Passamaquoddy

We recently got a letter from Principal Ripper at the North High School which featured some good news. After several weeks they finally got their high school musical cast. It promises to be a good one as they are going to produce FIDDLER CRABS ON THE ROOF, a story of a poor bait farmer caught between his family and a fishing boat built entirely out of beer cans.

Ripper explained that this is an extraordinary piece and the casting process was long and difficult. Sharkey Mae who has so often been out front, will now play second fiddler crab to Mackerella, a brainy student just in from out of county. For the male lead, Brine was passed over this year by Chroy. It was a difficult competition as each individual tried to break out from their defining cliques. And each clique is as solid as can be… For example, the live bait kids wouldn’t be caught dead using flies or treaders… The hookers never come over near the netters. So it was nice to see Mackerella and Chroy break out of their group.

Principal Ripper prophesized that their little story would make quite an original movie, if you overlook the similarities to Grease. Either way, we’ll be there opening night to see how our High School Musical pans out.

Oh, additionally our school won the fishing regatta championships as well as the Oceanographic Decatholan on the same day.  Go Wildcatfish!

Heres another matte painting by Peter Ellenshaw. What makes this one so interesting is what I had to go through to get it. As you may recall, I was recently thrown out of the museum because Fred Appleton hits people when they are not looking. ( I think he is mean to puppies too). So, I had to rely on quick thinking to get in unnoticed.

First I tried sneaking in the back door, but it was guarded by the dog that used to work over at the now closed “Turtle Talk with Cujo!”.

Next I stopped some nice folk coming out of CLUB 8, and paid them some good hard cash to get me in. They put me in a carraige and tried to sneak my by, but the guards saw from their smiles that they were up to something. When I saw the photo of them I could tell as well… What a waste of money that was. And after I got caught they abandoned me. They ran off to visit Andy Jones for the twelfth time that day.

So finally, I approached the door, said ‘please’ and they let me in.

So now we have another great picture of Ellenshaw’s work. Its interesting to see how his work changes and morphs as time goes by. We can discuss that later.

Castaway Month is about half over at this point. And we’ve seen quite a lot of material associated with castaways including but not limited to a weeklong saga where some of our own found themselves stranded on an uncharted desert isle, a disection of the castaway sequence from the animated film TARZAN, a review of PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS, a shot from the Donald Duck short SEA SALTS and even a report from the SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON BREWHOUSE.

Our next exhibit is a discussion of the 1962 Disney film IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS. Yes, those that live here in Passamaquoddy saw this film during Verne Week just a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t covered at all on the Passamaquoddy blog. Besides, I didn’t get to see it all back then so I took it in tonight.

IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS is a great example of an adventure film. The type of entertainment that would go on to inspire archeologists to don their fedora and whips to hunt down artifacts. It follows two young children off to rescue their castaway father who is thought to be alive only from the existence of a cryptic message in a bottle. Following these clues, they pass through heck and high water, literally. They skirt active volcanoes and survive a massive flooding. They are stalked by leopards, crocs and a giant condor, savage indians and friendly ones. They escape on a broken rock during an earthquake only to find themselves on a vicious toboggan ride through hairpin turns under a glacier. All of that in the span of an hour and a half.

Haley Mills (Pollyanna) is the main Disney presence on screen during the film, but it is Maurice Chevalier that walks away with the story as well as the scenery portraying the ultimate optimist. He sings during storms, smiles at wild animals and tells others to enjoy the view of evil savages running from molten lava. In the end, this is a story about the adventure rather than any sort of emotional journey. That is a strange sacrifice for a Disney film usually heavy in the heart department. Castaways is fast paced and places our heroes in and out of the frying pan and fire.

Unlike SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, this film is studio bound so is filled with set design and artistic effects by Peter Ellenshaw.. (I’ll see if I can find some pictures next time I’m allowed back into the Ellenshaw museum). Music by William Alwyn is very nice and adventurous. And even a few songs written by consistent Disney scribes the Sherman Brothers add to the fun.

In the end, CASTAWAYS is a sturdy film and makes for a nice adventure double feature. If you don’t think you’ll have time, don’t cry about it… enjoy it.

While the film “Darby O’Gill and the Little People” has a lot to talk about including phenomenal special effects and art by Peter Ellenshaw, fun music and a singing James Bond, today I want to talk about a bit of practical magic. Albert Sharpe, so wonderful at portraying Darby O’Gill was not so wonderful at playing the violin. But since it was a requirement for the story, 2 virtuoso violinists provided his hands during some of the shots… one controlling the bow and the other on the finger fret board… You can see them in action in the third picture above.

My thanks to King Brian of Knocknasheega and his Leprechauns, whose gracious co-operation made this blog posting possible as well as providing me with 3 dimes that were found in the dryer. - Doc Terminus

If you hadn’t heard, there was a bit of a ruckus downtown.  Well, I guess it is my fault.  Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe the influx of tourists visiting during “Castaway Month”.

I had stopped into the Ellenshaw museum to duck from the crowds.  I was back by the television exhibit. After viewing the Davy Crockett material, I ran into Fred Appleton taking in the Zorro offerings.  Fred is still pretty new to town and we started to chat.  We were discussing the many tellings of Zorro.  It got a bit heated as we didn’t agree but then I accidentally hit him on the side of his head with a lobster claw I happened to be carrying.  Appleton turned and hit me in the eye with a corn cobb on purpose.  Who carries a corn cobb?  So we got into a bit of a skirmish.  So, we were both thrown out of the museum.  I decided I needed a drink. The crowds had thinned, so I headed over to the Swiss Family Robinson Brewhouse.  Long story short, when I entered, Appleton was in there as well.. We had a good discussion.  In fact, Appleton said he may talk to us about the Zorro exhibit in the Ellenshaw.  (He often writes under the pseudonym Jeff W)

Anyway, while we were in there I asked the bartender Fritz if he could confirm the rumor that the Robinson Brewhouse was up for sale.  He said “Absolutely not.”  And then he said “your jacket is sitting in fondue.”  So, it is confirmed that the Swiss Family Robinson Brewhouse is here to stay in the foreseeable future.

New to town, Appleton never knew the story behind the Brewhouse.  That one evening during an exciting oyster shuck several folks had a bit too much to drink and threw the Brewhouse up into a tree.  Also that the Robinson’s had a Brewhouse over on the other coast, but it was taken over by someone named Greystoke.  Here’s a picture of the California Brewhouse today.

Of late, things are busy in downtown Passamaquoddy. All of this “castaway” stuff is allover the place. Special events.. bank holidays… even special sales. Most prominently, the “Swiss Family Robinson Brewhouse” had lines out the door. To avoid the crowds I headed into the Ellenshaw museum, back to some of the early television work by the elder Ellenshaw, Peter. I donned my coonskin cap and took a look at some of the Davy Crockett work.

One of the more interesting things available here was a side by side comparison of a shot through the painted glass next to a direct shot. Worth a look.

After the “story” in Tarzan comes to a close, there is brief epilogue.  Almost a curtain call, we get a brief callback to most of the characters that have touched Tarzan’s life as he and Jane playfully swings through the jungle.  It’s a vine party! The fast paced animation style wasn’t for everybody, but only a grump could avoid laughing when the prim and proper Janes’s father, Archimedes Porter swings wildly into scene.

There’s quite a story behind the creation of Peter Pan.  How creator J M Barrie created the stories to entertain a dear friends children, how he first wrote the material down into a popular play format and subsequent novel, and how he left all proceeds from the creation of Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital which still owns the copyright today.  But what we don’t know is where Peter Pan came from himself.  Sure there are brief references in many of the works, but there is no extended origin for the boy who never grew up.  Well, there is now.

PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS

Humorist Dave Barry and suspense novelist Ridley Pearson have crafted quite a clever prequel to the Pan that we’ve known since we were youngsters.  Spurred on by the phenomenal success of the Harry Potter books, they approach the story with a sly sense of humor and intelligent story structure.  Just shy of 500 pages, the book is solidified for the older teen to adult who never grew up age groups.

The story follows several groups that are hunting down a chest filled with starstuff, more familiar to us as pixie dust.  Each group has their reasons for needing the magical material inside, and in typical Disney fashion, those that have the best intentions win out in the end.  Along the way, the trunk provides a load of twists and turns, leading us to a point where we recognize the rules of Neverland at their infancy.  Creatures change and morph and characters grow and evolve.  It bridges well to an eventual Captain Hook and a Peter Pan story that we know so well.  It has got savages and mermaids, Pirates and lost boys and if any of those things are of interest to anybody, the book is worth a few nights reading.

One area where this book strays from the Harry Potter mode is in the extreme focus.  Early on we are introduced to the goal and the entire book sticks with that pursuit pretty aggressively.  It lacks the episodic nature of much of the boy wizard’s experiences.

There are a couple more ties of interest with PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS.  Firstly, the book which spent over 47 weeks on the New York Times best seller list is to be developed as a 3-D CGI film by Disney animation.  But even more interesting to us here in Passamaquoddy, the book is available in an audio version recorded by Jim Dale who played our very own Doc Terminus in Disney’s film PETE’S DRAGON.  If he does as well as he did with the Harry Potter audio recordings, this is one not to miss…

If you are interested in other book reviews from Passamaquoddy, search for “Bookworm” in the search engine to the right.