...And you thought that you loved cat videos
January 5, 2012 3:41 PM Subscribe
A nightmarish Keyboard Cat from the 1950s children's program Andy's Gang. You might want to leave the lights on tonight.
Yikes. Paging David Lynch ...
posted by carter at 3:44 PM on January 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by carter at 3:44 PM on January 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
Pluck your magic twanger, Froggy!
I was 6, this show amused me, and kept me awake at night.
posted by HuronBob at 3:49 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
I was 6, this show amused me, and kept me awake at night.
posted by HuronBob at 3:49 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
There are boobs at the end. Seriously, you need to watch the whole thing. DON'T STOP IT. Watch every. freaking. second.
posted by Jimbob at 3:50 PM on January 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by Jimbob at 3:50 PM on January 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
Yikes is right. The dirge-like pace, the death-knell drums from the rodent (obviously in learned helplessness mode at 1:05), the baleful cat eyes at 1:40, the horrifically awful vocals at 1:50...this is truly the most wretchedly terrible thing I've seen all week.
I can't thank you enough.
posted by mediareport at 3:53 PM on January 5, 2012 [11 favorites]
I can't thank you enough.
posted by mediareport at 3:53 PM on January 5, 2012 [11 favorites]
DRUMS...
DRUMS FROM THE DEEP
NEVER CEASING
NOR WAVERING
ENDLESS NIGHT
posted by Windopaene at 3:56 PM on January 5, 2012 [9 favorites]
DRUMS FROM THE DEEP
NEVER CEASING
NOR WAVERING
ENDLESS NIGHT
posted by Windopaene at 3:56 PM on January 5, 2012 [9 favorites]
Here's a clearer view of Froggy the Gremlin and his general evil-ness (giving a dieting Andy Devine a creampuff... now he'll never slim down enough to audition for the leading man roles). Seriously, the minds behind Andy's Gang" did NOT like children.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:56 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:56 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
i think the mouse is dead
posted by fuzzypantalones at 4:02 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by fuzzypantalones at 4:02 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
Is this a deleted scene from the Holy Grale? (Fetch the Holy Killer Cat Organ!)
Plus, the arms of that rat look like they are made of overcooked chicken thighs. Owen Dish Frankenrat.
And the overall mood is like a halting rodent's walk to the tiny tiny gallows.
posted by Namlit at 4:03 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Plus, the arms of that rat look like they are made of overcooked chicken thighs. Owen Dish Frankenrat.
And the overall mood is like a halting rodent's walk to the tiny tiny gallows.
posted by Namlit at 4:03 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
You can clearly see the will to live leave the rodent about halfway through.
posted by lekvar at 4:04 PM on January 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by lekvar at 4:04 PM on January 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
This radio signal has been traveling out of our solar system for the last sixty-odd years. I can't imagine what aliens must think of us by now.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:10 PM on January 5, 2012 [13 favorites]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:10 PM on January 5, 2012 [13 favorites]
DO NOT WANT
posted by brundlefly at 4:16 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by brundlefly at 4:16 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Anybody else not so much terrified as...just kind of bummed out?
I had all these plans to get things done when I got home from work, but now I've got a real urge to just go lay down on my bed and stare up at the ceiling for a good long while.
posted by infinitywaltz at 4:18 PM on January 5, 2012 [7 favorites]
I had all these plans to get things done when I got home from work, but now I've got a real urge to just go lay down on my bed and stare up at the ceiling for a good long while.
posted by infinitywaltz at 4:18 PM on January 5, 2012 [7 favorites]
This is more like evidence than entertainment.
posted by theodolite at 4:19 PM on January 5, 2012 [22 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 4:19 PM on January 5, 2012 [22 favorites]
I began to transcribe travel diaries from the seventies in Scrivener. Anything to just forget...
posted by Namlit at 4:20 PM on January 5, 2012
posted by Namlit at 4:20 PM on January 5, 2012
Froggy the Gremlin's home page. The bio makes for interesting reading.
posted by JHarris at 4:23 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 4:23 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Why did they applaud at the end? Did they force them to under the threat of more of that singing with the dead hamster drumming and the devil cat staring into their souls?
posted by Talanvor at 4:25 PM on January 5, 2012
posted by Talanvor at 4:25 PM on January 5, 2012
Why did they applaud at the end?
