Subject
Nabokov World: Addition of the week? (fwd)
Date
Body
NABOKV-L thanks Michael Cunningham <mcunn@melbpc.org.au> for the for this
high point in the history of "Dolorology."
A submission for the VN checklist:
Tonight, I happened to be taping for my daughter the second episode of a
new (to Australian TV, anyway) sitcom called "Hudson Street", starring Tony
Danza. The series was created by Randi Mayem Singer, who also got the
writing credit for the following gem:
The scene: A busy Detectives room, Hoboken Police Dept, on Hudson Street
(hence the series title).
The cast:
Filing clerk Officer Rigalski (wearing a clerk's rubber thumb thing for
flicking through piles of papers):
Detective Kirby, the downtrodden woman of the Dept. who gets all the hack
jobs; currently trying to locate an underwear thief.
Al, the jolly Chief of Detectives.
Enter Rigalski:
Rigalski: You know that case you're working on? Why would a guy steal
dirty underwear?
Kirby: Beats me. I hate doing my _own_ laundry.
Rigalski: Really, I mean, you know, it's just like that Humbert
Humbert guy.
Kirby: Who?
Rigalski: In the book, "Lolita".
Kirby: What?
Rigalski: The masterpiece on the perverted criminal mind.
Kirby: Huh?
Al: (as he passes by): You know, the movie with James Mason where he
wants to pop the teenage babe.
Kirby: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Rigalski: Anyway, stealing underwear was just a warm-up for this
Humbert guy. He went on to some pretty nasty stuff.
Kirby: So you're giving it a rubber thumbs-up? [Presumably a
reference to Siskert & Ebert (sp?) and their movie ratings system
- hard to say for me, as it doesn't get any airing in Melbourne].
(later that day) ..........
Kirby (running in, excited): Rigalski, you did it. .... Look
at this, Al. I ran the name "Humbert Humbert" through Jersey ID
and I found this creep who used it as an alias in East Orange where he's
wanted for every sex crime in the book, so I had his print pulled and it
matches my panty man!
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------
The episode is copyright 1995. Can only imagine that Mr/Ms. Singer is a VN
fan; the more cynical could maybe see a cross-promotion for the upcoming new
"Lolita" movie - could the TV series and movie be from the same stable? It's
a curious kind of product-placement, but stranger things have happened.
Whatever the motive, the fact that Lolita is casually discussed on this form
of popular and mass entertainment is yet more evidence of VN having created
an icon with substantial resonance.
Michael Cunningham
email: mcunn@melbpc.org.au
high point in the history of "Dolorology."
A submission for the VN checklist:
Tonight, I happened to be taping for my daughter the second episode of a
new (to Australian TV, anyway) sitcom called "Hudson Street", starring Tony
Danza. The series was created by Randi Mayem Singer, who also got the
writing credit for the following gem:
The scene: A busy Detectives room, Hoboken Police Dept, on Hudson Street
(hence the series title).
The cast:
Filing clerk Officer Rigalski (wearing a clerk's rubber thumb thing for
flicking through piles of papers):
Detective Kirby, the downtrodden woman of the Dept. who gets all the hack
jobs; currently trying to locate an underwear thief.
Al, the jolly Chief of Detectives.
Enter Rigalski:
Rigalski: You know that case you're working on? Why would a guy steal
dirty underwear?
Kirby: Beats me. I hate doing my _own_ laundry.
Rigalski: Really, I mean, you know, it's just like that Humbert
Humbert guy.
Kirby: Who?
Rigalski: In the book, "Lolita".
Kirby: What?
Rigalski: The masterpiece on the perverted criminal mind.
Kirby: Huh?
Al: (as he passes by): You know, the movie with James Mason where he
wants to pop the teenage babe.
Kirby: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Rigalski: Anyway, stealing underwear was just a warm-up for this
Humbert guy. He went on to some pretty nasty stuff.
Kirby: So you're giving it a rubber thumbs-up? [Presumably a
reference to Siskert & Ebert (sp?) and their movie ratings system
- hard to say for me, as it doesn't get any airing in Melbourne].
(later that day) ..........
Kirby (running in, excited): Rigalski, you did it. .... Look
at this, Al. I ran the name "Humbert Humbert" through Jersey ID
and I found this creep who used it as an alias in East Orange where he's
wanted for every sex crime in the book, so I had his print pulled and it
matches my panty man!
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------
The episode is copyright 1995. Can only imagine that Mr/Ms. Singer is a VN
fan; the more cynical could maybe see a cross-promotion for the upcoming new
"Lolita" movie - could the TV series and movie be from the same stable? It's
a curious kind of product-placement, but stranger things have happened.
Whatever the motive, the fact that Lolita is casually discussed on this form
of popular and mass entertainment is yet more evidence of VN having created
an icon with substantial resonance.
Michael Cunningham
email: mcunn@melbpc.org.au