If I want to send a message
I'll call Western Union.
This famous line has been attributed to various movie moguls
yet while these moguls ruled the Hollywood studio system
movies were in the midst of a golden age of dialogue. Films included more messages
ideas
themes
and pontifications than they ever have since. Although producers trembled at commands from the front office
writers (the low men and women on the totem pole) went quietly to their typewriters and
as the subversive revolutionaries that most writers are
turned out prose that did send messages. How could they resist? They had the biggest and best platform in the world: Hollywood movies. The 200 speeches collected in Ready for My Close-Up! are from some of the best
and a few of the worst
films ever made. From Groucho Marx's
I shot an elephant in my pajamas
to Julia Roberts's
What it takes to be a movie star
here is the wit and wisdom of the great Hollywood screenwriters.