DC: Doom Patrol Annotations (long)
The Ahkond of Swat
You knew it had to happen! Here are two "rough draft" files of
annotations to Grant Morrison's "Doom Patrol", covering up to a
couple of issues ago. See below for details.
------------------------------------
Some annotations to Doom Patrol 19 - 38
By Bill Sherman (she...@math.ucla.edu)
Comments, suggestions and corrections are more than welcome.
Ground Rules (please read before mailing me additions): there are many
places in the pages of Doom Patrol where characters will discuss or
mention some historical (or current) celebrity, such as Coleridge or Bessie
Smith. To save space, I'm not going to put entries in this list for
such references, because you can look them up just as easily as reading
them here. Considering the large amount of such references in DP,
I hope that omitting such annotations will keep the list trim. If there
is much wailing and gnashing of teeth among those concerned, I may relent.
My motivation for these annotations is to point out things that many
people may not notice -- the "uncredited" references, so to speak. It
does no good to point out who John Kennedy and Shakespeare are when they
are mentioned by name. When Shakespeare's plays are quoted without
being acknowledged, however, I'll include a note (there are four
examples so far).
Another type of entry which I will not make is typified by the Dadaists.
Knowledge of the basic history and ideas of the Dada movement is crucial
to understanding Mr. Nobody and the Brotherhood of Dada, but this is not
the place for exposition on such a topic. Since the book makes it obvious
that Dada is being alluded to, the industrious reader may take the time
to find some books about it. Another example of this is the Painting
that ate Paris, which contains many levels corresponding to various
artistic schools and traditions: Futurism, Structuralism, Surrealism,
Photorealism, Symbolism, Cubism, Fauvism, Impressionism... it would
be counterproductive to attempt any coherent exposition on the history
of painting. I have limited myself to identifying the one level of the
painting (Cubist) which is not identified by name in the comic, and left
the discussion to the experts.
Bottom line: if Morrison has pointed your nose toward something, I won't
be redundant about it. When he slips something in quietly, I'll try to
point it out. Some of them are pretty far afield, such as the source
of the names Kiss, Cuddle and Torture; I hope other readers can find
me some more of these items out of left field.
There are many places where, for example, characters sing little tidbits
of songs, and I have recognized only a couple of these. The sources of
these musical snippets would be greatly appreciated.
Here's what I've got so far:
#19, "Crawling From the Wreckage"
p. 12: note the "Miranda" graffito. Miranda was one of Jane's
personalities, as we discover in #30.
We are assured in #30 that Crazy Jane took her name from the Yeats
poems about a character by that name.
#20 "Cautionary Tales"
p. 11: "Driver 8" is a song by R.E.M., from the album _Fables of the
Reconstruction_.
p. 22: The cartoony panels at the bottom of the page are in the style
of English limericist and illustrator Edward Lear. Lear's most famous
poem is "The Owl and the Pussycat", and he wrote some immensely popular
books of limericks and nonsense. The reference to Lear is supported by
the doctor on p. 11, because one of Lear's limericks goes as follows:
There was an old man of the Nile
Who sharpened his nails with a file
Till he cut off his thumbs
And said calmly, "This comes -
Of sharpening one's nails with a file."
(from Lear's _A Book of Nonsense_, the restored 1870 edition)
For those interested, Lear also wrote "The Ahkond of Swat". 8^)
#21 "Worlds in Collision"
About Orqwith: an encyclopedia about a fictional place is not a new idea.
I suspect that Morrison is largely thinking about such books as the
_Codex Seraphinianus_ by "Luigi Seraphini" (probably a pseudonym), a
famous work of this type.
Another recent book of this type is an "encyclopedic novel" by Milorad
Pavic, entitled _The Dictionary of the Khazars_.
The creation of a fictional world by self-referential literature is also
hinted at in Jose Luis Borges' "Tlo:n, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", from the
_Ficciones_ collection, but this has more of a lit-crit feel.
