May 4, 2008 - May 10, 2008

Bad marketing ideas of the past

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 7, 2008 3:04 AM

The Monday Movie Quiz #174

There's enough imdb info for anybody in those two pics, so that's it for clues. Besides, if you consider yourself well-versed in classic American movies, you must know this. Send me an email with the title by late Sunday-- if you're right, you'll know the exciting feeling of seeing your name in next week's criminal winner's circle.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 5, 2008 2:37 AM

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

The cheeky woman in last week's picture clue was The Lady in the Radiator from David Lynch's first feature film, Eraserhead (1977). She dances and sings on a stage inside Henry's radiator while stepping on squishy things that fall from above. Henry's the big-haired guy in the poster-- he looks that way because his wife left him alone with their sick mutant baby. No wonder one quiz winner wrote, "All I remember about that movie is the weird music and bizarre dreams I had after seeing it."

"So many scenes of discomfort," wrote another, "like the seizure at dinner, with the main course spurting black ooze." (The meal referred to is a delicious-looking artificial chicken that moves around on the plate.) "And how about that baby?" How about it, indeed?

David Lynch has refused for over thirty years to discuss what, exactly, the animated little cutie pictured above was made out of. (Let's just say animals weren't harmed, but they were probably used.) Lynch refuses to talk about the movie altogether, for the most part, at least regarding the big questions about it, like, "What the hell does it mean?" (Lynch only says no one's gotten it right.)

He did talk about the making of the film for a special feature on the DVD, and it's a pretty strange story by itself. Lynch spent five years working on Eraserhead, with (mostly) the same people throughout. (Jack Nance, who played Henry, had to keep his hair like that for half a decade!) The film was funded by The American Film Institute (!) and was shot at an old estate the AFI controlled, and Lynch actually lived there in the stables for three years. When he says that The Lady in the Radiator came to him during that time, it makes a little more sense.

Incidentally, Lynch is a transcendental meditator and is quite involved with the scene at Maharishi University in Fairfield, Iowa (the only spot in the state where the director of Eraserhead can be seen giving a ride to the author of "Mellow Yellow"). Last month, he presided over "A David Lynch Weekend," with Donovan and Moby, where organic vegetarian meals were served in a smoke-free environment. (Reportedly, Lynch goes out back for his tobacco fix-- he must be there most of the day.)

This would be the place for the Eraserhead youtube video, and of course the best one would be The Lady in the Radiator performing her greatest hit, "In Heaven Everything is Fine." Unfortunately, the only (good) one that's there is too long and gives away a little too much for my liking. (Not that you can spoil the ending of an indecipherable movie.) So, instead, here's David Lynch today in an "ad" that's been around for awhile, but it's good enough to look at again. (WARNING: Watch out if you're at work, the F-word is used at the end.)

Not the usual bounty of winners-- in fact, some checked in to admit they were stumped-- so special congratulations and something squishy to step on to the following Midnight Movie mavens: Thomas Miller, Wayne Palmer, John Seffl, Nancy Louise Rutherford, Bill Kelly, Dean Carlson, The Mississippifarian, Brad Cook, Josefina Avila, E. Yarber, Michael Mattson, Bill Hearne, Kevin Musolino, Fred Lorence, and Christina O'Sullivan.

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 5, 2008 12:51 AM

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