Jitterbugs (1943) A carnival of con men complicate this vehicle for Laurel and Hardy, designed to introduce Vivian Blaine as the new Alice Faye. The boys had a little more freedom to improvise, thanks to a sympathetic director, Mal St. Clair. As a result, Oliver Hardy regarded this as one of their better 20th Century Fox pictures. I would have preferred more swing music for the jitterbugers, instead of “The Moon Kissed Miami Last Night” and the bizarre “If the Shoe Fits, Wear It.” Still, the movie can remind us of war-time gas rationing. Stan and Ollie’s opening mechanical band, “The Original Zoot Suit Band,” and Stan’s hilarious cross-dressing at the end, provide relief for a nation needing “The Answer to the Greatest Problem Facing the World Today.” So “C’mon Hepcats, we’re goin’ to spread a load of gas!”
I need a hug! I need a hug!
I’ve caught an evil jitterbug
And I can’t pull my body away!
I twist and shout and squirm,
Infected by a hip earworm.
The jitterbug is jerking me away!
St. Vidus dance had a cure:
They bound your feet to the floor;
But jitterbugs keep beating anyway!
I swing you up. I swing you down.
We both flip out and swirl around,
Those jitterbugs can’t keep us away!
Your face is mooning outer space.
You spin into my firm embrace,
As jitterbugs infect us and stay!
This dance is such a crazy craze,
We can’t break free of brass that brays.
Juke joint jitterbugs jump us away.
[Disposable Poem March 28, 2020]
Dr. Mike
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