Thanks to the OFTD Forum’s Mikey, we have a Pan’s People archive discovery: six performances from The Sadi Show, a 22nd November 1972 Belgian TV music/variety show. You can watch the whole show here (twice, for some reason): but I thought I’d embed the Pan’s people performances here.
The Sadi Show stars Fats Sadi, a Belgian jazz vibraphonist: I’d never heard of him before now, but he’s got a reasonable high profile in the jazz world, having played with (for instance) Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli in Paris in the fifties.
Our heroines performances are all in a supporting role, either with Fats himself, or his special guest, Sacha Distel. Flick Colby appears as a dancer, although she had given up perforoming on their regular TOTP gig by this time. Perhaps this show was recorded earlier in the year. She also gets a choreography credit for the whole show.
Thou Swell (with Fats)
Their first number, with Fats singing show-tune standard Thou Swell by Rodgers and Hart.
A short but sweet performance, in sweet satin hotpants outfits.
Mon Cocktail D’amour & Singin’ In The Rain (with Fats & Sasha)
Thanks to AC/PD over on the forum for identifying the French song.
I must say neither the outfits here (big check pattern maxi-dresses) or the choreography (very much in a minor, supportive role) does very much for me here.
Il y a Bien Trop De Filles (with Sasha)
Now this is more like it.
Pan’s People get to play a much more active role here, and those flimsy nightie outfits are rather good: although the hair ribbons (particularly here, but elsewhere in the show too) seem a little excessive.
Cherokee (with Fats and Chums)
Fat’s and his close-harmony-singing mates do a high-energy version of Ray Noble’s jazz standard Cherokee.
It’s nice to see these little crochet outfits again, particularly since we didn’t get to see much on them on their previous outing, on TOTP in March 1971, audience dancing to T-Rex’s Hot Love.
Jumpin’ Jive (with Fats)
There’s always an interesting edge when a non-native speaker sing an English lyric: that’s part of the general charm of europop. Doubly so here, where Fats sings a heavily scat-filled Cab Calloway number. He sensibly avoids a lot of the thirties hipster jive slang of the original, but even so, the effect is quite surreal.
(I mean no disrespect to Fats or euro-poppers here: even if I had the courage or ability to sing in French, Flemish or (say) Swedish, I doubt I could do such a slick job.)
Speaking of courage, it takes a lot to choreograph a performance to this number, after the Nicholas Brothers’ frankly astonishing virtuoso acrobatic routine to Cab Calloway’s version, in the 1943 movie Stormy Weather.
Call Me Irresponsible (with Fats)
Finally (at Mikey’s request) the Pan’s girls get to rest their weary feet as Fats sings another jazz standard, Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn’s Call Me Irresponsible.
Thanks again to Mikey for finding this gem, and to whoever in Belgium is responsible for its preservation.
