Daily Dialogue — February 27, 2014

Andrew Beckett: What do you call a thousand lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean?
Joe Miller: I don’t know.
Andrew Beckett: A good start. (beat) Excellent work, counselor. Thank you.
Joe Miller: It was great working with you. (beat) I better go. See you later
Andrew Beckett: Thanks for stopping by.
Joe Miller: I’ll see you again.

— Philadelphia (1994), written by Ron Nyswaner

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is agony, suggested by Illimani. Today’s suggestion by Alejandro.

Trivia: There was a statistic that there were 53 gay men who appeared in various scenes in this movie and within the next year, 43 of them had died. On his “Entertainment Urban Legends Revealed” website, Brian Cronin more or less confirmed but also corrected this statistic, based, in part, on a New York Times article and other research. According to Cronin, the movie’s producers approached the “Action AIDS” non-profit organization in Philadelphia, and asked it to help recruit, as extras, 50 or so gay men whose appearance was indicative of their having AIDS. Contrary to the statistic, the 40 or so who subsequently died — including Ron Vawter, who played main character “Bob Seidman” in the film — did not die in the first year after the film was either produced or released; rather, they died over the next few years thereafter. Freelance writer Clifford Rothman also wrote about this subject in a 1995 New York Times piece that further confirmed at least some of this information.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Agony on two levels here. Andrew’s physical suffering. Plus the unspoken acknowledgement that Andrew is dying. Joe won’t see him again. 
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