158 Quiz Answer

This week’s answer is the movie Gigi, which won a record-breaking 9 Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture.  In tribute to Gigi's domination of the Oscars, the MGM switchboard answered calls the following day with "M-Gigi-M."

(Also for Three-Word Wednesday and ABC Wednesday: "H" is for Will Hays)
Here's this week's Berownial quiz. I wrote the following little scenelet, basing it on a very popular motion picture. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is: name the movie.

“Morning, George.  I hope you got a chance to read my film treatment.  If we go ahead and make this movie, it could be a real blockbuster.”

“You’re out of your mind.”

“What!?  You said you loved the story when you read it.”

“Sure.  Great story – to read.  But as a motion picture…  You know about Will Hays, Hollywood’s chief censor?”

“Of course.  But…

“No buts.  The brutal fact is, he’d never approve such a film.  Don’t forget, this is the 1950s and we have to accept that if the Hays Office doesn’t approve a script the film doesn’t get made.”

“But we’ll make adjustments for that in the way the script is written.”

“Take a moment to think about it, Owen.  This is a story about a little girl who is being trained to become a prostitute!  That’s why I say you’re out of your mind to think it could ever be made.”

“But it’s about Paris, around 1900.  They looked on things differently then.”

“The Hays Office doesn’t look on things differently.”

“Anyway, she’s not training to be a prostitute; she’s training to be a courtesan.”

“And that’s a different kettle of poissons, I suppose?”

“That’s right.  For centuries in Europe many girls, of low social standing and without family or fortune, were trained in etiquette, charm and the social graces so they could have a chance in life.”

“As some rich guy’s mistress.”

“But this will all be de-emphasized in our script.  American film audiences won’t have to grope for a darker meaning.  We’ll sort of clean it up.  We'll transfer it all to just a movie about a beautiful young girl in Paris around 1900 who’s being educated and it will be full of beauty and charm and stunning scenery and great music!”

“Yeah, but you don’t know Will Hays like I do.  ‘She’s being educated to do what?’ he’ll ask.”

“All we have to do is convince the Hays Office that this ‘courtesan’ deal will be totally underplayed in the script.”

“Well…  I have to admit it could be a fine movie.  Probably make a pile of money if you could ever get it produced.  If you handle the screenplay right, maybe there’s a chance.  Go ahead; get to work on the script.”

(Also submitted to Sunday Scribblings)