Adverts And Memories And Uncle Mort
Mar. 16th, 2008 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloI was watching a programme about advertising last night. The BBC is running a slew of them- I think in connection with Mad Men- the must-see American import, the new Sopranos- which I'm not watching because the thought of being locked in with advertising types week after week, year after year, is just too depressing. I choose my TV friends carefully. Time travellers- yes, please; Star ship captains- certainly; Cops- well, why not? Admen- get real! Anyway, this programme (which I switched off halfway through) was talking about how London in the '70s outstripped New York in the creativity of its advertising culture and how a merry band of TV advertising directors went on to make proper movies- Puttnam, Hudson, Parker, Scott. Yeah, quite so; and I've always thought that's the reason why British films of that era- Chariots of Fire, for instance- are so pretty to look at and manipulative and empty.
As an example of how clever and cinematic those 70s TV ads supposedly were, we were shown one featuring a group of characters adrift in a life raft who had nothing left to drink but a bottle of Cockburns port. A vulgar little man pronounced the brand name as if the "ck" were hard instead of silent and oh, how we laughed! I identified the actor playing the aristocratic captain (and why the hell hadn't he gone down with his ship?) as Robin Bailey- and suddenly had a flash of him playing a character called Uncle Mort- muffler, flat-cap, overcoat, droopy moustache- in a sit-com I'd otherwise completely forgotten. I asked Ailz if she remembered and she said no, but- since her computer was on in the back room- she very kindly got out of bed and googled it for me. The show was called I Didn't Know You Cared, the writer was Peter Tinniswood and Stephen Rea and Liz Smith were also in the cast. No, it didn't jog any other memories, but the image of Bailey as Mort was still so fresh and clear it might have featured on the cover of last week's Radio Times. Actually, the show ran from 1975-79. It's a truism that memories fade with time, only they don't- or not necessarily so. Some fade, some disappear altogether, some remain untarnished- and there's really no logic to it. I don't remember much about my first marriage- which may be good, which may be sad- but here's the image of Uncle Mort from the same era- a figure to whom I have no emotional attachment- a character from a sit-com I probably didn't even watch- and it's as crisp as a new fiver. Weird, eh?
By the time I switched the TV off in weary disgust, we'd moved on from Puttnam and co to Saatchi and Saatchi. *Shudder*. I've seen a lot of political advertising in my time but only two campaign images stick in my mind and they're both Saatchi jobs. There's the image of the snaking dole queue with the slogan, "Labour isn't working" and the image of Tony Blair with red-rimmed, demonic eyes. The first was for an election the Conservatives won and the second was for an election the Conservatives lost. The moral, I'd like to think, is that clever advertising is actually the Emperor's new clothes. Incidentally, since 2007 Saatchi and Saatchi has handled the Labour Party portfolio- which, in a nutshell, tells you all you need to know about British politics in the Noughties.
As an example of how clever and cinematic those 70s TV ads supposedly were, we were shown one featuring a group of characters adrift in a life raft who had nothing left to drink but a bottle of Cockburns port. A vulgar little man pronounced the brand name as if the "ck" were hard instead of silent and oh, how we laughed! I identified the actor playing the aristocratic captain (and why the hell hadn't he gone down with his ship?) as Robin Bailey- and suddenly had a flash of him playing a character called Uncle Mort- muffler, flat-cap, overcoat, droopy moustache- in a sit-com I'd otherwise completely forgotten. I asked Ailz if she remembered and she said no, but- since her computer was on in the back room- she very kindly got out of bed and googled it for me. The show was called I Didn't Know You Cared, the writer was Peter Tinniswood and Stephen Rea and Liz Smith were also in the cast. No, it didn't jog any other memories, but the image of Bailey as Mort was still so fresh and clear it might have featured on the cover of last week's Radio Times. Actually, the show ran from 1975-79. It's a truism that memories fade with time, only they don't- or not necessarily so. Some fade, some disappear altogether, some remain untarnished- and there's really no logic to it. I don't remember much about my first marriage- which may be good, which may be sad- but here's the image of Uncle Mort from the same era- a figure to whom I have no emotional attachment- a character from a sit-com I probably didn't even watch- and it's as crisp as a new fiver. Weird, eh?
By the time I switched the TV off in weary disgust, we'd moved on from Puttnam and co to Saatchi and Saatchi. *Shudder*. I've seen a lot of political advertising in my time but only two campaign images stick in my mind and they're both Saatchi jobs. There's the image of the snaking dole queue with the slogan, "Labour isn't working" and the image of Tony Blair with red-rimmed, demonic eyes. The first was for an election the Conservatives won and the second was for an election the Conservatives lost. The moral, I'd like to think, is that clever advertising is actually the Emperor's new clothes. Incidentally, since 2007 Saatchi and Saatchi has handled the Labour Party portfolio- which, in a nutshell, tells you all you need to know about British politics in the Noughties.
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 03:08 pm (UTC)I don't think I caught them in any of their incarnations. That's the odd thing. I remember the character without being able to place him in any sort of context. At first I thought he might have featured in one of Carla Lane's comedy drama series.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 03:22 pm (UTC)I am familiar with Saatchi through a former employer. We handled their health insurance plans, and when Saatchi called with a question, we dropped everything and attended to them - the BIG money guys - at once.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 08:28 pm (UTC)http://www.dbonogallery.com/Don%20Bono/bono%20web/images/-Portraits/Actors/big/Jack_Nicholson_2.jpg
no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 04:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 05:04 am (UTC)I like how you talk about memories. It's true, isn't it? We remember some things and forget some others, rarely is this based on their importance to us. I have forgotten the most vital things and remember there most meaningless!
I do with my memory was better. Alas. Amazing the damage alcoholism can achieve in a couple of years. I can't believe I've been sober two years. Amazing. I read somewhere that it takes your brain some time to rewire. I certainly hope so! I used to remember conversations verbatim. Now I can hardly recall the TV channel I'm watching from one room into the other!
How did I get from ads to booze? Guilty pleasures? I do love ads. I have a love and hate relationship with the art and manipulation of advertising. The journalist in me recoils, but there is a great draw to the dark side. Truth is ugly. Advertising makes it beautiful. It may be a lie, but... isn't it pretty? Again the journalist recoils, rails against my humanity. Ah...
I'm going to have to look into Mad Men.
Also: I dig "noughties". I'm going to use it. I wonder if my American friends will get it or think I'm mispronouncing "nineties". Damn English as a second language!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 10:53 am (UTC)At the time I thought it way over the top; now I'm inclined to think of it as prophecy.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 11:06 am (UTC)"Noughties" is good, isn't it? I didn't realise it was a Britishism. I thought everyone was using it.
Ew, look at all the typos on my reply up there!!! :'(
Date: 2008-03-17 07:23 pm (UTC)I saw an ad special on TV last night about the best commercials in the world and thought of you. My husband was a little confused: "why would you watch a show about commercials?" Then a little later he was like, "wow... we live in the wrong country!" Yeah, we really do.
Ads are so backward here. In university I almost went to the dark side but the advertising professor I had reviewed my commercial and was like, "are you hell bent on living here? The US will never get you." I've never forgotten that.