The Feminine Touch (1941)

Rosalind Russell: Julie Hathaway

Photos 

Quotes 

• Shelley Mason : [introducing himself to Julie]  And I'm Shelley Mason, the most distinguished and hated critic in America. You may look, but you mustn't touch.

  Elliott Morgan : [to Shelley Mason]  These are Professor and Mrs. Hathaway.

  Shelley Mason : Professor of what?

  John Hathaway : Psychology.

  Shelley Mason : I never use it, I live by instinct.

  John Hathaway : Obviously.

  [Shelley gives him a nod] 

  Shelley Mason : [to Julie]  At the moment it tells me that you're fascinated by me and want us to be alone.

  Julie Hathaway : You better switch to psychology.

  Shelley Mason : I adore difficult women. Come.

  John Hathaway : Go along with him, Julie. Might be fun.

  Julie Hathaway : Fun? For who?

  Shelley Mason : For me... and for you. A welcome relief from your husband.

  Julie Hathaway : I doubt it.

  [they start to walk away] 

  Shelley Mason : I'm a dangerous and exciting man.

  Julie Hathaway : At your age?

• Elliott Morgan : [referring to Shelley Mason]  Well, how did you make out with Tugboat Annie?

  Julie Hathaway : Oh, he said I was mentally backward and physically forward and he asked me to have tea with him alone tomorrow.

• Elliott Morgan : [from behind a closed door]  She locked me in here.

  Julie Hathaway : Maybe she knew what she was doing.

  Elliott Morgan : Lady, whoever you are, you sound like a woman with an understanding heart.

  Julie Hathaway : That's because I'm talking through a door.

• Freddie Bond : [to Julie, tipsily]  How do you do, I'm Freddie Bond, and you're one of the loveliest sights I've ever seen.

  John Hathaway : I'm John Hathaway and this is my wife.

  Freddie Bond : You never told me you were married.

  Julie Hathaway : Well, that's silly. I've never seen you before in my life.

• Julie Hathaway : Remember about the coffee, John. Order it during the meat course so that when you get ready to drink it, it'll be cool enough. Also, you promised me about the dentist. And John, don't wear blue trousers with a brown coat. I know men don't care much about those things, but... women do.

• Julie Hathaway : Nellie, what's happened?

  Nellie Woods : John's run amok!

  Julie Hathaway : What about?

  Nellie Woods : Elliot's beard. It's off, and it's driven John crazy!

  Julie Hathaway : [smiling]  He's jealous!

  Captain Makepeace Liveright : Comes from readin' too many books. They rot out a man's brain cells.

  Julie Hathaway : Oh, shut up. You sound just like my mother!

• John Hathaway : Where did I ever get the beautiful idea of wanting to marry you?

  Julie Hathaway : When did you ever get the idea that you got the idea of wanting to marry me?

• Elliott Morgan : How are you enjoying the side show?

  Julie Hathaway : Well, compared to the rest of them you seem almost normal. Oh, no, no, I.. I didn't mean that that way.

  Elliott Morgan : Of course you did, and you're right. You see, I'm an honest neurotic. They're all more or less fakes.

• Julie Hathaway : [as they enter Elliott Morgan's with a big party underway]  I never dreamed there were this many famous writers in the world.

  John Hathaway : There aren't.

• Julie Hathaway : Literary people are the strangest people.

  Elliott Morgan : I'll get you a drink. You do sell and it helps.

  John Hathaway : [looking around]  A room full of living examples of what the mind can come to without discipline.

• John Hathaway : Julie, you've been very lonely. And what's worse, for the past three or four weeks you felt as if I hadn't needed you. But you should have known all along that Nellie is just somebody I was working with. And that I needed you just as much as I always have.

  Julie Hathaway : [crying]  It always winds up like this, with me feeling like a rat.

  John Hathaway : I don't want you feeling like a rat.

  Julie Hathaway : I am a rat.

• Julie Hathaway : [fidgeting, not paying attention to Elliott, but watching John talking with Nellie]  John's just fascinated by her - she does things to him. She excites him.

  Elliott Morgan : I'm... rather excited myself.

  Julie Hathaway : She's got something I haven't got at all - can't even get. As a matter of fact, I wonder what John sees in her.

  Elliott Morgan : I could explain if you'd only hold still a minute.

  Julie Hathaway : Uh, let's go in.

• Julie Hathaway : I can't understand your not having seen it before - living in New York all your life.

