Just For You

Just For You
1964

(US Title: Disk-O-Tek Holiday)

Directed by Douglas Hickox
Screenplay by David Edwards
From an idea by Douglas Hickox and Jacques De Lane Lea
Produced by Jacques De Lane Lea

CAST (all as “self”)
Sam Costa
+
The Applejacks
The Bachelors
The Band of Angels
Louise Cordet
Freddie and The Dreamers
Johnny B. Great
Jackie & The Raindrops
The Merseybeats
The Orchids
Peter & Gordon
Al Saxon
Doug Sheldon
Millie Small
The Warriors
Mark Wynter

US TITLE:
Disk-O-Tek Holiday
was “re-directed” by Vince Scarza and adds a further story and different footage with:
Casey Paxton
Katherine Quint- Casey’s girlfriend
Freddie Cannon
The Chiffons
The Rockin’ Ramrods
The Vagrants
Little Eva

There are suggestions online that some of the added US footage is Scopitone “video jukebox” (actually film loop) clips. I haven’t seen it.

Just For You

The 60s Retrospective Series

Release Date: June 1964

In 1963 there was Just For Fun a successful pop exploitation film with a thin and daft story. So in 1964 they followed up with Just For You with a micro-thin to non-existent story. It was basically an extended version of TV pop shows Top of The Pops or Thank Your Lucky Stars but shown in a cinema in colour with a vague link. As it advertised “Pop Scene 1964 IN COLOUR“. The DVD trumpets “ultra-rare.’ Indeed. And there might be a reason for that.

Like Just for Fun the soundtrack LP is collectable … £40 in mint condition according to the guide books, which is £15 more than the far superior Just For Fun LP, but then rarity drives values more than quality. I bought the DVD for about £5 after seeing the LP on sale at £60 in a shop, or 50% more than the guide price. After all, the DVD has the same tracks and more plus video. As they’re miming, it makes no difference. Get the DVD. My interest was in very early “rock video” with settings and situations rather than just a filmed band of people miming.

What’s the difference between a mishmash of unrelated music and an “eclectic soundtrack”? I don’t think this is watchable as a straight film, though it’s only about an hour long. I watched it song by song over a few days with notes after each.

Faye Craig Bongo Baby features an exotic dancer (Ms Craig) and a bongo player shouting in Spanish about dinero. We watch her shake the interesting bits in a bikini made of foil with several close ups on the crotch and breast areas, then a hand reaches out and touches a button, the film moves backwards at normal speed, then the finger presses play to watch again. There’s a figure under the bed covers in foreground watching a large screen and possibly he’s simply dancing under the covers, or maybe I’ve got a dirty mind. Yes, that lump is probably a foot. And he must be quite short. Then we see him with binoculars. Lights on, it’s Sam Costa in pyjamas in bed with a big cylindrical object in his hand. (It’s a cigar.) The futuristic thing is rewinding video – don’t forget we had no video tape at home, and this is three years before British TV introduced colour. None of us could “rewind.”

Sam Costa: Oh, boy! This is the life! … You know, it’s amazing what you can do in bed.

He has a sci-fi console behind the bed with flashing lights and he eats a grape. Oh, dear. A robot Northern-accented voice tells him to get up.

Sam Costa: You know this bed does everything. First day I got it, I threw the missus out.

So my dirty mind was right.

Sam to the computer: When it’s time to get up, I don’t need you to tell me when!”

Then we hear The Applejacks Tell Me When. Geddit? It was a subtle link!

The Applejacks were famous because they had a female bass player, Megan Davies. Just as the Honeycombs were famous because they had a female drummer. Girls in pop music playing instruments. Whatever next! And a piano as well as two guitars, bass, and drums, and they were from Birmingham. Tell Me When was their biggest hit (UK #7) and released in March ahead of the film.

Sam to the computer: And till the next instalment’s due … you’re mine, all mine.

