Frank Zappa plays a bicycle on the Steve Allen show

Watch the entire 3 part series over at A Facemelting Blog of Staggering Riffage. (Via Mt. Holly Mayor's Office)

[#1 posted by GammaBlog, June 8, 2009 12:40 PM]

I was excited when I was able to stay up late to see Steve Allen as a kid, he was quick, funny, and intelligent. And he innovated much of what we see on television today. This bit with Zappa is a great find. Zappa's almost unrecognizable without the trademark beard, but the voice, mannerisms and attitude are the ones we loved.

[#2 posted by Phikus, June 8, 2009 1:01 PM]

You can see how FZ, already a composer but of no renown, was destined for greatness here. The man spent his entire life pushing boundaries and challenging traditional notions. The power of his intellect shill shines in his legacy, casting a towering shadow for all to come after. He is greatly missed.

[#3 posted by trr, June 8, 2009 1:11 PM]

Oh. That was a tease! All that talking, which was interesting, but then we barely get to hear the bicycle sounds and the video cuts off....

[#4 posted by Ned613, June 8, 2009 1:12 PM]

I am intrigued by the movie he scored 'The World's Greatest Sinner' with Tim Carey. Is this film still available?

[#5 posted by Squood, June 8, 2009 1:37 PM]

@3--I was thinking the same thing until I noticed the link under the video.

[#6 posted by ill lich, June 8, 2009 1:41 PM]

Frank was trying to be a serious classical composer at the time (in between lousy day jobs like door-to-door salesman), but couldn't get on Steve Allen unless he did something "weird", thus beginning his life-long association with novelty songs and humor.

[#7 posted by Tdawwg, June 8, 2009 1:49 PM]

Just a few short steps from this to the mad sublimity that is Thing-Fish.

[#8 posted by LightningRose, June 8, 2009 2:22 PM]

Ned613 @#4,

"The World's Greatest Sinner" shows up on the cable channel, TCM, every once in a great while.

And a certain well known search engine tells me it's available as a torrent download.

[#9 posted by Jack_Spellman, June 8, 2009 2:31 PM]

Zappa's great, but, man, what an insufferable, arrogant, deeply unfunny jerk Steve Allen was.

[#10 posted by Johnny Cat, June 8, 2009 2:43 PM]

Agreed Jack Spellman, I kept wishing he'd go hang up his stupid coat and just let Frank alone. "A partridge in a pear tree." Kneeslappin jolility.

[#11 posted by Anonymous, June 8, 2009 2:57 PM]

I just ran across this guide on attaining ideal spoke tension in a bicycle wheel using musical pitch... the bike has more music in it than you think.

http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/tension.htm

[#12 posted by Anonymous, June 8, 2009 3:05 PM]

What a bit of history. Retrospect is everything. You see Steve Allen as insufferable, but that's hindsight. Try to find a tape of the show with Steppenwolf. It was very challenging, and if you wish avant garde for the time.

Zappa was, for the time, weird. Imagine bringing that kind of improvisation and dissonance to a mainstream American audience. All of Allen's jokes are about the discomfort that Zappa presents in that situation.

We live with that dissonance every day now.

It was a changing of the guard.

[#13 posted by ultracore, June 8, 2009 4:44 PM]

My friends built a drum-set into a bike for a slightly different approach:
http://www.silversprocket.net/blog/?p=1190

I never thought to use a bow like that though, am looking forward to it!

[#14 posted by Anonymous, June 8, 2009 5:07 PM]

An odd resemblance to Nester Campbell, ie. Richard, from LOST.

Only with a bigger nose.

[#15 posted by Anonymous, June 8, 2009 5:25 PM]

It was wonderful to see how Zappa responded to Steve Allen's complete unfunniness.

[#16 posted by TroofSeeker, June 8, 2009 5:56 PM]

Steve Allen was very bright, talented, witty, and intelligent. Like GammaBlog in post #1, I was excited to get to stay up and watch his show.
But as time went by I came to sense his conservative intolerance thru the jokes. It was an early lesson for me in the dark humor that only thinly veils a secret hatred.

