Some concepts

"She chopped his knob right off.." Jumping Jack

"Sad, Mad, Glad Mrs. Bobbitt"

"A cleaver she did wield"

Toy theater in film

Toy theater has always fascinated me. I remember as a child building various toy theaters out of cardboard, dioramas out of shoeboxes, and a full-sized handpuppet theater out of a fridge box. Toy theaters were originally mass-produced miniature facsimiles of famous opera and stage-play productions, made of card cut-outs. Some examples of the traditional toy theatre can be found below. Sliding the small figures back and forth in these theatres might be considered an early version of moving picture. Many films pay homage to the form, in particular the films of Ingmar Bergman. Below is the opening to his film "Fanny and Alexander" His film version of The Magic Flute takes place within the world of an old theatre, the sets of which have a very toy theatre feel to them, which I suppose isn't unusual, considering how most stage sets were built at the time: Flat painted panels. It's best illustrated at the 4:30 mark as winter transforms into spring. Below is the trailer for the excellent "Dante's Inferno" by Sandow Birk, an entire film created in a toy theatre: Other films of interest: "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" "The Thief of Baghdad" Below you will find some great toy theatre resources: Penny Plain Twopence Colored, a wonderful blog devoted to toy theater. Great Small Works is a theatre company that curates toy theater exhibitions and toy theater festivals at St. Ann's Warehouse in NY. And here are some clips from more traditional toy theatres:

The Persistence of Vision

Thaumatropes





Zoetropes

Little Miss Bobbitty-Boo

I originally came up with this version of Lorena Bobbitt's nursery rhyme, based on the rhyming and rhythm schema of "Three Blind Mice"

A  Little Miss Bobbitty-Boo. Little Miss Bobbitty-Boo.
A  Whatever did she do? Whatever did she do?
B  With a carving knife commit a deed
B  That caused her man to thrash and bleed.
B  She threw his knob into the weeds.
A  That Little Miss Bobbitty Boo.

For comparison's sake:

A  Three Blind Mice. Three Blind Mice.
C  See how they run. See how they run.
B  They all ran after the farmer's wife,
B  Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
B  Have you ever seen such a thing in your life,
A  As Three Blind Mice?

The rhyme retains the convenient carving knife element and also borrows the the "title" of Little Miss Muffett. 

Soon afterwards, I came up with something a little more colorful and original:

Sad Missus Bobbitt. 

Mad Missus Bobbitt. 

Glad Missus Bobbitty-Boo.
She served her man a cold revenge,

with verve and derring-do.

When one night Mister Bobbitt 

Came home quite besotted
A cleaver she did wield.
She chopped her husband's knob right off
And tossed it in a field.

Soon later the Bobbitt 

Appendage was spotted.

And swiftly sewn back on.

Then Bobbitt and his Knobbit had

A brief career in porn.

Sad Missus Bobbitt. 

Mad Missus Bobbitt. 

Glad Missus Bobbitty-Boo.

Don't cross her path when she is mad

You might lose your knob too!

Bobbitty-Boo, which uses Lorena's name, is also a reference to the magical song sung by the Fairy Godmother in Disney's Cinderella, "Bibbidi bobbidi boo".