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Louis B. Mayer: Your name is Frances Gumm. You're a fat-ankled, snag-toothed rube from Grand Rapids. Your father was a faggot, and your mother only cares about what I think of you. Now do you remember who you are, Judy?
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[first lines]
Louis B. Mayer: What do you see beyond this wall? Picture it. You've got an imagination; go ahead. What I see is a small town in the Midwest. A handful of churches, somewhere for the farmers to get drunk together. Maybe a salon for their wives to do their hair on the holidays. I visit these places. These are the people who send us our profits. Who send us your wages. I make movies, Judy, but it's your job to give those people dreams. The economy is in the gutter, and they pay for you. And I'll tell you something else: In every one of those towns, believe me, there's a girl who's prettier than you. Maybe their nose is a little thinner at the bridge; they have better teeth than you; or they're taller, or slimmer. Only you have something none of those pretty girls can ever have. You know what that is?
Young Judy: No, sir.
Louis B. Mayer: You have that voice. It will maybe take you to Oz. Some place none of those pretty girls can ever go.
Darci Shaw
Extended Reading
