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"HIT SEX HARD!" 239 DeMille grunted. "It's a perfectly marvelous line and it stays in." For another bit of dialogue he battled less successfully. It came in the lion hunt scene in Samson and Delilah. A snarling beast appears atop a rock ledge, whereupon Delilah hands Samson a spear. "I don't need that. He's only a young lion,* DeMille had Samson saying. The Bible itself refers to a young lion, but even so the writers contended the remark might pro- voke a laugh from the audience at a serious moment. Right after the picture's opening in New York word was flashed to the studio that audiences were laughing at Samson's remark. DeMille wouldn't budge. The line was staying in. The next day Barney Balaban, Paramount prexy, was on the phone. "It's mining the scene," he said. DeMille wanted to know why they were laughing. "I don't know, but they're laughing." "It is a laugh of relief, Barney, relief from too much ex- citement." "But the laugh is coming before he kills the lion." "Anticipated excitement, Barney," pursued DeMille. "I don't know. I don't think so," said Balaban. "I don't like to take it out, Barney." "It's ruining the scene, Cecil." DeMille finally gave in. Authentic Biblical fact was thrown for a loss by what he felt was indecent surrender to the dis- orderly minds of "big city audiences." Certain gems authored by him had long and successful careers. "By God, you have courage" was one of his favorites, hurled by the hero at many a DeMille heroine. Its first recorded use was baqk in 1930 in The Volga Boatman, with William (Hopalong Cassidy) Boyd toasting Elinor Fair. Twenty years later Victor Mature tosses the same lively rejoinder at Hedy Lamarr in the Samson story. Another that made a regular appearance was useful as a thrust at the hero's character. In