- [on filming 'San Francisco'] The big-theater-nightclub set for this picture, in which Miss McDonald warbled her lovely lyric soprano, occupied all of Stage 12 at MGM. There had been some argument about the destructive movement of an earthquake. I supported the 'horizontal' theory, while others insisted that it was the vertical 'rolling-ups-and-downs' which caused the damage. An expert from California Polytechinc College in Pasadena was contacted, and I won. In fact, he commented that our 'schematic' for the set actually represented the very kind of an 'earthquake table' upon which, in small scale, Cal Tech experiments were conducted.
- [on Cedric Gibbons]: Gibbons was so admired by the people on his staff, I don't think there was any resentment that he would get the acclaim for a picture. I used to insist that certain of the men that worked for me had credit. He could never understand that, you know.
- [on his uncredited film work after retiring in 1965]: They did "Earthquake" at Universal, and they wanted me as consultant, and I said, "For a free lunch, I'll tell you everything I know about earthquakes." After five free lunches, I got a little embarrassed about it and bought everybody else a free lunch.
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