Vanishing pencils

From the Lou Grant episode “Hunger” (March 1, 1982). Animal (Daryl Anderson) talks with Lou (Ed Asner) and Art (Jack Bannon):

Animal: “Hey, we have another memo from the eighth floor.”

Lou: “Hot dog.”

Animal: “How’s this for an arresting opening line: ‘Where have all the pencils gone?’”

Lou: “Hey, that’s kind of lyrical.”

Art reads: “Pencils are vanishing at the rate of one hundred per day at the Tribune. Are people taking them home, tossing them in the trash, or eating them for lunch? They certainly aren’t wearing them out at work. Please conserve. The Tribune management.”

Lou: “Isn’t Mrs. Pynchon wasting a lot of energy on this conservation campaign?”

Art: “Hey, pencils disappear. That’s their style. They like to vanish.”

And:

Animal: “I’m gonna buy my own pencils. You can get seconds from the pencil company. A whole cigar box full’ll cost you seven bucks. I got some one time. The writing said ‘Knowledge Is Power.’ ‘Knowledge’ was spelled wrong.”

Lou: “Get me some, okay?”

Animal: “Sure. Hey, who needs the Trib’s pencils?”

[He picks up a pencil, snaps it, and tosses the halves.]

Art: “Atta boy. Gesture of defiance with my property.”

Wasted pencils: a light variation on the theme of wasted food running through the episode.

Other Lou Grant posts
HB, or no. 2 : Lost LA : Lou’s who : Visitors to the newsroom