Is there anybody out there who knows who that guy is on the bird perch during the transformation scene?
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Jennifer the bird briefly turns into a tiny man the first time that Kelp drinks the formula.
Even the people at Video Watchdog don't know (any VW fans out there?) and it is not addressed in the commentary track. I'd love to get to Jerry Lewis to just ask his that question.
Does anybody know?
Sorry, I don't know, but I did have the same question.
sharealways had me mystified..looks a little like 60's character actor James Millhollin, who was always playing gloomy nervous types (see Ghost and Mr. Chicken)...dont expect any answers from Jerry's dvd commentary....he's too busy telling Steve Lawrence (for the umpteenth time) about how he invented the video playback system.
shareIt is the head of Dean Warfield, played by Del Moore.
shareI always thought the man-bird was Edward Everett Horton
shareI vote that it's James Milhollin as well. Since he doesn't seem to appear anywhere else in the movie, maybe there is some cutting room floor footage of Milhollin that would explain this sight gag. Otherwise, his appearance as man-bird makes no sense to me. He wouldn't even qualify as a "gag cameo;" I mean it's not like he's Bob Hope or anything. He's James Milhollin, for cryin' out loud.
shareLook close...it's the head of the Dean.
shareI looked a little closer. . . and it's still James Milhollin. The head on the bird has a different hairline and hair color than the dean. The bird does not wear glasses, and the dean does. But most importantly, the bird says, "I told you, Julius," whereas the dean would definitly have called him "Professor Kelp."
shareyou need a new dvd (or a new TV) if you see the head of Del Moore...not even close
..and guys like James Milhollin (although not familiar names) were definitely familiar character faces that could get a laugh by popping up in a movie or TV series playing whatever archetype they were famous for.
I always thought it was Kelp hallucinating the image of his dad when looking at the bird, seeing that he had just had a flashback to his young childhood. I could be wrong, but that's how I've always seen it.
UPDATE (11/24/2007):
I just rewatched this movie, and I see how was getting my scenes mixed up. I don't know WHO the man bird is! LOL!
JOE TYRIA
Creed Wolf Productions
Silver Creed Wolf Music (BMI)
looks nothing like howard morris
shareTo be honest, that whole scene mystifies me! What with the man-bird and Kelp becoming this monster figure... how did he become Buddy Love from that?
sharepainful evolutionary process
shareThe point was probably to make a horror movie transformation spoof and make us think he was turning into a werewolf or something and then we finally see him as the dashing Buddy Love (which was a great twist IMO)
About the man-bird, well that's a tough one...
[deleted]
"The point was probably to make a horror movie transformation spoof and make us think he was turning into a werewolf or something and then we finally see him as the dashing Buddy Love (which was a great twist IMO)
About the man-bird, well that's a tough one..."
It was a play on the dozens of Jekl & Hyde movies that always had a scary monstrous transformation between the two characters. It's letting us know Buddy Love is the monster/dark side despite is "handsome" appearance compared to the nerdy prof.
This is a question that has been bothering me for years. I even went onto Jerry's website to see if anyone could shed some light on this, one of cinema's greatest mysteries.
Of all the replies I have read here, the "wound up on the cutting room floor" explanation seems the most plausible. I see no resemblance to James Milhollin, or Del Moore as Dr. Warfield. Then again, the man-bird might be an inside joke. The creature could be Frank Tashlin who directed many of Jerry's films before Jerry became an independent director. In that respect, the line, "I told you, Julius" makes more sense. If indeed it was Tashlin he could be telling Jerry that directing comedy is harder than playing it.
"Yours, yours, yours. Is there anything in the world that isn't yours?" -- Katharine Hepburn
Argh this must be the best-kept inside joke in comedy history. I can't seem to find a convincing answer either. On the DVD commentary Jerry teases us but he never reveals who the man-bird is.
shareI even went to Jerry's official website to see if I could get any more information. So far, there has been no response.
"Yours, yours, yours. Is there anything in the world that isn't yours?" -- Katharine Hepburn
Could it be an inside joke? The man who gave the bird the voice?
The drug made Kelp see "through the things", into reality.
IIRC there are also some scenes where actors broke the fourth wall and looked directly into the camera.
I always thought it was actor James Millhollin.
shareYeah, thanks for posting this. I just bought the 50th anniversary DVD/Blue Ray, and sadly the lousy commentary with Steve Lawrence (who ruined the commentary tracks on all the recent wide screen releases of Jerry's movies --Jerry ought to have recorded with his son, Chris or Scott or with a film reviewer or Peter Bogdonovich); the 50th DVD commentary is only a rerun of the 40th, it is not new. And yes, like one person here observed, Jerry tells Steve Lawrence, "after this, I'll tell you about that mynah bird. It's something about my kids." (something like that, I just tried to rerun it back and cannot locate it. In any case, he didn't talk about it in the commentary!) I agree that he looks like James Millhollin. We could scan the film and do a visual search for him elsewhere in the film, but I do not know.
If someone can find copies of The Mike Douglas Show where Jerry co-hosted for a week at a time, I recall he spoke about his films, including this one, and I think he did talk about the man-bird scene. This would be 1973 or 1974. He might have co-hosted more than one week per each year. I am betting on 1973 summer. (on one of the week's shows, he did a thing with his typewriter song, where he showed the film then cut back to him doing it live, back and forth.)
I did like the theory that this was his conscience speaking to him. Or that reality got bent, or he saw reality differently.
Let's hear it for the boy! (Jerry!)