According to the site I linked above, the shows were filmed without an audience. All the applause is artificial.
posted by JHarris at 4:27 PM on January 5, 2012
According to the site I linked above, the shows were filmed without an audience. All the applause is artificial.
posted by JHarris at 4:27 PM on January 5, 2012
PlayhimoffplayhimoffOHSWEETJESUSSOMEONEPLAYHIMOFF
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 4:37 PM on January 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 4:37 PM on January 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
There is an audible cut before the applause.
They sat petrified in horror. The music ended. Deadly silence. What, says Old Dude, didn't you like our little song, wait, I'll come down to you with the cat'o'nine tails, unless you say hurray right now. No, no more cats, ever, cried they, and began clapping their timid tiny hands. More, said Old Dude, and that's what we can hear here.
posted by Namlit at 4:42 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
They sat petrified in horror. The music ended. Deadly silence. What, says Old Dude, didn't you like our little song, wait, I'll come down to you with the cat'o'nine tails, unless you say hurray right now. No, no more cats, ever, cried they, and began clapping their timid tiny hands. More, said Old Dude, and that's what we can hear here.
posted by Namlit at 4:42 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
Everyone chillax. This is just a trailer for the long-awaited film adaptation of Blood Meridian.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:43 PM on January 5, 2012
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:43 PM on January 5, 2012
RICK
RICK
RICK
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME RICK
posted by Mister Fabulous at 4:47 PM on January 5, 2012 [17 favorites]
RICK
RICK
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME RICK
posted by Mister Fabulous at 4:47 PM on January 5, 2012 [17 favorites]
People of my age group (40-ish) were too young to have any clue what Andy's Gang was, but some of us DID buy Buckner & Garcia's Pac-Man Fever album, and were therefore mystified by its second track, Froggy's Lament. It seemed at least related to the Frogger game, but there was something else going on there and we couldn't work out what it was, much less what a magic twanger was and why it needed plunking.
Now, granted, we teenage boys spent an awful lot of time plunking our twangers, magic or not, but there was very rarely a frog involved.
So, yes. Pure mystery, solved years later by the wonders of the Internet. Go Froggy Go!
also nightmare cat eeeeeeeeeek
posted by delfin at 4:47 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
Now, granted, we teenage boys spent an awful lot of time plunking our twangers, magic or not, but there was very rarely a frog involved.
So, yes. Pure mystery, solved years later by the wonders of the Internet. Go Froggy Go!
also nightmare cat eeeeeeeeeek
posted by delfin at 4:47 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
MIDNIGHT THE CAT
Wow, the filmed video look of that one makes it even more nightmarish somehow.
posted by gubo at 4:48 PM on January 5, 2012
Wow, the filmed video look of that one makes it even more nightmarish somehow.
posted by gubo at 4:48 PM on January 5, 2012
I love this old what-passed-for-entertainment kind of stuff, and how it takes on this incredible subversive quality as it ages.
I also like Garrison Keillor, speaking of dirge-like subversion.
posted by Xoebe at 4:49 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
I also like Garrison Keillor, speaking of dirge-like subversion.
posted by Xoebe at 4:49 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
This gave me a giggle fit for reasons I fear to know.
posted by argonauta at 4:56 PM on January 5, 2012
posted by argonauta at 4:56 PM on January 5, 2012
I used to get Andy mixed up with Slim Pickens, but now I know for sure...ANDY IS THE EVIL ONE!
posted by snsranch at 4:59 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by snsranch at 4:59 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure the creepy mouse is alive -- he seemed to sniff around a lot. I think he was just... stuck in that position with a fixed drum and arm-brace forcing him to keep the creepy nightmare beat.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 5:03 PM on January 5, 2012
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 5:03 PM on January 5, 2012
If my arm were made of overcooked chicken, I'd sniff a lot too.
