Why Fred and Lily?


Anyone know the significance of "Fred and Lily" in this film? When she calls him "Fred," he says, "OK, Lily," like the two obviously go together. Just wondering if anyone knows why.

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That's a very good question, Sharon. I just assumed that they grabbed those names out of the air as the characters had a verbal spar going on, but I'm quite curious now as well. They keep using the Fred/Lily addresses until the end, so the scriptwriter or producers probably wanted those names for a reason.

Sorry for not having an answer!

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I don't have any thoughts on how Vantine comes up with the name "Fred" for Dennis, though I've always felt he starts calling her "Lily" to be ironic, knowing, from the moment he first meets her, that she's anything but lily white where her virtue is concerned.

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Thanks, that does make sense. She makes up a name for him, so he makes one up for her.

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Yeah, I just took it as another way for them to flirt, sort of like "Steve" and "Slim" in To Have and Have Not.

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Jean Harlow played a character named Lil in Red-Headed Woman, released earlier in the same year, but that's probably just a coincidence.

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