Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2010 October 19

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October 19

There's a Hole in my Bucket

In the famous nonsense song (above) Henry asks Liza "with what shall I fix it?". And she answers, "With a Straw, dear Henry". Would someone kindly explain how you can fix a hole in a bucket with a straw - that turns out to be too long and needs to be cut with an axe that is too dull and needs sharpened on a stone that is too dry and so needs to be wetted with water that has to be collected in a bucket - but the bucket has a hole in it? Thanks. I did say it was a nonsense song but my question about the straw still stands. 92.30.178.149 (talk) 11:43, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

A (piece of) straw can be the stalk of any grain or grass. In the song, they aren't talking about a drinking straw. By the way, the song has an article at "There's a Hole in My Bucket". Dismas|^(talk) 11:48, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

I always understood it to be straw, not a straw, i.e. a bundle of stalks. --Viennese Waltz 12:16, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

I always thought it was (mass noun) straw, as in thatch. But our rendition of There's a Hole in My Bucket currently has "a straw". I can't see how that would be useful even if it was a very small hole. But how would you thatch a bucket anyway? The various renditions on the Internet do not seem to agree.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:33, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

The way that I've always taken it was that Henry was to stick a stalk of some grass or grain into the hole and then cut off the part that protrudes from the bottom. After all, if he set the bucket down, the straw could be pushed up and out of the hole. Dismas|^(talk) 12:37, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

But with an axe??????92.30.178.149 (talk) 23:18, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Maybe a bit of overkill, but it'll get the job done. Also, the use of "a straw" is likely to make the words fit the meter of the song; lyrical choices are often made as much for fiting meter or rhyme as for making sense. --Jayron32 03:05, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

The article refers to its derivation from a German drinking song, which seems to be confirmed by discussion at this forum. The original words, in one version, were "Mit was soll ich'n awer zu schtoppe / Liewer Heinrich, Liewer Heinrich / Mit was soll ich'n awer zu schtoppe / Dummer Ding, mit den Schtroh!" Translated: "What should I plug it up with / Dear Henry, dear Henry? / What should I plug it up with? / Stupid thing, with some straw!" Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:20, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

I just played the version of the song on the double LP This is Harry Belafonte, and there the lyric is definitely "with a straw". I've always taken it to mean a piece of straw. By the way, on this version both the title and the lyric go There's a Hole in the Bucket. --Anonymous, 19:37 UTC, October 20/10.

Just a thought - any defenition on the size of the hole? It might be a really tiny hole and as such a single straw (agriculture not drinking) may be enough to plug the hole... gazhiley.co.uk 12:04, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

In which case, unless the bucket is very small, or you are very far from the water source, you should have water left in the bucket to whet the stone, which he can use to sharpen what must be the world dullest axe, which he can use to cut what must be the worlds toughest straw. Googlemeister (talk) 15:03, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

And who are you to tell Henry he should be doing some actual work? Sheesh! --Anonymous, 07:59 UTC, October 23, 2010.

FWIW: If Henry cut and laid a 'mat' of straw on the bottom of the bucket, it would absorb some of the water, swell, and form a reasonably water-tight barrier over the hole. This would last until he brought home a bucketful. This is a quick-fix well known in the sailing vessel era as 'fothering.' If a wooden hull was holed by a rock, coral reef, or cannon-shot, it was covered with a sail filled with rope, straw, and anything else that would swell up and plug it until repairs could be carried out in a dock-yard. 59.167.234.198 (talk) 22:07, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

Fred Astaire's anti-gravity walking stick

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFabjc6mFk4

At 2:58. How did he do it?

It looks like the walking stick that he kicked away at 2:54 was simply taken away by the crew. The 2:58 stick was placed there in advance. It looks like that the stick has a string attached, but how did he swing the stick with a piece of string attached? -- Toytoy (talk) 13:31, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Note that he repeats the trick shortly afterwards, when the stick has not been out of shot just beforehand, and that later he and an entire chorus line all do it again, simultaneously. I can envisage thin, invisible (to the camera) lines - think nylon monofilament fishing line - being used that would then snap and not impede subsequent manipulations (the article actually alludes to such filmic sfx use, and it had been invented some 6 years before Blue Skies was made), but the millisecond-perfect timing (assuming that's how it was done) is still mind-bogglingly impressive, and there would also have to be at least two unnoticeable cuts in the apparently continuous filming to enable the setups. Hopefully someone who really knows will respond.

Doh! The film's article specifically refers to "a concealed floor trigger mechanism" while discussing the routine's filming, and that the routine took "five weeks of back-breaking physical work" requiring multiple combined shots of Astaire - the "chorus line" really is all him, not a team of look-alikes as I'd assumed. Moral: check the relevant Wikipedia articles first! 87.81.230.195 (talk) 14:00, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

• Glad you found your own answer -- and thanks for getting me to watch that impressive video! --M@rēino 20:21, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

song name

whats the song at 0:46 of this vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8GJWakHo6Q —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kj650 (talk • contribs) 15:46, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

"Song 2" ---Sluzzelin talk 16:42, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Laugh light?

What would you call those things that are often found on the sets of TV shows with live audiences that tells them to laugh or react some other way? I tried searching laugh light, laugh monitor, but didn't find anything. Thanks!  ?EVAUNIT^{神になった人間} 22:46, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

I don't really know what you're talking about but you might be thinking of cues(stage?) 70.241.18.130 (talk) 22:54, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

I think of it as an Applause sign. Aaronite @ 72.2.54.36 (talk) 23:00, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

• (Original research alert) -- as far as I know, applause signs have gone out of style with American TV companies. I haven't ever been to a Los Angeles studio recording, but I've been to a few in New York, and they just have a person (usually one of the writers or actors) go in front of the audience before the recording and encourage the crowd to laugh, cheer, etc. whenever they want. --M@rēino 20:27, 20 October 2010 (UTC)