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- From: ritter@earthlink.net (Niles D. Ritter)
- Newsgroups: alt.comedy.firesgn-thtre,alt.fan.firesign-theatre,alt.answers,news.answers
- Subject: Firesign Theatre: Lexicon, Part 1/4
- Supersedes: <fs_lex1_840579768@tazboy.jpl.nasa.gov>
- Followup-To: poster
- Date: 19 Feb 1997 09:26:07 -0800
- Organization: Sometimes A Good Idea
- Lines: 434
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
- Distribution: world
- Expires: 4 Apr 1997 17:19:38 GMT
- Message-ID: <fs_lex1_856372778@tazboy.jpl.nasa.gov>
- Reply-To: ritter@earthlink.net
- NNTP-Posting-Host: 137.78.120.2
- Summary: This posting contains a lexicon of terms and concepts
- which appear in Firesign Theatre plays and productions.
- Keywords: firesign,comedy,faq,lexicon,bozo
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.comedy.firesgn-thtre:10942 alt.fan.firesign-theatre:1107 alt.answers:24131 news.answers:95123
-
- Archive-name: firesign-theatre/lexicon/part1
- Last-modified: 1994/8/30
- Version: 2.0
-
- About This Archive
- ------------------
-
- This archive is posted monthly to alt.comedy.firesgn-thtre,
- alt.fan.firesign-theatre, alt.answers, and news.answers. It is
- also available via anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.edu in the
- directory /pub/usenet/alt.answers/firesign-theatre/lexicon/*, or by
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- "help" in the message for more information on the server.
-
- Send new entries/updates, etc. to ritter@earthlink.net
-
- Changes:
-
- 1. Split int <32K parts!
-
- Side 4) The Firesign Theatre: Lexicon and Concordance File (1/4)
- ================================================================
-
- INDEX:
-
- Part 1: ALVARADO-CURFEW
- Part 2: DCTDHMTP-GORGONZOLA
- Part 3: HCYB-OZ
- Part 4: PAPOON-ZIPS
-
-
- [A]
- ---
-
- ALVARADO: {PICO}'s sidekick, as in "It's Pico and Alvarado". From the
- streets Pico and Alvarado in Los Angeles. PICO and ALVARADO are both
- {BEANERS}. They are featured in the plays {BOZOS},{DWARF}, as well as
- others. {NICK DANGER} had to swim down Alvarado to his convertable
- during a severe rain storm. Pico and Alvarado sometimes like to
- yell, "{PARK} it and Lock it! Not Responsible!"
-
- AMES: Harry Ames, Jr. A fictional actor who portrays Lieutenant
- {BRADSHAW} on the {NICK DANGER} series. There is also a Gun
- Salesman names Ed Ames, who runs the "Ames Guns" store in {DWARF}.
-
- ANCHOVIES: Small fish with beady little eyes. We first encounter
- anchovies in {DWARF}, when George Tirebiter calls a {PIZZA} parlor
- (note the name of the pizza joint he calls):
-
- GEORGE [mumbling]: Let's see...Ocelots. Paupers. Pipe-nipples,
- Polombras, Pizzas! Armenian Gardens...Hank's Juggernaut...
- New Leviathan...Nick's Swell...
- SOUND: HE PICKS UP THE PHONE AND DIALS. THE NEWSCAST GOES ON.
- < Broadcast deleted>
- GEORGE [phoning]: Uh, this is George Tirebiter, Camden N 200 R.
- [pause] Uh, I want to order a pizza to go, and no anchovies.
- [pause] What ? [clicks phone] Oh, man! Nobody will come
- up here at all!
-
- Apparently, Tirebiter mistakenly called {NICK DANGER}, in the
- episode, "Cut 'Em Off at the Past". On that album, we hear the
- same conversation, but from the other side of the phone:
-
- ANNOUNCER: He walks in! He's ready for mystery...he's ready for
- excitement! He's ready for anything...he's...
- SOUND: TELEPHONE PICKED UP
- NICK: Nick Danger, Third Eye!
- GEORGE: (ON FILTER) Uh-I wanna order a pizza to go, and no
- anchovies.
- NICK: No anchovies? You've got the wrong man. I spell
- my name...Danger! [click]
- GEORGE: (FILTER) What?
- MUSIC: "NICK DANGER" THEME IN AND UNDER.
