Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 television version of the Man From The South* is perhaps one of the most memorable media pieces from my childhood. It shows a version of the now classic wager game of “lighting a lighter” for high-stakes. If the protagonist can light it 10 times in a row he wins a car, if not . . . WHACK! he looses a finger.
Fair enough right?
The story is slightly more complicated, but we’ll not spoil it for those of you who might want to watch it.
We offer this updated version. We have a toothpick bird with a penchant for usually, but not always grabbing the toothpick. We also have a nice, heavy meat cleaver.
Can you get the bird to pick up the toothpick 10 times in a row?
Do you really think you can? Care to bet on it?
Toothpick Bird $10, Finger grade meat cleaver: $25
*It’s a killer piece of work. First it’s based on a Roald Dahl story; it also stars Peter Lorre, Steve McQueen and a spine shivering performance by Katherine Squire. Fan-freaking-tastic!
Can’t get enough? Try the 1980’s remake featuring John Huston, Melanie Griffith, Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren (Yes!). Watch the whole thing or just skip to the end . . .
And yes, there’s even another version, this time featuring Roald Dahl himself as the ‘host’. It’s not the best version and is perhaps most interesting for the for the tele-novella like ‘discovery’ scene (about 20 minutes in) and consistency in story lines across the various versions (eg. “He took 47 fingers and lost 11 cars.”)
Material Culture Museum 