Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Mary Astor: Mrs. Anna Smith

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mrs. Anna Smith : Sure, don't mind what happens to your family. At a time like this you think about the chickens.

• Agnes Smith : I can't get hungry till it gets dark.

  Katie (Maid) : Dinner's at five-thirty. You can eat blind-folded!

  Mrs. Anna Smith : We have to be out of the dining room by six-thirty. Warren Sheffield is telephoning Rose, long distance from New York. And Rose, if I were you, I wouldn't committ myself one way or another. After all...

  Rose Smith : Mama, for goodness sakes!

  Mrs. Anna Smith : After all, we know very little about him. Why, we haven't even met his folks.

  Rose Smith : It seems to me. It seems to me that one little phone call is causing an awful lot of excitement in this family!

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Besides, you're entirely too young and I don't think your father will allow it.

  Katie (Maid) : Mrs. Smith, if I have to keep lying to your daughters, I'll have to had more money.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Now remember, you two: not a word of this to your papa. You know how he plagues the girls about their beaus.

  Agnes Smith : Everybody knows but Papa?

  Grandpa : Your papa's not supposed to know. It's enough we're letting him work hard every day to support the whole flock of us. He can't have everything.

• Warren Sheffield : Rose Smith, we can't go on like this any longer. I've positively decided we're going to get married at the earliest opportunity and I don't want to hear any arguments. That's final. I love you. Merry Christmas.

  Rose Smith : Merry Christmas

  Mr. Alonzo Smith : Anna, who is that boy?

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Now Lonny he's a very fine young man. We'll talk about it later.

  Grandpa : That young man is so excited he's liable to leave on his honeymoon without Rose.

• Katie (Maid) : Mrs. Smith, who are these boys?

  Agnes Smith : It's me, Katie, it's Agnes!

  Katie (Maid) : Saints preserve us, it is! You had me fooled!

  'Tootie' Smith : Mama, we fooled her!

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Well, if you can fool our Katie, you can fool anyone.

  Katie (Maid) : Agnes, I thought you were a drunken ghost.

  Agnes Smith : But I am. Tootie's a horrible ghost, and I'm a terrible drunken ghost.

  'Tootie' Smith : She was murdered in a den of thieves, and I died of a broken heart. I've never even been buried because everyone's scared to come near me.

• Agnes Smith : Rose, it's six-thirty and Warren hasn't called yet.

  'Tootie' Smith : Maybe he found another girl.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Quiet, you two.

  Rose Smith : Mama, I assure you that I'm not the slightest bit sensitive about Warren Sheffield.

  Grandpa : The queen has spoken.

  Lon Smith Jr. : I suppose Warren's too young, too. Every fellow I introduce her to is too young.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Now, listen. Your papa will be down in a minute, and if we all eat quickly, we may still get out of here before the call comes through.

  Esther Smith : Warren is twenty-one and I think that's a perfect age.

  Rose Smith : He's practically a child.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Your father was twenty when we were married.

  Grandpa : We gave him the bachelor dinner the night before. He almost missed the wedding!

• 'Tootie' Smith : Here comes the invalid. I have to have two kinds of ice cream. I'm recuperating.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : If I ever catch you fibbing again like you did about John Truett, I'll give you something to recuperate about.

• 'Tootie' Smith : I wanna sleep right here.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Of course you will, darling.

  'Tootie' Smith : And I wanna wear Esther's nightgown.

  Rose Smith : I'll get it for you right now.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : I hate to think about what your papa's going to do when he hears about all this. He may strike that Truett boy.

  Rose Smith : I'll do that, Mama.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : All right. And I'll get you some ice cream and cake, Tootie.

  'Tootie' Smith : [singing]  Feed a cold, starve a fever. I was drunk last night, dear Mother, I was drunk the night before. But if you'll forgive me, Mother, I'll never get drunk anymore!

  Esther Smith : I got him! He didn't even have a chance to scratch me.

