BBC4: Imagine Rod Stewart story

[Jeff Leach]

Just watched on catch-up the Alan Yentob presented Rod Stewart story doc Originally shown on Tuesday evening which featured some very early footage of Rod being interviewed and performing from the mid sixties, some of which looked like it was even before he was with Long John Baldry and wondered what program the footage came from as it was showing him hanging round the streets and his parents discussing whether they thought he could be successful as a singer.

Strange that he should be  included on a Tv programme obviously made well before he had any visibility on the music scene

[Peter Stirling]

I thought the same thing Jeff- ie.why on earth did they do a full scale,budgeted documentary on somebody nobody had ever heard of (at the time)? It was a huge leap of faith even on somebody as talented as Rod and especially for the BBC (if it was the BBC?)as they were not known at the time for dedicating single programmes to working class minstrels.

[Rich Cornock]

I thought the same, a lucky break for the documentary makers. What are the chances of filming a young hopeful in the 1960's and then him becoming a global star

[Jeff Lewis]

I didn't see Imagine but have a mate who is a big Rod Stewart fan and has wanted to see this repeated for years.

Stewart's "Rod the Mod" image gained wider visibility in November 1965, when he was the subject of a 30-minute Rediffusion, London television documentary titled "An Easter with Rod" that portrayed the Mod scene.

[John Gray]

Rod was a huge character on the London Mod scene. Before the documentary (originally broadcast on ITV on 2 November 1965) he'd already been on Ready Steady Go! with his first single Good Morning Little Schoolgirl so he was reasonably well known in certain circles. At the time he was signed to Columbia.

This documentary is an amazing find, the Holy Grail if you are a Rod fan. Until now An Easter With Rod was assumed wiped or lost, the late Long John Baldry suggested Rod may have had the film destroyed. Two years ago Andy Neill who wrote and researched the excellent Faces biography looked in vain for this film but had no luck. I'd always suspected it still existed as a reference is made to it in the 1976 "Rod Stewart Story" paperback stating that "it was an interesting film to watch now." This is a massive find on the same level as the recent TOTP Bowie clip. At the moment it apparently only exists in bits and pieces, I'm starting a campaign to get it reassembled and broadcast in full. The following comes from the BBC web site:

"The most exciting find was a 1965 documentary detailing the weekend in the life of a 20-year-old Rod just embarking on his musical career. Lying in bits and pieces on the BFI shelves, the film, once assembled, proved to be a remarkable visual document of 60s London, showing Rod belting out Muddy Waters numbers in the Marquee Club, chatting up girls in the Manor House pub and, er, simply going to the post office.

"When we travelled to interview Rod in LA, we presented him with the film. Viewing this footage for the very first time, Rod was visibly emotional, watching himself as a young man finding his feet in life and seeing his much missed Mum and Dad interviewed in their sweet shop on the Archway Road in London where he grew up."

[Peter Stirling]

Thanks John for clearing that up- I can understand why it would have been hidden in later years,as it shows him as a 'nice boy from a nice family' EG.Mum doing the washing,going to the post office with his savings etc.... and not the hellraiser, rebel etc that went with his 70s image.
As he lived in Archway I wonder if did any sessions for Joe Meek down the road, which are now hidden away in the infamous 'tea chest tapes' ?

[Deleted]

Jul 11, 2013 22:21:25 GMT Peter Stirling said:

As he lived in Archway I wonder if did any sessions for Joe Meek down the road, which are now hidden away in the infamous 'tea chest tapes' ?

He did do one session with Meek in 1961 or 1962 as temporary lead singer of The Moontrekkers. Let's just say Meek was distinctly unimpressed and their paths didn't cross again.

[Neil Megson]

Jul 11, 2013 8:07:00 GMT Rich Cornock said:

I thought the same, a lucky break for the documentary makers. What are the chances of filming a young hopeful in the 1960's and then him becoming a global star

It must happen the other way round as well - I remember a mid-1990s BBC documentary about a band called "Brubaker", who were tipped to be big but only released one single. And there's the classic 1976 film "So You Wanna Be A Rock'n'Roll Star" about The Kursaal Flyers, now mostly famous for one brilliant single and for being in that film.

Anyone know any good 1960s TV docs about future stars who turned out not to be as big as the programme makers may have hoped ?

[John Green]

I know it was later,but I thought Jobriath deserved a mention: blog.kexp.org/2008/09/15/weird-at-my-school-jobriath/

[Richard Marple]

One singer who was tipped for the top, but didn't make is was Darren Burn, who was the subject of a documentary in 1973.

[Dale Rumbold]

Jul 12, 2013 16:46:51 GMT Richard Marple said:

One singer who was tipped for the top, but didn't make is was Darren Burn, who was the subject of a documentary in 1973.

I bought his excellent single "Teenage Lover" on the EMI label. Unfortunately for Darren, no-one else did. Apparently, reviews at the time said it was pretty rank : I really like it (even if I've never worked out the lyrics to the 3rd verse!).
I believe he died in his 20s or early 30s.

[Deleted]

Jul 12, 2013 15:36:10 GMT Neil Megson said:

Anyone know any good 1960s TV docs about future stars who turned out not to be as big as the programme makers may have hoped ?

Couple I can think of which are in the BBC archives is a "Man Alive" show from 1967 featuring a girl singer called Judith Powell which chronicled her getting signed to a record contract, making a record, doing some promotion then it ended with a launch party for her single... which flopped. It was featured as part of the BBC archive trial in 2007 and was excellent - very seedy and somewhat brutal in places. Regardless to say, she was never heard of again.

Then from 1968 to 1969 there's the year in the life of The Mike Stuart Span on colour film, chronicling their rather strange year trying to break into the big time without any success.

[Richard Marple]

Anyone remember The Lowdown (I think) had a programme about an aspiring singer in 1989-90?

It fearured an OKish song by her that went "Bye Bye Baby Goodbye", but I never heard any other mention her afterwards.

[richardfitzgerald]

So getting back to this thread's start, this is yet another example of a "BFI find" - but one nobody here knew about until Tuesday's broadcast. Is this because the listing was never noticed before or it wasn't actually cataloged properly. If the latter then it might indicate the scope for further finds is wider than we might have thought. Anyone checked the unionsearch database to see what is registered for Rod or asked how the Imagine researchers uncovered the film?

[Deleted]

There was a band from the late 70's/early 80's called Scarlet Party, who had loads of industry backing and some excellent people involved, like publicist Keith Altham. They put out a single called 1001 Damnations and promptly sank without trace. Nationwide did a feature on them.