So we get Al Saxon Mine All Mine. This is pretty clever linking stuff in the script department. (Instalment? He means he bought the computer bed on the Never Never. Hire purchase? Credit?)

Al has a revolving stage with a piano. I always thought of him as a band leader and producer of budget cover versions such as Saxon Sings Sinatra (which he was) but this is a big band brassy R&B styled number. It’s surprisingly punchy.

They couldn’t think of a punning link for the next one. A Band of Angels Hide ‘n’ Seek is only available on the soundtrack. A Band of Angels were the ones who interested me most. Lead singer was Mike d’Abo, later of Manfred Mann. Guitarist / vocalist John Gaydon went on to manage King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, T. Rex and Roxy Music. He founded EG Records with Band of Angels former road manage David Enthoven. Drummer Andrew Petry joined mod favourites, Timebox. Their subsequent LP was Mike d’Abo and John Gaydon singing backed by session men.

A Band of Angels (1)

I was hoping for something along the lines of In The Court of The Mighty Quinn but they’re dressed up in straw boaters with a 1915 vintage Ford pretending to be The Temperance Seven perhaps, not that the song (basic pop) is retro, composed by John Baker and Michael d’Abo. Then they’re singing to snooty girls in an open top modern Ford who ignore them.

A Band of Angels (2)

John Gaydon’s lead vocal miming is way off synch, but that could be the DVD. The word FORD is so prominent as to be product placing.

Costa: ‘Public school boys all of them. Went to Harrow.’

I checked. True, d’Abo and Gaydon both went there. His links are getting more atrocious.

The Orchids Mr Scrooge. Girl group pop. Gathered round a chestnut brazier then a sleigh while fake snow fell.

The lead singer has a deep voice, the two others are high pitched. I liked it. The Orchids were a Larry Page managed group, and they started out backing Johnny B. Great (also on here). They were made to wear school uniform at all times (they were fifteen and still at school too) and no one thought that odd. They were regulars on Five O’Clock Club for childen’s TV where they appeared alongside Band of Angels, and had running banter with them. They were from the Midlands:

Pamela Jarman of The Orchids: We don’t see any of (the money). It is all put in a bank for us. All we get is our five shillings a week pittance. And it is not enough. We would like to be Mods, but we are Mids ’cause we can’t afford the clothes!’
Interview in Judy, 1964

The Orchids have minor cult status nowadays. They say there are sessions with Shel Talmy, Bert Berns and Andrew Loog Oldham hidden away somewhere.

Cut to Sam Costa in a Scrooge nightcap (the song was Mr Scrooge, remember).

Costa: The Bachelors have found a new way of dodging their fans. They’ve gone to earth!

Which painfully and inevitably introduced The Fox by The Bachelors. There must be a Shel Talmy connection … he produced them and The Orchids. Yes, The Bachelors appeared on Top Of The Pops but just as the shapely dancers were there to keep dad from turning off the telly, The Bachelors were there to keep mum watching. Lovely lads. Nice pullovers too. The Fox is the old folk / children’s song which I think of as The Grey Goose Has Gone.

The Bachelors: A load of balls

They are playing snooker while miming. So pocket billiards from Sam Costa at the start, snooker here. It’s all balls. Much as I REALLY can’t stand The Bachelors, I’m driven to download a copy of The Fox for my grandkids’ in-car playlist. They’ll love it. The cheeky buggers claim to have composed it on the credits … COMPOSED not arranged.

Doug Sheldon Night Time sounds like a Billy Fury reject, and Billy had far more the voice for it. It was written by Dave Carey who wrote several for the film.

Doug Sheldon made a career from covering American hits and getting a low-level UK chart entry: Runaround Sue, Your Ma Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night and I Saw Linda Yesterday. I really loved his Your Ma Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night, a cover of Kenny Dino’s US hit. Robert Plant later covered it and he would have had Doug Sheldon’s version. Where would you place a song called Night Time. At night! He does Night Time walking alone in very dark London (back projection) and finally meets a girl. She looks very much like Louise Cordet who will sing later.

