I was just telling someone this story today. Since I have so many younger friends, I sometimes assume they get certain cultural references — when they don’t.
Anyway, some years ago, I was at a dinner with a bunch of other people, and a married couple I know was sitting next to me. We were discussing a rather obnoxious person we all knew, and I said brightly (quoting Diane Keaton in “Annie Hall”), “He’s what Grammy Hall would call ‘a real Jew’.”
And they just looked at their plates.
At first, I thought it was funny. “It’s a scene from ‘Annie Hall,'” I said, thinking I just had to jog their memories. (They’re real movie buffs, I couldn’t believe they never saw it.)
And they looked away.
I thought of trying to explain that my own kids were half Jewish and I really wasn’t an anti-Semite, but I just gave up. It was just one of those things. But it’s kind of funny, too.
The pertinent part starts at 2:00…
I think you need to stay with your own kind… by which I mean, people who can remember movies from the 1960s and the irony within context: “What we got here is… failure to communicate.”
Annie Hall was 1977.
I love that story, one of my faves!
I’ve had the same experience referencing scenes from “Blazing Saddles”. You can always tell who’s seen that one and who hasn’t.
Well, I would have gotten it.
The scene with Allen, Keaton, and Walken driving the car is still one of my favorites.
Also, maybe if you put a dish of butter down he’ll run out the other side.
I’ve noticed that a lot of the barrier breaking humor of the 70s is just considered offensive today… somebody must have built new barriers!
The good news is that the cycle has to go back to peace, love and getting over your cheapass self sooner than later…
a.
PS – We must do something to protect our phony-baloney jobs!!!!