Geary and Mrs. Geary

Did it strike anyone as strange that when he was making his speech at the party at the beginning of Part II, Senator Geary referred to his wife as "Mrs. Geary"? Everyone already knows she's Mrs. Geary to begin with--she's his wife! It sounds so unnatural and distant. Whenever you hear politicians mention their spouses today, they always refer to them by first name (for example, I heard Al Gore say "Tipper and I..." in one speech). Was this intended to show how distant Geary and his wife were, or were people just more formal then, and when making public statements referred to even their spouses with Mr. or Mrs.?

People were more formal then. Also, unless I misheard that speech, his wife's name also was "Pat." Perhaps he was trying to avoid confusion.

I thought when he said "Pat" he was actually referring to Kay but got her name wrong. He seemed to be correcting himself when he said "Kay" right afterwards.

Before going to Fredo's whorehouse, Senator Geary used to practice an act of perversion with his wife and once bragged, "I finally got it down Pat".

That's what I thought. It was another indirect insult to the Corleones (like his mispronounciation of "Anthony Vyto Carlean"

Yeah, well look how THAT worked out!

I think his accidental use of the name Pat was the actor's mistake which they just left in the scene. I also think Geary was a typical Anglo who had little familiarity with ethnic pronounciations. He would have probably said "Eye-talian.

And this is just one of the reasons that make these movies so good; people are portrayed as humanbeings.

Not so Olivant... remember the scene in Michael's office when he went out of his way to pronounce "Corleone" properly.

I've always thought the very same thing. It's just too awkward a gaffe to have been scripted for the film.

As for the public mis-pronunciation of 'Corleone', it was probably written as intentional on Geary's part. Especially because of the 'VYTO'. His DIRECT insult at the Italian people while in Michael's office completely supports this...

...and especially as he made a point of pronouncing it correctly and distinctively in the office...

I've seen where older, wealthy or high-status men will introduce their wives as Mrs. Whatever. I've always interpreted that as a signal so that if someone later talks to her, THEY would know to call her Mrs instead of her first name.

That would seem to comport with the situation here; "if any of these eye-talians dare speak to muh wife, they better speak up to her and call her Mrs. Geary, rather than by her first name, lest they think they were her equal".

In "Gone With The Wind" (at least in the movie), Scarlett's parents call each other Mr. and Mrs. O'Hara even though no one else is in the room!

It would have been nice to see Geary's debt to the Corleones fleshed out a bit more in Part III. Although I can't imagine he would have been much help at the Vatican. With his horrible pronunciation, he may have addressed the Pope as the Poop.

Can you imagine him introducing Karol Józef Wojtyla?

It would be something like 'Kayrowl Jeezef Waytayla'.