Quasi at the Quackadero

This must be what tripping balls feels like.

"Quasi at the Quackadero" paints a world of . . . well, it's like "Yellow Submarine" on acid. The colors are vibrant, the character designs are macabre, and it starts to sear into your brain after a while. I'd seen this before (middle of the night, in a theater setting) and I don't think my assessment has improved with being fully alert. And it just seems to go on and on. I'm not really sure it it's arty or some deranged '70s children's show, but I'm not getting the joke.

5/10

Wonderful, psychedelic short film about a lazy duck (Quasi) whose frenemy Anita lures him to the Quackadero, a kind of crazy carnival with all sorts of weird carnies and barkers. I first saw it in Cambridge at a wonderful little place called Off the Wall that showed obscure short films.

This beautifully-crafted film was evocative and atmospheric, with a strong late 60s/early 70s vibe. And the music by Robert Armstrong and Allan Dodge adds a sometimes nostalgic, sometimes dreamy quality. One of the funnier "exhibits" was the Past Lives Pavilion, where people could go to relive things that supposedly happened to them in earlier lives. I remember one poor guy with his wife watching himself in some kinky hotel room or something and saying at the end, "That never happened to me!" And yes, youll recognize Cruikshank's style in some of the early Sesame Street cel animated shorts. Fantastic.

First of all, the music in Quasi was by Al Dodge and Robert Armstrong, who have no connection to Oingo Boingo. However, Danny Elfman did do the soundtrack to Sally's film "Face Like A Frog", which included the Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo song "Don't Go In The Basement" (Actually, even here there's confusion...not sure if it's an old MKotOB song, or a new Elfman song, but it's credited simply to "Mystic Knights") Second, there is no "Ego Trip" scene in this, though it does sound like something that WOULD be in it. This may be from another of Sally's films...I have not seen them all.

Whoever said that the "same guy" (Sally's a she!) must have done some Sesame St cartoons is correct...though most of the ones I've been able to find are from the late 80's and aren't familiar to me. I assumed she was responsible for some of the trippy 70's ones.

I first saw Quasi on PBS late one night in the 80's. I was excited to see it pop up on Youtube recently...posted by Sally herself along with some other works. She also sells DVDs of them.

Just watched this Sally Cruikshank animated short on YouTube. Recently awarded the United States National Film Registry list by the Library of Congress, this film has the title character of Quasi invited to go the the Quackadero by his girlfriend along with a little buddy. Lots of weird and wonderful things happen when they go to this place and they're not very easy to describe though if you're a fan of many '30s animation that came from the Max Fleischer studios, you may have a really tripping good time watching this, at least I did. The music also seems to be from the period I just mentioned and, well, just watch the thing if you're in the mood. Okay, so once again this thing is on YouTube...

I saw this once a long, long time ago, and, as I recall, the soundtrack was by The Mystic Knights, and sounded an awful lot like Danny Elfman's Band Oingo Boingo. I subsequently learned that Oingo Boingo once called themselves The Mystic Knights Of Oingo Boingo...