1 9 6 9 - The Graduate - Vasconcelandia

Zbigniew Cybulski (1927-1967) in 1958's 'Ashes and Diamonds' (Popiół i diament).

5 January 1969 - Gal Costa & Tom Zé accompanied by Os Brazões at Teatro de Arena while their friends Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil were arrested illegally by the Military Dictatorship in the dead of the night of 28 December 1968 and kept incommunicado in a Rio de Janeiro army-barracks until such time as they were given the 'choice' of 'self-exile' in Europe or continued imprisonment. They chose exile and left Brazil for London, England.

12 January 1969 - while some of Brazilian singer-song-writers were persecuted by the bloody military establishment others were welcome in their blandness. 'Jovens p'ra frente' (Advanced youth) with Rosemary - being here outrageously compared with Julie Andrews by daily 'Correio da Manhã' - Jair Rodrigues, Oscarito, marvelous Heloisa Helena, Clara Nunes, Jose Ricardo etc. 

12 January 1969 - Carlos Vergueiro writes about the latest single releases: Italian sensation Mina sings 2 Brazilian songs in Italian: 'Zum zum zum' b/w 'Sacumdi sacumdá' - Carlos Imperial pilantragem ditty originally called 'Nem vem que não tem'; the 'other' Italian diva Milva attempts against her own life according to an ANSA dispatch from Rome. 

16 March 1969 - baladeer Wanderley Cardoso in his second featured film with 'Pobre principe encantado' (Poor charming prince) directed by Daniel Filho. This time instead of having the company of Renato Aragão & Dede Santana as in 1967's 'Na onda o ié ié ié' he's got old timer Chacrinha. I wonder whether it was any better!

16 March 1969 - balladeer Agnaldo Rayol hosted a very popular Friday night TV show called 'Corte-Royal Show' that he shared with comedian Renato Corte-Real. Agnaldo was a middle-of-the-rock powerful tenor who sometimes recorded a ballad that could eventually 'pass' as a rock-ballad. As of 1967 Agnaldo's TV show on TV Record was actually the most popular among them all beating Roberto Carlos's 'Jovem Guarda' and Elis Regina's 'O fino da bossa'. I have never watched 'Perigo à vista' (Danger on sight) so I could not give my opinion whether it's any good.

16 March 1969 - If Agnaldo Rayol has passed the litmus test and entered rock'n'roll glory, deceased torch-songstress Dolores Duran (she died in her sleep on 24 October 1959) could not be denied such a glittering prize. After all, Miss Duran recorded a few rock numbers in her days such as 'Love me forever'.  The movie 'A noite do meu bem' took its title from Dolores Duran's best known song, actually the last she recorded before she died. Is this a rock-movie? Probably not, but Agnaldo's is not either... 

16 March 1969 - stand-up comedian Jose Vasconcelos built up a large following doing impersonations and all kinds of stuff as a one-man-show in the early 1960s. Vasconcelos made a lot of money packing up large theatres like Cine-Theatro Paramount in Sao Paulo every night for years. He sold a lot of records released by Odeon-EMI. His album 'Eu sou o espetáculo' (I am the spectacle) sold hundreds of thousands of copies and was followed by others in the same vein. By 1967 Vasconcelos was persuaded by some land-developer that he could do as Walt Disney and build himself something like Disneyland in a large lot (1 million square metres) next to Rodovia Dutra km 21 near Guarulhos-SP. Nobody knows whatever happened to Vasconcelandia. It never lifted off the ground and those who bought shares in the company never saw the colour of their money again. Jose Vasconcelos never recouped his good-standing with the public anymore. In the 1990s he would appear as a supporting comedian in low-profile TV shows like Chico Anisio's 'Escolinha do Professor Raimundo' (Mr. Raimundo's school).  

20 March 1969 - Thursday - daily O Estado de S.Paulo's columnist Carlos M.Motta extols Mike Nichols 'The Graduate' as a major experience. Released in the USA during the 1967 Christmas holidays it took 15 months to reach theses shores with the funny title of 'A primeira noite de um homem' (A man's first night)...

13 July 1969 -  The Beatles' animated movie 'Yellow submarine' (Submarino amarelo) opens at Cine Olido and Cine Iguatemi.

Andre

6 August 1969 - Andrezej Wajda's 1958 'Ashes and diamonds' (Cinzas & diamantes) is back at Cine Bretagne former Cine Normandie.

