-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Re: [NABOKV-L] bloopers and traps for translators
Date:	Sun, 03 Sep 2006 21:57:26 +0200
From:	learmont <tom@discobolus.co.za>
Organization:	DISCOBOLUS
To:	Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
References:	<461.508857a.322be9fd@aol.com>

Dear Editors and List,

I seem to remember a substance called "blooping ink", which was used to edit the optical sound track of movies.
It was a bit like the old typists' correction fluid. One day the projectionist at a Rhodesian cinema (I had the entree to his booth, being a film critic at the time) showed me how he used it to follow the orders issued by the Rhodesian Board of Censors. He was following instructions on a censorshop certificate to "bloop out" every instance of the word "Christ" on the soundtrack of a new release:"The Odd Couple" starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.

He gave me a wink, then used some thinner on the felt-tipped blooping ink applicator before he dealt with the offending word in Matthau's line: "For Christ's sake!" He worked with great precision, removing every sound except the "For" and the latter half of the "sake". The thinned-out blooping ink still allowed some of the light from the exciter lamp to traverse the sound track, in the form of a schwa-like vowel. And that's when the Rhodesian Board of Censors was heard to be pushing the Permissive Society with a vengeance. The effect was that Matthau looked straight into camera and said "Faaaaahrk!"
It was the first time the audiences of that more innocent age had ever heard the F-word uttered out loud by a screen actor.

There's probably a moral in this tale somewhere.

Regards,

Tom (Rymour)
(As-yet-unsuccessful Zemblan cartographer and quondam Man of Fashion)

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