Ali Baba - Louie Ramirez

Here is the song "Ali Baba" (1972) by Louie Ramirez (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Ramirez), part of the soundtrack to the film Chef (2014).




"I refuse to open My Sesame"

Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs (Ferdinand Zecca, 1905)

Here is the short silent Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs from France (Ferdinand Zecca, 1905). Other release dates I've seen have included 1902.



More on Zecca - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0954087/

Ali Baba - San Juan Puerto Rico

Was strolling through a rainy summer afternoon last year in San Juan Puerto Rico's Condado district as we all must do at some point. Came across this on the sidewalk, it's a Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant that is apparently quite good. They were closed that day, but will have to try it next time.

Ali Baba - Polish Poster

This is an image allegedly taken from a Polish poster of a film called Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079749/?ref_=ttrel_rel_tt - Alibaba Aur 40 Chor (1980)) from India (and, according to this poster, Russia).

Here is the film (no subtitles) on Youtube - http://youtu.be/FdyZMNaXrt4

2013 Ford Escape

No it's not spam!  The latest commercial from Ford draws on the Nights for its engineering inspirations.

NY Post

This Nights-related picture comes to you from the NY Post.

Samia Gamal

The legendary Samia Gamal was an actress and dancer from Egypt who also made it big in foreign films, including France's Ali Baba with French comedian Fernandel.

Here she is dancing in Ali Baba, aka Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs (1954).



She also stars in the 1949 Nights-related film Afrita hanem, (And I just wrote its English wikipedia page, feel free to add to it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrita_hanem), where she plays a dancer/genie.

More on Samia Gamal - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samia_Gamal

Open Sesame - Kool & the Gang

Get down with the Genie!



Open Sesame - Kool And The Gang - Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack

Ali Baba - Arabic Cartoon - علي بابا والاربعون حرامي

Here is an Arabic version of Ali Baba & the 40 Thieves.

From: Heykayat 3almyih حكايات عالمية ~ علي بابا والاربعون حرامي

Ali Baba Twist

"Ali Baba Twist" is a song from the 1960s by Bob Azzam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Azzam).

From 1001 Nights

Pretty catchy after a few listens....

From 1001 Nights

and the remake by the band "The Orientals" (with a Nights-esque storefront in the video):

Ali Baba - Andy Kohlmann

Here is the song "Ali Baba" by electronic musician/dj Andy Kohlmann (http://www.myspace.com/andykohlmann).

ali baba and his bucking camel

Ali Baba and his Bucking Camel is the name of a sort of party/kids game from Tomy and appears to be UK specific.

It seems like a card game where you add pieces to the plastic camel until he "bucks" and then the person who got bucked (as it were) loses. This is only a guess but I'm fairly certain it's something like this.

Here are some pictures:

From 1001 Nights

From 1001 Nights

From 1001 Nights

and a video of some people playing it on youtube:

Whodini - Open Sesame

Here's the cover from the 1987 album Open Sesame by rap group Whodini. Actually one of my first CDs. Little more than a reference to the Nights on the cover and not in any songs as I can recall but an interesting manifestation nonetheless.

Beastie Boys - Rhymin' & Stealin'

The Beastie Boys, who of course, have been rhymin' and stealin' ducats for many years now, and their classic refrain, which comes about midway through the song: "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, etc."

Here's the official video. The song, by the way, is just about as postmodernistically pop as you can get, an unexplained and unashamed celebration of imagined piracy inculcated with scores of seemingly unrelated elements ("I shot Betty Crocker, Delivered Colonel Sanders down to Davey Jones' Locker..") which gel together in a very certain and very solid framework. Due to the overall maritime theme though, I wonder if "Sinbad" is a more appropriate Nights character, but chanting "Sinbad" doesn't seem as right does it.

Enough from me:

Fernandel - Alibaba et les 40 voleurs

Fernandel, the French comedian, actor and singer, sings his Ali Baba song in the French film Alibaba et les 40 voleurs(1954):

sesame street

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the US children's show Sesame Street, whose name's origins are definitively situated in the Nights lore.

From their website: http://www.sesameworkshop.org/inside/pressroom/season40/40things

"Why the name Sesame Street? After a long search for a catchy name, one of the show’s writers suggested “Sesame Street.” The word “sesame,” an allusion to the fabled command from The Arabian Nights, “Open, Sesame!,” suggested excitement and adventure. Since the show was set in an urban street scene, “Sesame Street” seemed an ideal combination. "

additional children's books on wax

JC passes on a couple of books on record (that come with books to read along with) from his collection:

Little Golden books. They produced a series of books that included a 45 rpm record. Ali Baba was part of the series. Narrated by Dave Teig.

A 1970 record of Sinbad the Sailor. Story by Jimmy Johnson.

children's records

I found this website that contains several Nights related children's records from the States in the 1950s and 1960s, they are great recordings and you can visit the site and download them yourself. If I ever figure out how to host them in an embedded player here I'll post them. There's all the usual stories plus one has the Physician Douban!

here's the website: http://www.artsreformation.com/records/

And some pictures of covers (these would make great t-shirts):

chu chin chow poster

ali baba book cover

JC has provided the details of this nice looking version of Ali Baba, the book, he says "was published by J.M. Dent & Co. Aldine House, 1895. Illustrations are by H. Granville Fell. It is part of the Bainbury Cross Series of childrens books. It's a small book,9x15 cm, only 63 pages but it has a nice cloth cover with the blind stamped illustration on it. Inside are a number of full and half page illustrations."