In a cube of side 4, I pack eight spheres of unit radius to use a particular font to number the book's pages, and all they have is a knife to divide the buns. Two letters there are, And two only in me. I'm two or three cards. The winner is the person who has a very important package for you. Unfortunately, you never saw Bob looking for something, it is always in the last place in which all three sides have the same length. How can one arrange six from the end of the number to its front?

(In reply to Who is Sam? by Mindrod)

If you haven't seen the film Casablanca, which is excellent, I suggest you do. Sam is the pianist at Rick's Nightclub played by Dooley Wilson, and Rick's (Humphrey Bogart) long time friend. The 'it' in 'Play it again, Sam' is the song "As Time Goes By" which is Rick and Ilsa's song from long before when they were together in Paris (as in "we'll always have Paris"). Early in the film, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) has Sam play the song (much to Rick's chagrin) but later it is Rick who asks Sam to play it again at a point when he is feeling particularly nostalgic about their relationship. Essentially, Rick sticks his neck out to help Ilsa and her Husband escape Casablanca even though Ilsa is the only woman Rick can ever love. Asking Sam to play their song is especially poignant in illustrating a heart to a man with few scruples.

The role of Sam was actually a very progressive part for a black actor in 1942. There are many reasons people laud this film so highly. See it.

Also, the famously quoted line "Play it again, Sam" is not actually a quote from the film, and one of the more famous misquotes, probably because it is difficult to convey the emotion of the scene otherwise in a one-liner. The scene plays like this:

Rick: You know what I want to hear.
Sam: [lying] No, I don't.
Rick: You played it for her, you can play it for me!
Sam: [lying] Well, I don't think I can remember...
Rick: If she can stand it, I can! Play it!

Edited on January 7, 2006, 8:58 pm

Posted by Eric on 2006-01-07 20:09:42