Lon Chaney and David Watts

Today at work, my friends from the Archives Department were talking about old movies, and I heard Lon Chaney's name mentioned. My ears perked up and I interrupted: "Excuse me, did you just say Lon Chaney? Isn't he the guy in the Warren Zevon song?" My friends said, "What song? Lon Chaney or Lon Chaney, Jr.?" I replied, "Both!" and broke out into song:

Well, I saw Lon Chaney walkin' with the queen, doin' the werewolves of London.
I saw Lon Chaney Jr. walkin' with the queen, doin' the werewolves of London . . .

Don't worry--I refrained from howling. Since I was on a roll, and since the Archives Department is working on a Dalí project, I also serenaded them with the Pixies' hit, Debaser.

got me a movie
i want you to know
slicing up eyeballs
i want you to know
girlie so groovy
i want you to know
don't know about you
but i am un chien andalusia . . .

Then my friends and I talked on and on about Salvador Dalí and his crazy projects. (He shares credit with Luis Buñuel for the surrealist film, Un Chien Andalou.)


And speaking of song references . . .

Who the heck is David Watts?

Salvador Dalí

Although I am primarily a public services librarian, I also get to to do some work with University Archives. This fall, we will be presenting an exhibit about the friendship between Salvador Dalí and Dr. Maxwell Maltz. Both were true renaissance men; Dalí was a painter/writer and Maltz was a plastic surgeon/author. Salvador Dalí was also a pop icon. Check out his guest appearance on the television show, What's My Line: