I saw clips off the 1962 film Pop Goes The Easel aeons ago, but never watched the full BBC Monitor documentary by a young Ken Russell until now. It featured an equally young looking Peter Blake, Pauline Boty, Derek Boshier and Peter Phillips.
What I love about this, and the clip I saw many moons ago is the wonderfully awkward/cute dancing by Peter Blake in the twist sequence. It makes me laugh every time. I always meant to use that bit in a VJ sequence but never did, since I couldn’t find a decent copy…it seems so incongruous and self conscious. Also add in Hockney’s rather odd dancing, and the fact I guess they must have filmed that part for ages, since it goes the whole song, I bet they had to do several ‘takes’.
In fact many of the sequences seem to surf that line between staged and reality, factual and counter-factual, kay-fabe and conventional. I guess that was Ken Russell’s point, a sort of magical realist take on super-pop life.
Also what’s the deal with the cup with three rings? It appears all the way through, as a sort of Easter egg…
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