A Night at the Opera

A Night at the Opera Quotes

A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.

Otis B. Driftwood: It's all right, that's in every contract. That's what they call a sanity clause.
[Fiorello laughs loudly]
Fiorello: You can't fool me! There ain't no Santay Claus!
Otis B. Driftwood: That woman? Do you know why I sat with her? Because she reminded me of you.
Mrs. Claypool: Really?
Otis B. Driftwood: Of course, that's why I'm sitting here with you. Because you remind me of you. Your eyes, your throat, your lips! Everything about you reminds me of you. Except you. How do you account for that? If she figures that one out, she's good.
Otis B. Driftwood: I saw Mrs. Claypool first. Of course, her mother really saw her first but there's no point in bringing the Civil War into this.
[Driftwood agrees to read the contract to Fiorello]
Otis B. Driftwood: All right, I'll read it to you. Can you hear?
Fiorello: I haven't heard anything yet. Did you say anything?
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, I haven't said anything worth hearing.
Fiorello: Well, that's-a why I didn't hear anything.
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, that's why I didn't say anything.
Otis B. Driftwood: And now, on with the opera. Let joy be unconfined. Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons, and necking in the parlor.
[Fiorello and Driftwood go over the second clause of their contract]
Otis B. Driftwood: Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
Otis B. Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, you should of come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning. I was blind for three days!
Otis B. Driftwood: You didn't happen to see my suit in there, did you?
Fiorello: Yeah, it was taking up too much room, so we sold it.
Otis B. Driftwood: Did you get anything for it?
Fiorello: Uh... dollar forty.
Otis B. Driftwood: That's my suit all right.
Otis B. Driftwood: Two beers, bartender!
Fiorello: I'll take two beers, too.
[Fiorello and Driftwood go over the first clause of their contract]
Otis B. Driftwood: Now pay particular attention to this first clause because it's most important. It says the, uh..."The party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the party of the first part." How do you like that? That's pretty neat, eh?
Fiorello: No, that's no good.
Otis B. Driftwood: What's the matter with it?
Fiorello: I dunno. Let's hear it again.
Otis B. Driftwood: It says the, uh..."The party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the party of the first part."
Fiorello: That sounds a little better this time.
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, it grows on you. Would you like to hear it once more?
Fiorello: Er... just the first part.
Otis B. Driftwood: What do you mean? The... the party of the first part?
Fiorello: No, the first part of the party of the first part.
Otis B. Driftwood: All right. It says the, uh, "The first part of the party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the first part of the party of the first part shall be known in this contract..." look, why should we quarrel about a thing like this? We'll take it right out, eh?
[Driftwood opens a drawer in his trunk to find Tomasso sleeping]
Otis B. Driftwood: That can't be my shirt, my shirt doesn't snore.
Fiorello: Shh! Don't wake him up. He's got insomnia, he's trying to sleep it off.
[the ship is sailing away from the dock]
Otis B. Driftwood: Hey, have I got time to go back and pay my hotel bill?
Ship Captain: Sorry, too late.
Otis B. Driftwood: That suits me fine.
Henderson: You live here all alone?
Otis B. Driftwood: Yes. Just me and my memories. I'm practically a hermit.
Henderson: Oh. A hermit. I notice the table's set for four.
Otis B. Driftwood: That's nothing - my alarm clock is set for eight. That doesn't prove a thing.
Engineer's Assistant: I'm the engineer's assistant.
Otis B. Driftwood: You know I had a premonition you were going to show up. The engineer's right there in the corner. You can chop your way right through.
Otis B. Driftwood: Have you got any milk-fed chickens?
Waiter: Yes, sir.
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, squeeze the milk out of one and bring me a glass.
[in reference to Tomasso]
Otis B. Driftwood: Wouldn't it be simpler if you just had him stuffed?
Fiorello: He's no olive.
Otis B. Driftwood: You see that spaghetti? Now, behind that spaghetti is none other than Herman Gottlieb, director of the New York Opera Company. Do you follow me?
Mrs. Claypool: Yes.
Otis B. Driftwood: Well stop following me or I'll have you arrested!
Otis B. Driftwood: [to Tomasso, who's knocked out Lassparri] Nice work I think you got him. Ah, smelling salts? That will bring him to. You're sorry for what you did eh? That shows a nice spirit. Now he's coming along. He'll be fine.
Manicurist: Did you want a manicure?
Otis B. Driftwood: No, come on in.
Otis B. Driftwood: Don't you know what duplicates are?