So now Sam is toasting a haggis in bed. The Scottish theme goes to … the next two dressed in tartan! Same studio steps and platform as The Orchids. Two girls and a boy.

Caroline Lee and Judy Jason sing Teenage Valentino. This has the same studio set and platform as The Orchids number. Ray Sone walks around as the object of their song. The girls are wearing tartan deerstalker hats and capes over leotards and black tights … and they do the Twist!

How does he manage to handle both of them?

I was trying to think who this might have influenced … Bony M! Two girls who did all the singing and a bloke who doesn’t sing but prances about dancing in the middle. Ray Sone was a member of the Downliners Sect who were famed for wearing deerstalker hats. I suppose that was a link. This appears to be the start and finish of the girls’ pop careers. The writers credit is to Nolly Clapton and Mercy Hump. They might not be the real names. Five years later, Anthony Newley did the film Can Heironymous Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humpe and Find True Happiness.

Peter and Gordon had a good couple or so years in the 60s. Being Jane Asher’s brother with first shout on Paul McCartney songs may have helped, although Peter Asher went on to become a major West Coast manager, producer as well as a Vice-President of Sony. I found Gordon Waller pretending to play the electric guitar solo on an acoustic amusing while performing Leave Me Alone .

Clever cinematography! Gordon’s in silhouette. Peter’s not. The garden centre set.

There’s a new idea! Instead of getting the wordplay before the song, Costa puts it afterwards!

Costa (languidly, yawning): Leave me alone …

Costa: I know! Let’s have Freddie & The Dreamers. They should be good at lullabies.

Cue an atomic explosion. Ha-ha. Freddie and the Dreamers perform You Were Made for Me which breaks the pattern because it had already been a sizeable hit (UK #3) at the end of 1963.

The drummer appears immune to Freddie’s blandishments

This involves Freddie doing silly jumps and leaps, singing to the drummer and struggling to mount the platform with the guitarists on it.

Freddie and The Dreamers were already on their way to summer variety shows and pantomime

Millie Small sings Sugar Dandy. She came to fame with her revival of My Boy Lollipop. She also had an affair with Peter Asher according to Wiki.

Millie – probably the most collectable artiste here

They decided she should sing with her impassioned squeak behind bowls of flowers. It was a nice change to hear a Jamaican rhythm though.

Jackie and the Raindrops sing The Loco-motion even though Little Eva’s UK #2 hit version was nearly two years earlier. The song seems to be a hit every time someone covers it. Except for Jackie & The Raindrops. Studio with back projection an amusing commuter men in bowler hats on a “platform.” Little Eva was the first major live concert i ever saw (with Brian Hyland).

Jackie & The ~~Raindrips~~ Raindrops

This version adds train whistles during the sax solo. Jackie was Jackie Lee, the Irish singer (White Horses, UK#10, 1968) and she was twenty-eight and looks older. The Raindrops are three chaps in cardigans. They are not young either, but included Les Van Dyke (aka Johnny Worth) and future cardigan-wearing star Vince “Edelweiss” Hill.

Mark Wynter sings I Wish you Everything, and was a graduate of predecessor film Just For Fun. We see the economies of set design. The Band of Angels 1915 vintage Ford car joins Peter & Gordon’s room divider and Doug Sheldon’s back projected London.

We brought the car here. Might as well use it again.

He starts off singing to the car while looking at the engine and polishing it a bit. It’s an abysmal song. Just like Doug Sheldon he meets a girl at the end of the song … hey! It’s the same girl! I’m pretty sure it’s Louise Cordet now.

Johnny B. Great hammers out If I Had a Hammer on piano. And we were spared a Sam Costa link. I fear it will come at the end (it does, and he sings).

