Watching The Graduate (dir. Mike Nichols, 1967) Saturday night, I wondered: could Mrs. Robinson’s icy “Hello, Benjamin” be the inspiration for Jerry Seinfeld’s “Hello, Newman”?
I don’t expect to have the answer to that question anytime soon.
*
The “Hello, Benjamin” I have in mind comes in at the 1:11 mark. As I just discovered, Safari in iOS doesn’t jump ahead to that spot as it should.
Monday, March 4, 2019
Benjamin and Newman
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comments: 9
Of course I had to google it.
Found this archived reference, which means nothing to me--and they don't say what episode it is either--but maybe it ties in with your question?
At least it seems people see nods to The Graduate in Seinfeld.
"The episode references the film The Graduate in a few scenes. The scene where Valerie's stepmother gets in Jerry 's car and demands a higher speed dial ranking is a parody of a scene where Mrs. Robinson gets in Ben 's car and demands that the man stop seeing Elaine. Other scenes show Jerry meeting with the stepmother secretly to negotiate speed dial rankings in addition to being in a three way phone call between Valerie and her stepmother."
http://people.mpi-inf.mpg.de/~ntandon/projects/knowlywood/dataset/sources/sitcoms/seinfeld.json.toindex.txt
I remember the speed dial. But I don’t *think* there’s anything there that involves Newman.
I should mention that I looked for any attention to the two hellos — found nothing.
I figured you must have checked already, of course--just had to nose around myself--though I barely know Sienfeld!
I watched Elaine May's "Heartbreak Kid" the other night--wow--a sort of brutal version/shadow side of "The Graduate".
You've seen it?
I never had---hard to watch. Except the parts filmed on the campus of UM-Minneapolis--that really IS the campus! I think the only time I laughed without cringing is when Charles Grodin is trying to stay warm in his car...
No — I never even heard of it. Off to Netflix, or maybe the library.
Not at Netflix, not at the library. Dang — and I just saw The Graduate on TCM.
I watched "Heartbreak Kid" on a low-quality (but decent) upload on youTube (in 2 parts)--worth it, though there's nothing feel-good about this guy, unlike Benjamin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oWhXcJJqiU
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_NpxwaVJTI
P.S. Jeannie Berlin who plays Lila, the bride, is Elaine May's daughter.
I didn’t think of YouTube. (Don’t let the authorities know!)
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