(That said, it took me a while to understand that the cat was real. That's when my stomach turned.)
posted by Namlit at 5:10 PM on January 5, 2012
(That said, it took me a while to understand that the cat was real. That's when my stomach turned.)
posted by Namlit at 5:10 PM on January 5, 2012
ALSO: Andy Devine is the Andy Frank Zappa's song "Andy" from One Size Fits All is about.
And the opening lyrics are "Andy, is there anything good inside of you? If there is, I really wanna know."
And I think this answers the question.
Obviously: NO.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 5:11 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
And the opening lyrics are "Andy, is there anything good inside of you? If there is, I really wanna know."
And I think this answers the question.
Obviously: NO.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 5:11 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
I would rather grow up tied to the Wheel of Pain.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:14 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by cjorgensen at 5:14 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
JHarris's link, if it's authoritative on the subject, says the animals were taxidermy. Footage of live animals sniffing and looking around was edited in (like the fake audience) for close-up shots. Explains why they look so dead most of the time, with occasional, off-putting twitches of life.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 5:17 PM on January 5, 2012 [6 favorites]
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 5:17 PM on January 5, 2012 [6 favorites]
I.. think I just saw lost footage from Carnival of Souls.
posted by pernoctalian at 5:23 PM on January 5, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by pernoctalian at 5:23 PM on January 5, 2012 [3 favorites]
JHarris's link, if it's authoritative on the subject, says the animals were taxidermy.
Okay, I'm not laughing anymore.
posted by argonauta at 5:23 PM on January 5, 2012
Okay, I'm not laughing anymore.
posted by argonauta at 5:23 PM on January 5, 2012
I imagine those old TV studio lights were really hot. In the over the shoulder shot, he's pretty lively and his arm is tied to the drumstick with black thread. There are other shots, probably done later in the day, where he's not moving so much.
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:34 PM on January 5, 2012
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:34 PM on January 5, 2012
I'm talking about the drumming hamster.
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:35 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:35 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
"Jesus loves me because the bible tells me so."
That seems like an extremely weak argument.
posted by maxwelton at 5:39 PM on January 5, 2012 [7 favorites]
That seems like an extremely weak argument.
posted by maxwelton at 5:39 PM on January 5, 2012 [7 favorites]
What this whole thread boils down to: Is that a cat playing an organ? Nope. Chuck Testa.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 5:48 PM on January 5, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 5:48 PM on January 5, 2012 [3 favorites]
...studio lights were really hot...
You mean Taxi Hamstkenstein stops drumming, gets smelly? That would explain the compromised singing...
posted by Namlit at 5:50 PM on January 5, 2012
You mean Taxi Hamstkenstein stops drumming, gets smelly? That would explain the compromised singing...
posted by Namlit at 5:50 PM on January 5, 2012
OMG. My father used to pace around the house sometimes, saying "PLUNK THE MAGIC TWANGER, FROGGIE! HIYA KIDS! HIYA HIYA HIYA!" These little video clips explain so much about how I was parented.
posted by jeanmari at 5:53 PM on January 5, 2012 [8 favorites]
posted by jeanmari at 5:53 PM on January 5, 2012 [8 favorites]
Wait, the CAT was supposed to be the creepiest thing in that clip? Good god, no wonder the boomers are such a fucked up generation. Yeesh.
posted by dejah420 at 5:56 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by dejah420 at 5:56 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
So this Andy guy was singing to dead animals for the acclaim of children who weren't there? And my parents complained about the shows that I watched?
posted by lekvar at 6:00 PM on January 5, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by lekvar at 6:00 PM on January 5, 2012 [5 favorites]
Pluck your magic twanger, Froggy!
Speaking of plucking your twanger
posted by dibblda at 6:38 PM on January 5, 2012
Speaking of plucking your twanger
posted by dibblda at 6:38 PM on January 5, 2012
Sorry, that's not taxidermy. The cat definitely closes his/her eyes a few times, and the drumming rodent twitches it's whiskers.
