TCM alert! "Gus Visser and His Singing Duck!!"

Cafe Society
41

Saw it all the way to halfway through the Rin-Tin-Tin movie.

Some comments:

Of the three color movies, the Brewster one was of most interest, for its color shots of the streets of Newark.

Also interesting to see the NYC street scenes.

What was Visser saying after he finishes the song? He bows, and says something, but I couldn’t make it out.

Is it just me, or was the soundtrack to Visser a bit warped at the beginning?

Lotus Blossom was of some historical interest, but I’m not interested in seeing it again.

Interesting to see the early Warner Brothers logo, as well.

42

E-mail from my friend Donna in L.A.: “What WAS Gus Visser DOING to that duck? I am still disturbed.”

I turned it off after Gus, will watch the rest this week. Could barely keep awake through The Flute of Krishna and The Lotus Blossom, though I loved the early “realities” of NYC.

How bizarre was the animated “peephole” segment of The “Teddy” Bears?!

43

I missd the Teddy Bears–I nodded off at the first half of the Rin-Tin-Tin movie. Still, this is a DVD set I’d like to get.

44

I think it was something like, “Well, that’s it, then,” to the technicians.

The whole thing was a bit warped!

45

That I won’t deny.

46

It quacked me up!

47

I was exhausted, so I went to bed.

Guess I’ll have to get the DVD. My life will be incomplete without this masterpiece.

Robin

48

That was great, but I do wonder what he was doing to that duck.

I saw the realities on line at the library of congress before this. They have hundreds of films available online. I spent hours looking at them.

49

Me, too—At the Foot of the Flatiron (1903) was fascinating—toward the end of the film, two Gibson Girls walk by, holding onto their hats in the wind and laughing uproariously at something as they chat. I always wonder, who where they? where were they going? what were they laughing at? whatever happened to them?

By the way, I’ll bet Gus Visser and his Singing Duck followed Miss Ethel Barrymore in a Scene from Camille on the Keith-Orpheum circuit.

50

THE “TEDDY” BEARS (1907) was shown only 21 minutes into the show, long before the Rin-Tin-Tin movie.

And what a horrible ending! We go from a light-hearted romp with Goldilocks and the Three Bears, to Baby Bear seeing his parents shot and killed by Teddy Roosevelt.

51

So what was the professor’s comment about that killing Vaudeville? I’d still pay good money to see a guy singing with his hand up a duck’s ass!

52

I believe that he was commenting on the fact that there were multiple people doing this sort of routine.

I missed the last 90 minutes, both yesterday and last Saturday. Did I miss anything good?

53

The last half hour included There It Is (1928), a positively Dada-ist silent comedy starring Charlie Bowers.

54

I managed to catch Gus Visser and his Duck (after sitting through Lotus Blossom), and I have to say that I’m somewhat disappointed. I liked seeing early sound – you know me and tech – but it did not have either me or Pepper Mill rolling on the floor.

I want my 90 seconds back!

55

Well, all I can say is, if you’re not hugely entertained by a balding, somewhat toothless man singing “Ma! He’s Makin’ Eyes at Me!” with his hand up a duck’s ass . . . well, I just don’t know what this world is coming to.

56

Somewhat toothless?

By my count, 50% of his teeth were gone.

57

Now we know why Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson were making the BIG bucks.

I have to put Gus on the level of The Matrix. Despite all the advanced hype, the visuals almost overwhelmed the existential materialism of the script. Though it would have been even funnier if the duck exploded at the end. Or Teddy Roosevelt came out and shot him.

Could this be the origin of the title for Duck Soup?

I just finished watching up to that point and didn’t feel like a feature of Rin Tin Tin so don’t spoil the plot for me. I now wish I had recorded last week’s show as well. Much of fascination to watch.

The incredible wind in the Flatiron short made me wonder: when the first skyscrapers went up there was much discussion of the way that they changed wind patterns by creating heavier-than-normal winds and strange downdrafts and updrafts at their bases. Could it be that the film was supposed to be documenting or commenting on this?

And while I know that buffs are supposed to enamored of black and white, I can’t help wanting more color footage, at least of reality. I want to know exactly what the world of the past was like and every distancing we impose upon it frustrates me. Even the people in the two-color process films became instantly more human.

58

OK, I just got back from an exhausting day of research at Lincoln Center (five and a half hours of whispering huge scrapbooks into my tape recorder–my throat, neck and back are killing me).

But I had to go to the filing cabinet (happily, they still have old-fashioned filing cabinets, with cards sometimes 40, 50, years old). *There are no files on Gus Visser. * Nothing. No obit, reviews, clippings, programs, nothing.

Who was he? From whence did he spring onto that sound short? Was he actually the first example of CGI?

Or maybe the duck was actually Gus Visser . . .

59

Using my good friend and drinking compatriot, Google, I found this part of the TCM website , which offers some clues about Visser’s act.

(Warning: Link somewhat erratic.)

60

I would really like to know where TCM got that information, as there is nothing on him at Lincoln Center, and the have files on everyone.

Mysteriouser and mysteriouser . . .