Strike Up the Band (1940)

Mickey Rooney: Jimmy Connors

Photos 

Quotes 

• Jimmy Connors : You know, I don't go around steaming people up.

  Mary Holden : Oh, no, of course not.

• Jimmy Connors : Say, Booper, would you like to try a little classical swing?

• Jimmy Connors : Remember once I told you that someday we might have our own dance orchestra?

  Mary Holden : Yes.

  Jimmy Connors : Well, the dog is barking.

  Mary Holden : What do you mean?

  Jimmy Connors : I've been thinking it over in my mind. Well, a fellow doesn't wanna play with a broken-down brass band anymore. You know, the same: dah... dah... dah-di-dah-di. He gets tired of that. Instead of the school having a band play the concert once a year, why, we could have our own great modern dance orchestra! We've got everything we need right here. We've got the brass, the piano, the reeds and you and...

  Mary Holden : Me?

  Jimmy Connors : Sure. You could handle all the vocals.

  Mary Holden : Oh, that sounds wonderful, Jimmy!

  Jimmy Connors : It is wonderful. We could make our own arrangements and specialties and play for all the dances. Mary, we could put Riverwood High School on the map!

• Mary Holden : Jimmy, are you sure you wanna be a drummer?

  Jimmy Connors : Mary, I was never more sure of anything in my life.

  Mary Holden : You've got to be really sure.

• Jimmy Connors : Do you think our love affair has enough *punch* in it?

  Mary Holden : Huh?

  Jimmy Connors : Our love affair?

  Mary Holden : Oh, well, now that you mentioned it, Jimmy...

  Jimmy Connors : Because I've got a new arrangement on it.

  Mary Holden : Oh.

  Jimmy Connors : Oh, it's a dynamite love song just made-to-order for you. I'll play it. Wait until you get a load of this intro. I've got some chords that are really out of this world! Listen. It starts off a little flairy. Are you listening to me? Then it softens down here. It's violins, you know? Then the orchestra sneaks back in for the vocal.

  [singing] 

  Jimmy Connors : Our love affair will be such fun, We'll be the envy of everyone, Those famous lovers, We'll make them forget, From Adam and Eve, To Scarlett and Rhett...

• Jimmy Connors : Vision! That's what he's got. Why, there's a man that can see over the transom. Yes sir, he's gonna go places!

• Mr. Judd : You've taken on a pretty large order, Jimmy. I don't believe you can do it.

  Mary Holden : Oh, he can do it! I know he can do it, Mr. Judd.

  Jimmy Connors : I'm sure I can do it, if you'll *only* give me the chance, Mr. Judd.

• Jimmy Connors : You know, Mary, I'd never be satisfied with a small band. I want a great big one. A symphony! Why, I wanna make American music just as important as any other country's music. Look at George Gershwin. Why, his music is as good as Beethoven or Bach. Better maybe! Best of all, it's American.

• Jimmy Connors : Oh, that's great, fellas! You play it like that tonight and we can't miss. That's all, everybody. Leave your music on the stands. Don't forget 8 o'clock sharp and everybody with a clean shirt.

• Jimmy Connors : We need you, Mary. You're as important to me as the brass section!

• Jimmy Connors : Look, fella, are you gonna play a saxophone or keep your mind on the gals?

• Jimmy Connors : I love music. Why, when I'm sitting there at the drums, I feel as though I'm in the right place. I feel as though I belong there. That's what I wanna do.

  Mrs. Connors : You want to be a drummer - in an orchestra?

  Jimmy Connors : Well, that's part of music, Mom. It's rhythm and, gee, it's been beatin' around in my mind ever since I can remember.

• Jimmy Connors : When the music's happy, it makes the people happy. And when it's sad, they take things out of their lives that made them sad and lose them in music. And then they feel better afterwards.

• Jimmy Connors : Thank you very kindly, ladies and gentlemen. And now, we'd like to do our special number for you. It's called the "La Conga." Oh, yeah, and the vocal will be done by Miss Mary Holden.

  Mary Holden : [singing]  In Havana, Every Cubana, Shakes her bandana to, The La Conga...

• Jimmy Connors : Maybe the School Board is content with having Riverwood remain a little red dot on an auto map, but not me!

• Phillip Turner : Why couldn't we make a deal with the Elks Club to give a dance at their Milk Fund Bazaar? Well, it's only a month away.

  Jimmy Connors : Oh, they don't give dances at any - say, that's not a bad idea. We could put on our own show. That'd be different! We could make up our own specialties and sketches and dance routines.

  Phillip Turner : Great, I like it already.

• Jimmy Connors : Oh, gosh, just think what it would mean if our band ever made that program. Why, it'd put Riverwood High School on the front page of every newspaper in the world!

  Mary Holden : You bet it would.

  Jimmy Connors : Mary, suppose we got to Chicago say on the 28th and we gave Mr. Whiteman the audition. We could stay until the next day and play on the radio program.

  Mary Holden : Oh, Jimmy, It would cost a fortune to get that whole band to Chicago.

  Jimmy Connors : No, I've figured it out. To get the band there and back by bus and two days in Chicago, it'll cost about $200. That's if nobody eats heavy.

  Mary Holden : Oh, Jimmy, that's an awful lot of money even if we have it.

  Jimmy Connors : Yeah, it is quite a bundle.

  Mary Holden : But it's not impossible.

• Jimmy Connors : Hey, Mary! Hey, Mary! Give me a mountain, I wanna crush it into a molehill.