Presumably we only see the singer from the chest up because he's doing something unspeakable from the waist down.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:43 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
Presumably we only see the singer from the chest up because he's doing something unspeakable from the waist down.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:43 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
Andy Devine looks like the love child of Andy Griffith and Gary Busey.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 7:04 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 7:04 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
I was two years old when this show first aired.
A toddler. Innocent. Unknowing. TWO YEARS OLD!
I thought I'd repressed those memories, but no.
No wonder I hate television with the passion of a thousand burning white-hot stars.
*sits in corner, rocking*
posted by BlueHorse at 7:23 PM on January 5, 2012
A toddler. Innocent. Unknowing. TWO YEARS OLD!
I thought I'd repressed those memories, but no.
No wonder I hate television with the passion of a thousand burning white-hot stars.
*sits in corner, rocking*
posted by BlueHorse at 7:23 PM on January 5, 2012
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME RICK
DEAD IS HOW I FEEL INSIDE RICK
ALL THE TIME
posted by Metroid Baby at 8:01 PM on January 5, 2012 [7 favorites]
DEAD IS HOW I FEEL INSIDE RICK
ALL THE TIME
posted by Metroid Baby at 8:01 PM on January 5, 2012 [7 favorites]
Kim Deitch has a great graphic novel called The Search for Smilin' Ed which delves, kind of psychotically and psychedelically, about how this show (and it's rarity) affected him. Great stuff.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 8:36 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 8:36 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
In George RR Martin's "The Armageddon Rag" there are a lot of references to Froggy the Gremlin. Until tonight, I just thought that was something out of Martin's bizarre imagination. And I think I liked it better that way.
I must immediately show this video to everyone I know.
posted by OolooKitty at 8:58 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
I must immediately show this video to everyone I know.
posted by OolooKitty at 8:58 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
"The major problem here was to gently open the mouth and free Froggy's tongue." Oh, god, it just gets worse the deeper you dig.
posted by Scram at 10:18 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Scram at 10:18 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Holy crap! that was disturbing!
Are those real kids in the audience or are they zombies as well?
posted by dougzilla at 10:59 PM on January 5, 2012
Are those real kids in the audience or are they zombies as well?
posted by dougzilla at 10:59 PM on January 5, 2012
This is the Froggy the Gremlin I remember....being abused by The Ghoul in the 1970s.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:43 AM on January 6, 2012
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:43 AM on January 6, 2012
This is amazing, this is what went through the head of the kids, right before the Pangbourne massacre.
posted by SageLeVoid at 3:00 AM on January 6, 2012
posted by SageLeVoid at 3:00 AM on January 6, 2012
Honestly, that's sort of what Sunday School felt like to me as a kid. I think in the real world, it was pretty much a bland suburban church classroom with harvest gold carpet and a flannel board, but deep down, a hamster was always beating that drum of despair like the rowing beat on a Roman slave galley to remind me that yes, Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, because the Bible tells me so.
"Mr. Rushlow?" I asked, raising my hand. "Where does the Bible say Jesus loves me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've read it, but I can't find anywhere where it says Jesus loves me."
"Don't be foolish, Mr. Wall. It says Jesus loves you in every page. For God so loved the world, it says, that he gave his only begotten son."
"But that doesn't say Jesus loves me."
"Can we get back to the subject, please?"
"I was just wondering, because we always sing this song and—"
"Can we get back to the subject, please?" Mr. Rushlow snapped, and resumed arranging figures on the flannelboard. "Okay, who's got Abraham now? I can't tell this story without Abraham? Well, never mind, we'll just use Joseph for now."
This is, of course, why I always picture Abraham wearing a coat of many colors while he's strapping his kid to a rock. In the end, it's all cats playing hairdryer-driven reed organs wheezy enough to send Tom Waits to a digital synthesizer, and years later, when I read the Tao Te Ching for the first time, I was so astonished that you could produce a work of spiritual or philosophical literature so concise and rational that someone could understand it right away without having to sing hymns over and over and beg part-time Sunday School teachers for some shred of understanding that I threw in my lot with the Chinese and have stayed true ever since. Lao Tzu doesn't love me, but then he's not the Lord, apparently.