-
- Note: This is a direct quote from the "Big Mystery" Joke book, and
- so the attribution of "GEORGE" to the guy on the other side of the
- phone is the FT's, not an inference (some people thought it was
- the voice of the teenage Porgie that called Nick).
-
- In another episode of Nick Danger, "The case of the Missing Yolks"
- (Video), and the "Three faces of Al" (album), Rocky {ROCOCO} calls
- up Nick at the start of the play, and turns everything around:
-
- ROCKY: I want to order an anchovy to go, and hold the pizza.
- NICK: Anchovies?
- ROCKY: Yeah, those little black things, with eyes!
- NICK: You've got the wrong man. I spell my name
- (LOOKS BACK AT THE DOOR) ...REGNAD.
-
- ANTELOPE FREEWAY: A {LOS ANGELES} Freeway, north of the
- {SAN FERNANDINO} valley towards Palmdale. Used to demonstrate
- {ZENO'S PARADOX} in the {TWO PLACES} album.
-
- ARTIE CHOKE: A {HOLOGRAM} in the FT's {BOZO} play. Artie, the Lonesome
- Beet and the Whisperin' Squash were all once intended to be characters
- in an FT western radio show, featuring an all-vegetable cast.
-
- AUSTIN: Philip Austin, one of the FT members.
-
- [B]
- ---
-
- BABE: The name of {EVERYMAN} in the FT's play {TWO PLACES}. In the
- liner notes for the "Two Places" CD, Phil Austin writes:
-
- It has often been correctly note that the progress of Babe is linked
- with that of Odysseus, the hero of Homer's Epic poem, "The Odyssey".
- Although HCYB does not literally follow the form of "The Odyssey",
- there are several key meetings between the two stories and certainly,
- like Joyce's "Ulysses", HCYB derives much inspiration from the age-old
- story of a man trying to return home. Odysseus (Ulysses) finds himself
- imprisoned, bound by the spell of the witch Calypso, when his outrages
- against the gods are forgiven and he is allowed to return home. All
- we will see of this on HCYB is Babe running across a street, nearly to
- be killed, and entering the emporium of one {RALPH SPOILSPORT}, who
- may or may not be the god Hermes, sent to sell Babe the instrument of
- his homecoming. (Some see HCYB as the musings of Ralph, that Ralph is
- the storyteller and Babe portrays him as a young man. Well...)
-
- BALCONY: Whatever it is, Louise Wong's got one you can do {SHAKESPEARE}
- from!
-
- BARNEY: Barney is a {BOZO}. The new "Bozo" CD gives a definition:
-
- "Barny or Barney: In the English circus, a fight. The closest
- American equivalent is {CLEM}."
-
-
- BBOP: Not Bee-bop, but the FT's "Big Book of Plays".
-
- BEAR WHIZ BEER: A popular beverage in FT plays, heard in both
- {EYKIW} and in {YOLKS}. "It's in the water! that's why it's yellow!"
- Currently a company in Colorado has appropriated the Logo for tee-shirts
- and posters [and the editor spotted a *Neon* sign of BWB in Manitou
- Springs during a recent vacation!].
-
- BWB has entered the mainstream (sorry) of american culture:
- mathias thallmayer writes:
-
- I was looking at the current issue of the Narrow Gauge and
- Shortline Gazette (a magazine devoted to modeling narrow
- gauge railroads, for you fireheads) and what should I see: a
- review of a 1:22.5 scale Bear Wizz Beer Refigerator car
- (based on the bachman mechanism). The logo looks pretty
- good: a bear standing human style, back to us but looking over
- his shoulder, er, er... I'd always pictured him with a rear
- leg raised, but close enough.... The reviewer (Bob Brown)
- said it was pretty colorful. It comes from the "Feather River
- Canyon Loco Works" in Pagosa Springs, CO.
-
- A recent entry from the Los Angeles Times, June 30, 1994, page E-2:
-
- The FDA alleges that the tobacco industry has been secretly
- adding twice the amount of nicotine to cigarettes to make them
- more addictive. "In a related story, Kraft has admitted that
- they've been adding twice as much whiz to their jars of cheese."
- --Morning Sickness, Premiere Radio Network
-
- Cheese Whiz Beer?
-
-
- BEDDOES: Dr. Beddoes, head of Dr. Beddoes Pneumatic Institute,
- which in real life was a 19th century operation dedicated to
- experimenting with nitrous oxide (laughing gas). See
- {TESLACLE'S DEVIANT}, {FUDD'S LAW}.
