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Petition Drive to Universal Studios to release this on video

posted 21 years ago by Dejael
15 replies | jump to latest

Anyone have any experience with petition drive campaigns?

I for one would like to start a Petition Drive to Universal Studios to release this movie on video and DVD, and reissue the soundtrack on CD.

I would also like to join any groups who are petitioning the major studios to get releases on video and CD soundtracks of their favorite films.

If there are enough people out there willing to sign a petition or cast a vote for their favorite classic films still unavailable on home video/DVD, with unreleased soundtracks, perhaps with a thousand or more signees we can make a difference and build a fire under those studio execs who think worthless trash like "DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR?" or "SHALLOW HAL" is good comedy.

There are many preservationist issues along with this. Many of these films have been unseen by the public for years except for old worn-out 16mm TV prints, or in special versions made available only to TV stations or Cable Networks like AMC willing to pay use fees to exhibit these films on TV Broadcasts.

Thank God for TCM - Turner Classic Movies is now the ONLY TV or Cable provider that still shows classic films complete, uncut, and without commercial interruptions. AMC has gone the way of the commercial advertising dollar, so now it is just like a mainstream TV network. R.I.P. old AMC - that's why Bob Dorian quit in disgust - he knew the films were soon to be chopped up into segments for advertising blocks, so he wisely left. Nick Clooney is soon to depart also.

Also, we need to petition the studios that made many of the classic TV shows of the 1950s and 1960s (and even the 1970s now) to let them know there is still a major untapped market for this product. I for one would love to see and enjoy programs of 40 to 50 years ago, because they are still highly entertaining, and also because nostalgia is still big business.

Nick at Nite's TV Land has the right idea, but they need to have more variety.
Imagine if AOL-Time Warner were to dust off their prints of 77 SUNSET STRIP, HAWAIIAN EYE, and Universal were to release LEAVE IT TO BEAVER on home video?

The studios need to see that just because a film was made in black & white doesn't mean there is no attention span left in the viewers out there - those films were often much better and more entertaining than today's grist mill of junk and tired old cliche-ridden ideas constantly recycled over and over on TV.

Okay, I'll get off my soap box now.
Cheers, Dejael

[–] Kris629 18 years ago

I would like to see this movie again too. I can't find it on the net for purchase so will have to wait for it on TCM but I am not even sure if it has aired on there.

[–] Dejael 18 years ago

Yes, Universal Studios is sitting on a goldmine of as-yet unreleased classic films for the DVD market, made in Hollywood's golden age of the 1950s and 1960s. This movie is a prime candidate and is being bootlegged on the internet and you can buy bootleg copies of this movie on eBay. I understand the hottest bootlegged DVD movie selling on eBay is THIS ISLAND EARTH (Universal, 1955). Thousands of bootleg copies of THIS ISLAND EARTH may have been sold by now on eBay and other internet outlets by pirate sellers. (Universal, are you reading this?) Universal missed its chance for a 50th Anniversary collector's edition.

Dejael

[–] sweetjennigirl 18 years ago

I bought one of the bootlegged copies of this from ebay. I really enjoyed seeing the movie again, but the video quality was TERRIBLE. Does anyone have a copy with at least acceptable quality?

I agree with the other people Universal is sitting on a gold mine. I really enjoyed this movie back when I first saw it in the 1960's and when VHS came along I tried to find it and had no luck, then when we switched to DVD I started looking and found a copy on ebay- to bad the video is terrible quality copy.
Another movie that falls into thios catagory is DAMNATION ALLEY, I have been trying to find a copy with GOOD video quality, but again no luck.
The studios are so slow when it comes to making money. They release ADAM-12 and EMERGENCY, Airwolf, Adventures of Superman on DVD- Season 1. You watch it and want Season 2 and there is none.

To get back to the LIVELY SET, does any one know how to let the studios know what we would like released on DVD? Their websites are all lacking the "CONTACT US" link. Its like they do not care about our opinion or what we want. We are the people spending money on their product and they refuse to listen.

If anyone know hjow to contact them or has a good copy of the movie please let me know.

Another good one is the LASSIE series, especially the core years, 1958-1964. This one would sell like hotcakes!

