References you didn't get for ages...

[anjabro]

I was just listening to 'Kid About It', which I must have listened to a zillion times in the last twenty years, and I suddenly got the line 'When she said I waited all my life for just a little death', ('Petit Mort' being a french term for orgasm, for anyone as slow as me...)

Anyone else got any they didn't get for years? Don't be shy, you may be able to enlighten someone...

[noiseradio]

In "Some Like it Hot," when Marylin complains about always getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop. When I was a kid and saw that for the first time, I thouht it only meant candy. I showed it to my History of Film class this year and that joke (as well as a half dozen others I'd missed) made me roll. Most of the class missed them.

[RinghioStarr]

In "Some Like it Hot," when Marylin complains about always getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop. When I was a kid and saw that for the first time, I thouht it only meant candy. I showed it to my History of Film class this year and that joke (as well as a half dozen others I'd missed) made me roll. Most of the class missed them.

And in this film which character is played by Elvis? The one disguised as a woman? Is the other Steve Nieve?

[bobster]

In "Some Like it Hot," when Marylin complains about always getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop. When I was a kid and saw that for the first time, I thouht it only meant candy. I showed it to my History of Film class this year and that joke (as well as a half dozen others I'd missed) made me roll. Most of the class missed them.

It doesn't only mean candy? -- except for the obvious metaphor, which is a more creative way of "getting the short end of the stick"? Are you implying it's a sexual double entendre? If so, I missed it too, and I'm embarrased, too -- though I lean towards the school of "somtimes a lollipop is only a lollipop."

[bobster]

Oh, and just to get this thread back on track, stupid American that I am, I had no idea for many years that "Senior Service" referenced a cigarette brand and, as I foggily recall, something else...a military rank?

[anjabro]

The British Navy is referred to as 'The Senior Service'...not sure why, maybe just because they're the oldest of the three services..?

I must say, I never got anything else from 'the fuzzy end of the lollipop' either....but Tony Curtis does wear Elvis glasses on the beach...

[A rope leash]

I think that Armed Forces contains a lot of references that I didn't really understand until I got filled in on British colonial history.

"Senior Services" is a pack of British cigarettes, is it not? There's tons of British culture references that have flown over my head during my long fandom.

I like this thread, but it's hard to think of specifics. I better put on some Elvis...

[Mr. Average]

As I understand it, Senior Service is a reference to cigarettes:

"I want your neck
I want the seat that you sit at
I want your cheque
Because they told me I would get on
I wanna chop off your head and watch it roll into the basket
If you should drop dead tonight then they won't have to ask me twice"

If I could sit down with Elvis and only ask one question, it would be for him to detail the meaning of the many references in the song "Beyond Belief". Too many. I know that we had a poster provide a detailed (very detailed) analysis of this song (John?) but I am not sure that it was definitive, or just his impression.

[noiseradio]

In "Some Like it Hot," when Marylin complains about always getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop. When I was a kid and saw that for the first time, I thouht it only meant candy. I showed it to my History of Film class this year and that joke (as well as a half dozen others I'd missed) made me roll. Most of the class missed them.

It doesn't only mean candy? -- except for the obvious metaphor, which is a more creative way of "getting the short end of the stick"? Are you implying it's a sexual double entendre? If so, I missed it too, and I'm embarrased, too -- though I lean towards the school of "somtimes a lollipop is only a lollipop."

It's not so much what the phrase means as how it's used in the film. I think Billy Wilder creates a sexual double entendre where there wasn't one before. Tony Curtis, leering at Marylin, says, "This time I hope you get the sweet end of the lollipop." It's his look as much as anything that adds meaning.

[noiseradio]

And in this film which character is played by Elvis? The one disguised as a woman? Is the other Steve Nieve?

Jeez.

[bobster]

]It's not so much what the phrase means as how it's used in the film. I think Billy Wilder creates a sexual double entendre where there wasn't one before. Tony Curtis, leering at Marylin, says, "This time I hope you get the sweet end of the lollipop." It's his look as much as anything that adds meaning.

