Dracula Schmacula (1974)

Dracula Schmacula 

By Tom Dupreee

Zoo World

June 6, 1974

    With searchlights, hearses, a hot air balloon, a Dracula makeup contest, a street dance, and assorted other promotional avenues, the new film Son of Dracula suddenly slid into town in its world premiere engagement, escorted by its two principal actors, Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr. It wasn't the biggest party in Atlanta since Gone with the Wind, but they tried. They tried.

     Nilsson, who has the title role, and Ringo, who plays an ancient Merlin the magician, hosted a press conference the afternoon of the initial showing to plump for the world's first rock and roll Dracula movie before attending the midnight preem at a North Atlanta shopping center.

     Although the two were ready for an arsenal of flip answers  ("Why did you decide to open the film in Atlanta?" Ringo: "Because nobody else would take it."), it was clear that Ringo had developed a serious interest in the technical side of filmmaking, perhaps as a result of his before the camera experience in the Magic Christian, 200 Motels, and the Richard Lester Beatles movies. 

    Ringo produced Son of Dracula after making a major script rewrite on the film, an experience which he doesn't particularly want to repeat, but which has made him anxious to direct a major project. His first attempt at film direction is a movie with Mark Bolan, which has not yet opened in the United States. "Film is a director's medium," says Ringo. "I have no desire whatsoever to produce any more. I want to stick with acting and direction, which is the extent of my interest, really."

     The movie, which Nilsson describes as a "science fiction horror musical about a boy and his bat," is the first of what may prove a new film form: the rock and roll monster movie. Since rock and roll and horror were many years staples of the drive-in movie crowd, this genre has strong commercial possibilities. Rock and roll movies, in their now hipper presentations (Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Woodstock) are still vying with horror films in outdoor theaters across the country. Why not combine the elements? Already, we have Paul Williams' Phantom of the Fillmore ready for release, and if it or Son of Dracula makes anything like a respectable amount of money, the floodgates will open. 

    "It's not the best film ever made, but I've seen worse," says Ringo of the movie, and most who saw it would agree with him. Ringo says the original script, which was presented to him, was "too flower power. The audience would have been asleep in 10 minutes." He decided to add some friction to the plot, and takes full responsibility for what's on the screen. And though Son of Dracula is not bad for a first try, its problem largely rests with that script. 

    The movie centers around Count Down, the son of Dracula, who was born a vampire and must glom necks for sustenance, but he is also into just about every kind of music there is, and occasionally he takes a break from the action to rush downstairs and perform with his band, which includes Keith Moon on drums. When Count Down comes of age, he will be crowned Overlord of the Netherworld, an occasion for which the assorted creeps of the Nether have been waiting for years. Doctor Van Helsing, Drac's enemy in the Bram Stoker novel, now his ally, noting Count Down's uneasiness over the coming affair proposes an operation which would take away his vampirism and implant within him the capacity for love, but would also wreck his claim to the Netherworld throne, and probably hack off its residence in the bargain. 

    Count Down agrees, though some monkey wrenches are thrown occasionally by a jealous rival for the throne, one Baron Frankenstein. I'll not spoil the ending. 

    The film features outstanding set designs and photography, and professional direction by Freddie Francis, a member of the Hammer Films Horror Corps, the guys who have spewed out those 40 or 50 beautiful British remakes of American classics with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, is often lovely to look at, but the movie's stilted script sires uninspired and unbelievable performances. The dialogue is too earnest to be funny in most places. There are amusing moments, most of them coming when the idea of a rock and roll vampire is explored. Yet it's too showbiz and tongue-in-cheek to appeal to anyone unfamiliar with the career of its two stars.

    If Son of Dracula didn't feature Ringo and Nilsson, in fact, it would have had about as much general- audience appeal as a dubbed Mexican monster movie on television. American horror fans are used to seeing corny Hammer plots pulled off with sophistication and personality and made believable. Among other weaknesses, with Ringo's first line, one irrevocably refuses to believe he is Merlin, but that's just the monster movie element.

     It is a field day for Nilsson fans, including as he does nine songs. Added as an afterthought, according to Nilsson, the original script didn't have music, and only one new song, "Daybreak", written for the film, and accompanying them with film scenes of Nilsson lip-syncing to the album tracks, most of them coming from Nilsson Schmilsson and Son of Schmilsson. Since Nilsson does not perform in public, those who doted on the songs in their album incarnations will find it interesting to see Harry wailing away with his band with no interference from the movie plot. 

