This was a surprise. Yesterday’s Delhi Times had a piece – probably taken from some website or syndicated from an international publication – listing Hollywood’s “most mushy lines of dialogue”. The list mostly contains genuine samples of mush, including “You complete me” from Jerry Maguire, “I want to take care of you” from Monster’s Ball and “I want all of you. Forever. Every day” from The Notebook, but then placed without comment in the midst of all the gooeyness is this line spoken by Groucho Marx to Margaret Dumont in A Day at the Races:
“Marry me and I’ll never look at another horse.”
Wonder if someone misunderstood the tone or whether including it in the list was some kind of tribute to Marxist humour. (Incidentally, Groucho also once said “Alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse.” More Marxisms here.)
No the poor fellow compiling these columns for DT , just filled in this quote as an afterthought. The underlying principle was not marxist but 'Stalinist' which says quantity has a quality of its own.
ReplyDeleteOr that wonderful one... some friends had come over for dinner at Groucho's... when they were leaving, one person said, "I want to say goodbye to your wife," at which he quipped: "Who wouldn't?"
ReplyDeleteIt is quite possible that DT 'picked' up the lines from this news.com (Australia's version of TOI) story and ran it as a 'most mushy lines....' feature.
ReplyDeleteSigh! The least you expect is that they copy some competent story at least.
Jai,
ReplyDeleteAre you planning to watch Dasavathaaram?
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ReplyDeletemy favourite marxism -
ReplyDelete'will you marry me?
did he leave you any money?
answer the second question first'
Can't get more unsentimental (less mushy) than that!
Btw, Jai...do post your vertigo essay soon :)
Brilliant title
ReplyDeleteShrikanth: I know, I had mentioned that exchange in the Duck Soup post which I linked to here (with Groucho's name).
ReplyDeleteVertigo coming up soon. I had done a shorter piece for the New Sunday Express a couple of weeks ago but want to expand on that a little for the blog.
Raghu: thanks. A bit convoluted I know, but I thought it was just begging to be used, given the circumstances. Plus there's something appropriate about using a cheesy pun in a post about a Delhi Times story!
Karthik: if it releases here, sure, though it will also depend on how much time I have - things are very tough at home these days.