#22 "The Ossuary"
#23 "The Butterfly Collector"
Jane uses the cut-up technique to discover the identity of
Rhea's kidnapper. This is an old method for creating "random" poetry
and prose, started by the Dadaists. Tristan Tzara wrote many
poems in this way, and William S. Burroughs has been known to use
this method.
p. 20: Jane is listing the names of the known victims of the historical
Jack the Ripper. All of them were London prostitutes.
#24 "The House that Jack Built"
pp. 9-10: Jack is quoting the Cole Porter song "Cheek to Cheek".
#25 "Imaginary Friends"
Dorothy talks about "The Wizard of Oz" and also a story about dancing
shoes; the latter is Hans Christian Andersen's "The Red Shoes".
Dorothy Spinner's name is a double reference to Judy Garland's character
in "The Wizard of Oz": both are named Dorothy, and in the film, Dorothy
Gale reached Oz via tornado -- that is, by spinning. In fact, we first
met Dorothy in the Great Plains, and she was wearing red shoes and a dress
reminscent of Dorothy's costume from the film.
Fans of the DP summary files will recall that author Robert Kelly mentioned
(in the first file) that he had written a letter to the editor when he saw
issue 19. That letter is printed in this issue.
#26 "Nowhere Man"
The title is a song by the Beatles.
p. 8: The Mercedez-Benz symbol is incorrectly shown instead of the
Peace symbol (a common error) on the groovy poster on the wall.
p. 24: "And the pants of the vicar" is a famous Dada line but I don't know
where it's from.
#27 "The Painting That Ate Paris"
p. 8: Push, pop and stack are terms from computing, not mathematics.
p. 22: The policeman being turned into a toilet is surely a reference to
Marcel Duchamp's sculpture "Fountain", which is simply a urinal signed by
Duchamp. The fact that it's a policeman may refer to a similar incident in
the "newspaper" which accompanies Jethro Tull's album _Aqualung_. That
newspaper relates a story about a riot at an art exhibit, during which one
of the rioting artists squirts a tube of cadmium yellow paint on a policeman's
helmet and then signs it. The policeman is then tied up and included in the
exhibit, and no-one helps him. It's probably too far a stretch to notice
that a policeman in Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood" uses his helmet as a
bedpan, but it's a fun fact.
#28 "Labyrinths"
p. 16 - 17:
The floppy clocks and the weird crutches are visual references to Salvador
Dali's paintings, especially "The Persistence of Memory".
Notice that one of the clocks says "Magritte".
p. 21: Rain Brain says "riverrun". "riverrun" is the first word in James
Joyce's masterpiece _Finnegans Wake_, with which I am sure Morrison is at
least vaguely familiar. "riverrun" is a multi-leveled word (as are most
words in _FW_), but one level is a pun on the French "reverrons" (sp?),
"let us dream".
#29 "The Kingdom of No"
p. 4 The Cubist level, I presume.
p. 8 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, of course, are from Revelations,
Chapter 6.
p. 14 "The Banana Splits" was a real children's show in the US, during the
70's. I remember them clearly. Fans may be interested to know that a cover
version of their theme song is available on the Dickies' compilation album
_Great Dictations_.
p. 22: "Like pigs from a gun" is a line from the Beatles song "I Am the
Walrus", by John Lennon. A very Dada song, on _Magical Mystery Tour_.
The hobbyhorse at the end is a devious pun. The word Dada was chosen at
random from a book to be the name of the nonsense-first art movement.
The word is a French children's word for "hobbyhorse". It seems that there
was meaning there after all!
#30 "Going Underground"
p. 4: The Weird Sisters are the three witches from Shakespeare's "MacBeth".
They are referred to there by that title, at IV.i.153.
p. 4: "The Snow Queen" is a story by Hans Christian Andersen.
Note that Driver 8's symbol, an 8 on its side, is the mathematical symbol
for infinity.
p. 10: Remember the "Miranda" graffito from 19.
p. 17: We are shown many of Jane's personalities. Some recognizable ones
are Jill in Irons, Kit W'the Canstick, Mama Pentecost (in the dress covered
with letters), Flaming Katy, Flit, the Weird Sisters, the Secretary, Scarlet
Harlot, Jack Straw, Hammerhead, Merry Andrew, Snow Queen, Lady Purple and
Rain Brain. Is the lady with the crucifix Sin-Eater? Or could that be the
nun with the chainsaw?
p. 19: Very Clive-Barkeresque. Machinery and endless torture.
p. 20: Daddy is quoting Cole Porter's song "Let's Do It". What does
Morrison have against Porter?
