Go, Johnny, Go!

In what was to be his last movie, legendary 50s DJ Alan Freed(1921-1965), playing..er..legendary 50s DJ Alan Freed, once again presents a host of early rock and roll stars,hung together with a threadbare perfunctory plot(just as in "Rock Rock Rock","Rock around the clock" and "Don't knock the rock"). Shot at the Hal Roach studio in Culver City, Los Angeles (where Laurel and Hardy once romped)in January 1959,"Go Johnny go" is one of the most interesting and enjoyable of the early rock films. Chuck Berry features, not just as a performer but an actor as well, he's seen hanging out with Freed,accompanying him, it appears, wherever he goes! As was usual in Freed's cheap and cheerful films, the rock and roll stars on display are some of the best.The movie has the only big screen performance of Richie Valens,who died very shortly after he filmed this appearance,in the notorious 1959 plane crash,which also claimed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Another tragic rocker here is Eddie Cochran, a car accident victim about a year and a half after he made the film. The story, such as it is, concerns Freed's desire to make a star out of a talented nobody-this means we get a lot of crooning from lanky teen idol Jimmy Clanton, playing the aforesaid nobody(the "Johnny" of the title). I can never make up my mind about Clanton; he was competent actor,though he is certainly surrounded by his betters as performers in the line up here.

Look out for scene with Alan Freed jamming on drums along with Chuck Berry and his group on the marvelous "Little Queenie", Freed looks like he's having a ball. Sadly the good times were not to roll much longer for Freed as personal and career problems mounted. He became embroiled in the payola scandal, and was pursued relentlessly by the tax man.Dropped from his TV and radio shows, moving to the west coast to get work, his drinking was turning him into a serious and sick alcoholic, he died broke,killed by Uraemia in 1965.

Performers(alphabetical)- Chuck Berry-"Go Johnny go","Little Queenie" "Memphis Tennessee" The Cadillacs-"Jaywalker","Please Mr Johnson"(They may have been the poor man's Coasters,but they're great here,acting out their song stories on the stage in a club). Jo-Ann Campbell-"Momma can I go out?" Jimmy Clanton-"Angel face","It takes a long time","My love is true","Ship on a stormy sea" Eddie Cochran-"Teenage Heaven"(watch Eddie dance with his guitar!) The Flamingos-"Jump children"(a performance of breathtaking exuberance) Harvey Fuqua-"Don't be afraid to love me" Sandy Stewart-"Heavenly father","Playmate"(the last one a perky piece performed in a recording studio) Sandy Stewart/Jimmy Clanton-"Once again" Richie Valens-"Ooh my head""(performed for Freed and his pals and a tiny group of teens) Jackie Wilson-"You'd better know it"(Wilson,a reliable showstopper as always-and one of the coolest rockers ever.If you've seen stills or clips of Jackie performing in front of a silly coffee pot with a face backdrop,this is where it's from!)

This is one of several Hollywood movies made in the 1950's attempting to be cool by featuring the new "fad"(to them) called rock 'n' roll. The only time Hollywood ever featured real rock 'n' roll from the early days of the new teen music was when rock artists with hit records were allowed to perform on the big screen. The Hollywood concocted rock 'n' roll was unbearable then and even more so today. The best of the rock 'n' roll films by far was "The Girl Can't Help It," which was clever and humorous, plus featuring many of the big rock artists of the day including an outstanding scene showing Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps. Of all the others this one "Go, Johnny, Go" succeeds the best and as has been noted by others is the only place you can see the multi-talented seventeen year old superstar Richie Valens strutting his stuff on the big screen just before his tragic death.

Since there was no such animal as a music video, most teens heard their favorite rock stars on vinyl or on the radio. From time to time rock phenomena would appear on television on such shows as Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen. Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" seldom let the rock performers do their own thing. Most of the time the artists were asked to lip-synch their recordings. A major exception to this rule was Jerry Lee Lewis who insisted that he be allowed to do his hits live with his band. Therefore, it was truly a treat to get to see rockers on the big screen.

This movie has one of the best lists of great rock performers of the decade. There were many so-called asphalt Elvises around by 1959, especially the notorious Fabian, but lumping Jimmy Clanton with them is a mistake. Like Ricky Nelson, Clanton had a feel for the music he made. His looks left much to be desired but his songs were not half bad, particularly his one big hit "Just a Dream," one of my favorite teen ballads from the period.

Fans of early rock 'n' roll will get a kick out of watching the antics of such wonderful do wop groups as the Flamingos and the The Cadillacs. What an entertaining stage show these groups must have delivered. The only other do wop group to surpass these two were the outrageous Coasters. The legendary Jackie Wilson, who even impressed the King himself, Elvis, when he saw him in Las Vagas, shows why he was one of the seminal entertainers of the decade. Chuck Berry not only performs some of his best songs--possibly Johnny B. Goode is his best--but does a decent job acting as well. Too bad he was set up by the government and had to spend time in prison not long after this movie was produced. Then the viewer gets to see the talented Eddie Cochran, one of the best songwriters/musicians of the era. Harvey Fuqua helped make the Moonglows a hit but the rest of the do wop group added that little extra oomp needed to have it all jell. Still Harvey is fine as a solo act.