-
- BERGMAN: Peter Bergman, one of the FT members. See also {LOVE IN}.
-
- BOB BUNNY: A fifteen year-old kid, who is the side-kick of {MARK TIME}
- of the Circum-Solar Federation. He is also a fan of {YOUNG GUY}, Motor
- Detective, and asks him the {PORRIDGE BIRD} question, which he found
- carved on the Great Wall of Mars.
-
- BOTTLES: {MUDHEAD}'s crazy hopped-up girlfriend, in Porgie {TIREBITER}
- movies. She is played by Barbara Bobo. Her name is likely a
- play on the word "Jugs".
-
- BOZO: See {BOZOS}.
-
- BOZOS: A Bozo likes to {CLONE} and be with other Bozos. One of the
- {FIVE LIFESTYLES OF MAN}, according to the FT. Honk! Honk! See also
- {BEANERS}, {BOOGIES}, {ZIPS} and {BERZERKERS}. Featured in the FT
- play,"I Think Were All Bozos's on this Bus". The FT gives the following
- definition:
-
- "BOZO: A man, fellow, guy; esp. a large, rough man or one with more
- brawn than brains. 1934: "Drive the heap, bozo" -- Chandler,
- _Finger Man_. From Sp. dial. "boso" (from "vosotros") - you (pl.)
- which resembles a direct address."
-
- --Dictionary of American Slang by Wentworth and Flexner, 1960.
-
- B.O.Z.O is also referred to as an acronym for the "Brotherhood Of {ZIPS}
- and Others".
-
-
- BEANERS: A non-offensive term derived from the ethnically offensive
- one, referring to the lifestyle rather than the race. One of the
- {FIVE LIFESTYLES OF MAN}, according to the FT.
-
- BEATLES: A 60's Rock-and-Roll group. A few Beatles references:
-
- In {NICK DANGER}:
-
- Announcer: "Out of the Fog, into the smog"...
- "There's a fog upon L.A. ..." (Blue Jay Way, Magical Mystery Tour)
-
- Rocky Rococo: A play on "Rocky Raccoon"
-
- Catherwood: says "Goo-goo-goo-joob" (ref: "I am the Walrus"),
- and then says "I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink"
- (cf "I'm So Tired", from the "White Album"). His references
- to {CELLOPHANE}, although a clear {SFX} device, could also
- be the line "Cellophane flowers of yellow and green"
- (cf "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" -- Sgt. Pepper).
-
- Nick: says his story has more holes in it than the Albert Hall
- (cf "A Day in the Life" -- Sgt. Pepper).
-
- "It was {PIG NITE} at the {OM} mane padme Sigma House."
- is a reference to the mantra: "Om mani padme hum" (note
- the awful math pun: Sigma-->Sum-->Hum). This also possibly
- a reference to "Piggies" on the White Album, although
- some Fraternities actually used to have a Pig Nite, where
- they would bring ugly women.
-
- Nancy: "<long list of names>, but everyone knew her as Nancy"
- is from "Rocky Raccoon" (White Album, again!):
-
- Her name was Magil and she called herself Lil
- But everyone knew her as Nancy...
-
- Also, her boyfriend's name is "Dan" in the Song
- (Dan Catherwood):
-
- Now she and her man who called himself Dan
- Were in the next room at the hoe down
-
- In {HEMLOCK STONES}, they sing "Get Back" at the end. Also, Stones
- tells Flotsom to meet him in the Pub in disguise, and Flotsom asks
- "In the pub in the skys?", which is a reference to "Lucy In the Skys,
- with Diamonds,". This tune was denied by the Beatles to be an LSD
- reference, and apparently is also tied to a John Fredd and the Playboy
- Band tune called "Judy in Disguise, With Glasses". So, we have come
- full circle.
-
-
- In {HCYB}, one of the {RALPH SPOILSPORT} motors commercials begins,
- "Don't we do it in the road here at Ralph's Spoilsport Motors..."
- (cf "Why Dont We Do it In the Road" from the "White Album").
-
- One of the kids in "Le Trent Huit Cunegonde" (Returned for Regrooving)
- was named "Malcom X.John Lennon"
-
- In the "Dear Friends" album, one of the skits ends with a politician
- singing, "Those Moscow girls really knock me out" (a mis-quote from
- "Back in the USSR" -- the girls were Ukrainian).
