Naked City (TV Series)

Kill Me While I'm Young So I Can Die Happy! (1962)

Lawrence Dobkin: Narrator

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  [Ruth Callan is standing on the roof ledge of an apartment building and appears ready to jump off] 

  Narrator : It's true. You do remember snatches of your life, very clearly, too. For Ruth Callan, 48, it was Armistice Day. Which one? It didn't matter. It happened every Armistice Day. Papa drunk, reliving his moment of glory in World War I, putting Mama through the manual of arms early in the morning, while the neighbors laughed: "Left face!"; "Right face!"; "Present arms!" And Mama, presenting a broom, like any good soldier. When the saloons opened, Papa discharged Mama from the army and hurried off. At 48, and about to die, Ruth Callan felt her mother's hot tears on her own head, and a whimpering voice whispering, "Why didn't the Lord kill me while I was young, so I could die happy?"