When Ladies Meet (1941)

Joan Crawford: Mary Howard

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mary Howard : Oh, darling, why did it have to come to this? We were such friends.

  Jimmy Lee : We were never friends, and you know it. Why, I was so nuts about you, I'd of proposed to you the first time I ever met you if I had anything to offer.

• Bridget Drake : When's your book coming out, Mary?

  Mary Howard : In a couple of months.

  Walter Del Canto : What's it about?

  Jimmy Lee : [interrupting as Mary is about to answer, with the description being like how Mary would like her life to be]  Uh, it's about a girl - noble, fine, high principled - is'n love with a married man. Great love, the real thing! He goes for her like a steam roller. But does she try to back away from him? Not in the least. She goes for him... hook, line and sinker.

  Walter Del Canto : And how does it end?

  Jimmy Lee : She sinks!

  Mary Howard : [glaring angrily at Jimmy]  I'm working on the ending now.

  Bridget Drake : [excitedly, then stopping mid-sentence when she realizes what she is about to say]  I'm crazy to read it, Mary! I usually don't like your...

  Mary Howard : [comforting Bridget by cradling the nape of her neck]  Ah, darling.

  Bridget Drake : [embarrassed]  Oh my. Isn't it hot.

• Bridget Drake : [together by themselves on the balcony]  Walter, be amusing... like Jimmy.

  Mary Howard : [together by themselves in the parlor]  Jimmy, now try to be nice, like Walter.

• Mary Howard : Mr. Woodruf and I were working on my book.

  Jimmy Lee : Oh, well you're likely to wreck your eyesight working in this subdued light, Mr. Woodruf.

  [he staggers over to the switch and turns the lights on] 

• Bridget Drake : Walt, be amusing, like Jimmy.

  Mary Howard : Jimmy, never try and be nice, like Walter.

• Mary Howard : Your suspicions, Bridget, are out of order. Mr. Woodruf is a married man.

  Bridget Drake : But of course. The good ones are. Somebody's always beating you to it.

• Mary Howard : Is she a widow?

  Jimmy Lee : Practically.

  Mary Howard : Oh, one of those.

• Jimmy Lee : Oh, baloney. That big literary talk he gives you is nothing but a, a gimmick.

  Mary Howard : A gimmick? I'm afraid I'm not up on your vocabulary.

  Jimmy Lee : Nothing but a line. He's nuts about you for the same reason I am, and it's not because your brainy.

• Jimmy Lee : Tell me honestly, Mary, are you in love with Woodruf?

  Mary Howard : Yes, I am. More than I ever thought I could be.

• Mary Howard : Do you believe most men think somebody else wants them?

  Clare Woodruf : Of course. And somebody usually does.

• Mary Howard : I suppose this will give you an excuse and annoy me all through dinner.

  Jimmy Lee : Don't you want me to stay?

  Mary Howard : No, I don't, dear.

• Jimmy Lee : Hello, Mary.

  Mary Howard : Hi, Jimmy.

  Jimmy Lee : I uh, I uh got lost and came in to find out where I was and where do you think I am? Right here.

• Bridget Drake : Jimmy said that Mrs. Clare is some kind of cousin.

  Mary Howard : Ohhh? You didn't tell me you had a cousin, Jimmy.

  Jimmy Lee : Well, there're cousins and cousins. Heh. She's the kind you don't talk about.

• Clare Woodruf : Jimmy has the makings of a wonderful husband.

  Mary Howard : Huh, a husband -- are you kidding?

  Clare Woodruf : He has a quality that's very rare. He's one of those men who's very attractive and never realizes it. And then, too, Jimmy's a one-woman man. When he once found the one he wanted, if he got her, he wouldn't be looking around, ever. That kind makes a marvelous husband.

• Bridget Drake : Mary, do you think I ought to ask them to stay for dinner?

  Mary Howard : It looks as though Jimmy's already decided that for you.

• Mary Howard : Oh, I adore Bridgie. She's the most intelligent fool I've ever known.

• Mary Howard : What are you doing here?

  Jimmy Lee : Oh, I was just taking a look at the rest of the house, to get the lay of the place before I go to sleep in case of fire. You know, I was in a house once that caught fire in the middle of the night and people came out of the strangest places.

• Clare Woodruf : And what's the wife doing all this time?

  Mary Howard : Oh, she doesn't know.

  Clare Woodruf : Doesn't know... for months her husband's in love with someone else?

  Mary Howard : No, she doesn't.

  Clare Woodruf : Well... either she's very stupid or her husbands incredibly clever.

• Clare Woodruf : The hard thing for me to believe is that she believed this man when he said that he loved her.

  Mary Howard : Ohhh, a woman always knows when a man's in love.

  Clare Woodruf : Perhaps, but, as a married woman, I feel your girl, if she's been around, ought to know enough not to believe a married man when he makes love to her.

• Clare Woodruf : You see, I happen to be married to a man who can no more help attracting other women than he can help breathing. Of course, each one thinks that she's THE love of his life, and that he ultimately will divorce me and marry her. But he doesn't seem to, somehow.

  Mary Howard : Well, that's because you're you. You're not the type that men desert. Oh, no, you're just not that kind of woman.

  Clare Woodruf : We're ALL that kind of woman. There's nothing to be done about it. It's that terrible getting tired of the things we're used to. Nobody can help it, really. I get VERY tired of him sometimes. But, I've made him my man and I've built my life around him.