Telly Savalas looks at UK Cities

 

In 1981 the British Film Producer Harold Baim made 3 documentry films about British Cities (Birmingham, Aberdeen and Portsmouth) all narrated by the actor Telly (Kojak) Savalas. Originally there were supposed to have been 11 of these short films, but only 3 were ever made. When asked why Telly Savalas?? Baim replied "its a marketing ploy" Baim's short films known as Quota Quickies were originally made for distribution with United Artists films/ features which enabled UA to meet the legal requirements for the minimum number of UK-made productions shown at the cinema. Being as I come from Portsmouth I do find this film quite intriguing and entertainingly quirky.  As Telly says "a time capsule of life in Toooder England" "So long Portsmouth..here's looking at you" he also said "here's looking at you" at the end of Aberdeen and Birmingham so I suspect another Telly catch phrase was in the making there. Old Telly had lots of catch phrases thanks to his character in Kojak "Who loves ya, baby?" and "Cootchie-coo!" "here's looking at you".

Telly Savalas Looks at Birmingham
https://youtu.be/EoHVO1eSMFc
Telly Savalas Looks at Aberdeen
https://youtu.be/WhIyj64TQPg

Concrete Finishes for Highway Structures

Published by the Cement & Concrete Association, 1972.

See the full set on Flickr: MOAR concrete

I put it to you that this is the purest hit, the Platonic ideal, of a certain strand of hauntalogical whatever-it-is.  That strand being the municipal, "mildly alien" one. Not overtly supernatural, not overtly sci-fi but somehow suggestive of both.  I can't pin down why, exactly, but it hits the spot for me even more than the big stuff - the megastructures, the brutalist icons etc. Those photos of spanking new bridges passing over nowt but grass send a shiver up my spine.  Phwoar!

Btw, those last two are of the Hockley Flyover in Birmingham.  Do a Google image search of hockley flyover and you get some fantastic colour pics taken during construction, and a bunch that appear to show that all the knobbly bits are still there.  Any locals able to confirm that?

Posted by Bollops at 12:09 No comments:

Through a factory window

hauntological dumping ground

Thursday, 28 October 2010

A peek through the window of one of the many interesting old buildings in Digbeth, Birmingham (UK) gives a view of the interior... and beyond.

Posted by Phantom Circuit at 19:11 0 comments