ON JULY 10, NARO EXPANDED CINEMA in Norfolk presented a well-attended screening of Forgotten Stars: The Jerry and Delbert Story. An examination of the lives and careers of a show biz duo, the film depicts their early lives, their meeting during World War II, and the inextricable partnership which was never truly severed until Delbert died. Sadly, his cause of death was Dutch elm disease --because, you see, Delbert Schwartz was an articulated wooden figure and Jerry Boyd was a ventriloquist.
OK, there you have the central concept that powers this short movie, a mockumentary like This Is Spinal Tap or All You Need Is Cash. For about an hour everyone in the piece ingenuously insists on treating a piece of knotty (or naughty) pine like a living being-an immigrant to America in the early years of the last century (highlighting a piece of luggage in archival footage of long- ago immigrants), someone who must come to terms with his identity as a Jew (the circumcision was performed by a carpenter), a ladies' man (though he always takes his partner along on dates), and an independent spirit who is the assertive personality of the partnership.
Archival footage mixes with newly-shot material that has been tweaked to look grainy, fuzzy, half-toned, or otherwise old and damaged. In my opinion, the introduced effects gone little too far - the amount of antiquing seems suitable for a small screen but not for a big one. Furthermore, since in a (sorry, guys) real documentary the archival material varies in quality; some of the antiqued materials should be sharper than others. The Web site for Forgotten Stars is generous with clips and journals that perpetuate the basic story, relating Delbert's off-screen behavior of drinking too much and betting on horses.
Many talented locals contributed to this independent short, and the large cast features faces that are familiar to Hampton theatergoers. Newton Miller pontificates as a scholarly expert in ventriloquial history. Mike Joyner is the earnest though confused son of the ventriloquist who verbally abuses his inoffensive soft puppet. Scott Rollins and Tim Cooper are earnest critics. Kera O'Bryon, Catherine Gendell, and Patti Jordan are among the beauteous co-stars of the duo's movies and commercials. Joel Haberli is a smarmy TV host. I can't recall any local credits for Delbert, but his co-star is Portsmouth native Terry Jernigan, who has appeared in everything from theater productions to Regent student films to the independent features Moving, Wicked Spring, and Judges, and who has his own page on IMDB. I've noticed that the dummy often resembles the ventriloquist, but here the ventriloquist resembles the dummy. As Jerry Boyd, Jernigan wears an unchanging bland smile that makes Delbert look expressive.
Appropriate to their mockumentary approach, the creators of the film are self- effacing. For the record, the writer of Forgotten Stars is James Shearer, the director is Richard Keel, and the producers are Shearer, Keel, and Jay Ross.
Is there something to this piece, deeper than the belly laughs? Perhaps. One might delve into an analysis of a celebrity-worshipping culture that accepts the façade of a performer as real, or consider the sad plight of a person who must create imaginary friends due to an inability to relate to his peers. There's a synergy between the two characters of Delbert and Jerry that makes them excessively dependent on each other - neither can function well with out the other. The duo's children's show was sponsored by Lucky Stripe cigarettes, which raises an ethical topic worthy of consideration.
That sort of deep discussion would fit right in with the tone of the mockumentary, in which the incursion of the Muppets is called "going soft" and three nearly identical movie scenes are carefully analyzed to separate the brilliant from the disappointing. But mostly, this is just funny. I'm still chuckling over Delbert's early success in a stage mind-reading act, for which a blindfolded Delbert identified objects held up by the audience members. (Delbert's partner, the ventriloquist, wore no blindfold.) A reward was offered to anyone who could debunk Delbert, but the act was discredited only after someone discovered that the blindfold was made of translucent material. The resulting scandal forced Delbert to look for another partner.
Funny stuff.
If you missed, it at the Naro, visit the forgottenstars.com Web site to view clips and read journals on the "making of." And stay tuned, boys and girls, for the DVDs that will become available on the site's Collectables page.