#31 "The Word made Flesh"
The title is a reference to Christ. Anybody have chapter and
verse? Is it biblical? Liturgical?
p. 5: the Unwritten Book. There are literary precedents for people
with books written on their bodies. In Joyce's _Finnegans Wake_, the
book itself is written on the body of the character Shem the Penman,
who is also its author. In Kafka's "The Penal Colony", people
are executed by having books carved into their bodies.
P. 5: "Downtown". Petula Clarke?
p. 7: Cliff can smell now, but told Rebis in issue 27 that s/he was
beginning to "smell funny". Oops!
p. 11: Baphomet is quoting the opening theme song of the television
show "Mr. Ed", but Kipling doesn't recognize it, being a Brit. Where
is Baphomet's name from?
#32 "Decreator"
p. 3: Kipling is quoting Shakespeare's _Henry V_: "Once more into the
breach", III.i.1.
Pale Police anagrams, courtesy of Col. Sicherman, r.a.c:
p. 8 "Happening?" "You are the gateway." "Nowhere to run!"
"Nowhere to run."
p. 13 "Stop! Do not attempt to move!"
p. 16 "You cannot escape!" "Stay where you are!"
"We've waited a long time for you" "Look!"
#33 "The Puppet Theatre"
p. 1: That's a page of T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" being blotted out.
p. 6: St. Vitus' Dance is another name for chorea, a neurological disorder
characterized by uncontrollable muscle movements. It is related to
Huntington's disease, which is also called Huntington's chorea.
p. 6: Danse Macabre: this is an important allegorical form in medieval
arts (painting, literature...). It expresses the obsession with death
by depicting people being interrupted by a skeletal Death, and dancing
along after it in single file on the way to the afterlife. Its popularity
is not surprising, considering the Black Plague and other facts of
medieval life. The Danse was a central image in Ingmar Bergman's film
"The Seventh Seal", as well as Woody Allen's "Love and Death". The Danse
often reinforced notions of social structure by having Popes and Kings
precede the common people in the line, but they all follow Death in the end.
As noted in the summary files, the Archons speak through Punch and Judy
puppets.
Note that "Nu:rnberg" is another name for the real city of Nuremburg,
where the War Crimes trials were held after WWII.
#34 "The Soul of a New Machine"
p. 7: "faulty responsometers" is a reference to the unpredictable
behavior of Magnus' Metal Men. An in-joke.
When Cliff's body tells Cliff that it wants to experience life to the
fullest, it quotes Gene Wilder's character Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks'
"The Producers": "I want everything I've ever seen in the movies!"
Note that Leo's name is a reference in itself; Leopold Bloom is the
protagonist of Joyce's _Ulysses_ (I know, I know, cool it with the
extraneous Joyce references...).
#35, "Down Paradise Way"
p. 3 The Juvenal quotation is translated "Prayer is necessary for a healthy
mind in a healthy body", according to my sources. Comics fans will note
that Juvenal is also the source of the famous "Who watches the watchmen?".
p. 23: Token suckers are for real (NYC).
#36, "Box of Delights"
The man with the monocle is quoting from Mel Brooks' "The Producers".
All of his lines duplicate those of the "Carmen Ghia" character.
#37, "Persephone"
The title refers to a character from Greek mythology. Persephone was
kidnapped by Hades for a bride, as was Rhea (by Red Jack).
p. 10: Rhea vaguely recalls Red Jack.
the Circus: recall that Rhea travelled with a circus before joining
the Doom Patrol.
p. 17: "Cesarina" is a reference to the film "The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari". One of its characters is a pale somnambulist named "Cesar".
