Am I missing something?

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

Until you mentioned it I never realized the other connection, and a late friend of mine was a huge Busby Berkley fan and called DeLuise's parody spot on (in his opinion) so I really didn't think much more about it not knowing all that much about him.

Berkeley often had to be strapped into his chair with the overhead camera because he was drunk! However, he was hardly alone in that regard. And he apparently often worked out those wonderful set pieces in his bath. As for Curtiz I am surprised you made no connection given the prevalence with which you provide a video link to that classic scene from Casablanca.

[rogue06]

Berkeley often had to be strapped into his chair with the overhead camera because he was drunk! However, he was hardly alone in that regard. And he apparently often worked out those wonderful set pieces in his bath. As for Curtiz I am surprised you made no connection given the prevalence with which you provide a video link to that classic scene from Casablanca.

I've seen the character of a director comedically portrayed with the props you mentioned associated with him in various movies, TV programs and even cartoons, but never really knew who it was they were parodying. And given that this was usually back when I was young and that most of the references came from movies/TV/cartoons that were before my time, as well as it being pre-interwebz, there weren't many ways back then to find out who was being lampooned in these depictions.

Interesting after perusing Google images for Michael Curitz, and then with the words "megaphone" and "jodhpurs" (the stereotypical accouterments associated with him and the characters based upon him), but came up completely empty. Nothing showing him dressed thusly. Not a whole lot of pictures there of him at all.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

I've seen the character of a director comedically portrayed with the props you mentioned associated with him in various movies, TV programs and even cartoons, but never really knew who it was they were parodying. And given that this was usually back when I was young and that most of the references came from movies/TV/cartoons that were before my time, as well as it being pre-interwebz, there weren't many ways back then to find out who was being lampooned in these depictions.

Interesting after perusing Google images for Michael Curitz, and then with the words "megaphone" and "jodhpurs" (the stereotypical accouterments associated with him and the characters based upon him), but came up completely empty. Nothing showing him dressed thusly. Not a whole lot of pictures there of him at all.

The British actor David Niven mentions Curtiz' dress code in his memoirs Bring on the Empty Horses. Niven took the title of that memoir from an episode demonstrating on Curtiz' broken English - he did not speak a word of the language when he arrived in the USA. According to Niven that was the order Curtiz shouted through his megaphone during the making of The Charge of the Light Brigade [1936]. Flynn and Niven collapsed laughing and Curtiz turned to them and, according to Niven made another comment, also in broken English, which merely compounded their mirth. I won't quote it as it contains profanities.

Niven also recounts how all the directors had their little idiosyncrasies. He notes that Ernst Lubitsch had his cigar, John Ford sat beneath the cameras chewing a grubby white handkerchief, and Michael Curtiz strode around in breeches [jodphurs], riding boots, and brandishing a fly whisk. [p.318]. There is also a photograph of Niven and Flynn, with Curtiz in his breeches and boots sitting between them, in a photograph taken on the set of The Charge of the Light Brigade [p 46-48]. Here it is.



John K Rode also comments on Curtiz' apparel in his biography of the man A Life in Film. The following is from a review of that book.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2017/12/19/...y-alan-k-rode/
C.B. De Mille represented the figure of the Hollywood director for the masses. But for many in the know Curtiz embodied the worst cliché of the Hollywood director. Like De Mille, Curtiz wore jodhpurs and boots on the set (though interestingly not in the majority of set stills one now finds on the web — presumably they had become a cliché by then though Rode’s book offers plenty of examples) and screamed from a megaphone. He was famous for mangling the English language: David Niven titled one of his memoirs ‘Bring on the Empty Horses’ after one of his utterings whilst filming a battle sequence in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936).

[rogue06]

The British actor David Niven mentions Curtiz' dress code in his memoirs Bring on the Empty Horses. Niven took the title of that memoir from an episode demonstrating on Curtiz' broken English - he did not speak a word of the language when he arrived in the USA. According to Niven that was the order Curtiz shouted through his megaphone during the making of The Charge of the Light Brigade [1936]. Flynn and Niven collapsed laughing and Curtiz turned to them and, according to Niven made another comment, also in broken English, which merely compounded their mirth. I won't quote it as it contains profanities.

Niven also recounts how all the directors had their little idiosyncrasies. He notes that Ernst Lubitsch had his cigar, John Ford sat beneath the cameras chewing a grubby white handkerchief, and Michael Curtiz strode around in breeches [jodphurs], riding boots, and brandishing a fly whisk. [p.318]. There is also a photograph of Niven and Flynn, with Curtiz in his breeches and boots sitting between them, in a photograph taken on the set of The Charge of the Light Brigade [p 46-48]. Here it is.



John K Rode also comments on Curtiz' apparel in his biography of the man A Life in Film. The following is from a review of that book.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2017/12/19/...y-alan-k-rode/
C.B. De Mille represented the figure of the Hollywood director for the masses. But for many in the know Curtiz embodied the worst cliché of the Hollywood director. Like De Mille, Curtiz wore jodhpurs and boots on the set (though interestingly not in the majority of set stills one now finds on the web — presumably they had become a cliché by then though Rode’s book offers plenty of examples) and screamed from a megaphone. He was famous for mangling the English language: David Niven titled one of his memoirs ‘Bring on the Empty Horses’ after one of his utterings whilst filming a battle sequence in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936).

