Tweet Murphy Beds

Another one: The Night they Raided Minsky's (1968)

greta

Another one: The Night they Raided Minsky's (1968)

greta

Thanks! I just added it to the list!

I've just posted to YouTube a video compiling a number of Murphy bed movie appearances:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKZF3QMgXXk

I hope a "framed butterfly"-video will follow...

Edit: Oh, I see you already have done it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfc71OrEns4

@ Barthesian: Not only 237, but also the number 23 shows up in the movies A LOT. I used to keep track of it, and I swear it was amazing. As if directors had done it deliberately. Too bad I never compiled a list... I remember BLOOD OF A POET was in it, BLADE RUNNER, and SECRET DEFENSE. It became a running gag between me and a friend whenever we watched a movie together. So maybe you might want to check this out as well.

The frequency of the number 23 appearing in any context is a pop-myth well known by people who read Robert Anton Wilson, Timothy Leary and stuff like that. I think William Burroughs was the first who came up with it and started collecting newspaper clips featuring 23s. The earliest record I could find was a Berlin doctor named Wilhelm Fließ who developed a theory that human life was dominated by cycles dominated by the 23 rhythm. That must have been in the 1900s.
At least two movies have been made about the 23 myth, the german production "23 - Nichts ist wie es scheint" and more recently a Jim Carrey movie "The number 23".

Oh, and Arnold Boecklin's "Isle of the Dead" appears in several Val Lewton movies, in I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE and I think (obvious choice) ISLE OF THE DEAD.

@ Barthesian: Not only 237, but also the number 23 shows up in the movies A LOT. I used to keep track of it, and I swear it was amazing. As if directors had done it deliberately. Too bad I never compiled a list... I remember BLOOD OF A POET was in it, BLADE RUNNER, and SECRET DEFENSE. It became a running gag between me and a friend whenever we watched a movie together. So maybe you might want to check this out as well.

The frequency of the number 23 appearing in any context is a pop-myth well known by people who read Robert Anton Wilson, Timothy Leary and stuff like that. I think William Burroughs was the first who came up with it and started collecting newspaper clips featuring 23s. The earliest record I could find was a Berlin doctor named Wilhelm Fließ who developed a theory that human life was dominated by cycles dominated by the 23 rhythm. That must have been in the 1900s.
At least two movies have been made about the 23 myth, the german production "23 - Nichts ist wie es scheint" and more recently a Jim Carrey movie "The number 23".

Very interesting about the number 23. It's just too low a number, though. What I like about 237 is that it is less likely to appear by sheer chance. Many of the viewer comments on the 237 YouTube video suggest something almost paranormal is going on with that number's appearance, but my main interest in it is as a realist convention. I also just like to collect things--in this case, movie scenes.

Oh, and Arnold Boecklin's "Isle of the Dead" appears in several Val Lewton movies, in I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE and I think (obvious choice) ISLE OF THE DEAD.

Thank you so much for the Boecklin appearances! Those will make great additions to my Recurring Paintings video. I'm also planning to make a Recurring Sculptures video.

I just spotted a Murphy Bed in HOGAN THE PORTER (1914)

Bob

I just spotted a Murphy Bed in HOGAN THE PORTER (1914)

Bob

Thank you so much for the tip! I will check it out. I just ordered it.

---Charlie Meyer

It's in the new Looser than Loose Collection SENNET 4 available at

http://www.looserthanloose.com/

and you're right, the date is 1915.

Bob

It's in the new Looser than Loose Collection SENNET 4 available at

http://www.looserthanloose.com/

and you're right, the date is 1915.

Bob

Thanks! I just ordered it!

Just spotted another one--in Butter Fingers (1926) in the Reel Baseball set from Kino

greta

Actually the bed the lost boys sleep on in Brenon's PETER PAN looks like a Murphy bed as well.

"Smiles of a Summer Night" has a very important rolling pocket bed. Not quite the same as a slapstick Murphy bed, as the humor is more sophisticated and calls for something more refined.

Rhinoceros (1974) has a Murphy Bed scene.....

And another Murphy Bed has just turned up in FLYING HIGH (1931). Look about 65 minutes in on the TCM version.

Bob

There's a murphy bed in Detour (1945), in the hotel room.

Great thread!

Déborah

And another one just turned up in the Bob Hope comedy WHERE THERE'S LIFE (1947).

Bob

For those of you that would like an updated look at Murphy beds (including what is categorized as the "ultimate" Murphy bed), CBS News Sunday Morning had a 15-minute feature on it last month. It did include some silent movie clips, but they went so fast, I couldn't identify any of them.

For those of you that would like an updated look at Murphy beds (including what is categorized as the "ultimate" Murphy bed), CBS News Sunday Morning had a 15-minute feature on it last month. It did include some silent movie clips, but they went so fast, I couldn't identify any of them.

Thanks! Here it is on YouTube.

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2WbvvM0myfM?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2WbvvM0myfM?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

Rick

Anyone know why a Murphy bed would rotate on a vertical axis, as shown about 12 seconds into that clip? I remember seeing a movie - a talkie - which had such a bed. It ended with a long chase indoor scene through about three apartments, including one with a rotating Murphy bed. Can't remember the name, though.

In the 1929 cartoon SLEEPY HOLLER, Krazy Kat carves a Murphy Bed out of a wall using a can opener.

Bob

Anyone know why a Murphy bed would rotate on a vertical axis, as shown about 12 seconds into that clip?

Because it's funny? This is a "movie set" Murphy bed, and may not be a real model. And I don't really see any other reason to have it rotate all the way around, unless perhaps you want your Murphy bed to be usable in either of two rooms...

And another Murphy Bed turned up in yesterday's Thelma Todd festival on TCM, in ONE-HORSE FARMERS (1934).

Bob

Add to the Murphy Bed filmography:

LOUD SOUP (March 16,1929) - Hal Roach/MGM (Two reels).

Another addition to the Murphy Bed filmography:

UNTAMED HEIRESS (April 1, 1954) - Republic feature.

Just spotted a spectacular one from the 1923 Hal Roach/Snub Pollard short `It's A Gift'.

This one folds up into a fireplace with a fire already burning in the hearth!

Buster Keaton's The Scarecrow (1920); the bed converts to an upright piano.

[silentfilm]

And the current animated release Megamind has a Murphy bed in Jonah's Hill's apartment, and of course he gets closed up in it.