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Quote of the Day: ‘Be Very, Very Quiet…’
Who said, “Be very, very quiet, I’m hunting wabbits?“
You may say, “Elmer Fudd” and you may be correct. But couldn’t you also say, “Mel Blanc” who provided the voice for Elmer? The words come from a 1940 Warner Brothers cartoon, A Wild Hare, which introduced Bugs Bunny. But who came up with the line? We don’t have a script credit, but we do have a “story by” credit for Rich Hogan. So the line may have been Rich’s idea but it could just as well been the idea of director Tex Avery.
Whoever came up with the line, it, and variations of it, have made people laugh for decades. So it really hasn’t been very successful in making people be very, very quiet.
I read a different quote about quiet in Timothy Jones’ book, The Art of Prayer. But we don’t know who’s responsible for it either. Jones just attributes it as a “Jewish Proverb”. Well, that really narrows it down. Someone between Abraham and Michael Chabon? It is a good line:
“Eloquent silence is often better than eloquent speech.”
Sadly, many of us here online don’t even consider not saying something about everything. The Australian Open, Ryan Reynolds, and Ted Lieu are all trending this very moment on Twitter as I type. I have pretty much zero knowledge of these subjects, but would that keep me from commenting? Not necessarily. Especially since thirty seconds of research would provide all I need to know for a witty quip.
Wouldn’t the world be a better place now if more people would pursue times of quiet and rejoice in silence? And not just so we can blast a rabbit (or political enemy.) But be quiet so we could listen. For context. For solutions. For God. It’s amazing what we might learn if we just shut our yaps. At least, that’s what I hear.
Published in General
I suspect that this post may not generate a lot of comments…
. . .
I was going to say something, but I’ve forgotten what it was.
The Spiritual Disciplines: Solitude and Silence.
Both are increasingly difficult in the modern era.
Step one is to leave the damned phone at home.
I guess we technically own a cell phone, although I rarely have it on me. It’s usually in my wife’s purse, or lying dead on the kitchen counter. Sometimes I take it with me if I’m heading to the store. But mostly it’s home.
There’s a safety factor also. Should I take it with me if I’m out biking? If I get a flat, I can quickly call home and have someone come and get me. Or if I have an accident? Should I take it with me if I’m out hiking in the woods? (Yes, but only so I can use the Merlin Bird App.)
We live in the city, so there’s little escape from sound. Major thoroughfare a few blocks east. Another a few blocks to the south. Trains pass on the northern edge of our neighborhood across a river, and we can hear them clearly, especially in the winter, even inside. Our dream is to get out of town a ways so we can experience more silence.
But even then, it’s hard to find. I head off to the eastern side of the county and hike in the woods, but I can still hear planes or maybe tractors or someone shooting something . . .
Sit in the house, and there’s still ambient noise from the fridge or the furnace or just the electrical hum of appliances. Noise, like ambient light from city lights, is hard to escape.
But it’s worth the effort.
At my work, I’m pretty much required to have my phone at the ready. When I’m home, I try to have it off as much as possible.
Shouldn’t that be “vewy, vewy quiet?”
I depend on silent meditation to ground me. In fact, sometimes I think I’m addicted to silence; I find it comforting and calming.
Some of my absolute favorite times are going for walks or hikes in the snowy winter woods. The quiet is spectacular.
I’m routinely puzzled coming across others wearing earbuds out in the woods. Isn’t the quiet what they came for? Are they that afraid of being alone in their own heads? It’s a mystery.
The phrase probably predates the character. Elmer Fudd was voiced by a radio actor by the name of Arthur Q. Bryan and he doesn’t get much recognition because the only one to get credit on screen was Mel Blanc.
Bryan had carved out a career for himself as a singer/actor and announcer for the fledging medium of radio in the early 1930s. Late in that decade he moved to the west coast where he got a job on the CBS Pacific network in a show called The Grouch Club. This led to a series of 1-reel comedies shot at Warner Bros., which led to Looney Tunes.
Besides Fudd, he’s probably most remembered for his long run on Fibber McGee and Molly as Doc Gamble. He started on that show when Bill Thompson (later the voice of Touche Turtle) and Gale Gordon (later known as Mr. Mooney on The Lucy Show) left for military service in 1943. He stayed with the show all the way through the Monitor days when it became a sketch featured on that NBC weekend program.
“All of man’s problems stem from his inability to sit alone in a room for any length of time.”
– Blaise Pascal
I like to have something to listen to. If things are too quiet, I notice that I hear a constant tone (not the classic ringing many people describe, just a constant tone) even though nothing is making a sound. Sometimes it’s not noticeable unless everything is quiet, sometimes it is quite a bit louder. I can only imagine what it’s like for men who have spent a lot of time around whining saw blades or firearms without wearing ear protection.
Zip-it is a difficult skill to master.
———
I was writing at the kichen Island one day. The house is extremely quiet. I set the pencil down and all three of our cats jumped two feet off the ground.
I’m thinking “vewy, vewy qwiet.”
Many years ago at a sci-fi convention dealer room there was a painting of Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote, etc, wearing Starfleet uniforms at various positions around the Enterprise bridge.
Captain Fudd was saying “Be vewy quiet, we’re hunting Kwingons!”