THE MOVIEGOER

"Shut up, kid. I'll do the talking."

"But Danny, I just wanna know this, is this a good picture? Why don't ya ever wanna talk about the picture, Danny? They say the picture's good. It says there the picture's great."

"Beat it kid. I got business with Polly."

"But Danny, can't ya ever give me a straight answer? Haven't we always been pals?"

"All right, kid, you asked for it, and here it is. The ads are lying. I'm a liar. The picture stinks. You wanna know why the picture stinks? Because they took a story about a jockey by Ernie Hemingway. It was called "My Old Man," and they decided to make a picture out of it. Sure, sure, they got some good actors for it. They get Micheline Prelle, of the Rive Gauche. And Johnnie Garfield. He's a good actor, Danny. He's a great actor. And Orley Lindgren. They say he's good, too, but if I had my way I'd ram that little brat's teeth down his gullet. I never saw anything as stupid as a lousy kid actor trying to talk Hemingway."

"But you like Miss Prelle, don't ya, Danny?"

"Yeah, I like her. She's a woman. She's fine. She sings a couple of swell songs in the picture, too. Can't beat a French chicken for singing French songs."

"You like Miss Prelle, Danny. You say Johnnie Garfield can act. So why does the picture stink?"

"Because of Orley Lindgren, kid. Mostly, that is. The punk is so lousy he crawls all over the picture like a bedbug. It's enough to turn your stomach. I've seen some repulsive kids in my time, but that kid cops first place in my book."

"What about the plot, Danny? What about the plot?"

"It's hard to beat a Hemingway plot into the ground, kid. 20th Century-Fox tried hard to do it. They didn't quite make it. The plot's O.K. But that Orley Lindgren got such a fat part he ruined the picture, kid. That's the way the chips fall, kid."