"You can take all the sincerity in Hollywood, place it in the navel of a fruit fly and still have room enough for three caraway seeds and a producer's heart"

Fred Allen’s observation about sincerity in Hollywood paints a vivid and rather cutting portrait of the entertainment industry’s reputation for insincerity. Using a memorable metaphor, he claims the total amount of sincerity in Hollywood is so minuscule that it could fit inside the belly button of a fruit fly, a creature already tiny and insignificant in size. But Allen doesn’t stop there; he emphasizes the triviality of that sincerity by claiming that even after squeezing it in, there would still be space to fit three caraway seeds and, pointedly, a producer’s heart. The singling out of a producer’s heart target’s Hollywood’s power brokers, often stereotyped as calculating or uncaring, suggesting that compassion or genuine feeling is virtually absent among those calling the shots.

Allen’s imagery works on several levels. Fruit flies are not only tiny but are also sometimes unwelcome, much like the flaky sincerity he attributes to Hollywood. The use of seeds, objects typically representing growth, adds a twist of irony, implying that real sincerity isn’t just rare, it’s devoid of the power to grow or thrive in such an environment. The heart of a producer, meant as a symbol of emotion or authenticity, is equated to something so small and insignificant it can be trivialized along with the other tiny contents.

Underlying this sharp humor is Allen’s deeper cynicism about Hollywood’s culture. He is poking fun at the superficiality, self-interest, and often transactional nature of relationships in the industry, where genuine feeling is the exception rather than the rule. The elaborate exaggeration of the metaphor is not only comedic but also highlights just how little trust outsiders, and perhaps even insiders like Allen, place in Hollywood’s promises and displays of authenticity. By compressing all sincerity into such a tiny space, Allen invites the reader to view the glamour of Hollywood with skepticism, focusing instead on its human shortcomings.