“The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day, and now I place them here in memory of something that has died...Have you gathered here to mourn, or are you here to bring me comfort?...I’ve learned something about love that I never knew before. That I never knew before. You speak of love when it’s too late. Help should come to people when they need it. Why are we always so helpful to each other when it’s no longer any use?...This is my home. This is where I belong. Love was in this house once, and for me it will always be here, nowhere else...One should always listen closely when people say goodbye because sometimes they’re, they’re really saying farewell.”
..................-- Katherine Hepburn in Stage Door Canteen
(1943)
(Click anywhere on the quotation for the full treatment.)
People around my age may spot
Adolphe Menjou in the wings and
Ginger Rogers in the audience.
Okay, so maybe it isn’t “Fourscore and seven years ago” or “Veni, vidi, vici” but it ranks right up there with “I am not a crook”....
It’s just my opinion, but
that was one president who should have said farewell a little sooner.
A final thought: Katherine Hepburn’s emotion, though quite effective, was obviously artificial, but Mrs. Nixon’s was very real.
