MovieChat Forums > It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) Discussion > "I said it before and I'll say it again....

"I said it before and I'll say it again..."

posted 10 years ago by BoyWiththeGreenHair
7 replies | jump to latest

I get the impression that the migrant couple's crash scene is meant to be a "cameo" in the same sense that the Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, and Three Stooges moments are, in which case the featured comedian is immediately recognizable to the audience. The way his appearance is set up, I'm guessing the featured comedian, Nick Stewart, would have been as familiar to audiences in the same way?

Now, I don't know too much about Nick Stewart only that he was prominently featured on the once popular, now-banned Amos 'N Andy show, which I have only seen snippets of, but was the "I didn't want to move to California" line supposed to be some kind of "inside joke" that the audience, at the time, would have gotten (perhaps an Amos 'N Andy reference)?

Obviously, on the one hand, its just a deadpan reaction to getting driven off of the highway by a bunch of reckless mad-cap "Californian" drivers, with all of their stuff getting scattered down the hill. But, I feel like part of the joke just went "right over my head"

To people more familiar with Nick Stewart - did I miss something?

[–] bookman7772000 10 years ago

I really don't think you missed anything. You're good.

[–] steely3000 10 years ago

I remember seeing this movie as a kid in the theater in the 60s, and on seeing this scene my first thought (and my mother's) was "Rochester!" Then we saw Rochester later in the film, and realized we were wrong. Later we saw the film again and someone else in the theater said "Rochester" upon seeing Nick Stewart.

I know this isn't speaking very highly about us back in those days, but your post reminded me of that. But yeah in that movie were people like Zasu Pitts and The Three Stooges that were meant to be instantly recognized, as was Nick Stewart I suppose.

As for his line, another thing I recall is that the line was barely laughed at. Being in Chicago it didn't register to us, but you having this post makes me feel it was probably meant for new Californians. A lot of people were "migrating" West at the time, and so the line was probably a running gag about all the people having issues moving to California.

[–] holbrookp 10 years ago

That line never seemed very funny to me either. And I think Manton Moreland would have been better in that scene. It could have been a lot funnier.

"All necessary truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

[–] hammer4 9 years ago

The line is definitely not an in-joke. Many people I've talked to don't feel that entire sequence is funny. It is in keeping with the film, however.

[–] millsey72 (10259) 2 years ago

Because of high taxes in the state of California was probably the reason why he didn't want to move there

[–] liscarkat (18388) 2 years ago

California was a great state to live in, in 1963. Very different from today.

[–] millsey72 (10259) 2 years ago

Now are you trying to say it was better because it had a higher white population rate?