They are weak, and he is strong...but wait, the meek shall inherit the Earth!? Is meek strong? Mr. Rushlow, can you please clarify?
"Now, if you'll turn your hymnal to page 422, let's raise our voices to the Lord."
Raise 'em higher, boys. Higher still. Raise 'em for Jesus.
posted by sonascope at 4:33 AM on January 6, 2012 [13 favorites]
"Mr. Rushlow?" I asked, raising my hand. "Where does the Bible say Jesus loves me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've read it, but I can't find anywhere where it says Jesus loves me."
"Don't be foolish, Mr. Wall. It says Jesus loves you in every page. For God so loved the world, it says, that he gave his only begotten son."
"But that doesn't say Jesus loves me."
"Can we get back to the subject, please?"
"I was just wondering, because we always sing this song and—"
"Can we get back to the subject, please?" Mr. Rushlow snapped, and resumed arranging figures on the flannelboard. "Okay, who's got Abraham now? I can't tell this story without Abraham? Well, never mind, we'll just use Joseph for now."
This is, of course, why I always picture Abraham wearing a coat of many colors while he's strapping his kid to a rock. In the end, it's all cats playing hairdryer-driven reed organs wheezy enough to send Tom Waits to a digital synthesizer, and years later, when I read the Tao Te Ching for the first time, I was so astonished that you could produce a work of spiritual or philosophical literature so concise and rational that someone could understand it right away without having to sing hymns over and over and beg part-time Sunday School teachers for some shred of understanding that I threw in my lot with the Chinese and have stayed true ever since. Lao Tzu doesn't love me, but then he's not the Lord, apparently.
They are weak, and he is strong...but wait, the meek shall inherit the Earth!? Is meek strong? Mr. Rushlow, can you please clarify?
"Now, if you'll turn your hymnal to page 422, let's raise our voices to the Lord."
Raise 'em higher, boys. Higher still. Raise 'em for Jesus.
posted by sonascope at 4:33 AM on January 6, 2012 [13 favorites]
Oh man, that IS creepy. The cat and rat/mouse/whatever are clearly alive in some of the shots, although they look heavily sedated to me.
Perhaps they sedated them a little too much, and had to call in a taxidermist so they could finish the shoot.
posted by Diag at 6:26 AM on January 6, 2012
Perhaps they sedated them a little too much, and had to call in a taxidermist so they could finish the shoot.
posted by Diag at 6:26 AM on January 6, 2012
It's apropos, at least, a song about a zombie ('resurrection', now there's a euphemism) god played by zombie animals.
It's kinda like someone went off their meds and tried to recreate Tales from the Riverbank, and then György Pálfi made it into a film.
posted by titus-g at 7:37 AM on January 6, 2012 [1 favorite]
It's kinda like someone went off their meds and tried to recreate Tales from the Riverbank, and then György Pálfi made it into a film.
posted by titus-g at 7:37 AM on January 6, 2012 [1 favorite]
I didn't know Climax Golden Twins made full videos like this. Wild...
posted by FatherDagon at 8:29 AM on January 6, 2012
posted by FatherDagon at 8:29 AM on January 6, 2012
This radio signal has been traveling out of our solar system for the last sixty-odd years. I can't imagine what aliens must think of us by now.
The hold in the countdown has been cancelled....
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 12:49 PM on January 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
The hold in the countdown has been cancelled....
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 12:49 PM on January 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
Uhhh I really like odd puppet-show-like thingys, but this is pretty creepy, even by my high standards.
It's kinda like someone went off their meds and tried to recreate Tales from the Riverbank, and then György Pálfi made it into a film.
Hammy Hamster has always been pure genius. I am not familiar with Pálfi.
posted by ovvl at 4:36 PM on January 6, 2012
It's kinda like someone went off their meds and tried to recreate Tales from the Riverbank, and then György Pálfi made it into a film.
Hammy Hamster has always been pure genius. I am not familiar with Pálfi.
posted by ovvl at 4:36 PM on January 6, 2012
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Nightmare cat tells me so
posted by Nelson at 3:44 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]