Since You Went Away (1944)

Shirley Temple: Brig Hilton

Photos 

Quotes 

• Colonel William G. Smollett : Good morning. Mrs. Hilton, I presume?

  Anne Hilton : Yes.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : May I be permitted to observe that this is the first house I've found in this godforsaken community that doesn't smell of cabbage.

  Anne Hilton : Well, it does sometimes.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : I was given to understand at the office of the Purchasing Division, to which I have the misfortune to be attached, that you had a room for rent.

  Anne Hilton : Yes, but I specified an officer. You see, my husband...

  Colonel William G. Smollett : My name is Smollett, William G., Colonel, United States Army, retired. Retired, I might add, by virtue of certain fatuous opinions held in the War Department which judge a man's usefulness neither by his experience nor his ability, but by the number of years since he was weaned.

  Brig Hilton : [dog growls and barks]  Soda. Soda!

  Colonel William G. Smollett : There was nothing in the information I was furnished, madam, which indicated that you had children and domestic pets.

  Anne Hilton : Well, I'm sorry, but they go with the house.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : We won't discuss it. With your permission, madam, may we dispense with further conversation? I should like to inspect the room.

  Anne Hilton : Certainly. Just follow me. I do hope you'll forgive me if I've been long-winded.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : Not at all, madam. Through a full, and somewhat protracted existence, I have learned to accept the natural tendency of all women to be garrulous.

  Anne Hilton : You're very tolerant, Colonel.

• Anne Hilton : [on the phone]  How much will that be for three days? What? Brig, turn that thing off, I can't hear. I'm awfully sorry. Yes. Will this get into the early edition? Yes. Fireplace and bay window. Oh, all right, put in "homey atmosphere."

  Brig Hilton : Mother! Mother! Wait, please!

  Anne Hilton : Keep quiet, Brig. Would you send the bill to this address, please? Thank you.

  Brig Hilton : Mother, you don't mean you're going to rent *your* room?

  Anne Hilton : Of course I am, that's the room that will bring the most money. I'll take your room, and you can double up with Jane.

  Brig Hilton : But Mother, you're not going to put somebody in Pop's room? Oh, I didn't mean that.

  Anne Hilton : Now, you wouldn't want those characters in that other city to put Pop in anything but their best room, would you?

  Brig Hilton : But that's different. He's Pop.

• Colonel William G. Smollett : Oh yes, and another thing. I neglected to inform your mother that I like my breakfast promptly at seven. Coffee, thin toast, and two eggs, boiled, two and a half minutes, under no circumstances more than three.

  Brig Hilton : But golly, Colonel Smollett, we can't afford to give you breakfast.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : Indeed?

  Brig Hilton : Even as it is now, poor Mother doesn't know what she's going to do. When Fidelia was here, the bills didn't seem so high, but now, with the way things are going...

  Colonel William G. Smollett : Please. I'm quite prepared to pay.

  Brig Hilton : Oh. That's fine. What would you say to fifty cents a day?

  Colonel William G. Smollett : That seems a bit high under the circumstances.

  Brig Hilton : All right, we'll make it three dollars a week. There's the doorbell. Well, let's call it a deal. Good night, Colonel.

• Colonel William G. Smollett : [studying a map]  Wettookit. Wettookit. You must have the name wrong.

  Brig Hilton : No. Here it is in Pop's letter. "Now, we're here in Texas on maneuvers... in a little town called Wettookit. We came, we saw, we took it!"

  Colonel William G. Smollett : "We took it." Very funny. I would appreciate it, my dear Bridget, if in the future you could spare me from your father's elaborate puns.

• Brig Hilton : You say it's animal?

  Anne Hilton : That's right.

  Jane Hilton : And its home is in the Middle West.

  Anne Hilton : Umm-hmm.

  Brig Hilton : And it makes a noise like a lion, but it puffs like a locomotive.

  Anne Hilton : Umm-hmm. Better give up. You agreed if you hadn't guessed it by the time we got home.

  Jane Hilton : Oh, I know. It's Soda.

  Anne Hilton : Oh, no. Brig guessed that long ago.

  Brig Hilton : All right. I give up.

  Anne Hilton : It's Colonel Smollett, silly.

• Emily Hawkins : Hello, Jane. What's this I hear about you working at the hospital?

  Jane Hilton : I'm a nurse's aide.

  Emily Hawkins : A nurse's aide? Oh! What a revolting idea for an unmarried girl of your age. Well, our whole code of living seems to be completely ignored these days, and possibly it's none of my business...

  Lieutenant Tony Willett : You're quite right, Mrs. Hawkins. It is none of your business.

  Emily Hawkins : I must say, Lieutenant, or Commander, or whatever you are, the Navy hasn't improved your manners any.

  Anne Hilton : Please, Tony. Please, Emily. It's the Colonel's birthday, and we're trying to have a party.

  Emily Hawkins : I'm sorry. I meant no offense to you, Jane. I simply feel that well-brought up young girls shouldn't be permitted to have such intimate contact with all sorts of...