  Elliott Morgan : I was waiting to see the sights with you, and now we've seen 'em all, from Grant's Tomb to The Battery.

• Julie Hathaway : How long have you known Miss Woods?

  Elliott Morgan : Nellie? Forever! Why?

  Julie Hathaway : She's very clever isn't she? I mean the way she practically runs your organization.

  Elliott Morgan : Oh well, that's not very important.

  Julie Hathaway : Well, maybe to you it isn't. You see, you're more like I am - not very clever and sort of un-mental...

  Elliott Morgan : [looking insulted at first]  Well, that, uh, gives us something in common.

• Elliott Morgan : Okay, I give up.

  Julie Hathaway : Give up what?

  Elliott Morgan : Forget it. You're a good girl, Julie. Boy, are you a good girl. And you're your husband's wife.

• Julie Hathaway : [sitting on the sofa with John's arm around her shoulder]  Two people in love.

  John Hathaway : If ever there were two.

  Julie Hathaway : Then what would you think if you came in and found Elliott and me in this posture?

  John Hathaway : Not what you're thinking.

  Julie Hathaway : Why not?

  John Hathaway : I couldn't. Granted, Nellie and I happened to be in that position when you walked in.

  Julie Hathaway : Happened?

  John Hathaway : Did I make any sudden moves? Did I take my arm away? Did I look guilty?

  Julie Hathaway : No, not even that. You sat there looking as if everything was just too normal and casual for words.

• Julie Hathaway : John, so help me, if you read me anything about the clear eyed woman of today who lives in that book...

  [Julie grabs the manuscript from John and throws it on the floor] 

  John Hathaway : That book can help a lot of people live happier lives.

  Julie Hathaway : Maybe in time we won't even have to try to live happier lives. And they'll just sit around and read the book to each other.

• Elliott Morgan : The fireflies won't parade for John.

  Julie Hathaway : Maybe they will for Nellie.

  Elliott Morgan : Julie, you're inhibiting me.

  Julie Hathaway : Oh, I wouldn't inhibit you, even if I was sure what that meant. It's just that I'm not coming to your apartment tonight.

• Julie Hathaway : Ever since we were first married, I made believe you fooled me with all those tricks of yours.

  John Hathaway : I thought they were very clever tricks.

  Julie Hathaway : I loved them. They showed me you were a human being. They also proved to me that when you were a human being, I was smarter than you are.

  John Hathaway : Julie, I'll be a human being.

  Julie Hathaway : You couldn't be, any more than I could be a professor of psychology.

• Julie Hathaway : And let me tell you something else about that unforgivable crime called jealousy. I went out dancing with a man once and another man got fresh with me and the man I was with popped him right in the nose. And he didn't stop to think how long it had been since he had fought either, and maybe he wasn't intelligent but he was a man, and his name was Bob Jordan.

  John Hathaway : Who's Bob Jordan?

• John Hathaway : Julie, grown-up intelligent men don't hit each other. In the first place, there are physical reasons. Only in the movies do men fight with the efficiency and stamina of heavyweight champions. In reality, Elliott and I are in no condition to fight. We haven't fought for years.

  Julie Hathaway : You exercise everything morning.

  John Hathaway : For health, not for fighting.

• John Hathaway : I'd gladly lay down my life for you, Julie - if it were necessary. However, hitting Elliott would not only be pointless, but it would be a violation of every principle that I have. It would be the most vicious expression of jealousy. You wouldn't want that, would you?

  Julie Hathaway : Yes, I would.

  John Hathaway : Besides, it wouldn't be fair to him.

  Julie Hathaway : I'm beginning to think I owe him an apology.

• Elliott Morgan : What did you do that for?

  Julie Hathaway : To make him jealous. To test his love.

  Elliott Morgan : Get your clothes on - this is a private home, not a testing ground.

• Julie Hathaway : I can't think all the time. Your love is something I don't understand. It's got too many syllables for me, or something.

• Julie Hathaway : John, you're not going to let a man like that publish your book. He's a low, tricky snake.

• Julie Hathaway : [the lights going out in a thunderstorm]  What happened?

  Elliott Morgan : I have just fallen down stairs.

  Julie Hathaway : That was a silly thing to do.

  Elliott Morgan : I always fall down stairs. It's fun.

• Julie Hathaway : [knocking on Elliott's bedroom door]  Elliott?

  Elliott Morgan : [from his bathroom]  Whaddaya want?

  Julie Hathaway : Where'd you put the sugar?

  Elliott Morgan : Not in my bedroom. Get out!