Fiorello: Sure, those five kids up in Canada.
Otis B. Driftwood: Ladies and gentlemen... I guess that takes in most of you...
Otis B. Driftwood: Do they allow tipping on the boat?
Steward: Yes, sir.
Otis B. Driftwood: Have you got two fives?
Steward: Yes, sir!
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, then you won't need the ten cents I was gonna give you.
Fiorello: [Disguised as one of the world's greatest aviators] So now I tell you how we fly to America. The first time we started we got-a half way there when we run out a gasoline, and we gotta go back. Then I take-a twice as much gasoline. This time we're just about to land, maybe three feet, when what do you think: we run out of gasoline again. And-a back-a we go again to get-a more gas. This time I take-a plenty gas. Well, we get-a half way over, when what do you think happens: we forgot-a the airplane. So, we gotta sit down and we talk it over. Then I get-a the great idea. We no take-a gasoline, we no take-a the airplane. We take steamship, and that friends, is how we fly across the ocean.
Otis B. Driftwood: You know the old saying. Two's company, fives a crowd.
Otis B. Driftwood: And eight pieces of French pasty.
Fiorello: With two hard-boiled eggs.
Otis B. Driftwood: And two hard-boiled eggs.
[Tomasso honks his horn]
Otis B. Driftwood: Make that three hard-boiled eggs.
Otis B. Driftwood: [talking about "the greatest tenor in the world"] Do you know America is waiting to hear him sing?
Fiorello: Well, he can sing loud, but he can't sing that loud.
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, I think I can get America to meet him halfway.
Otis B. Driftwood: Now we're getting somewhere.
Lassparri: Never in my life have I received such treatment. They threw an apple at me.
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, watermelons are out of season.
Otis B. Driftwood: You're willing to pay him a thousand dollars a night just for singing? Why, you can get a phonograph record of Minnie the Moocher for 75 cents. And for a buck and a quarter, you can get Minnie.
Fiorello: You got some mail for me?
Tony: Mail for you? You don't work here.
Fiorello: Well where am I gonna get my mail? I no work anyplace.
Mrs. Claypool: Get off that bed. What would people say?
Otis B. Driftwood: They'd probably say you're a very lucky woman.
Henderson: What is that bed doing there?
Otis B. Driftwood: I don't see it do anything.
Mrs. Claypool: I've been sitting right here since seven o'clock.
Otis B. Driftwood: Yes, with your back to me. When I invite a woman to dinner I expect her to look at my face. That's the price she has to pay.
Fiorello: How do you do?
Otis B. Driftwood: [resting his foot on Lassparri, who's been knocked out] Hello.
Fiorello: What's the matter Mr.?
Otis B. Driftwood: Oh, we had an argument and he pulled a knife on me so I shot him.
Fiorello: [raises a foot] Do you mind if I...?
Otis B. Driftwood: No-no, go right ahead. Plenty of room.
Fiorello: What'll I say?
Otis B. Driftwood: Tell them you're not here.
Fiorello: Suppose they don't believe me?
Otis B. Driftwood: They'll believe you when you start talking.
Herbert Gottlieb: [to Mrs. Claypool] All of New York will be under your feet!
Otis B. Driftwood: [lifting the tablecloth] Well, there's plenty of room.
Mrs. Claypool: If you had any real feeling for me you'd stop associating with the kind of riffraff I've seen you going around with.
Otis B. Driftwood: You mean Gottlieb?
Mrs. Claypool: I mean those two uncouth men I saw you around the opera house with. I'm very grateful they're not on board the boat.
Otis B. Driftwood: [gets up from his chair, concerned] Why, have they slipped off?
Mrs. Claypool: [pulls him back into his chair] Sit down!
Henderson: What's a hermit doing with four beds?
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, you see those first three beds?
Henderson: Yes.
Otis B. Driftwood: Last night, I counted five thousand sheep in those three beds, so I had to have another bed to sleep in. You wouldn't want me to sleep with the sheep, would you?
Otis B. Driftwood: Say, I just remembered, I came back here looking for somebody. You don't know who it is, do you?
Fiorello: It's a funny thing, it just slipped my mind.
Otis B. Driftwood: [in an overcrowded stateroom] It is my imagination, or is it getting crowded in here?
Otis B. Driftwood: Let's go in my room and talk the situation over.
Mrs. Claypool: What situation?
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, er... what situations have you got?
Mrs. Claypool: I most certainly will not go to your room.
Otis B. Driftwood: OK, then I'll stay here.
