Some market research goes awry in this 1965 scene from the San Francisco improvisational theater The Committee. Performers as yet unidentified

Audio courtesy of Alan Myerson. 
Digitized by BAVC.

The Committee: Candy Trip 1965

In this scene from a 1965 performance by The Committee, Mel Stewart and an unidentified actor rap about the Fillmore, SF cops vs. NYC cops, the Freedom Summer. and LBJ's scar. 

Upper Fillmore street scene photo by Clay Geerdes, courtesy of David Miller.
Audio courtesy of Alan Myerson. Digitization by BAVC.

http://www.thecommitteemovie.com

The Committee: Land of Silk and Money 1965

The Committee in performance in 1966.

"...I found the performers remarkably engaging. Just watch a moonfaced lad named Carl Gottlieb pretending he's a representative of General Motors on a home visit to an anxious couple, Stan Wagner and Leigh French, who are told that their car needs certain minor adjustments. To illustrate his point, Gottlieb shows them some rather grisly photos of highway wrecks." - Stanley Eichelbaum

Cast photo by Fred Ross (Stan Wagner, Roger Bowen, Morgan Upton, Nancy Fish, Leigh French, and Carl Gottlieb)

Audio recording courtesy of Alan Myerson
Analog-to-digital preservation transfer by Bay Area Video Coalition Preservation Access Program

The Committee: A Secret History of American Comedy is a project of Filmmakers Collaborative SF and Space Gun LLC, in partnership with Lekker Media and The San Francisco Improv Festival.

The Committee: Toronado 1966

"This is under the headline 'Five Fans Over the Bridge'.

It's in the middle of a sentence that it takes off, on column 7.

'Off to City Prison'

The others, David Berkett, 16, brother of Stanley, and Mike Romero, 17, brother of Joseph, were taken to Youth Guidance Center. All were booked on a misdemeanor charge of trespassing."

Cast includes Scott Beach, John Brent, Garry Goodrow, Hugh Romney, Kathryn Ish, Peter Lane, Jessica Myerson, and music by Ellsworth Milburn.

Audio recording courtesy of Alan Myerson
Analog-to-digital preservation transfer by Bay Area Video Coalition Preservation Access Program

www.thecommitteemovie.com

www.filmmakerscollaborative.org/the-committee

The Committee: Newspaper Madrigal 1965

Batman and Robin gain deep psychological insights while attempting to save the city from the scourge of LSD. From a 1966 performance by The Committee, featuring Roger Bowen as Batman, Chris Ross as Robin, Don Sturdy (aka Howard Hesseman) as The Pusher, and Carl Gottlieb as the Pusher's henchman. Music by Ellsworth Milburn.

audio courtesy of Alan Myerson.
Digitization by BAVC.
Photo by Fred Ross.

The Committee:  Batman Vs. Pusher 1966

"[Chris Ross] created this character called Danny DiMarco, who was the epitome of the mid-range lounge singer. And he did it decades before Bill Murray, before anybody else ever did it. He did kind of faux realism being the character, Danny DiMarco, so much so that Enrico Banducci, who ran the hungry i was in on the gag. He booked Chris as Danny DiMarco, "The Man with a Hundred Voices", and held him over.

So Chris was there for like three weeks. One of the weeks that he was there, the headline act that Chris was opening for was Flatt and Scruggs, who were huge country stars. Chris would have to go out every night as Danny DiMarco and kind of get lackluster applause. He was playing a lackluster talent and doing a very good job of it.

Flatt and Scruggs were not in on the joke. I think it was Lester Flatt who took Chris aside and said, "You know it's a little rough on you, boy, but you just keep going, you've got a good spirit, you know, don't let them get you down." He gave him some fatherly advice about persisting in the cruel world of show business, which I guess goes to show you how effectively Chris buried himself in the character." - Carl Gottlieb

Chris Ross as Danny DiMarco
live at the hungry i, San Francisco
band: Clyde (drums), Mickey, and Benny
date: unknown
recording courtesy of Fred Ross
audio refresh by Dave Schmoll
track selection by Sam Shaw and Jamie Wright
www.committeemovie.com
https://www.filmmakerscollaborative.org/the-committee

Danny DiMarco "Old Man River" (live at the hungry i)

The Committee in performance, December 1965. Introduction by Garry Goodrow, with John Brent, Mel Stewart, Jessica Myerson, and Scott Beach. Music by Ellsworth Milburn, directed by Alan Myerson. Photo of John Brent and Mel Stewart by Fred Ross.

"[Mel Stewart] is already a household word. And he's definitely in tune with improvisational humor. He's also engagingly droopy-eyed and dippy, particularly when he's the hipster leader of the Watts secessionist movement, telling off Scott Beach of the U.S. government, and Jessica Myerson of the United Nations, through the intermediary of interpreter John Brent". - Stanley Eichelbaum, San Francisco Examiner, December 18th, 1965

Audio recording courtesy of Alan Myerson
Analog-to-digital preservation transfer by Bay Area Video Coalition Preservation Access Program

The Committee: A Secret History of American Comedy is a project of Filmmakers Collaborative SF and Space Gun LLC, in partnership with Lekker Media and The San Francisco Improv Festival.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_riots

http://www.thecommitteemovie.com/

https://www.filmmakerscollaborative.org/the-committee

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