(The image accompanying
this post, of Patti Smith performing at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, was taken
by her sister, Kimberly Smith, on Dec. 31, 2007.)
Frasier Crane [played
by Kelsey Grammer]: “Very well. You leave me no alternative
but to call in my marker.”
Niles Crane [played
by David Hyde Pierce] [nervously]: “What marker?”
Frasier
[ominously]: “Oh, I think you know.”
Niles:
“You wouldn't.”
Frasier:
“I would.”
Niles:
“You can't!”
Frasier:
“I will.”
Niles:
“That was three years ago!”
Frasier:
“I don't recall there being any statute of limitations. I distinctly recall
that when you asked me to go out with Maris's sister, you said that you would ‘owe
me one forever.’”
Niles:
“But you only spent one evening with Brie. That hardly compares with what
you're asking me to endure.”
Frasier:
“Oh? Shall I refresh your memory? Midway through the opera her ermine muff
began to tremble. As it turned out she had used it to smuggle in her adorably
incontinent Chihuahua. Just as I thought we'd reached the low point of the
evening I suddenly felt a sandpaper tongue licking my earlobe. Alas it did not
belong to little Hervé! Fortunately my shriek coincided with the on-stage
murder of Gondolfo! Roz will expect you on Monday at two.”
Niles:
“For your information, Brie had a very tough row to hoe growing up. It's not
easy going through life with one nostril.”
Frasier:
“Did I mention she had a cold that night?”
Niles:
“Monday at two it is.”—Frasier, Season 4, Episode 5, “Head Game,”
original air date Nov. 12, 1996, teleplay by Rob Greenberg, directed by David
Lee
The
coming-of-age drama Stand by Me was released 40 years ago today.
Technically, its $52.3 million domestic box-office gross would not put it in blockbuster
territory, but it earned a tidy profit because of its low $8 million, enabling Rob
Reiner to make more and bigger films.
After
viewing the finished product, King told Reiner it was the best adaptation
of any of his films to that time. Audiences today are likely to respond with
the same powerful emotion that the novelist did.
Though the
main plot of the movie is set in 1959, its themes are universal: loss of
innocence, family neglect, and, most poignantly, the transience of childhood
friendships.
Even
Facebook goes only so far in retaining early bonds: distance—in geography, stations
in life, and, sadly these days, politics—serves as an aching reminder of all we
have lost over the years.
But we
have those friends when we need them the most, as we are sometimes thrown into
confusion in growing up as we discover the world and start to discover ourselves.
The quartet at the heart of this film are, then, just stand-ins for ourselves.
For an
especially enthusiastic take on the film, see this 2017 guest post by Jessica Prescott on the blog “Hamlette’s Soliloquy.”
Burt [played by Richard Mulligan]: “Prentiss got caught stuffing the ballot boxes, so I won, I am the sheriff.”
[Everyone congratulates Burt.]
Danny [played by Ted Wass]: “How 'bout that? Sheriff. And I get to be deputy, right, Burt? Me, deputy, me. Please?”
Bob [played by Jay Johnson]: “I'm gonna be the deputy.”
Danny: “You are not!”
Bob: “Am too!”
[Danny and Bob argue
before Mary breaks it up.]
Mary [played by Cathryn Damon]: “Burt, what's the matter?”
Burt: “Well, it's Prentiss, he won't give up the office. Yeah, he's holed up in the armory with enough weapons to quality as a Third World nation. He says he will not be taken alive and my first assignment is to take him.”
Danny: “Let's go get him.”
Burt: “Danny, this Prentiss, he won gold medals for marksmanship and he is now in a fortified stone building.”
Bob: “On second thought, I don't want to be deputy.”—Soap, Season 3, Episode 20, original air date Mar. 13, 1980, teleplay by Susan Harris and Stu Silver, directed by J.D. Lobue
I must confess that when I heard that bit here about someone who “won’t give up the office,” I had a flashback to January 6, 2021—and especially one person involved that day. I bet some of you felt the same way.
Believe it or not, it looks like, since no legal or electoral price was paid for that refusal to accept the results of an election, other politicians want to get in on the act. A New York Times headline from the other day, about the major and several council members in rural Avenal, CA, who lost a recall election, says it all: “They Were Voted Out. They Refuse to Leave. Now What?”
Now what? Better pray that anyone else who gets this idea doesn’t get their hands on weapons, as Prentiss did in this Soap episode.
