(Sorry--the first link works, the second link was to a letter alerting me to the discussion...I've fixed the link now)
Posts: 1862 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
The pursuit of the answer to this question was like the pursuit of perfection; eternally striving towards it made us all better people and now look what you've done.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Meh - it's about as convincing as crop circles to me.... a controversy that will never really die. Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
This is a hoax. The link doesn't work, and there is no source. They're just trying to get our hopes up.
Posts: 3060 | Registered: Nov 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Oh my....I must say I'm shocked....After all of that....it's found...I remember spending so many hours tracking it down....I never thought it would ever get found...
Posts: 796 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Boothby171, I don't think the quote is exact. There is a "what does it do?" part and a "that's the beauty of it" part, but they are not together, and the rest of it is only approximate. (I can't hear it well, in part because of my speakers and in part because I am in a -very- loud background noise place, but this seems to be true.) People have found other things close before, but not exact, and this was deemed not to be the exact quote so many people think they remembered.
I'd love to read the transcript of the clip, but you seem to have linked to a private messaging function, not a discussion thread. (?) It refuses entry.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
My best-guess transcript (there wasn't one on the IMDB thread):
quote:[Burgess Meredith!] as Mad (?) Scientist: Certainly, certainly ... [stammering] ... mnnuuh, let's, I, I ... I always take this w-w-with me ... When I travel. At home I have a m-m-much bigger one.
Guy in suit and hat: What is it?
Scientist: Well it - my, my therapy - I'm still perfecting it.
Guy: What does it do?
Scientist: Do?
Guy: Wha-What's it for?
Scientist: Well nothing, nothing, I mean, that's the beauty of it. Every machine in the world does something, but not mine ... [stammering continues, but clip ends]
It is certainly close, but I don't think it's necessarily closer than some other things which were proposed. Perhaps. But I think the mystery of this was that so many people had a very vivid memory of a quote that exactly matched one another's recollections, though no exact match could be found in the media.
This doesn't fufill that either, but it's a strong showing. It is close, but people seemed to remember (vividly, and in complete agreement) something else.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
You've done the hard work, and you've been diligent about spreading the word and updating us. That's so great.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Of note, the thread title linked to at IMDB (and at least one post in it) refer to the "...It doesn't do anything" quotation, but that wording isn't actually in the clip. See transcript above.
---
Is anyone verified to post at IMDB? I'd love to post the transcript of the clip along with a link to the discussion here. Also to the original thread from Hatrack where other quite similar possibilities were noted.
It's not that I don't agree that this was a great piece of detective work -- I just don't think it solves the puzzle more than it was previously solved, and I'd hate to see the search truncated prematurely.
I'll verify myself at IMDB with a credit card later if this isn't of interest to anyone else.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Upon a second watching, I'm gonna have to agree that it's not close enough. But I'll leave the thread stickied for a little bit out of reverence for the concept.
Posts: 441 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
I can post at IMDB, if that's what you mean, last I checked you don't have to have a credit card to do so, at least you didn't back when I signed up.
If you want to construct a post but don't want to go through the trouble of signing up yourself you can email it to me and I'll put it on that thread.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: Boothby171, I don't think the quote is exact. There is a "what does it do?" part and a "that's the beauty of it" part, but they are not together, and the rest of it is only approximate. (I can't hear it well, in part because of my speakers and in part because I am in a -very- loud background noise place, but this seems to be true.) People have found other things close before, but not exact, and this was deemed not to be the exact quote so many people think they remembered.
I'd love to read the transcript of the clip, but you seem to have linked to a private messaging function, not a discussion thread. (?) It refuses entry.
As far as I can see, it's as close as "Play it again, Sam". Which, as an exact phrase, probably appeared first in a Woody Allen movie, because it's never said in Casablanca.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Lyrhawn, this is great. Thanks. You are a real peach.
Wait a minute for me to finish editing, as I want to make sure the links work. And let me know if it's too long.
Thanks!
-----------------------------------------------
Hi, IMDB folks. What a great thread!
This is CT from Hatrack, one of the sites that has been plagued by this quote since 2003 (thanks, Thalia). I wanted to give you a link here to our current discussion of this proposal, as well as some links to some older threads where other possibilities were discussed at our site. One of our other members, Lyrhawn [if you are okay with being named], is kind enough to crosspost for me.
