Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Remember this scene ...

... the next time you watch the news.


4 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:36 PM

    The phrase "impugn his cocksmanship" is one of many reasons why I love Paddy Chayefsky.

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  2. Priceless, Ed; I never caught it!

    I know, dames ain't supposed to know this kind o' stuff; but, is the story of Hemingway, Callaghan, and Fitzgerald a legend in your country (as it is in ours)? It was told to me by Morley (whom I interviewed at his home before he left us; and, he had the original rotary-dial telephone that had been installed in his house when it was built and telephones invented. It was so caked with crud, I could hardly dial it to call a taxi to come get me when the 'view was done).

    The story? (See, I know how to build tension and suspense :).)

    Seems Hemingway and Fitz were out hawking a whizz and Fitz asked Ernie — Well, they were obviously inebriated — anyway, Fitz asked Ernie if he though his whipper nipper was too small and Ernie looked over at *it* and cocked his head slightly and pronounced grandly as well as very graciously, in his drunksobre way, with all gravitas required of such an intimate moment:

    Hell, no; it just looks small because you're looking down on it; you're not seeing it from the proper angle is all, Fitz!
    p.s. Yeah, I also know what Mailer said about dames and farting; you can't pass one over on me, HAR!

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  3. Anonymous2:43 PM

    I've heard a variation on that urban legend too, Judith. There was a point when I was around 20 or 21 when I tried to find credence for the story, but could find nothing more than variations on the anecdote: Fitz and Ernie getting into a fistfight, Fitz decrying his cocksmanship in other ways, et al. One certainly can't imagine contemporary authors doing anything like that today, which is something of a pity. :)

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  4. Aw, it ain't so, Ed-OH? Just goes to show, though; actually, I did a lot of research, tonnes, the whole nine yards' worth (or, about a minute); and, the only Urban Legend I could find involving Hemingway was at The Snopes Urban Legend Page (which has a questionable adware addition on its main page; so, this is what I found).

    However, I mean, well, you're abso-deffo right about those wonderful engaging daze and knights; and, if you look at James Wood and his drivelicious rhetorrhea concerning the Republicans' language usage, it becomes pretty clear (sorry) all anyone's doing these days is engaging in a pissing contest (and, I don't specify a gender in this, not anymore; it's open season on anyone who's lacking basic reason).

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