MovieChat Forums > The Time of Their Lives (1946) Discussion > What is that???

What is that???

posted 18 years ago by mathias-holzman
4 replies | jump to latest

I too, loved the film, both as a kid watching it at 11:30 Sunday mornings on channel 11 in NYC, and now as an 'older' adult. It was one of the first DVD's I bought when I got my first player.

I do have one question, however, that has plagued me since I first saw it: When Lou is hiding out in the basement as a ghost in 'modern' times, he picks up a device that looks like a light stick. He is startled by it and as he tries to 'shake off' the light, it begins to play loud marching or classical music. What is that thing? Was it a new invention of the time that never became popular? Or was it the product of the the writers' vivid imagination?

Thanks.

[–] viaggio1 18 years ago

Well, here's my take on the scene....

I believe he picks up a small fluorescent light tube.

Remember, just before he picks up the tube, he was
"electrified" by the dynamo / circuit box for the house.

It seems to be implied that because he was charged with
electricity, he now had his own electro-magnetic field,
and so was able to make the light bulb glow.

The music was then added to the scene to make a visual joke.

Don't try this one at home !!!

Hope this has been helpful.

[–] whosit 12 years ago

Five years later I reply...

That glowing tube is most likely a neon tube although it appears there is only one cathode (or anode) on one end instead of both ends which is the norm...same thing applies to fluorescent tubes. I agree that the scene depicts Lou getting charged with static(?) electricity which powered the light, the music is just for comic effect.

If you look closely at the table he picked this up from you'll see at least one incandescent lightbulb still in it's corrugated wrapper. But it makes no sense (to me at least) why a recreation of a 16th century house would have a neon etc lamp, even 20th century homes seldom have such a bulb.

But I'm over-analyzing this: after all, it's just an A&C flick LOL

PS I too used to watch WPIX for old movies but recall seeing Bowery Boys on WNEW and the "Million Dollar Movie" on WOR. At one point I could tell the time of day by looking the whatever was playing on a given channel!

"Martin Paint: It ain't just paint"

[–] djmaraio 8 years ago

And channel 7 had the 4:30 movie on every weekday. A&C were on every Sunday morning as a kid 11:30 on channel 11 and used to watch it with my Dad along with watching the Bowery Boys since that was how my Dad grew up

[–] whosit 8 years ago

{Said in a Jack Benny voice} Ya know...

Its astounding how many of us refugees from NY of "that certain age" haunt these boards. A sharp cookie marketing/advertising type could exploit that, but my cookies went soggy eons ago. Now I eat them with a straw. It worked out for the best as I can't chew solids any longer...not since the fire department confiscated my wood teeth. Doze bums!