#38, "Lost in Space"
The title is that of an American children's science-fiction television
show from the sixties and seventies (?). Warning, Will Robinson!
p. 1: Flight 19 is the most famous "Bermuda Triangle" story. I read
in a recent newspaper that the planes had been found, at the bottom
of the ocean.
p. 2: Panel 4 is an obvious reference to the ads for the film "The
Exorcist"
p. 16: "Bell, book and candle" seems to be an old phrase for summoning.
Gaiman and Pratchett used it in _Good Omens_. Where is it from?
------------------
--
Bill Sherman S^1 `--> S^(2n+1) -->> CP^n she...@math.ucla.edu
Righteous, mighteous and out-of-sighteous!
- Easy Reader, "The Electric Company"
The Ahkond of Swat
See the previous file for a "Ground Rules" outline.
#39, "Bell, Book and Candle"
p. 3. "Waiting For Godot" by Samuel Beckett, an important minimalist
play.
#40, "Battlefield of Dreams"
The title could refer to the recent film "Field of Dreams".
#41, "Fallen Angel"
p. 3: The USS Eldridge is the ship from the famous "Philadelphia
Experiment" rumor. Supposedly, the Navy was trying out a method
for making ships invisible (or for teleportation) and used a whole
ship full of sailors as guinea pigs. Something strange happened
and the ship materialized with people stuck in the walls. It is
claimed that some of its survivors still wander Philadelphia,
psychotic and sometimes invisible.
As I mentioned in the summaries, the construction of a tower high
enough to reach the heavens is a reference to the Biblical Tower
of Babel, from Genesis.
#42, "Musclebound: the Secret Origin of Flex Mentallo"
p. 5-6: this refers to the real bodybuilder ads to be found in comic
books a few years ago. Charles Atlas, I think.
p. 11: "Revolution 9" by the Beatles, from _The Beatles_ (the "white
album").
p. 12: Is "the Fact" a reference to the real character "the Question"?
p. 17: That's Winsor McCay's "Little Nemo" falling out of bed. Richard
Nixon is shown twice. Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is shown in
negative; what's the other painting? My literary bias is showing...
#43, "Anyhow Stories"
p. 1: The storybook of the title could be a reference to Rudyard Kipling's
_Just So Stories_.
p. 4: Ka-Bala is a reference to the Kabbala, an ancient tradition of Jewish
mysticism founded in Spain in the middle ages. You can look it up if you
want details about the beliefs, but I should point out that Kabbalism has
become associated in Western culture with secret societies and arcane
knowledge. In this role it has appeared in several works referred to
elsewhere in these annotations, such as the _Illuminatus_ trilogy,
_Finnegans Wake_ and Pavic's _Dictionary of the Khazars_.
p. 6: Laika was the dog shot into space by the Soviets in the early days of
their space program. There was no re-entry in the flight plan. Laika was
an important symbol in the recent art-house hit film "My Life As A Dog",
in the same way that Washington thinks of her here. An object of pity,
a sacrifice to Big Science and the new frontier.
#44, "Voices"
p. 6: Honey says that 5 is the number of his conspiracy. This is strange,
considering how, in the _Illuminatus_ trilogy by Shea and Wilson, 5 is
the number of the Discordians, not the Illuminati. I would identify Honey's
side with the Illuminati. Just the Pentagon, I guess...
p. 9: The "napalm in the morning" line is from "Apocalypse Now", where
it is spoken by Robert Duvall.
p. 10: Leonard Nimoy, of course, played Mr. Spock on "Star Trek". His
poetry defies description; I prefer his rendition of "Proud Mary".
p. 13: As I mentioned in a summary file, "My Greenest Adventure" is a pun on
"My Greatest Adventure", which is the comic book which turned into the
original "Doom Patrol" series.
p. 21: Flex's attempts (this time, successful) to turn the Pentagon round
may refer to the Yippies and their attempt to lift the Pentagon into the
air. The Yippies were a radical political youth organization in the
sixties, and once held a demonstration in which they gathered at the
Pentagon and attempted to levitate it through a force of will.
