Let’s all go to the lobby …

My bestie, Lisa, runs a nail polish blog called Shades of Magick. Apparently, there is a pretty large community of nail bloggers on the web—I was unaware of how large until I nudged (okay, pushed) Lisa into starting a blog to show off her absolutely gorgeous, all-natural nails and creative manicures.

Recently, another nail blog, Nail Polish Art Addiction, decided to host a “Good Enough to Eat” nail art contest. I helped Lisa brainstorm ideas so she could participate, and then something clicked during our discussion, and we came up with what I (humbly) think is a marvelous idea.

Here is Lisa’s entry for the contest:

That may be the cutest damn hot dog I've ever seen.

Look familiar? If you’ve ever been to the movie theater and actually watched the commercials before the commercials before the previews before the movie, you may have seen a version of “Let’s All Go to the Lobby,” the 1953 animated short that inspired Lisa’s manicure.

Originally intended to draw business to a theater’s concession stand before the start of a film, “Let’s All Go to the Lobby” evolved over the years into a series of advertisements that played not only at the beginning of the movie, but during intermissions, too. There were versions of the short that were specially tailored for drive-in theaters as well. Still, not every version featured the iconic tune. Nor did every short feature the same serenading foodstuffs. The original items singing the snappy jingle were a box of popcorn, a soda, a candy bar, and a box of some other sort of candy. Subsequent “Lobby” shorts tend to have varying concession items like hot dogs and ice cream, and some have even indulged in product placement, particularly in regards to the brand of soda (Coke or Pepsi … take your pick).

As a pop culture touchstone (it wasn’t selected to the National Film Registry in 2000 for nothing, people), “Let’s All Go to the Lobby” is ripe for parody. Lisa introduced me to a recent AT&T mobile commercial featuring a version of the tune called “Let’s Go Out to the DMV.” This one includes not only the popcorn (which displays disturbing cannibalistic tendencies), candy, and soda of old, but adds in a cup of ice cream and a corn dog with a crutch. The Aqua Teen Hunger Force theatrical film (2007) has a hilarious parody of “Lobby” that begins with harmless innuendo before dissolving into a foulmouthed litany of all the things irritated moviegoers have ever wanted to say to the jerk sitting behind them with the cell phone and the loud mouth. And one of my favorites features Homer Simpson joining in the snack parade in his own inimitable way.

Mmm … hot dogs [insert drool].

Anyway …

I am quite proud of my darling friend and her talent with nail polish (that pride, admittedly, is tinged with the slightest bit of jealousy at the fact that my own fingernails refuse to cooperate and snap off if I dare grow them past the tips of my freaking fingers). So please go vote for her design (she’s entry #41!). It takes all of a minute, I swear. And Lisa worked so hard sketching out the design and then free-handing the entire thing. I want her to win!

“Let’s all go to the lobby,
let’s all go to the lobby,
let’s all go to the lobby,
to get ourselves a treat!”