A pocket notebook sighting

[A Stranger in Town (dir. Roy Rowland, 1943).]

John Josephus Grant (Frank Morgan) looks at a blank page as he asks questions: Have you always lived in this state? Are you sure you’ve never lived in another state? Did you file your income tax this year? The man he’s questioning gets more and more worried. And then Grant explains:

“It’s an old trick that Justice Brandeis used to play. I read about it in Collier’s once. You see, it’s an unfortunate fact, Mr. Adams, but every man, even you and I, has done something that he doesn’t want anybody to know about. Now if you can make him think that you’re holding in your hand the skeleton in his closet — you’ve got him. Well, let’s say at least you’ve got him squirming, nervous, worried, as you were. But if that man happens to have a really guilty conscience. . . .”

What Grant doesn’t give away is that he didn’t read about this trick in Collier’s. He himself is a Supreme Court Justice, on vacation and incognito.

More notebook sightings
Angels with Dirty Faces : Ball of Fire : Cat People : City Girl : Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne : Dragnet : Extras : Foreign Correspondent : Homicide : The Honeymooners : The House on 92nd Street : Journal d’un curé de campagne : The Last Laugh : Le Million : The Lodger : Ministry of Fear : Mr. Holmes : Murder at the Vanities : Murder by Contract : Murder, Inc. : The Mystery of the Wax Museum : Naked City : The Naked Edge : The Palm Beach Story : Perry Mason : Pickpocket : Pickup on South Street : Pushover : Quai des Orfèvres : Railroaded! : Red-Headed Woman : Rififi : Route 66 : The Sopranos : Spellbound : State Fair : T-Men : Union Station : Where the Sidewalk Ends : The Woman in the Window