Mrs. Claypool: All right, all right, all right! I'll come, but get out.
Otis B. Driftwood: Shall we say, uh, ten minutes?
Mrs. Claypool: Yes, ten minutes, anything. But go!
Otis B. Driftwood: Because if you're not there in ten minutes, I'll be back here in eleven. With squeaky shoes on!
Otis B. Driftwood: I am sure the familiar strains of Verdi's music will come back to you tonight, and Mrs. Claypool's cheques will probably come back to her in the morning.
Otis B. Driftwood: Could he sail tomorrow?
Fiorello: You pay him enough money, he could sail yesterday.
Otis B. Driftwood: [attempting to sell insurance to a ship porter] I have here an accident policy that will absolutely protect you no matter what happens. If you lose a leg, we'll help you look for it.
Captain: Ladies and gentleman. It's a great pleasure that I welcome you all to the final night of the voyage.
Ricardo: And what was it you wanted to see me about?
Rosa: I suppose I sent for you?
Ricardo: Well you meant to. Didn't she, Marie?
Otis B. Driftwood: Signor Lassparri comes from a very famous family. His mother was a well-known bass singer. His father was the first man to stuff spaghetti with bicarbonate of soda, thus causing and curing indigestion at the same time.
[upon seeing a cast member made up to appear hideously ugly]
Otis B. Driftwood: Boogie, boogie, boogie. How would you like to feel the way she looks?
Henderson: Am I crazy or are there only two beds in here?
Otis B. Driftwood: Now which question do you want me to answer first Henderson?
Mrs. Claypool: Are you sure you have everything, Otis?
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, I haven't had any complaints yet.
Lassparri: What do you mean by humiliating me in front of all of those people? You're fired! Do you understand? You're fired!
Otis B. Driftwood: Hey, you big bully. What's the idea of hitting that little bully?
Lassparri: Will you kindly let me handle my own affairs? Get out!
Ricardo: But I will still remember the happiness we've known.
Otis B. Driftwood: Was that a high C, or Vitamin D?
Otis B. Driftwood: It's none of my business, but I think there's a brace of woodpeckers in the orchestra.
Otis B. Driftwood: Hello toots.
Mrs. Claypool: Well. What are you doing here? This is Mr. Gottlieb's box.
Otis B. Driftwood: He couldn't come, so he gave me his ticket. He couldn't get dressed, so he gave me his clothes.
Fiorello: Wait a minute. Before he sings, you gotta sign a contract. And I get 10 percent.
Otis B. Driftwood: And I get 10 percent too.
Lassparri: [costumed as Pagliacci] Now, what have you got to say to me?
Otis B. Driftwood: Just this - can you sleep on your stomach with such big buttons on your pajamas?
Henderson: Say! Now, how did those two bed get together?
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, you know how those things are, they breed like rabbits.
[the waiter brings the bill]
Otis B. Driftwood: Let me see that... 9 dollars and 40 cents? This is an outrage.
[to his dinner companion]
Otis B. Driftwood: If I were you I wouldn't pay it.
Otis B. Driftwood: [at the opera] Well, who's ahead?
Ship Captain: I cannot let the evening pass without paying a little tribute to our distinguished guests of honor - the three greatest aviators in the world.
Otis B. Driftwood: Three greatest aviators, but you notice they're traveling by boat.
Otis B. Driftwood: [to carriage driver] Hey you. I told you to slow that nag down. On account of you I almost heard the opera.
Manicurist: Did you want your nails long or short?
Otis B. Driftwood: Better make them short. It's getting pretty crowded in here.
Otis B. Driftwood: That's the fire escape. And, uh... that's a table, and this is a room, and there's the door leading out, and I wish you'd use it, I... I vant to be alone!
Henderson: You'll be alone when I throw you in jail!
Otis B. Driftwood: Isn't there a song like that, Henderson?
Fiorello: [beginning a speech disguised as one of the aviators] Friends.
Otis B. Driftwood: Go fast. I can see a man with a rope out there.
Fiorello: How we happen to come to America is a great story, but I no tell that.
Henderson: The last time I was in this room there were four beds here.
Otis B. Driftwood: Please! I'm not interested in your private life, Henderson.
Fiorello: Ricardo, how do you feel?
Ricardo: After a meal like that great. I could sing my head off. Cosi-Cosa. It's a wonderful word tra-la-la-la.
Henderson: Hey, who were you talking to?
Otis B. Driftwood: I was talking to myself, and there's nothing you can do about it. I've had three of the best doctors in the East.

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