#45, "The Beard Hunter"
The title is a pun on "The Deer Hunter".
p. 1: "Clockwork Orangejuice" refers to Anthony Burgess' _A Clockwork
Orange_ (and, of course, the Kubrick film adaptation).
p. 1: Is "The Handman" a nod to Gaiman's "Sandman"? Probably.
p. 7: Mom means Meryl Streep, the actress, known for her skill at weepy,
melodramatic scenes.
p. 9: Between Santa Claus and Abe Lincoln is a picture of Alan Moore.
"Cerebus" readers will recognize him as "the little fellow with the hair".
p. 19: Jean-Claude Van Damme is a popular action-flick actor with lots
of martial arts moves.
p. 24: "Snap, crackle, pop" is the advertising motto for Kellogg's Rice
Krispies.
#46, "Aftermath"
p. 1: It is a popular misconception that Joyce and Burroughs wrote
nonsense. Bah, humbug!
p. 2: This is the theme from the movie "Goldfinger", which was a huge
popular hit (as performed by Shirley Bassey).
p. 2: "The Zen Men" is from the comics shop in the previous issue.
p. 4: "Turn on, tune in, drop out" was a hippie motto in the sixties. I
believe that it was coined by Timothy Leary.
p. 9: Jane's logo is also a capital phi. What this means, I don't know.
It has no particular mathematical significance, in case you're wondering.
p. 17: Cray is a real computer company (anybody on this newsgroup probably
knows that, though) which produces some of the fastest processors around.
#47, "The World, the Flesh, and the Devil"
Shadowy Mr. Evans bears a striking resemblance to Cole Porter. Again, does
Morrison bear Porter a grudge, or what?
p. 1: the name Samael has been extensively discussed in the Sandman annotation
debates. JHVH is Yahweh, Jehovah. Hebrew has no vowels, and so "JHVH" is
an accurate transcription.
p. 21: "Why Don't We Do It In the Road" is another song from the Beatles'
"white album".
p. 21: Some bystander is wearing a Jane's Addiction t-shirt.
#48, "Entertaining Mr. Evans"
p. 2: "Kiss, cuddle and torture" is a line from the song "The Best Man's Fall"
by the Trash Can Sinatras, from their album _Cake_.
p. 5: "Sturm und Drang" is German for "storm and drive". It's a common
description for the works of people like Wagner and Goethe (especially
Wagner).
p. 6: The fetus is singing "I am, from head to foot, composed(?) of love".
p. 9: There's Jane's logo on the plane.
#49, "Death in Venice"
The title is that of a novel by Thomas Mann.
p. 2: Bobby has various British music paraphernalia. I recognize Lush,
Curve, Morrissey, the Smiths, Inspiral Carpets, NME. "Joe's Bar" is
a graphic novel, by ?
p. 9: a strange version of the story of Narcissus.
p. 9: "Pepperpot" is the name used by the members of Monty Python for
their "little old lady" characters. A reference to aging is likely,
considering the superpowers of Alias the Blur.
p. 20: "the rest is silence" are Hamlet's last words, from the Shakespeare
play; V.ii.310.
#50, "Tales of Hofmann"
p. 8: "Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your
chains!". Is this from Marx and Engels' "Communist Manifesto"? It's
definitely a famous Communist-revolutionary slogan.
p. 17: Mr. Nobody seems unfamiliar with psychedelic guitarist Jimi Hendrix
... or maybe it's the letterer's fault. "Are You Experienced" is one of
Hendrix' classics. For the curious, Hendrix' real name was James Marshall
Hendrix.
p. 26 - 27: Mr. Nobody is referring to the atomic-bomb tests. The story
about Ferdinand Cheval is true.
#51, "Magic Bus"
p. 2: the psychedelic bus is an icon of the 60's and LSD; in particular
it refers to the Merry Pranksters. See Ken Kesey's _The Electric
Kool-Aid Acid Test_.
p. 24: John Dandy has a Scrabble tile for a nose.
#52, "After the Cabaret"
p. 1: Dandy now has Scrabble eyes.
p. 21: Why has Morden turned back into Mr. Nobody? A continuity error?
p. 23: "I die, Horatio" is from Hamlet's dying speech: V.ii.304.
