The Lost Boys (1978)

Maureen O'Brien: Mary Barrie

Quotes 

• J.M. Barrie : Boys, I don't want to make a speech, but I just want you to know that if the play's a failure, well, it's entirely your fault.

  George : Why us?

  J.M. Barrie : Because you're the real authors. It had nothing to do with me. All I did was rub the five of you together to make a flame. That's all Peter Pan is. Just the spark I got from you.

  George : I had nothing to do with Wendy!

  J.M. Barrie : No, she's a spark from an entirely different quarter, for which I offer my humble apologies.

  Mary Barrie : He'll go on for hours if we give him the chance. Come on, Jim, the executioner awaits!

• Charles Frohman : We opened "Napoleon and Josephine" in Omaha on a Monday and called it a tragedy. On Tuesday, we called it a comedy. On Wednesday, we called it off. Moral of the story is there's no such thing as bad towns, only bad plays. Isn't that right, Jimmy?

  J.M. Barrie : First rule of the American theater: The audience is never wrong. Do you remember when you put on "Romeo and Juliet" in the Bronx, and when it was all over, the audience cried out for the author? Not wishing to disappoint so discerning an audience, Charles modestly stepped forward and took the bows.

  Mary Barrie : Oh, Charles, you didn't!

  Charles Frohman : Whereupon they showered me... with rotten matzoh-balls!

• Mary Barrie : There is one small thing you could do for me, if you really want to give me a present.

  J.M. Barrie : Yes?

  Mary Barrie : The way you kissed me just now, the way you always kiss me, I'd be so grateful if you never did it again.

• Mary Barrie : What is this all about, anyway? I didn't even think you were interested in censoring plays.

  J.M. Barrie : The committee is for the abolition of censorship.

  Mary Barrie : Well, there you have it. Mr. Canaan must have thought I was a complete idiot. Isn't there anything I could do?

  J.M. Barrie : Yes, pass me the ink, would you?

  Mary Barrie : You're the richest writer in the country, and you have to smear your sleeves with ink. I meant, isn't there anything I could do to help you with the committee work?

  J.M. Barrie : You could try and read this handwriting if you like. It's even worse than mine.

  Mary Barrie : Would you like me to type-write them?

  J.M. Barrie : You don't know how to type-write.

  Mary Barrie : I could learn. The machine I gave you, you never use it.

  J.M. Barrie : [shrugging]  If it amuses you. I'll be staying with Arthur tonight, so don't bother to wait up for me.

  Mary Barrie : Oh, can I really?

  J.M. Barrie : Really what?

  Mary Barrie : Type-write these papers.

  J.M. Barrie : I just said you could, although I can't think why you would want to.

  Mary Barrie : To be of use to you.

• Mary Barrie : Have you never read "The Little White Bird"?

  Gilbert Cannan : Can't say that I have.

  Mary Barrie : Well, it's all in there. A bachelor meets a boy in Kensington Gardens and makes him his own by telling him stories about Peter Pan.

  Gilbert Cannan : And who was George?

  Mary Barrie : The boy in the Gardens.

  Gilbert Cannan : And Peter Pan?

  Mary Barrie : Well, there you have me. I don't think Jim even knows where he came from.

  Gilbert Cannan : And this was before you were married?

  Mary Barrie : Oh, no, we'd been married four or five years by then.

  Gilbert Cannan : And you have no children of your own?

  Mary Barrie : No, no, we... we decided against it.

• J.M. Barrie : I thought we'd agreed no interviews.

  Mary Barrie : It wasn't an interview. He just asked me a few questions, that's all. Oh, Jim, a few harmless questions. Why make such a fuss?

  J.M. Barrie : I do not wish to have our private lives paraded in public.

  Mary Barrie : You're a fine one to talk! What do you spend your entire life doing?

  J.M. Barrie : I've never given an interview in my life!

  Mary Barrie : That's because there's nothing left to interview. You spread us like jam on every page you write.

  J.M. Barrie : That's my affair.

• Mary Barrie : When I was an actress, I told a reporter I'd been starring in London for six weeks, and the next day I read, "Mary Ansell has been starving in London for six weeks!" And I didn't think anybody knew!

• Mary Barrie : And who were you flirting with?

  J.M. Barrie : Oh, just a friend of a friend.

  Mary Barrie : What friend?

  J.M. Barrie : You don't know him.

  Mary Barrie : Her husband?

  J.M. Barrie : No.

  Mary Barrie : Is she married?

  J.M. Barrie : Respectably.

  Mary Barrie : Well, who is she?

  J.M. Barrie : If you must know, Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, the daughter of one George du Maurier, sister of one Gerald du Maurier.

  Mary Barrie : But we don't know the du Mauriers.

  J.M. Barrie : I didn't say we did.

  Mary Barrie : You said she was a friend of a friend.

  J.M. Barrie : I was referring to her son.

• Arthur Llewelyn Davies : You don't mind, do you? About the boys?

  Mary Barrie : Not really. At least they help him take his mind off his depressions. I try to help him, but... I've been married to him for seven years now, and not once have I found the key. But they seem to have found it without even trying.

  Arthur Llewelyn Davies : Did Sylvia mention that we're thinking of moving from London?

  Mary Barrie : No, where to?

  Arthur Llewelyn Davies : Nothing's been decided yet. We're still in two minds about it. But I've got my eye on a house in Berkhamstead. It's not too far from London, and there's a good school for the boys.

  Mary Barrie : This has nothing to do with Jim, has it?

  Arthur Llewelyn Davies : Good heavens, no.

• J.M. Barrie : Give up Canaan.

  Mary Barrie : What?

  J.M. Barrie : Give up Canaan

  Mary Barrie : But Jim, I thought we'd agreed...

  J.M. Barrie : We agreed nothing! Please, Mary, I can't stand the loneliness without you!

  Mary Barrie : You won't be lonely. You have plenty of friends. You have Sylvia.

  J.M. Barrie : What has she got to do with this?

  Mary Barrie : Sylvia has always meant far more to you than I have. And once you and I are divorced, I don't see why you and she can't...

  J.M. Barrie : [shocked]  Sylvia is a married woman!

  Mary Barrie : Oh, Arthur's been dead for almost three years!

  J.M. Barrie : That makes no difference whatsoever! Sylvia is devoted to Arthur! Why, I would no more think of coming between Sylvia and Arthur than I would Canaan coming between us!

• Mary Barrie : I don't want forgiveness. I want to marry Gilbert Canaan. I want nothing else than a divorce.

  J.M. Barrie : I will not allow it! Run away with him, be his mistress, do whatever you like! But I will not grant a divorce!

  Mary Barrie : I will not be his mistress. I will be his wife. There is nothing you can do to stop me.

  J.M. Barrie : Please, Mary, please...

  Mary Barrie : I'm sorry, Jim, but if you won't grant me a divorce, then I shall apply for an annulment.

  J.M. Barrie : An annulment?

  Mary Barrie : I will say that our marriage has never been consummated.