book is the title”) to The Godfather . Naturally, the behemoth in adaptation – Harry Potter (which depended on the relationship created by adapter Steve Kloves and author J.K. Rowling) will be discussed, as will the subject of this month’s celebration: Dune.
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm
About Dr. Rosanne Welch
Dr. Rosanne Welch is a professor in the Low Residency MFA in Screenwriting Program from Stephens College, California State University, Fullerton, Mount San Antonio Community College and Cal Poly Pomona. In 2007, she graduated with her Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S./Film History from Claremont Graduate University. She graduated with her M.A. in 20th Century United States History from California State University, Northridge in 2004.
Welch is also a television writer/producer with credits for Beverly Hills 90210 , CBS’s Emmy winning Picket Fences and Touched By An Angel . She also writes and hosts her own podcasts on 3rdPass.media, her first one titled “Mindful(I) Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch.”
JB: What were some of your earlier influences musically?
RS: My first favorite song was “Daydream Believer,” the Monkees’ version. How’s that for guilty pleasure? I loved that song when I was 8 or 9 years old and I still love it. Of course, there was Dylan, we always had Dylan in the house all the time. We had Gilbert and Sullivan. We had the Beatles. Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger. For me, it was mostly the Monkees and the Beatles. Shortly thereafter, the Allman Brothers, and then shortly thereafter Genesis and then shortly thereafter Bruce Springsteen, which caused a horrible riff between me and my ‘art rock-prog’ friends. They couldn’t understand Springsteen. The early stuff really is probably Dylan and the Beatles.
JB: When did you know that music could really be your career?
RS: It was in Hartford, Conn., right after my first record came out. I still had some doubts if this could happen as an actual career. I went to a gig at WWUH and afterwards I sold $325 worth of CDs, which to me at that time was a ridiculous amount of money. After the gig they said this is the money for your CDs. I just not could believe that they’d give me $325 for 22 CDs. I thought it was the greatest thing that ever happened. Right then and there, a little switch went off in my head, “aha. I like this.”
JB: If you weren’t a singer-songwriter, what would you be?
Perhaps due to the attention drawn by the Red Power Movement during the run of The Monkees, Native Americans tended to fare better than Americans of Asian descent. Perhaps the fact that Dolenz self-identified as part Native American on his mother’s side had an effect. Perhaps the writers were looking to move beyond the Tonto/Lone Ranger dynamic. Or perhaps the writers and actors found a connection between Native Americans and the emerging ideology of the hippie movement.
You Can Please Some of the People Some of the Time… None of the People All of the Time: A History of the Art of Adaptation in Movies like Dune, The Godfather, Harry Potter and More!
Dr. Rosanne Welch speaks on A History of the Art of Adaptation in Movies like Dune, The Godfather, Harry Potter and More! at the California State University, Fullerton Library
Part of the program series for Dune by Frank Herbert: A 50th Anniversary Celebration.
Argo which, of course, won the Oscar just a couple of years ago is an example of some changes that were made that are regrettable and yet the movie holds up and it’s not Ben Affleck’s fault. When Ben Affleck went to make the movie, which won an Oscar for him, he knew that in the story, which is a true story, the actual CIA gentleman is named Tony Mendez. Tony Mendez and Affleck doesn’t look like a Tony Mendez. He wanted a Latino actor to be the lead in the film. he looked for someone that the studio would approve. The only Latino actor one considers to open a movie is Antonio Banderas and he’s booked, booked, booked. Because he’s the only Latino actor who can open a movie. So, the studio said to Affleck, “Look, why don’t you play the part?”
“But I’m not Latino. It’s going to erase the ethnic feeling of this movie.”
And they said, Ok, then we just won’t make the movie.”
He said, “Ok, as long as we keep the guy’s name. Maybe people will realize” and of course, if they look at the book they will understand that we’re talking about a Hispanic actor.
About this talk
Dr. Rosanne Welch (RTVF) speaks on the craft of history of film adaptations from the controversy of the silent film Birth of a Nation (protested by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1915) to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (to which author Truman Capote famously said, “The only thing left from the book is the title”) to The Godfather . Naturally, the behemoth in adaptation – Harry Potter (which depended on the relationship created by adapter Steve Kloves and author J.K. Rowling) will be discussed, as will the subject of this month’s celebration: Dune.
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm
About Dr. Rosanne Welch
Dr. Rosanne Welch is a professor in the Low Residency MFA in Screenwriting Program from Stephens College, California State University, Fullerton, Mount San Antonio Community College and Cal Poly Pomona. In 2007, she graduated with her Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S./Film History from Claremont Graduate University. She graduated with her M.A. in 20th Century United States History from California State University, Northridge in 2004.
Welch is also a television writer/producer with credits for Beverly Hills 90210 , CBS’s Emmy winning Picket Fences and Touched By An Angel . She also writes and hosts her own podcasts on 3rdPass.media, her first one titled “Mindful(I) Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch.”
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