The flicker of a film is like a heartbeat.

Cafe Society
1

Where and when did Ben Mankiewicz say or write this?

2

Somewhere around August 21, 2011? Maybe he’d used it before that.

“The flicker of a film is like a heartbeat. Movies are in my blood. They’re part of who I am.” That’s the new opening for TCM weekend host Ben Mankiewicz – and among the film clips is a nice close-up of Peter Lorre as Ugarte in Casablanca!

3

It’s all very poetic, but it will puzzle future generations who may have no idea what film projection was, or at least no idea of what it looked like. (With digital there’s no flicker.)

4

24 beats a second? Is Mankiewicz part hummingbird?