Take a Letter, Darling (1942)

Fred MacMurray: Tom Verney

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mr. Horner : Mr. Verney, may I remind you that we have been dressing Miss MacGregor's... secretaries for years. She demands a form-fit coat. This one fits you perfectly.

  Tom Verney : What'll you do if I hold out for a larger one?

  Mr. Horner : Unfortunately for you, I should be forced to telephone Miss MacGregor.

  Tom Verney : [Crosses his arms across his chest and the coat rips up the middle of the back]  Go ahead and call her.

• 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 : Look, you wanted the contract. My instructions were to get it. And if it means sitting around on a plantation drinking mint juleps with a beautiful blond, I can take 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.

• 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 : 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 : 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.

• Mr. Horner : And your hat? Miss MacGregor wouldn't stand for it. She definitely would not stand for it.

  Tom Verney : It's my head. Get me a hat that folds flat.

• Mr. Horner : And, uh, how does the coat feel?

  Tom Verney : It's too tight.

  Mr. Horner : Just where is the coat too tight?

  Tom Verney : All over.

  Mr. Horner : Maybe so, and maybe not.

  Tom Verney : I said the coat's too tight. Get me a larger one or I'll spank you.

• Tom Verney : [looking at the posed painting he did and that he's about to make over to appear to be MacGregor]  MacGregor, you're a bad, bad girl.

• 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!

• Tom Verney : Well, don't take any wooden thousand-dollar bills.

• 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 : 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.

• 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.

• Tom Verney : For you, it'll be a cinch. It's women with a heart that get messed up. A woman without any emotions can plan, like a general in battle.

• Ethel Caldwell : You dance so well.

  Tom Verney : It's my partner.