"Sweet Smell of Success" Dialogue Question

[Nathan Dodge]

Even though I've seen the 1957 Burt Lancaster-Tony Curtis movie, Sweet Smell of Success (1957) dozens of times and pretty much know it by heart, there's one line of dialogue I've never completely understood.

In J.J. Hunsecker's secretary's office, Sidney Falco (Curtis) gets to read Hunsecker's column before it goes to print. After this great stroke of good fortune, Sidney, thrilled to have been able to see the column ahead of time, asks Mary, the secretary: "What's your favorite ribbon to go around your favorite chocolates?"

Is Falco's line of dialogue just another brief insight into the oily Sidney Falco courtesy of Odets and Lehman, or was there in fact a ribbon to represent a specific quality, size, or brand of chocolates?

 

[Doctor Strange]

I think he's just promising to buy her a box of chocolates for letting him read the column, and asking how she wants the box gift-wrapped. I suspect you're reading too much into it!

 

[Nathan Dodge]

I think he's just promising to buy her a box of chocolates for letting him read the column, and asking how she wants the box gift-wrapped. I suspect you're reading too much into it!

Of course I am, Master of the Mystic Arts!

That's what I initially believed; that it was a way of letting her know he was buying her chocolates.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Well, it's a bribe, or at least a tit-for-tat recompense - which is pretty much Sidney's MO, right?

Great flick, though I've only watched it about three times over the last forty-plus years, so I can't claim your level of study!