AS 15: Alice Quinn and Jennie Gerhardt
American Splendor scene #15 (32:27 to 37:10) — The short weekend begins with longing… Harvey is picking up donuts and day-old bread at the bakery when he runs into Alice Quinn, a woman he briefly knew in college. They catch up on each other’s lives and talk about Theodore Dreiser’s novel Jennie Gerhardt. Harvey leaves their encounter feeling more alone than ever before — “Life seems so sweet, and so sad…”
Comics about ordinary life vis-a-vis the “TV show about nothing” — were the creators of Seinfeld inspired by American Splendor? An extended comparison of the original comics story to the filmed scene. (Plus a callback to “average is dumb”!) How to talk to the opposite sex. A tribute to the real Harvey Pekar’s voiceover “acting.” Fancy donuts and gourmet jellybeans. Shout-outs to Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Sue Cavey, Maggie Moore, The Deer Hunter, and The Quitter.
Episode Notes
The final page of the source comic for this scene, “Alice Quinn,” from American Splendor #7 (©1982 by Harvey Pekar, art by Sue Cavey):