- Hattie Hartley: Will you get off the stage? Don't you see we're ringin' up.
- Mal Thorne: Gee, Hat, you look swell!
- Hattie Hartley: Not now, Mal! This is a death scene, not a love scene.
- Hattie Hartley: Is there any money in the house?
- Mal Thorne: Yeah, about enough for a cup of coffee.
- Hattie Hartley: Aw, tough.
- Connie Bard: Say, that hound's getting so touchy, you can't go near her.
- Mal Thorne: I guess you'd be touchy too if you were gonna be having pups.
- Connie Bard: Well, I guess I would at that.
- Ed Bondell: Hey. Who do you want?
- Jeff Morgan: A gentleman wants to see Miss Hartley?
- Ed Bondell: What gentleman?
- Jeff Morgan: Newt Wampler. One of the richest men in this town.
- Ed Bondell: Oh, a Stage Door John, eh?
- Oriole: Here I am!
- Hattie Hartley: Good notion to give you a lickin'! How many times must I tell you not to feed that dog while the show's going on?
- Mal Thorne: Oh, lay off. She's all right.
- Oriole: She won't hit me.
- Hattie Hartley: Oh, I would if I didn't love you so much.
- Mal Thorne: Oh, Ed, could you let me have a little advance?
- Ed Bondell: What for?
- Hattie Hartley: Oriole's gotta have some more cod liver oil.
- Ed Bondell: What does she do, bathe in it?
- Ed Bondell: Well, there's a chance for us all to get some money.
- Hattie Hartley: How?
- Ed Bondell: A fella comin' in to see you.
- Hattie Hartley: Who?
- Ed Bondell: Name's Wampler, and they say he's a big splash in this town.
- Hattie Hartley: What does he want?
- Ed Bondell: I don't know, unless you've gone and snagged yourself a John.
- Hattie Hartley: Oh, be yourself.
- Ed Bondell: Ah, Hattie, it means as much to yourself and the troop as it does to me, and all you got to do to help us all out is to kid this fella along a little. Come on, what do say?
- Hattie Hartley: Well, I'll do what I can, but I don't...
- Ed Bondell: That's all I ask. Just do what you can. He's just ripe for some Jane to vamp.
- Newton Wampler: And until I saw you just now with your war paint off, I'd a sworn you weren't a day over twelve.
- Newton Wampler: Gosh, you're a cute little trick. I-it wouldn't do for me to be around you long.
- Hattie Hartley: You married, Mr. Wampler?
- Newton Wampler: No. I'm a lonely old bach, but I got a mighty fine business.
- Ed Bondell: Why, that guy was a cinch, if you'd just led him on a little and made him think he could make you.
- Newton Wampler: What's your name little girl?
- Oriole: Oriole.
- Newton Wampler: Oriole, eh? Gosh, that's an odd name, isn't it?
- Hattie Hartley: [chuckles] Well, Mom called her that 'cause, when she was born and Mom was comin' out of the ether, there was a little bird singin' outside her window. The doctor said it was an Oriole.
- Mrs. Truxton: You seem very friendly with these theater people, Newton.
- Newton Wampler: Oh, I'm friendly with everyone, Jane. That's my nature.
- Hattie Hartley: Oh, hello, Mal. Is the kid all right?
- Mal Thorne: Yeah, a lot you care - running off in a pleasure buggy with a stranger.
- Hattie Hartley: Well, just lay her down in the bunk. I'll be in and undress her.
- Hattie Hartley: Oh, now, Mal, don't make me do something I don't want to do.
- Mal Thorne: All right, honey, I won't. Gee, all I want to do is just to make you happy. You know that, don't you?
- Hattie Hartley: Yes, dear.
- [long kiss]
- Newton Wampler: Now, you see, I'm a businessman. I've got plenty of cash. Now, let's you and me get down to cases. I'll make you a little proposition.
- Hattie Hartley: A proposition?
- Newton Wampler: Yeah, I guess you know what I mean, don't you?
- Mal Thorne: Can you imagine what that'd be like? Married to a guy like that? Sittin' up nights, readin' the Sears Roebuck catalog?
- Mal Thorne: Now, Oriole.
- Oriole: Huh?
- Mal Thorne: In that deathbed scene.
- Oriole: Yeah?
- Mal Thorne: Don't forget what I told you, now, about being on your elbow. Smile sad. Sad!
- Hattie Hartley: Well, you understand this: You can't have Oriole all the time. I won't have her in this rotten business. She'll turn out just like me.
- Hattie Hartley: Well, you wanted candy, you can have it. What does it matter? What does anything matter?
- Hattie Hartley: Little Eva will be played tonight as it's never been played before. I'll show you who's the greatest Little Eva - extant!
- Mal Thorne: You can't fire me.
- Ed Bondell: Who says I can't? Your Legree ain't so good we can't get along without ya.
- Mal Thorne: Well, maybe not. Yeah, but just the same, you owe me money, and I'm gonna keep right on workin' till you pay me.
- Newton Wampler: [seeking a little girl but finding a grown woman] Well, I guess I'm in the right church but the wrong pew, as the fella says.