Quotes

Tom Baxter: You make love without fading out?

Cecilia: I just met a wonderful new man. He's fictional but you can't have everything.

Tom Baxter: Cecilia, it's clear how miserable you are with your husband. And if he hits you again, you tell me. I'd be forced to knock his teeth out.

Cecilia: I don't think that'd be such a good idea. He's big.

Tom Baxter: I'm sorry. It's written into my character to do it, so I do it.

Tom Baxter: I was thinking about some very deep things. About God and his relation with Irving Saks and R.H. Levine. And I was thinking about life in general. The origin of everything we see about us. The finality of death; how almost magical it seems in the real world, as opposed to the world of celluloid and flickering shadows.

Hooker: [to another hooker] Where did you FIND this clown?

Movie Patron: You can't talk to my wife that way - who do you think you are?

The Countess: I'm a genuine countess with a lot of dough, and if that's your wife she's a tub of guts.

Jason: What are you people doing here? We can't continue the story 'til Tom gets back.

Harold: Oh, we don't mind observing you all.

Harold's Wife: Yes. My husband is a student of the human personality.

Rita: Oh yeah, well we're not human.

Harold's Wife: It doesn't matter to Harold. He has trouble with humans.

The Countess: You know what they get for rape in a small town? Especially by a man in a pith helmet?

Tom Baxter: It's so impulsive, but... I'll come. Why not? What's life without a little risk taking? Who knows?

Rita: This is just disgusting! I am an heiress and I don't have to put up with this!

Jason: I'm bored with sitting around. I'm a dramatic character. I need forward motion.

Mr. Hirsch's Lawyer: As your lawyer, I advise you to get control of it fast. A character from one of your productions on the loose? Who knows what he's capable of? Robbery? Murder? I see lawsuits.

Larry: I want to go too! I wanna be free! I want out!

Mr. Hirsch's Lawyer: I'm warning you, that's Communist talk!

Gil Shepherd: Where's Tom?

Cecilia: Why?

Gil Shepherd: Well, he's my character. I created him.

Cecilia: Didn't the man who wrote the movie do that?

[last lines]

Theater Manager: Cecilia, what are you doing here?

Cecilia: Meeting Gil Shepherd.

Theater Manager: They all gone.

Cecilia: Th - whaddaya, whaddaya mean?

Theater Manager: They went back to Hollywood.

Cecilia: Gil too?

Theater Manager: Mr Shepherd, yeah. Soon as Tom Baxter went back up on the movie screen - couldn't wait to get outta here. He said this was a close call for his career. I think he's gonna play Charles Lindbergh.

[pause]

Theater Manager: Don't forget, Cecilia, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers start today.

Tom Baxter: I still can't get over the fact that hours ago I was in an Egyptian tomb. I didn't know any of you wonderful people, and here I am now! I'm on the verge of a madcap Manhattan weekend!

Tom Baxter: [pauses after kissing Cecilia] Where's the fade-out?

Cecilia: What?

Tom Baxter: Always when the kissing gets hot and heavy just before the lovemaking, there's a fadeout.

Cecilia: Then what?

Tom Baxter: Then we're making love in some private, perfect place.

Cecilia: That's not how it happens here.

Tom Baxter: What, there's no fade out?

Cecilia: No, but when you kissed me, I felt like my heart faded out. I closed my eyes, and I was in some private place.

Tom Baxter: How fascinating. You make love without fading out?

Cecilia: Yes.

Tom Baxter: Well, I can't wait to see this!