#53, "And Men Shall Call Him -- Hero!"
The general Marvel references are described in the summary files. If
the net desires, I can include (and expand upon) them here.
p. 24: in the first panel, we see a famous Escher print, "Relativity".
-------------------
Michael S. Schiffer
>p. 11: Baphomet is quoting the opening theme song of the television
>show "Mr. Ed", but Kipling doesn't recognize it, being a Brit. Where
>is Baphomet's name from?
Baphomet is the name of the horned idol the Knights Templar were
accused of worshipping in secret rites when the order was broken up
and many of them burned at the stake. The Knights were a Crusading
order originally founded in the Holy Land as a sort of warrior-monk.
Later, the order became involved in banking, and was sufficiently
succesful that virtually every major royal or noble figure owed them
money, and they had vast treasuries. (It wasn't technically
"interest", but a "handling fee", getting around the prohibition on
usury.) Obviously, this couldn't be allowed to go on, so the King of
France trumped up charges of idolatry and heresy against them.
The Knights Templar figure in a great many conspiracy theories,
as documented in Umberto Eco's novel, _Foucault's Pendulum_.
>#38, "Lost in Space"
>The title is that of an American children's science-fiction television
>show from the sixties and seventies (?). Warning, Will Robinson!
As an aside, I note that Bill Mumy, who played Will Robinson on
the show, is now a comics creator-- writer, I'm pretty sure, but
not absolutely.
>p. 16: "Bell, book and candle" seems to be an old phrase for summoning.
>Gaiman and Pratchett used it in _Good Omens_. Where is it from?
Not summoning, but sort of the opposite. The Roman Catholic
excommunication ceremony involves tolling a bell (that everyone may
know), closing a book (the Bible?), and snuffing a candle (to signify
that the light of the Church no longer shines on this individual).
Mike
--
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS "Never let your sense of morality prevent
ms...@midway.uchicago.edu you from doing what's right!"
mike.s...@um.cc.umich.edu --Mayor Salvor Hardin of Terminus
ms...@usite-next.uchicago.edu Isaac Asimov, _Foundation_
John Romkey
>considering how, in the _Illuminatus_ trilogy by Shea and Wilson, 5 is
>the number of the Discordians, not the Illuminati. I would identify Honey's
>side with the Illuminati. Just the Pentagon, I guess...
I think you've got that slightly wrong. Hagbard Celine goes on quite a bit
about five; it's in general an important number (after all, 2 + 3 = 5,
and 23 is important too), but 5 is also strongly associated with the
Illuminati (there are 5 prime illuminati).
--
- john romkey Epilogue Technology
USENET/UUCP/Internet: rom...@asylum.sf.ca.us voice: 617 942-0915
Andrew Moran
>>#38, "Lost in Space"
>>The title is that of an American children's science-fiction television
>>show from the sixties and seventies (?). Warning, Will Robinson!
>As an aside, I note that Bill Mumy, who played Will Robinson on
>the show, is now a comics creator-- writer, I'm pretty sure, but
>not absolutely.
More Billy Mumy trivia: he wrote/sang a very strange song called "Fish Heads",s
sometime in the early eighties (I think). The chorus went:
Fish heads, Fish heads,
Roly-poly fish heads,
Eat them up, yum!
Andy
Andrew Moran
> Fish heads, Fish heads,
> Roly-poly fish heads,
Fish heads, Fish heads,
Phil Poole
--
Philip Poole. | PEOPLE IN THE BACKSEATS OF CARS CAN CREATE ACCIDENTS
| BUT
po...@cs.widener.edu| ACCIDENTS IN THE BACKSEATS OF CARS CAN CREATE PEOPLE
Robert A. Jung
>Michael S. Schiffer writes:
>>> [Stuff about "Lost in Space" deleted]
>
>>As an aside, I note that Bill Mumy, who played Will Robinson on
>>the show, is now a comics creator-- writer, I'm pretty sure, but
>>not absolutely.
