Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here and today we’re talking about dummies, and not the kind you find
randomly on your facebook feed, the kind you shove your hand into and desperately try to
make entertaining. The act of Ventriloquism, which means to speak from the stomach, has
been around for a long time and didn’t start out as a charming stage act featuring a creepy doll
(and I use the word charming very loosely here)- it was originally tied to religious practice,
considered to be a power, even. The ventriloquist would produce noises with his stomach,
and those guttural sounds were thought to be the voices of the undead - the ventriloquist
would act as the conduit between the spiritual world and the real world. By the 18th century,
it evolved into a form of entertainment - it began without the use of a puppet and was more focused
on how the performer could throw their voice. By the 1830s, more performers incorporated a small
doll into their act, but it was Fred Russell, who started his career in 1882, who brought this utter
horror show into our lives. Since then we’ve seen many great and not-so-great ventriloquists - if
you’re a millennial like myself, Sherry Lewis probably comes to mind as one of the better ones,
but when I think of this classic dummy aesthetic, I think about Edgar Bergen and
his puppets Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, very light hearted, very goofy performances.
Because we can’t have nice things, society has decided to take these already mildly disturbing
looking dolls and make them horrifying demon spawn. Just seemed like the next step. Actually,
in all seriousness, it really does make sense - we’ve come full circle with the
scary ventriloquism trope - it started out as a more supernatural, spiritual practice
and those origins seem to be used in a lot of horror doll stories in the present day.
Now that you have that very very very brief history of ventriloquism,
let’s get to the subject at hand. DID GOOSEBUMPS RIP OFF THE TWILIGHT ZONE? (Ominous Sound Effect)
Yeah it’s clickbait, mama needs her paycheck, but I do want to compare and contrast an episode of
the Twilight Zone to an episode of Goosebumps because I thought some of the similarities were
significant. I’ve always looked at shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps as a
Twilight Zone for kids. Especially Are You Afraid of the Dark, some of those episodes seem straight
up lifted from Rod Serling. R.L. Stine’s work has always struck me as more of a Stephen King
for kids, particularly because he experiments with light body horror and monster characters, but his
story Night of the Living Dummy is more comparable to this Twilight Zone episode simply titled The
Dummy. I didn’t find a lot of speculation, but there are some people that suggest that Stine’s
character Slappy is inspired by this dummy named Willie. In general I just think the killer toy
trope, specifically possessed dummies, is a really interesting one that taps into a lot of people’s
childhood fears. Who hasn’t looked over at their favorite doll or plushie while they are trying
so sleep and think “Wow. This is how I die.” Let’s take a look at The Twilight Zone first.
The episode starts by introducing us to Jerry and his puppet, Willie.
It’s clear that Jerry isn’t voicing this puppet. Willie seems like a rather salty type,
and says he could be a better ventriloquist than Jerry; this is followed by a rather disconcerting
scene that shows Willie taking control of Jerry, controlling him instead. I’ve seen some ugly
looking puppets but I gotta say, Willie is up there. Those eyebrows are begging for death.
We pan over to our boy Rod Serling, who introduces the story by means of spewing out more adjectives
than a School House Rock episode. Rod: “You’re watching a ventriloquist named Jerry Etherson,
voiceover par excellence, his alter ego sitting atop of his lap is a brash stick of kindling,
sobriquet Willy. In a moment Mr. Etherson and his naughty pine partner will be booked
in one of the out of the way bistros.” Well, I’m aroused. Backstage, Willie bites Jerry.
The dancers seem unbothered. “Wow, what was his problem, oh whatever DANCE! 1,2,3, 4
In his dressing room, Jerry experiences the many mugs of Willie. This one says “Don’t look at me,
I’m hideous!” while this one says “Eeeeey….”
It is also established that Jerry has a drinking problem. His agent tries to convince him to stop,
but Jerry insists he needs the alcohol so he can deal with Willie. “Eeeeeey…”
Agent: “How many psychiatrists do you have to see?
How many 20 dollar-an-hour visits?” 20 bucks an hour for a psychiatrist, I wish.
Jerry says that he was diagnosed incorrectly,
saying he does not suffer from Schizophrenia or a need to use the dummy as a way to express his
emotions - I can’t help but wonder if this is a reference to the 1929 film The Great Gabbo,
a movie with does focus on a ventriloquist that uses a Dummy named Otto to express his emotions.
Jerry insists that Willie is alive. Manager: “Does
this thing look alive to you?? Does he??” “Oh god help me.”
His agent is at the end of his rope, berating Jerry for his drinking, his missed shows, and
his overall bad attitude. “And the only thing you like better than Scotch is Sympathy.” Girl, same.
Jerry is given 24 hours to come up with a solution to all his problems - he decides
to write up a different act with a new Dummy named Goofy and dispose of Willie. Who is like
“You just go ahead and try…”
There’s a short scene right here that got my attention - a couple of the dancers ask Jerry
to make Willy talk, and he says no, but Willy shouts something at them from the dressing
room. The women are impressed, then spy in on Willie with these knowing looks. Seems sus.
