Play it.

Posted by ESC on January 26, 2005

In Reply to: Play it again, Sam posted by Brian from Shawnee on January 26, 2005

: : : Hi ppl,
: : : What does the famous quote "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By" mean?In waht context people use this?

: : : Thanx
: : : SS

: : I don't think people use it in any manner. They are just saying a quote from a movie. I could be wrong. I'll see if I can find it in a reference.

: : Sam isn't suppose to play the song because it reminds Rick of his lost love Ilsa. But after she shows up in Rick's bar and requests the song, later that night Rick tells Sam to play it for him. www.imdb.com/ title/tt0034583/

: "Play it again, Sam" was a commonly misquoted phrase from the movie Casablanca. Woody Allen even made a movie called "Play It Again, Sam" in 1972 in which his milquetoast character would get advice from the ghost of the tough Humphrey Bogart.

IF SHE CAN STAND IT I CAN. PLAY IT. -- According to one reference, this is the "most famous of all misquoted movie lines..." Howard Koch, cowriter of the Casablanca script, "speculated that 'again' simply underlined the average person's nostalgic memory of the scene (so familiar on posters and on the covers of film anthologies)in which Bogart sits drinking and brooding while Dooley Wilson sings..." Woody Allen said as a teenager he imitated Bogart and said the misquoted line "...Play it again, Sam" enough for the both of them.

From "Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations" by Ralph Keyes (HarperPerennial, 1993).

I have heard the misquoted line "play it again, Sam" when something has to be done over. But other than that, I don't know how it is used.