>
>More Billy Mumy trivia: he wrote/sang a very strange song called "Fish
Even more Bill Mumy trivia: He's half of the comedy music group "Barnes and
Barnes", which is where he did "Fish Heads" originally. B&B have also done a
bunch of other stuff, including "Touch Yourself" (a bouncy number about...er,
safe sex) and "Goodbye Old Friends" (a farewell to STAR TREK VI).
I haven't seen it, but supposedly one of the issues of the COMET MAN limited
series features a radio playing "Fish Heads". Of course, CM was written by
Bill Mumy.
Most of Barnes & Barnes stuff is not that strange -- relative to the rest
of the field of comedy/demented music, it's just silly. People who think
"Fish Heads" is "strange" obviously don't get enough of "The Dr. Demento Show"
(and poor lost souls they are).
--R.J.
B-)
"At least six features found their place
It sure beats watching 'Lost in Space'..."
--"Goodbye, Old Friends"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send mail to rj...@usc.edu Any time, any place, any game -- Lynx Up!
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Babs: "I'd be terrific! Colossal! Stupendous! Mediocre even!"
Aide: "You are applying for the position of President of the United States?"
--Buster's Guide to Part-Time Jobs, TINY TOON ADVENTURES
Capt. Frank A. Lauro
>>More Billy Mumy trivia: he wrote/sang a very strange song called "Fish
>>Heads", sometime in the early eighties (I think).
> Even more Bill Mumy trivia: He's half of the comedy music group "Barnes and
>Barnes", which is where he did "Fish Heads" originally. B&B have also done a
>bunch of other stuff, including "Touch Yourself" (a bouncy number about...er,
>safe sex) and "Goodbye Old Friends" (a farewell to STAR TREK VI).
Yet *more* trivia: the other half of Barnes & Barnes was Miguel Ferrer,
Albert Rosenfield of TWIN PEAKS.
Didn't Ferrer also recive a writing credit for THE COMET MAN?
--------
Captain Frank A. Lauro Commanding Officer University of Illinois
fal2...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu USS ALEXA NCC 1764-D Urbana-Champaign
--------
"The artist deals with what cannot be said in words. The artist whose
medium is fiction does this *in words*. The novelist says in words
what cannot be said in words." (Ursula K. Le Guin, 1976)
Capt. Frank A. Lauro
>Got it wrong:
Oh, what the hell. I'm bored...
Fish heads, Fish heads
Roly-poly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads
Eat them up -- yum!
In the morning, laughing at the fish heads
In the evening, floating in the soup
[chorus]
I took a fish head out to see a movie
Didn't have to pay to get it in
[chorus]
They can't play baseball; they don't wear sweaters
They're not good dancers; they don't play drums
[chorus]
Roly-poly fish heads are never seen drinking cappucino
in Italian restaurants with Oriental women....(yeah)
[chorus]
[chorus] (a capella)
Yeah...
Just another Demento-head, that's me. Anyone for a rousing rendition of
"The Scotsman"? =)
Steve Stelter
>rj...@aludra.usc.edu (Robert A. Jung) writes:
>>>More Billy Mumy trivia: he wrote/sang a very strange song called "Fish
>>>Heads", sometime in the early eighties (I think).
>> Even more Bill Mumy trivia: He's half of the comedy music group "Barnes and
>>Barnes", which is where he did "Fish Heads" originally. B&B have also done a
>>bunch of other stuff, including "Touch Yourself" (a bouncy number about...er,
>>safe sex) and "Goodbye Old Friends" (a farewell to STAR TREK VI).
>Yet *more* trivia: the other half of Barnes & Barnes was Miguel Ferrer,
>Albert Rosenfield of TWIN PEAKS.
Still more Bill M. trivia: As a kid, he had a few parts on "The Twilight
Zone." One of his roles was the psychokinetic kid in "It's a *Good*
Day," an episode which later found its way (in altered form) into the
"Twilight Zone" movie.
--Steve Stelter
sjs2...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Capt. Frank A. Lauro
Hey, why stop now? Mumy had a cameo in the movie version of "It's a
*Good* Life", directed by Joe Dante. (If memory serves, though, it
was under a different title -- refer to Roger Ebert's review of the film,
which is (thoughtfully) broken up into the four and a half episodes).