Do they know something, are they in control of Willie? Just thought this stood out.
After a month of practice, Jerry is back out there with his new,
somewhat lackluster dummy. I must admit, the performance was
a bit wooden. Heh heh heh. Dummy: “ring-a-ding-ding.”
That was normal.
His agent decides to resign from the club.
He makes one last effort to convince Jerry to get help, but he refuses,
and says he’s going to burn Willy then move to Miami with goofy. As he’s leaving,
Jerry believes he hears Willy talking to him, even though one of the stage hands doesn’t hear it.
As Jerry is walking home, he is tormented by Willie, hearing his voice and seeing visions
of him on the walls. Up until this point I thought the episode was really cheesy and I
wasn’t connecting with it in any profound way, but then there is this legitimately
harrowing scene where Jerry runs into someone named Noreen. He starts acting out of sorts,
grabbing at her and pleading with her to get a drink, saying he’s not sick but he keeps hearing
Willy’s voice in his head - she becomes frightened and runs away. What’s interesting to me about this
scene is how vague it is - I am not sure if she’s even real of a figment from his past traumas,
perhaps a memory Willy conjured up to cause anguish. Or it could be a hint that Jerry
really is sick and he is experiencing some kind of psychosis. Either way,
this scene shows Jerry’s desperation and hurt, and that the story is deeper than a possessed dummy.
Jerry runs back into his dressing room, where Willy is still locked in the trunk. The voices
become maniacal as Jerry unlocks the trunk, grabs the dummy, and breaks it. When he looks down
however, he sees Goofy’s glasses, and realizes he destroyed the wrong one. There is something
really heartbreaking about seeing Goofy’s face broken into a million pieces on the floor.
Willy says he has a new plan for Jerry, and in the final scene
Jerry has transformed into the dummy, while Willy is now the ventriloquist. This is fine.
Really interesting episode, I think there’s a lot to unpack for having
such a superficial plot synopsis. Now I am going to be taking a look at Goosebumps:
Night of the Living Dummy, which is one of the most popular books from the series.
Goosebumps:
Now, I will be comparing this to Night of the Living Dummy II because for whatever reason,
the first book was never adapted into a television episode. However, I do find the
stories slightly interchangeable, so I think this will still make for a totally fine comparison.
As we begin we see a very average family having their own talent show in their
living room. Definitely getting extremely normal vibes from this.
Mom: “It’s beautiful, honey.” Dad: “It belongs in a museum!” Okay Indy, calm down.
Amy, the middle child in the family, shows off her passion for ventriloquism. However,
her dummy Dennis has seen better days and loses his head during the show. She whinges a little,
and her parents tell her to look behind the couch for a surprise - she finds a brand new Dummy named
Slappy. He comes with a card with some nonsense words on it, which Amy promptly reads out loud.
Meaning he’s alive now. Yes, it’s that easy. Wow, Slappy has a CHISELED face. Heh heh heh heh-
As she’s practicing later that night, Slappy says a few things on his own. Amy brushes it
off and plops him next to poor, beleaguered Dennis. He falls off the bench randomly,
causing Amy to pick him up. Amy: “Ah Dennis.” I just love how annoyed Amy is with Dennis,
like he is ALWAYS pulling this kind of shit. CLASSIC Dennis.
The next morning, Sara, Amy’s sister, discovers that someone ruined her painting.
And by ruined I think it’s been improved, I know she’s young but it was a little trite.
The family blames Amy, and she expresses a lot of frustration at always taking the blame for
everyone’s problems. At the next talent show, Dad puts on a rousing musical act.
After he is finished, Amy takes the stage and Slappy shares his critiques on the family. Slappy:
“You’re such a booger brain you tried to grow an eggplant by burying a chicken.” “Slappy? More
like crappy amirite. “What about your mother? She went to the store and asked the clerk for
anything in her size and he told her to try the freight elevator.” Geezus Slappy, the library is
closed. Amy is punished for being rude and sent to bed early. Check this out, looks like mom’s talent
was baton twirling - I SUPER wanted to see that, it would have been way better than Dad’s singing.
I want to move this along so I’ll just briefly summarize what happens;
Slappy continues to try and essentially ruin Amy’s life by speaking as her to her
friends and family - he terrifies one of her school friends while they are doing homework,
he breaks her Dad’s guitar, and Amy parents try to talk her into getting help as they
believe she is using the dummy to vent her frustrations. Amy tries to dispose of Slappy,
but he comes back and tells her she can’t escape - she will now be his slave. He says
no one will believe her claims of him being alive and that her family would lock her up, then goes
on to say he can hurt her family in a hundred different ways and holy crap, this is for kids?
Amy’s sister now sees that Slappy IS real and they do their best to destroy him.
Not sure what a mop is going to do, but okay. I’m gonna get him SO CLEAN. After a struggle,
Slappy is knocked down and his face cracks open, releasing the evil within.
