Quote From Today... This Is The Night (1932)

  "Didn't you ever go in for athletics?"

With Charles Ruddles.

This is the Night was Cary Grant's 1st full length feature film.

Stephen Mathewson: Didn't you ever go in for athletics?

Bunny West: I used to jump at conclusions.

Quote From Today... Big Brown Eyes (1936)

"Well, I just told ya. I don't know where I'm going."

With Joan Bennett.

Big Brown Eyes was Cary Grant's 22nd full length feature film.

Eve Fallon: Where are you going?

Danny Barr: I don't know yet. I haven't made up my mind.

Eve Fallon: Can I go with you?

Danny Barr: Where?

Eve Fallon: Where you're going.

Danny Barr: Well, I just told ya. I don't know where I'm going.

Eve Fallon: Well, when do you leave?

Danny Barr: I don't know that either.

Eve Fallon: Well, why can't you take me along?

Danny Barr: Where?

Eve Fallon: That's what I'm asking you.

Danny Barr: I'm asking you that.

Eve Fallon: Say, who's going - you or me?

Danny Barr: Where?

Eve Fallon: I don't know. I'm not going - you are.

Danny Barr: Well look, what time is it?

Eve Fallon: What time does your train leave?

Danny Barr: How do you know I'm going by train? I might be going by boat.

Eve Fallon: What kind of a boat?

Danny Barr: I don't know. I haven't seen it yet.

Quote From Today... Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

" It sounded less expensive to say, No!"

With Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas.

Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House was Cary Grant's 52nd full length feature film.

Carpenter Foreman: On them second floor lintels between the lally columns, do you want we should rabbet them or not?

[Long pause as Jim and Muriel look at him with puzzled frowns on their faces]

Jim Blandings: The, uh, second floor lallies?

Carpenter Foreman: Second floor lintels between the lallies.

Jim Blandings: Oh, the lintels between the lallies?

Carpenter Foreman: Yeah, from the blueprints you can't tell. You want they should be rabbeted?

Jim Blandings: No, no. I guess not.

Carpenter Foreman: Okay. You're the doctor.

[He calls out to his workers]

Carpenter Foreman: Hey fellas. If you got any of them rabbeted lintels set, rip 'em out.

[Sound of nails being pried out, and scene of pieces of wood dropping onto the floor around Jim and Muriel]

Jim Blandings: It sounded less expensive to say, No!

Quote From Today... The Amazing Adventure of Ernest Bliss (1937)

 "Here's to us!" 

The Amazing Adventure of Ernest Bliss was Cary Grant's 26th full length feature film.

Ernest Bliss: Here's to us!

[They drink the wine as she laughs softly]

Ernest Bliss: Ah, but it's good!

Frances Clayton: It's lovely!

Ernest Bliss: So cheap, my goodness, I thought it would taste like red ink. Fancy, it's magic. Yes, it's your magic too! It's you who turned this cheap wine, this cheap food into a feast for the gods. 

Quote from Today... When You're In Love (1937)

  "Can I Help it?"

When You're In Love was Cary Grant's 25th full length feature film.

Hotel Manager: You have already made of me one picture. You make me look like a bum.

Jimmy Hudson: Can I help it?

Quote From Today...The Woman Accused (1933)

 "..How about three times around the deck before breakfast?"

With Nancy Carroll.

The Woman Accused was Cary Grant's 9th full length feature film.

Jeffrey Baxter : How are you my Sweet?..How about three times around the deck before breakfast?

On This Day...She Done Him Wrong (1933)

 Cary Grant's 8th full length film, She Done Him Wrong, was released on this day in 1933.

Summary:

Lady Lou (Mae West) - a successful saloon singer with many men interested in her - is interested in many men. She is warned by her jealous boyfriend and prison inmate, Chick Clark (Owen Moore), is in not to double cross him or he'll find a way out and kill her. Despite the warning, Lou takes an interest in head of the Salvation Army-type Mission located next door, Captain Cummings (Cary Grant). On hearing the mission can't pay their rent, Lou buys the building so they - and the Captain - can stay. Clark breaks out of prison and heads straight to Lou's saloon....

Cast:

Mae West...Lady Lou

Cary Grant...Captain Cummings

Owen Moore...Chick Clark

Gilbert Roland...Serge Stanieff

Noah Beery...Gus Jordan (as Noah Beery Sr.)

David Landau...Dan Flynn

Rafaela Ottiano...Russian Rita

Dewey Robinson...Spider Kane

Rochelle Hudson...Sally

Tammany Young...Chuck Connors

Fuzzy Knight...Rag Time Kelly

Grace La Rue...Frances

Robert Homans...Doheney (as Robert E. Homans)

Louise Beavers...Pearl

Did You Know?

