From an Article at the National Review in their recent issue, entitled “Good Ol’ Tip”. [Subscription required apparently].
The article mentions the negotiations between Reagan and the then speaker of the house.
It mentions that Ronald Reagan had some acting advice he lived by, which was to never be in the same (film) scene with a child.
Does that mean anything? I don’t get it.
Child actors are notoriously bad. So it’s best not to be cast with them if you want to be in movies that are considered good.
Similarly, in politics, if you want to be a good politician, don’t hang around with childish politicians.
I guess.
That, and when they’re not atrociously bad, child actors tend to steal the scene just by virtue of their age.
Of course, both of these reasons apply even more so to scenes with animals, but that didn’t stop Reagan from taking second billing to a chimp.
And not to be too partisan about this, but can you imagine the response if Obama hinted that interacting with John Boehmer was in any way comparable to interacting with a child?
Yes, wasn’t the rule not to share a screen with a child or an animal?
Either they were really really bad, or (possibly unintentionally) really cute. Considering how little it takes to make a cat a star on YouTube, the last thing you need as a pro is to be second banana to a chimp or some kid.
Considering the ease with which Boehner breaks into tears, calling him a bawl baby wouldn’t be out of line.
I never considered the cute angle of the quote. That makes sense too. So yeah, either way, don’t agree to be in a scene with a kid.
W.C. Fields is famous for saying “Never work with animals or children,” the reason presumably being that they’re unreliable. The fact that they’re scene-stealers means that there’s no up-side (for the actor), but I don’t know that he meant that.
Since I can’t read the article without paying, I don’t know whether it presents this saying as a quote form Reagan, as something he said in private, or the writer’s own injection.
Hey, that’s not nice to say about his “Hellcats of the Navy” co-star!
Just a joke. I like Nancy just fine.
Furthermore, roles for children and animals are often written with them being remarkably precocious – its funnier if the animal outsmarts the adult, or the child outwits and out-sasses them, or in the case of children, more poignant and dramatic if their brilliant insight stirs something in an adult. There’s nothing left for the adult actor to do but mug for the camera, amusingly or tear up and remark how smart the child is.
'Course, Reagan couldn’t talk about not sharing the screen with animals, having made movies with Bonzo.
But I remember George Carlin, on the Howard Stern show, plugging his new sitcom on Fox. It was about him, and some adults, no 10 year old kid who was smarter than he was. I got the feeling – yeah, they do that on TV a lot don’t they. Give the best and smartest lines to the kids, like adults have nothing useful to say.
Of course it didn’t stop him. THAT is where he learned it!:smack:
The old joke was that for Disney movies (not the cartoons) the standard writing guide was that the kids were smarter than the adults, and the animals were smarter than the humans.