Moonlight Graham


When Ray and Terrence are talking to the old newspaper woman and ask about Moonlight Graham...she instantly says, oh you mean Doc Graham. But 10 minutes later when Ray "meets" Moonlight on the streets (in 1972) he calls him Moonlight and Burt Lancaster (as Graham) says..."no one's called me that in 50 years." If that were true it seems the old lady wouldn't have been so quick to connect the name to Doc Graham.

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The best answer I can give you is that it works best if you don't take the implied timeline of the book and movie as chapter and verse. The numbers don't work at all if you do.

For example, the character of Terrance Mann was specifically created for the film to replace J. D. Salinger, who did appear (much to his displeasure) as a fictional character in the novel.

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I just took it as, just because nobody has CALLED him Moonlight Graham doesn't mean they wouldn't recognize the nickname and know who Ray is referring to.

You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi

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Exactly. That's another not-at-all-unreasonable conclusion.

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Exactly -- and she had written his obituary and clearly knew the details of his life. He was a very "famous" local personality. She knew about his baseball record and old nickname as she knew him very well.

"Hearts and kidneys are tinker toys! I am talking about the central nervous system!"

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Well its a small town and sure not a whole lot of Grahams. Plus the old lady and graham were about the same age ... so despite no one calling him moonlight in 50 years she would certaiinly remember that he played baseball. Even if he played 1 inning in MLB he would still be a legend in that smalltown coming back having been in the big leagues.

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