About “Get it? Got it. Good,” “The Court Jester” and Danny Kaye
Googling for the name of the actor and the movie which begat the classic dialog/lines “Get it? Got it. Good.”? Searching for a link to the screenplay of The Court Jester (see below)? A big fan of Sylvia Fine’s clever patter songs? Can’t get enough information about one of Danny Kaye’s best-loved films? Welcome.
Here’s the opening credits of the film, just to whet your appetite. There are several more scenes and songs on YouTube, but why not pick up the DVD?
But back to “Get it? Got it. Good.”
As you probably suspect by now, the title of this blog comes from the 1956 Danny Kaye film, “The Court Jester,” specifically a running dialog exchange between Kaye’s character Hubert Hawkins (aka Giacomo) and three other characters.
Why name my blog after the film?
Well, “The Court Jester” has been my favorite live-action comedy film since I was a kid. In fact, back in the pre-VCR days (when you had to wait for a movie to show up on TV to watch it), I actually made an audio tape of the entire film to help me memorize the dialog and the lyrics of Sylvia Fine’s marvelous tongue-twisting tunes. I don’t need to say much about the film’s plot, since there are so many fine sites out there which have gone before me (some of which are linked below).
Me and my framed Court Jester One-Sheet
But I digress yet again.
Engaged with Kaye in this repeated repartee (it occurs five times in the film) are Basil Rathbone as Ravenhurst, Angela Lansbury as Princess Gwendolyn and Cecil Parker as King Roderick I:
Hawkins: When do we start?
Ravenhurst: Tonight.
Hawkins: Good. I’d like to get in, get on with it, get it over with, and get out. Get it?
Ravenhurst: Got it.
Hawkins: Good.Hawkins: Get me to the king’s chambers.
Ravenhurst: The king’s chambers?
Hawkins: Yes…
Ravenhurst: Very well, if you say so.
Hawkins: It may be the KEY to the whole plan, get it?
Ravenhurst: Got it.
Hawkins: Good.Ravenhurst: It is said the incomparable Giacomo has a discerning eye for beauty. Eh, why not let him select a suitable companion for your majesty?
Roderick: Excellent! Excellent! I trust the jester’s reputation is based on many years of accomplishment?
Hawkins: Why do you think they call me incomparable, sire? Get it?
Roderick: Got it.
Hawkins: Good. (snickers with Roderick)Princess: It is a miracle! The gods who sent you have also provided a means for our escape. This is the key to the secret passageway.
Hawkins: Grand. We leave at midnight. Get it?
Princess: Got it.
Hawkins: Good. Very good.Ravenhurst: First, plan one. Are you sure you can dispose of my lords Brockhurst, Finsdale, and Pertry?
Hawkins: Are they married?
Ravenhurst: Yes…
Hawkins: Order flowers for the widows. Get it?
Ravenhurst: Got it.
Hawkins: Good. (goes out window) Tally ho! Ho ho!
I’m sure you get it by now.
Co-starring in this classic comedy are Glynis Johns (Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins) as Maid Jean and Mildred Natwick as Griselda. Appearing in smaller roles (but still recognizable to modern audiences) are Alan Napier (who portrayed Alfred in the TV’s Batman) and John Carradine, who puts in a short day’s work as the real court jester, Giacomo.
Those who know “The Court Jester” also know that this running dialog isn’t even the most famous from the film, but I figured a blog titled “the vessel with the pestle has the pellet with the poison, the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.com” would be a bit much. Even if I replaced it with a blog with a figure of a frog.
OK. One more sequence…the one with the “vestle with the pestle” bit and the joust with the “grim and gruesome grisly Griswold.”
Read the “The Court Jester” Wikipedia Entry here.
Read an entire transcript of the screenplay here or here.
With dialog like this, life could not better be.
Buy the DVD at www.craighodgkins.com!
Craig Hodgkins
Ravenhurst you rat catcher!
What can you say… Danny Kaye a triple threat… He could sing, dance, and act! Surrounded with what time has proved to be an all-star cast. Great script, great songs, and running dialog that would make the Marx brothers gasp. (O.K. maybe not) Still what a ride. Spotting your blog brought back a lot of memories and I guess I’ll be putting the video back in the player (I should upgrade to a DVD) and enjoy the magic one more time.
Thanks for stopping by, Carl. You certainly want to upgrade to the DVD, you can pick it up so cheap these days. Then, you can enjoy it in all of its digital glory, and life will not better be, no sirrah, sirrah, sirree. I’m thankful to have just about all of Kaye’s films on video, from “Up in Arms” to “Diner’s Club.” Unfortunately, just a couple of them are available on DVD, which is a crime. Of course, most people know Kaye only as Bing’s sidekick in “White Christmas,” if at all these days. But he was an amazing talent.
Thanks for putting up this info! I am drama teacher at an International School and my group is considering doing this as a play. All the scripts I’ve read have “(further singing)” in the “Summon the Jester” scene…do you happen to know the words to any of the further singing? It has been a really long time since I’ve seen the movie and I can’t remember all of it. Thanks!
Amy: That’s so cool that you’re considering staging “The Court Jester.” Do you have a part for me? As far as missing lyrics go, the best (and easiest, depending on where you are) way to fill in the blanks is get a hold of the DVD of the film. I don’t know where you live and work, but even if you are not near a major city center, you have an Internet connection, and all of the major retail websites carry it, from Amazon on down. Good Luck, and let me know what happens!
The Court Jester has been an all-time favorite of mine since my youth (alas, I’m on 30 years old, so my first exposure was on TV, not the big screen). Danny Kaye is amazing (truly the “Jim Carrey” of his day — rubber-faced, jocular, over-the-top, but with classic facial features that allow him to turn the suave up “to eleven” in a way that Carrey can’t quite match). Glynis Johns was a smoking hottie — absolutely easy on the eyes and her voice has just enough husk to hook in your mind and linger for years. It makes you want to reach out and touch the screen (”You do and I’ll break every bone in your…”).
The DVD is a good buy. I keep hoping someone will put out a true Danny Kaye DVD collection (heck, these days, you could probably fit all of his movies in standard-definition on one Blu-Ray disc).
Oh, speaking of Glynis — did you see her in The Ref? That has become one of my all-time-favorite Christmastime movies. She is positively *evil* as Greg Kinnear’s mother-in-law. And, of course, Denis Leary is his amazingly acidic self. “I thought moms we’re supposed to be nice, and sweet, and patient. I know loan-sharks that are more forgiving than you… From now on the only person who yells is me. Why? Because I have a gun, okay? People with guns can do whatever they want. Married people without guns, for instance, you, do not yell. Why? No guns!”
The vestle with the pestle holds the brew that is true,
-jer