Curtain Up (1952)

Robert Morley: W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker

Quotes 

• W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : I wonder if I might borrow your script for a moment.

  [Catherine hands Harry her script] 

  W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : Thank you.

  [he leafs through the script, turning over page after page] 

  Catherine Beckwith : Are you looking for something?

  W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : The plot, madam.

  Catherine Beckwith : Dress, Scenery or Lighting plot? I have them all handy.

  W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : The plot, madam, of Tarnished Gold. Most plays have them. Yours seems to be the exception. Ah, I see the beginning of a plot on page 27 - and we're now on page 1.

• W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : Are you presuming to criticize my methods of production?

  Jackson : I can't. I've never seen them.

• W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : When he forced me to stage "Tarnished Gold," we had a little chat. I told him what I thought about it. He told me what he thought about it. Oddly enough, our views differ. However, he did agree that if I should find a major fault, I should do my best to rectify it.

• W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : When Mr. Bellamy forced me to stage your travesty...

  Catherine Beckwith : Tragedy!

  W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : It may well prove so, madam.

• Catherine Beckwith : Mr. Blacker, I have reached the limit of myself. I shall telephone my nephew.

  W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : Ask him if he knows anything for the two-thirty, will you dear?

• Sarah Stebbins : I do hope I'm not interrupting.

  W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : Oh, not at all. This is strictly visitor's day.

• W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : The audience, madam, will have left in a body after the first act. Forgive me, I shouldn't have said that. I'm overwrought. It's all gabble, gabble, gabble. Why do people have to write plays? Why do I have to direct them?

• W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : I would have expected better of you, Jacko. Are you a stage manager or a fifth columnist?

• W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : I was such a happy little boy.

• Harry's Landlady : [after entering theater, stomping up on stage and removing the lampshade which Blacker had retrieved from his apartment house]  I've told you about this before.

  W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : I can afford to ignore such vulgar interruptions. Strike my landlady off the "Free" list, and carry on.

• Catherine Beckwith : Well, that was a very kind thought of you. And did you find a major fault?

  W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : So far, madam, only one.

  Catherine Beckwith : Good. What?

  W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : The first 27 pages.

• W.H. 'Harry' Derwent Blacker : What a wonderful actor you are... when you're not acting!