[–] Dejael 18 years ago

I got a good quality bootleg (sad to say) copy of this movie The LIVELY SET from eBay from a film collector in New England who made it from his own original Technicolor film print.
This movie was made by the fabulous filmmaking team of William Alland and Jack Arnold, who produced and directed respectively as collaborators some of the finest classic Universal sci-fi B-pictures of the 1950s such as CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954) and TARANTULA (1955).
This movie was made for the summer teen market in 1964 to compete with Elvis Presley's movie VIVA LAS VEGAS co-starring Ann Margret. Both movies are about equally good in my estimation, and of the two, I would have to say, aside from Elvis' more exciting musical numbers such as the excellent title tune, that The LIVELY SET is actually the better one of the two when it comes to the auto race scenes. LIVELY SET wins hands down as the most exciting auto race ever filmed up to that time, even though some of the shots were obviously done in the studio in the outmoded method with the actors driving their cars in front of a rear process screen. Just seeing that fabulous 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car, which curiously looks similar to the 1963-1964 Ford Thunderbirds, put through its paces, was worth the price of admission. James Darren and Pamela Tiffin held their own against Elvis and Ann-Margret, even though critics in 1964 weren't kind to Darren and Tiffin, calling their performances "typical juvenile teen fluff". James Darren was a charismatic, handsome, talented young star for the teen market in the early 1960s, and he was a wonderful singer, one of the so-called "teen idols" of the early Sixties. He could stand up alongside of Elvis and give him a run for his money. It's just too bad that Bobby Rydell didn't follow up his acting and singing career in musical movies like this for a few more years, after his enormous success in BYE BYE BIRDIE (1963).
These movies have more style and substance than the typical Frankie Avalon-Annette Funicello BEACH PARTY movie of that era. And Doug McClure with Joanie Sommers were a winning combination also!
For the surf-hot rod music crowd, the studio threw in The SURFARIS, with their classic tune BOSS BARRACUDA (heard much too briefly in one scene), co-written by Bobby Darin, who, like today's Danny Elfman, was a pop star who preferred to appear in this picture behind the scenes, providing the marvelous soundtrack musical score for this picture.

By the way, I understand there is a new DVD set of original LASSIE TV programs just being released. I got a DVD package of classic TV shows of the early 1950s which included a few episodes of LASSIE with Tommy Rettig as Jeff. Great stuff! I loved them when I was a kid, especially the 1954-1957 first three seasons, and Tommy Rettig was a fine child star whose acting was exceptional. He should have gone on to become a big star as an adult actor. You'll have to check and see if this new package also covers the Jon Provost-era LASSIE series of 1957-64. We can all be thankful that Universal (formerly as Revue Studios for TV production) is now releasing LEAVE IT TO BEAVER's First Season (1957-58) on DVD at Thanksgiving - even giving us a real LEAVE IT TO BEAVER lunchbox with it!!!
You've gotta love that!

Dejael

[–] vexner 18 years ago

Just of couple of comments in response to Dejael's post above:

You made a good observation that the Chrysler Turbine Car resembles the 1961-63 Ford Thunderbirds - they were all designed by the same man, Elwood Engel. One of his trademark themes is the front-to-back chrome trim along the tops of the fender lines, which appears on many sixties era cars, some designed by Engel and others aped by competitors. A wild precursor to the Chrysler Turbine Car is Engel's La Galaxie show car, done for Ford in the mid 1950s.

Chrysler lured him away from Ford sometime after 1961, around the time that the '61 Lincolns and Thunderbirds were being hailed as modern classics. Definitely a smart move for Chrysler.

I agree with your comment about James Darren. I was listening to a "big band" radio station (now defunct) while helping paint my aunt's basement, and I was getting a kick out of impressing her by identifying nearly all of the artist's voices before the DJ announced them after the songs. The one I couldn't quite identify sounded to me like a cross between Frank Sinatra and Steve Lawrence, but in my opinion with the best qualities of both. It turned out to be James Darren! Man, I was really impressed. I'm looking forward to getting some of his albums if I can.

I'm going to look up some Joanie Sommers stuff, too. I can't believe she didn't make more movies - she was funny in The Lively Set....(Casey Wake Up!)

[–] Dejael 18 years ago

Hello Vexner,

Thanks for your observant comments. I also am a fan of classic American iron of the '50s & '60s, and at various times was a member of the WPC (Walter P. Chrysler) Club, the DeSoto Club (love those DeSotos!) and the Pontiac Club (POCI) for many years, having owned many classic high-performance MoPars and Pontiacs myself.

