Ada Rehan once played a heroine in a romantic comedy opposite a nervous young actor. During one scene, having been posed a crucial question, she paused, as directed, to consider her answer.

Alas she soon found herself pausing longer than planned: the young actor had dried up and his next line -- "You don't reply" -- was, apparently, not forthcoming.

"You don't reply... you don't reply," someone frantically prompted from the wings. "Well how the hell can I," the young man irritably exclaimed, "when I don't know what to say!?"