Oh my goodness. I think I may have briefly realized the mouse monkey thing the last time I watched the movie a decade or more ago, but it just as quickly went out of my head. Now I have to watch it again!
Some 15 years ago a local (Toronto) movie theatre showed the film on The Big Screen and it was even more wonderful than the oh-so-many TV viewings I have watched since my childhood days and WPIX. For me it is the funniest Laurel and Hardy movie. The titular march music gives me goosebumps, and by now I even sing along with "Never Mind, Bo-Peep" and the like. It also amuses me greatly that "I Can't Do the Sum"—a bit of music from the operetta originally about problems doing math in the schoolroom—serves as alternatively comic and eerie underscoring.
And yes, the monkey-mouse is a joy, not to mention hilarious.
Now that you mention it, I'm not sure that I've ever had the chance, or taken the chance, to see the movie on the big screen. I should do something about that!
I still lived in Toronto back then! Shame I missed it. I loved going to old movies in Toronto. I would go to Cinematheque Ontario between classes and catch all kinds of things I couldn't otherwise see.
I adore footnote 4, am fascinated by your tale of the tail, and squealed when you got to my beloved almost favourite movie-- Cocteau's "Belle et la Bête." Which has me wondering if you've ever seen my all time favourite (speaking of oddly beautiful colorized old movies), Demy's "Peau d'Âne" with Catherine Deneuve? It's a strange rendering of Donkeyskin, the equally strange fairy tale.
I tried to enjoy Peau d'Âne; it simply didn't speak to me. I'll try again sometime. I did watch Demy's Pied Piper, with Donovan. That's...a trying film.
I never heard of that one, I will give it a go! As much as I love Peau d'Âne, I do not think it's for everyone. I also think it was one of those movies that caught me at exactly the right time. I was sick of being bored by fairy tale retellings that promised something new and just sucked all the joy out. This was definitely not boring! And the lurid colours were glorious after all the gritty darkness. If I'd seen it a year earlier or later I may have been either shocked or simply less enthralled. It takes me back to a moment and a feeling now.
l do Iove your digressions! And it was so nice to hear your reading of the WaPo article. I reread A Christmas Carol annually. This year I read a bit of Stave I aloud to the cats. Happy Hanukkah Eve!
I'd always presumed that Lou Reed's conspicuously out-of-meter interjection of the suggestion that when Sweet Jane and Jack settle in for an evening of listening to radio ---"[a little] classical music there, Jim/ 'The March of the Wooden Soldiers'"---it's Reed reffing some familiar, inoffensive Tchaikovsky orchestration to dig-in his anti-anti-Vietnam protestations. And now I'm not sure. 'Nice one. Thanks!
Well, there is certainly a Tchaikovsky piece titled "March of the Wooden Soldiers," and Victor Herbert's piece from Babes in Toyland is officially titled "March of the Toys," but who can know what Lou Reed knew. (It's perhaps funny to think of him watching Laurel and Hardy on TV.)
The mention of the Majestic Theatre (I was in 10 Columbus Circle this afternoon, deciding not to get lunch at the Whole Foods in the basement, a space once occupied by dressing rooms... I'd like to think) sparked several thoughts. I love the "Uneeda Biscuit" photo, and I zoomed in to read the rooftop sign. Successive bouts of googling (one, just to see if one capitalizes "googling". One does not capitalize the verb, just the noun) helped me understand that we should "See Eddie Foy in the Orchard" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orchid#Productions). I'm going to guess there was a dearth of large caps in their storage room and let it go, although that's not exactly why all we come here.
The second half of the sign implores us to "Also Try Road to Yesterday," (ww.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-road-to-yesterday-6308), which had just moved from the Herald Square Theatre to the Lyric Theatre (I'm very much loving that all these theatres spell theatre correctly), also a Shubert property. So it follows that the majestic was also a Shubert theatre. And so it was, if only briefly.
FWIW, the other rabbit hole I scurried down was a memory that the Majestic Apartments on 71st Street was (were?, but it's a single building, so maybe "was" after all) built on the site of the Majestic Theatre, so I thought perhaps it moved uptown first and then down to Times Square. Alas, memory fails me, as it often does. But Google (callback!) corrects me: The previous tenant was the Majestic Hotel.
Yep. I've always had this hiccup, too. I've always been able to resolve it by going to "sectarian" ... "Oh, yeah, 'sect', like 'cult' " ... but it annoys me that I have to go through this every time.
I think I just close the browser and sob for the rest of the day if I come across "non-secular."
I am also a fan of this film, and I recall when I realized the Mouse's identity. "It's pig nor pork. It's beef!" was exclaimed at many a family dinner.
Oh my goodness. I think I may have briefly realized the mouse monkey thing the last time I watched the movie a decade or more ago, but it just as quickly went out of my head. Now I have to watch it again!
I absolutely love this movie to bits. It’s incredibly sweet and, when it wants to be, marvelously scary, even if you’re not seven years old.
Lemme just jump in here to suggest, better mouse jumped than shark … a shark has an ungovernable appetite, and soon leads to a show being cancelled.
The shark will be along shortly!
