Patter Noster

These are extras you won't read all about...
At least not for years yet
And then only the lucky few.
Now they mill about on stage
With the heartfelt rutabaga rutabaga rutabaga
The lackadaisical watermelon watermelon watermelon
And one, lone, classical pater noster quis in caelum est
Tumbling from their lips.


***Commentary:
This poem was written specifically for Arianna and her "heartfelt rutabaga."

As an explanation for nonthespians, I ought to say this:  The term "stage
patter" came about because, once, extras in crowd scenes on stage used to
recite the Lord's Prayer in Latin (pater noster quis in caelum est is "our
father who art in heaven") under their breaths, so that it genuinely looked
as if they were talking, but no one could tell what they were saying.  Both
watermelon and rutabaga are modern substitutes.

12 responses total.

<wild applause>

it wasn't THAT good.  it's rather silly, really.

MC 900 Fot Jesus has a track in which the word "rhubarb" is said to be a
common "extra" word, too.
Fot>Foot

Can we settle on _pleasantly_ silly, anyway?

Yeah, rhubarb is another.  So is "peas and carrots."  Rutabaga and watermelon
are my favorites, is all.
Thanks, orinoco. 

Extras obviously don't get paid well. They're always thinking about food.

They sure don't.  Why do you think they used to pray to God, instead?  And
don't forget "Give us this day our daily bread..."

"Pater nostrum, let the guy in the front row who keeps looking at us be a
talent scout for a major studio looking for the Next Fresh Face..."

Or you could beseech a persnickety Ann Arbor drama critic...."Potter
noster...."

there's no pleasin' those a2 critics...

(Would a bearded marijuana smoker be a Hairy Potter?)

Only if we can start calling short entomologists "little bugger."

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