News

“Here” is here.

And Robert Zemeckis’ latest technologically innovative drama stars his “Forrest Gump” team of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, this time embodying a couple living in a house. The angle of the shot never changes – it’s inside the living of a stately home, as time unfolds (and sometimes bends) around Hanks and Wright’s characters. It’s sort of like Disney’s Carousel of Progress attraction – we watch as their relationships change, time changes, devices change – all from a fixed vantage point.

And as you can imagine, there’s a ton of music. There are hardly better indicators of where we are than what music is playing in the radio or out of somebody’s personal music player.

There’s also one great Zemeckis Easter egg for the fans – at one point, somebody leaves the television on. What’s playing? The Beatles’ monumental performance on Ed Sullivan’s show.

Paul Vance, one of the most successful songwriters of the bubblegum pop era in the early 1960s, died May 30 at age 92.

Born Joseph Paul Florio, Vance and cowriter Lee Pockriss were a songwriting machine as staff writers in the famed Brill Building hit factory in New York. Vance was credited with more than 300 songs, including hits Catch A Falling Star, Playground of My Mind, and Tracy.

But it was Brian Hyland’s rendition of Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini that dominated Am radio of the era, making Hyland a teen idol in the process. The song hit No. 1 on the Billboad Hot 100 and was a hit around the world. The song was allegedly inspired by Vance’s daughter, who was too shy to wear a bikini in public.

The success was a double-edged sword for the songwriting team, who became somewhat pigeonholed as novelty songwriters. Their next hit...

The York Theatre Company,dedicated to the development of new musicals and the preservation of musical gems from the past, in association with Quill Entertainment Company, as part of its acclaimed Developmental Reading Series, will present the staged reading of the new musical Conrack, based on the novel The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy, with music by Lee Pockriss, book by Granville Wyche Burgess, lyrics by Anne Croswell, additional music by Doug Katsaros, and additional lyrics by Granville Wyche Burgess.

The Associated Press

Hartford, Conn. -- Lee Pockriss, who wrote pop hits such as "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" for an eager, youthful post-World War II generation, has died in Connecticut after a long illness. He was 87.

His wife, Sonja Pockriss, confirmed his death. She says he died at home in Bridgewater on Monday.

Pockriss, who also worked in musical theater, co-wrote several songs with Paul Vance, including 1957's "Catch a Falling Star."

In a 2006 interview, Vance called "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" - about a shy young woman in a skimpy bathing suit - a "money machine."

Listen to "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini":...