CYRIL & BUGS

I was thinking back on one of my earliest memories.  When we were little kids, NBC would broadcast the musical, Peter Pan, which starred Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard.  This was not the 1955 release, which was actually a live TV broadcast of the famous Broadway show, but a staging of that same show in a studio located in Brooklyn, taped in 1960.  The 1960 version was shown several times when I was a kid and I always loved Ritchard's over-the-top performance as Captain Hook.  In what I still consider to be the best scene in the whole production, Hook is tantalized by what he believes at first to be a spirit of the forest.  With the help of a flimsy disguise, Peter Pan undergoes a cross-dressing transformation into a mysterious woman who flirts with the Captain.  Hook realizes the ruse and he rallies his crew to attack Pan, but to no avail.  Pan escapes and routes the pirates.

It all sounds vaguely familiar doesn't it?  Think of another genre and you'll see what I mean.  It's like the classic love tale.  Elmer Fudd meets Bugs Bunny.  Elmer tries to kill Bugs.  Bugs appears as a cross-dressing vamp and steals Elmer's heart. Elmer realizes he's been made a fool of and...well, you know the rest.    Enjoy the 2 clips below!

OH MY MYSTERIOUS LADY
WHAT'S OPERA DOC