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“That Thing You Do”… The Secret Gene Pitney Connection

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

“That Thing You Do”… The Secret Gene Pitney Connection

For a number of reasons, this is one of my favorite movies, but did you know that “Mr. Downtown”, and the fictional character that sings it, Freddie Fredrickson, is based on Gene Pitney and his “Town Without Pity”?

Hear; Gene Pitney “Town Without Pity”…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7BRraVMZzc

Hear; Freddy Fredrickson’s “Mr. Downtown”…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqzkWSz1Onk

By the way, the Norelco cameras were all from History For Hire, LA’s top prop shop for cameras. There are lipstick cameras under the lenses, and LCD displays in the viewfinder hole. -Bobby Ellerbee

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19 responses to ““That Thing You Do”… The Secret Gene Pitney Connection”

  1. Charlie Huntley

    I pushed an empty (4K inside lens) Norelco around for this Netflix episodic, ” The Get Down “,produced by BAZ Lurhman.
    The floor was soft linoleum, trucking was very difficult.
    They put a mustache on me. A SoulTrain era dance show was the scene.

  2. Bob Sewvello

    I know Studio 33 pretty well. I attended three tapings of TPIR during the glory days of Bob Barker. I was also fortunate to participate in an unofficial tour of the studio in 2004. I was so excited and the experience went by way too fast!

  3. Bob Sewvello

    They also would not have had the center camera on the small stage extension AND the crane camera. They would have had one or the other but not both. The center camera would have gotten in the way of the crane camera….and cameras weren’t usually shown on TV back then.

  4. John Roger Bolin

    You can see my photos from my visit to History for Hire a few years ago at Eyes of a Generation.com. https://staging.eyesofageneration.com/Gallery_History_For_Hire.php

  5. Barry Mitchell

    “City of Broadcasting” is a clunky workaround of “Television City”. I nominate “TV Town”.

  6. Bruce A Johnson

    As a guy that played in a lot of bands in hs and college, “That Thing You Do” rang SO true to me. Definitely one of my personal faves.

  7. Bob Hollis

    Mr Hanks did a great job. When you hear the opening music you immediately get it. Bonus points for the old Sears Silvertone amp-in-the- guitar case. Made me want to go downtown to the appliance store and pick up a few extra needles.

  8. Paul Forrest

    Great film AND song

  9. Robert Berthel

    LCD back in ’96? Pretty rare back then weren’t they?

  10. Eyes Of A Generation.com

    Opps, yes it is Gene Pitney. I’ve corrected the article, but between the movie’s character Del Paxton and the fact that Del Shannon sang “Runaway” on this day in 1961, on American Bandstand…well, I had Del on my mind. Sorry.

  11. Tom Williamson

    That is also one of my favorite movies.

  12. George Griswold

    After college I went back to Erie and worked at WSEE. They had 2 GE studio cameras that ran so hot the engineer installed muffin fans in them.

  13. Bart Dellarmi

    that’s Pitney, not Del

  14. Bart Dellarmi

    I always associate “Town Witout Pity” with Gene Pitney….

  15. Scott Snailham

    uh…you mean GENE PITNEY “Town without Pity”?

  16. George Griswold

    Funny thing- I am from Erie, PA where the movie begins.

  17. Marc Wielage

    And what the hell is with those pedestals? Wrong lenses, wrong cameras… jeez. They did get the microphones right. Loved the fake ’60s songs in this movie.

  18. Bill Jenkin

    Wasn’t ‘Town Without Pity’ Gene Pitney, not Del Shannon.

  19. Mike Clark

    One of my favorite movies…so I shouldn’t say anything negative about the Norelcos being used in a 1964 scene. Loved the booth director saying “Let’s introduce America to The Wonders! Great shot, baby!”

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