They couldn't tell why that tiny eye
Would make them writhe and twist,
They found it so, but how could they know
That the babe was a hypnotist?
Another esoteric Saturday with many thanks going to
Terry O'Brien and his collection of hypnosis trivia
at www.hypnosisinmedia.com. The above quote is from a
J.M. Barrie and Arthur Conan Doyle comic opera called
JANE ANNIE or, The Good Conduct Prize.
Here is the summary of the plot:
Set in a girls' boarding school and the golf green
attached to it. Bab,described by the authors as a
"bad girl," plans to elope, but cannot decide whether
to marry Jack the lancer or Tom the press student. Jane
Annie, the school's "good girl," schemes to take one
of them (Jack) off her hands, and calls on her powers
of hypnotism to accomplish it.
This is too much fun and a lovely coincidence. I have had a long
love affair with Barrie's writings. He had me at "Clap your hands
if you believe in fairies." (Yep, Peter Pan).
So Terry, you made this rainy Saturday interesting already.
So the question is - do the boys in question accept the hypnotic
suggestions of marriage?
Read the play to find out. LOL.
4 comments:
You can thank Barrie's co-author on this project, Arthur Conan Doyle, for the hypnosis storyline. At least, that's what I've been told.
Doyle was heavily interested in Spiritualism, and, as such, like many of his fellow gentry of Victorian England, was also interested in hypnosis.
I read it. I don't hink it would work in the long term unless the man in question was actually interested in her to begin with - however we are dealing with Victorian England here, a vastly different moral culture than today - one almost impossible to grasp from our "modern" standpoint.
If Jane Ann had been able to simply get Jack to the altar. he would have been honor-bound to honor the marriage, even if it had been made under false premises.
And most especially if he had been found in anything resembling a compromising situation with Jane Ann - even if it had been faked - he most certainly would have "done the honourable thing!".
So, the answer is a qualified "maybe - for that period of history."
And an aside and a plug - I will be appearing at DuckCon in Naperville, IL (June 8-10) in a few weeks and will be a part of a panel (with some screenings) titles "Hypnosis and Bad Movies in Science Fiction."
www.duckon.org I believe is the web site for the convention. It is a regional science fiction convention and a lot of fun, generally!
Lee Darrow, C.H.
A panel named "Hypnosis and Bad Movies in Science Fiction" is right up my alley. Its almost worth going to DuckCon just to try and get on it.
Alas, I have a prior commitment that weekend: I videotape the local Arena Football team's home games and one of them is that Saturday.
Lee, please let me know how the panel turns out (and who turns out on it).
Post a Comment