Two for the Seesaw Page #2

Synopsis: Jerry Ryan is wandering aimlessly around New York, having given up his law career in Nebraska when his wife asked for a divorce. He meets up with Gittel Mosca, an impoverished dancer from Greenwich Village, and the two try to straighten out their lives together.
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director(s): Robert Wise
Production: United Artists
  Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.8
Rotten Tomatoes:
60%
APPROVED
Year:
1962
119 min
848 Views


Mostly walking, by day and by night.

- Monotonous but healthy.

- When do you sleep?

No time. Who were the kids

that kept you busy till 6.30?

Huh? Oh, a dance group.

They thought maybe

I'd have an idea for costumes.

- Did you?

- Sure, success, I got the job.

I loaned the choreographer 75 cents

but I'll make a few bucks

on the costumes.

- It's your livelihood?

- A little of this and that.

The rest, unemployment insurance.

So, what do you do?

What did you do in Nebraska?

- I was an attorney.

- Oh.

- You gonna practice law here?

- I've no plans yet, been too busy walking.

- Everything fine?

- Thank you.

Try one, it's from heaven.

No! Dip in the bug juice.

Gittel? Sounds exotic.

- What is it? Italian? Eskimo?

- Jewish!

- Mosca?

- That's exotic.

My stage name.

My real one's too long. Moskowitz.

- You act?

- Dance.

- Given it up?

- Given it up? It's what I am!

God, I studied with Jos for years.

- Jos who?

- You kidding? Lemien. The best!

- It's important to you?

- If not, I wasted a lot of 7.50s a week!

So...

What's it like in Nebraska?

I've never been out of New York.

From the Bronx to Manhattan to Brooklyn,

this is your life, Gittel Mosca.

I was going to Florida once,

I had the money even. Miami.

I got married,

he went to Florida, I got divorced...

- You too?

- You married?

My wife's divorcing me back in Omaha.

- A lantsman.

- Huh?

A buddy from the same country.

How long did yours last?

- Twelve years.

- Big deal.

- She get a yen for another guy?

- No, a yen to see the end of me.

Look, do you really want to see a show?

I'm not sure. It bother you talking

about marriage and divorce?

Oh, no.

I was thinking about something else.

How to decide whether

we really want to see a show?

- Cross-examine us, you're the lawyer.

- Please, this is more exotic.

Watch, you have to be a bat

to find your way around.

Some of my best friends are bats.

I'm not entirely stable myself.

- (crash)

- So why didn't you listen?

lt'd make no difference.

Over 60% of accidents occur in the home.

Not including ruptured marriages.

Be safe, be homeless.

Getting run over in the street's better.

Coke, beer or seltzer?

- You?

- Warm milk.

Warm milk? I may be too old for you.

I'll have a sophisticated Coke.

It's got caffeine,

I'll give you a beer, it's more relaxing.

Don't be a nurse. Sorry. I spent twelve

years being treated like a patient.

I was worried about,

coddled, humoured.

- Your wife?

- A great little caretaker called Tess.

I've been cared for till I'm in shreds.

- Coke. Leave the chips to fall.

- OK. You don't sleep so you won't sleep.

Make it a beer.

Let's start all over, Jerry. Coke or beer?

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Isobel Lennart

Isobel Lennart (May 18, 1915 - January 25, 1971) was an American screenwriter and playwright. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Lennart moved to Hollywood, where she was hired to work in the MGM mail room, a job she lost when she attempted to organize a union. She joined the Communist Party in 1939 but left five years later. Lennart's first script, The Affairs of Martha, an original comedy about the residents of a wealthy community who fear their secrets are about to be revealed in an exposé written by one of their maids, was filmed in 1942 with Spring Byington, Marjorie Main, and Richard Carlson. This was followed in quick succession by A Stranger in Town, Anchors Aweigh, and It Happened in Brooklyn. In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began an investigation into the motion picture industry. Although she was never blacklisted, Lennart, a former member of the Young Communist League, testified to HUAC in 1952 to avoid being blacklisted. She later regretted this decision. Lennart's later screen credits include A Life of Her Own, Love Me or Leave Me, Merry Andrew, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Please Don't Eat the Daisies, The Sundowners, and Two for the Seesaw. In 1964, Lennart wrote the book for the Broadway musical Funny Girl, based on the life and career of Fanny Brice and her tempestuous relationship with gambler Nicky Arnstein. It catapulted Barbra Streisand to fame and earned her a Tony Award nomination. In 1968, Lennart wrote the screen adaptation, which won her a Writers Guild of America award for Best Screenplay. It proved to be her last work. Three years later, she was killed in an automobile accident in Hemet, California. Lennart married actor/writer John Harding in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1945. They had two children, Joshua Lennart Harding (December 27, 1947 - August 4, 1971) and Sarah Elizabeth Harding (born November 24, 1951). more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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