Born Yesterday - today

Cafe Society
1

I just saw this on TCM today; it’s been quite a while since I watched it. Two quotes struck me, as perhaps memorable watching this from nearly 70 years later:

The corrupt lawyer Jim telling Harry [Broderick Crawford’s character] (paraphrasing) “You can’t come into this town and start buying Senators and Congressmen like they were sides of beef. These are honest people. Oh, once in a while you’ll find a bad apple like Hedges [the one he was able to buy], but only once in a while, once in a great while.”

I thought that was charmingly sweet and naive. I don’t know, maybe it was more true in those days than it is today. Nowadays I think you can count the non-corrupt Senators and Congresspeople on one hand. Harry Brock was a complete amateur, of course, he actually had incriminating stuff written down on paper and signed.

The other quote happens a bit later. Harry asks Paul [William Holden’s character] something like “What do you care if she gets smart?” And the answer, pricelessly: “A world full of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in.”

I would like to embroider than in heavy gold thread onto a flag and fly it in front of my house every day.

2

I watch Born Yesterday for the wonderful Judy Holiday. Anything else (other actors, the script, scenery, literally anything) is merely a cherry on top of an ice cream sundae.

3

Love that movie. I was only able to catch part of it today. There are many quotable lines in it. Judy Holiday is great despite her irritating voice.

Yes, yes I know its her trade mark.

4

I watched this a year or so ago, and it struck me that when the movie was made, Harry was a caricature of a corrupt businessman who has no principles except self-aggrandizement and making money. He was a shallow, ignorant, manipulative bully. No one could have imagined Harry as president of the United States. But now he is.

Interestingly, Judy Holliday was reputed to have a genius level IQ of 172.

5

Heard this about Jayne Mansfield too. Is this some kind of anti-stereotype stereotype?

“Pretty equals dumb”, “No! Pretty equals genius!”