It is time for another “Quotable Librarian” round-up! This time, the theme focuses on descriptions of librarians, from either reel librarian characters themselves or from others.
Enough Said (2013):
Will: Eva was telling me that there are no men at this party that she’s attracted to.
Albert [who works at a television archives library]: That’s OK, there’s no one here I’m attracted to either.
- [click here for more about this film]
- [click here for my analysis post about this film]
Major League (1989):
Jake Taylor: [at the library, discussing Jake’s one-night stand with a flight attendant] I had no choice. She bet me fifty dollars that she had a better body than you and I had to defend your honor.
Lynn Wells [a special collections librarian]: Oh, what a bunch of bullshit! I have a much better body than she does!
Everyone in the library turns to look.
Jake Taylor: She’s right.
- [click here for more about this film]
- [click here for a round-up of librarians in sports movies]
The Music Man (1962):
Marian Paroo [a public librarian]: Do you think that I’d allow a common masher – ? Now, really, mama. I have my standards where men are concerned and I have no intention…
Mrs. Paroo: I know all about your standards and if you don’t mind my sayin’ so there’s not a man alive who could hope to measure up to that blend of Paul Bunyan, Saint Pat, and Noah Webster you’ve concocted for yourself out of your Irish imagination, your Iowa stubbornness, and your li’berry full of books!
- [click here for more about the film]
- [click here for a “Marian or Marion?” post]
- [click here for a post about Shirley Jones’s memoir]
Party Girl (1995):
Mary: You don’t think I’m smart enough to work in your fucking library?
- [click here for more about this film]
- [click here for more of my “Hall of Fame” of personal reel librarian faves]
Pump Up the Volume (1990):
Nora [student worker at the school library]: I’m the “Eat me, beat me” lady.
- [click here for more about the film]
- [click here for more about the “Spirited Young Girl” character type]
The Station Agent (2003):
Joe Oramas: It’s the librarian fantasy, man. Glasses off, hair down, books flying.
Finbar McBride: She doesn’t wear glasses. [referring to librarian character Emily, played by Michelle Williams]
Olivia Harris: Well, buy her some, it’s worth it.
- [click here for more about the film]
VAmL (2009):
Gina: Now that is one fucking hot librarian.
Lynn: This is a library. Shh.
Gina: What? I’m just saying?
Lynn: I know. But you are supposed to be quiet in a library.
The Gun in Betty Lou’s Handbag (1992):
Betty Lou Perkins [a children’s librarian at a local public library]: Why is it so hard to believe, that I might be exciting to other men? People have affairs. People have lovers. Why not me, Alex?
- [click here for more about this film]
- [click here for more about librarians as title characters]
You’re a Big Boy Now (1966):
Barbara Darling: You’re perfect.
Bernard Chanticleer [works at the New York Public Library and son of a rare books librarian]: Me?
Barbara Darling: Absolutely hunky dory perfect. You’re just what I need in my life.
- [click here for more about the film]
Sources used:
- Enough Said. Dir. Nicole Holofcener. Perf. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2013.
- The Gun in Betty Lou’s Handbag. Dir. Allan Moyle. Perf. Penelope Ann Miller, Eric Thal, William Forsythe, Alfre Woodard. Touchstone, 1992.
- Major League. Dir. David S. Ward. Perf. Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Rene Russo. Paramount, 1989.
- The Music Man. Dir. Morton DaCosta. Perf. Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Ron Howard. Warner Bros., 1962.
- Party Girl. Dir. Daisy von Scherler Mayer. Perf. Parker Posey, Sasha von Scherler, Guillermo Diaz, Liev Schreiber. First Look, 1995.
- The Station Agent. Dir. Thomas McCarthy. Perf. Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Williams. Miramax, 2003.
- You’re a Big Boy Now. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Peter Kastner, Elizabeth Hartman, Geraldine Page, Rip Torn, Julie Harris, Karen Black. Seven Arts, 1966.
REEL LIBRARIANS 