The National Legion of Decency was formed in October of 1933, six months after the release of this film. Legion officials cited Mae West and the film as one of the major reasons for the "necessity" of the organization.

"Diamond Lil", the play on which this was based, originally opened Apr. 9, 1928 at the Royale Theatre and ran for 176 performances. It was revived 3 times between 1949 and 1951, each time starring Mae West.

Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania removed the song "A Guy What Takes His Time". Will H. Hays and Adolph Zukor went to New York to edit the song to an entrance by Mae West, one opening verse, and one closing verse to lessen the suggestiveness. Despite this, Ohio and Pennsylvania cut all of West's one liners.

Taglines:

"YOU CAN BE HAD!" she told him! (Print Ad- The Dispatch, ((Lexington, NC)) 6 February 1933)

The Darling of Broadway Gives a Hot Time to the Nation. (Print Ad-Newark Sunday Call, ((Newark, NJ)) 2 April 1933)

Quotes:

Captain Cummings: Well, surely you don't mind my holding your hand?

Lady Lou: It ain't heavy - I can hold it myself.

Captain Cummings: I'm anxious not to see you mixed up in it. But I guess I'm taking your time.

Lady Lou: What do you suppose my time's for?

Lady Lou: Why don't you come up sometime, huh?

Captain Cummings: Well, I...

Lady Lou: Don't be afraid. I won't tell.

Captain Cummings: But, eh...

Lady Lou: Come up. I'll tell your fortune.

Lady Lou: Yes, I wasn't always rich.

Pearl: No?

Lady Lou: No, there was a time I didn't know where my next husband was coming from.

Frances: You know, ever since I sang that song it's been haunting me.

Rag Time Kelly: It SHOULD haunt you: You murdered it.

Posters:

Directed by Lowell Sherman.

Produced and Distributed by Paramount Publix.

Running time: 66 minutes.

Artwork by Rebekah Hawley of Studio 36.

On This Day... His Girl Friday (1940)

 Cary Grant's 35th full length film, His Girl Friday, was released on this day in 1940.

Summary:

Editor of The Morning Post, Walter Burns (Cary Grant), is about to lose his ex-wife and the newspaper's best reporter, Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell), when she moves to Albany with her insurance agent fiancé, Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy).  Hildy wants to leave journalism behind to live a normal life with someone who will never take her for granted.  To win back both his top journalist and the love of his life, Walter has to persuade Hildy into accepting one last story she won't be able to resist--the impending execution of  convicted murderer, Earl Williams (John Qualen).  Can Hildy renounce her passion for journalism, and Walter, the exciting man who never stopped loving her?

Cast:

Cary Grant...Walter Burns

Rosalind Russell...Hildy Johnson

Ralph Bellamy...Bruce Baldwin

Gene Lockhart...Sheriff Hartwell

Porter Hall...Murphy

Ernest Truex...Bensinger

Cliff Edwards...Endicott

Clarence Kolb...Mayor

Roscoe Karns...McCue

Frank Jenks...Wilson

Regis Toomey ...Sanders

Abner Biberman...Louie

Frank Orth...Duffy

John Qualen...Earl Williams

Helen Mack...Mollie Malloy

Alma Kruger...Mrs Baldwin

Billy Gilbert...Joe Pettibone

Pat West...Warden Cooley

Edwin Maxwell...Dr. Egelhoffer

Did You Know?

One of the first films (preceded by "Stage Door" (1937)) to have characters talk over the lines of other characters, for a more realistic sound. Prior to this, movie characters completed their lines before the next lines were started.

The film finished shooting seven days behind schedule. The delays were caused by the complexity of shooting the rapid-fire dialogue, which had to be carefully timed with business and movement. The restaurant scene in which Burns takes Hildy and Bruce to lunch took four days to shoot. The original schedule had only allotted two days for the scene.

To maintain the fast pace, Howard Hawks encouraged his cast to add dialogue and funny bits of business and step on each others lines whenever possible.

This motion picture was released nationally on Cary Grant's 36th birthday.

Quotes:

Walter Burns: There's been a lamp burning in the window for ya, honey... here.
Hildy Johnson: Oh, I jumped out that window a long time ago.

Hildy Johnson: A big fat lummox like you hiring an airplane to write: "Hildy, don't be hasty. Remember my dimple. Walter." Delayed our divorce 20 minutes while the judge went out and watched it.

Hildy Johnson: He's kind and he's sweet and he's considerate. He wants a home and children.

Walter Burns: Sounds more like a guy I ought to marry.

Walter Burns: You've got the brain of a pancake. This isn't just a story you're covering - it's a revolution. This is the greatest yarn in journalism since Livingstone discovered Stanley.

Hildy Johnson: It's the other way around.

