The Five Fickle Fingers

"Come with me and you'll be In a world of pure imagination." - Wille Wonka

When I was but a wee lad I saw a movie on TV which I never quite forgot... all except the title, that is. The images stayed with me for years, decades, but I never knew what it was called.

I remember two sinister men on rollerskates, connected at the beard, pursuing a young boy wearing a beany with a little hand sticking up from the very top. (Yes, this very kid.)

I remember a dungeon full of orchestra musicians dressed in rags playing fanciful music on improvised instruments.

I remember an atomic explosion triggered through the use of skate keys, marbles, a hearing-aid and a large bottle of deodorant.

I remember a man wearing lavender spats and an organdy snood magically producing trays of desserts, cigars and cocktails from holes in the floor of his office.

I remember a piano with 44,000 keys being played by 500 little boys.

The piano was the key that eventually allowed me to rediscover this bizarre film, entitled "The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T", the only feature film written by Dr. Seuss.

Yes, that Dr. Seuss.

This movie is cringe-inducing in ways that only a mid-50s musical can be but it's also one of the more spectacularly memorable films I've ever seen. Below is a youtube clip from the film, a brilliant sequence featuring the aforementioned musicians. Please watch this and, as you do, consider the amount of imagination and work that went into combining the music, dance, and costuming. Not to mention the good Dr.'s peculiar script.

There are other shorts from the film available on youtube. If your interest is piqued allow me to particularly recommend the "Do-Me-Do Duds" sequence featuring the apparantly game-for-anything Hans Conreid.

=mike=