Are you a McGuffin and where might I find one?

**Tarheel** · 30th October 14, 04:20 PM

Thanks for the link MacCathmhaoil. It appears that Gary and Joanie McGuffin are a scouting party for device placement and I will look for their input as needed.

**John_Carrick** · 30th October 14, 05:12 PM

The McGuffin is the important microfilm/thing/objet d'art that no one really cares about yet motivates the behaviours of every character in the film which is what we are interested in.
We want to see Cary Grant vindicated and get the girl and stuff the neo Nazis and their sub plot.

**cookingkilted** · 30th October 14, 10:27 PM

Don't forget the cable stretcher, and the air brake fluid.

**Hawk** · 30th October 14, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by Catharps

I'd help you look, but the Capt. just gave me a bucket and told me to empty the moon pool.

I thought "you" were the Capt.......never mind, I'll get the Skyhook to help you.....

Hawk

**MacGumerait** · 30th October 14, 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by Tarheel

I saw a rerun of an interview (1972) of Alfred Hitchcock by Dick Cavett. During the program Sir Alfred defined a Mcguffin as, paraphrased, "an object to build a movie plot around that is not clearly explained." He told a story of an encounter between an Englishman and a Scotsman on a train where a suitcase was pointed out and its contents came into question. The Scotsman answer was it contained a Mcguffin, "a device to catch lion's on the Highlands of Scotland."
Googling the intriguing trapping device, led to the Clan MacGuffin of the movie, "Brave." (a Pixar animation) I am yet to find any other information on my original question. I hope that any of you will provide the relief to my itch in case I am in need of such a device.
Thank you.

ps. am looking for a Jabberwock trap also.

Tarheel ,

I'm afraid you may be out of luck if you are " in need of such a device " .

The Mcguffin trapping device for lions in the Highlands of Scotland worked so well that lions became extinct in the wilds of the Highlands . This resulted in the Mcguffin device being no longer needed and tossed out or scrapped by many people years ago .

It has been rumored that some of the iron from the Mcguffin lion devices was melted down and re-used as gate latches at Glamis Castle . This was supposedly done ( back in the day ) by HM The Queen Mother as an appreciation and tribute to the Mcguffin's success for ridding the Highlands of lions .

You may find some serious collector that perhaps owns one these devices , but they are very rare .

As far as your Jabberwock trap goes ... you might have better luck with that one . To my understanding , those do come up for sale occasionally .

Cheers , Mike

**Tarheel** · 31st October 14, 02:37 AM

Thank you John Carrick. After reading MacGumerait's historical account of the devices demise, I presume the construction material of Sam Spade's Maltese Falcon was reclaimed microfilm/thing/object d'art that no one cared about any longer. It is possible that my big game tracker was mistaken in his identification of the creature that led us on such a wild goose chase. He did claim there was a red herring in his borscht once. However, with so many quality tools offered in this thread, I feel they should be used in another project at a future time. Is anyone up for a snipe hunt?

**Catharps** · 31st October 14, 07:33 AM

Originally Posted by Hawk

I thought "you" were the Capt.......never mind, I'll get the Skyhook to help you.....

Hawk

I am! But I was not always

I actually did this to a poor new hire while working on a boat in Japan. Found him still hard at work 3 hours later after an especially gulling round of chart corrections. The joke ended up being on me, because I felt so bad about it!

**cessna152towser** · 31st October 14, 09:37 AM

The term McGuffin as something for catching lions (or any other animal) dates back further than 1972. My grandparents had a neighbour Mr. Guthrie who was a policeman and he was always nicknamed McGuffin or McGuffie because of the fact he was a policeman who caught criminals and had a similar sounding name to McGuffin. My grandparents died in 1960 and 1961 but I still remember police constable Guthrie as McGuffin or McGuffie.
When I saw Clan McGuffin in Brave I immediately made the association in my mind with the surname Guthrie which is indeed a Scottish clan.
I assume the producers of Brave changed the name from Guthrie to McGuffin to make it sound more Scottish to those who associate the "Mc" prefix with Scotland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Guthrie
See also
clanguthrie.org