Judson Knight's Epic World

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Perhaps the Most Thought-Provoking Words of All Time

No, these don't come from the Bible or the Bhagavad-Gita, nor from any figure commonly recognized as a teacher or thinker. Rather, the source is The Flying Deuces, a 1939 Laurel and Hardy pic in which the two play a pair of fish-packers from Des Moines on vacation in Paris.

It's been a long, long time since I actually saw it, so I may have a couple of details wrong, but essentially the scene is this. Heartbroken at the discovery that the woman he loves is already married, Ollie determines to throw himself into a canal of the Seine that happens to contain a shark escaped from the city zoo. Ever the faithful friend, Laurel has decided that he too will end it all, and they are just preparing to jump when a legionnaire stops and tells them that instead of committing suicide, they should join the French Foreign Legion. To which Laurel (as I recall) answers thus:

The French Foreign Legion?
I can't join the French Foreign Legion.
I've got to be in Des Moines on Monday!

Get it? I once tried to share this with someone in her early twenties and got a blank stare, whereas I've noticed that the older the person who hears this, the more likely he or she is to understand. Anyway, here's what I get out of that line: we may think we have priorities in life, urgent things that simply have to be done, but in truth our lives could end at any moment, and then those alleged priorities will be revealed as meaningless. Put in terms of the movie, it may seem important to get back to our fish-packing job in Des Moines, but if life itself is so conditional that one could choose to end it in the shark-infested waters of the Seine, then nothing is really mandatory--certainly nothing as unimportant as a fish-packing job in Des Moines.

Sometimes when I've gotten really wigged out about a deadline or a debt or some other such millstone, I've thought of those lines and drawn great comfort from them. Most of what we are forced to spend our time and energy on, simply as a matter of survival, doesn't ultimately matter. Whatever happens when we die, it's not likely we'll be thinking about those things. The ones we have loved, yes; the most treasured of our dreams and ambitions, yes; the sweetness of life itself, yes; but not the job packing fish back in Des Moines.

A few interesting links: an essay on the movie, which ends with Ollie's death and reincarnation (I'm not kidding); the official Web site of the French Foreign Legion; and finally, a historical marker honoring Hardy's brief residence in my own adopted hometown of Madison, Georgia.

4 Comments:

At 9:25 AM, June 23, 2005, Blogger Michele said...

Whoa--Not too many these days mention , never mind talk about, Laurel and Hardy. I remember them joining the FFL. I remember them eating leather on a boat, the movie of them with the Toy Soldiers (my favorite) and their adventures with alum. But I do not remember any quotes...execpt
"That's Another fine mess you've gotten me into".
I used to watch L & H along with Charlie Chaplin movies, Popeye and Felix the Cat. No one watches those anymore and you certainly can't even crack jokes alluding to them because no one knows what you are talking about. Very limiting, you ken?
I'm just introducing my kids to Abbott and Costello. Believe it or not, they didn't like A&C meet Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, They DID enjoy The Time of Their Lives. You never know what will appeal. For some reason that leaves me totally bemused, they love the early 3 Stooges.

 
At 7:06 PM, June 23, 2005, Blogger Judson Knight said...

"That's another fine mess..." is what a horse at the end of the movie says to Laurel, a tipoff that Ollie (who had apparently died in a plane crash in the preceding scene) had been reincarnated. I love those guys, and the Marx brothers and others. Harold Lloyd, btw, is a really good, if now little-known, comedic figure from the silent era.

Funny about your kids and the Three Stooges: I've tried to interest my girls in them, and basically got blank stares. Maybe I should try again. I also have a couple of Little Rascals DVDs on my queue in Netflix, my idea being that they'll probably like them b/c they're kids.

 
At 12:01 PM, June 24, 2005, Blogger Michele said...

*ahem*
Not too sure if I'm going to get in a pot of hot water for saying this...but I've noticed and there HAVE been studies, that show males young (mine) and older enjoy the 3 Stooges, whereas females do not. I personally, tolerate them in small doses. Really ..small... doses. I like the Marx brothers well enough. Many a New Years Eve was spent watching a marathon of them.
Good luck with the Little Rascals.
That may work. Not to be stereotypical, but have they seen Shirley Temple movies yet? For the most part, they are timeless.

 
At 6:41 PM, June 24, 2005, Blogger Judson Knight said...

I've heard that bit of folk wisdom w/ regard to the Stooges and gender differences, and around my house at least, it seems applicable. Even Deidre, though she has exceptional tastes in a lot of things--for example, she loves "guy" movies such as Point Break and Fight Club--finds the Stooges only mildly funny, and generally doesn't share my taste for lowbrow humor.

Re Shirley Temple, the girls love her, and the older one used to do a really impressive "My goodness!" We have the original Little Princess on DVD, and it's a big hit around here.

 

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