Hmm. I actually saw it as being a sweet moment where he genuinely wished her well (if I recall right, he's still in drag at this point and they're about to be, he thinks, permanently parted) in general as in "I hope you do finally find a nice guy and not another double-dealing sax player". Pervyness, I suppose, is in the eye (or other parts) of the beholder.

[noiseradio]

But he says it after she's told him what she wants from a man--a millionaire with glasses, etc... He's already formulated a plan. The next time you see him, he's already stolen Beanstalk's clothes and glasses to use to manipulate her according to what she told him. By the time he makes the statement, he's already got the plan. I don't think Joe le4arns how to be genuinely sweet until he sends her the flowers with the diamond bracelet.

[bobster]

Oh -- I was thinking it was from later on. Now I have to watch the movie all over again! Damn you, Noiseradio!

[anjabro]

I'd never have guessed where this would go from my opening gambit, but just out of interest, NR.... I watched the extended DVD of SLIH a while ago, and among the cast list, I noticed that the guys' name is not in fact Beanstalk, but Biehnstock, or something like that...(I remember thinking when I was a kid, what the hell kind of name is Beanstalk..??)

[bobster]

Knowing Billy Wilder, it's probably some kind of cross-linguistic pun. Wish I knew some German.

In "1-2-3" with Jimmy Cagney, a German man comes into a hotel room bearing a wedding ring and yelling "Schmuck!" at Cagney.(pronounced "schmook!", ). It's the German word, I understand, for "jewelry." (My knowledge of German pretty much is limited to words used in WWII movies such as "Schweinhundt!" and "Mach schnell!", so I could be a bit off here.)

Anyhow, For just a moment, Cagney reacts as if the well known Yiddish/English insult derived from the German word (i.e., schmuck=jewel="family jewels"), until he realizes the context.

[noiseradio]

Anjbro, that's really funny. I never noticed that. But I think the audience is supposed to hear "Beanstalk" and then get another laugh in the credts. Thanks!

[Fishfinger king]

Rope leash wrote:
"Senior Services" is a pack of British cigarettes, is it not? There's tons of British culture references that have flown over my head during my long fandom.

Just think of the US references that have confused us Brits over the years.
"The screen door slams" didn't mean a thing to me, although Roy Orbison played on the radio.
A previous thread discussed fourpenny ones and the like.
"Senior service" cigarettes had the advertising tag "Premier to satisfaction". I know because Senior Service killed my dad - the fag, not the Navy.

[anjabro]

I think the audience is supposed to hear "Beanstalk" and then get another laugh in the credts. Thanks!

Did SLIH even have end credits..? I seem to remember (from watching it on video when I was a kid...) 'The End' coming up over their faces in the boat, and then that's it....Or was it just that my parents pressed stop on the VCR all those years ago, and I never got to see the end credits..? Or maybe the BBC just didn't play them that day...

[bobster]

Movies from that era frequently have very short, "blink and you'll miss 'em" end credits listing only the actors and the characters, right after the "The End" title card, or sometimes none at all. I THINK SLIH had them..., but I suspect it was mainly a very mild private joke between Wilder and his cowriter, Izzy Diamond.

Of course, now, mostly due to agreements with various unions and ballooning egos, end credits are now typically long enough to encompass two complete songs with which to pad the soundtrack album and boost chances of winning a "Best Song" Oscar.

BTW -- Wilder fans with decent cable/satellite plans should take note that Wilder's little known "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" screens today on Turner Classic Movies at 8:00 Eastern/7:00 Central and 5:00 Pacific. Haven't seen it myself, yet -- been trying to for years. It has a lot of fans among critics and is close as Wilder ever got to having a "cult" film. If you miss it, there's a DVD which -- I just found, has lots of extras, so I may have to get that/rent it eventually. All these DVD are expensive as 7 percent solutions....

[bambooneedle]

I didn't hear (thoroughly get) "see her in silhoutte going down south", Kinder Murder , for a while.