Take a Letter, Darling (1942)

Rosalind Russell: A.M. MacGregor

Photos 

Quotes 

• A.M. MacGregor : They dance beautifully, don't they? Like penguins.

• A.M. MacGregor : How do you feel - nervous?

  Tom Verney : Just ashamed.

  A.M. MacGregor : Oh, now, don't be like that.

  Tom Verney : Deliberate instructions to make some hungry Southern fried chicken fall for me. A handful of ideas that aren't my own. Pretending to be Mr. Big just back from Washington. I met guys like that. They make me sick to my stomach.

• A.M. MacGregor : Oh, I see. So now you've come to the conclusion that you don't need me nor the job any longer.

  Tom Verney : The fact is I need the job so much that I submitted an idea of my own to keep her interested.

  A.M. MacGregor : You? What idea could you possibly have between juleps?

  Tom Verney : Oh, I think now and then. I'm not completely primitive.

  A.M. MacGregor : I doubt it.

• Tom Verney : Let's not get excited. If I've made a mistake, fire me.

  A.M. MacGregor : I can't fire you, and you know it.

  Tom Verney : All right, then I quit.

  A.M. MacGregor : No!

  Tom Verney : Then stop yelling at me.

• A.M. MacGregor : We'll see who's top man around here.

  Mr. Horner : Well, I know I'm not.

• Tom Verney : You're a beautiful brain and beautiful clothes. No temperature, no pulse. That's all.

  A.M. MacGregor : Where did you learn about women, Verney?

  Tom Verney : It isn't a matter of learning. It's instinct.

  A.M. MacGregor : I'm a brain with no pulse, eh? I'm a woman, Verney, more woman than you'll ever know.

• A.M. MacGregor : I'm sorry - I must have fainted.

  Jonathan Caldwell : It's probably the altitude - we're on the fourth floor. Show her to the door, Moses.

• A.M. MacGregor : Caldwell seems willing to give us his account, but now we have to sell his sister.

  Tom Verney : We?

  A.M. MacGregor : You'll have to help. I'll give you some ideas to hand on to her, but if she's the silly old hag I think she is all you'll have to do is turn on that charm and get her signature while she's high.

• A.M. MacGregor : I represent an advertising agency, not the league of homeless creampuffs.

• Jonathan Caldwell : Miss MacGregor, you're a fake.

  A.M. MacGregor : I am not a fake.

  Jonathan Caldwell : You posed as a man to get this appointment.

  A.M. MacGregor : You said you'd see A.M. MacGregor. Who am I?

  Jonathan Caldwell : You're a woman, and that's enough for me.

• A.M. MacGregor : Never fall in love with we, will you?

  Tom Verney : Don't worry. I couldn't fall in love with you if I wanted to.

  A.M. MacGregor : Why not?

  Tom Verney : Because you're a beautiful brain and beautiful clothes - no temperature, no pulse, that's all.

• A.M. MacGregor : Shake.

  Tom Verney : Shake.

  A.M. MacGregor : [They shake hands]  I said shake, not break.

• A.M. MacGregor : Well, how do you feel now?

  Tom Verney : Numb.

  A.M. MacGregor : Well, that's better.

• Jonathan Caldwell : Do you dance?

  A.M. MacGregor : Why, yes.

  Jonathan Caldwell : My four wives danced - let's not.

  A.M. MacGregor : Right. We mustn't get in a rut.

• A.M. MacGregor : I'm woman... more woman than you've ever known. If ever I fall in love it will be the sea crashing against rocks, lightning flashing across the sky, thunder rolling through the mountains.

• Jonathan Caldwell : It couldn't be, could it, that you think you'll need a little help with my sister?

  A.M. MacGregor : No. I'm sure that your sister and I will get along splendidly. It's just that Mr. Verney is one of the most brilliant minds in advertising, and we may as well have the benefit of his ideas.

  Jonathan Caldwell : Suit yourself - she may fall for him at that. How about 8?

  A.M. MacGregor : Good, good. You want my address?

  Jonathan Caldwell : What for? We'll meet you at Dory's

  A.M. MacGregor : Oh. All right.

