Richard Denning: Michael Shayne

Quotes 

• Dick Hamilton : Mike, you wait and see. Miss Neptune will be either Gay Dennis or Sally Dean.

  Birdie Summers : Well, Mike darling, do you consider my client's body worth guarding?

  Michael Shayne : Sorry, Birdie. I gave up bodyguard work when I gave up bubblegum.

• Birdie Summers : Oh, wait a minute, precious. You don't think Gay performed that little dagger dance?

  Michael Shayne : You said the Dean girl threatened your client. Now was that the truth or more bait for a headline?

  Birdie Summers : Mike, darling, I would gladly sacrifice my second and my third husband to science for the sake of publicity, but I do draw the line somewhere.

• Michael Shayne : Did Kayle threaten Gay?

  Birdie Summers : Sally did and so did Benny Weems.

  Michael Shayne : Who's Benny Weems?

  Birdie Summers : Oh, a little cherub with cauliflower ears and brass knuckles. Mort Kayle apparently assigned him to see to Sally's welfare.

• Michael Shayne : He killed Sally?

  Birdie Summers : It's possible.

  Michael Shayne : What reason would he have? You said he was supposed to be guarding Sally not kill her.

  Birdie Summers : Maybe she was two-timing Kayle. Maybe Weems was ordered.

  Michael Shayne : A professional torpedo using a pair of scissors? Nah, he'd be laughed out of the regiment.

• Michael Shayne : Look up the address of the Springtime Flower Shop. Stop by there and find out who sent one dozen long stemmed roses to a Miss Gay Dennis here at the Club Tropicale.

  Lucy Hamilton : Is this romance or trouble?

  Michael Shayne : Both! I turned down a job and turned up a murder.

• [Gentry is investigating a murder at a beauty pageant] 

  Michael Shayne : Hi, Will.

  Police Lt. Gentry : It's no use, Mike. With your legs, you'll never make the finals.

  Michael Shayne : I can dream, can't I?

• Mort Kayle : Who done this? Tell me how it happened.

  Police Lt. Gentry : Suppose you tell us.

  Mort Kayle : You think I done this? You think I'd pull the string on a girl like Sally?

  Police Lt. Gentry : You pulled lots of strings before.

  Mort Kayle : That was years ago. I run a good, clean investment business now.

  Michael Shayne : You still got a few enemies left, Kayle. Would any of them try to get to you through Sally?

  Mort Kayle : My enemies, like you call 'em, there'll all legit now. Some of them, they're even me clients. They wear blue suits with white shirts without shoulder holsters.

• Michael Shayne : You didn't find those scissors here; you put them here to frame Gay.

  Ellen : That's a pure-blooded lie!

  Michael Shayne : Gay's been in police custody, Ellen. She hasn't had time to steal the scissors.

  Ellen : And I suppose I knocked myself on the head and knocked me unconscious, too.

  Birdie Summers : [sarcastically]  Ellen, dear, how versatile you are!

• [reading a card that came with a box of roses] 

  Birdie Summers : "Be beautiful for me." Oh, that's a touching sentiment, Mike. Are you writing your own dialogue these days?

  Michael Shayne : It was sent to Gay Dennis. Any idea who her suitors are?

  Birdie Summers : Only every American male over the age of twelve.

• Michael Shayne : This card came in this box of roses...

  Birdie Summers : What roses?

  [Mike turns around and discovers the box of roses has been stolen from Gay's dressing room] 

  Michael Shayne : Yeah. What roses?

• [answering phone] 

  Police Lt. Gentry : Homicide, Gentry. Yep, he's here Lucy.

  [Gentry hands Mike the phone] 

  Police Lt. Gentry : Try to remember I'm a public servant, not yours.

  Michael Shayne : I'm trying. I may hire you yet.

• Michael Shayne : And when he heard Ellen coming, he hid and slugged her as soon as her back was turned.

  Lucy Hamilton : I don't know. It takes a special kind of guy to be that cheap... and that brutal.

  Michael Shayne : Know any?

  Lucy Hamilton : No, thanks!

• Michael Shayne : Who sent her those roses?

  Birdie Summers : She grew them herself.

  Lucy Hamilton : We happen to think it was Mort Kayle.

  Birdie Summers : [chuckling]  Mort Kayle? Mort Kayle and Gay? That's the most amusing thing I've heard in years! Lucy, sweet you are, charming - but Mort Kayle and Gay?

  [breaks into peals of laughter] 

  Lucy Hamilton : One more giggle and I'm going to poke her right in the nose.

• Michael Shayne : Kayle didn't seem to think it was quite so funny.

  Birdie Summers : Oh, Kayle didn't tell you that.

  Michael Shayne : He's a client of mine. He's trying to level with me about everything.

  Birdie Summers : Mort Kayle is about as level as a cobblestone street.

• Michael Shayne : Mort... Vinnie Weems. Where does he fit in?

  Mort Kayle : I already told you once. He was her escort, her bodyguard... her man Friday.

  Michael Shayne : Also Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday?

• Michael Shayne : [to Kayle]  I put my reputation on the hook when I took you as a client. Now you level with me or I'll hang you on the hook with it!

• Michael Shayne : According to Kayle, Sally Dean was going to be the next Miss Neptune - positively for sure. Those were his own words.

  Tim Rourke : Was he talking like a fixer or a man in love?

  Michael Shayne : He's a lot more capable of a true fix than a true love - but how?

  Tim Rourke : Bribe the judges maybe?

  Michael Shayne : That's practically impossible - three of the top people in their field.

  Tim Rourke : Oh, I don't know, Mike. Hilda Lord used to be a top designer, but she's over the hill now. Rudy Bordeaux - he's a good commercial artist, but he'd draw anything from flies to a beer for a quick buck. And Bruce Godfrey - he's produced three commercial flops in a row.

• Mort Kayle : Hey, Shayne - you really believe I'm innocent, don't you?

  Michael Shayne : Yeah. It surprises me, too.

• Michael Shayne : Those old scorecards the judges use... Wonder what happens to them when they're through with them?

  Lucy Hamilton : Oh, they probably throw them away.

  Michael Shayne : Let's go for a little walk.

  Lucy Hamilton : Mr. Shayne walking out on a stage of beautiful girls? You're getting older than you think.

• [Mike and Lucy start rummaging through the nightclub's trash cans] 

  Lucy Hamilton : Mike, what am I looking for?

  Michael Shayne : Old scorecards.

  Lucy Hamilton : Huh. Well, it's always nice to have a hobby.

• [last lines] 

  Lucy Hamilton : And you spent my twenty bucks on the wrong girl.

  Dick Hamilton : Sis, ah, do you have another twenty bucks?

  Lucy Hamilton : What for?

  Dick Hamilton : I got a date with the new Miss Neptune right after the pageant.

  Lucy Hamilton : Oh, no!

  Michael Shayne : Richard, my boy, I've been underestimating you. Here.

  [Mike hands Dick a twenty-dollar bill] 

  Michael Shayne : Now if you get a chance, put in a good word for me, huh?

  Dick Hamilton : Yes, sir!