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Jill Clayburgh Sexily Rockin' "Sea Cruise" on SNL in 1976 (And More)

posted 7 years ago by ecarle (14979)
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I caught this great "memory" on a look at an old SNL episode from its first season(1975-1976) on Hulu.

It had been in my head for years -- something about Jill Clayburgh singing with incredible sexuality the old time rocker "Sea Cruise" as a Navy chorus of men backed her and footage of a ship at sea being swamped by waves was shown. It was a memory that I always kept of early SNL...and I found the routine on Hulu.

Was it a bit less in the actual seeing than in memory...well, yes...and no.

Yes, it was a bit less...the production was cheap and shabby and a brief bit where a miniature cannon goes off literally "blanked out the screen"(old time TV soundstage cameras couldn't handle light flashes.)

But it was still great fun and Jill Clayburgh WAS incredibly sexy. That part I didn't get wrong at all.

Oh, it was the Coast Guard Men's Chorus("The Singing Idlers") and not Navy men who backed Clayburgh(along with that rockin' SNL band), but the effect was the same: Clayburgh (in halter-top/midriff baring Navy denim and a sailor cap) sexually "fronted" the song as a willing lady offering all men a "sea cruise" ("C'mon, baby , you got nuthin to lose...wontcha lemme take ya on a...SEA CRUISE?") and the manly chorus of men lustily backed her play("Ooo-wee, ooe-wee baby, ooo-wee, ooo-wee, baby..."). I found it delightful. And "Sea Cruise" is a GREAT rocker.

About Jill Clayburgh. She is a rather forgotten star of the 70's, when female stars were in short supply and it seemed that Faye Dunaway and Candice Bergen got all the roles. Clayburgh spent the front end of the 70's as "Al Pacino's girlfriend"(she's at the Godfather premiere) and as a stage actress, but came the late 70's, she broke through.

1976's "Silver Streak" did it -- she's Eva Marie Saint to Gene Wilder's Cary Grant in a "North by Northwest" spoof -- except Jill is even more direct than Eva Marie Saint was about what she's willing to do sexually RIGHT NOW to Gene.

1978's "An Unmarried Woman" sealed the deal -- Oscar-nominated, indie-film values, again with the sexuality.

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

But there are two less heralded movies from that period where Jill Clayburgh made an impact:

In 1976's "Gable and Lombard"(released by Universal in the same year's release package that saw "Family Plot"), Clayburgh dyes her mousy hair blonde and plays a lustful Carole Lombard to James Brolin's stolid Clark Gable. Its a rather forgettable biopic of that tragic love affair except -- the emphasis is on sex, sex, SEX. Clayburgh's Lombard is written and played as a woman who wants all sex, all the time, from Gable -- a scene where she gifts him with a sock for his member and puts it on him, is -- cringe-worthy. But: I always felt that Clayburgh's lustful daring in this role likely got her Silver Streak and the rest of her career. (I saw the movie on release, and I was shocked/impressed.)

In 1977's "Semi-Tough," Clayburgh played a rich heiress who has a sexual relationship with NFL player Kris Kristofferson and a friendly relationship with NFL player Burt Reynolds and...well, there are attempts at screwball comedy until Jill eventually picks the Right Man. What was daring here was that Clayburgh -- not really all THAT attractive of a woman -- pulled off being a woman who could get Burt OR Kris because...well, she's so damn sexy.

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

You see my theme , here. Gable and Lombard, Silver Streak, Semi-Tough, An Unmarried Woman. Jill Clayburgh's "secret weapon" was a direct, girlish, full-bodied sexuality that nobody really saw coming (and as she said at the time, "she looked good" in Silver Streak; it gave her glamour credentials.) She could also act.

Which brings me back to "Sea Cruise" on SNL, 1976: Clayburgh pulls out all the stops. The male chorus backing her up is at once "boyish" and manly. The song rocks. The deadpan clips of a Coast Guard vessel being knocked around in the waves is...funny.

Its a great memory.

Alas, Jill Clayburgh passed away not too long ago. Cancer. After having finished her career in "mother of adult children" roles. (Like "Bridesmaids" with SNL vet Kirsten Wiig.)