The Jolly Fat Man: Deceased Artiste Dom DeLuise

Like any good comic character actor, Dom DeLuise seemed perfectly fine with mocking himself in performance, and as a result, he was always working, appearing in some supporting role somewhere (in recent years he was more than likely doing a quick cartoon voice or showing up in a mediocre straight-to-vid like the notorious Italian-financed Silence of the Hams). Dom broke through in the Sixties, and is well-remembered for his appearances on The Dean Martin Show (see below), where he remained for several years as the house “barber” in goofy segments wherein scripted material gave way to silly improv.

He of course is best known for his work with Mel Brooks and Burt Reynolds (most of the obits forgot he did three movies with Gene Wilder, spinning off of the Brooks orbit). But he was truly all over the place from the Sixties through the Nineties on both TV and in the movies. He was in two glorious early Seventies cult movies, Herb Gardner’s terrific Who is Harry Kellerman…? (1971) and the TV movie Evil Roy Slade (in 1972, preceding his bit in Blazing Saddles by a full year). The nicest thing I can say about Mr. DeLuise is that he seemed like a member of the family (and in fact, I have relatives who he reminded me of).

I have my own favorite Dom moment, which at some point I’ll post on YouTube (since it ain’t up there currently), but for the time being here are some choice bits featuring the big man.

Here is “Dominick the Great” on Dean Martin:


“The French Mistake” in Blazing Saddles:


Reprising his “barber” bit with Tony Orlando:


The only film he directed, an adaptation of Donald Westlake (!), is up on Youtube, the 1979 film Hot Stuff:


Here is a seminal moment from the above, Dom tokin’ a doob, and making like Stan Laurel with his laughter:


The kind of crap he appeared in quite a lot (hey, an actor’s gotta pay-a dem bills, boss). Appearing with a kid, Jimmie Walker, and small-person stuntman “Deep Roy” as a very weird fuckin' monkey in Going Bananas:


One of those godawful numbers they do at the beginning of the Oscars. And yes, this crappy one that Dom does with Telly Savalas and Pat Morita is no better or worse than those terrible things that Billy Crystal did — which sucked in entirely new ways, so the demented remember them fondly — and the recent one Hugh Jackman did:


The dippy Cannonball Run closing-credits blooper reels, all in one place:


A weird comedy outtake from a cooking instructional CD-Rom that Dom made. I’m wondering what the hell they bleeped out (abuse of another celebrity, obscenity, a stray racist remark, an in-joke only the crew got, something completely tame?). Who knows?


And something that can be found on DVD, the failed but funny 1973 sitcom Lotsa Luck. Here’s the opening theme (the first line is “I used to buy a pickle” — don’t ask me why I’ve carried that with me for the past 36 years….)

Ah... YouTube: Jacques Brel with English subtitles!

In the bottomless pit of amazingly wonderful music video on YouTube are chestnuts of sublimely melodramatic pop music. Now, the foremost example of this sort of music is of course the gorgeous morsels of death-rock that populated American rock ’n’ roll in the early Sixties (“Teen Angel,” “Tell Laura I Love Her,” etc.), but in the same vein of awesome, moving, and morose pop I must include the Belgian master, the late Monsieur Brel. Americans discovered his music through the translations of Mort Shuman and Eric Blau in the long-running cabaret show Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (god, I do love those long Sixties/Seventies show/movie titles…).

The British, however, were introduced to Brel’s wonderfully emotionally overwrought works through through covers of the Shuman-Blau translations by Scott Walker (plum examples here and here. Also David Bowie (main example here).

Well, in the world of YouTube, we are now treated to the terrific sight of Brel himself, a simply incredible, incredible stage performer, singing his own tunes, for the first time ever with English subtitles translating his wrenching lyrics (I do believe Serge Gainsbourg was a more complex and innovative poet-lyricist, but there’s no arguing with the raw power of Brel’s work).

Here are three examples from YT, each of ’em a gem:
The song we know better (through a Rod McKuen translation, and later a perfectly depressing one hit wonder version by Terry Jacks) as “Seasons in the Sun.” I give you “Le Moribond” in English. It’s actually a pretty “up” song with the singer urging us to celebrate his death:


Here is Brel’s most wrenching song, “Ne Me Quitte Pas” (Don’t Leave Me) with English subs. There is a more amazingly raw performance of this by Brel with English subs up on YT, but the poster doesn’t allow for embeds on that one, so dig this subtitled version instead:


Here’s a little upbeat number, just so’s you don’t think ol’ Jacques was a downer. This one also appeared in “Live and Well…” It’s called “Brussels.”


And here, we have a good example of Brel’s stagecraft. Tell me one other singer (okay, Alice Cooper — but besides Alice, whom I also love) who has performed a song while wearing a noose onstage: