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