Report from the Middle: "Most Used Phrases in Cinema"

Gimme the Key!
by Pat Darnell

One time I arrived only hours before my trade show opened. I had four hours to check in, roll out the product and get myself together. I was like the one man traveling trade show trucker and sweat hog, and presenter for a little HealthCare Furnishings Manufacturer, NOA International.

I took the product to regional shows in Atlanta, New Orleans, Baltimore, and a few others, mostly out east. In Baltimore we were showing product to Marriot at their HQ.

This day I had arrived in the nation's capitol. I had a Bally Presidents Membership back then so I could get myself cleaned up after trucking the stuff. This saved time and money as I could skip the Hotel check-in just for dressing.

This Bally's had a rooftop pool setup real nice. I went to the sauna, then swam. At pool-side was a family and were playing.

The dad was holding on to the changing room key, and the daughter was giggling and screaming: "Gimme the key!" When she got close to him to grab the key from his hand, he pulled it away and tickled her causing a lot of squealing and darting about. "Gimme the key.. gimme the key... you dad...!"

This is when I found the only thing I will ever be remembered for. "Gimme the key" is a phrase in almost every movie, TV series, and Play\Musical. That brass thing, that number sequence, or plastic card with magnetic strip, is central to the crux of all stories from Shakespeare to House of a 1000 Corpses.

Telling you nothing you don't already know: that's our Report from the Middle -- where cattle are content, Junkies are well cared for, and if this continues... Texas will secede from the Union.