Mr Great on pub piano

Mr Great is surrounded by Afro-Caribbean couples dancing which is a good idea because he’s not much to look at. The lead one is Faye Craig from back at the start. She’s very good and the camera favours her wiggling bottom over his face.

Peter and Gordon are back in the garden centre (that’s what it looks like) for Soft as the Dawn. The computer introduced them. It’s somewhat wet. Lots of bird song at the end. Yuk.

Peter looks a bit glum as Gordon emotes

Faye Craig Voodoo. Sexy dancing on an old black & white TV as Sam selects channels. The TV is Decca. I don’t remember Decca TVs … ah, but they did the soundtrack album and had most of the artistes signed to them. New model for 1964.

Then he switches and we have her in colour dancing to an instrumental. The cameraman is still mostly interested in her bottom.

Sam’s got a tuxedo on now.

Costa: Have you got your weekend joint yet?

I doubt it’s a wordplay. In 1964 we bought a joint of beef for Sunday lunch, cold meat Monday, cottage pie Tuesday, curry to conceal the “going off” flavour on Wednesday. Or is it a pun?

The Warriors Don’t Make Me Blue. On the credits, the members of The Warriors are credited individually, which no other groups are. They contained Jon Anderson (of Yes) and Ian Wallace on drums.

We still have garden centre room dividers and a car, a Ford Cortina. Oh, there’s Faye Craig sitting at a table as they sing. She gets in the car.

Who would have realized Jon Anderson would be the biggest star to emerge from the film?

Louise Cordet It’s So Hard to Be Good is introduced by the Bush radio Sam seems to have switched on instead of the computer. After being sung too twice she gets to sing. Great voice and an air of dynamism sadly lacking elsewhere.

She’s in a restaurant with room dividers and back projected London. And Faye Craig’s still there, dancing.

So Sam orders a dry Martini and the computer delivers a carton of milk instead which leads us to …

The Merseybeats Milk. They were a great band. Not here. Shame about the song. It’s very short too. They walk across a large poster of a female face- it’s a Drinka Pinta Milka Day advert. Another is on the wall.

John Gustafson is playing the blue Fender Precision Bass I coveted ever since I bought the EP Big Three At The Cavern (his earlier group).

The Bachelors are still with us for Low the Valley. Still in that garden centre. ~~Truly, truly horrible~~. Not really to my taste. I liked them better on kiddie folk.

The lyrics are even worse than the melody. There’s a plaster broken fairground face. Why?

Freddie and the Dreamers finish with the theme song Just for You. It was written by Mitch Miller who wrote You Were Made For Me and sounds like a continuation of the tune. Freddie is a jester in a sedan chair in the garden centre. The band are in vaguely Elizabethan costume. But not miming on guitars.

Freddie as a funny jester. Elizabethan breeches are funny. Tights are funny. Leaping about is funny. Bendy swords are funny.

He has a funny sword fight to a speeded up instrumental section.

Back to Sam in bed, but now Faye Craig is sitting on the bed too! His fantasy at the start has come true.

Costa: Well, that was Just For You, but thanks to the wonders of modern science this is just for me … (pushes button, Faye appears) Dearest darling, I don’t know how to say it, but I need it so desperately … do you think … I wonder … could you possibly … make me a cup of tea and toast?

Overall

The film that explains the exploitation in budget pop exploitation film. Cheap sets. Dreadful DJ links from Sam Costa (Thank goodness they didn’t engage Jimmy Saville). All mimed stuff. Not an actual performance on there, Its main virtue is to demonstrate just how good A Hard Day’s Night was at the same time. I thought it would be an exercise in early pop video, but it’s woefully unimaginative. The two biggest stars to emerge, Jon Anderson and Mike d’Abo, manage to conceal any sign whatsoever of their future abilities and talent. The best performances were a surprise … Al Saxon and Louise Cordet for me. Yes, it’s a stinker BUT the DVD costs only one eighth the price of an original LP.

Soundtrack Releases

The LP