Is your handle a tribute to Virgil M. Exner, Mr. VMX himself, the designer of the classic huge-tailfinned cars of the Forward Look of Chrysler Corp. from 1955 to 1961? I love his designs, having owned many of his wonderfully flamboyant futuristic Chrysler designs, really production dream cars, like the excellent 1958 and 1960 Plymouth Fury. Those cars were awesome, it's no wonder that today they are so expensive on the collector market. Also the Chrysler C-300 Letter-series cars, and their DeSoto counterparts, the Golden Adventurers, were in a class by themselves. They were world-class GT cars, and incredible fast and agile for being big motorboats with fins.

Also, from the first time I heard James Darren sing "Gidget" in the 1959 film, I thought he was a great singer and actor. He's definitely up there with Bobby Darin, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Johnny Burnette, Vic Damone, Buddy Greco, and other cool voices from the rock'n'roll and leisure lounge era.

One song I always fondly remember by him is "Goodbye Cruel World" on ColPix (Columbia Pictures) Records, 1962. There were two different versions of the song, one that said "Goodbye Cruel World, I'm off to join the service" as in military, and the more popular one with the lyrics
"Goodbye Cruel World, I'm off to join the circus..."

Another movie I'd love to see released on video/DVD that's been too long neglected is "BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNG" (Columbia, 1960) starring Dick Clark of American Bandstand with Duane Eddy and his Rockin' Rebels, and Bobby Rydell on the soundtrack. Oh yes, that cool blonde hottie Tuesday Weld was in there too.
Too bad it was in black & white, but they were doing a retake on "BLACKBOARD JUNGLE" (MGM, 1955) so it had to be, and look like a B-movie.

Dejael

[–] johnnynucleye 18 years ago

Thanks for your soapbox oration ... I enjoyed it!
I too am a huge fan of both the films and music of this era, although I was born late in the fifties(58) I remember watching 'The Lively Set' on TV in the late sixties, I was so taken by the film it then became my dream to have a shop like Casey Owens. I realized that dream some 25 years later and have since left the business.
Petition? Great where do we sign?
Take care!
LGE

[–] pburgess68 18 years ago

Hi all,
I saw The Lively Set in '72, in England, at the tender age of 12. It forever shaped my outlook on life, and I've been a hot rod fan since that date. I never saw or heard of the movie again until today, when a friend gave me a link to this website.

I actually remember very little detail about the movie, apart from some scene when the guy goes racing in his hot rod, and he hands a pile of books to his girl, to save weight. Another bit when they use a garbage can to silence the turbine in the garage, and a few shots of the streamliner tearing across the salt/sand.

My current car is a 1934 Morris Eight, much modified, with (you guesssed it) a V8 under the hood.

I reckon I'll scour Ebay for a copy myself.

Thanks, Paul

[–] StarrTerry 18 years ago

I too would like to see this movie on DVD and available in the UK in PAL colour spec in Region 2.

I first saw this film back in 1964 in my then local cinema the "Albert Hall". I saw it with Cary Grant in Father Goose which were coupled together as a Double Feature.
Both were distributed by Universal Pictures. Father Goose was available on VHS Video back in late 1980s and early 1990s but no sign of "The Lively Set".

This movie certainly sparked an interest in Auto-Racing.

I hope one day that Universal will relese this film on DVD and be made available here in UK Region 2.

Terry

[–] tmac396 18 years ago

I would like to see this movie on DVD also. All I've got is a copy I pirated off TBS years ago. Great movie, cool cars, good tunes, and Pamela Tiffin. What's not to like? Where's that petetion?

[–] fhport 17 years ago

I found a DVD version of The Lively Set at www.thevideobeat.com today for $29.00. Hope this helps.

[–] laurmartin 17 years ago

I saw this on television a while ago. I wish it would be released on a legal widescreened DVD version. Does Universal ever check these comments. I'm also a huge fan of James Darren and Doug McClure.

[–] laurmartin 17 years ago

Vote for it to be released to home video at TCM.com

[–] mschnur-2 14 years ago

Now available on ACME video, bought a DVD on ebay for $9.95

[–] jondoe888 12 years ago

I just went on Netflix, to rent this movie. I thought I had before. Must have been on TMC. It's a fun, harmless movie. And I've never forgotten Joanie Summers singing the ditty 'Casey wake up'. I was 15 when this movie came out. Prime Time!