Bridgit Terris

Bridgit Terris, photograph by Graeme Whifler

**Bridgit Terris** (alternatively **Bridget** or **Brigit Terris**) was an American man who is best known for his brief collaboration with Graeme Whifler and The Residents in the late 1970s.

Terris (who believed he was the French film star Brigitte Bardot) was earmarked by Whifler to star in the ultimately unproduced *Duck Stab!* film project; the remnants of these sessions can be seen in Whifler's 1980 video for "Hello Skinny" and the much later video edited by Don Hardy for "Melon Collie Lassie".

Terris left San Francisco, apparently for good, shortly after the film was abandoned.

## History with The Residents

   Described by Graeme Whifler as "sweet, special, and limited", Bridgit Terris (a disabled man who believed he was the French model and actress Brigitte Bardot) had just been released from a mental institution in San Francisco as a result of then-Governor Ronald Reagan's budget cuts, when he was discovered by Whifler, who incorporated him into his concept for a film based on songs from The Residents' 1978 album *Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen*.

Whifler found Terris to be "a good actor", who "took direction well", despite the fact he had "no idea of The Residents" and hardly understood the film he was part of. Homer Flynn of The Cryptic Corporation recalled Terris years later as being "a very distant person", but "certainly interesting and compelling".

The *Duck Stab!* film project was abandoned after The Residents' management company The Cryptic Corporation decided it was not a project they wished to pursue, and, apparently feeling that his life was a failure and he could not fit in, Terris left San Francisco partway through filming to return home to live with his mother. Photographs taken of Terris by Whifler at the bus terminal immediately prior to Terris' departure were used (alongside with some of the footage from the unfinished film) to create the 1980 music video "Hello Skinny"; it is this video by which Terris remains best known.

Little is known of Terris' life after he left San Francisco; he has been described as "a man who was as mysterious as The Residents themselves". Flynn never heard from Terris again after he left, and is unsure whether Whifler did. In 2016, further footage of Terris from the unfinished *Duck Stab!* film was edited by documentary filmmaker Don Hardy into a music video for The Residents' song "Melon Collie Lassie", and released as a special feature on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film *Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents*.

## Appearances on Residents releases

* *Duck Stab!* film (ca. 1978-1979, unproduced)
* "Hello Skinny" music video (1980)
* *Ralph Video* VHS (1983)
* *Video Voodoo Volume I* VHS (1987)
* *Twenty Twisted Questions* laserdisc/VHS (1992)
* *Icky Flix* DVD (2000)
* *Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents* film (2016)
* *Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents* DVD/Blu-ray (2016)
	+ "Melon Collie Lassie" music video

## See also

* "Hello Skinny (video)"
* *Duck Stab!* (film)
* Graeme Whifler

## External links and references

* "Hello Skinny" at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Roman Sokal, "The Residents - More Than What The Ear Hears Coming From The Eye", Exclaim.ca, September 1st 2001
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "The idea of even bringing Bridgit in, ultimately that came from a film idea that The Residents were working on... with Graeme at that time, and the project was eventually abandoned. And so ultimately he took some of the footage from that abandoned project and then shot new stuff with Bridgit and made Hello Skinny out of it. But I think there are photos of Skinny - Bridgit sitting at... they used to have these TV desks at bus stations, and you could sit down in a chair and it would have a TV in front of  you, and you could put change in it, and you could watch TV for fifteen minutes... while you were waiting for the bus. And so there are photos like that in there... And the thing was, Bridgit was waiting for the bus to go home to live with his mother. He had been living in San Francisco, I think he ultimately just kind of considered his life was a failure, he couldn't make it, he couldn't fit in, and so he was going home to live with his mother. And so Graeme went to the bus station with him and shot all these pictures before he got on the bus and disappeared." - Homer Flynn, Cacophony Podcast - Obscure Music for Obscure People, Episode 1 - "Homer Flynn on The Residents and Duck Stab!", January 13th 2022
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "And the film, the *Theory of Obscurity* documentary film, Don Hardy was the filmmaker. I worked very closely with Don. I like Don, he's an interesting guy. And Don gathered up all this film and video material that The Residents had shot, and Don found that. He's the one that went in and edited some of that existing footage into the 'Melon Collie Lassie' music video." - Homer Flynn, Cacophony Podcast - Obscure Music for Obscure People, Episode 1 - "Homer Flynn on The Residents and Duck Stab!", January 13th 2022
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Post by Frenesi Gates in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, April 2nd 2018
5. ↑ "He was a very distant person, and really Graeme Whifler seemed to be the primary person that he was connected with... He was certainly interesting and compelling." - Homer Flynn, Cacophony Podcast - Obscure Music for Obscure People, Episode 1 - "Homer Flynn on The Residents and Duck Stab!", January 13th 2022
6. ↑ Jay Harper, "The Residents - Hello Skinny", The Sentinel, December 20th 2014
7. ↑ "I never heard from him again, once again his primary relationship was with Graeme. Graeme may have heard more from him, I really don't know." - Homer Flynn, Cacophony Podcast - Obscure Music for Obscure People, Episode 1 - "Homer Flynn on The Residents and Duck Stab!", January 13th 2022

**Side A:** **Duck Stab!**
"Constantinople" · "Sinister Exaggerator" · "The Booker Tease" · "Blue Rosebuds" · "Laughing Song" · "Bach Is Dead" · "Elvis And His Boss"
**Side B:** **Buster & Glen**
"Lizard Lady" · "Semolina" · "Birthday Boy" · "Weight-Lifting Lulu" · "Krafty Cheese" · "Hello Skinny" · "The Electrocutioner"
**Personnel**
The Residents · Snakefinger · Ruby
**Related works**
*Duck Stab!* EP · "Soulful Sax" · "Ow Boutthat" · "When Johnny Comes Marching" · "Unlisted" · "Santa Dog '78" · "Guylum Bardot '78" · *Duck Stab!* film · "Hello Skinny" video · *D\*ck S\*ab - 35th Anniversary* · Dog Stab! · *Duck Stab! Alive!* · *Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen Notebook* · "Duck Kosmische"
**Related articles**
Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Grove St. studio · Pore No Graphics · Graeme Whifler · **Bridgit Terris** · The Rick & Ruby Show · "Satisfaction" · *Not Available* · *Eskimo*‏‏‎