Incidentally, I felt that the in-your-face cartoony Dante rendition was
far less powerful than the original episode, which in turn affected me
less than Jerome Bixby's original short story.
Forgive the no-longer-technically-r.a.c.-related topic, folks. =)
Dave Schweisguth
>sjs2...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Stelter) writes:
>>Still more Bill M. trivia: As a kid, he had a few parts on "The Twilight
>>Zone." One of his roles was the psychokinetic kid in "It's a *Good*
>>Day," an episode which later found its way (in altered form) into the
>>"Twilight Zone" movie.
>
>Hey, why stop now? Mumy had a cameo in the movie version of "It's a
>*Good* Life", directed by Joe Dante. (If memory serves, though, it
>was under a different title -- refer to Roger Ebert's review of the film,
>which is (thoughtfully) broken up into the four and a half episodes).
And Barnes and Barnes' "Cemetery Girls" has a chorus "Fresh skulls in the
cornfield ... Anthony put them there" and even some samples from the TZ
episode.
| Dave Schweisguth Yale MB&B & Chemistry Email: d...@neutron.chem.yale.edu |
| Lab phone: 203-432-5208 Fax: 203-432-6144 Home phone: 203-436-2831 |
Taed Nelson
> Michael S. Schiffer writes:
>
> >>#38, "Lost in Space"
>
> >>The title is that of an American children's science-fiction television
> >>show from the sixties and seventies (?). Warning, Will Robinson!
>
> >As an aside, I note that Bill Mumy, who played Will Robinson on
>
And yet more:
He played the child in _The Twilight Zone_ episode "It's a good life",
which is by far my favorite episode...
He was also in about three other episodes.
the Colonel
>
> P. 5: "Downtown". Petula Clarke?
Clark without an "e".
> p. 3 The Juvenal quotation is translated "Prayer is necessary for a healthy
> mind in a healthy body", according to my sources.
Get some new sources! "It is to be prayed that a healthy mind be in a
healthy body."
> p. 23: Token suckers are for real (NYC).
And not everybody will know of Lynch's movie _Eraserhead_ ...
-:-
"I'm warning you ... if you kill me, they'll
just send 008!"
--Flaming Carrot
--
Col. G. L. Sicherman
g...@windmill.att.COM
dascos...@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
> fal2...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Capt. Frank A. Lauro) writes:
>
> >rj...@aludra.usc.edu (Robert A. Jung) writes:
> >>>More Billy Mumy trivia: he wrote/sang a very strange song called "Fish
> >>>Heads", sometime in the early eighties (I think).
>
> >> Even more Bill Mumy trivia: He's half of the comedy music group "Barnes a
> >>Barnes", which is where he did "Fish Heads" originally. B&B have also done
> >>bunch of other stuff, including "Touch Yourself" (a bouncy number about...e
> >>safe sex) and "Goodbye Old Friends" (a farewell to STAR TREK VI).
>
> >Yet *more* trivia: the other half of Barnes & Barnes was Miguel Ferrer,
> >Albert Rosenfield of TWIN PEAKS.
>
>
> Still more Bill M. trivia: As a kid, he had a few parts on "The Twilight
> Zone." One of his roles was the psychokinetic kid in "It's a *Good*
> Day," an episode which later found its way (in altered form) into the
> "Twilight Zone" movie.
>
> --Steve Stelter
> sjs2...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
In which he had a cameo. BTW another
episode he was in was "In Praise of Pip" with Jack Klugman and he also
appeared in a Flash episode that no one on the East Coast evr saw all of
because of Bush's heart problem.
Dascoser
William R Lutz
Let's not forget the group AMERICA. I just got the ENCORE CD it's
great. It has four new releases on it plus more of the good old stuff.
______________________________________________________________________________
Team Handball, it's not off the wall!
____________________________
| it's the only | William R. Lutz
| Amiga 3000 way to compute |
|____________________________| wrl...@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu
Vice President of
Heart of the Sun, Inc.
Where we read more comics before 9:00 am then most people do all day.
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