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She's Got A Bee In Her Bonnet, er, uh, Bottle

28 March 2008 - 12:14pm — Harl Delos


Of all the episodes of the Mary Tyler Moore show, I suspect most people's favorite was Chuckles the Clown Bites the Dust, which aired on October 25, 1975. That episode won the 1976 Emmy for Best Writing in a Comedy Series.

Lou: It's good that the elephant didn't shell anyone else.
Murray: After all, you know how hard it is to stop after just one

Chuckles the Clown - real name George Bowerchuck - was mentioned often on Mary Tyler Moore, but I don't recall ever seeing him. (He did appear in two episodes, however, once played by Mark Gordon, and once by Richard Schaal.) Dressed as "Peter Peanut" to be grand marshal for a parade, Chuckles was attacked by a rogue elephant and killed.

Murray: What are you so happy about?
Ted: The circus is in town and they want me!
Murray: Oh terrific Ted. Do you have to bring your own shovel?

At his funeral, Mary Richards can't stop laughing, until the minister notices, and comments that Mary's laughter were in line with how Mr. Bowerchuck would like to be remembered. When the minister asks her to eulogize her coworker, though, Mary can't help bawling.

A little song, a little dance,
A little seltzer down your pants...
- Chuckles, The Clown


Charlotte Green of BBC Radio 4 surely can sympathize with Mary Richards. She read an item about the oldest recording of the human voice, from 1860 - nearly two decades before Edison invented his phonograph. While they played the recording, a coworker whispered in Charlotte's ear, that it sounded like "a bee buzzing in a bottle". The recording was of someone singing "Au Clair de la Lune" (according to the Manchester Guardian. I think they meant "Clair de Lune", Claude Debussy's most famous piece of music. It's hard to tell from listening to it; it sounds to me like a bee buzzing in a bottle.)

She dissolved into giggles. The next new item? Horror of horrors, it was an obituary, for Abby Mann.

She was rescued by James Naughtie - but he was struggling to suppress the giggles, too, when he introduced the next report, about the danger that Iraq might be sliding into civil war. It didn't take long for the remaining presenter, Edward Stourton to collapse into laughter as well.

The BBC got hundreds of calls and emails, as you might imagine. Both Naughtie and Stourton deny responsibility for the prank.

Listen to the event

Comments

29 March 2008 - 3:05pm — dcdame

Au Clair de la Lune

The recording was of someone singing "Au Clair de la Lune" (according to the Manchester Guardian. I think they meant "Clair de Lune", Claude Debussy's most famous piece of music. It's hard to tell from listening to it; it sounds to me like a bee buzzing in a bottle.)

No, it's definitely "Au Clair de la Lune" -- a French children's song. Despite the difficulty of making much out, it is identifiable if you're familiar with the tune (I had to learn the song in 8th grade French class, several decades ago, but I still recalled the tune and the first line when I read your parenthetical).

Have a listen to the song (a lovely simple performance): http://www.parlo.com/fr/explore/music/songs/au_claire/

30 March 2008 - 7:59am — Harl Delos

Thanks, dcdame!

Thanks for that information. Listening to the Parlo sound clip, the song is very familiar to me. The 1860 recording, though, still sounds to me like a bee buzzing in a bottle.... (I'm not trying to put down the Scott recording. The wonder of the dancing bear is not how well it dances, but that it dances at all. )

Mama taught piano lessons, and I recognize a LOT of songs that I don't know the name of, but somewhere in the recesses of my memory (somebody needs to get in there with a weedwacker and clean up those recesses), I seem to recall someone singing english lyrics to this song. I'm unable to come up with any words, though, none that match the Parlo page, and none that match Wikipedia, or the other few pages I googled.

One of the pages suggested a similarity to "The Bad Seed" theme song, but the last horror movie I saw was "The Birds", and I still regret seeing that one. Could the Smothers Brothers have recorded a version of this song with english lyrics? The fragments in my memory suggest the tones of Tommy and Dickie Smothers.