The Yawning Man

I yawned this morning. It was a big yawn, the sort that forces your eyes shut and squeezes out tears, whilst your face contorts like an opera singer on a high note. You can't help it.

And yawns breed yawns, don't they? You yawn, and then you can feel the next one, down in the top of your chest, like a geyser waiting to erupt.

It got me thinking of this film I saw as a kid. Saw it at the pictures with my mam and dad. Tom Thumb, with Russ Tamblyn as Tom. It was a musical. I don't like musicals, with the exception of The Blues Brothers, and maybe The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I kind of like but dislike at the same time.

Tim Curry as Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show which, apart from the makeup, could be me in my 5th form school year photo; same expression, same pose, everything (will scan and post it to compare later)

Anyway, there was this scene, right, in Tom Thumb, where Tom is introduced to The Yawning Man, a claymation figure who comes out of a box to sing the Yawning Man song. The character is voiced by the great Stan Freberg, who voiced many characters in classic Warner Bros cartoons of the '40s and '50s.

The reason I thought of this was the way in which the scene in the film, where the Yawning Man sings his yawning song, had the effect of making everyone in the cinema yawn! You just couldn't help yourself; proof, if needed, that yawns really are infectious, and the old phrase "I caught your yawn" has some basis in truth.

So, here it is. I just watched it and it still makes me yawn. How about you?

Unfortunately, youtube no longer allow embedding for this clip, so here's a dirtect link. I challenge you to watch without yawning!
http://youtu.be/vEJy-xtHfHY