Last comment in movie (spoiler)
What did they mean about the Paul Reaver(sp) comment????
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I think it is because he went yelling through town...so it was good that he hadn't gone yelling their secret all through the town.
shareLarry (Bob Hope) left Kitty (Lucille Ball) alone in the motel (where he had signed in as G. Washington) to go out and fetch her a cup of coffee, then got lost, and couldn't find his way back until after she had left.
Her quip that it was a good thing that he had not signed in as Paul Revere (since they were happy their affair had never been consummated) referred to the events in 1775, when Paul Revere had carried the news the British were marching out from Boston, and had arrived in time to alert the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord.
That, at least, is the popular story.
Accurate historians will tell you that Revere was actually stopped by a British patrol and his horse confiscated. It was another fellow by the name of Dr. Samuel Prescott who reached Lexington and Concord with the news, but he died that morning during the skirmishing, and Paul Revere, a wealthy Boston silversmith, was given credit for the story of the ride when it was popularized in the famous ballad Longfellow wrote in 1860.
http://www.nationalcenter.org/PaulRevere'sRide.html
Poetry, if it isn't blank verse, beats history every time.
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Fact that there isn't any agreement exactly what this puzzling line means (and in any interpretation mentioned, isn't funny), indicates it simply isn't a very good punchline. Could be that writers were at a loss to come up with something better and just tossed out an oblique "zinger" (not!) to wrap things up. Brassy theme song starts immediately after Lucy says line, almost as if to prevent giving the audience time to think about how baffling and unfunny it is. Whatever it may have meant, a weak conclusion to otherwise pretty sharp comedy.
shareI find myself doing this with alot of older movies than this one; just endless little quips made to sound like some sort of hip innuendo that, whether it was actual slang from the time or not, ends up being completely lost on an audience.
There seems to be a bit of speculation as to what the Paul Revere line meant. That then, makes it fall flat, whether the joke was good or not.
What few Bing Crosby movies i've seen, he does this a bit, just makes strange little sayings and comments that make no sense at all. Maybe he was emulating Bob? Or it was from working with Bob.
Holiday Inn, with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, Fred makes some strange statements in that movie, just straining to sound witty it seems.
Hedda Hopper, another one from the same era and a supposed writer (I read Whole Truth And Nothing But) and I've seen her in programs where she says things that just really furrow the brow and she acts like she just sent out a zinger.
I guess bear in mind, when Lucy's last show, Life With lucy, was premiering, a reporter asked if her stunts would still be in this show and she responded "you bet your bippy" which was twenty years behind the times then.
I can only sum up stuff like this to the performers (writers, producers, etc) losing touch.
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I suppose it has never occurred to you, Richard, that those little strange sayings in old Bob Hope and Bing Crosby movies were comments upon contemporary events which the audiences of the time were sure to understand? Well, let me assure you, those quips were completely understood by the audiences for whom they were crafted, or those performers would not have enjoyed their long prosperous careers.
The reason why those strange sayings make no sense to you is because you have never bothered to learn about the history of the period, and yet you expect to understand everything they say. Things just don't work that way.
People who don't study history are not only doomed to repeat it, they are also doomed to not understand the jokes made the first time around about the mistakes they are doomed to repeat.
wmousie: "I suppose it has never occurred to you, Richard, that those little strange sayings in old Bob Hope and Bing Crosby movies were comments upon contemporary events which the audiences of the time were sure to understand? Well, let me assure you, those quips were completely understood by the audiences for whom they were crafted, or those performers would not have enjoyed their long prosperous careers.
The reason why those strange sayings make no sense to you is because you have never bothered to learn about the history of the period, and yet you expect to understand everything they say. Things just don't work that way.
People who don't study history are not only doomed to repeat it, they are also doomed to not understand the jokes made the first time around about the mistakes they are doomed to repeat."
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Gee, thanks, friend!
Have you had your 16th birthday yet?
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