Entertainment For Lively Minds
"One On One": A Chain of Unusual Celebrity Encounters
Craig Brown’s new book, “One On One”, is a brilliant daisy-chain of 101 true encounters (ie. not parodies): George Bernard Shaw crashes his bike into Bertrand Russell, who in turn butters bread for (and flirts with) Sarah Miles. Elsewhere in the chain Cecil Beaton is offered LSD by Mick Jagger and Marilyn Monroe gets sexy with Nikita Khrushchev.
I wondered if a YouTube version was possible: a chain of relatively unusual celebrity juxtapositions, moving pictures only. I’ve started the chain with nine linked videos. Craig Brown starts and ends with Hitler; I’ve chosen the logical starting point of Elvis.
The videos are in the main body of the post.
If you’d like to join in, please do! (If not, I’ll play on my own…) Some less unusual clips might be needed to link up the more bizarre ones; I’ve already included some fairly obvious ones, and I’ve already cheated a little by including Dick Cavett (Michael Parkinson could be useful further along the chain). It can zig-zag back and forth in time and can include people famous in any field – the more unusual and unscripted the encounter the better.
The links so far are:
Elvis plays on the beach with Tom Jones…
…Tom Jones is backed by Morecambe & Wise…
…Morecambe & Wise banter with The Beatles…
…The Beatles are K.O.’d by Muhammad Ali…
…Muhammad Ali spars with Michael Jackson…
…Michael Jackson and Prince are dragged on stage by James Brown…
…James Brown interviews Alfred Hitchcock…
…Alfred Hitchcock discusses murder and Mother with Dick Cavett…
…Dick Cavett welcomes a mud-splattered Crosby, Stills and Jefferson Airplane literally straight in from Woodstock, alongside an unmuddied Joni Mitchell…
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Elvis plays on the beach with Tom Jones…
…Tom Jones is backed by Morecambe & Wise…
…Morecambe & Wise banter with The Beatles…
…The Beatles are K.O.’d by Muhammad Ali…
…Muhammad Ali spars with Michael Jackson…
…Michael Jackson and Prince are dragged on stage by James Brown…
…James Brown interviews Alfred Hitchcock…
…Alfred Hitchcock discusses murder and Mother with Dick Cavett…
[Double-click to watch on YouTube]
...Dick Cavett welcomes the Woodstock crowd...
...Or, more specifically, Dick Cavett welcomes a mud-splattered Crosby, Stills and Jefferson Airplane literally just in from Woodstock, alongside an unmuddied Joni Mitchell…
Jefferson Airplane become a Starship and give us...
A classic AOR tune...
Maggie Thatcher was in the audience (allegedly).
...Maggie Thatcher rushes out to embrace Nelson Mandela...
(Warning: boring clip...)
...Nelson Mandela is "on the same level" as the Spice Girls...
...The Spice Girls worship Gary Glitter (& quickly regret it)...
...Gary Glitter almost kills Roger Daltrey...
...Roger Daltrey, as a sunflower, is watered by Sally James...
...Sally James discusses "London Calling" with The Clash...
..Paul Simonon attends an arty party thrown by Pete Townshend...
...Pete Townshend chats to hip young gunslinger Jeremy Paxman...
...Jeremy Paxman discusses US politics with Mr D. Rascal...
...Dizzee Rascal duets with Shirley Bassey...
...Shirley Bassey is arrested by the Muppets...
...The Muppets try to coax a performance out of John Cleese...
...John Cleese debates religion with Malcolm Muggeridge...
(...alongside, of course, Michael Palin and the Bishop of Southwark, chaired by Tim Rice...)
...Malcolm Muggeridge disses the US to William F Buckley Jr...
...William F Buckley Jr is called a crypto-Nazi by Gore Vidal...
...Gore Vidal riles Norman Mailer...
...Norman Mailer spills blood in a brawl with Rip Torn...
...Rip Torn has a drink with David Bowie...
(Bit of a cheat, this one - from "The Man Who Fell To Earth"...)
David Bowie Duets with Bing Crosby
(go on - I'll have a crack if someone else follows)
Bing Crosby introduced on TOTP by Noel Edmonds
Moving on from Bowie
Right then:
All these are on YouTube.
David Bowie & Bing Crosby duet "Little Drummer Boy"
Bing and the Andrews Sisters "Accentuate the Positive"
The Andrews Sisters + The Supremes singing each others songs on the Sammy Davis Jr. Show
Sammy Davis Jr. & Andy Williams duet "Breezin' Along With The Breeze"
Andy Williams & Claudine Longet duet "Let It Be Me"
Claudine Longet sings & Peter Sellers is smitten (The Party)
Peter Sellers (Clouseau) + Herbert Lom (Dreyfus) in a classic Pink Panther scene.
