I didn’t need to look that up – I not only remember it, it’s excerpted in Zacherley’s Horrible Horror
Edited to add – I went directly to the correction before reading the rest of the thread, and so missed Dropo’s already correcting this.
Speaking of little jokes, this exchange in “My Favorite Blonde” (1942) did make me laugh a lot for some reason.
Starring Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll, with the action taking place during WWII. Karen, a British spy, was forced to reveal her mission to Larry.
Karen: "Inside this small box there is a microscopically engraved code to guide the flights of 150 Lockheed Hudson bombers from Los Angeles to England!
Larry (Bob Hope) [incredulously]: “Is that so? Do you see what is inside this ring? Benny Goodman and his band! But they had to drop the clarinet player; it was a bit crowded!”
.
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There, now you are stuck with that, like I was when I did see the movie on TV in the old country in the 70s… .
Sounds like he was wearing one of those gimmick “Stanhope” rings, which have a microphotograph attached to a stanhope lens. It’d be the perfect counterpoint to Karen’s microfilm. There’s an explanation (and a picture of a stanhope ring) here:
The article says that the last stanhope was made in 1972, but there are people making them today. You can even get a custom stanhope made from your own photograph. It’s pricey, though.
I’ve always liked how after the absurd logic of the trial results in a result of guilt, the witch calmly states, “It’s a fair cop.”
In Miller’s Crossing, the protagonist, Tom Reagan, is really bad at picking winning race horses and owes a lot of money to the bookie Lazarre. A couple of Lazarre’s thugs are sending a message to Tom about paying his debts. After they finish beating on him…
Thug: Lazarre said he’s sorry about this. It’s just getting out of hand.
Tom: Yeah.
Thug: He likes you, Tom. He said we didn’t have to break anything.
Tom: Yeah. Tell him no hard feelings.
Thug: Christ, Tom, he knows that.
The actor delivers the line with just a touch of hurt in his voice at the idea that Tom would even suggest hard feelings over a simple beating.
In A Midwinter’s Tale (a criminally overlooked comedy - I have never met anyone IRL who has seen it) Molly, who has had to take over at the last minute as Hamlet on opening night, has frozen onstage with her first line. Tom, the original Hamlet, appears unexpectedly at the back of the theater and delivers the line. As all of the on-screen audience turns and looks at the back of the theater, a hand reaches out from behind the curtain and grabs Molly and pulls her off-stage. I always laugh at how quickly she disappears.