Daily Dialogue — December 19, 2019

Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

“Fools, “ said I, “You do not know
Silence, like a cancer, grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells, of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls”
And whispered in the sounds of silence

— The Graduate (1967), screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, novel by Charles Webb

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Bus.

Trivia: In the 1970s, a bus on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio bore a plaque that said “Movie Star,” claiming it was the bus used in the final scene when Ben escapes with Elaine. The bus was a 1953 GMC TDH 4512, previously owned by the City of Santa Monica and leased to the movie studio for the movie. In 1967, Kent State University purchased five used buses from Santa Monica, and they were driven to Kent State (largely on the famous Route 66, as far as St. Louis, Missouri). While being refurbished for use in the fledgling KSU Campus Bus Service, it was discovered that one of the five had been recently repainted. KSU inquired to see if the bus had been repaired after some sort of accident, and that’s when it was disclosed that it had been used in the movie. The bus’s role was certified, and a plaque was affixed to the bus. Its back seat immediately became the most popular back seat in the entire fleet.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Notable about this bus scene? No dialogue, just the soundtrack song “The Sounds of Silence.” As legend has it, the director Mike Nichols spontaneously decided to keep the camera rolling. The reactions of the actors as they processed what they had done as Ben and Elaine… the thoughts that were racing through the characters’ minds… we see that reflected in their faces. Fantastic ending to the movie.