Quotes

La première sirène

James Sullivan: Baby, somewhere along the line, we got our signals crossed. You've got it into your head that you're Joan of Arc. Well, get it out fast. You're a swimmer doing a tank act in Sullivan's water carnival, and not a bad show either.
Annette Kellerman: And how long can it last? After all, all we're doing is capitalizing on a lot of cheap bathing suit publicity.
James Sullivan: Well, what do you think this Aldrich thing is anyway? All he's trying to do is cash in on the same dodge, a ballyhoo that I arranged.
Annette Kellerman: That you arranged?
James Sullivan: Sure. Who do you think got that cop to arrest you?
Annette Kellerman: Oh no, Jimmy, you didn't.
James Sullivan: Didn't I?
Annette Kellerman: Can you stand there... what about all that talk of a crusade and how...
James Sullivan: Bunk. Who cares what a lot of females wear on the beach, as long as I can keep you in a one-piece bathing suit? Baby, you're a swimmer. You belong in the water. Wet, you're terrific. Dry, you're just a nice girl who ought to settle down and get married.
Annette Kellerman: Thank you very much for the advice. One thing I know for sure, if and when I do get married, it will never be to a cheap, stubborn, flea circus proprietor.
James Sullivan: This flea circus does alright for the fleas in it, except when they jump out of their cages.

Narrator: [Opening scene: an aerial view of Sydney Harbour, ca. 1900, is shown, accompanied by voiceover narration] This is lovely Sydney Harbour, in the year 1900, when Australia was still thought of by the rest of the world as the home of the bush and the boomerang. But in the growing town of Sydney, culture had moved in, and the sound of those three famous "B"s - Bach, Brahms and Beethoven - were already being heard in the land.

James Sullivan: Forgive the intrusion. But, would you be interested in a shipboard romance?

James Sullivan: I've been standing over there watching you for the past 10 minutes.
Annette Kellerman: I know. Women always know when men are watching them.

Annette - 10 years old: Swimming can't hurt me. How can anything hurt when it makes you feel so good?

James Sullivan: I meet a girl for the first time two days ago and I can't get her out of my mind. I keep saying to myself, "Sullivan, this is without a doubt the prettiest girl you've ever met." And a voice comes back, "Nonsense, it's the tropical night, the stars. Your hot jungle blood." And then I reply, "But, you've seen tropical nights before and you don't have hot jungle blood."

Frederick Kellerman: My daughter is not half-woman, half-fish. She is, I assure you, all woman.

Annette Kellerman: What's wrong with the ballet?
James Sullivan: Oh, I don't know. I guess I've always associated it with long hair and swans.
Annette Kellerman: Oh, and I'm more the duck type?

Annette Kellerman: You can tell your boss he's got the most comfortable bed I ever slept in.

Doc Cronnol: Don't you worry about Sullivan. He could sell water wings to a duck.

James Sullivan: I propose to stage a show. Our own show, a water carnival.
Annette Kellerman: A water carnival?
James Sullivan: Why not? It's something brand new. We get a tank and we charge admission. Our own private ocean. Oh, I can see it now. The people flocking to see the gorgeous mermaid from down under. I see something beautiful, something graceful, a ballet. That's it! A water ballet set to music.

James Sullivan: I don't know what I'm going to do. Probably run up to Boston. A friend of mine owns a concession at Revere Beach. He wants me to help him ballyhoo it.

James Sullivan: Don't you realize that you're the standard-bearer for all American womanhood? In your hands lies the power to wreck the shackles of prudery. Free the feminine sex from the armor of convention. Go ahead, run away if you want to. But I tell you, this is *more* than a trial. *More* than a newspaper headline. This is a crusade.

Prosecutor: I demand the severest possible penalty for this brazen young woman who has wantonly flaunted every statute of decency.

Frederick Kellerman: This tempest over a bathing suit. It's - It's - It's medieval. It should be exposed to the world.

Annette Kellerman: How is it possible to - to swim a race tied up in a corset and 10 yards of wet drapery?

Annette Kellerman: Indecent exposure? Held for trial. Oh, those hypocrites! Sanctimonious bluenose hypocrites.

James Sullivan: Oh, baby, I knew we were a team from the first time I saw you. We'll stand that town on its ear.

Director: All right, come on. Liven it up. Let's get going. Girls, get in your position.

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