"Thanks! I Needed That!"

Tue Aug 24 13:19:20 UTC 2010

Nor did I mean to imply that the slapping in _The High and the Mighty_ is
irrelevant.

JL

On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 8:53 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Thanks! I Needed That!"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I saw the movie on TV in 1965, ten years after its theatrical run. That
> might explain why the TV commercials seemed to be "quoting" something
> already familiar in 1969.
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 8:38 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "Thanks! I Needed That!"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Mutter, mutter.  I'm wondering now if the Skin Bracer commercial really
> did
> > effectively give birth to the phrase.  Clearly it was alluding to
> something
> > else, but perhaps something not in those exact words.
> >
> > A GB search of "Thanks * I needed that" turned up nothing likely.
> >
> > However...
> >
> > 1953 Leon Uris _Battle Cry_ (rpt. N.Y. Bantam, 1954) 460:
> >
> > Huxley began screaming. "He threw himself on a grenade! Mac, they're
> > killing
> > my boys! They're killing my boys!
> >     He was berserk. I straightened up and belted him in the mouth. The
> > punch knocked him down....A Jap screaming-meemie whistled down. I threw
> > myself over him and pinned him flat till it passed over.
> >     "Thanks, Mac."
> >     "I didn't want to slug you, skipper."
> >     "I guess...I lost my - what's the picture?" he snapped quickly.
> >
> > IMDb offers no quotes from the film version (screenplay by Uris), but the
> > scene must be there, with or without "I needed that." (I haven't seen the
> > movie in forty-odd years, but I do remember that it's awful, with Van
> > Heflin
> > as the skipper and James Whitmore as the sarge).
> >
> > Hypothesis: the proverb alludes, imprecisely, to a scene in the 1953
> novel
> > and 1955 movie _Battle Cry_.
> >
> >  JL
> >
> > On Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 9:05 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> > >wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: "Thanks! I Needed That!"
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > I found _Journey's End_, the quintessential British WW1 drama by R. C.
> > > Sherriff. (it was revived recently on Broadway, or at least in NYC.)
> > >
> > > That was the good news. The bad news is that although the play contains
> > > a comparable scene (the hero inspires a man who's lost his nerve by
> > > threatening to shoot him: the man soon thanks him), there's no
> hysteria,
> > no
> > > slapping, and no "Thanks! I needed that!"
> > >
> > > There is, however, an alleged Cockneyism: "sambridges" for
> "sandwiches."
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 3:05 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> > > >wrote:
> > >
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject:      Re: "Thanks! I Needed That!"
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > When I started this thread I had an unconvincing feeling that the
> > > incident
> > > > is in R. C. Sheriff's 1929 play, "Journey's End," which was filmed in
> > > 1930.
> > > >
> > > > I didn't mention it because I thought I could check my personal copy
> -
> > > > which
> > > > I haven't found after hours of looking. Paul's thinking leads me to
> > float
> > > > the suggestion.
> > > >
> > > > Nothing I saw on the Web, however, supports this attribution.
> > > >
> > > > Will search my shelves some more.
> > > >
> > > > JL
> > > >
> > > > On Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Paul <paulzjoh at mtnhome.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > > -----------------------
> > > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > > Poster:       Paul <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>
> > > > > Subject:      Re: "Thanks! I Needed That!"
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > >
> > > > >  This may be a red herring, but I have a memory of that scene from
> a
> > > > > pre 1940 british film., either WWI or british colonial outpost.
> > > > > Vaguely, as I remember, outnumbered, probably going to die, "must
> > show
> > > > > these buggers how a gentleman/Englishman dies"
> > > > > Sorry, can't be more help than that
> > > > >
> > > > > On 8/22/2010 1:23 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > > > > The Mennen Skin Bracer ad came long before _Airplane_.  And
> > > presumably
> > > > > after
> > > > > > the gopher cartoon.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Is the phrase just a "folk version" of the movie dialogue?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > If it isn't really in the movie, anything becomes possible.
> > > > > > JL
> > > > > > On Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 1:33 PM, Joel S. Berson<Berson at att.net>
> > > >  wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > > >> -----------------------
> > > > > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > > >> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson"<Berson at ATT.NET>
> > > > > >> Subject:      Re: "Thanks! I Needed That!"
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >>
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> At 8/22/2010 10:49 AM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> > > > > >>> A few years later, in 1957, another plane crash movie was
> > released
> > > --
> > > > > >>> "Zero Hour!", which served as the basis for "Airplane!" The
> > makers
> > > of
> > > > > >>> "Airplane!" bought the rights to "Zero Hour!", so they were
> able
> > to
> > > > > >>> crib dialogue verbatim. This video has a side-by-side
> comparison
> > of
> > > > > >>> scenes from the two movies:
> > > > > >>>
> > > > > >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BjU-e01zQ4
> > > > > >>>
> > > > > >>> About 2 minutes in there's a scene with a woman screaming,
> "I've
> > > got
> > > > > >>> to get out of here!" In "Zero Hour!" a man just shakes here,
> but
> > in
> > > > > >>> the "Airplane!" version, she's shaken, slapped, and otherwise
> > > abused
> > > > > >>> by a series of passengers. Anyway, no "thanks" here either, so
> > that
> > > > > >>> doesn't really help us.
> > > > > >> Is there different scene in "Airplane" which does have a slap
> and
> > > > > >> "Thanks! I Needed That!", perhaps in the cockpit?  Or am I
> > > > > >> half-remembering such an incident from some other of Leslie
> > > Nielson's
> > > > > >> spoof movies?
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> "Airplane" is 1980.  Has anyone searched Gann's 1953 "The High
> and
> > > > > >> the Mighty" yet?
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> Joel
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > > > > >>
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > --
> > > > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle
> the
> > > > > truth."
> > > > > >
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> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > He could sell you the time and get a commission from the man who
> > owned
> > > > the
> > > > > watch.
> > > > > said of Colin Chapman
> > > > >
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> > > >
> > > >
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> > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > > truth."
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> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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>

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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