Dudley Do-Right's such a jerk

[sovay]

Long before I actually read or saw anything that would qualify as a traditional Victorian melodrama, I learned a thirty-second parody of the genre from my grandmother, who performed it in three voices with the aid of a napkin doubling (tripling?) for the whiplash moustache of a villain, the hair-bow of a damsel in distress, and the bowtie of a hero. The immortal dialogue ran as follows:

"I've come to collect the rent."
"I can't pay the rent!"
"I've come to collect the rent."
"I can't pay the rent!"
"I'll pay the rent!"
"My hero!"
"Curses, foiled again!"

Did anyone else's relatives ever pull this out at family dinners, or was it just me? It has the feel of a time-honored piece of shtick, but I can't remember ever running into anyone else who knew it—admittedly, I've never asked point-blank. I assume now it will turn out to be one of those things everyone gets from their grandparents at an impressionable age. Internet?

Comments

[barry-king.livejournal.com]

We moved from DC to Tunis around 1975. Among the culture-capsule of books we took with us was a dog-eared copy of "Zoom", which was the accompanying book to the launch of the WGBH children's show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7gzHLKT5g4) of the same name. Somewhere within was a B/W photo-montage of the schtick being played with an accordion-folded sheet of paper acting, in turn, as moustache, hair-bow, and bow tie. I believe the alternate page was the lyrics to the song "The Cat Came Back", with pencil drawings to accompany it. These are the only two items from said book that have managed to stick in memory.

I, too, have seen no evidence that any other human being had heard of this until now; albeit also due to lack of question-pointery.

[sovay]

Among the culture-capsule of books we took with us was a dog-eared copy of "Zoom", which was the accompanying book to the launch of the WGBH children's show

Oh, that's interesting. (Also, thanks, I'm having flashbacks. I never watched a lot of television as a child, but what I did watch was almost all PBS—I wonder what other pieces of children's public broadcasting are lurking in my brain.) Then it really sounds like some extant cultural meme that they picked up and performed, the same way bits of vaudeville were always turning up anywhere there were Muppets.

I, too, have seen no evidence that any other human being had heard of this until now; albeit also due to lack of question-pointery.

It seems to be popular (or at least popular within the self-selecting population of my friendlist)! I'm fascinated by this!

[barry-king.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... Good point. F-list. Something I should opt into.