The Apple (1980)

Interesting facts

• Filmed in: Internationales Congress Centrum Berlin and Berlin

The Apple is a 1980 musical science fiction film written and directed by Menahem Golan. It stars Catherine Mary Stewart as a young singer named Bibi, who, in a futuristic 1994, signs to an evil label named Boogalow International Music. It deals with themes of conformity versus rebellion, and makes use of biblical allegory including the story of Adam and Eve.

Production

In 1975, Coby Recht, a successful Israeli rock producer, was signed to a major label for the first time, that being Barclay Records, which was founded and led by French producer Eddie Barclay. As Recht described working with Barclay, "he really believed in me. But there was something there that I couldn't trust.

Writing the musical in 1977, Recht and Yotvat had 17 demos recorded before the first draft was even submitted to a company. It was originally planned by Recht and Yotvat to be a Hebrew stage production, but the show "was so expensive that nobody could really raise it up for the stage," Recht explained. He was then informed by a friend that filmmaker Menahem Golan was having a brief visit in Israel.

In 1979, Recht and Yotvat went to Los Angeles, where they resided in a villa that Golan offered, while Recht occasionally went to Golan's house in Cheviot Hills to have meetings about the film. Golan spent three weeks writing six screenplay drafts of The Apple. According to Recht, Golan rewrote the story and all of the songs to the point where they were completely different from what Recht and Yotvat originally wrote, which "frustrated" the two.

George S. Clinton, who had a previous career as a songwriter and recording artist, joined the project to translate the lyrics from Hebrew to English after being recommended for the job by Golan's secretary Kathy Doyle. Clinton worked with Golan, Recht and Yotvat on the translations at Golan's house on afternoons. Recht and Yotvat had a much more favorable time working with Clinton than with Golan, who translated the Hebrew lyrics into English.

Approximately 50% of the demos for the English versions of the songs were finished by the time work on The Apple moved to London, where two months worth of auditions, rehearsals, and recording and mixing of the score took place. The auditions for The Apple were held at Turnham Green for about a week, with around 1,000 people auditioning. As Clinton described them, "We had auditioned a lot of different people, and it was crazy.

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