Thanks. I guess that I just was never all that interested in celebrity trivia

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

Thanks. I guess that I just was never all that interested in celebrity trivia

The history of Hollywood and the memoirs of individuals who worked in it during its golden years, make for very interesting reading. As of course, do the biographies and autobiographies of various individuals. Kirk Douglas' I am Spartacus and The Ragman's Son being two such examples. Not to mention [given your interest in the movie Casablanca] Aljean Harmetz' Round Up The Usual Suspects on the making of that classic.

[rogue06]

The history of Hollywood and the memoirs of individuals who worked in it during its golden years, make for very interesting reading. As of course, do the biographies and autobiographies of various individuals. Kirk Douglas' I am Spartacus and The Ragman's Son being two such examples. Not to mention [given your interest in the movie Casablanca] Aljean Harmetz' Round Up The Usual Suspects on the making of that classic.

I love a good movie, but that doesn't mean I'm that interested in the details about the various actor's lives.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

I love a good movie, but that doesn't mean I'm that interested in the details about the various actor's lives.

That is fair enough but then you missed the in-joke in Blazing Saddles on Curtiz.

[CivilDiscourse]

That is fair enough but then you missed the in-joke in Blazing Saddles on Curtiz.

That is one good thing about Mel Brooks movies. Many of his jokes will still land (though, slightly differently) if you don't know the specific reference it was making.

[rogue06]

That is one good thing about Mel Brooks movies. Many of his jokes will still land (though, slightly differently) if you don't know the specific reference it was making.

And like with the movie Airplane they often come at such a brisk pace it really doesn't matter if you don't catch them all.

[CivilDiscourse]

And like with the movie Airplane they often come at such a brisk pace it really doesn't matter if you don't catch them all.

The worst were the <genre> Movie! craze in the early 2000's. Those were bad at the time, and have only aged worse since. They relied heavily on pop-culture references and cameos that were really only funny when you knew the references being made, and even then, only just barely.

[rogue06]

The worst were the <genre> Movie! craze in the early 2000's. Those were bad at the time, and have only aged worse since. They relied heavily on pop-culture references and cameos that were really only funny when you knew the references being made, and even then, only just barely.

Subtle and even not so subtle pop references rarely age well and often require explanations even only ten years out.

Not a movie but a book but I really enjoyed the spoof of Lord of the Rings called Bored of the Rings. IIRC, National Lampoon put it out at the end of the 60s. Unfortunately it is stuffed full with references that would likely be meaningless to anyone not familiar with 60s and earlier pop culture.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

That is one good thing about Mel Brooks movies. Many of his jokes will still land (though, slightly differently) if you don't know the specific reference it was making.

His movies are still hilarious and under that [often coarse but still funny] humour there is much humanity.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

Subtle and even not so subtle pop references rarely age well and often require explanations even only ten years out.

Not a movie but a book but I really enjoyed the spoof of Lord of the Rings called Bored of the Rings. IIRC, National Lampoon put it out at the end of the 60s. Unfortunately it is stuffed full with references that would likely be meaningless to anyone not familiar with 60s and earlier pop culture.

Did your children ever come across this?



I think he did a few.

On Tolkien spoofs I recall a BBC radio play I heard years ago called Hordes of the Things with a character called Radox the Green.

[rogue06]

Did your children ever come across this?



I think he did a few.

On Tolkien spoofs I recall a BBC radio play I heard years ago called Hordes of the Things with a character called Radox the Green.

Book0033_c403e697-70b6-43fc-a3d9-bc276ae081e2.jpg
It was Harvard Lampoon, which is what they were called before becoming National Lampoon, that published it and is credited with inspiring multiple spoofs and even things like Saturday Night Live and The Onion.

As I said, the number of dated references makes it difficult to understand the jokes today. For instance, the Hobbits Merry and Pippin become Moxie and Pepsi. While Pepsi is certainly still around Moxie (another soft drink) has all but vanished and FWIU can only be found in the northern reaches of New England these days. Likewise Aragon, son of Arathorn becomes Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt. While Arrow shirts are still around (but nowhere as popular) I doubt that many today are familiar with arrowroot starch.

And AFAIK I don't have any kids. Tried to be very careful about that.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

Book0033_c403e697-70b6-43fc-a3d9-bc276ae081e2.jpg
It was Harvard Lampoon, which is what they were called before becoming National Lampoon, that published it and is credited with inspiring multiple spoofs and even things like Saturday Night Live and The Onion.

As I said, the number of dated references makes it difficult to understand the jokes today. For instance, the Hobbits Merry and Pippin become Moxie and Pepsi. While Pepsi is certainly still around Moxie (another soft drink) has all but vanished and FWIU can only be found in the northern reaches of New England these days. Likewise Aragon, son of Arathorn becomes Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt. While Arrow shirts are still around (but nowhere as popular) I doubt that many today are familiar with arrowroot starch.

And AFAIK I don't have any kids. Tried to be very careful about that.

As I recall the Harvard Lampoon was also quite crude in parts.

As to your offspring, my apologies. For some reason I thought you had mentioned your children in past posts. I must have confused you with someone else.