Babes in Arms (1939)

Mickey Rooney: Mickey Moran

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mickey Moran : [singing]  Here we are together, a couple of stayer-uppers / Our day is done at breakfast time and starts it with our suppers / Here we are together, ah, but the best of friends must part-y / So let me sing this parting song from the bottom of my heart-y.

• Mickey Moran : Listen, are you kids willing to stick together and pull yourselves out of a hole?

  [all the kids answer affirmatively] 

  Mickey Moran : I've got an idea. Our folks think we're babes in arms, huh? Well, we'll show 'em whether we're babes in arms or not. I'm gonna write a show for us and put it on right here in Seaport. Why, it'll be the most up-to-date things these hicks around here have ever seen. Opening night we'll have Max Gordon, Sam Harris, Lee Schubert, down to give us the once-over. How about it, kids?

  [all the kids cheer] 

  Mickey Moran : We'll get every kid in this town on our side, and we'll start right now! What do you say?

• Rosalie Essex : How much do you need?

  Mickey Moran : Well, let me see. First of all, we're going to use a barn that some actors used last summer and turned it into an outdoor theater. I figured if we all pitched in together - that is, for the scenery and the costumes and everything - it would run us about $287.

  Rosalie Essex : Have you got it yet?

  Mickey Moran : No.

  Rosalie Essex : Well, you have now.

• Mickey Moran : No, no, no, judge! You don't understand; she don't understand, either. Oh, she don't mean no harm to us, but... we're not her kind of people - or yours, either. We belong in show business. We gotta start young so we can get some steel in our backbone. Well, gee, we're developing it. You couldn't teach us a trade, we've got one. And you couldn't do without it. Oh, we're only kids now, but someday we're gonna be the guys that make you laugh and cry and think that there's a little stardust left on life's dirty old pan. Oh, she don't understand. She'd put butterflies to work makin' rubber tires.

• Mickey Moran : Is it really the beginning? Does it mean that I'm really on my way in the theater? Oh, I want success so.

  Patsy Barton : And you'll have it. I know you will, Mickey! Just think when our names are up in electric lights. You, the big composer and producer, and me, the singing star.

• Mickey Moran : Pat, sometimes do you ever feel older than your folks?

• Patsy Barton : It'll be fun. Oh, won't it be fun, Mickey?

  Mickey Moran : Oh, with both of us in there pitching, it certainly will be.

  Patsy Barton : It's got to be.

• Mickey Moran : Gee, it must be terrible to be a has-been.

  Patsy Barton : Don't talk like that. It scares me.

• Mickey Moran : Would you like my pin?

  Patsy Barton : It's your music class pin.

  Mickey Moran : Well, what do you want me to say?

  Patsy Barton : You know what I want you to say.

  Mickey Moran : Well, I won't.

  Patsy Barton : All right then, don't.

  Mickey Moran : Oh, Pat, I do.

  Patsy Barton : You do what?

  Mickey Moran : I do, what you want me to say and I won't. Very much.

  [kiss] 

  Mickey Moran : Well, that settles that.

  Patsy Barton : Yeah.

• Mickey Moran : Gee, you know, it's good for a man to have responsibilities.

• Mickey Moran : Dad, there's a lot of entertainment on this side of the room. You folks are responsible for it. We're your kids, chips off the old block. Most of us were born in theaters, greasepaint in our veins. And you say you don't want us to go on a stage. No. You want us to be lawyers and brokers on Wall Street and your girls to marry rich guys.

  Joe Moran : I suppose that's bad being a broker.

  Mickey Moran : Well, Clark Gable ain't on relief.

• Mickey Moran : Wait, until you hear this Dad, this will send you solid.

• Patsy Barton : Come on, you babes in arms, Stand up for your rights

  Mickey Moran , Don Brice , Kids : We're coming! We're coming!

  Patsy Barton : Come on, you sons and daughters, We gotta fight

  Mickey Moran , Don Brice , Kids : We're coming! We're coming!

• Mickey Moran : Why, say, I think that would be swell!

• Patsy Barton : So you're going to dinner with "Baby" Rosalie tonight, huh?

  Mickey Moran : Now, look, don't go getting jealous. We haven't got time for that stuff.

  Patsy Barton : She made eyes at you.

  Mickey Moran : Oh, you're crazy.

  Patsy Barton : I am not. She's practicing to be a glamour girl, so she can get back into pictures.

• Mickey Moran : I'm not saying I hate her; but, why can't people leave other people alone?

• Mickey Moran : She'd put butterflies to work making rubber tires.

• Mickey Moran : Come on, kids, we got some rehearsing to do.

• Mickey Moran : We belong in show business! We gotta start young so we can get some steel in our backbone. Well, gee, we're developing it. You couldn't teach us a trade. We got one. And you couldn't do without it. We're only kids now, but someday we're gonna be the guys that make you laugh and cry and think that there's a little stardust left on life's dirty old pan.

• Patsy Barton : You look wonderful, Mickey.

  Mickey Moran : Thanks - for always saying the right thing. I can lick wildcats now.

• Mickey Moran : You kids gotta get to work and get some feeling into this number. This show is all business! Cut out the foolin' around. Now, get in there and try the number again.

