The watermark. There's one person, there's two persons, and there's three persons.
Hello. In Taxi Driver (1976), A cabby named Doughboy wants Travis to help him sell a piece of Errol Flynn’s bathtub: "Dig the symbols. F-4-0-5-4-3-4. [Then Doughboy flips the piece and points to something:] And the watermark. There's one person, there's two persons, and there's three persons. I got this at his estate, The Pines."

We can't see the side that he's showing to Travis. Perhaps I'm missing something here, but I wonder whether there are three watermarks (the first: "there's one person"; the second which is just above the first: "there's two persons"; the third which is above the second: "and there's three persons") or just one. So could you explain it to me, please?

Thank you.

Question

The watermark. There's one person, there's two persons, and there's three persons.
Hello. In Taxi Driver (1976), A cabby named Doughboy wants Travis to help him sell a piece of Errol Flynn’s bathtub: "Dig the symbols. F-4-0-5-4-3-4. [Then Doughboy flips the piece and points to something:] And the watermark. There's one person, there's two persons, and there's three persons. I got this at his estate, The Pines."

We can't see the side that he's showing to Travis. Perhaps I'm missing something here, but I wonder whether there are three watermarks (the first: "there's one person"; the second which is just above the first: "there's two persons"; the third which is above the second: "and there's three persons") or just one. So could you explain it to me, please?

Thank you.

Answer

It’s not easy to tell from what you’ve written. Maybe it would be easier if I saw it. He uses watermark in singular so that implies one. When he is counting to three people it’s a little hard to tell whether he is contradicting his previous singular use or counting up to the watermark.

What seems clear is he is making a reference to Errol Flynn’s famous playboy lifestyle claiming there were two others in the tub with him.

If I had to bet I would say he’s referring to a single literal watermark where the water marked the piece of the bathtub at a level where three people would fit.

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