Peggy Ann Garner credited as playing...
Francie Nolan
- Francie Nolan: Out the window, our tree they killed it!
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: Well, would you like at that now.
- Francie Nolan: They didn't have any right to kill it did they papa!
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: Now wait a minute. They didn't kill it. Why they couldn't kill that tree.
- Francie Nolan: Promise?
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: Why sure baby. Don't tell me that tree is gonna lay down and die that easily. Look at that tree. See where it's coming from. Right up outta that cement! Didn't nobody plant it. Didn't ask the cement to grow. It just couldn't help growing so much it just pushed that old cement out of the way. Now when you bust it with something like that, can't anybody help it, like... like that little ole bird up there. He didn't ask anybody could he sing and he certainly didn't take any lessons. He's so full of singing it just has to bust out someplace. Why they could cut that ole tree right down to the ground and a root would push up someplace else in the cement.
- [last lines]
- Francie Nolan: Neeley ...
- Neeley Nolan: Uh-huh?
- Francie Nolan: Am I good-looking?
- Neeley Nolan: Aw, what's eatin' ya?
- Francie Nolan: No, honest, Neeley, I wanna know.
- Neeley Nolan: [after considering her for a few moments] You'll pass.
- Francie Nolan: You're sweet, Neeley.
- Neeley Nolan: Aw, cut the mush.
- Francie Nolan: [Johnny has promised to get Francie enrolled in the school she admires.] Bend down Papa.
- [He does.]
- Francie Nolan: My cup runneth over.
- Francie Nolan: Mama says not to be too late, Papa.
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: Look, God invented time and when He invents something, there's always plenty of it.
- Francie Nolan: He can't be dead. He can't. They don't understand. Maybe you could let me have a baby someday. It could be a boy so it could be just like him... and it'd have to be me. Nobody else loved him like I do. Maybe you could do that for me. And if you could - he wouldn't even die.
- Neeley Nolan: I bet she has a fight with Aunt Sissy tonight.
- Francie Nolan: It's got something to do with men like Aunt Sissy too much.
- Neeley Nolan: Well, Papa says we ought to make everybody like us.
- Francie Nolan: I guess maybe ladies shouldn't.
- Francie Nolan: Mama! Mama, they're cutting the tree!
- Katie Nolan: Oh, that's too bad. It was kind of pretty there with birds sitting in it sometimes.
- Francie Nolan: Papa loved that tree.
- Katie Nolan: Ah, quit moonin' over it. It got in the way of the washing. A tree ain't gonna put no pennies in the bank.
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: Why ain't you layin' out my clothes?
- Francie Nolan: Oh, Papa, you always make fun. You know you haven't any more clothes.
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: Haven't any more clothes, huh? What's this?
- Francie Nolan: A tie.
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: And this?
- Francie Nolan: A dickey.
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: And this?
- Francie Nolan: An Apron.
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: Well them's clothes, ain't they?
- Francie Nolan: [to a policeman] We only borrowed them for just a minute. Honest!
- Aunt Sissy: That's right. There wasn't nobody usin' 'em. And a little fun and frolic on a Saturday never hurt nobody. Bet you know all about that, don't ya?
- Sheila's Mother: If you think you're gonna get out of it making eyes at the law, I don't know what the world's coming to!
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: Look, prima donna. After all, you know, this ain't exactly according to the rules.
- Francie Nolan: You mean it's wrong?
- Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: No, sir. Not by a jugful it ain't wrong.
- Francie Nolan: This says he's a hero. He saved some people in a fire.
- Aunt Sissy: Does it say where?
- Francie Nolan: The 9th Precinct, Manhattan.
- Aunt Sissy: Manhattan, huh? Couldn't make the grade in Brooklyn, I guess.
- Francie Nolan: "Beshrew the witch! With venomous..."
- Neeley Nolan: That ain't even English!
- Francie Nolan: It is, too! Shakespeare wrote the best English of anybody!
- Neeley Nolan: All right, then you tell me what it means, you're so smart.
- Francie Nolan: I didn't say I know what it means. I said I liked it.
- Francie Nolan: Papa, the people in the hall when we brought up the tree, the look on their faces, all friendly and nice. Why can't people be like that all the time, not just on Christmas?