14 September 1969 - Stanley Donen's 'Charade', with suave Cary Grant and sophisticated Audrey Hepburn, first shown at Cines Ipiranga & Astor in October 1964 is also back. Music by wonderful Henry Mancini.

2nd November 1969 - Two Brazilian productions: 'Cangaceiro sem Deus' with Maurício do Valle, José Mojica Marins, Sergio Hingst, Annik Malvil, Isabel Cristina aka Guy Loupe and Zózimo Bulbul at Cine Marabá; at Cine Paulistano, 'Adultério à brasileira' with Jacqueline Myrna, Sergio Hingst, Mario Benvenuti, Newton Prado and Luigi Picchi.

2nd November 1969 - Italian movies were still very popular in 1969. So called 'spaghetti-Western' 'A pistola é minha bíblia' with Giuliano Gemma at Cine Augustus (former Cine Atlas) and 'Dio, come ti amo' with Gigliola Cinquetti & Mark Damon in its 28th week at Cine America (former Cine Europa) at Praça da República  

1 9 6 8 - Belle de Jour - 2001 - Bonnie & Clyde - 'Non stuzzicate la zanzara' / 'Rita nell' West'.

Giulietta Masina & Rita Pavone in 'Não brinque com o mosquito'.

7 January 1968 - Look at some of the movies playing on the first week in 1968: 'How to succeed in business without really trying' (Como vencer na vida sem fazer esforço), 'The happening' (Acontece cada coisa!') with Anthony Quinn; 'The night of the generals' (A noite dos generais) with Peter O'Toole & Omar Shariff; the latest Giuliano Gemma spaghetti-western and even a 1966 Cantinflas flick called 'Su excelencia'.

8 January 1968 - the sequel to 'Rita o mosquito' , 'Non stuzzicate la zanzara' (Não brinque com o mosquito) is released in Sao Paulo barely 6 months after the original drew a great public to it. But this time there was no proper advertising and being released during summer vacations didn't bode well for it. It looked like the film distributor didn't even tell RCA Victor they were releasing it so RCA didn't bother to release its sound-track album either. A total PR disaster compounded with the Italian pop-music vanishing act. 

The musical numbers staged by Lina Wertmüller were first-rate. Even the newspaper ad claimed: 'A resposta italiana aos shows de Hollywood' (Italians answer to Hollywood's musicals). Conservative newspaper Estadao was lenient with both Pavone's movies but even so 'Não brinque com o mosquito' (Do not tease the mosquito) had the shortest run possible soon disappearing at suburbs's theatres differently from Gigliola Cinquetti's 'Dio come ti amo' that played at suburbs's packed houses for 5 straight years... a real breakthrough.

17 March 1968 - Leila Diniz & Paulo Jose try to repeat their hit 'Todas as mulheres do mundo' in Domingos Oliveira's 'Edu, coração de ouro'.

22 March 1968 - pop-rock sensation Wanderlea finally appears on the silver screen directed by Anselmo Duarte in 'Juventude e ternura'. 

17 March 1968 - three Brazilian productions: Hugo Walter Khouri's 'Noite vazia' (1964) is back at Cine Atlas; 'Ferias no sul' with David Cardoso & Elizabeth Hartann at Cine Bruni and 'Bebel, a garota propaganda' at Cine Paisandu & Belas Artes. 

5 April 1968 - Brazilian rock-sensation Roberto Carlos appears as himself at Roberto Farias' 'Roberto Carlos em ritmo de aventura' which clearly imitated The Beatles 'Help'.  

12 May 1968 - Roberto Carlos still drawing crowds at his 6th week; Catherine Deveuve plays her most successfull role in 'Belle de Jour' at Cine Astor at its 6th week; The Beatles are back with 'Help' in a double-feature at Cine Boulevard. 

9 June 1968 - 'Valley of the dolls' (O vale das bonecas) based on the 1966 best-seller novel by Jacqueline Susann. 'Dolls' was a slang term for downers (bolinhas), originally short of dolophine, which quickly came to refer to any bartiturates such as pentobarbital, used as sleep aids. Sharon Tate would be murdered on 9 August 1969 aged 26;  French-Italian-German singer Caterina Valente is back in Sao Paulo for 2 appearances at Theatro Paramount on 20 and 21st June.

