“This will carry me twenty-five years.”

Grouch Marx (inter­viewed by Roger Ebert) tells of a vis­it to W.C. Fields’ house:

“He invited me over to his house, he had his girl­friend there. I think her name was Carlotta Monti. Car-lot-ta MON-ti! That’s the kind of name a girl of Fields would have. He had a lad­der lead­ing up to his attic. Without exag­ger­a­tion, there was fifty thou­sand dol­lars in liquor up there. Crated up like a wharf. I’m stand­ing there and Fields is stand­ing there, and nobody says any­thing. The silence is oppress­ive. Finally, he speaks: This will carry me twenty-five years.”

Quote of the day.