I'll Get By (1950)

Thelma Ritter: Miss Murphy

Quotes 

• Freddy Lee : How much will you charge me for publishing my song?

  Miss Murphy : [Stunned]  Who let you off the farm?

  Freddy Lee : My Uncle Leland.

• William Spencer : I think it's great, really great.

  Chester Dooley : You'll publish it then?

  William Spencer : Sure. I'll have the contracts drawn, same deal as before.

  Chester Dooley : [Shakes his head]  Uh-uh.

  Freddy Lee : Oh, oh.

  William Spencer : What do you mean, Chester?

  Chester Dooley : Well, no offense, Mr. Spencer, but I want a $100 advance, two cents a copy from the first, and my picture on the sheet music.

  William Spencer : Why, that's a holdup. You gotta lot of nerve.

  Chester Dooley : I had two martinis for lunch.

  William Spencer : How can you come in here and pull a trick like this? You owe everything to me. I picked you out of the gutter and made your name a byword. I plucked you out of obscurity and placed your music in every home in our nation. And this is the thanks I get. Aren't you ashamed?

  Chester Dooley : Yes, sir. I'm ashamed.

  William Spencer : Well, that's better...

  Chester Dooley : And I want a $100 advance, two cents a copy from the first, and my picture on the sheet music.

  [Looks at himself in the mirror] 

  Chester Dooley : On second thought, you can leave my picture off.

  Miss Murphy : You gotta give it a fighting chance.

• Miss Murphy : We are behind in our rent. Listen, what are we going to do, Mr. Spencer?

  William Spencer : I'll tell you what we're gonna do. We're gonna get out and sell. You can't just publish a tune, sit back and hope it hits. You gotta song plug the way they did in the old Tin Pan Alley days. Clear every town, every disc jockey so it gets bands to play it. Personalities to sing it on the air.

  Miss Murphy : The boat has sailed.

  William Spencer : Oh, no, it hasn't. If we could only get the Andrews Sisters.

• Miss Murphy : Hi, Mr. Spencer.

  William Spencer : [Feeling down]  Hiya, Murph.

  Miss Murphy : Look, I don't wanna frighten ya, but I once knew a character that got splinters in his stubble from draggin' his chin that low.

• Liza Martin : Murph! You look wonderful, Murph! What are you doing here?

  Miss Murphy : Stickin' my beak into your business.