# Lines That Don't Play as Well as They Used To **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714 "2002-04-04T03:51:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/41 "2002-04-08T03:31:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoggie \* > \*\*I think what **macunian** is saying is that David Bowie shouldn’t be faulted and reviled for making a crack about anthrax, because there’s no way anyone could have known. His statement doesn’t play as well nowadays, but it’s not something that should be held against him, as he wasn’t trying to offend. > \*\* Who said anything about holding it against him? If David Bowie should be faulted and reviled for anything, it should be for his music. 😉 Back to the OP. One of my favorite “gay” lines is from the minor Hitchcock film _Stage Fright_. In reference to Marlene Dietrich’s suspiciously merry widow character, Jane Wyman says “It must be hard to sing and dance and be gay when your husband’s just been murdered.” I should think it would be much easier to be gay without a husband around! Donna Reed’s “He’s making violent love to me, mother!” from _It’s a Wonderful Life_ plays a bit racier now than it did in 1946. I’ll second **Alphagene** on Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. I cringe just thinking of it. My sister, on the other hand, took years to realize that she was witnessing a crude ethnic stereotype. I still remember the moment it hit her: “Oh my god, he’s supposed to be _Asian_! I thought he was just talking that way because he has such bad teeth!” ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/42 "2002-04-08T07:30:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > **Back to the OP. One of my favorite “gay” lines is from the minor Hitchcock film _Stage Fright_. In reference to Marlene Dietrich’s suspiciously merry widow character, Jane Wyman says “It must be hard to sing and dance and be gay when your husband’s just been murdered.” I should think it would be much easier to be gay without a husband around!** I suppose it’s possible that there was a double meaning in the line you quoted. But you are aware, aren’t you, that up until about the early sixties “gay” was in common usage meaning lighthearted, carefree, etc.? A lot of straight people were described as gay, having nothing to do with their sexual orientation. Still, you may be right about the film, given the gossip about Dietrich. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/43 "2002-04-08T15:25:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DesertGeezer \* > \*\* > > I suppose it’s possible that there was a double meaning in the line you quoted. But you are aware, aren’t you, that up until about the early sixties “gay” was in common usage meaning lighthearted, carefree, etc.? \*\* Uh, yes, that’s why the line _doesn’t play as well as it used to_. ---
**Author:** ![hillbillycavewoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bc8723/32.png) [@hillbillycavewoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hillbillycavewoman)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/44 "2002-04-09T05:39:27Z")
Gilda Radner/ Emily Latella’s “never mind!” ---
**Author:** ![hillbillycavewoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bc8723/32.png) [@hillbillycavewoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hillbillycavewoman)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/45 "2002-04-09T05:46:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dreamer \* > \*\*“I’ll be back” \*\* I still say it… If you’re finding that it “doesn’t play as well as it used to” for YOU, maybe it’s because your Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation needs work. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/46 "2002-04-09T13:55:56Z")
One of the Marx Brothers’ movies (the college one with the football game, I think) has a scene in which a woman sitting in bed is having a conversation with a man who’s in a chair at the foot of the bed. After he makes some flattering comment, she responds: “Mr.XXXXX, are you making love to me?” My first thought was, “wow, that’s long.” ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/47 "2002-04-09T20:43:22Z")
May I jump media and offer this choice quote from the end of Chapter 14 of H. G. Wells’ _War of the Worlds_? “He heard footsteps running to and fro in the rooms, and up and down stairs behind him. His landlady came to the door, loosely wrapped in dressing gown and shawl; her hus- band followed ejaculating.” ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/48 "2002-04-09T22:16:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimboguy \* > \*\* > > anything said by Mickey Rooney **ever**. \*\* “I know, let’s put on a _shoe_!” ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/49 "2002-04-09T22:18:49Z")
And, uh, some socks. Make that _show_. “…Let’s put on a _show_.” Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/50 "2002-04-09T22:29:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AlbertRose \* > \*\*And, uh, some socks. > > Make that _show_. > > “…Let’s put on a _show_.” > > Carry on. \*\* I liked it the first way Except that then it would be a quote of Ed Sullivan.😃 “Hello, I must be going.” --Groucho Marx ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/51 "2002-04-10T01:21:35Z")
In the movie _The Dam Busters_, there’s a scene where the main character is calling his dog: “Here Nigger! Come on boy!”. Must have seemed okay in 1954. It was a true story though, so I guess that was probably the real dog’s name, but if they made that movie today I think they would leave out the dog. ---
**Author:** ![hillbillycavewoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bc8723/32.png) [@hillbillycavewoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hillbillycavewoman)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/52 "2002-04-10T22:58:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Manduck \* > \*\*In the movie _The Dam Busters_, there’s a scene where the main character is calling his dog: “Here Nigger! Come on boy!”. Must have seemed okay in 1954. It was a true story though, so I guess that was probably the real dog’s name, but if they made that movie today I think they would leave out the dog. \*\* I really thought the dog’s name was “Digger”… …wasn’t it? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/53 "2002-04-11T01:51:44Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by hillbillycavewoman \* > **I really thought the dog’s name** (in The Dam Busters)_\* was “Digger”…wasn’t it?😕 \*\* I think you’re right. I saw that movie, many years ago, and if there had been a dog named “Nigger” in it, I think it would have been sufficiently shocking to make me remember it. Anyway, it was an English film. Did they use that term? “Hello, I must be going.” --Groucho Marx ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714/54 "2002-04-11T02:31:17Z")
Re: Dam Busters According to the [IMDb](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0046889), > [@](#): > > Gibson’s dog “Nigger” was dubbed into “Trigger” for the US market. and > [@](#): > > American versions had “Trigger” dubbed for “Nigger.” The Morse code received in the Ops room was still “Nigger” though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-that-dont-play-as-well-as-they-used-to/101714.md?page=2)