-
- BERZERKER: See {BERZERKERS}.
-
- BERZERKERS: One of the {FIVE LIFESTYLES OF MAN}, according to the FT.
-
- BMJB: The FT's "Big Mystery Joke Book", containing the transcripts
- of {HEMLOCK STONES} Sumatran Rat play, {NICK DANGER}'s "Cut 'Em Off
- at the Past" play, "Temporarily Humboldt County", "{MARK TIME}" from
- the "Dear Friends" album, "{YOUNG GUY}", motor detective, and others.
-
- BOOGIES:A non-offensive term derived from the ethnically offensive one,
- referring to the lifestyle rather than the race. One of the
- {FIVE LIFESTYLES OF MAN}, according to the FT.
-
- BRADSHAW: Lieutenant Alvin Bradshaw, in the FT police forces. Loosely
- based on the Officer Bradshaw from the old Highway Patrol episodes,
- Bradshaw is constantly pestering the private investigators
- {NICK DANGER} and his Javanese counterpart {YOUNG GUY}, Motor Detective.
- {YOUNG GUY} once discovered that "BRAD" stands for "Bernard",
- indicating that Bradshaw is actually "George Bernard Shaw, famous
- author and riterary smart-guy". Bradshaw is played by the fictional
- character Harry Ames, Jr.
-
- BUNCHE: Ralph Bunche, was a black American official of the United
- Nations who won the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation of the
- 1948-49 Arab-Israeli War. Rumored in {DWARF} to have been the
- honorary Aquarium parent (along with Ida Lupino) of the first
- man-made baby Adam one-three.
-
- BUS: What I think We're all {BOZO}'s on. The "Bozo" CD liner notes
- quote the following definition:
-
- "BUS: A circuit in a mixing board which carries signals from one
- or more inputs to any output or set of outputs."
-
- The {PRESIDENT} is referred to as the "Terminal Bus -- the output".
-
-
- [C]
- ---
-
- CELLOPHANE: An {SFX} tool, used to simulate fire on radio. In
- {NICK DANGER}, Catherwood asks if he Nick wants to pull his "cues" out
- of the cellophane before they scorch. See also {CORNSTARCH}. In the
- Fall 93 Reunion tour update, Catherwood asks Nick to pull his cues out
- of the "bubble wrap".
-
- CHEESE: Many types of CHEESE appear in FT skits: {GORGONZOLA} the
- Cheese-monster, Cheese-Logs, Cheese-Log-Throws, not to mention {RAT}S.
- On the album cover of {ITNWYOYO}, on the wall (below the billboards for
- 'Dead Cat Soap" and "Billy Jack Dogfood") there are signs for 'Bowel
- {OIL}' and'{SWELL} Cheese'. See also {PIZZA}.
-
- CHING: See {I CHING}.
-
- CHROMIUM: It's just this little CHROMIUM switch, here! The first lines
- of {DWARF}.
-
- CLEM: The {EVERYMAN} of the FT play {BOZOS}. Also known as "UhClem" to
- the main computer in the {FUTURE FAIR}. The liner notes for "Bozos"
- quotes the following definition from "The Language of American Popular
- Entertainment":
-
- "Clem: Its most common meaning is that of a general fight or riot
- between town hoodlums who attack shows and the circus or carnival
- employees. As an interjection, clem has replaces 'hey rube' as a
- battle cry for a forthcoming fight.
-
- In this case, Clem attacks the Future Fair main computer by inserting
- a gypsy program to confuse {DOCTOR MEMORY}, bringing the whole operation
- down. The FT in later skits apparently developed Clems motivation
- and story as follows (David {OSSMAN} writes):
-
- "Clem, a shoeless computer programmer for the Fair, was fired after
- he re-programmed the {RALPH SPOILSPORT} Speedway ride to 'Smoke Dope'
- ie, slow down, free-associate, play. He has now re-entered the Fair
- and broken into the maintenance circuits of {DOCTOR MEMORY} in order
- to re-program it to 'forget the past'. As on the album, he succeeds
- in confusing the good Dr. into contradictory on/off instructions
- which sabotage the machine and destroy the fantastic illusions we
- had taken for Reality.
-
-
- CLONE: To either replicate yourself into a {HOLOGRAM}, or to act like
- all the other {BOZO}S.
