Carpenters: Yesterday Once More (1996 Documentary)

[newvillefan]

On the 33rd anniversary of Karen's passing, a special treat for you all which some of you may not have seen before. Enjoy!

Thirteen years after Karen's death, this BBC documentary goes behind the scenes to examine the brother-sister relationship. It uncovers the emotional and physical damage, jealousy, driving ambition and obsession that lurked underneath the purity of their pop music and their squeaky-clean public image. Richard Carpenter talks about how his sister manipulated his own romantic relationships, while there are further contributions from mother Agnes Carpenter, Maria Galeazzi, John Denver, The Osmonds, Herb Alpert and Burt Bacharach.

 

[Chris Mills]

On the 33rd anniversary of Karen's passing, a special treat for you all which some of you may not have seen before. Enjoy!

Thirteen years after Karen's death, this BBC documentary goes behind the scenes to examine the brother-sister relationship. It uncovers the emotional and physical damage, jealousy, driving ambition and obsession that lurked underneath the purity of their pop music and their squeaky-clean public image. Richard Carpenter talks about how his sister manipulated his own romantic relationships, while there are further contributions from mother Agnes Carpenter, Maria Galeazzi, John Denver, The Osmonds, Herb Alpert and Burt Bacharach.

Great documentary, Maria Galeazzi did not hold back on her interpretation of Karen's illness. Thanks for posting.

 

[Eyewire]

On the 33rd anniversary of Karen's passing, a special treat for you all which some of you may not have seen before. Enjoy!

Thirteen years after Karen's death, this BBC documentary goes behind the scenes to examine the brother-sister relationship. It uncovers the emotional and physical damage, jealousy, driving ambition and obsession that lurked underneath the purity of their pop music and their squeaky-clean public image. Richard Carpenter talks about how his sister manipulated his own romantic relationships, while there are further contributions from mother Agnes Carpenter, Maria Galeazzi, John Denver, The Osmonds, Herb Alpert and Burt Bacharach.

Thanks! I hadn't seen that one before, although I have seen bits and parts of it in another BBC documentary.

 

[JBee]

Great documentary, Maria Galeazzi did not hold back on her interpretation of Karen's illness. Thanks for posting.

Maria really let Karen have it (and the family as well). Bad feelings there, I guess. Though it reflects some thoughts of the fans on why everyone around her didn't react differently (I'm sure Richard has said that Ev Wallace introduced him to an article on anorexia in the 70s). However, I don't think Karen was suicidal at all. From everything I've read it wasn't in her nature. One of the reasons she was able to deceive (for lack of a better word) so many people close to her was because she remained her usually sunny, outgoing self and didn't seem depressed to people during most of the period (74-80). Richard (who I assume knows quite a lot about anorexia NOW) said it best in his interview with Larry King that anorectics know the limit of the lowest kind of weight they can maintain and still be active. Karen got really scared several times when her health started being affected (in 75 and 81-82). She wanted to live. I can only echo Dionne when I ask (and maybe only Levonkron knows the answer to this) what Karen saw when she looked in the mirror. She was a beautiful woman who actually looked MORE beautiful with a little weight on her (and maybe she realized this at the end - given how happy she seemed to be in 83 with the added 30 pounds).

I'm actually surprised Richard agreed to this documentary (short though it is - an hour isn't nearly enough to tell the tale of the Carpenters) considering it doesn't exactly show the family dynamics and the interdependent relationship between the siblings in the best light. He's actually not taken part in docs on Karen (like the E! channel's one or the BBC's "Living Famously") that are more sympathetic to him.

And it's interesting, that although "Little Girl Blue" may be made into a movie these days (though I don't see how unless Richard authorizes the actual music), I still think there's an entire film to be made about the whole solo album debacle, both from Karen's POV and from those around her. It was clear in 1989 (when "The Karen Carpenter Story" was made and the solo album adventure was never mentioned), 1994 (the Coleman bio) 1996 (when this doc was made) and into the 2000s (when other documentaries were made)that the party line from Richard, Jerry Moss, and Herb was that it was Karen's decision to shelve the record (which if true was only reluctant), that SHE didn't like it (which we know to be false), and nobody pushed her into it (which is laughable). Even as books like Randy's come out (heck, even in 1996 with the NYT article on the solo album when folk like Frenda Franklin and the Ramones went on record on how much the record meant to her and how crushed she was) that dispute RC and A&M's version of events, they still stick with it.

 

[Rumbahbah]

It's a very interesting documentary, although it might not be to everyone's tastes as it focuses more on their personal lives than on the music. I think it's also the last interview with Agnes before she passed away.

When I first saw it, the tone seemed quite mocking to me, especially with the 'fan club' girl's glib delivery of the information from the newsletters, but having seen it since, I think it lifted the lid on some points that hadn't really been tackled before (the obsession with 'perfection', the contrast between their image and what was going on in their lives, hints at Karen's struggle to create a separate identity for herself being one of the reasons behind her problems with anorexia, suggestions that the solo album might have been dropped for reasons other than its quality, etc).

 

[ullalume]

Always surprised me that Maria was invited to both Karen's Bridal Shower and Wedding. There was clearly bad blood between them, not to mention the awkwardness for Richard.

 

[Superstar]

Maybe Maria played nice while Karen was still alive and only became as outspoken as she did after she died? I mean, other than the fact that Maria dated Richard, there's no other reason for them to not have liked one another (that we know about) and once Richard and she were no longer dating, maybe any of those feelings of anger/jealousy of Karen toward Maria dissipated.

 

[newvillefan]

It's a very interesting documentary, although it might not be to everyone's tastes as it focuses more on their personal lives than on the music. I think it's also the last interview with Agnes before she passed away.

It was actually recorded just months before Agnes passed away.