Father Knows Best (TV Series)

The Christmas Story (1954)

Wallace Ford: Nick

Quotes 

• Margaret Anderson : Do you happen to have a truck that can pull our car out or know someone who has one?

  Nick : No ma'am, I don't. Won't do no good anyway. Driftin' might stout out there tonight.

  Margaret Anderson : We've got to get home or we won't have any Christmas!

  Nick : No? Well now, did you ever think of this? It's Christmas up here, too.

• Nick : What's your name, son?

  James 'Bud' Anderson Jr. : Bud, sir.

  Nick : Bud, sir. Good straight-forward name, son.

  James 'Bud' Anderson Jr. : What's yours?

  Nick : Mine? Mine's Nick - or it's Old Nick or it's That Old Man. The name's a label, but the label isn't the important thing - it's what's inside the package that counts.

• Nick : Do you know what's going to happen tonight? A big, beautiful Christmas tree is going to grow up right through the floor about right over there.

  Kathy 'Kitten' Anderson : Honest?

  Nick : Honest injun. Scout's honor.

  Kathy 'Kitten' Anderson : Are you a boy scout, too?

  Nick : Tonight, Kathy, I'm everybody.

  Kathy 'Kitten' Anderson : Huh?

  Nick : I'm a man; I'm a little boy. I'm a father; I'm an uncle, a friend and a stranger - and I'm rich because you're my friend - and because I own tonight.

• Les Turner : How come a smart old coot like you gave yourself away? You knew that smoke in the chimney would lead me right to you.

  Nick : Yeah, sure, but you gotta take a chance when you're lonely.

  Les Turner : You're lonely?

  Nick : Being alone ain't what makes a man lonely. That's just times when a man needs more. You take like... like Christmas Eve.