The employees of a movie theater have been keeping a list of some of the mis-remembered film titles that ticket-buyers have asked for.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
You ever had a moment when you were trying to remember the name of a movie and the words that came out of your mouth were nonsense? Apparently, this happens a lot at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts.
ERIN GILMOUR: I am the current keeper of the mispronounced film titles list.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Erin Gilmour is the office and merchandise manager at the theater. Here’s one she heard about the Mister Rogers documentary.
GILMOUR: The movie “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” – my very favorite for that one was somebody who came up really excited and said, I’m your neighbor. And I was like, yeah. Yeah, you are. And then another really good one that we got for that was “Won’t You Be My Friend?”
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
(Singing) Please, won’t you be my friend? A few of the other alternative titles – “Dr. Zhigigo (ph)” instead of “Dr. Zhivago.” And for the documentary “Three Identical Strangers,” Gilmour’s favorite misnomer is “Three’s Company.”
MARTIN: The list has been going strong since the ’90s. It’s almost a hundred pages long now. In some cases, Gilmour thought the mispronunciation was better.
GILMOUR: I had a very, very old woman who so confidently came to the window and asked for three tickets to see the film “Fashion Thread.” She meant “Phantom Thread.” And I was so charmed by her confidence that I was like, you know what? It should’ve been called that.
INSKEEP: Yeah. Next time anybody misremembers a name, take a note. They might be improving it.
MARTIN: OK. Steve, let me ask you a question.
INSKEEP: OK.
MARTIN: Were you a nosy kid?
INSKEEP: Are you kidding me? Of course I was. Questions for everybody.
MARTIN: Somebody who liked to ask questions all the time?
INSKEEP: Yeah. Yeah.
MARTIN: Right.
INSKEEP: That was my life.
MARTIN: Right.
INSKEEP: Annoyingly so, I think some people would say. But yeah.
MARTIN: Well, I mean, I think…
INSKEEP: Maybe today they would say that.
MARTIN: I think – well, maybe. I think a lot of us were. And you know what else? I think a lot of other people are, but either they weren’t encouraged to ask questions, or they were shut down for asking questions, or they just don’t know where to go for answers. That’s why we’re here. We’re here because we have a right to ask questions.
INSKEEP: That’s right.
MARTIN: Most stories don’t start in a newsroom. They start because something’s happening. People want to know why. This is NPR. We’re here to protect your right to be curious.
INSKEEP: Amen.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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