[Fictionary] THE BIRDS AND THE BEES results

[Jim Moskowitz]

Hello, fellow fictioneers!

Thank you all for indulging me in my variety round, and thank you Beth Bruch for making a return appearance after something like eight years! Thanks too to Jed, who submitted votes for the first time in a long while.

And now for the results: Apparently we collectively need more practice in inventing plausible Hollywood plots. The actual synopsis of The Birds and the Bees, (starring George Gobel, Mitzi Gaynor, and David Niven; directed by Norman Taurog; and written by Sidney Sheldon based on an idea by Preston Sturges) got twice as many votes as any other entry!
(On the other hand, it didn’t win the Most Want To See prize, which goes to Ziv and the talking pet parrot.)

Among the fake entries… we have a TIE, between Hutch and Eric at 4 points each, so I’ll ask them to confer privately and decide who gets to run the next round.



HUTCH:  Two friends from very different circumstances decide to trade places at a high-society party. Each meets the girl their parents expected the other to meet. Confusion and comedy follow.
   Eric - I think this definition and my own are both more like madcap 
      comedies of the '30, but I don't know much about movies. Maybe 
      they made those in the '50s as well?
   David - 2 points.
   Pierre - 2 points.
   Jed - If that last sentence had been “Hilarity ensues” I might have voted 
      for it. :) (https://www.kith.org/words/2000/09/10/rrreviews/)  I think I’ll give 
      this my “most want to watch” vote, though a lot would depend on the tone 
      of the movie. I’m thinking it might have the general flavor of _The Reluctant 
      Debutante_, which could be very enjoyable.
   

DAVID RANDALL:  A lost Japanese fisherman and his two children are rescued by a menagerie of animals that have become super-intelligent in the wake of an atomic explosion on a tropical island.
   Ziv - I think this wins my "want to watch" award, but only if it were made 
      more recently -- I can't imagine 1950's America having Japanese 
      protagonists at all, much less ones portrayed with any kind of sensitivity…
   Eric - I know we're supposed to only get one vote for which movie we’d 
      like to see, but it's hard.  Two watching points.
   Jean-Joseph - 1 point, if for no other reason than that that I'm amused thinking 
      about the Mr. Ed-like special effects that would have been in play back 
     in 1956.


ERIC COHEN:  When an out-of-luck reporter signs on as caretaker at the Bird Nature Sanctuary, he hasn't bargained on all the Birds -- formidable great-aunts Lucy and Helena, rowdy schoolgirl Rhoda, or the lovely Diane.
   Ziv - 2 points -- sounds like 1950 gender politics to me…
   Pierre - 1 point.
   Jed - I like this one quite a bit (especially the idea that Bird is a family name), 
      but where are the bees? 1 point.


JEAN-JOSEPH COTE:  Two rival all-female motorcycle gangs battle over turf in Southern California, culminating in a choreographed rumble.
   Ziv - Then, in the sequel, the victorious Bees meet up with the Sharks 
      to find out who is US Street Rumble Champion. 
   Eric - I know we're supposed to only get one vote for which movie we’d 
      like to see, but it's hard.  One watching point.
   Ranjit - 1 point, and tied for most want to watch. 
   Jed - Nice. 2 points.


BETH BRUCH:  A bee keeping widower and ornithologist widow clash while trying to keep their teenaged children from dating. As tempers flare, so does the chemistry between the parents; they resist until the teens step in to teach their elders a lesson about the birds and the bees.
   Ziv - 1 point.
   Pierre - I'd like to watch this one.
   Jed - I like this, but I feel like it might be more 1970s than 1950s. (Huh, but 
      I now see that _The Parent Trap_ (which this description roundaboutly 
      made me think of) was made in 1961, at least ten years before I thought 
      it was, so maybe 1956 isn’t too early for this sort of thing.)


THE IMDB:  On an ocean voyage, a card shark and her father cheat a naive man out of his money. Things take a twist when the girl falls in love with the man  she's just fleeced.  
   Eric - 2 points.
   David - The Lady Eve [Jim adds: I confess, when I chose this movie I had 
      no idea it was a remake of the more famous film David mentions!]
   Ranjit - 2 points, and tied for most want to watch.
   Jean-Joseph - 2 points for the shipboard romance.
   Beth - 2 points.


PIERRE ABBAT: Biologists studying pollinators in the Amazon rainforest are abducted by the Ye'kwana tribe. Anthropologists and missionaries in neighboring tribes cooperate to try to free them.
   Pierre adds: I was going to say the Yanomamö tribe at first, but Yanomamö 
      (which I think was considered a single language at the time) is spoken in 
      only a small area and not related to anything else, whereas Ye'kwana is 
      Cariban, and Cariban languages are spoken in a wide area, so there would 
      be more outsiders who could talk with them.


ZIV STERN:  A newly orphaned boy must learn to navigate first love with the help of a new authority figure: his father's talking pet parrot.
   Eric - I hope this isn't true, but it might be. 1 point.
   David - 1 point, and most want to see.
   Jean-Joseph - I guess this last one is the movie I'd most like to see.
   Beth - 1 point, and most want to see.


General comments:

Eric - This was great fun.

Pierre - This is tough! Maybe because I don't watch movies.

Jean-Joseph - I think this worked out quite well, where all of the entries seem well-written and plausible to me. Kudos to all!

Linda - This ballot makes no sense.  I have been enduring a heat wave plus family stuff--not so bad, as family stuff was fun and now it is cooler.  sorry not to help out this time.

David - The vote for The Birds and the Bees
Was slow, for we lay at our ease
In summer siestas,
Or played in fiestas,
Far away from our Macs and PCs.



-Jim