  Jane Hilton : All sorts of boys who've lost their arms and legs? They're young too, lots of them. But they weren't too young for that, Mrs. Hawkins, and I don't think breeding entered into it either.

  Colonel William G. Smollett : Bravo, Jane.

  Emily Hawkins : I don't care to debate it with you, Jane. But surely there are women more suited to such...

  Jane Hilton : That's just it. There aren't women more suited. And women who might help, like you, Mrs. Hawkins, think you're doing your part if you attend a canteen dance for your own pleasure.

  Anne Hilton : You're tired, honey. Why don't you go upstairs?

  Jane Hilton : Yes, Mother. But there are just one or two more things I want to say.

  Brig Hilton : Come on, darling. She's not worth it.

  Jane Hilton : We're not V-girls! We're simply helping with the wreckage.

  [laughs sarcastically] 

  Jane Hilton : All right, Brig, let's go play with our dolls! Don't worry, Mrs. Hawkins. Please don't worry if our precious well-bred hands come in contact with those mangled bodies. We'll survive! Even if they dont!

  [runs upstairs with Brig] 

  Emily Hawkins : Anne Hilton! What on earth has happened that you would permit a child of yours to talk that way without so much as...

  Anne Hilton : Without so much as what? Thank heaven my child has the courage to say to you what should have been said long ago. And let me add that I'm ashamed. Ashamed that I've put up with you, that I've even known you.

  Emily Hawkins : Well! From now on, you needn't know me. Don't you think for a minute you have me fooled, Anne Hilton. I've not forgotten how you felt about your husband joining up. And may I ask just what other noble sacrifices you've made to give you the privilege of being so self-righteous?

  Anne Hilton : I'm afraid that's just it, Emily. I haven't really made any sacrifices. Oh, I haven't hoarded and cheated and done all the other selfish, unpatriotic things that you've done. But as far as making sacrifices, I'm afraid we're two of a kind. And the realization of it doesn't make me very proud or happy.

• Brig Hilton : I know! Why don't we take somebody into the house? You know, a roomer!

  Anne Hilton : Oh, well, if you're going to throw away aces, Jane, that's fine with me.

  Brig Hilton : But Mother, listen to me, why shouldn't we rent a room? There's such a terrible shortage.

  Jane Hilton : Go away. Down with five.

  Anne Hilton : It's perfectly ridiculous, Brig. A stranger in our home. Where you get your ideas is beyond me.

  Jane Hilton : Certainly it's ridiculous. It's communism, that's what it is!

  Brig Hilton : Oh, pooh! We could get an officer maybe. And it might be sort of like having Pop back.

  Jane Hilton : An officer? You know, Mother, I think maybe she's right. I understand there's not a room to be had in town. It might be very patriotic of us to take an officer into our house.

  Brig Hilton : Patriotism hasn't anything to do with it. You're just crazy about uniforms, that's all. Ha! Patriotic!

  Jane Hilton : I think we should do everything we can for our soldiers. That's being patriotic, I...

  Anne Hilton : Brig, Jane, now that's enough. Do you want to finish this game, or don't you?

  Jane Hilton : 102. It's a blitz.

  Anne Hilton : Turn out the dining room lights, Brig.

  Brig Hilton : Suppose Pop were looking for a room in some crowded city like this.

  Anne Hilton : Hurry up, Jane, it can't be that hard to figure out.

  Brig Hilton : And suppose there were a nice family like ours that had three bedrooms for three people. Don't you think it would be just malicious of them not to want to rent a room to Pop?

  Anne Hilton : Well, Jane?

  Jane Hilton : I won almost $6,000. 592 points at $10 a point.

  Anne Hilton : All right, deduct it from what you owe me.

  Brig Hilton : And poor Pop, sleeping in the park!

  Anne Hilton : All right, all right. Pop is sleeping in the park, and the people are all malicious, and we decide to rent him a room. Now you satisfied?

  Jane Hilton : You will, Mother? You'll do it?

  Anne Hilton : I didn't say I'd do it. I'll think about it.

  Brig Hilton : I just knew you couldn't be mean like those characters in that other city. I wonder how much we can get for Jane's room.

  Jane Hilton : My room?

• Brig Hilton : Class president! Class pin-up girl. I heard all about how she got elected.

  Anne Hilton : Oh, that's not fair, Brig. Becky's a very bright girl.

  Emily Hawkins : She most certainly is. I would say that Becky's one of the brightest, and one of the most attractive girls in this town.

  Anne Hilton : Oh, I wouldn't go so far as to say that.

  Fidelia : No, ma'am!

• Second Train Conductor : Tickets, please.

  Brig Hilton : Conductor, can't we do anything to get this train going?

  Second Train Conductor : I wish we could, but those supply trains have the right-of-way.

  Brig Hilton : But we're going to meet my Pop! He's in the Army, and if this train is late, we may not see him before he leaves!

  Second Train Conductor : Don't you think those tanks had better get through if you want him to come back?