Scenes with same-time verbal mimicking?

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Bruce Long
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Scenes with same-time verbal mimicking?

Post by Bruce Long » Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:07 am

I saw a clip from an old Sylvester Cat cartoon wherein his wife is talking to him and for about 5 seconds he mimics her in real time. But where her words are serious, his same words are mocking (presumably because he has heard them so many times before). The mocking is at 0:25 in the clip at

I know I've seen same-time verbal mimicking like this before in movie scenes, but can't remember where offhand. Does anyone know of any specific examples, where the mocking mimicry lasts at least 5 seconds? And is there a specific phrase to describe this same-time verbal mimicking?

Thanks for any replies!

Dave Pitts
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Re: Scenes with same-time verbal mimicking?

Post by Dave Pitts » Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:13 am

Dunno if this is exactly what you mean, but there's that odd scene halfway through Possessed (1931) where Joan Crawford's old boyfriend from the factory town (Wallace Ford) finds her at her new swanky kept-woman apartment. As they greet each other, they say the very same words to each other for two lines of dialogue, then laugh about it. Very hokey, very awkward, but not in the true-to-life sense of awkward.

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oldposterho
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Re: Scenes with same-time verbal mimicking?

Post by oldposterho » Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:27 am

Just barely meeting your criteria but still worth watching from around :46...

Peter

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Mike Gebert
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Re: Scenes with same-time verbal mimicking?

Post by Mike Gebert » Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:42 am

Bob and Ray had the McBeebee Twins, touring bandleaders, where one of them would say the lines and the other would follow behind slightly, repeating everything the other one said. The first would occasionally try to stump the other with an unexpected word or something, along the lines of:

"And our tour will end in Spokane..."
"And our tour will end in Spokane, Washing—"
"Wyoming."



As a kid I quickly learned that this was an excellent way to drive a sibling to violence.
Cinema has no voice, but it speaks to us with eyes that mirror the soul. ―Ivan Mosjoukine

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