On this Date

This one is a cheat – I’ll freely admit to that.

On this date in 1938, Susan Harrison was born. She was a fringe actress with only a handful of credits to her name. So why is she being featured here? Well, it’s like this – One of her roles was as Susan Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success, which is one of the coolest, smartest, and nastiest flicks ever to come down the turnpike.

Without intending to, I have been finding myself watching films written by Clifford Odets lately. The past couple of weeks have had me watching both Clash By Night and The Big Knife. An Odets script identifies itself quickly. His characters are quick on their feet, and they give you the impression that they’re gone out and lived a bit. A Odets character will be asked about women and reply “There’s room in the world for em”. Neat, huh?

This post is nominally about Susan Harrison, but in reality, it’s just an excuse to savor the dialogue in SSoS, the Big Daddy of all Odets screenplays.

“I don’t relish shooting a mosquito with an elephant gun – Why don’t you shuffle along?”

“You’re dead, son. Get yourself buried.”

“The cat’s in the bag, and the bag’s in the river”

“From now on, the best of everything is good enough for me.”