I have been trying to find the meaning/reference
behind this Blazing Saddles quote for many years.
Thanks in advance for any info...

best wishes,

mike

This one is a little bit of a stretch, but I got it.

I will explain it despite knowing that to do so will utterly kill the joke.

The scene is of the protagonist with a seductress. If I recall, the protagonist was - ah - shall we say, "exhausted."

The seductress snickers and whispers something in his ear. His jaw drops a little as she speaks. When she finishes, he says something to the effect of, "Please, baby, I'm not from Havana!"

1. They make big, black cigars in Havana, Cuba.
2. The protagonist was a big, black guy.
3. What does one most typically do with a cigar?

The joke is in guessing what she might have said to him. If you still don't get it, think Monica Lewinsky.

Brooks' sense of humor has always been big on inferring things. You don't hear what she says, you just hear his reaction, "Please, baby, I'm not from Havana!" And you are left to your own devices to guess what she said.

The possibilites are rather amusing, IMO.

David

======================

"Work is love made visible."
-Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
http://www.sihaya.net/

Here's what I believe is the genuine meaning of Cleavon Little's "Please baby, I am not from Havana" line in "Blazing Saddles." During the 1950s, there was a male erotic dancer in Havana, Cuba who went by the professional name of "Superman." "Superman" was renowned for his spectacular . . . er, size and stamina, and his live sex shows were very popular. This is just the sort of screwball reference you would expect to find in a Mel Brooks movie!

If you watch "The Godfather, Part II," you will see a scene where Michael Corleone is taken to a Havana nightclub by his brother Fredo and "that Sicilian messenger boy," Johnny Ola. The star of the floorshow at the nightclub? You guessed it -- Superman!

Please! Havana was notorious in the 50's under Batista. The original description of Superman (plus the rest of the Havana night club scene) came from Graham Greene's 1958 novel "Our Man in Havana", which also supplied the basic theme for "The Tailor of Panama" by John Le Carre. (Hilarious book, by the way, which was made into a mildly entertaining film with Alec Guiness and Maureen O'Hara.)

Maxie