    All the songs are set pieces having nothing to do with the action, except for "Without You," which is played under the operation scene, and "Day Break," which, with its lyrical connection to the vampire theme. Harry has, of course, been photographed as a vampire before on the album cover of  Son of Schmilsson. Although Ringo has played on the album (as Richie Snare) he has never seen the cover art until two weeks after he offered Harry the lead in Son of Dracula.

     As is obvious from the cover and Ringo's work with SOD, both say they love monster movies and wanted to make one of their own. "We felt that it was time," said Harry. Both are careful to emphasize that musical element of the show because, as Ringo said, "There hasn't been a good Dracula movie made since Bela Lugosi." When asked if he thought Son of Dracula could compare with Lugosi's performance, he quickly said "No."

     Nilsson and Ringo talked about other projects besides their movie. Both have Richard Perry-produced albums in the works, not counting Harry's new release, The Son of Dracula soundtrack, which includes all nine tunes and dialogue from the film. Ringo's to be cut in May. Did he have the cooperation from the rest of the Beatles, which marked his Ringo album? "The only one who's cooperated up to now is John, who says he's written a song for me," said Ringo, "But then the last one was largely coincidental. I was recording for the first time in America, and some of them wound up helping, and they're still my mates, aren't they?"

     For the 50,000,000th time, Ringo answered a reporter's inquiry into whether or not the Beatles were planning to get back together rather officially. "I would like to say here and now, no". When asked about the lawsuits that surround the dissolving Beatles, Ringo made a distinction between "the thing between the four of us and the thing against Alan Klein," and said that the priorities dictated resolutions of the thing which separates the four Beatles. "That's the most important thing, and everybody knows it."

     Although Son of Dracula is credited as an Apple film, it is being independently distributed in America by Cinematian Industries, the people who brought you Fritz the Cat and the Cheerleaders. The soundtrack is manufactured by RCA, Nilsson's record company on the Rapple label.

     RCA took over after the press conference and turned Harry and Ringo over to a city that has been fairly throttled by publicists. The stars drove from their downtown hotel in a Son of Dracula hears to the premiere's theater, where hundreds of people waited on Nilsson Boulevard and Stare Drive to greet them. In front of a cardboard facade built to resemble the battlements of a castle, a huge hot air balloon was surveying the parking lot scene. A street dance punctuated by the glare of searchlights. A local radio station had promoted a contest. The outstanding 10 makeup jobs worn to the premiere would win Harry Nielsen watches. Each entrant won a watch. 

    Harry and Ringo bounded from the car to the bandstand and waved a few waves. They did a short advertisement for the movie. "All of you can't get inside the theater tonight, but come back next week and bring your friends." And then located themselves in the back of the house, where they had as much fun watching Son of Dracula as everybody else did
 

Harry's Best Man

  August 12, 1976

Happy 45th wedding Anniversary to Ringo and Barbara!

 April 27, 1981

Fabulous - Beatles in Wedding Day Reunion

By John Crossland

Liverpool Daily Post

April 28, 1981 

    Ringo Starr yesterday celebrated his marriage to actress Barbara Bach with a little help from his friends Paul McCartney and George Harrison.

    The three surviving ex-Beatles appeared together publicly for the first time since John Lennon's death for the ceremony at London's Marylebone registered office. Fans gathered for up to five hours, and there were screams when McCartney arrived with his wife, Linda. A mustached Harrison and his wife slipped into the building almost unnoticed. 

    Ringo, 40, and Miss Bach, 34, had arrived in a maroon taxi. Ringo was dressed all in black with dark glasses, and Miss Bach was wearing a full-length cream dress decorated with roses. The wedding party included best man, Roger Shine, a friend of Ringo's, who was inside for about an hour.

     As they left, scuffling broke out among fans being held back by a police cordon. A man was knocked unconscious when he hit the pavement and was taken to hospital.

     Ringo said the honeymoon would be "somewhere in England." He said he felt "fabulous". McCartney said it "was great to be back" with his former colleagues. 

    Ringo and his new bride left again in a taxi for a reception at the Mayfair club, Rags. The wedding party had included only relatives and close friends.

     Ringo and Miss Bach, a former Playboy magazine pinup who starred in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, have lived together for more than a year. They met on the set of the film Caveman, which is set to be released later this year. 

    Miss Bach has two children by her marriage to an Italian businessman, and Ringo has three: Zak, 15, Jason, 13, and Lee, 10, by his marriage to childhood sweetheart, Maureen Cox.