• Jonathan Caldwell : Well, from the looks of things up to now, you're going to get the contract and lose your man.

  A.M. MacGregor : MY man? Huh! He's just a bit of hamburger I brought along for your wolf.

  Jonathan Caldwell : Don't mind me, I'm just a fellow with eyes.

• Proprietor : I see you got yourself a new boy.

  A.M. MacGregor : Uh huh.

  Proprietor : Looks all right from here - but so did the last one.

  [laughs and MacGregor laughs also] 

• A.M. MacGregor : [on the phone with Jonathan Caldwell]  Are you hinting that I have a chance of becoming Mrs. Caldwell the fifth? Must I join a union?

  Jonathan Caldwell : [on the phone with MacGregor]  Heh, heh. I'm just warning you that while you're campaigning for the Caldwell account, I'll be campaigning for MacGregor.

• A.M. MacGregor : That big fake. He's supposed to be down there working. Why doesn't he answer my wires? Who the devil does he think he is?

  Mr. Horner : An important member of this company, doing exactly what you want - trying to get the Caldwell account.

  A.M. MacGregor : Trying to get the Caldwell female.

  Mr. Horner : Well, if she goes with the account, let him have her.

  A.M. MacGregor : I will not. I'll expose him for the phony he is and throw him out on his ear - the same as all the others.

  Mr. Horner : Have you fallen for Verney?

  A.M. MacGregor : Oh, of course not. The man is ignoring my instructions - risking a million and a half in commissions, and you say I should think nothing of it.

• A.M. MacGregor : There's just one more thing I must say. Never in my life have I seen a man make a bigger fool of himself over a woman.

  Tom Verney : Check!

  A.M. MacGregor : Prancing around the floor there like a great Dane chasing butterflies.

  Tom Verney : Check!

  A.M. MacGregor : You never even asked me for a single dance.

  Tom Verney : Check!

• A.M. MacGregor : You? What ideas could you possibly have between julips?

  Tom Verney : Oh, I think now and then. I'm not completely primitive?

• A.M. MacGregor : What about the ideas I sent down?

  Tom Verney : Help me with the boots, will you? Straddle it. Pull!

  [as he pushes her rump with his other foot] 

• A.M. MacGregor : Do you think what you're doing with that Caldwell woman could be worth a hundred dollars to me?

  Tom Verney : Shhh! Not so loud. If Ethel finds out you're only paying me a hundred, she'll report you for cruelty to executives.

• A.M. MacGregor : I know the reason for this one-man rebellion. You've found a girl with money who thinks you're wonderful and you've decided she's right. Well, why don't you admit it?

  Tom Verney : Pardon me, I have to change. Cocktails with Ethel at 5.

  A.M. MacGregor : Oh! Pardon me.

  [She tosses his drawings at him] 

• A.M. MacGregor : I should beat my brains out in New York so you can convince her you're an encyclopedia with muscle.

• A.M. MacGregor : There are some things I just can't stand. One of them is the sight of a grown man drooling on his bib.

  Tom Verney : Yes, I remember.

• A.M. MacGregor : Some of these sample layouts haven't even been opened.

  Tom Verney : Well, I, uh, I showed her the first ones you sent down and she didn't like them, so I told her they were your ideas and we decided to ignore the rest.

• G.B. Atwater : They just don't know the difference between a woman and a...

  A.M. MacGregor : And a what?

  G.B. Atwater : Well, I dunno. There's no word for you yet.

• Tom Verney : All of us are poets. Only, some of us can put it in words, and some just get a feeling.

  A.M. MacGregor : I like you, Verney.

  Tom Verney , A.M. MacGregor : Well, thanks.

  A.M. MacGregor : Never fall in love with me, will you?

• A.M. MacGregor : You don't know what to think, do you?

  Tom Verney : No.

  A.M. MacGregor : Well, don't. We'll get along better.

• A.M. MacGregor : Four of your predecessors went out of here on their ears, because theie usual dubious psyches gave them illusions of irresistibility. Do you follow me or are you ahead of me again?

  Tom Verney : I'm sorry. My mouth just opened and started talking.