  Don Brice : Well, do we have to do it in the canoe, Mickey? Its cramped in there. You can't move.

• Mickey Moran : For goodness sake, put some real feeling into it this time.

• Mickey Moran : Swell! Swell! Now, that's the way to sing a song!

• Patsy Barton : [singing]  It seems we've stood, And talked like this before, We looked at each other, In the same way then, But I can't remember where or when

  Mickey Moran : [speaking]  That's right. With *feeling* like that.

  Patsy Barton : You know, I figure you have to know what you're singing about before you can give the idea over to other people.

• Mickey Moran : [at rehearsal]  Ah, terrible. Terrible! Don, terrible!

  Rosalie Essex : I didn't think so.

  Mickey Moran : No, but, it's the way you read the lines. I mean, there's no feeling to it or anything! Look, maybe we'd better try it here on the couch. Don, come over here and sit beside her. I want a more *virile* approach, like Clark Gable would do it. Now, come on, do it once for me, will you?

  Don Brice : Your Majesty, I have a feeling I'm going to find Egypt fascinating.

  Mickey Moran : No, no, that's still not it, Don. Let me show you, will you? Just stand up there for a minute. Look.

  [with a Clark Gable accent] 

  Mickey Moran : Now, see here, Cleo. You've stalled me for the last time. You can't push Mark Antony around like that and get away with it, see. Last month, I took over the south side. Now, I'm taking over the palace. And what's more, I'm taking over you, see? Get your things packed. We're taking a honeymoon on the Nile. I've got a barge waiting with the motor running.

  [stops the Gable accent] 

  Mickey Moran : Now, you see, Don? That's more the way Gable would do it.

  Don Brice : Well, Gable and I work differently.

  Mickey Moran : Yeah, that's why he works more often.

• Mickey Moran : Miss Essex.

  Rosalie Essex : Oh, don't call me that. Call me Baby, everybody does.

  Mickey Moran : Well, all right. What do you do with yourself, Baby?

• Mickey Moran : Listen, Don. You're a - you're a Clark Gable-type. Very modern, polished, and, well, full of suaveness. You see what I mean?

  Don Brice : Yeah, you mean we're suave.

• Mickey Moran : Whatever I've done, I've had to do!

  Patsy Barton : Did you have to kiss "Baby" Rosalie today?

  Mickey Moran : Well, that's my business, honey. I'm a director.

  Patsy Barton : Then you'd better get to work, Mr. Ziegfeld. The Girl Scouts are just clamoring for you!

• Mickey Moran : Let me show you what I mean, huh? Now, this is the way Barrymore would do it. Now, watch, Sid.

  [with Lionel Barrymore accent] 

  Mickey Moran : Now, see here, Cleo. This isn't by chance one of your latest admirers, is it?

  Rosalie Essex : Why, uncle, I don't know what you mean.

  Mickey Moran : [with Barrymore accent]  Don't try to act innocent, my child. The whole town's talking. Now, see here, sonny, we don't like strangers hanging around this place. I'll give you just 48 hours to get out.

  [steps the to other side of Rosalie, drops the Barrymore accent] 

  Mickey Moran : Pardon me, Don.

  [with a Clark Gable accent] 

  Mickey Moran : When I go, Cleo goes with me. I love her, you see? Out of the way, uncle. We're leaving.

  [returns to the other side of Rosalie, back with a Barrymore accent] 

  Mickey Moran : Now, look here, Cleo. I'm your uncle. I love you as if you were my own niece. But this man is marrying you just for your money.

  [returns to the other side of Rosalie, back with a Gable accent] 

  Mickey Moran : She's going with me, understand?

  Rosalie Essex : Do you love me because I'm worth $50 million?

  Mickey Moran : [with a Gable accent]  Nonsense. I'd love you if you only had $40 million. Money isn't everything.

• Patsy Barton : [singing - in blackface]  Hey, I come from Alabammy, With my banjo on my knee, I'm going to Louisiana, For my true love to see

  Mickey Moran : [singing - in blackface]  Now, it rained all night the day I left, The weather, it was so dry, The sun so hot I froze to death, Susanna, don't you cry

  Mickey Moran , Patsy Barton : [singing - in blackface]  Oh, Susanna, oh, don't you cry for me, I've come from Alabama, With a banjo on my knee...

• Patsy Barton : We've got Nelson Eddy, lots of others

  Mickey Moran : We've got three of the four Marx Brothers...

• Bobs : You'll make good for a lot of other people.

  Mickey Moran : Who?

  Bobs : For the millions of kids who never had a chance. For the millions of kids a lot of wiseacres are telling there's no such thing as an American dream. Well, those kids have got their eyes on you. Because you're being given your chance and by the bones of Bacchus, you'd better make good.

  Mickey Moran : Gee, it's bigger than just a show. Say, it's everybody in the country.

• Mickey Moran : [singing]  We've got no Duce, We've got no Führer

  Patsy Barton : But we've got Garbo and Norma Shearer

  Don Brice : Got no goosestep

  Patsy Barton : But we the got a Suzie Q step

  Patsy Barton , Kids : Here in God's country...