Oh! Oh! Heaven! Ringo Weds Bond Bird Babs

By Mick Seamark

Daily Star

April 28, 1981

    Ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, wed  007 girl, Barbara Bach, yesterday, with a little help from his friends. Fans young and old, lined the pavement for the 10 Minute ceremony at St. Marylebone register office in London. They were joined by George Harrison and Paul McCartney, his wife Linda, and their children. And shortly afterward, Ringo's mother, Elsie, and stepfather, Harry Graves, rolled up to be followed by Ringo's and Barbara's five children from their first marriages.

     As Ringo made his way through the crowd with his new bride, he beamed and said, "I feel fabulous. How would you feel?" One of the witnesses, Roger Shine, said, "It was a lovely occasion, with Ringo and Barbara surrounded by family and friends."

     The only sadness was the absence of the fourth Beatle, John Lennon, who was murdered in New York. Barbara, a former Playboy pinup and the James Bond girl in the film The Spy Who Loved Me, met Ringo on the set of another movie.

     For two years, they have shared a 12-room house in Hollywood. The couple was involved in a bad car crash in South London last year, and Ringo said later that this had persuaded them that they should marry. 

    Barbara applied for the marriage certificate last Friday and gave her real name as Goldback. Ringo's real name is Richard Starkey, and he gave his occupation as "musician".

     The brief ceremony was delayed half an hour as Linda McCartney and showbiz photographer Terry O'Neil took snaps.

     Afterward, the couple jumped into a cab to head for a private reception at a London nightclub. 

    They have two more days in London before jetting back to Los Angeles, where Ringo faces a lawsuit. His former girlfriend, model Nancy Andrews, who lived with him for five years, is suing him for two and a half million pounds.

Harry Nilsson's Rememberance (1981)

 

Photo taken by Bob Gruen 

Harry Nilsson's Rememberance 

By Harry Nilsson

Songwriter magazine

January/February 1981

    Singer/ Songwriter Harry Nilsson was closely associated with John Lennon during the past decade. The two of them shared a deep friendship, particularly while John was separated from Yoko Ono in the mid-70s; their late-night carousels in Los Angeles made for gossip column copy at the time. But beyond the excess, there was a professional relationship that led to Lennon's producing Nilsson's Pussycats in 1974, one of John's few outside musical projects. Nilsson shared his memories and outrage with contributing editor Barry Alfonso.

     I met John after the Beatles' publicist Derek Taylor played my first album for him. This was about 1968. Derek called me and asked if I wanted to come over to England and go to a session. I was met at the airport by Ringo's car, and went to Apple, said hello to Derek, and was chauffeured to where John lived, which is now, I think, Ringo's house. 

    I spent the weekend with John at his house. It was the weekend that Cynthia moved out and Yoko moved in. We spent the night talking about divorce and all that stuff -- 12 hours nonstop. He was like that, always hyper. John wasn't a very relaxed guy. He was always manic. "Let's go. Let's do it." An all-or-nothing person, as far as I knew him.

     We were roommates later for a time, sort of like the Odd Couple. This was in 7'5 or so. For a month and a half, a whole bunch of us lived in this beach house in Malibu. John, Ringo, Keith Moon, Mal Evans, and I were there. 

    After that, John and I went to New York, and he lived in a hotel --at the Pierre for another month and a half. I considered myself his closest friend during that period when he was away from Yoko; when he needed a friend, I was there. I took a lot of the blame for him getting drunk and all that, but I didn't force foul-tasting liquids down his throat. That was his own doing.

     I can tell you this: when we were doing the Pussycats album, we were all getting nutso. It was the height of something, the peak of rock and roll madness. We could do anything we wanted to do, but people didn't exactly know what to do with that kind of freedom. 

    During that period, Keith and John and Ringo and myself were all out there getting crazy. It was a destructive period that everyone went through. And because everyone was doing it, everyone thought it was a thing to do.

     When John and I decided to do that album, we started off on the same foot,"Let's make an album and get loaded along the way." At one session, I remember counting just the drums. And between Ringo and Jim Keltner and Keith Moon playing on, I think "Rock Around the Clock", there were 24 drums. We would finish the session, go back to Malibu, and get out of our minds on Amarillo, nitrate, acid, coke, grass, liquor --the works.

     And then at one point, when it got too crazy, I lost my chops, and people were sleeping on pool tables. John went, "click."  Like that --turned off and became the leader of the band. The producer. He straightened up, and he was great. He did his job. We were working very well. Then it became a race to get the album finished in a month or two. But we did it, and he did a good job. He became the responsible person and was a tremendously creative producer. In fact, he was the only other guy other than myself who tried to get things out of the engineer. He worked with the engineer rather than telling him what to do or letting him do it by himself. He encouraged the guy. I loved that. So in other words, he was a creative producer. Was productive and got a lot of work done in a short time. 