  Rose Smith : Why, your dress is torn.

  Esther Smith : Oh, that must've happened while he was trying to hold me off. I bit him!

  'Tootie' Smith : [clapping her hands]  I bit him, too!

• Esther Smith : Papa, if losing a case depresses you so, why don't you quit practicing law and go into another line of business?

  Mr. Alonzo Smith : That's a good idea. Starting tomorrow, I intend to play first base for the Baltimore Orioles. I'm sorry, Anna, if I was a little bombastic.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : That's all right, dear, you'll feel better once you've had your dinner.

  Mr. Alonzo Smith : I suppose so, but right now I'm going to soak in that cool bathtub for one solid hour.

  Esther Smith : But that's impossible. Dinner's being served in five minutes.

  Mr. Alonzo Smith : It's only five twenty-five, not six twenty-five.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : We've planned on eating an hour early tonight.

  Mr. Alonzo Smith : Well, the plans have just been changed. I'm taking a bath.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : We're eating early for Katie's sake. Family trouble. She wants to go over there as soon as we've finished eating. Her sister's fighting with her husband.

  Mr. Alonzo Smith : I see. And I suppose they'll stop fighting if I don't take a bath?

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Now she's been with us for ten years, and she never asks favors. We don't want to risk losing her.

  Esther Smith : No, nowadays you can't get a maid for less than twelve dollars a month.

  Mr. Alonzo Smith : I don't care if we have to pay a maid fifteen dollars a month! Dinner's at six-thirty, and if Katie wants to hand in her notice, she can reach me in the bathtub!

• Mrs. Anna Smith : Rose, Esther, the water's hot. We're eating early tonight, so if you're going to wash your hair, you better do it now.

  Rose Smith : All right, Mama. Es, why are we eating early?

  Esther Smith : Well, you certainly don't want the whole family sitting there drinking in every word while a man proposes to you long-distance.

  Rose Smith : Proposes? I don't see why you think Warren's going to propose to me.

  Esther Smith : Well, why else would he be calling you long-distance? Do you know what it costs?

  Rose Smith : I'm not even sure I'll be in. My dear, when you get to be my age, you'll find there are more important things in life than boys!

• Grandpa : That doctor must be walking.

  Rose Smith : Should I call Papa at the office?

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Oh, good heavens no, don't call your father! What could he do? There, there, darling.

  'Tootie' Smith : He tried to kill me...

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Now, tell mama. What happened?

  Esther Smith : It was the streetcar. I think it hit her.

  Rose Smith : It must have knocked her onto the sidewalk, didn't it, Tootie?

  'Tootie' Smith : No, it wasn't a streetcar. It was John Truett. He tried to kill me.

  Esther Smith : John Truett?

  Mrs. Anna Smith : John Truett hit you?

  'Tootie' Smith : He tried to kill me, and when I screamed, he ran away.

  Esther Smith : Tootie Smith, that's a monstrous falsehood. John Truett wouldn't hit a girl, at least of all my sister.

• Katie (Maid) : Would it start a minor revolution in this household if dinner was served an hour early today?

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Mr. Smith hates to eat early on a hot day.

  Katie (Maid) : Eating early on a hot day gives you more time to digest your food before retiring. Besides, I'm due at my sister's at seven o'clock on a family matter.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Is there something wrong with your sister?

  Katie (Maid) : She's having trouble with her husband. Him bein' a man.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Well, eating early is all right with me, but you'll have to explain it to Mr. Smith.

  Katie (Maid) : Oh, he won't mind, seein' as how tonight's corn beef night.

• [first lines] 

  Mrs. Anna Smith : [tastes ketchup]  Best ketchup we ever made, Katie.

  Katie (Maid) : [tastes ketchup]  Too sweet.

  Mrs. Anna Smith : Mr. Smith likes it all the sweet side.

  Katie (Maid) : All men like it on the sweet side. Too sweet, Mrs. Smith.