-
- CONFIDENCE IN THE SYSTEM: A timely drug. Here's an advertisement
- for it by the FT on Ben Bland's All Day Matinee on the "Just Folks"
- album.:
-
- You know, this is the midst of the disillusionment and heartbreak season
- and,with the recent outbreak of that suicidal strain of despair up in
- Boston,well, you'd better keep a close watch on your emotions. So
- remember the seven danger signals of depression; that's a general and
- lasting feeling of hope-lessness, inability to concentrate, loss of
- self-esteem, fear of rejection, feelings of guilt, misdirected anger,
- and extreme dependency on others. At the first sign of these symptoms,
- friends, follow these simple rules: keep working, drink as much as
- possible, and... take your television's advice. And y'know more TV's
- recommend an amazing new psychic breakthrough than any other, and
- that's... Confidence in the System. Fast, safe, and guaranteed through
- constant Federal control, Confidence in the System will keep THEM in
- power longer, longer, longer, and tend to calm and obscure the miseries
- of disillusionment and despair. In easy-to-swallow Propaganda form or
- new fast-acting Thought Control, that's Confidence in the System. So
- have some... today.
-
-
- CORNSTARCH: Used to simulate snow in {NICK DANGER}. Catherwood asks
- Nick to come in out of the Cornstarch and dry his mucklucks by the
- fire. Cornstarch is a prop widely used by foley artists (a/k/a "Sound
- Effects Guys" -- "thanks Rocky!") to simulate walking through snow. You
- don't walk in it. You leave it in its handy box. Squeezing and
- massaging the box near a mike gives that squeaky sound, not unlike
- walking on packed snow on a cold day. It also expels a fine dusting of
- cornstarch, which settles nicely onto scripts, mikes, tape reels, etc.
- Experienced foley artists leave the cornstarch box inside a plastic bag.
- See also {CELLOPHANE}.
-
- CUNEGONDE: As in "Le Trent Huit Cunegonde" (The 38th Cunegonde).
- This is referred to in {DWARF}, and is the title of another FT piece.
- Cunegonde has generated quite a discussion amongst the FT irregulars...
-
- A number of fans noted that Cunegonde is the daughter of the Baron
- Thunder-ten-tronckh, a central character in Voltaire's "Candide".
-
- Jeff Bulf notes the use of this name elsewhere in the arts:
-
- Cunegonde and its variants in other languages seems to be a standard
- name for what we would now call "bimbo" characters in European film.
- And presumably in stage before that. I cannot remember the title of a
- black-and-white scandinavian movie with tease/tart named Kunigunda.
- I saw it when I was in high school anyway, which puts it before the
- first Firesign performances. (Was it a {BERGMAN}? Doesn't sound like
- his sort of character.)
-
- The name seems to be used as if it were a month; several fans have tried
- to link it with the French Revolution and its renaming of the calendar
- months; E.g., July became "Thermidor" -- best recalled by the
- "Thermidorean reaction" that followed some brutality as the revolution
- took its course.
-
- As for the origin of the name Cunegonde, Evan M Corcoran was kind enough
- to track this down with the help of his brother in France:
-
- ...Here's what he came up with, from the five volume Grand Larousse
- dictionary, translated free for your personal libation:
-
- Cunegonde - (saint), Germanic imperatrice (v. 978 - abbey of
- Kaufungen, Hesse, 1033 or 1040 [I'm not exactly sure what this means,
- I'll ask my brother]) Spouse of Henri II the Saint, canonised in 1200.
-
- later he has continued:
-
- One more historical note: I checked out Sainte Cunegonde, and as far
- as I could determine, she is not the patroness of anything. There is
- ANOTHER Sainte Cunegonde who is patroness of Poland and Lithuania,
- but she's not the one parodied in Candide. Or is she... Both
- Cunegondes are also spelled Kunigonda in some places. And St. Vitus
- is the patron of comedians.
-
-
- So, Cunegonde might be saint of something (perhaps, Cows?)
-
-
- CURFEW: Gezundheit! Offers are usually not good after curfew in
- sectors R or N, and you should never go into forbidden sectors
- after curfew (see {DWARF}). In the TV comedy "Space Ghost - Coast
- To Coast" there was a parody of a children's advertisement with
- the fine-print disclaimer:
-
- Produced by the Cogswell Cogs Co. Offer not good after curfew in
- sectors R or N.
-
-
-
-