Female (1933)

Ruth Chatterton: Alison Drake

Photos 

Quotes 

• Alison Drake : I know for some women, men are a household necessity; myself, I'd rather have a canary.

• Della, Alison's Maid : Lemon or cream, Madame?

  Harriet Brown : Cream and two sugars, please.

  Alison Drake : Cream and two sugars? My, you're a reckless woman! No wonder you look so happy.

• [last lines] 

  Jim Thorne : What about you?

  Alison Drake : Oh, you didn't know? I'm gonna have nine children.

  Jim Thorne : Is that all?

  Alison Drake : That's all.

• Red, Alison's Dance Partner at Party : [Flirting]  Oh, you make these other women look like it's a hard times party.

  Alison Drake : [Unimpressed]  Oh, say it isn't so!

• Alison Drake : [wide-eyed]  Oh I'm really quite human, you'd be amazed...

• Harriet Brown : Aren't you ever going to marry?

  Alison Drake : No thanks, not me. You know, a long time ago I decided to travel the same open road that men travel. So, I treat men exactly the way they've always treated women.

• Alison Drake : Darling, you can't work with men for 14 hours a day for 5 years and not lose your girlish illusions.

  Harriet Brown : Well, if it does all that to you, why'd you into the business in the first place?

  Alison Drake : Necessity. Because when father died I was the only one who new anything about it. Now here I am. I can't let go. It's like holding a tiger by the tail. Oh, but I love it. It's the battling and the excitement. I don't think I could do without it now.

  Harriet Brown : But you're missing so much, Alison. The real things, the...

  Alison Drake : You mean men?

  Harriet Brown : Yes.

  Alison Drake : Oh, I see lots of men.

• Alison Drake : Della, you wouldn't have these problems if you were a fallen woman.

• Alison Drake : Get me two sensible women. And it takes more than flat heels and glasses to make a sensible woman.

• Alison Drake : Listen, Cooper, no more flowers. Don't get sentimental. Understand?

  Cooper : But, Alison?

  Alison Drake : Miss Drake.

  Cooper : But last night?

  Alison Drake : Forget last night.

  Cooper : But, out at your home, I...

  Alison Drake : This is my office. I'm only interested in making automobiles here. That's what you're being paid for. Is that plain?

  Cooper : Yes. I guess it is.

  Alison Drake : That'll be all.

• Alison Drake : On your mark, get set, go!

• Alison Drake : Don't you know a woman's always flattered when a man thinks about her.

• Alison Drake : I am a woman.

• Alison Drake : Unethical, my foot! What's that got to do with business? You lawyers waste more time with trick words.

• Alison Drake : I detest parties! A lot of people I don't want to see, telling me a lot of things I don't want to hear.

  Della, Alison's Maid : I suppose these out-of-town dealers have to be entertained. Well, it's business.

  Alison Drake : It certainly isn't pleasure.

• Alison Drake : Where do we go from here?

• Alison Drake : Tell me more about you.

  Jim Thorne : Listen, what's the idea of all these questions? You workin' for the government?

  Alison Drake : No. Just tryin' to get acquainted. What's your name?

  Jim Thorne : Aw, you're too fresh.

• Alison Drake : Come, sit down here. I want you to talk to me.

  Jim Thorne : About what?

  Alison Drake : About me.

  Jim Thorne : Oh, I see. Well, you may be president of the Drake Automobile Company, but, I was engaged as an engineer - not as a gigolo. And I'm not holding my job by humoring any little whims of yours.

  Alison Drake : I assure you, this is not a little whim!

  Jim Thorne : And hereafter when you want to talk business, you can see me at the factory.

  Alison Drake : You're very rude!

  Jim Thorne : I'm very sorry. Good night, Miss Drake.

• Alison Drake : [throwing a pillow onto a "lounging area"]  Are you naturally enthusiastic?

• Alison Drake : Hey, wait a minute. Where are you going?

  Jim Thorne : Now, listen. We've had a big evening. I took you dancing and bought you an elegant supper. Now, you get on your bicycle and peddle along, wherever you're going.

  Alison Drake : I'm going with you!

  Jim Thorne : Oh, no. You're a nice kid, but, I don't take up pick-ups home with me. Understand? Good night.

• Jim Thorne : Say, what is this. Are you following me around?

  Alison Drake : Can't help myself. You're so irresistible.

  Jim Thorne : You work here?

  Alison Drake : Yeah. Do you?

  Jim Thorne : I just started today. What department are you in?

