Something to whet your appetite for tomorrow.

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It's weird. All my favourite Oscar memories seem to revolve around the ones that others loathe with a passion. When Dave Letterman hosted, I loved the fact he stopped the show dead for some honest-to-god Stupid Pet Tricks. With Tom Hanks as an unwilling assistant, bearing an expression on his face like "Um Dave, I know I usually like goofing off on your show, but I don't think this is really the time and place for it" and after 19 years, finally seeing the above clip again, the notorious and reviled opening production number which has Snow White and Rob Lowe singing a newly updated version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary", Merv Griffin singing "What a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" while back-up dancers dressed up as tables and chairs circle around people like Carmen Miranda and Lily Tomlin.

The show was produced by Allan Carr, best known for writing and producing Grease, and as this article notes, the widespread embarassment and threats of legal action afterwards seemed to have pretty much killed his career. However the man truly responsible for the above number is Steve Silver who for years had been prducing a a musical comedy revue in L.A. called Beach Blanket Babylon, which if you couldn't tell already, had a very camp sensibility  (Eileen Bowman who plays Snow White, is from the original revue).  The excessiveness contained wherein I can understand would be loathed by people who have no patience for camp, but frankly as far as I'm concerned, this is what the Oscars should be all about. You can keep your endless montages of old movie clips done to warmed over John Williams and Hans Zimmer cues. This is what I live for. Sadly, we have not had anything this excessive in the past two decades, and to be honest, it most likely never will. However, I'm hoping the rather limited production window they had this year means they won't have time to excise the quirkier bits in favour of something blander.

Anyways, enjoy it, or not.