"It walks! it talks!..."

Cafe Society
1

“…it slithers on its belly like a reptile!”

A friend of mine said this to me one morning as he watched me stumble down the stairs after an evening of over-imbibing. I thought it was rather funny. I also thought it was original to my friend, but a few months later I heard it in a movie on TV. And I’ve since heard other friends say it.

So. Whence comes this funny little phrase originally?

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“Step right up, folks, and see Little Egypt do her famous Dance of the Pyramids! She walks! She talks! She crawls on her belly like a reptile! Just one thin dime! One tenth of a dollar! Step right up, folks!”

Intro to “Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)” by the Coasters, 1961, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.