    He'd wake up in the morning five minutes before you would, and he'd be shining your shoes. I'm serious, literally shining your shoes. Real manic. If he was getting drunk, he was really getting drunk, and if he was getting sober, he was really getting sober. 

    I know we learned things from each other. We did agree on songs. We shared the opinion that it took a little bit of this and that, a little salt and pepper, a word here and there to make you laugh, to make a song. That's the attitude I still take when writing, and that was the attitude he showed me by his own songwriting.

     I remember working on a song we did together, "Old Dirt Road". He had this bit of a song and an idea. We were in the studio, and I went to the piano and finished it. I came over to him with a page of lyrics, and asked him what he thought of them, and he said, "You're flying. Go with it."

     That was his attitude. The most important thing I learned from him was to follow through. To finish what you start. You say you're going to send someone a postcard --send a postcard. He always followed through.

     I was talking to my wife the other day about his work. She asked me, "What was it that he did?" I said that I really didn't know. If you look at the words of his songs, occasionally, there's a clever line, but they don't look very good on paper. His melodies were probably more important than his words. Yet he was known for his words. A lot of his melodies were like child melodies. I do think he was a great singer, though I don't know that he had a great range. When you put the words and the melodies together, there was the thing that happened-- that synergy. I really couldn't explain it to my wife any more than I can explain it to you, but there it was. 

    Basically, I'd say what made him great was brains and a sense of humor with heart thrown in. Everyone's going to miss John. You keep saying,"No more wit from John, no more anticipation of what he's going to do next." Christ, he's gone. That makes me angry more than sad.

     I only hope that out of this, maybe some good can happen, and that has to do with gun control. We all know what John did, and we all know about his killer, unfortunately. Now, do we all know what we're going to do about it? I want to know what we're going to do about handguns. The answer isn't registration. The answer is to stop the manufacture and distribution of them. The only way to do it is through power, which comes out of signatures and money. I want to take out an ad in the TV Guide about it, put John Lennon's name on it, and say, "If you care, send in this coupon." I've had offers of help. Publisher Lester Sills of Screen Gems has offered to let me use his office. There are people in record companies who have offered to put up money-- artists who are willing to do concerts to help pay for ads. Reminiscing isn't important, but this is.

They Wanna Be Santa Claus

 

Motley Crew

 

Zapata Premiere

 September 17, 1975

Hanging out with Harry

 Photos taken by Cindy Rebello

 

During the time of the March of Dimes Marathon in 1974, John and Harry were staying at the Plaza Hotel (as known due to the "Beatlefest" back story).  I wonder if these photos were taken there. 

Trouble is Brewing

 

When You Wish Upon a Star

 

In 1988 Ringo recorded the song "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Disney's Pinocchio for an album called "Stay Awake."  He worked on the song with Herb Alpert playing the trumpet solo and Harry Nilsson whistling on the track.   Lenny Nehaus was the conductor on many songs on the album, including Harry's solo song - Zip a Dee Do Dah and Hal Willner was the album's producer. 

What's New Pussycat?

 

Looks like trouble!

 

Here Come the Daybreak

 Some screen shots from the newly found Ringo Starr and Harry Nilsson at the Son of Dracula premiere from a Super 8 silent film shot by Ron Gerber.  You can see the footage on AdamBound Youtube page. 

What is also interesting is a comment left by lizlonder4027:

I was lucky enough to attend the premiere as a youngster....I got to ride in the hot-air balloon above the crowd and sit behind Ringo & Harry in the theatre. I can confirm that they were indeed having a fab time between themselves - reciting the dialogue, laughing and just having lots of silly fun throughout the whole film. It was a dream come true for this Beatles fan. Thanks so much for the memories!

Comforting Lee

 

Friends until the end...

 January 7, 1990 

It's all da-da-da-down to goodnight Vienna

November 9, 1974 -  Ringo films the promotional video for "Goodnight Vienna" 
 

That'll Be The Day

October 30, 1974 - Premiere of Ringo's Film -- "That'll be the day"

Things I noticed: 

•  Ringo is wearing the jacket he also wears in the film
• Ringo is wearing a John Lennon button.
• Ringo's date is Nancy Andrews.
• Ringo is sitting next to Harry Nilsson's future wife, Una
• Una is wearing a Harry Nilsson button.
• Keith Moon is wearing a tie with moons on it. 

                             

 

Held by John Lennon

 

April 28, 1974 -  March of Dimes in Central Park with John and Harry.   I wonder who this little girl grew up to be and if she remembers being held by John Lennon.