The following Spotify playlist consists of music relating to Boty in different ways – as titles or subjects of her work, as soundtracks to her onscreen appearances on TV and film, to her appearances on Ready Steady Go! and to the collaged wall she created in her flat in west London.
Please see below for further information behind the choosing of the tracks.
Thoughts, suggestions and feedback on the selection would be appreciated as ever via the Contact page here: [link]
Titles/subjects of works
Darn That Dream: Benny Goodman, Mildred Bailey. Title of collage, c. 1960/61
Goodbye Cruel World: James Darren. Title of collage, c. 1960/61. The track was also used as part of the soundtrack to Pop Goes the Easel [please see below]
I Surrender Dear: Gus Arnheim and His Cocoanut Grove Orchestra with Bing Crosby. Title of collage, c. 1960/61
The Firebird – Suite (1919): Finale: Igor Stravinsky. Subject of costume design, c. 1961
Rhapsody in Blue: George Gershwin. Gershwin is the title of a 1961 painting
My Coloring Book: Barbra Streisand. The 1963 painting My Colouring Book includes fragments of the song’s lyrics on the painting
Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight” in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2: I. Adagio sostenuto: Ludwig van Beethoven. In “Pop Goes the Easel” Boty points out Beethoven’s pen to Peter Blake in her collage “Picture Show”.
A bout de souffle: Martial Solal. From the 1960 film by Jean-Luc Godard starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg. The former is the subject of the 1962 painting With Love to Jean-Paul Belmondo and also on the collaged wall [please see below]
Eclisse Twist – Strumentale: Giovanni Frusco. From the 1962 Michelangelo Antonioni film l’Eclisse starring Alain Delon and Monica Vitti. The latter is the subject of the 1963 painting Monica Vitti with Heart and both appear on the collaged wall [please see below]
I’m Through With Love: Marilyn Monroe. From the 1959 Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot. The 1963 painting The Only Blonde in the World features Monroe in her role as Sugar Kane.
I Want To Hold Your Hand: The Beatles. The 1964 painting It’s a Man’s World I includes Ringo Starr and John Lennon. Boty also had The Beatles as guests on The Public Ear, a fortnightly radio programme she hosted from 1963–64.
La Dolce Vita – Finale: Dino Verde, Nino Rota. From the 1960 film by Federico Fellini starring Marcello Mastroianni. The 1964 painting It’s a Man’s World I includes Fellini and Mastroianni, who appear in the same image on the collaged wall [please see below]
(Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame: Elvis Presley. The 1964 painting It’s a Man’s World I includes Elvis Presley, who is also on the collaged wall [please see below]
Further information on Boty’s works is available here: [link]
Onscreen
Pop Goes the Easel, 1962
Unless otherwise stated the following all appeared as part of the soundtrack to Ken Russell’s 1962 documentary Pop Goes the Easel, commissioned by BBC Television for its Monitor series, which featured Boty and her fellow Pop artists Peter Blake, Peter Phillips and Derek Boshier:
Serenade For Strings: Op.11: Dag Wirén. From the main soundtrack to the Monitor series
A Foggy Day: Fred Astaire
What’d I Say Pt. 1 & 2: Ray Charles. During Boty’s segment filmed in her flat in Addison Road, Derek Boshier picks up an LP by Ray Charles and asks if it’s a new release whereupon Boty informs him it’s actually “quite an old one”. She also goes on to explain later how much she enjoyed 1930s musicals
Final: La valse grise (From Un carnet de bal)
They All Laughed: Fred Astaire
On the Good Ship Lollipop: Shirley Temple
Duke of Earl: Gene Chandler
Twist Around the Clock: Clay Cole
Concerto for 4 Keyboards in A Minor, BWV 1065 (arr. of Vivaldi’s Concerto for 4 Violins in B Minor, Op.3, No.10, RV 580): III. Allegro: Johann Sebastian Bach
Paris B.B. (From Une Parisienne): Pete Rugolo and His Orchestra
Ready Steady Go! 1963
Boty appeared as a dancer on the programme with Derek Boshier in a number of episodes, and was in a competition in the first episode to dance The Twist.
Wipe Out: The Surfaris. This was the programme’s original theme tune
Twist and Shout: Brian Poole and The Tremeloes appeared as one of the acts in the first episode with this track]
5-4-3-2-1: Manfred Mann. This became the theme tune from January 1964
Béla Bartók, 1964
Boty appeared in Ken Russell’s BBC Monitor programme on the composer
Romanian Folk Dances, Sz 56: III. Pre-loc – Andante: Béla Bartok
Alfie, 1966
Boty made a brief, uncredited, appearance in Lewis Gilbert’s film as the manager of a dry-cleaners and one of Michael Caine’s girlfriends
Alfie’s Theme from “Alfie” Score: Sonny Rollins
Further information on Boty’s onscreen, onstage and radio appearances is available here: [link]
Collaged Wall, c. 1961–64
The collaged wall created by Boty created at her flat in west London included a number of her favourite figures from stage and screen and was chosen as the beginning backdrop for Huw Weldon’s introduction to Pop Goes the Easel. Its ever-changing content was also captured by numerous photographers including, Lewis Morley, Michael Seymour and latterly Roger Mayne in 1964.
Roslyn (aka Misfits Theme): Alex North. The 1961 film by John Huston starred Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift and Marilyn Monroe. The latter appears photographed by Eve Arnold in a page cut from the Sunday Times Magazine
The Seven Samurai Main Title: Fumio Hayasaka. A cutting features Toshiro Mifune in Akira Kurosawa’s film 1954 film
Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: Bob Dylan. Dylan appears in a 1963 photograph by Barry Feinstein. Boty collected the musician from the airport in December 1962 on his first visit to the UK and escorted him around London prior to his appearance in the BBC Sunday Night Play The Madhouse on Castle Street
Further information on Boty’s collaged wall is available here: [link]
Pauline Boty 