Old Acquaintance (1943)

Miriam Hopkins: Mildred 'Millie' Drake

Photos 

Quotes 

• Kit Marlowe : I'd better get out of here, Millie, before I do something I'll be very sorry for.

  Millie Drake : Yes, go! And if you think I want you to come back ever you're wrong! Well? why don't you go?

  Kit Marlowe : In just a minute.

  [She puts down her parcels, crosses the room, grabs Millie by the shoulders and shakes her violently, then shoves her so she falls on the sofa] 

  Kit Marlowe : Sorry.

  [She picks up her things and exits, leaving Millie throwing a tantrum] 

• Belle Carter : [to Kit]  Tell me, how is your new book coming along?

  Kit Marlowe : Well, I write and I write, and I still don't like it.

  Belle Carter : But, at least when you do turn one out, it's a gem! None of this grinding them out like sausage...

  Belle Carter : [she realizes that she has just insulted Millie and pauses with embarrassment]  I suppose I could cut my throat.

  Millie Drake : [clearly offended]  There's a knife on the table!

• Millie Drake : Where are your pajama pants?

  Kit Marlowe : Oh, I never use 'em.

  Millie Drake : No?

  Kit Marlowe : No.

  Millie Drake : Oh!

• Millie Drake : This changes everything.

  Kit Marlowe : Changes what?

  Millie Drake : My new book, the one I told you I was writing. You see, it's about two women friends. They're practically brought up together. They have their ups and downs, and finally...

  Kit Marlowe : You mean, like us?

  Millie Drake : Oh, the characters are all imaginary but, In a way, yes.

  Kit Marlowe : Millie, you never cease to amaze me.

• Kit Marlowe : [final lines]  What you going to call it?

  Millie Drake : Well, I'm not sure. I've had several ideas. What do you think of Auld Lang Syne?

  Kit Marlowe : Well, if it's about us, why not Old Acquaintance?

  Millie Drake : Old Acquaintance. Old Acquaintance. Of course, Kit.

  Kit Marlowe : Let's drink to that, Millie.

• Preston Drake : Oh, so you saw her?

  Millie Drake : Yes! I saw her. She looked like someone who was selling something. I'm sure if she'd have been a man she wouldn't have shaved.

• Millie Drake : When your book came with your name on it and my name printed inside, something happened to me. Oh, it wasn't jealousy! I'm above jealousy. You know that.

• Kit Marlowe : Millie, remember whenever we were in the dumps, your Mother used to say, "Don't worry, girls. There's always whats left of the icing."

  Millie Drake : I remember.

• Millie Drake : Why does she keep her out so late? It upsets her whole routine.

  Preston Drake : They've had a marvelous time. Been on a bender. Both of them completely cockeyed.

  Millie Drake : Preston, I'm in no mood for your silly jokes.

• Preston Drake : Now, Millie, you're tired. Let me fix you a nice, big drink.

  Millie Drake : How many have you had?

  Preston Drake : Fourteen or fifteen.

  Millie Drake : Oh, stop being funny.

• Millie Drake : Preston, you know I don't like you to drink in the daytime.

  Kit Marlowe : Its as good a time as any.

• Preston Drake : Millie, you better see that press lady. I told her as much as I could.

  Millie Drake : What did you tell her?

  Preston Drake : Oh, how brilliant and capable you are and how we regard life from our pinnacle of success.

  Millie Drake : But, Preston, I've asked you a thousand times to let me handle my own interviews.

  Preston Drake : I had to be polite.

  Millie Drake : Well, next time, please talk about something else.

• Millie Drake : is it laziness or affectation that you don't like to see your name in print? Why, there are posters all over the place about your play and your name isn't any size. It's all Julia Broadbank.

  Kit Marlowe : Her name will bring in more people than mine.

  Millie Drake : But you're the author, you wrote the play. Why should you be pushed off the mat by actors?

• Kit Marlowe : I'm not so sure the play's any good.

  Millie Drake : Oh, you make me furious. Now, supposing I started one of my books with the attitude I wasn't sure about it. Where would I be?

  Kit Marlowe : Where I am, probably.

• Millie Drake : Oh, people are a nuisance. The only people I need are in my books. Outside of Preston and my baby, no one means anything.

  Kit Marlowe : Me, too?

• Kit Marlowe : You must remember, Millie... you've never not been sure about anything.

  Millie Drake : You mean I'm too sure?

  Kit Marlowe : I didn't say that. But you must admit, you're a very certain little woman.

  Millie Drake : Perhaps, I am. But I certainly couldn't see myself at our age waving in the breeze like a piece of limp rag.

• Millie Drake : You don't seem to know, or care, what's gonna happen to you from one minute to the next. Now, when I make up my mind I want something, I work until I get it. Then I hold onto it like a bulldog with his teeth.

• Millie Drake : Oh, Kit, hasn't there ever been anything in your life that you've really wanted?

  Kit Marlowe : Well, coming right at this moment, that's a hard question to answer. But you keep holding on, darling, and I'll keep wondering whether I should. And I may wave around like that limp rag, but there is a certain ecstasy in wanting things you know you can't get.

• Preston Drake : Hey, what's going on with you two? What's the joke?

  Millie Drake : Oh, our Kit's in a very rambunctious mood today. I think I must write a play sometime, and see if I can feel rambunctious.

  Kit Marlowe : I'm sure you will, Millie.

• Millie Drake : What do you think you're doing?

  Preston Drake : "'The time has come,' the Walrus said, 'to talk of many things: 'Of socks and shirts and dressing gowns, and whether pigs have wings."'

  Millie Drake : You're drunk!

  Preston Drake : Oh, no, Millie, I'm not, but I am very happy.

• Millie Drake : Kit, I want something more out of life than just books and a discontented daughter. We aren't getting any younger, you know.

  Kit Marlowe : Yes, Millie, I'm quite aware of that.

• Preston Drake : I thought it best to make a clean break. I'm rather one of the old, sentimental sort and I knew if I saw Deedy again, it might upset the apple cart. So I decided to put her clean out of my mind. All of you. Kit, too.

  Millie Drake : Kit?

  Preston Drake : Yes, Kit.

• Millie Drake : You asked me a while ago... how I happened to let anything like your father get away from me. Well, I'll tell you. He was taken away from me. Filched!

  Deirdre Drake : Filched?

  Millie Drake : Oh, well, stolen, then.

• Millie Drake : She was carrying on with him like some Jezebel. Well. Well, I can wish her no worse fate than that for which she is heading now.

  Deirdre Drake : What do you mean by that?

  Millie Drake : Oh, she's embarking on a little cradle-snatching. That silly young boy she's been carrying on with has been called into the Navy. And she must immediately become a young sailor's bride of 42.

• Millie Drake : Apparently Rudd is still infatuated and anxious for marriage - in spite of the closeness of their relationship.

  Deirdre Drake : Just what do you mean by that?

  Millie Drake : Just what you think I mean.

  Deirdre Drake : Well - this is quite a surprise.

  Millie Drake : Oh, the longer you know Kit the more you'll find she's full of hidden surprises.

• Kit Marlowe : Well, Millie, you've always said you wanted to write what you call "an artistic flop." Maybe this will be it.

  Millie Drake : No, Kit. The public doesn't expect a sad ending from me. Two women left all alone like this.