Page 171 - Demo
P. 171


                                    %u00a9Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights ReservedHOW TO LEGALLY QUOTE FROM THIS BOOKWhat They Did to the Kid 159After every movie, Father Gunn stood outside the auditorium, crossarmed, ill at ease, trapped like a watchdog in the hall, forced to make small talk.%u201cYou really picked a doozie this time, Father.%u201d Keith Fahnhorst, the best wrestler in the history of Misericordia, had liked the month%u2019s only feature, The Long Gray Line, a drama about an Irish coach%u2019s life at West Point Military Academy. Parts of the movie mirrored Misery perfectly. %u201cBut a couple scenes might have been a little too much for the high-school boys,%u201d Keith Fahnhorst said, %u201cwhere Tyrone Power and Maureen O%u2019Hara were kissing and then sat in bed and talked.%u201dGunn frowned, recrossed his arms, half-smiled. Uncomfortable. He%u2019d seen the film a few summers before on the ship when he sailed to Europe to visit the Vatican and he certainly hadn%u2019t recalled the marital scenes, which had not seemed suggestive to him on the high seas. He was, he said, embarrassed to have exposed tender minds to such emotions. %u201cBut the scene where Maureen O%u2019Hara died,%u201d he said, %u201cwith the rosary in her hand, right there on the West Point grounds was excuse enough for the emotional exposure.%u201dMy God, I thought, my God. That movie was approved for family viewing by the National Legion of Decency and these priests carry on like these kids don%u2019t see and do far more when they go home for the summer. %u201cHere comes the double standard again,%u201d I whispered to Lock. He laughed. %u201cWhat was that, O%u2019Hara?%u201d Gunn asked. %u201cYou aren%u2019t related to Maureen O%u2019Hara, are you?%u201dHank the Tank sailed by. %u201cHe is Maureen O%u2019Hara.%u201d%u201cNo, Father,%u201d I said.%u201cI once met a movie star,%u201d he said, %u201cduring the war. Ann Sheridan. She rode in my jeep.%u201d%u201cMy uncle,%u201d I said, %u201calso met Ann Sheridan. Their picture was in Life. %u2018The priest and the movie star.%u2019%u201d %u201cYour uncle is,%u201d Father Gunn said, %u201ca true marvel.%u201d%u201cAbout tonight%u2019s film,%u201d I said. %u201cCould we send away for some quality films? Some European films. You know, Bergman, Antonioni, Fellini. For the older seminarians. Real movies might be helpful in our study of philosophy and moral theology. We could show them through the winter on Sunday afternoons when there%u2019s too much snow to play or work outside.%u201dGunn looked at me in astonishment. %u201cThey%u2019re not even in English.%u201d%u201cExactly. A chance to use all our Latin, German, French, and Greek.%u201d%u201cDon%u2019t try to intellectualize simple entertainment.%u201d
                                
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