Second image of the Pinball Wizard is from the Tommy video box, available Amazon If you visit their web site, you'll find so much information, including The History of ShoesĬheck out their Museum Events such as the upcoming Shoe Heaven : Shoes, Pampering & Entertainment Thank you to The Northampton Museum and Art Gallery for permission to use their image of Elton John's Boots Couldn't find a height of this boot but it may be around 20' tall!Įlton John (right) Photo, Poster, Framed or not The Bean Boots were first introduced back in 1912. If you happen to visit the LL Bean Outlet store in Freeport, Maine, you'll see a much larger than life Bean Boot at the entrance. And the guys don't have to have all the fun. It doesn't always have to be Doc Martens. Chances are very good that you'll get to enjoy his singing The Pinball Wizard in person! I don't think he does it standing in boots that are four feet off the ground these days, though.ĭo you remember seeing the movie? Have you been to a Sing-Along showing or had one in your home thanks to owning the DVD set?!įor any ladies who feel like strutting their stuff, a really tall boot for us is the The Ophelia Boot in Black, Lace Up Platform from Sole Boutique. You can see him at The Million Dollar Piano. Links to the museum are here, too.Īs of the writing of this post, Elton John is appearing at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The boots are currently on permanent display at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery in The Shoe Collection, as seen at the top of this post. Boot and shoe-maker Stephen Griggs bought the boots for $20,200. In 1988, the boots, hundreds of pairs of spectacles and other items of Elton's personal memorabilia were auctioned at Sotheby's. How much, if at all, this played a part in the choice of this costume for the Pinball Wizard is hard to say.Īfter filming, Elton, an avid collector, asked if he could keep the large boots that he wore for the part. Tommy is the new Pinball Wizard.ĭoc Martens and combat boots have been Punk and other subculture fashion symbols in Britain and the US for several decades. the local lad.īecause Tommy is so good and he has no distractions, he beats the local lad to become the new Bally table champ! The local lad finally wobbles and falls from his amazing tall boots into the crowd. He becomes fantastic at pinball, good enough to take on Elton John, the current Pinball Wizard, a.k.a. Leather straps attached to his legs allowing him to move as if he were on stilts. They had platform supports above metal calipers. That said, it turned out to be only my second favorite track on the album, as I was utterly mesmerized by the drumming on the crazy-ass instrumental called “Sparks,” which … we will get to “Sparks” in due time.Īnyways, the movie poster for Tommy famously promised that “Your senses will never be the same.” And in my case, I think that may have actually been true.Elton’s costume included a pair of his trademark glasses. Meanwhile, Elton’s version of “Pinball Wizard” is actually pretty great: not only does he show off his mad piano playing skillz with the opening riff and the instrumental break, there are additional lyrics and a nice “I Can’t Explain” rip at the end. Sure, Pete Townshend smashed his guitar and Keith Moon knocked over his drumkit, but it was the wrong band!Īlso: here’s another thing that made no sense: how can both the song and Elton John’s character be called “Pinball Wizard” when he’s singing about Tommy? Was “Pinball Wizard” a title that the best pinball players like “Grand Master” in chess?Ĭan somebody contact Ken Russell and/or Pete Townshend to sort this out? (And no, I don’t care that Ken Russell is dead.) So therefore, the first time I ever saw The Who perform under any circumstances, I was disappointed. I knew that Elton’s band played on the song because I’d already bought the soundtrack album, so it made no damn sense to 12-year-old Jim that his band wasn’t in the sequence. I just remember being kinda blown away by the visuals and the music, even if the plot didn’t really make any sense.Īnd I remember being really upset about the “Pinball Wizard” sequence for one reason: it wasn’t Elton John’s band in the scene, but rather The Who. I don’t remember who I went with or any of those types of details. When Tommy debuted in Fresno in early 1975 - downtown at the Crest theatre - I somehow convinced my parents to let me go. You know how they’ll do something like cast Britney Spears in a film in order to get all of her teenybopper fans to go see that film? Well, that’s pretty much the same thing that happened with me and Elton John and Tommy. Album: Tommy Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
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