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April 5

Dialog doubt from Mank movie

At Paramount studios, Lederer met Joe . He came to know Joe is brother of Herman then he confesses to Joe that he didn't know Herman had a brother like Joe:

Joe: Let me guess. "There are millions to be made, and your only competition is idiots," stop.

Lederer: How did you know?

Joe: I hate to tell you, anyone who can rub three words together and make a sentence gets one.

Why did Lederer ask this question here? Joe is brother of Mank. Joe can know Mank's quotes but what makes Lederer ask this question? Rizosome (talk) 06:00, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Joe quotes from the telegram his brother sent to Lederer that made him come to Hollywood. (Artistic license; in reality Herman did send such a telegram, but to Ben Hecht.) Lederer apparently wonders how Joe got to know the exact wording of the cable. Did Joe's brother show it to him? Why would he do that? Joe never answers the question. --Lambiam 10:18, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Joe also implies that telegrams of the type "Come out to California and get rich!" were so plentiful that he doesn't need to justify where he got the information from. --Jayron 32 14:04, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I would take a more specific meaning, that Joe knows that his brother sends telegrams with this standard wording to many writers. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.219.35.136 (talk) 14:17, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]