- Ethel: [singing] Am I blue? Am I blue? Aint these tears in these eyes tellin' you, Am I blue? You'd be too, If each plan with your man done fell through. Cause there was a time I was his only one, But now I'm the sad and lonely one, Lawdy, Was I gay? Until today, Now he's gone, And we're through, Am I blue?
- Kitty: I'm certainly praying for a good house. You know, tonight tells the tale: Broadway or bust!
- Jimmy: Gosh, honey, I know the show would have a better chance if you were up there on the stage.
- Kitty: I wonder - if I ever will get a break.
- Jimmy: Sure you will! You're gonna be a big star on Broadway. Why, with your youth and beauty and me, in back of ya, why, honey, we're a cinch!
- Kitty: Together: we're sure fire!
- Joe Beaton: Say, look here, you. See that you're not walkin' around on that first entrance of mine tonight.
- Harold: Listen, you. You forget that I'm the junior leading man on this show!
- Joe Beaton: I don't care if you're the leadin' lady. Don't walk on my laughs!
- Harold: And I'm gonna get mad now that you...
- Pete: Hey, hey! Pipe down you prima donnas! On with the show!
- Sarah: Miss French, I've asked you and asked you and asked you to take your suitcases and junk out of my dressing room and I shan't ask you again.
- Nita: Can I depend on that?
- Sarah: Jerry, I can't work with that woman! She's driving me crazy! Cluttering up my room with her things! I won't stand it! I won't...
- Nita: Don't hysterics me, darling. I'm a woman myself.
- [walks away]
- Sarah: Well, I hope you have gall stones.
- Sarah: Ethel Waters is gonna sing "Am I Blue?" Hot diggity dog! You'll love it! Come on! Come on. Come on!
- Jerry: Now, listen, Joe, you've got this kid scared to death. Just leave him to me. I'll take care of him.
- Joe: Yeah? Well, can I depend on that?
- Jerry: Sure. Now, screw. I'll take care of Jimmy.
- Joe: All right, but, say, let me tell ya somethin'. If any one of you birds get actin' crooked, why, it's just gonna be too bad. Just too bad!
- Kitty: I could get Mr. Wallace to help us. Oh, Jerry, I know what he wants and so do you.
- Jerry: Now see here, Kitty, there's only a few of you sweet kids left. Stay that way. Get me?
- Kitty: I know, but, maybe I could make him my slave without even lettin' him touch me.
- Jerry: Your self-confidence is only exceeded by my big feet.
- Kitty: I know how those gold diggers work. I haven't been brought up in the theater all my life for nothin'.
- Harold's Fiancee: [singing] Here's a few things, I'm dying to know, When I want to sing to you, When I want to cling to you, Don't it mean a thing to you, Sweetheart? When I cuddle near to you, Don't I make it clear to you, That my love is here for you, Sweetheart...
- Joe Beaton: [to the Twins] You know, you're lookin' twice as nice as I've ever seen you look before.
- Durant: I'm crazy about you. I love you.
- Kitty: What kind of love?
- Durant: Practical love. The kind of love that comes wrapped up with jewelry. That's what I'm offering you, you sweet, pretty, little kid, you. The kind of love that don't fade with the moon. Don't you understand, Kitty? You're green. Get some experience and get it from me.
- Kitty: Well, maybe I am green.
- Durant: Awful green. It hurts my eyes. I have to wear smoked glasses every time I look at you.
- Jerry: Nita, aren't you due on? The second act is nearly over.
- Nita: Just in a few minutes.
- Jerry: But, you're not dressed?
- Nita: Well, what woman is nowadays?
- Jerry: Oh, quit cracking wise.
- Nita: Oh, listen to the slave driver. Where's your whip?
- Sam Bloom: Don't mind him. He's in trouble.
- Nita: Aren't we all!
- Joe: I'm foxy. I'm foxy because I just grabbed two wise crackin' guys in a hurry. Now you two boys are in a hot spot.
- Ethel: [singing] Nobody's foolin' Birmingham Bertha, She's had schoolin' Birmingham Bertha, Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth's my plan, Just treat me halfway fair and I'm on the level, Give air and i'm just a she-devil, He's on my mind, I intend to find that man, Bu't I'll admit I'm just the worst simple Simon that you know, Gave him my diamonds and all my dough, But you can bet it, he'll regret it, He's gonna get it and so, Don't expect no two dollars worth of sympathy, From Birmingham Bertha, Like the police I never release my man...
- Jimmy: What happened between you and Wallace?
- Nita: He hit me, the egg. He struck a defenseless woman.
- Jerry: And what did you do?
- Nita: Oh, I stayed within the law, all right. He'll live. Yep, he hit me and I mopped up the dressing room with him.
- Sam Bloom: Why all this battle between you two?
- Nita: The best reason in the world: we are married.
- Nita: You know, I was all through with this business. Ready to eat and grow fat. But, I promised to love, honor, and obey the little rat, so I took off my clothes and went to work.