It’s revealed that Dennis was jealous of Slappy and is the one who tackled him moments before.
Dennis: “It’s good to be back in the family!”
All right, let’s discuss these two stories. I want to start by saying that no,
I don’t think R.L. Stine necessarily grabbed his book idea from The Twilight Zone, but I do
think the similarities are enough to at least say it was inspired - Slappy and Willy, the
similar cadence of the dummy’s voices: Willy: “All right, All right! Let go of the suit. I’m gettin’
outta here!” Slappy: “That was your dad?Well, what a relief. I thought the cat got stuck in
the dishwasher, hehehehe!” the whole “this thing is alive and it’s making me a slave” vibe - it’s
clear they share a lot of elements, but I also clocked the fact that a lot of dummy stories just
always seem to go down the same way. What else are you going to do with a dummy in terms of horror?
Of course it’s going to come to life, be evil, and more obviously it’s going to make YOU the dummy.
Let’s go back to the 1929 movie I mentioned before called The Great Gabbo; a pre-code musical drama
about a volatile man who has trouble communicating with the people in his life, so he uses his dummy
Otto as a conduit of sorts - I thought this was a really interesting, more psychological
way to use the dummy, with the ventriloquist being the frightening part of the equation,
though I will say I wasn’t sure if Otto was truly alive or not because the “tricks” Gabbo did would
be somewhat impossible in real life, but I believe the implication is Gabbo is speaking for Otto,
and Otto represents his inner feelings. I think this was a big proponent for the use of dummies in
horror because even though the roles are flipped, Gabbo is still somewhat possessed by Otto, under
his control, relying heavily on him for emotional support and advice. That idea does leak into The
Twilight Zone and Goosebumps - the dolls in these episodes are obviously more alive, but they all
share the threat of entrapment or being controlled in some way, whether it’s physically, or mentally.
Even though I don’t think Night of the Living Dummy is necessarily a blatant
“rip off” of The Dummy, it seems cruel to call it that - I was pretty
intrigued by the heavier themes they shared. Particularly the aspect of not being believed
by their peers or family, down to being told they need some form of psychiatric help. Yes,
you could look at these two stories as a killer toy trope, but I found the most unsettling parts
to be about the deteriorating mental state of the two main characters. Jerry’s is especially
upsetting as his mental state has taken such a severe turn he turns to alcohol to quell it,
but I think for Goosebumps’s young audience, Amy’s constant conflict with her family and
friends is also upsetting. The Twilight Zone, being more mature, does often portray the everyday
frustrations of being an adult and having strained relationships with other people, and Goosebumps
often expresses the everyday frustrations of being a kid and trying to navigate your way through
life, and that can be way more frightening than an evil dummy with busted eyebrows.
Sometimes even the main stories align - there’s a part where Jerry frightens one of his friends,
there’s a part where Amy frightens one of hers. There are two dummies present,
one goofier than the other, and even though the endings are very, VERY different,
the way Goofy’s head smashes and breaks is SO similar to Slappy’s… though… I thought they were
made of wood. Why are their heads smashing like they are made of cheap plaster? Where the two
stories really split is the very end - Goosebumps gets a relatively happy ending, despite….Dennis…
but The Twilight Zone goes ultra disturbing with the implication Jerry turned into a dummy,
taking that “you are now my slave forever” thing to the highest degree. I think R.L. Stine took
this initial inspiration of dummies past, and just applied it to his own style for his younger
audience, and I do respect that. I’ve always enjoyed R.L. Stine, even if his inspirations
are rather obvious. If I am being honest, after an initial watch of both of these I thought they
were cheesy, trite, and just not very interesting. But as I was writing the script for this video I
found a new appreciation for them, especially for their darker moments and relatable characters.
Overall I really enjoyed watching these two episodes back to back and going over a few
notable dummies in entertainment, though now I am left thinking we need to find a fresh,
new way of bringing them into the horror genre - I wouldn’t mind getting away from
the demonic doll trope and focusing once again on the disturbed ventriloquist like The Great
Gabbo - perhaps something like that will make a comeback. If you have a few suggestions on more
killer toy content, or you have some thoughts on how we can make dummy’s frightening again,
please leave a suggestion in my comments, and until next time….stay spooky.
Hey everyone, thanks again for watching my video about dummies - if you are interested
in more horror content, I have plenty to offer, but first I want to give a shoutout
to my patrons who support my love for the strange and unusual and make it possible for me to keep
this channel going. If you are feelin’ generous, consider supporting the show with a couple bucks,
and if not, please like and comment on this video to drive engagement.
If you want to see more videos from me, here are a few suggestions. On the right I have an
interesting breakdown about a highly questionable episode of the X-Files.
On the left I have a spooky video on an episode of Murder, She Wrote,
which also happens to be my flagship series so make sure you check out the playlist as well!
Thanks again and as always, I’ll see you in the next one.