  Alison Drake : The pick-up department.

• Jim Thorne : Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

  Alison Drake : Sit down.

  Jim Thorne : Baby, you certainly are fresh.

• Jim Thorne : I'd put the clutch here. You see the advantage of that. Do you see the advantage of that?

  Alison Drake : What?

  Jim Thorne : I was explaining about the clutch.

  Alison Drake : Oh, the clutch, of course. I was thinking about something else.

• Jim Thorne : Now, the rear axle is three-quarters filtered. You equip it with tappered rollar bearings with excess radial load and thrust capacity.

  Alison Drake : Aw, doesn't vodka affect you at all?

  Jim Thorne : No. Well, not very much.

  Alison Drake : But, most men, I mean, eh, vodka, eh-eh, you know...

  Jim Thorne : Oh, when I was in Russia once on an engineering job, we used to brush our teeth with it there.

• Jim Thorne : You know, you're a very amazing person.

  Alison Drake : Because I run a factory?

  Jim Thorne : No, because you forget so completely running a factory.

  Alison Drake : You mean, because, I become so completely a woman?

  Jim Thorne : Yes. That's it.

  Alison Drake : You know, very few people have the intelligence to realize that they confuse the two things, so hopelessly.

  Jim Thorne : Oh, very few people have the advantage of first meeting you in a shooting gallery as a pick-up and then having drinks with you in the ten cents a dance palace. I found out quite a bit about you.

  Alison Drake : You know, I needed you that night. I needed to have someone accept me as plain woman.

• Alison Drake : I think the reason that I resented it was because you refused to take me seriously. You were amused.

  Jim Thorne : What did you expect?

  Alison Drake : Oh, I don't know, quite. But, I think if you'd said "Come here" and yanked me into a corner and kissed I'd a been terribly grateful.

• Jim Thorne : There's just one more point, now, about these blueprints that I want to show you here.

  Alison Drake : Oh, we were forgetting business so beautifully. Must you talk about automobiles?

  Jim Thorne : Yes!

  Alison Drake : I thought engineering was a profession, not an affliction.

• Alison Drake : That blonde stenographer of Thorne's, I want her discharged immediately!

  Pettigrew : Certainly, Miss D.

• Alison Drake : What's happened to me? I'm getting petty!

  [Lights a cigarette] 

  Alison Drake : Look here, what kind of woman do men like? How do they want them to act?

  Pettigrew : Well, that depends. A man of Jim Thorne's type, for example, wants a woman who'll look up to him. Gentle. Feminine. Someone he can protect. That's because Jim Thorne is strong and - rather primitive, perhaps. The dominate male, my dear.

  Alison Drake : Gentle and feminine, eh? So that's what they want. Well, we strive to please.

• Alison Drake : Oh, Mr. Thorne, would you mind helping me light this fire before you go? I don't seem to be able to.

• Tom : Good morning, Alison.

  Alison Drake : Hello, Tom.

  Tom : You're looking fresh as a rose this morning.

  Alison Drake : Can you put that in writing?

• Jim Thorne : I suppose you think you're too superior for marriage and love and children - things that women were born for. Say, who do you think you are? Are you so drunk with your own importance, you think you can make your own rules? Well, you're a fake! You've been playing this part so long you've begun to believe it. The great super woman. Cracking her whip and making these poor fools jump around. You and your new freedom. Why, if you weren't so pathetic, you'd be funny!

  Alison Drake : You better go.

  Jim Thorne : Don't worry! I'm on my way. But, the laughs on me. I bring a marriage license to a pick-up!

• Alison Drake : I can't go on! I don't belong here! This is no place for a woman! I know, I've always thought I was different. I've always tried to beat life the way men beat it - but, I can't. I can't! All this crazy, frantic struggle! Fighting with bankers. Trying to save the business! What's it to me? You do what you like with it - I don't care!

  [Runs out of the board room to her adjoining office] 

  Pettigrew : That's right, my dear, have a good cry. It's just what you need. Of course, I've been expecting this for some time. It's only natural. You couldn't go on as you have been - living on your nerves, running this big business all by yourself. You're just a woman, after all. This job is too much for you. I don't wonder you quit.

  Board Member : [Alison returns to the board room]  What are we going to do?

  Alison Drake : Gentlemen, I apologize. Please forget that that ever happened.

• Alison Drake : Don't be absurd. You're being old-fashioned.

  Jim Thorne : Is it old-fashioned to want to be decent?