MovieChat Forums > Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) Discussion > shocking line from the kid......

shocking line from the kid......

posted 12 years ago by nsavage3-1
16 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed this light-hearted comedy, seeing it for the first time the other day. But what a shock it was, when one of the little boys asked the new neighbor/veterinarian: "Are you a man, or a woman?". Then her response was something like "I sort of in between". My wife and I looked at each other and just about fell out of the chair! This movie came out in 1960, way before (I thought) these sort of things were addressed.

Anyway, I thought it was great, and sort of "cutting edge" for a movie of this type, from 1960.

[–] dmoore1467 12 years ago

Wow, I too almost fell out of chair...(I don't have a DVR), I thought the little boy asked if she was a
"lesbian".?...Plus it's great to find a somewhat current post..."just sayin"

[–] WarpedRecord 12 years ago

I'm not sure if the boy was asking if she was a lesbian, but she appeared to be revealing that. It was a rather sly reference for a 1960 film. didn't find the kid's line shocking, but her answer was surprising. And yes, it's good to see somewhat current posts for older films.

[–] nsavage3-1 12 years ago

We can probably thank TCM channel for the current posts. They show so many good old classics, and then we come here to talk about it.

[–] WarpedRecord 12 years ago

That's great that TCM is keeping films like this alive in the public's consciousness. As for me, it was one of many many video finds in the bargain bins.

[–] txfilmfan 12 years ago

Her answer was "I'm a veterinarian. It's kind of in-between" But it was a reference to her "butch" appearance and supposed lesbianism. Films had many references like this. Watch "The Seven Year Itch" and listen when Tom Ewell is talking about the "two guys" upstairs - "interior decorators", or something like that. Hollywood was playing to the stereotypes. They weren't instantly discovered after Stonewall. Even mid-America would get the references.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] poetcomic1 11 years ago

Lady Chablis the shockingly beautiful black transvestite (in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) always passes as a woman. Really gets away with it. But he says, "Little children KNOW I'm a man, you cannot fool them." Immediately they know, no matter how careful I am some little child will say "Mommy, why is that man dressed up like a girl?"

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] David1958 11 years ago

"What's with him? Queer?" talking about the kid in the cage!!!

[–] mrgogonyc 9 years ago

And now the "queer one" is stomping around in mother's high heels. Fun before Stonewall!

If it is not in the frame, it does not exist!

[–] inconsequentia-1 8 years ago

Actually, I just watched that scene, she doesn't say "queer?", she says "backward?" -- at least in the version currently showing on TCM.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] crlnrgbrght5 11 years ago

Kids are anything if, not honest. He was curious about the Veterinarian(as was I) so He asked. It was a rude question, but, I don't think He knew that, and, His Mother said something to Him.

[–] mrgogonyc 9 years ago

I remembered that line from years ago and watched the film tonight to make sure I remembered it correctly. And, also interesting and telling is the pregnant embarrassed pause from the adults after she says "I'm a veterinarian. It's kind of in-between".

If it is not in the frame, it does not exist!

[–] EliotTempleton 8 years ago

The actress playing the vet is Geraldine Wall, who had a long screen history of playing her characters butch, even when it wasn't called for in the script. This was a case of perfect casting.

[–] EliotTempleton 8 years ago

This movie is ahead of its time in many ways. The character of Miss Smith, hilariously played by that chronic scene-stealer, Carmen Phillips, is clearly portrayed as some kind of nocturnal dominatrix. And notice in the scene in Macy's fabric department how many of the shoppers are black women. This was at a time when one rarely, if ever, sees a person of color as an extra in a crowd scene. Vincente Minnelli would occasionally sneak blacks into a scene, and a few blacks can be spotted in the opening concert scene in Irving Rapper's 1946 Deception (which also has quite a few Asian extras in several scenes), but these are very rare exceptions.