The Gang's All Here (1943)

Edward Everett Horton: Peyton Potter

Quotes 

• Phil Baker : Oh, Dorita, you remember Mr. Potter and Mr. Mason.

  Dorita : Ah! I remember Mr. Potty. You are here to kick up some more heels, huh?

  Peyton Potter : No!

  Phil Baker : Mr. Potter wants you to come to his house this weekend.

  Dorita : Ah-ah-ah, you naughty boy. You are what they call a fast-work man, yes?

• Peyton Potter : [inspecting lipstick on his handkerchief]  Hmm... ketchup?

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : No doubt. And from a Brazilian tomato.

• Mrs. Peyton Potter : Well old swoopy, swapping swoops at your age. What have you got to say about that?

  Peyton Potter : I told you darling we were simply discussing investments.

• Peyton Potter : I am a businessman. I go in for no foolishness. I'm entirely business.

  Dorita : Oh, I like that. Maybe you show me how to be all business too!

• Peyton Potter : I hope that woman's his wife, because if she's not, there should be a law.

• Andy Mason : Mrs. Potter give you a furlough too?

  Peyton Potter : I promised my wife I'd be home before midnight. I like to keep my promises. She expects me to and I expect her to expect it.

• Peyton Potter : Now, see here A.J., I should have been more firm. When I told you that I am never seen in places like this, I meant it. I don't know how you've managed to get me this far. I should have put my foot down.

  Andrew Mason Sr. : Don't be a square from Delaware. Get hep to yourself.

  Peyton Potter : What kind of talk is that?

  Andrew Mason Sr. : I heard it on a jukebox.

• Peyton Potter : This place gives me a very uneasy feeling, A.J.

  Andrew Mason Sr. : Shame on you. Gimme your hat and get your mind off your wife.

• Andy Mason : Well, I talked to Mrs. Potter and everything's fine. She was delighted to hear that you had taken up dancing again.

  Peyton Potter : She was? Did you tell her about me out there on the floor? Did you tell her about me dancing with that South American savage?

• Peyton Potter : This is all your fault, A.J. It was you who sicced that gypsy on me.

  Andrew Mason Sr. : She's no gypsy. She's a Brazilian!

  Peyton Potter : Well, whatever she is, she's a...

  Andrew Mason Sr. : She's a bombshell!

• Mrs. Peyton Potter : Peytie, can I help it if I'm irresistible?

  Peyton Potter : It's that vitamin B1. I told you you were taking too much. You're overdoing it.

• Dorita : Mr. Potty, I'm afraid of you.

  Peyton Potter : You are, really?

• Peyton Potter : You have the busiest hands.

  Dorita : Yes? You think so?

• Dorita : Mr. Mason is serving everyone mint jalops and I bring you a mint jalops too! It's delicious.

  Peyton Potter : Yes, well, you might have saved yourself the trouble. I am a teetotaller. I never touch alcohol.

  Dorita : Oh, you don't touch it. You drink it.

• Phil Baker : Ugly word, blackmail. Don't say it again.

  Peyton Potter : Blackmail, blackmail, blackmail.

• Peyton Potter : [When Mrs. Potter walks in on him and Dorita]  Darling, how marvelous. We were just discussing the invasion - the investments.

• Peyton Potter : I never touch alcohol.

  Dorita : Oh, you don't touch it, you drink it.

• Peyton Potter : Why not another stag diner, A.J.? I had a very good time at that last one.

  Andrew Mason Sr. : No, no, Right here. Behind his name he signed N.S.D.

  Peyton Potter : Yes, National Selection Draft. You see that's what...

  Andrew Mason Sr. : National Selection nothing. It's N.S.D. - no stag dinner.

• Phil Baker : [Phil and Mrs. Potter are in her boudoir]  You know what to do now?

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : No, my mama never told me. Don't you worry about me.

  [a knock at the door] 

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : Here he is.

  Phil Baker : Come on, baby. Do your stuff.

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : Come in.

  [Enter Peyton] 

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : Oh, Peyton.

  Peyton Potter : You sent for me, dear?

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : Yes, I did.

  Peyton Potter : What's Mr. Barlow doing here?

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : [the ensuing scene is acted in a very florid melodrama style, very Clyde Fitch]  Protect me. This man is blackmailing us.

  Peyton Potter : Blackmail? What's he want, money?

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : Would it were money he wanted.

  Peyton Potter : What do you mean by that?

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : He threatens me unless I allow my daughter, your daughter, our daughter to dance in the show with Tony De Marco.

  Peyton Potter : Why, that's unthinkable. Oh, you blackguard. Oh, you gangster. How could you think of such a fiendish scheme?

  Phil Baker : Now, Mr. Potter, the only decision I want you to make is this: shall I introduce Vivian as the charming child of Mr. And Mrs. Peyton Potter... or shall I simply announce, ladies and gentlemen... I give you the talented daughter of the notorious Blossom Murphy?

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : Ohhh!

  Peyton Potter : You know her name?

  [to Vivian] 

  Peyton Potter : You told him your name?

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : [tragically]  No, Peyton, he knew me... in Paris.

  Peyton Potter : In Paris? You scoundrel! Out of her dark past which she has lived down so beautifully... so gracefully, you come at a time like this to blackmail her.

  Phil Baker : Ugly word, "blackmail. " Don't say it again.

  Peyton Potter : Blackmail, blackmail, blackmail! How much money does he want?

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : I don't know.

  Phil Baker : As I said before, or should have said, you cannot bribe me with gold. It is the artistry that was Blossom Murphy that I would restore to the world through her daughter Vivian.

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : Oh, Peyton, you won't make her do it! You won't make her appear in that show! I would die!

  Peyton Potter : I see no other way out, darling. Mr. Bailey has us in his power.

  Phil Baker : Will you give your consent, Mrs. Potter?

  Mrs. Peyton Potter : If Mr. Potter insists!

  Peyton Potter : What else can I do? But I'm not finished with you yet. I'll see a good lawyer today to deal with you for this outrage.

  Phil Baker : My brother in Brooklyn, he's a wiz on blackmail cases.

  Peyton Potter : Oh, is he?

  Phil Baker : Yes.

  Peyton Potter : Really!