The Naughty '40s

[bboswell]

I seem to recall a Carol Burnett Show with a battle scene, where they use the line, "You want to get out of this stinking heckhole, don't you?"

(And until now I didn't realize how edgy the word "stinking" was!)

That is interesting. I also recall a Brady Bunch show where one of the children were scolded for calling someone a stinker, and then after she got to know him/her, [gasp] Mrs. Brady herself used "stinker" to describe that person.

[Brad from Georgia]

Animated cartoons sort of track the growing acceptance of "stink" as a word that could be used in polite conversation. In cartoons from the thirties, the writers would skate around it (a skunk says, "Confidentially, I...you know"). Later, the writers would seem to be avoiding it, but then get it in ("Violets are blue, roses are pink, roses smell good but you sure do <CENSORED>. I sure do what?" "STINK, you fool, STINK!"). Still later, Bugs has no trouble confessing, "Ain't I a stinker?"

BTW, the "Confidentially, I stink" line probably came from a soap or deodorant commercial. Those ads gave us so many catch phrases...Lifebuoy, warning about the olfactory hazards of not using their soap, had the memorable foghorn "Beee---Yoh!" (for "body odor") sound effect that lots of shows and cartoons lifted. Genius in a way, because that gave them more free advertising--like the Burma-Shave signs that Jack and the gang occasionally allude to!

[bboswell]

># In 1939, the Hollywood Production Code dictated what could and could not be shown or said on screen, and Rhett Butler's memorable last line raised red flags. A few of the suggested alternatives were "Frankly my dear... I just don't care," "...it makes my gorge rise," "...my indifference is boundless," "...I don't give a hoot," and "...nothing could interest me less." Fortunately, producer Selznick elected to pay a $5,000 fine and keep the original, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

I'm glad he paid the $5000. That quote just topped the list of AFI's great 100 movie quotes of all time.

http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/quotes.aspx

[bboswell]

On Don Wilson's 25th anniversary in radio on 10-30-1949. Mary baked a cake and put this poem on the top:

To Don Wilson,
This cake is topped with chocolate cream
The middle is filled with jelly
But if you eat it all at once
You'll get a pain in your stomach.

Then Jack and Mary had this conversation:

Jack: Mary, "stomach" doesn't rhyme with "jelly"
Mary: Go argue with the censors!

[bboswell]

an addendum to the last post...

a couple of minutes later, Jack asks Dennis what song he's going to sing, and he says:...

Dennis: "Stomach Ha'i"
Jack: You mean "Bali Ha'i."
Dennis: Go argue with the censors!