[#17 posted by forgeweld, June 8, 2009 6:03 PM]

Steve Allen was a total sport about the whole thing, making some light jokes to keep the thing moving and the audience engaged. It would have been easy for him to just take the piss on such an oddball thing and make Frank look silly, if he had been so inclined. He obviously thought it interesting and worthwhile and wanted to bring his audience along on something that they would probably find way too weird and dismiss out of hand in another context. It's show biz, people. Frank was a great artist. So was Steve Allen, a terrific innovator. You try ad-libbing an unscripted Zappa experiment. The whole thing was charming.

[#18 posted by D3, June 8, 2009 6:38 PM]

This is great! I've seen a much shorter piece of this before, didn't think i'd ever see the whole thing. Very charming seeing young Frank's spontaneous laughter about the "worst movie ever made".

And what's with the hatin' on Steve Allen? One of the genuinely smartest and wittiest guys on TV - nothing close to him until Conan. He gives Frank a lot of airtime.

[#19 posted by teufelsdroch, June 8, 2009 6:42 PM]

@9

first, he let Zappa say what he was really doing. Show me the host that does this today.

second:

"We had a very unusual reed section."
"They couldn't read?"

That's dead sharp, the only modern comedian who might swing it is Colbert (who is also often seen as a jerk).

[#20 posted by wizardofplum, June 8, 2009 6:53 PM]

#16 TROOFSEEKER:Glad to see that although you have
been "Zogged",your enate influence has neutered
your dark side and you appreciate Steve's talent
Frank was great,very droll,zapped Steve cleverly.
Puzzled by your closing sentence.I always felt that some of his ripostes were creative sarcasm,
tempered with wit.He had no peer at ad libs.Veiled
secret hatred? Elucidate!

[#21 posted by TroofSeeker, June 8, 2009 7:31 PM]

As I stated, I believe Steve Allen was very talented, very sharp and funny. But in some of his skits (I never saw this one) I could sense his distain of dirty, filthy hippies, and liberals. Maybe it's just me. Maybe he was pandering to the Archie Bunkers of the world.
As to the Zappa: a musical 'genius'? Okay, sure. Just... not to my taste. I respect him immensely tho.

[#22 posted by andremount, June 8, 2009 10:07 PM]

This reminds me a lot of the clip of John Cage on the game show "I've Got a Secret":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSulycqZH-U

Actually, watching the Cage again, I can't help but think that Zappa was intentionally modeling his appearance on the Steve Allen show on Cage's performance.

As for Steve Allen... disrespectful as he may seem, Zappa himself was a big fan. At the end of Part 4 he mentions his new record soon to be released: "How's Your Bird?" named after one of Allen's own catch-phrases.

[#23 posted by TroofSeeker, June 8, 2009 11:29 PM]

It's well known that Steve Allen hated rock and roll- "jungle boogy". He made Elvis sing 'Hound dog' to a hound dog. Elvis referred to it as the worst performance of his career. I thought I sensed his disdain of the "hip" new boomer generation. A couple sentences disappeared from that previous post somehow.
I respect Mr. Allen, acknowledge his great talents and contributions to early television, and yes, I respect his opinion too.

[#24 posted by Anonymous, June 9, 2009 8:56 AM]

Steve Allen was a good soul. Sometimes funny, sometimes he missed the boat, but at least he brought some intelligence to the tube. Great seeing a young Zappa. He IS a genius.

[#25 posted by TroofSeeker, June 9, 2009 9:27 AM]

What is great art or music, what is high quality entertainment or talent on a genius level, pales in light of this simple fact:

Both these men brought countless hours of pleasure to millions of people. My hat is off to both of these great entertainers.
d....8^)

[#26 posted by Anonymous, June 9, 2009 12:05 PM]

This clip has been around the internets for a while. I'm always happy to see Zappa get a nod though, especially on BB!

[#27 posted by Anonymous, June 9, 2009 1:23 PM]

I've seen this before, but it was fun to watch it again. Good find.

For another great Steve Allen collaboration, check out the Jack Kerouac box set. It has Jack reading poems and stories while Steve plays jazz piano. He's really pretty good.