Herbert Lom & Christopher Lee (Dracula)
Christopher Lee interviewed by Alan Tichmarsh.
Somebody else's turn...
Thanks
Nice chain, Mike, but I've continued the link from Noel Edmonds (see Rigid Digit's post), rather than Titchmarsh. Sorry!
...Noel Edmonds goes gooey over Debbie Harry...
(...Christopher Timothy is unmoved...)
..Debbie Harry is painted on a Commodore Amiga by Andy Warhol...
...Andy Warhol hangs out with young nerd, Steven Spielberg...
(...and Bianca Jagger...)
...Steven Spielberg is interviewed by Mark Kermode...
(Nothing unusual here...)
..Mark Kermode dodges a sniper's bullet, unlike Werner Herzog...
...Werner Herzog chats to Henry Rollins...
...Henry Rollins meets his hero, Iggy Pop...
...Iggy Pop takes coffee and cigarettes with Tom Waits...
...Tom Waits gets severely riled by Ian Hislop...
(Skip to six minutes into the clip. "I'll plug it in my own damn way...")
...Ian Hislop is charmed by Piers Morgan...
...Piers Morgan gets a call from "Bono" and Chris Morris...
...Chris Morris is unmasked on daytime TV by John Stapleton...
...John Stapleton gets "Parkinsoned" by Rod Hull and Emu...
...Rod Hull and Emu square up to Snoop Dogg...
...Snoop Dogg duets with pal Willie Nelson...
...Willie Nelson sings alongside Keith Richards...
...Keith Richards shoots the breeze with Hunter S Thompson...
...Hunter S Thompson hangs out with Warren Zevon...
(...and Benicio del Toro...)
...Warren Zevon backs Stephen King...
...Stephen King interviews AC/DC...
...Angus Young of AC/DC introduces Ozzy Osbourne...
...Ozzy Osbourne is cheered on by an unknown Robbie Williams...
...Robbie Williams plays against Diego Maradona...
...Diego Maradona plays headers with Pele...
(They also meet here...)
...Pele lines up with Sylvester Stallone...
(...as well as Michael Caine, Bobby Moore, Ossie Ardiles, Mike Summerbee, Russell Osman, John Wark etc, for "Escape To Victory"...)
...Sylvester Stallone trains with Mr T...
...Mr T and the A-Team encounter Boy George...
...Boy George endures Terry Christian with Whitney Houston...
...Whitney Houston is romanced by Serge Gainsbourg...
...Serge Gainsbourg has a laugh with Jerry Lee Lewis...
(The initial meeting at the airport didn't promise much...)
...Jerry Lee Lewis plays one he made earlier for Blue Peter...
Now what you could have done there...
.. was link back to Elvis and created an infinite feedback loop. This may however have destroyed time and the universe, so it's probably as well that you didn't.
Where it goes nobody knows - up to a point
I'll loop it back to Elvis with link 100/101 (as Craig Brown does with Hitler in his book). At which point this thread will vanish in a puff of logic.
..Blue Peter's Simon Groom meets the big cats of Tippi Hedren...
...Tippi Hedren is directed by Charlie Chaplin...
[...in the last film Chaplin directed, "A Countess From Hong Kong", a massive flop. Chaplin had a cameo.]
...Charlie Chaplin hangs out in London with his mate, Gandhi...
There they are, "the two famous little men", waving from a window:
...Gandhi meets Nehru, Nehru meets John F Kennedy...
Two links in one:
...John F Kennedy gets support from Harry Belafonte...
..Harry Belafonte debates w/ Heston, Brando, Poitier, Baldwin...
All of them have just participated in the March on Washington DC and listened to Martin Luther King's "I have a dream..." speech (1963):
...Sidney Poitier is honoured by Quincy Jones...
This one's frustrating, and not very unsual either. Quincy Jones has apparently been close pals with everyone on the planet - including Brando, Belafonte and Poitier - but YouTube can't prove it. Look out for Rosa Parks too...
.
.
...Quincy Jones conducts Miles Davis...
...Miles Davis plays basketball with John Lennon...
...John Lennon acts in a sketch with Peter Cook...
...Peter Cook introduces Kate Bush...
(...having abused the restless crowd and made some very 1970s remarks about Steel Pulse. Painful viewing from "Revolver". Kate finally appears about four and a half minutes in...)
...Kate Bush duets with Rolf Harris...
(...sadly not onscreen. "The Painter's Link"...)
...Rolf Harris is hypnotized by the voice of Lee Hazlewood...
Lee Hazelwood & nancy Sinatra - some velvet morning
Lee Hazelwood & nancy Sinatra - some velvet morning
I love this song
Nancy Sinatra & Jarvis Cocker
Nancy Sinatra & Jarvis Cocker