Special friend of the pod Tori Tyrrell joins us to talk about the way this whole podcast concept was born, and to discuss a bizarre fever dream of a movie she remembered from her childhood: The Peanut Butter Solution.
Image Description: The creepy AF art teacher with his nude dog model. Probably just be thankful that this is low res and you can’t really see too much detail of the dog’s junk, kay?
This was one of the first movies in a series of Canadian children’s films called Tales for All, which included the Emmy-winning Vincent and Me (Vincent et moi).
Here’s Tori’s summary:
There is a group of kids and something scary happens and one of them has all his hair fall out from fright, like happens in scary stories. They find this recipe for "The Peanut Butter Solution" that's supposed to regrow hair and they put it on his head. His hair starts growing super super fast, like overnight it's super long fast. He winds up getting kidnapped by an evil artist who keeps him asleep and uses his hair to make magic paint brushes, and I think maybe there are also kidnapped children making the paintbrushes? The friends have to find him, thwart the evil artist, and make it so his hair goes back to growing like a normal person.
This is all true, and yet leaves out a bunch of the more bewildering pieces of this movie’s plot.
One really notable thing that’s cool, though, is that The Peanut Butter Solution featured the first songs that Celine Dion wrote and performed in English. She was only 16 at the time!
Here’s “Listen to the Magic Man” (aka “Dans la Main d’un Magicien”)
Honestly, this song is better in French, if only for the French pronunciation of Abracadabra, but it’s still impressive either way.
And “Michael’s Song” (aka “La Ballade de Michel”)
This second one is a live performance from 1986 because OMG look at that outfit she’s wearing!
The terrifying wig chant (in case you want to terrorize your humiliated bald friends, too):
Baby looks so funny without his stupid wig
Better get another one and better make it stick
Run away, baldy
Run away quick
Run home to mommy, hard-boiled egg
Baby looks so funny without his stupid wig
An explanation of the peanut butter diamond video Julia mentioned.
The Peanut Butter Solution with Tori Tyrrell