My birthday happened over the weekend, and somehow my age is now the same as the racing number of the most famous sentient Volkswagen in Western letters: 53. How did this happen? I don’t feel like whatever vague concept I have of a 53-year old man in my head. In fact, while doing some member drawings the other night, I had that Batman Begins movie on, and in part of the dialog they state that a particular character was 52 years old. This guy right here. That’s 52? Man, Gotham is some hard living, that’s for sure. I looked it up, and that actor would have been 57 at the time, so they are taking some liberties. Still, my basic point still stands: how am I 53? How do I reconcile that with the sort of barely-adult-dipshit that seems to live inside this body? I’m not sure I can, so instead we may as well talk about the car with the number 53, Herbie the Love Bug and the movie that made him famous, Disney’s 1969 classic, The Love Bug.
I’ve written about the impact of this movie before, and how it’s really a great car-lovers’ movie and, while definitely a product of its time, managed somehow to be a bit less reprehensible in re-watching decades later than many of its contemporaries. For example, the main female lead is portrayed as someone independent and a skilled mechanic, and while she does get objectified every now and then, is an actual character with valuable things to add to the movie. There are asian characters portrayed in some stereotypical ways, but it’s somehow a bit more respectful than you may expect and they’re played by real asians and not, say, by Mickey Rooney in a wildly offensive caricature as seen in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a movie released just eight years before it.
It’s got some dark stuff in there, too. At one point Herbie, feeling slighted and rejected, smashes up another car (a Lamborghini 400GT that magically becomes a very smashed Jaguar E-Type) and then attempts to commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate bridge, until he’s stopped by his driver, Jim Douglas:
That’s dark. What other Disney movies have the main non-human character attempting suicide?
Most of the movie, though, is much more upbeat, with lots of great footage of ’60s-era SCCA-type racing on all kinds of legendary tracks, all set to that music that might have been stolen:
That montage also has a very deep-cut inside joke in there; when they show the newspapers, one of the headlines notes that Herbie (the “Douglas Car”) has been disqualified from racing in the Indianapolis 500 because the VW’s intake manifold was too small:
This is an inside joke because
“… Andy Granatelli, president of STP, plays the race official, and the newspaper article saying Herbie wouldn’t run at Indy because his intake was too small was an inside joke, because the year before Granatelli was disqualified from Indy because his intake was too big.”
Also, and I’ve mentioned this before and happily bring it up any chance I get, The Love Bug contains one of the finest extended bear jokes in all of cinema:
It’s how the bear realizes they’re an out-of-control car and tries to wake Thorndyke (the driver of that Apollo GT and the main antagonist of the movie, played by the wonderfully despicable David Tomlinson) that really makes the scene, I think. Gold.
Thorndyke as a villain is a huge part of what makes it all work; he’s a caricature, sure, but a fun one, and at one point in the movie, just before doing something deeply unsportsmanlike and dangerous in a race, states that “there are times that I don’t like myself very much,” which strikes me as a remarkably raw and revealing statement for a Disney villain to make.
I’m told the number “53” was selected for Herbie because one of the producers was a fan of Don Drysdale, the baseball player who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and wore that number. All I know is that now my age matches the number on that little car that was so influential for me as a kid getting into Volkswagens and cars in general.
Beau has in his collection one of the best original movie-used Herbies, one that was once fitted with a hotter engine (some used Porsche 356 engines) for the racing scenes, and I’d like to drive it and do a whole video about the car. Maybe I can do that this summer? I think it could be fun.
Happy Birthday!
This guy drives a Herbie replica around the Philly area on a great mission of suicide prevention.
looked him up. total admiration for him and his mission
When I was a kid my dad had a white beetle and I loved the Herbie movies so one day when I was around 5 I got busted adding the red and blue stripes with some sort of approximation of “53” to what I could reach of the hood of his car with my crayons.
We did that crap to my Dad’s bug too.
When I was a kid my dad had a white beetle and I loved the Herbie movies so one day when I was around 5 I got busted adding the red and blue stripes with some sort of approximation of “53” to what I could reach of the hood of his car with my crayons.
We did that crap to my Dad’s bug too.
Happy birthday! All the more reason to celebrate such a connection with Herbie after this past year with the medical stuff (!!) and all.
Speaking of connections to Herbie, apropos of this comment “but it’s somehow a bit more respectful than you may expect and they’re played by real asians and not, say, by Mickey Rooney in a wildly offensive caricature as seen in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a movie released just eight years before it,” just two years later, in the 1963 film It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Mickey Rooney would go on to drive a lovely red ca. 1954 VW Beetle convertible with Buddy Hackett who would later go on to play the hippie/beatnik mechanic Tennessee Steinmetz in The Love Bug.
http://imcdb.org/vehicle_20266-Volkswagen-Convertible-Typ-1-1954.html
At least Rooney didn’t sully The Love Bug and subsequent Herbie films with his presence (that we know of) so there’s that. And one does wonder if Hackett took the role in The Love Bug based at least in part on account of his experiences with the red Beetle convertible in IMMMMW especially since that Beetle seemed absolutely wrung out to the maximum on those mountain roads in a fine display of its roadhandling capabilities which were actually perfectly cromulent, rear swingaxle suspension notwithstanding, and which just added to the Beetle’s appeal.
Rooney makes Breakfast at Tiffany’s unwatchable. disgusting
Happy birthday! All the more reason to celebrate such a connection with Herbie after this past year with the medical stuff (!!) and all.
Speaking of connections to Herbie, apropos of this comment “but it’s somehow a bit more respectful than you may expect and they’re played by real asians and not, say, by Mickey Rooney in a wildly offensive caricature as seen in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a movie released just eight years before it,” just two years later, in the 1963 film It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Mickey Rooney would go on to drive a lovely red ca. 1954 VW Beetle convertible with Buddy Hackett who would later go on to play the hippie/beatnik mechanic Tennessee Steinmetz in The Love Bug.
http://imcdb.org/vehicle_20266-Volkswagen-Convertible-Typ-1-1954.html
At least Rooney didn’t sully The Love Bug and subsequent Herbie films with his presence (that we know of) so there’s that. And one does wonder if Hackett took the role in The Love Bug based at least in part on account of his experiences with the red Beetle convertible in IMMMMW especially since that Beetle seemed absolutely wrung out to the maximum on those mountain roads in a fine display of its roadhandling capabilities which were actually perfectly cromulent, rear swingaxle suspension notwithstanding, and which just added to the Beetle’s appeal.
Rooney makes Breakfast at Tiffany’s unwatchable. disgusting
Haha Jason 53 go BRRR
Haha Jason 53 go BRRR
Happy Birthday Torch!
Happy Birthday Torch!
Happy birthday, Torch! You’re old enough where you might want to give people your age in hexadecimal (base 16) instead. That would make you only 35!
I do that too, but it confuses people when I say I’m 3D.
I had to abandon that for a few years myself. Fortunately, I turned 40(h) last year.
Happy birthday, Torch! You’re old enough where you might want to give people your age in hexadecimal (base 16) instead. That would make you only 35!
I do that too, but it confuses people when I say I’m 3D.
I had to abandon that for a few years myself. Fortunately, I turned 40(h) last year.
Happy birthday! I think that’d be a fine way to celebrate. And just think, you’ve got a dozen years or so to get your VW back on the road in time to make a run down Route 66, which is how I celebrated that milestone (or maybe millstone). Or you could borrow a Corvette, I suppose. Just remember:
If growing up means I must be
Anything that I don’t want to be,
I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up,
Not me, not me, not me!
Happy birthday! I think that’d be a fine way to celebrate. And just think, you’ve got a dozen years or so to get your VW back on the road in time to make a run down Route 66, which is how I celebrated that milestone (or maybe millstone). Or you could borrow a Corvette, I suppose. Just remember:
If growing up means I must be
Anything that I don’t want to be,
I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up,
Not me, not me, not me!
