“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-14 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Program scripts from week of March 16, 2014
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
The Smellies
Think about this. Technology has changed so fast over the last half century. Stereo broadcasting on the radio is only a little over 50 years old. About 20 years later came the Walkman, which allowed you to bring your own music with you. Cell phones cut the cord and allows us to communicate from almost anywhere. Our movies and television first went high definition and now it’s 3-D, even at home. We can surf the web not only from a device about the size of Captain Kirk’s communicator but now we can do it through a pair of glasses sitting on our nose while we walk down the street.
So I suppose it was inevitable that someone would try to take the next great step forward. We have lots of ways to experience the media through sight and sound. Time to branch out into a whole new sense! That’s right some is ready to move the media into the world of…smells.
First a brief historical side trip (you know how I love my historical side trips). This is, in fact, NOT the first time someone has tried to bring the olfactory into the media experience. Part of 1960’s movie “The Scent of Mystery” was the rather appallingly named “Smellovision”. Two weeks later a competing movie was released called “The Great Wall” which used a competing system called “Aromarama”. I swear, I’m not making this up. The systems sprayed scents into the air of the theater at appropriate moments in the story to increase the sense of realism. Referred to as the “smellies” (get it, the movies, the smellies?) both systems died off quickly.
But great ideas never die. So prepare for “Wake Up and Smell the Bacon”. That’s the name of the cellphone attachment that has been developed for the folks at Oscar Mayer. Through April 4 they are giving folks the chance to register to win one of 4,700 of the IOS devices. You plug them into your phone, it interacts with an app that works as an alarm clock that will awake or alert you with, the smell of bacon. I have friends who would gladly kill the person of your choice to have one of these. You can register at wakeupandsmellthebacon.com. The app (which includes the sound of bacon frying and what are being called “witty bacon sayings” will be available to everyone.
So what’s next? Well we’re running out of senses to tingle. We’re down to taste and touch. Can hardly wait for the “tasties” and the “feelies”.
A Single Picture
The old saying goes “A picture is worth a thousand words”. As someone who has made his living with words you might think that I would take exception to the idea. You’d be wrong. I got started in photography back in the day when I was working my way through college working at Chautauqua. Very early on I fell in love with the power of a single image to convey a profound message or a powerful emotion.
One of the images that has always stuck with me is the one generally known as the “Tianamen Tank Man”. In case that doesn’t immediately bring the image to mind for you it is the picture of a single man with what appears to be plastic shopping bags in each hand standing in front of a line of tanks, refusing to allow them to pass. It is a stunning image of determination and individual resolve for me. The iconic version of this image (there were about 5 photographers who got various views of the scene) is Associated Press photographer Jeff Widener. Great photos of this kind come from the photographer’s ability to focus in quickly on the center of the action plus a good dose of luck.
The list of these kinds of photographs goes on and on. Whether they are from the day to day events of life or the aftermath of massive events of history they speak to us, even across the years.
What brings this to mind this week was the death of a man in another iconic photograph. In this case it is the classic image of a sailor kissing a nurse on Broadway following the announcement that the Japanese had surrendered ending World War II. Glenn McDuffie was identified as the sailor in the photo by a forensic expert about six years ago. The photo was taken by Life photographer Alfred Eisenstadt.
For years the identity of the people in the two photos have been open to discussion (McDuffie’s identification remains controversial). Both were taken by photographers with the eye for a shot who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
We live in an age where more emphasis is given to video than still photography. For me the motion aspect of video allows more variables to intrude, distracting from the central image.
A picture captures a single instant. But in that instant can be found an entire universe of meaning. And there aren’t enough words to match it.
I learned a lot of things at college. Most of them have even been useful. There may be nothing more important that I learned there than an appreciation for the people who work behind the scenes. As a Theater major with a focus on acting I was always one of the people out front in the spotlight. One of the things that was emphasized was the importance of understanding the work done by the people behind the scenes. While their work is almost never appreciated by audience (in fact their goal is to never even be noticed by the audience) what they do is vital to what we enjoy. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about theater, television, radio, the movies, even print. Those of us “out front” are supported by many folks in the back.
Given my background it’s probably not surprising that I have a particular soft spot for voice over announcers. I’ve done a little of that work myself and I know the difference that a really good announcer can make or break what’s being presented. If you’ve sat in our local movie theaters and listened to the commercial announcer refer to businesses in “Elly-Cott” you know what I mean.
The good news is that sitting in that same seat you’ve probably heard one of the great voice over announcers of all time. His name was Hal Douglas. I guarantee that unless you are a big time movie geek that name means nothing to you. But this voice will – (clip of Douglas)
If there is an iconic “voice of the movies” it has been Hal Douglas for a long time now. He was also the voice of the old WB network plus working for A&E and the History Channel.
Harold “Hal” Douglas was born in Connecticut, one of two boys. He served in World War II, then went to college to study drama before beginning a career in radio. By the 1970s he had moved into voice over work. His voice brought a special thrill even to the most mundane movie trailer. And that could make all the difference sometimes.
Hal Douglas was one of those people who work behind the scenes, nameless, faceless but in his case not voice less.
The movie experience became a little less wonderful when he died last week. He was one of the people who worked behind the scenes. And he made what we watched just a little more enjoyable.
Hal Douglas was 89 years old.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Stories Are My Life 
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