"Include me out"
About this Quote
Two words, four syllables, and an entire studio-era worldview: the desire to belong without being owned. Samuel Goldwyn, the famously quotable Hollywood producer, wasn’t a literary satirist so much as an accidental one. “Include me out” is the kind of line that sounds like a blooper until you realize it captures a real, hard-edged instinct in the movie business: proximity to power is useful; commitment is risky.
The intent is refusal, but a refusal that keeps the door cracked. Goldwyn isn’t simply opting out; he’s insisting on being counted while declining the obligations that come with being counted. That contradiction is the joke, and the strategy. It’s language doing what producers do: shaping perception. “Exclude me” is too clean, too final. “Include me out” signals: keep me in the conversation, keep my name in the mix, but don’t bind me to the deal, the faction, the failure. It’s a negotiation tactic disguised as confusion.
Context matters because Goldwyn’s era ran on clubs, coalitions, and constant recalibration of loyalty. The studio system was both machine and court: alliances formed fast, rivalries calcified, contracts locked people into identities. Goldwyn, who fought for autonomy and branding (even when he didn’t technically own MGM), made a career out of being adjacent but not subordinate. The phrase also survives because it mirrors modern participation culture: the group chat you mute, the cause you retweet but won’t staff, the meeting you want notes from but don’t want to attend. It’s self-protection dressed as comedy, and that’s why it still lands.
The intent is refusal, but a refusal that keeps the door cracked. Goldwyn isn’t simply opting out; he’s insisting on being counted while declining the obligations that come with being counted. That contradiction is the joke, and the strategy. It’s language doing what producers do: shaping perception. “Exclude me” is too clean, too final. “Include me out” signals: keep me in the conversation, keep my name in the mix, but don’t bind me to the deal, the faction, the failure. It’s a negotiation tactic disguised as confusion.
Context matters because Goldwyn’s era ran on clubs, coalitions, and constant recalibration of loyalty. The studio system was both machine and court: alliances formed fast, rivalries calcified, contracts locked people into identities. Goldwyn, who fought for autonomy and branding (even when he didn’t technically own MGM), made a career out of being adjacent but not subordinate. The phrase also survives because it mirrors modern participation culture: the group chat you mute, the cause you retweet but won’t staff, the meeting you want notes from but don’t want to attend. It’s self-protection dressed as comedy, and that’s why it still lands.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: A Treasury of American-Jewish Folklore (Steve Koppman, Lion Koppman, 1998) modern compilationISBN: 9798216319559 · ID: Su53EQAAQBAJ
Evidence: ... Samuel Goldwyn , a Hollywood baron who mixed up his own lines to the lasting amusement of the American public . A Hollywood legend has it that when Goldwyn first became an independent ... Include Me Out: The Legend of Sam Goldwyn. Other candidates (1) Samuel Goldwyn (Samuel Goldwyn) compilation33.3% out when sam goldwyn can with great convictioninstruct anna sten in dictionthen |
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