Possibly apocryphal, but I’ve heard that Laine had no idea the movie for which he was singing the title song was a parody of a western and that he felt he’d been tricked into doing it.
“When Mel Brooks was directing Blazing Saddles, his 1974 western send-up, he wanted an over-the-top title song, the kind that Frankie Laine delivered for Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) and the television series Rawhide. Brooks told everyone that he needed a singer with that authentic Laine quality. Then he had an idea. How about Frankie Laine?
“Well, Frankie wasn’t too keen; he was working in Las Vegas, and Brooks needed the song in a hurry. Anyway, he’d never heard of Mel Brooks. On the other hand, he thought, why turn down work when you never know if anyone’s ever going to offer you anything ever again? This was something he worried about, and not just when he was at the peak of his success. The way he put it was this: “I went up like a rocket and may come down like a cement balloon.” He worked all the time. So he said OK, and gave the song everything he’d got.
“There’s just one detail to be added to the story. Nobody had mentioned that Blazing Saddles was a comedy. Frankie recalled the incident in his 1993 autobiography, That Lucky Old Son: “I thought I was doing a song for another High Noon, and I gave it my best dramatic reading … When I saw wacky things happening on the screen, like a guy punching a horse, I sunk down into my seat with embarrassment.”
“Frankie, who has died aged 93, took it well, enjoyed the joke, told the story against himself and won admiration for being a good sport.”
This was an ABC sitcom from 1967, starring Tim Conway as a bumbling Texas Ranger (they were still doing Westerns back then).
It was the first of Conway’s “13WKS” wonders (not the last …).
I know that some episodes can be found on dollar-store DVDs, and maybe on YouTube.
Should you happen upon the Rango opening titles, pay close attention to the theme song.
The voice of the singer just might sound familiar to you …
December 30th, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Possibly apocryphal, but I’ve heard that Laine had no idea the movie for which he was singing the title song was a parody of a western and that he felt he’d been tricked into doing it.
/I’m waiting for “Jezebel” to pop up next!
December 30th, 2015 at 1:53 pm
Well, why not?
December 30th, 2015 at 4:05 pm
It’s amazing what you learn on this blog.
December 30th, 2015 at 4:31 pm
The day you stop learning new things is the day you start slipping away.
December 30th, 2015 at 8:20 pm
Hear, Hear! (about keeping on learning.)
Both of these Frankie Laine clips are good.
I’d never heard either song before.
Especially like all the dancers in Jezebel.
December 31st, 2015 at 6:48 pm
“When Mel Brooks was directing Blazing Saddles, his 1974 western send-up, he wanted an over-the-top title song, the kind that Frankie Laine delivered for Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) and the television series Rawhide. Brooks told everyone that he needed a singer with that authentic Laine quality. Then he had an idea. How about Frankie Laine?
“Well, Frankie wasn’t too keen; he was working in Las Vegas, and Brooks needed the song in a hurry. Anyway, he’d never heard of Mel Brooks. On the other hand, he thought, why turn down work when you never know if anyone’s ever going to offer you anything ever again? This was something he worried about, and not just when he was at the peak of his success. The way he put it was this: “I went up like a rocket and may come down like a cement balloon.” He worked all the time. So he said OK, and gave the song everything he’d got.
“There’s just one detail to be added to the story. Nobody had mentioned that Blazing Saddles was a comedy. Frankie recalled the incident in his 1993 autobiography, That Lucky Old Son: “I thought I was doing a song for another High Noon, and I gave it my best dramatic reading … When I saw wacky things happening on the screen, like a guy punching a horse, I sunk down into my seat with embarrassment.”
“Frankie, who has died aged 93, took it well, enjoyed the joke, told the story against himself and won admiration for being a good sport.”
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/feb/08/guardianobituaries.obituaries1
December 31st, 2015 at 8:36 pm
Anybody here remember Rango?
Not the recent animated feature.
This was an ABC sitcom from 1967, starring Tim Conway as a bumbling Texas Ranger (they were still doing Westerns back then).
It was the first of Conway’s “13WKS” wonders (not the last …).
I know that some episodes can be found on dollar-store DVDs, and maybe on YouTube.
Should you happen upon the Rango opening titles, pay close attention to the theme song.
The voice of the singer just might sound familiar to you …
(1974 – 1967 = seven years.)
December 31st, 2015 at 10:34 pm
Yes, definitely familiar: