Sometimes we should just let the music do the editorializing. Just sit back and relish the greatness of John Barry's 1969 main theme for "Midnight Cowboy" and ponder why we don't hear music like this in contemporary cinema.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents this rare 1960 eleven minute industry promotional short that was sent to theater managers to explain the innovative ways they could promote Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". Hitchcock personally oversaw the construction of the unique campaign that intentionally made seeing the film a status symbol. No one was admitted after the movie had started and large lines of ticket holders waited patiently for the next screening. Theater fronts and lobbies were decorated with extravagant advertising materials and Hitchcock himself provided recorded announcements to keep the crowds entertained. When no studio agreed to give "Psycho" the green light, Hitchcock financed the movie himself on a shoestring budget using many of the people who were working with him on his weekly T.V. series. The film became one of the top-grossers of all time and netted Hitchcock a fortune.
Frank Sinatra made his first appearance in The Sands, the legendary Las Vegas casino, as a young crooner in 1953 when the town was a microcosm of its present self. The Chairman of the Board would become synonymous with the place as the years passed. In 1960, Sinatra and his fellow Rat Packers- Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford- were filming "Oceans Eleven" by day and appearing on-stage at night in their sensationally popular, largely improvised "Summit" act which consisted of music and comedy. Sinatra's efforts on behalf of African-Americans helped integrate the hotels in Vegas and he was the town's major draw. However, Sinatra's mercurial temper also loomed large in outrageous displays of anger. When Howard Hughes took over the Sands in 1967, he cut off Sinatra's credit line (which apparently the crooner never intended to pay for). Sinatra had a hissy fit and went wild in the main casino before quitting the place to lend his talents to Caesar's Palace.
Writing on the Daily Beast site, Allison McNearney recalls the doomed love affair between Sinatra and the Sands. Click here to read.