Dust witches and fortune tellers

02 November 2006, 08:20 AM

Doug Spaulding

quote:

Most phrases like "gol-darn" "dad-gum", dagnabbit", and the like come from attempts to express frustration without actually saying "God damn".

Fields was the best at inventing "new" swears. To wit:

"Godfrey Daniel"
"Mother of Pearl"
"Drat!"

And he had some pretty good lines, too:

"Now don't say you can't swear off drinking; it's easy. I've done it a thousand times."

Secretary: "Someday you'll drown in a vat of whiskey."
Fields: "Drown in a vat of whiskey? Oh death, where is thy sting?"

02 November 2006, 11:13 AM

Braling II

Fields was the best.
I only wish more of his movies were available. There are so many memorable quotes, too, many of which were featured on an LP issued in the late '60s hosted by Gary Owens. An example: instead of asking, "how about breakfast?", the great man asks, "How'd you like to hide the egg and gurgitate a few saucers of Mocha Java?"

02 November 2006, 12:08 PM

Doug Spaulding

quote:
Originally posted by Braling II:
Fields was the best.
I only wish more of his movies were available. There are so many memorable quotes, too, many of which were featured on an LP issued in the late '60s hosted by Gary Owens. An example: instead of asking, "how about breakfast?", the great man asks, "How'd you like to hide the egg and gurgitate a few saucers of Mocha Java?"

Here's a nice collection - it's not everything, tho:

http://www.amazon.com/Fields-Comedy-Collection-Chickade...524755?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

It does have his best two, "It's a Gift" ("No, I don't know a Carl LaFong! Capital L, small a, capital F, small o, small n, small g, but if I did know him, I wouldn't admit it!"), and "The Bank Dick" ("I'm very fond of children. Girl children, around eighteen, twenty"), ("Accent grave over the e".)

I have the LP! Wonderful!

"Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."

Yeah - I think Fields is the funniest man who ever lived!

06 September 2014, 10:19 PM

dandelion

More on the bullet catch. http://mentalfloss.com/article...forming-bullet-catch

09 September 2014, 07:05 AM

Braling II

Wow.
Thanks, Dandy!

09 September 2014, 09:53 PM

dandelion

Couldn't resist!

Neither could Mythbusters: http://www.discovery.com/tv-sh...tch-bullet-teeth.htm

25 January 2016, 04:44 PM

dandelion

quote:
Originally posted by PatrickMullins:
Michael, thanks a lot for asking Ray about the Dust Witch. It was worth a shot!

I should take Walloon's thoughtful suggestion, and track down the Waukegan city directory for the late 20s. My bet is that there was a penny arcade--complete with fortune teller machine--at Waukegan's lake front, like the one in Dandelion Wine.

One can still see those fortune teller machines around here and there. You may recall that one of them was central to the plot in the Tom Hanks movie, "Big." You can't tell me the screenwriter wasn't a Bradbury fan!

Cori mentioned "Ching Ling Soo" as another recurring carnival motiff in Ray's work. Ray nicely combined the two motiffs when he inspired Mr. Holloway to treat the Dust Witch to the bullet trick!

If you'd like to read about the life of the real Chung Ling Soo and his death-by-bullet-trick, follow the link below. The online story isn't as evocative as Colonel Freeleigh's version, but I guess you had to be there!

BTW, Sam Weller said that his next book project will be a novel based on the life of Chung Ling Foo, the Chinese magician who was the inspiration for Chung Ling Soo.

Drunk on Dandelion Wine,

Patrick

http://www.hat-archive.com/chunglingsoo.htm

Bumping up a very old thread to mention the story of Chung Ling Soo was featured on the excellent Travel Channel program Mysteries at the Museum. The real story took place a few years later than the date given in the book. Also, the "Ching" wasn't either a mistake or deliberate change only on Ray's part. "Ching Ling Soo" is also mentioned in the 1939 movie Miracles For Sale starring Robert Young. It just ended on TCM and the mention is made near the end.

Also, we totally need to find out where this thing is. I, uh, need it.