since we left Brewster

 

I had to go back and slightly revise the post on this blog for Tuesday, August 5th, 2025, titled "how about a nice cup of coffee" - I realized the way I described it there, it might have sounded like Ann's father was threatening to strangle her - he wasn't really going to strangle anybody, it's just an expression of a protective father played for laughs - he says it to her boyfriend Donald Hollinger, not to her.

        So if it sounded like it was turning into a horror movie instead of a situation-comedy, you can look at it now as it's clarified....

After Mr. Marie says he won't show Donald's manuscript to the publisher he knows (Mr. T. L. Harrison) Ann and Don leave - she's in a huff; he's trying to be diplomatic - he says he doesn't want to cause a family quarrel....

        Back in Ann's apartment, as they enter, Ann is reading the manuscript and Don says,

"I don't know, I don't think we should have left that way.  I mean, a man does have a right not to like a book.  Now, I'll admit he was a little violent about it, but he's entitled to his opinion."

She's reading, not looking up, and just saying "Mmh" and "Ummh - hmm."

He says, "Ann - you're home."

----------------------------------------

Ann

(looking up from the book)

Oh!  Thank you, Donald.  Gee, you must have been driving awfully fast.

Don

Never went over the speed limit once, in two and a half hours and you haven't said one word since we left Brewster.

Ann

It's this book.  I can't tear my eyes away.

Don

What page are you on?

Ann

Four fifty-three.

Don

Four fifty-three, already?

Ann

I'm only reading the pages that are paper-clipped.

-30-

...with a ten-foot pole

 Donald Hollinger:

Mr. Marie, What I want to convey is -

Lew Marie:

What I want to convey is, that I wouldn't show this book to a man like T. L. Harrison with a ten-foot pole!

Ann:

Oh, Daddy, you promised!

Lew:

I didn't promise, I offered.  And the offer is hereby rescinded.

-------------------------------------- Mrs. Marie, with a hopeful attitude, then tries an offer of coffee again - Mr. Marie is all ticked off about the book's contents, and Don and Ann leave and go back to New York City with the manuscript.

(No one has any coffee.)

-30-

let's see...

Lew Marie (reading from the manuscript):

"After the party, he takes her home."  

        [looking up, and using his own words] - Is this the way a gentleman talks to a lady he's only known for three hours?

Ann Marie (curious...):

Let's see.

Lew:

Page 67.  I'd like you to explain the behavior on Page 67.

Don Hollinger:

Wait a minute.  That is not behavior.  That's Michael's neurotic fantasy.

Ann:

Let's see.

Lew (still holding the manuscript away from her):

If he were my son, I'd wash his neurotic fantasies out with soap!

New York City in the "That Girl" era - late 1960s

-30-

too wild for a Cossack

 Mr. Marie:

Their relationship is indecent!

Don Hollinger:

Indecent?!  Mr. Marie -

Ann:

Oh, Daddy, that's just ridiculous.

Lew Marie:

Have you read the book?

Ann:

No.  But I have faith.

Ann's mother (softly and firmly):

So have I, Lew.

Lew:

Oh, you have?  Oh come, all ye faithful, and listen to this.  

[reads from the manuscript]

Michael is a writer in love with an actress.  He is also one of modern literature's greatest swingers.  Page one.  Michael and Rosemary meet at a party.

[stops reading from the manuscript, looks up and says - ]

...a party that in my opinion would be too wild for a Cossack!

Ann (curious) -

Let's see...

[She goes over to look, and her dad holds the manuscript away from her]

Lew Marie:

Over my dead body!

-30-

uh - How about a nice cup of coffee...?

Donald Hollinger:

Well - exactly which parts did you object to?

Lew Marie:

The beginning, the middle, and the end!  Other than that, I was crazy about it!

Mrs. Marie:

How about a nice cup of coffee?

Lew Marie (speaking sternly to Donald) -

If Michael and Rosemary in City Of Strangers are anything like Donald and Ann, in the city of New York - I'll strangle you!!

-30-

paper clips

 Ann:

Well, you just never mentioned you knew anybody as important as T.L. Harrison!

Lew:

He lives in Brewster.  Where he's been eating in my restaurant for years.

Ann:

Donald, how 'bout that?  My humble father knows a prominent publisher!

Donald:

Do you really know him well, sir?

Lew:

Well? - Onion soup, mixed green salad (oil and vinegar), New York steak-medium-rare, baked potato - sour cream and chives, coffee, and custard.  That well enough for you?  

----------------------------------------------------

Ann asks her dad to give Donald's novel to T.L. Harrison, to read.

Don demurs, saying it's too much of an imposition, but Mr. Marie wants to help.

        They give him the manuscript.

        The following weekend, Don and Ann drive up to Brewster to see Ann's parents, by invitation, and to see about the novel.

Ann's mother lets them in.

Ann:

How's everything?

Mrs. Marie:

Oh, fine - fine.

Ann:

Did Daddy show Mr. Harrison Donald's novel?

Mrs. Marie:

No he didn't.

Ann:

Why?

Mrs. Marie:

Because - uh - well - Why don't you ask him yourselves?

Ann:

OK.  Hi, Daddy!  (going into the room where he is)

Don:

Hi, Mr. Marie.

Mrs. Marie:

Well Lew, you have to speak to them.

Lew:

You should both be arrested.  You, for writing this trash, and you for letting your delinquency be contributed to!  

Ann:

You didn't like it.

Mrs. Marie:

He felt it missed.

Don:

So I gather.

        I'm sorry you don't care for the book, Mr. Marie.

Lew:

Your apology is not accepted.  And do not call this a book.  I call it trash. ...

Donald:

With all due respect, Mr. Marie, I can't believe you understood the book.

Lew:

I understood it perfectly.  I marked the trashy parts with paper clips.  And before I was half-way through, I had to go out and buy another box of clips!

Marlo Thomas as Ann Marie

Lew Parker as Lew Marie

Ted Bessell as Don Hollinger

        in That Girl

-30-

a prominent publisher

 After Ann's boyfriend Donald Hollinger tells her he is thinking of giving up getting his novel published because he's had 12 rejection letters from 12 publishers, Ann is home in her apartment when the doorbell buzzes.

It's her dad, Lew Marie, portrayed by actor Lew Parker.  (Born in Brooklyn, New York, his father was a vaudeville performer.)

Lew Marie:

I had business in town, so I stopped by to deliver the blouses.

Ann:

What blouses?

Mr. Marie:

The ones your mother hand-washed for you - the ones I picked up the last time I had business in town.

Ann:

Oh, Daddy, can't you convince Mother I can do my own blouses?

Mr. Marie:

I doubt it.  Besides - then I'd have no excuse to bring you anything when I had business in town.

Ann:

You don't have to bring me anything!  Can't you just come see me, when you have business in town?

Mr. Marie:

Don't be silly.  I have no other business in town!

------------------------------------------------------

        Donald arrives, and Mr. Marie, upon learning that the novel has been rejected by several publishers, asks, "I don't suppose you've submitted it to T. L. Harrison?"

Donald:

Who's T.L. Harrison?

Mr. Marie:

Never heard of T.L. Harrison?

Donald:

No sir.  Who is he?

Mr. Marie (with a glance at his daughter) - "Some writer!  T. L. Harrison happens to be one of the most prominent publishers in this country.  And who also happens to be one of my dearest friends."

Ann:

Daddy!  You know a prominent publisher?!

Mr. Marie:

You sound shocked!  As if you thought your humble father only knew - other humble fathers!

-30-