Allen Freed, who not long after this picture was produced was crucified by the press and made the fall guy for the payola scandal, adds a touch of authenticity to the movie, though he leaves a little to be desired in the acting department. Many in the US government--somewhat of a holdover from the McCarthy period-viewed rock 'n' roll as subversive, never mind that the Communists felt the same way but for a different ideological reason. By promoting the asphalt Elvises such as Fabian, Frankie Avalon, and Paul Anka the politicians hoped to stifle the real rock stars. The government put Chuck Berry in jail, drafted Elvis, wrecked Allen Freed's career prodding him to succumb to alcoholism, and encouraged Little Richard to pursue a calling to be a preacher. Indirectly the government aided the free press in publicizing Jerry Lee Lewis' third marriage to his thirteen year old cousin. All this and more...but the beat goes on.

The story told in "Go, Johnny, Go" is a juvenile one about Freed, a rock promoter, making Jimmy Clanton a star through a talent search. This time it's innocuous enough and doesn't get in the way of some of the best music this side of heaven. Rock on, cool cats, rock on!

Here's another Alan Freed rock and roll movie that gives us a look and listen to some of rock's greatest stars. Musically. the film is better than average for a rock and roll film, even with Jimmy Clanton's usual nasal and bland "vocalizing". The Cadillacs do two songs; "Jay Walker" (dressed as Policemen) and the wonderful "Please Mr. Johnson". Jackie Wilson is terrific as usual (he was a very close friend of Alan Freed) and proves once again what a tremendous talent he was. The movie has some historical musical moments as well. This film has the only motion picture performance by the late, great Ritchie Valens (he does the Little Richard inspired "Ohh My Head"). Also featured is Eddie Cochran doing "Teenage Heaven". Unfortunately, performances by Eddie are rare because of his death in a traffic accident in England the following year. Check out Harvey (of The Moonglows) doing a rare solo number and a good performance by Jo Ann Campbell. Co-star Sandy Stewart performs two songs including a nice up tempo called "Playmate". "Jo Gohnny Go"'s plot is a little above average and the acting is fine in most cases. Chuck Berry is especially believable as is veteran character actor Herb Vigran. I just wish someone other than Jimmy Clanton were cast in a co starring role. Sure, he's the right age, but his acting is a bit wooden and his songs and voice makes you want to reach for the fast forward button on your remote control. Still, I would recommend this movie. Don't miss this one for a good time, great music and a little rock and roll history.

More Hollywood hooey sweetening the Rock n' Roll pie with honey drippings and vanilla leads to make all this "race record stuff" easy to swallow. Jimmy Clanton was better than Bobby Rydell, Fabian, and Frankie Avalon that didn't have a voice between them. But Clanton was by no means and equal to the talent that he was heading in this movie.

"I don't dig it, but I like it", says the old fogie and that just about sums it up for most of these types of white bread movies that were at least kind enough to put the real rockers and black singers in support. Hollywood never did get it and neither did anyone over 30 in the 50's.

That said, we do have these films to thank for a visual reference and time-capsule that otherwise would not exist. Thanx Alan Freed who is credited as one of the very first disc-jockeys to play real Rock n" Roll on his radio show "Moondawg", no matter their racial pedigree. That's the reason the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland (the home of Freed's station).

There is an attempt to overshadow the real stuff with a silly choir boy story and many songs that were at best mediocre Teeny-Bopper Pop, but the real stars are gleaming and cannot be covered by any of this pandering propaganda. We get in limited supply...Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, The Flamingos, The Cadillacs, Richie Valens, Eddie Cochran, and some others that are at least palatable.

But it shows its prejudice and the mainstreams preoccupation with suppressing this stuff, when the choir director says about RnR..."lets hope it is just a fad and will be gone by the time you grow up"...and then in the next few minutes dismisses him from the choir for singing a Pop tune while accompanied on the church organ. Most of his generation really thought that this was the Devil's music.

For the folks my age who are into the nostalgic era of the first days of rock and roll Go Johnny Go. All the acts involved in this film got to do their stuff with hardly a plot to get in the way.

What plot there is involves Alan Freed doing a very good job of playing himself, disc jockey king of rock and roll. Freed puts himself out on a limb saying he will find a singer he will rename and manage. The name Freed picks out for his ersatz Elvis is Johnny Melody. This plot so reminded me of that classic Brady Bunch episode where Greg Brady is picked to be the new Johnny Bravo. Here though it's not just because Jimmy Clanton is the right fit for his stage costume.

Enter young Mr. Clanton who gets fired in his job as a theater usher for getting into the rock and roll jamboree show a little too much. It was on that night that he hears Alan Freed's boast to find a new singing star to be renamed Johnny Melody. In fact Freed is having some trouble making this idea from press agent Herb Vigran turn into reality.

Chuck Berry besides Clanton and Sandy Stewart is the only performer to have more than just a song in the film. He plays Freed's alter ego and very smoothly I might add. His is the best acted role in the film.

And of course Go Johnny Go has the appearance of a pair of soon to be legends. Ritchie Valens never saw his spot in this film, dying in that famous plane crash four months before this film was released. Eddie Cochran died a year after that in a car crash.

The music is fine although personally my taste goes back a decade or two in popular music. There's one person I know that loves this sort of stuff, he lives for the nostalgia concerts featuring the performances of the artists of this era. So to my former work colleague Myron Eskenazi this film and its review is dedicated to you.