  [Julie sniffles and sits down on his bed with her coffee cup on a tray] 

  Elliott Morgan : What's that noise? Is there a dog in there?

  Julie Hathaway : No, it's just me.

  Elliott Morgan : Stop making noises. Get out of my bedroom.

  Julie Hathaway : I'm crying, you big ape.

  Elliott Morgan : Well, stop it!

  Julie Hathaway : [sobbing and taking a sip of coffee]  Wait'll John gets here and we'll all have a good cry.

• Julie Hathaway : Oh, darling, I'm so glad you're here. I can explain everything.

  John Hathaway : I'm sure you can, besides your being here isn't important. Come out of there Elliott. I wanna talk to you.

  Julie Hathaway : It isn't important?

  Elliott Morgan : [yelling]  I'm not coming out until everybody calms down. Everybody's being too hysterical.

• Elliott Morgan : [yelling from his bathroom]  Get out of my bedroom.

  Julie Hathaway : What do we care what Nellie thinks? She's the least of my troubles.

  Nellie Woods , John Hathaway : [to John as she walks in with John behind her]  Someday we'll sit down and have a nice long talk about your troubles.

  Julie Hathaway : [running to hug him after the statement]  John, you've come.

  John Hathaway : Where's Elliott?

  Nellie Woods : [pointing at the bathroom door and walking up to it]  Come out you worm, and come out talking.

• Julie Hathaway : Well, I didn't think it was so funny and I told hm so. I said you'd be back to knock his block off.

  John Hathaway : No, Julie, you didn't.

  Julie Hathaway : Well, what'd you want me to do - laugh merrily and go off in the woods with him?

• Nellie Woods : [dropping Elliott's head to the ground with a thud]  You know, I'm beginning to think I had Elliott wrong about this from the very start.

  Julie Hathaway : [dropping John's had to the ground with a thud]  Right or wrong, you never even had Elliott, honey.

  Nellie Woods : You did your best, angel.

  Julie Hathaway : [snapping her fingers after the statement]  Oh, my best? Kitten, all I had to do was that...

  Captain Makepeace Liveright : [as Julie and Nellie push each other and start to brawl]  Ladies, please... oh, ladies please, you mustn't...

  [Julie and Nellie take the Captain down to the ground between them] 

• John Hathaway : [carrying Julie]  Are you angry, Julie?

  Julie Hathaway : I want you to drop me.

  John Hathaway : I won't drop you.

  Julie Hathaway : Then I'm not angry.

• Nellie Woods : And if you're smart, you'll never mention the word jealousy again.

  Julie Hathaway : Why should I? There's no such thing as jealousy.

• John Hathaway : You did it just to make me jealous.

  Julie Hathaway : That's right.

  John Hathaway : Then, why pick a man with a beard? You hate beards and you know I know it.

• Julie Hathaway : They knocked each other out.

  Nellie Woods : John always was a pretty blood thirsty proposition.

  Julie Hathaway : Oh, I don't know. I think that beardless wonder had it coming to him.

  Nellie Woods : Beardless men rather interest you, don't they, dearie?

  Julie Hathaway : Beardless men, perhaps. Elliott looks as if he's been peeled.

• Julie Hathaway : Your love for me is made out of paper with printing on it. My love can't even read. So, what good are they together? You've got a great book, John, and a great system. But it's got no blood; it's got no heart.

• Julie Hathaway : Miss Woods is in love with Mr. Morgan.

  John Hathaway : What makes you think so?

  Julie Hathaway : I don't think so, I know so. I feel it.

  John Hathaway : You don't feel these things - you figure them out.

  Julie Hathaway : You figure them out. I feel 'em.

• John Hathaway : What don't you see?

  Julie Hathaway : I don't see why you're not jealous of Bob Jordan.

  John Hathaway : But I just told you.

  Julie Hathaway : You read me something out of a book. My father never read a book in his life and he loved my mother and he wouldn't let my mother *look* at another man!

  John Hathaway : And what was good enough for your father is good enough for me, is that right?

  Julie Hathaway : And good enough for my grandfather, too!

  John Hathaway : Your grandfather was a notorious wife beater.

  Julie Hathaway : My grandmother never complained. Nor did her mother complain, either.

  John Hathaway : Well, if you go back far enough you'll find they all lived in trees and threw coconuts at one another.

• John Hathaway : Let's, uh, look at this rationally.

  Julie Hathaway : I don't want to be rational.

  John Hathaway : I know, you wanna throw coconuts.