• Jimmy Connors : I got the greatest hunk of news since the invention of the wheel!

  Mary Holden : You have?

  Jimmy Connors : I'm gonna give it straight to you from the eyebrows.

• Jimmy Connors : Women to me are just - people.

• Barbara Frances Morgan : You must see the Riviera.

  Jimmy Connors : Must I?

  Barbara Frances Morgan : Cannes, Nice, San Raphael, Juan-les-Pins. Juan-les-Pins is simply wild.

• Mary Holden : There are a lot more important things in life than going to the fairs with people.

  Jimmy Connors : Sure, sure, sure, there are.

• Jimmy Connors : Well, Mary, couldn't you be my girl without - without us getting silly about it?

• Jimmy Connors : I want a great band. I want them to be a success more than anything and I go rolling off like a rubber tire just when they need me. Why do I do things like that?

  Mary Holden : Because you're stubborn, that's why. Just because you got a pair of long pants on you think you know everything.

• Jimmy Connors : I take $5 that I saved up to buy music with and I throw it away like I was a millionaire.

• Mary Holden : I know if we do well in the tryout tomorrow we can get the Elks Club to furnish scenery and costumes.

  Jimmy Connors : Gosh, do you think we could? We gotta knock them right off their feet! Why, it's laying right in our lap. You could play Nell.

  Mary Holden : And you could play Mr. Goodpenny, the one who falls in love with me. He's supposed to be handsome but you could always use a little makeup.

• Barbara Frances Morgan : When I look back and remember the thousands of dates I've had with so many different boys. When I think of the time I've wasted, the empty hours.

  Jimmy Connors : Oh, I wouldn't say that.

  Barbara Frances Morgan : James, do you *really* want to kiss me?

  Jimmy Connors : Huh?

• Mary Holden : This is a show we're putting on. It's gotta be the greatest that ever hit Riverwood.

  Jimmy Connors : You're right, Mary. We've got to have a great show with a million laughs - and color. And a lot of lights to make it sparkle. And songs. Wonderful songs with you selling them.

  Mary Holden : Oh, it'll be wonderful.

  Jimmy Connors : And after we get the people in that hall we got to start them in laughing right away. Oh, can't you just see it, Mary? The people are just packing in! Why, there's not a seat left in the house. The overture's starting - and the house lights are going down.

  Mary Holden : We're ready to go.

  Jimmy Connors : On stage!

  Mary Holden : Lights. Music!

  Jimmy Connors : Curtain!

• Paul Whiteman : What are you going to do next?

  Jimmy Connors : Keep on pounding the drums as long as anybody will listen to me.

• Paul Whiteman : Jimmy, did you form that band?

  Jimmy Connors : Yes, sir. I kind of cooked it up. But I can't very well pull out on them now.

  Paul Whiteman : That's good enough for me. Jimmy, let me tell you something. When I started out, a band was a bunch of boys with instruments who got together and beat out rhythm for the rest of the folks to dance to. But now it's a profession, and a mighty important one. Take the big bandleader of today. He's almost a household word. He's as well known as your biggest picture actor or your popular baseball player. Fred Waring, Kay Kyser, Glenn Miller. All very popular. But once they were a little guy called Jimmy Connors who - just sort of cooked things up.

• Jimmy Connors : Hey, Leonard, what a set of skins!

  Leonard - Trumpet Player : Yeah.

  Jimmy Connors : Gosh, with a set of drums like these, a guy could get in the White House.

• Leonard - Trumpet Player : They certainly are swell. But we've got just as good a brass section.

  Dick - Second Trumpet Player : Just as loud anyhow.

  Jimmy Connors : Yeah, only they push the valves down at the same time.

• Jimmy Connors : Mom, do you think we're gonna be the best?

  Mrs. Connors : Everybody in Riverwood thinks so.

• Mary Holden : Jimmy, it's wonderful.

  Jimmy Connors : Gosh, aren't you thrilled, Mary?

• Jimmy Connors : I don't have to tell you how I feel. If I felt any better, gosh, I couldn't stand it!

• Jimmy Connors , Mary Holden , Chorus : [singing]  In the gay, gay, The terribly gay, The horribly gay, Gay 90s

  Chorus : Walking down Broadway, The festive gay Broadway, The okay thing on Saturday, Is walking down Broadway, The lady on your arm, Is full of grace and charm, And life is very, very gay...

• Clarinet Player : Gee, I never felt more in the mood.

  Jimmy Connors : Me neither. Say, it wouldn't do any harm to knock out a couple, would it?

  Phillip Turner : No!

  Clarinet Player : No, it wouldn't.

  Jimmy Connors : So what are we waiting for?

  Phillip Turner : Just a downbeat!

  Jimmy Connors : Well, all right then, let's get ready. Sid, get over at the piano. One, two.

  Mary Holden : [singing]  There's a boy down on our street, Plays the drums with such a beat

  Mary Holden , Chorus : You cannot control your feet, When you hear the drummer boy

  Mary Holden : In the morning when you wake, You can hear him take a break

  Mary Holden , Chorus : Soon the whole street starts to shake, When they hear the drummer boy, Bing bang, ding dang...

• Chorus : [singing]  When youth has had, Its merry fling, We'll spend our evenings, Remembering

  Chorus , Mary Holden , Jimmy Connors : Two happy people, Who stay on the square, Isn't ours a lovely, Love affair...