Posted on 11/24/2019 6:16:40 AM PST by Twotone
A couple of nights ago, I was on telly riffing on Joe Biden's pledge to keep punching and punching and punching at domestic violence. I concluded by suggesting he promise to smash a grapefruit in the face of domestic violence - and I was immediately barraged by emails from viewers who had no idea what I was talking about, and thought I'd flown the coop of whatever sanity remained. Alas, my cultural references are increasingly incomprehensible to those under, say, 112 years of age, but this particular one was once universally known: Jimmy Cagney shoving half-a-grapefruit into the kisser of Mae Clarke in The Public Enemy (1931).
It occurs about halfway through the picture - if you want a more precise timing, you should have asked Miss Clarke's ex-husband, Lew Brice (brother of Fannie), who knew exactly where it came down to the second and would buy a movie ticket, enter the theater moments before, watch the scene and never fail to delight in it, then leave and have a cheeseburger and fries at the diner across the street before returning to enjoy his ex-beloved getting the grapefruit all over again at the very next screening.
The Public Enemy belongs to that brief period between the introduction of talking pictures in 1927 and the enforcement of the new Motion Picture Production Code in 1934. Within three years, almost all the most memorable features of the film would have been forbidden, including not only the fruity tailor measuring Cagney's inside leg, and his seduction by the wife of his boss, but the grapefruit scene itself in all its essentials. The year before James Cagney had been on Broadway, opposite Joan Blondell in a play called Penny Arcade.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
I remember that scene!
Didn’t see it on the Big Screen.
Think it was when I was a teenager, recovering from a surgery....
Hope the surgery went well :)
I’m 51 and I know the movie well and love it.
That scene was used in a bunch of different, lesser movies afterwards.
Not a grapefruit, but a bottle of champagne poured on the women or some other food.
I remember Cagney says something about wishing she was a wishing well I think. Not in a good way :)
Seems like he actually hit her kind of hard with it.
I blame CAGNEY for the way I treated women in my teens and 20s!!!!
The gif is running fast.
There was a lot of interesting history about the Hays code in there. I guess I never really separated the pre-Hays from post-Hays movies so I never noticed the change - just that some "old" movies were much naughtier than others. I'll have to pay more attention to the timing in the future.
So far Hunter has screwed his dead brothers wife, got a young girl pregnant in Arkansas and his father is felly touchy with young girls and smells hair. No domestic violence allegations yet, I guess their still punching at it
"He told me he likes the way my hair smells!"
"What's wrong with that?"
"He's a midget!"
At a party a few years ago I told a guy he looked like James Cagney. Freaked me out that no one knew who I was talking about. They were all in their 40s and 50s.
That joke won't work in this day and age.
“Jimmy Cagney shoving half-a-grapefruit into the kisser of Mae Clarke in The Public Enemy (1931).”
No one like him. He was the greatest. He could bring you into any character he was portraying.
“At a party a few years ago I told a guy he looked like James Cagney.”
Same here. I had mentioned Rube Goldberg regarding a project I was working on. Same reaction.
I turn 70 next week. I’ve learned to be careful when bringing up allusions to popular culture. Many that were universally recognized seem to have gone by the wayside, even to folks in their early fifties. OTOH, I still don’t know why I’m supposed to know who the Kardashians are - so I guess it works both ways.
“I turn 70 next week.”
I’ll be 75 on turkey day. I sometimes go into Home Depot and ask for a tool they haven’t made in decades. LOL. Go figure.
I asked a lady at a gas station if they had maps, she looked at me like i was from mars.
Vivian looked mighty happy the next morning.
The Rapes of Graft
“Alas, my cultural references are increasingly incomprehensible to those under, say, 112 years of age”
Mark does have a penchant for obscure references. Reminds me a bit of Dennis Miller.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.