That Uncertain Feeling (1941)

Melvyn Douglas: Larry Baker

Photos 

Quotes 

• Jones : Miss Aikens, we want a woman's point of view on a certain situation. Now, Mr. Baker has a friend and he's in trouble...

  Sally Aikens : Oh, Mr. Baker!

  Jones : [Shushing Larry]  Now, Mr. Baker has nothing whatever to do with it. Let's call the friend Mr. Brown. Now, Mr. Brown has a wife... Mr. & Mrs. Brown have been married for, uh, how long?

  Larry Baker : Well, say six years. They live in Toledo.

  Sally Aikens : Six years in Toledo. That's bad.

  Jones : All right then, let's say New York. Now Mr. Brown is worried about his marriage. Things are not going along as well as they used to.

  Sally Aikens : What kind of a man IS this Mr. Brown?

  Larry Baker : Very nice...

  Sally Aikens : Is he attractive?

  Jones : Very attractive.

  [to Larry] 

  Jones : Don't you think so?

  Larry Baker : Yes.

  Sally Aikens : And yet she's complaining.

  Larry Baker : Well, she's drifting away from him.

  Jones : Yes, and he wants to get things back on the old basis.

  Sally Aikens : Who doesn't?

  Jones : Yes.

  [clears throat] 

  Jones : Now, Miss Aikens, as a woman, I'm asking you, what is the right approach?

  Sally Aikens : Well, I should say a mink coat would do the trick.

  Larry Baker : She has a mink coat.

  Sally Aikens : Then what's she complaining about?

  [the men are exasperated, and Jones dismisses Miss Aikens from the conversation] 

  Larry Baker : Just a moment. Now look here. Mrs. Brown is interested in another man.

  Sally Aikens : Oh... If there aren't any witnesses she's going to deny it... But I'm afraid I'm not the right person to give you any advice. I probably have too much sympathy for Mr. Brown, and not enough patience with Mrs. Brown. We get cases like that every day. The wife is bored; marriage is just a habit. But on the other hand, she accepts everything her husband gives her. I think she ought to be kicked out. Do I sound old-fashioned?

  Jones : No, we'll let you know, Miss Aikens.

  Sally Aikens : Well anyway, I think Mr. Brown's a pretty swell guy. I've always thought so.

  [Miss Aikens leaves the room] 

  Jones : ...She certainly had a couple of interesting angles.

  Larry Baker : I didn't notice them.

• Mrs. Jill Baker : Just a habit, isn't it?

  Larry Baker : Yes, if you want to call it that.

  Mrs. Jill Baker : Like scratching your head or patting your dog. Would you do it to some other woman?

  Larry Baker : Well, I don't know. I never tried.

  Mrs. Jill Baker : But, you do it to me.

  Larry Baker : Well, you're my wife.

  Mrs. Jill Baker : And that gives you the right to poke me in the stomach whenever you want, heh?

• Larry Baker : If you ever should run into one of her bad moods and you want to snap her right out if it, there's only one way to do it.

  Alexander Sebastian : What's that?

  Larry Baker : Just - keeks her.

  Alexander Sebastian : Keeks her? How do you do that?

  Larry Baker : Just

  [pokes Sebastian in the stomach] 

  Larry Baker : - keeks!

• Larry Baker : It's okay. It's quick and painless.

  Alexander Sebastian : Very white of you, Baker.

  Larry Baker : Thanks, Sebastian.

• Larry Baker : Now, the tough man to crack is Kafka - of Universal Mattress. I've done a little detective work: he's a Hungarian. As a matter of fact, they're all Hungarians. So, so let's give the dinner a kind of - Hungarian touch, heh?

  Mrs. Jill Baker : Now look, Larry...

  Larry Baker : Oh, now listen, darling, I didn't expect you to behave like a gypsy. But, let's hire a Hungarian cook and make him a wonderful goulash!

• Larry Baker : Success in business is fifty per cent hard work and fifty per cent the right cigar.

• Larry Baker : These Hungarians are certainly funny people.

• Larry Baker : You should know better, musicians and mattresses don't mix!

• Larry Baker : Listen, how long is a sonata?

  Jones : The only one I ever heard lasted three cigars.

• Larry Baker : Ho-ho-ho. Am I going to be difficult! I'm gonna be the mad dog of 685 Park Avenue. Heil Baker!

  [Makes a Nazi salute] 

• Mrs. Jill Baker : How dare you say that about my beloved mother!

  Larry Baker : Your beloved mother - pooh!

  Mrs. Jill Baker : Who are you to pooh my mother?

• Larry Baker : How is everything going?

  The Butler : Oh, not so well sir. I came to ask if in your future plans you'd have any use for me?

  Larry Baker : Have you left Miss Baker?

  The Butler : Yes sir, I had to - on account of that - musical gentleman. In fact, we all left, except Emma. But, then she fortunately is quite deaf.

• Larry Baker : A little bit softer, please.

• Larry Baker : Not so easy.

  Jones : Well, who said it was? Was it easy to sell hail insurance in southern California? Just find the right slant. A new one.

  Larry Baker : Selling marriage with a new slant, huh?

• Alexander Sebastian : Anything serious?

  Larry Baker : No, she just fainted.

  Alexander Sebastian : Oh, well. Women are always fainting. Any particular reason?

  Larry Baker : No, no. She just thought I was a genius. Then she found out I wasn't and it was too much for her.

• Alexander Sebastian : I am not gonna fight. My hands are my only livelihood, and I'm not gonna risk 'em on your jaw.

  Larry Baker : [hands Sebastian the smelling salts]  Here, Mozart. Wake up your little credenza.