I think all of us are delighted to see the video clip and read the discussion. Some, like ssywak, are calling it closed. Others, like me and some other oldtimers, are not, and not just because we are grumpy old farts. (But that too. *grin) Of particular note, there have been other possibilities quite close, and though this has some intriguing elements, it doesn't even contain the classic "It doesn't do anything" part referenced in both the title of this thread and in one of the posts above. This has "nothing." (see transcript below) Close, but not quite -- and what made this quotation so compelling was that so many people seemed to remember it *exactly* as such.
But this is something we each have our own mystical relationship to, and I suppose we each have to make up our own minds. I'll leave you with my transcript of the video clip for future reference. Thanks.
quote:Burgess Meredith as Mad (?) Scientist: Certainly, certainly ... [stammering] ... mnnuuh, let's, I, I ... I always take this w-w-with me ... when I travel. At home I have a m-m-much bigger one.
Guy in suit and hat: What is it?
Scientist: Well it - my, my therapy - I'm still perfecting it.
Guy: What does it do?
Scientist: Do?
Guy: Wha-What's it for?
Scientist: Well nothing, nothing, I mean, that's the beauty of it. Every machine in the world does something, but not mine ... [stammering continues, but clip ends]
And thanks, Boothby171, for posting it and keeping us updated. The fact that we don't agree in toto doesn't mean I don't really appreciate your hard work, as well as the work of the person who found and uploaded this clip. Awesome.
---
Whoops! Lyrhawn, if you could just update the date (not 2004, but 2003) for the original thread, that would be great. If not, no big deal -- and you can leave out whichever formatting you need to in order to make it easy. However it works for you.
posted
You remember that 80s show, "Probe." I rewatched a few episodes last year, and for some reason, I think of the quote as being in there.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I still think it was from an episode of Saved by the Bell where Zach steals some money to buy a fancy boom box.
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I still don't think that is the right one. I'm determined that it's out there in some strange movie that we've all seen, but can't quite recall. I will never stop searching. NEVA!
Posts: 1789 | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
This is nothing more then false hope, this is about as convincing as the discovery of Jesus' corpse.
I'll never stop searching, I know it's out there, word for word, clear as day, no mumbling or distortion, it will be memorable, and it will make us all go "Ohhhhh, that's right, I should have gotten that, moving along."
posted
I think this is it. I think this is the source of the quote. It is altered slightly, but I think for the same reason everyone remembers "Play it again, Sam." as the accurate quote.
Wow. It's found. It's like finally learning who Deep Throat is.
I'm not dissapointed with this source, though - I think it fits the spirit of the quote perfectly. Wow.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I doubt many people have seen this movie at all. Still, just like I could quote The Godfather despite never seeing it and the ways everyone has heard "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a d***" whether or not they have seen Gone with the Wind, I think the quote entered the zeitgeist right...there. Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Was that directed at me? I don't see how that's relevant...maybe it wasn't directed at me. Never mind. Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:I think the quote entered the zeitgeist right...there.
See, I don't. Because we know how "frankly, my dear" is sustained through the zeitgeist; this particular episode isn't popular enough and isn't quoted enough to be supported, and we have evidence by now that the individual line itself isn't propagated widely through the media.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I agree with kat and Boothby; people heard it on the show, misquoted it the next day around the water cooler, and it just took off. We all heard it in amateur stand-up routines and high school dramas. Our parents used the phrase in jokes and we laughed at the punch-line of a thousand independent jokes. We all heard it from different sources and different times, but all independently derived from this one, monumental moment. Thank you, Burgess Meredith, for this mighty endowment to our society.
posted
Sure. I just reserve the right to gloat in the next life when all truth will be revealed (including, although perhaps not most importantly, this one).
posted
Lyrhawn, you are a jewel. A very manly jewel, such as a large red jasper, or perhaps a deep, black onyx. Thank you -- it is perfect.
---
SenojRetep, of all the things I both fear and hope to be explained to me after my death, this is surely right up there. And if it should be that there is a decent pub at hand when we are put to that mettle, and if we then find this true, well, I'll kindly spot you a pint and call you prescient. Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Hat]](graemlins/hat.gif)
