Believe It or Not (Second Series) #4

Believe It or Not (Second Series) #4

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A young boy falls asleep reading one of Ripley's book and dreams that the man himself takes him on a tour of various strange stories. It's here that we learn about a man who built a rocking chair made of cans of beans. We also see a two-headed turtle and a cat who prefers to smoke cigarettes over drinking milk. Also on hand are a couple drawings from Ripley. This is another entry worth watching even if the stories here get a tad bit more strange than what we've previously seen. Watching a cat smoke a cigarette is pretty strange to see and especially here where the owner is holding it's head. We also get to hear and see various fish subjects including the blowfish as well as see a couple different sharks. Once again the video footage is mixed at best but at least the stories are entertaining.

Billy Hayes falls asleep and dreams he is visiting his hero, Robert L. Ripley, who tells him mostly about fish with a side about dancing mice and two-headed turtles.

Ripley's mechanical droning of facts demonstrates how mad people were to actually see (and hear) the celebrities of their day, even if their fame was due to something having little with how they presented themselves in public. Certainly, he appeared in this series for Warner Brothers' Vitaphone division. Who was going to turn down good money during the Depression.

If Ripley is dull and droning, Hayes isn't much of an improvement.