BIOGRAPHY: SAM PHILLIPS: THE MAN WHO INVENTED ROCK 'N' ROLL (TV)
Summary
One in this series of documentaries which examines the professional and personal lives of a wide range of individuals, both those in the public eye and those of historic note. This documentary, narrated by Billy Bob Thornton, utilizes biographical narration; home movies; broadcast excerpts; archival footage; photographs; and interviews with family, friends, collaborators, and artists in an examination of the life, career, and cultural influence of Sam Phillips, head of the Sun independent record label. The program begins with a study of Phillips' early years, covering his love of radio, his passion for the gospel music he heard in the churches of his neighborhood, his first trip to Memphis, Tennessee, and his job as announcer/engineer/supervisor for a nightly big-band broadcast at WREC in that city. Thornton then follows Phillips' infatuation with the sound of the blues and his decision in 1950 to open the Memphis Recording Studio, at which, according to his business card, he was dedicated to recording "anything -- anywhere -- anytime." Thornton moves on to Phillips' early recording sessions with musicians including B. B. King, Ike Turner, Howlin' Wolf, and many other African-American artists. Phillips' wife Becky and sons Knox and Jerry talk about the persecution he faced for recording and working with the African-American community, which, when added to the stress of holding down two jobs, led to a nervous breakdown and Phillips' eventual hospitalization. Sun Records producers Jack Clement and Jim Dickinson, as well as secretaries Sally Wilburn and Marion Kleisker (footage of Kleisker is taken from a 1977 interview), recall the early 1950s at the studio, including the first big hit for Phillips' label, "Bear Cat" by Rufus Thomas; the recording of "Walkin' in the Rain" by Johnny Bragg and the Prisonaires, a group of convicts all serving long sentences; and Phillips' spiritual kinship with a local disc jockey, Dewey Phillips (no relation), who broke down color barriers by playing "good music for good people." The film then examines Elvis Presley's recording career at Sun Records and its impact on Phillips' dream to, as Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records puts it, "give white people the gift of black music"; Phillips' decision to sell Presley's contract in 1955 for $35,000; his opening of WHER, the nation's first "all-girl" radio station; and his work with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Finally, the program chronicles Phillips' life after Sun's last sensation, "Lonely Weekend" by Charlie Rich, detailing his friendship with professional wrestler Sputnik Monroe, his attempt to organize independent record labels through an industry convention, the opening of his new studio in 1960, his withdrawal from recording in the early sixties, and his sale of Sun's archives for one million dollars in 1969. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: A&E
- DATE: May 31, 2000 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:30:01
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:59873
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Biography; Recording - Industry and trade; Music, popular (songs, etc.); Rock music
- SERIES RUN: A&E - TV series, 1987-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Carolanne Dolan … Executive Producer
- Peter Jones … Executive Producer
- Jerry Schilling … Executive Producer
- Andrew Tilles … Supervising Producer
- Morgan Neville … Producer, Director
- Peter Guralnick … Producer, Writer
- Helen Hood Scheer … Associate Producer
- Billy Bob Thornton … Narrator
- Johnny Bragg
- Johnny Cash
- Jack Clement
- Jim Dickinson
- B. B. King
- Marion Kleisker
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- Sputnik Monroe
- Roy Orbison
- Carl Perkins
- Becky Phillips
- Dewey Phillips
- Jerry Phillips
- Knox Phillips
- Sam Phillips
- Elvis Presley
- Charlie Rich
- Rufus Thomas
- Ike Turner
- Jerry Wexler
- Sally Wilburn
- Howlin' Wolf