... and when everyone thought there was enough of Rita Pavone at the movies... Fama Filmes announces 'Rita no West'... soon at Cine Olido...

15 July 1968 - but actually 'Rita no West' was shown at Cine Maraba instead... also at Cine Regencia on Rua Augusta and Cine Goiás in Pinheiros... Rita Pavone was competing with 'Bonnie & Clyde' and '2001 a space odyssey'... and dozens of Italian so-called spaghetti-westerns...

14 July 1968 - Stanley Kubrik's fascinating '2001' on its 2nd week exclusively at Cine Majestic on Rua Augusta; Warren Beatty's 'Bonnie & Clyde' at Cine Astor and Cine Scala on Rua Aurora.

11 August 1968 - TV soap-opera heart-throb Francisco Cuoco stars in 'Anuska' (Manequim e mulher). Note that Mr Cuoco would be present at Cine Olidoi every night signing autographs for the fans. 

11 August 1968 - daily O Estado de Sao Paulo's Suplemento Feminino announces French rock-singer Sylvie Vartan would be at FENIT (a fashion industry yearly fair held at Park Ibirapuera) on 20 August 1968 to show her clothes collection from her own Parisian boutique.

15 September 1968 - 'The miracle worker' or 'O milagre de Annie Sullivan' had been playing at Teatro Taib since July 1967. Note journalist Ezequiel Neves in the cast plus Elizabeth Hartmann and Ruth de Souza.

15 September 1968 - Argentine director Carlos Hugo Christensen 1965 ode to Rio de Janeiro: 'Crônica da cidade amada' is back at Cine Republica.  

15 September 1968 - less than 3 months before the Military Dictatoship imposed heavy censorship to all kinds of theatre play and music (AI-5 imposed on 13 December 1968) the theatre scene in Sao Paulo was really impressive.

6 October 1968 - singer Maria Bethania stars in 'Comigo me desavim' a singing recital directed by Fauzi Arpa at Teatro Ruth Escobar (Galpão) for 20 days; TV comedian Chico Anisio does his stand-up comedy act called 'Chico Anisio só' at Teatro Brasileiro de Comedia.

6 October 1968 - Sidney Portier in 'To Sir with love' (Ao mestre com carinho) was in its 2nd week at Cine Windsor and many others; Italian tenor Gianni Morandi with tear-jerker 'Não mereço você' (I'm not worthy of you) or 'Non son degno di te' in the Italian original. 

1 9 6 7 - Mary McCarthy's 'The Group'

Chico Buarque in 1965.

10 January 1967 - singer-song-writer Chico Buarque de Hollanda who came into prominence after winning TV Record's 1966 song festival with 'A banda' opens a fashion show at Clipper at Largo Santa Cecília accompanied by Quinteto de Luiz Loy. 

8 January 1967 - ever since TV's 'Jovem Guarda' started on 22 August 1965 on TV Record the term 'ié-ié-ié' became a national craze... 'The TAMI Show' became 'No reino do ié-ié-ié' and Wanderley Cardoso's first flick 'Na onda do ié-ié-ié'. 

8 January 1967 - Sunday newspaper Estadão's reviews of 'The TAMI Show' plus 'Na onda do ié-ié-ié'.

20 April 1967 - Sidney Lumet's direction of Mary McCarthy's 'The Group' released in the US in March 1966 is finally shown here... it is Candice Bergen's first major role. Estadão's columnist introduces Miss Bergen as Edgar Bergen's daughter.  

The Baroness (Lidia Prochnick) & Lakey (Candice Bergen).

Candice Bergen  as Elinor Eastlake (Lakey) & Lidia Prochnick as the Franco-German Baroness.

Lakey (Bergen) and Harald Petersen (Larry Hagman) on the way to the cemetery.

Candice Bergen & Harry Hagman having fun during the shooting of  'the Group's last scenes. 

7 May 1967 - a look at Estadão movie-ads shows Chaplin's 'A condessa de Hong Kong' with Sophia Loren & Marlon Brando in its 4th week at Cine Premier; John Houston's 'The Bible' about to open at Cine Rio Branco; Brazilian classic novel 'Vidas secas' to open at Cine Picolino on Rua Augusta; 'The Oscars' (Confidências de Hollywood) at Cine Ipiranga and Circuito Serrador: 'Georgy Girl' (Georgy, a feiticeira) at Cine Pigalle etc.