Walter Burns: Oh, well, don't get technical at a time like this.

Lobby Cards and Posters:

Directed by Howard Hawks

Produced and Distributed by Columbia.

Running time: 92 minutes.

Artwork by Rebekah Hawley of Studio 36.

On This Day...Enter Madame (1935)

 Cary Grant's 18th full length film, Enter Madame, was released on this day in 1935.

Summary:

Gerald Fitzgerald (Cary Grant) is an avid fan of opera.  He loves watching talented and beautiful Lisa Della Robbia (Elissa Landi). When they accidentally meet, the two end up falling in love. Having married quickly, Gerald soon starts to realize he is second place to his wife's career and it isn't much fun.

Cast:

Elissa Landi...Lisa Della Robbia

Cary Grant...Gerald Fitzgerald

Lynne Overman...Mr. Farnum

Sharon Lynn...Flora Preston (as Sharon Lynne)

Michelette Burani...Bice

Paul Porcasi...Archimede

Adrian Rosley ...Doctor

Cecilia Parker...Aline Chalmers

Frank Albertson...John Fitzgerald

Wilfred Hari...Tamamoto

Torben Meyer...Carlson

Harold Berquist...Bjorgenson

Diana Lewis...Operator

Richard Bonelli...Scorpia in 'La Tosca'

Ann Sheridan...Flora's Shipboard Friend (as Clara Lou Sheridan)

Did You Know?

Enter Madame was based on a play written by Gilda Varesi Archibald, Charles Brackett and Dorothea Donn-Byrne.  Charles Brackett also contributed to the writing of such films as Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959).

Featured Clara Lou Sheridan in an early role.  Clara Lou Sheridan would later change her name to Ann Sheridan, eventually starring along side Cary Grant in 'I Was a Male War Bride'.

Quotes:

Mr. Farnum: Think you can take it?

Gerald Fitzgerald: What do you mean?

Mr. Farnum: I mean, have you any idea what it's like being married to an opera singer?

Gerald Fitzgerald: Sure. I think I'm the luckiest man in the world.

Mr. Farnum: You'll have to be.

Lisa Della Robbia: Farnum, what a horrible thing to say.

Mr. Farnum: I'm not talking against you, madame. It's your job.

Archimede: Those truffles have come from my farm in Tuscany. Rigoletto and I hunted for them last June. He with his nose and I with my stick - to hit him on the nose when he find the truffle. He loves truffles, Rigoletto

Flora Preston: Mercy! Who is Rigoletto? Your son?

Archimede: No. My pig, Madame

[laughs]

Archimede: A great hunter of truffles, my Rigoletto

Flora Preston: What a strange name for a pig

Archimede: Why not, Madame? He enjoys it, poor fellow. It gives him some style before the other pigs. My cow, I name her Aida; my ox: Don Giovanni. Oh, they're all very pleased.

Posters and Lobby Card:

Directed by Elliot Nugent.

Produced by Paramount Publix.

Running time: 83 minutes.

Artwork by Rebekah Hawley of Studio 36.

On This Day...Madame Butterfly (1932)

Cary Grant's 7th film, and the last film release of the year, Madame Butterfly, was released on today's date back in 1932. 

Summary: 

While on shore-leave in Japan, Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton (Cary Grant) and his friend,  Lieutenant Barton (Charles Ruggles), stop in at a local establishment to check out the food, drink and girls.  On meeting Cho-Cho San (Sylvia Sidney) Pinkerton immediately falls in lust. Barton advises Pinkerton that he can 'marry' this Japanese girl and freely enjoy himself, then sail on back to America unshackled, since in Japan abandonment equates to divorce.

 The years pass and Cho-Cho San still eagerly awaits the return of her husband and the opportunity to surprise him with their son.  When Pinkerton does finally arrive back in Japan to apologise to Cho-Cho San for his behaviour, he has his American bride by his side. 

Cast:

Sylvia Sidney...Cho-Cho San

Cary Grant...Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton

Charles Ruggles...Lt. Barton

Irving Pichel...Yomadori

Helen Jerome Eddy...Cho-Cho's mother

Edmund Breese...Cho-Cho's grandfather

Louise Carter...Suzuki

Sándor Kállay...Goro

Judith Vosselli ...Madame Goro

Sheila Terry...Mrs. Pinkerton

Dorothy Libaire...Peach Blossom

Berton Churchill...American Consul

Philip Horomato...Trouble

Quotes:

Madame Goro: So this is Cho-Cho-San; what distinction, what eyes, what teeth. And you speak also the English?

Cho-Cho San: Yes, I learned from visiting scholar. She teach me very high class Brooklyn accent.