Great! I like short sharks …
Said Tom swiftly …
Some 15 years ago a local (Toronto) movie theatre showed the film on The Big Screen and it was even more wonderful than the oh-so-many TV viewings I have watched since my childhood days and WPIX. For me it is the funniest Laurel and Hardy movie. The titular march music gives me goosebumps, and by now I even sing along with "Never Mind, Bo-Peep" and the like. It also amuses me greatly that "I Can't Do the Sum"—a bit of music from the operetta originally about problems doing math in the schoolroom—serves as alternatively comic and eerie underscoring.
And yes, the monkey-mouse is a joy, not to mention hilarious.
Now that you mention it, I'm not sure that I've ever had the chance, or taken the chance, to see the movie on the big screen. I should do something about that!
I still lived in Toronto back then! Shame I missed it. I loved going to old movies in Toronto. I would go to Cinematheque Ontario between classes and catch all kinds of things I couldn't otherwise see.
I adore footnote 4, am fascinated by your tale of the tail, and squealed when you got to my beloved almost favourite movie-- Cocteau's "Belle et la Bête." Which has me wondering if you've ever seen my all time favourite (speaking of oddly beautiful colorized old movies), Demy's "Peau d'Âne" with Catherine Deneuve? It's a strange rendering of Donkeyskin, the equally strange fairy tale.
I tried to enjoy Peau d'Âne; it simply didn't speak to me. I'll try again sometime. I did watch Demy's Pied Piper, with Donovan. That's...a trying film.
I never heard of that one, I will give it a go! As much as I love Peau d'Âne, I do not think it's for everyone. I also think it was one of those movies that caught me at exactly the right time. I was sick of being bored by fairy tale retellings that promised something new and just sucked all the joy out. This was definitely not boring! And the lurid colours were glorious after all the gritty darkness. If I'd seen it a year earlier or later I may have been either shocked or simply less enthralled. It takes me back to a moment and a feeling now.
So Mark Herron was the Larry Fortensky of Peter Allens?
PreCISEly.
l do Iove your digressions! And it was so nice to hear your reading of the WaPo article. I reread A Christmas Carol annually. This year I read a bit of Stave I aloud to the cats. Happy Hanukkah Eve!
And to you (and the cats)!
I'd always presumed that Lou Reed's conspicuously out-of-meter interjection of the suggestion that when Sweet Jane and Jack settle in for an evening of listening to radio ---"[a little] classical music there, Jim/ 'The March of the Wooden Soldiers'"---it's Reed reffing some familiar, inoffensive Tchaikovsky orchestration to dig-in his anti-anti-Vietnam protestations. And now I'm not sure. 'Nice one. Thanks!
Well, there is certainly a Tchaikovsky piece titled "March of the Wooden Soldiers," and Victor Herbert's piece from Babes in Toyland is officially titled "March of the Toys," but who can know what Lou Reed knew. (It's perhaps funny to think of him watching Laurel and Hardy on TV.)
The mention of the Majestic Theatre (I was in 10 Columbus Circle this afternoon, deciding not to get lunch at the Whole Foods in the basement, a space once occupied by dressing rooms... I'd like to think) sparked several thoughts. I love the "Uneeda Biscuit" photo, and I zoomed in to read the rooftop sign. Successive bouts of googling (one, just to see if one capitalizes "googling". One does not capitalize the verb, just the noun) helped me understand that we should "See Eddie Foy in the Orchard" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orchid#Productions). I'm going to guess there was a dearth of large caps in their storage room and let it go, although that's not exactly why all we come here.
Besides acting with the likes of Edwin Booth, Mr. Foy may have witnessed the gunfight at the OK Coral! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Foy). The Orchard transferred from London in 1907 to the Herald Theatre, impresario Lee Shubert's first Broadway house (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herald_Square_Theatre)
The second half of the sign implores us to "Also Try Road to Yesterday," (ww.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-road-to-yesterday-6308), which had just moved from the Herald Square Theatre to the Lyric Theatre (I'm very much loving that all these theatres spell theatre correctly), also a Shubert property. So it follows that the majestic was also a Shubert theatre. And so it was, if only briefly.
FWIW, the other rabbit hole I scurried down was a memory that the Majestic Apartments on 71st Street was (were?, but it's a single building, so maybe "was" after all) built on the site of the Majestic Theatre, so I thought perhaps it moved uptown first and then down to Times Square. Alas, memory fails me, as it often does. But Google (callback!) corrects me: The previous tenant was the Majestic Hotel.
Re: secular
Yep. I've always had this hiccup, too. I've always been able to resolve it by going to "sectarian" ... "Oh, yeah, 'sect', like 'cult' " ... but it annoys me that I have to go through this every time.
I think I just close the browser and sob for the rest of the day if I come across "non-secular."
Babes in Toyland was an absolute fixture of our family Thanksgiving. The ducking chair.
The sausage that wasn't pig: it was pork! Ooh, the bogeymen!
I am also a fan of this film, and I recall when I realized the Mouse's identity. "It's pig nor pork. It's beef!" was exclaimed at many a family dinner.