I’m pretty sure that clip compares Herbie the Love Bug to Jesus. I bet a good HD transfer would be rich technicolor gorgeousness; our VHS tape was well worn.
A belated happy birthday, Torch! Who’s gonna draw a car for you?
There is a Blu-ray, though it was a Disney Movie Club exclusive. With DMC having closed on 5/20, I suppose you’d have to pay scalpers prices on E-Bay now. Sony is suppose to take over physical media production for Disney, but I don’t know what that means for the former DMC exclusive titles.
I’m pretty sure that clip compares Herbie the Love Bug to Jesus. I bet a good HD transfer would be rich technicolor gorgeousness; our VHS tape was well worn.
A belated happy birthday, Torch! Who’s gonna draw a car for you?
There is a Blu-ray, though it was a Disney Movie Club exclusive. With DMC having closed on 5/20, I suppose you’d have to pay scalpers prices on E-Bay now. Sony is suppose to take over physical media production for Disney, but I don’t know what that means for the former DMC exclusive titles.
Happy Birthday Torch! Starting when I was a kid and into my early 20s, I had a great-uncle who would never acknowledge his age (mid-80s?) to anyone and so every year he would just pronounce it as his 29th birthday, since he said that’s how old he felt. He passed away at a pretty ripe age and I still have no idea how old he was at the time. I think once I hit 50 (next year) I may just start doing the same.
Happy Birthday Torch! Starting when I was a kid and into my early 20s, I had a great-uncle who would never acknowledge his age (mid-80s?) to anyone and so every year he would just pronounce it as his 29th birthday, since he said that’s how old he felt. He passed away at a pretty ripe age and I still have no idea how old he was at the time. I think once I hit 50 (next year) I may just start doing the same.
Happy Birthday!
The first Herbie movie is still my favorite car movie. And the attempted suicide scene made me tear up the first time I saw it. I still get choked up decades later and won’t watch the movie with other humans around.
Happy Birthday!
The first Herbie movie is still my favorite car movie. And the attempted suicide scene made me tear up the first time I saw it. I still get choked up decades later and won’t watch the movie with other humans around.
Fellow 53 year old here! High five!
Fellow 53 year old here! High five!
Happy belated birthday!
I think a lot of us ask that very question. About ourselves, I mean. Not about you.
Okay, maybe a little bit about you. 🙂
Happy belated birthday!
I think a lot of us ask that very question. About ourselves, I mean. Not about you.
Okay, maybe a little bit about you. 🙂
I hope you can do it sometime before your next birthday, or you’re gonna need to find a car with a higher number. Happy birthday! May the next year only require routine maintenance and no more major repairs for you!
New birthday tradition! Each year Torch drives a historic racecar with his age on the roundel!
Anyone know where Car 54 is?
“There’s a holdup in the Bronx,
Brooklyn‘s broken out in fights;
There’s a traffic jam in Harlem
That’s backed up to Jackson Heights;
There’s a Scout troop short a child,
Khrushchev‘s due at Idlewild;
Car 54, Where Are You?”
Fred Gwynne is a national treasure.
there’s some movie where Fred Gwynne drives a bright green beetle and has to find its coil-to-distributor wire on the ground
Not familiar to me but there’s my next rabbit hole.
Will David know what this refers to?
I hope you can do it sometime before your next birthday, or you’re gonna need to find a car with a higher number. Happy birthday! May the next year only require routine maintenance and no more major repairs for you!
New birthday tradition! Each year Torch drives a historic racecar with his age on the roundel!
Anyone know where Car 54 is?
“There’s a holdup in the Bronx,
Brooklyn‘s broken out in fights;
There’s a traffic jam in Harlem
That’s backed up to Jackson Heights;
There’s a Scout troop short a child,
Khrushchev‘s due at Idlewild;
Car 54, Where Are You?”
Fred Gwynne is a national treasure.
there’s some movie where Fred Gwynne drives a bright green beetle and has to find its coil-to-distributor wire on the ground
Not familiar to me but there’s my next rabbit hole.
Will David know what this refers to?