Cho-Cho San: [Cho-Cho San has found Adelaide's photo in Pinkerton's trunk. She brings it to him with the pipe cleaners] I found them like this

Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton: Thank you very much, Cho-Cho San

[he puts the photo aside]

Cho-Cho San: She very beautiful, that American lady

Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton: Oh, I guess she'd pass in a crowd

Cho-Cho San: She some lady you know very well?

Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton: Sure, sure. We've known each other for years

Cho-Cho San: She love you very much, perhaps?

Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton: No, of course not

Cho-Cho San: [she picks up the photo and points to the inscription that reads 'To Bin with all my love always'] What this writing say?

Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton: Oh, that. That just says 'lots of luck'

Cho-Cho San: Oh. But maybe you very much in love with her?

Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton: How can I have room in my heart for anyone but Madame Butterfly?

Taglines:

1933 Marches on!...with the great romantic drama of East and West NOW a MODERN love story! (Print Ad-Daily Star, ((Long Island City, NY)) 30 January 1933)

IT WILL BRING THUNDEROUS ACCLAIM...for a great love story done with consummate passion! (Print Ad- Greenfield Recorder, ((Greenfield Mass.)) 30 December 1932)

PARAMOUNT'S FOREMOST SCREEN PRODUCTION FOR 1933 

(Print Ad-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, ((Pittsburgh, Penna.)) 8 February 1933)

Lobby Cards and Posters:

Directed by Marion Gering.

Distributed by Paramount Publix.

Running time: 86 minutes.

Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36.

On This Day...Alice In Wonderland (1933)

 Cary Grant's 13th full length feature film, Alice in Wonderland, was released today, back in 1933. 

Summary: 

In Victorian England, Alice (Charlotte Henry), a bored young girl, dreams she has entered a fantasy world called Wonderland where she finds even more fantastical characters, such as Cheshire Cat (Richard Arlen), White Knight (Gary Cooper). Humpty Dumpty (WC Fields), March Hare (Charlie Ruggles) and Mock Turtle (Cary Grant).

Cast:

Richard Arlen...Cheshire Cat

Roscoe Ates...Fish

William Austin...Gryphon

Gary Cooper...White Knight

Leon Errol...Uncle Gilbert

Louise Fazenda...White Queen

W.C. Fields...Humpty-Dumpty

Alec B. Francis...King of Hearts

Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher...Rabbit (as Skeets Gallagher)

Cary Grant...Mock Turtle

Lillian Harmer...Cook

Raymond Hatton...Mouse

Charlotte Henry...Alice

Sterling Holloway...Frog

Edward Everett Horton...Mad Hatter

Roscoe Karns...Tweedledee

Baby LeRoy...Joker (as Baby Le Roy)

Mae Marsh...Sheep

Polly Moran...Dodo Bird

Jack Oakie...Tweedledum

Edna May Oliver...Red Queen

May Robson...Queen of Hearts

Charles Ruggles...March Hare (as Charlie Ruggles)

Jackie Searl...Dormouse

Alison Skipworth... Duchess

Ned Sparks...Caterpillar

Ford Sterling...White King

Did You Know?

The failure of the film at the box office was attributed to the fact that although a top-rank cast was used, many of them were virtually unrecognizable under their heavy makeup and costuming.

Bing Crosby was originally sought for the role of the Mock Turtle but refused it because he felt the role was demeaning to his career.

Sterling Holloway, who played The Frog in this movie, later went on to be the voice of The Cheshire Cat in the well known Disney adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (1951).

The running time, 76 minutes, is the length of the time Alice is through the looking glass: clock on the mantelpiece starts at 3:40 and she returns at 5:00.

During the Mad Tea Party, the Hatter asks Alice what day of the month it is and Alice answers that it's the 4th. The Hatter checks his watch and bewails the fact that "it's two days off." When Alice examines the watch, the hands on the dial indicate the date as being a Tuesday in June. In 1933 when this film was made, June 4th fell on a Sunday - two days off from what the Hatter's watch indicates.

Goofs:

When the White Knight falls off of his horse into the ditch, he falls face down and his feet can be seen with the toes pointed downward. However, when Alice comes over to check on him, he is lying on his back and his toes are pointed upward.  When Alice helps him out, he continues telling a story about how he invented things, yet initially neither his lips nor Alice's are moving, nor do they match what is being said when they do.

During Baby LeRoy's brief appearance he initially is walking, but the action cut-in has him running with a different expression on his face.

Alice is an English girl, but speaks with an American accent.

When the White Queen flies in to see Alice after the fight between Tweedledum and Tweedledee, you can quite clearly see wires attached to her shoulders.

Posterss:

Directed by Norman McLeod.

Distributed by Paramount Publix.

Running time: 90 minutes (Varies)

Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36.