"The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience, so they believe they are as clever as he."--Karl Kraus
A quick blast of Lileks:
I ended the day with bad TV myself – “Ocean’s Eleven” was on. The original, which isn’t very good but has its moments of historical interest. (Sinatra first appears wearing a fuzzy orange sweater, which he pulls off; he could pull anything off, but mostly because you don’t even think about thinking that he looks stupid in that. You might be right. So what? Would it be worth it? You don’t even have the guts to point out how silly the sweater looks, do you. Of course not. Okay, blow.) I’d never seen the opening credits, which were a typical Saul Bass animation. Marquee lights count from one to 11, and every other number we get the name of a star. The band plays Nelson Riddle’s Ocean’s 11 leitmotif, but in a different style for each actor. It’s swingin’ for Frank. For Dino it’s mandolins, because he’s, you know, a guinea. Jeez. For Sammy Davis Jr., it’s as soulful as a Harlem summer night! For Peter Lawford, sturdy British brass. If there had been an Asian character, no doubt he’d get rinkytinky rickshaw me-so-solly instrumentation.
I don’t remember what Joey Bishop’s version sounded like – probably played entirely by second violins.
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