Clash by Night (1952)

Barbara Stanwyck: Mae Doyle

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Peggy : Weren't you ever in love, Mae?

  Mae Doyle : Once.

  Peggy : Where?

  Mae Doyle : Saint Paul. He was big too, like Jerry. I'll say one thing. He knew how to handle women.

  Peggy : Is that what you want from a man?

  Mae Doyle : Confidence! I want a man to give me confidence. Somebody to fight off the blizzards and floods! Somebody to beat off the world when it tries to swallow you up! Me and my ideas.

• Earl Pfeiffer : Jerry's the salt of the earth, but he's not the right seasoning for you.

  Mae Doyle : What kind of seasoning do I need?

  Earl Pfeiffer : You're like me. A dash of Tabasco or the meat tastes flat.

• Peggy : I'm real glad you came back home, Mae.

  [Mae evades the question as she goes about hanging up her clothes] 

  Peggy : Are you?

  Mae Doyle : [somberly]  Am I what?

  Peggy : Glad you're home.

  Mae Doyle : [sadly]  Home is where you come when you run out of places.

• Joe Doyle : Why didn't you come home before?

  Mae Doyle : Why didn't I go to China? Some things you do, some things you don't.

• Jerry D'Amato : That Mae is some dancer. Me, I'm like a hippo on two feet.

  Mae Doyle : Yeah, my two feet.

• Jerry D'Amato : Earl, he's one of the smartest men I know. He's in the movie business.

  Mae Doyle : An actor?

  Jerry D'Amato : No, but I bet Earl could be if he wanted to. He works at the Bijou theatre, in the projection booth.

  Mae Doyle : That's your idea of being in the movie business?

  Jerry D'Amato : Running movies, what other business would you call it?

• Mae Doyle : What do you want, Joe, my life's history? Here it is in four words: big ideas, small results.

• Earl Pfeiffer : Love is rotten when it happens like this - the hard way. But we want each other, this is the fire we have to walk through, because this is forever, Mae.

  Mae D'Amato : Forever?

  Earl Pfeiffer : Or until he sticks a knife in me, or you walk out.

  Mae D'Amato : How could I walk out?

  Earl Pfeiffer : And do the next thing, get away from here. If you have a dream, live it. If you have a hope, chase it.

• Mae Doyle : You don't like women, do you?

  Earl Pfeiffer : Take any six of 'em - my wife included. Throw 'em up in the air. The one who sticks to the ceiling, I like.

• Mae Doyle : Aren't there any more comfortable men in this world? Now they're all little and nervous like sparrows or big and worried like sick bears. Men!

  Earl Pfeiffer : Women!

• Peggy : Joe wants me to marry him.

  Mae Doyle : I gathered that.

  Peggy : But, I hate people bossin' me. You marry a fella and the first thing he does is boss you.

• Jerry D'Amato : Get something for that headache!

  Mae Doyle : Yeah, a new head.

• Earl Pfeiffer : Mae - what do you *really* think of me?

  Mae Doyle : [coolly]  You impress me as a man who needs a new suit of clothes or a new love affair - but he doesn't know which.

  Earl Pfeiffer : [stung]  You can't make me any smaller. I happen to be pre-shrunk.

• [after watching the movie, Mae and Jerry are visiting Earl in the projection booth] 

  Earl Pfeiffer : Like the show?

  Mae Doyle : She's beautiful.

  Earl Pfeiffer : Who? That celluloid angel you just saw? They oughta cut her up a little bit - she'd look more interesting.

  Jerry D'Amato : Cut her up?

  Earl Pfeiffer : Didn't you ever wanna cut up a beautiful dame?

  Jerry D'Amato : No.

  Earl Pfeiffer : Jeremiah, you're a simple man.

• Mae D'Amato : Jerry! If you come any closer to me I'll smash your face in with the first thing I can lay my hands on!

  Jerry D'Amato : You're no good!

• Jerry D'Amato : I'm real glad you came back home Mae.

  Mae Doyle : Why?

  Jerry D'Amato : I like you - you know that.

  Mae Doyle : You don't know anything about me. What kind of an animal am I? Do I have fangs? Do I purr? What jungle am I from? You don't know a thing about me.

• Peggy : I don't want to have to keep workin' in a cannery when I got married.

  Mae Doyle : [surprisingly]  Does Joe want you to work?

  Peggy : You know fellas. They say a lot of things.

• Mae Doyle : You're very pretty Peggy.

  Peggy : The boys whistle a lot.

• Earl Pfeiffer : I need a drink. What do you need, Miss Doyle?

  Mae Doyle : Well, let's say a drink.

• Mae Doyle : Is your wife very pretty?

  Earl Pfeiffer : Who says I have a wife? And who says she's pretty?

  Mae Doyle : Oh, I imagine you're the kind of a man who likes the woman he marries to be pretty.

• Earl Pfeiffer : Were you ever a showgirl?

  Mae Doyle : God, no.

  Earl Pfeiffer : You look like you could be. My wife's in show business, burlesque. She eats money. Yesterday from St. Louis, a fast telegram: "Send some spot cash."

  Mae Doyle : But you must love her to stay married.

  Earl Pfeiffer : I'm a glutton for punishment.

• Peggy : All Jerry needs is somebody to look after him.

  Mae Doyle : I'm tired of looking after men. I wanna be looked after!

• Peggy : The fruit in the fruit tree.

  Mae Doyle : What?

  Peggy : When it's ripe, it's juicy. Don't it bother you, working at a cannery?

  Mae Doyle : What should I work at?

  Peggy : What does the bee do in the clover? He's busy making honey. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

• Mae Doyle : He drives me cuckoo sometimes. What does he think I am, Red Riding Hood?

  Earl Pfeiffer : Get mad, get hot. It's good for what ails you.

• Mae Doyle : If I ever loved a man again, I'd bear anything. He could have my teeth for watch fobs.

  Earl Pfeiffer : That's the liquor talking.

  Mae Doyle : Two tiny slugs.

  Earl Pfeiffer : Who was he?

  Mae Doyle : Santa Claus.

• Jerry D'Amato : Earl says Chinese people have babies right in the field.

  Mae D'Amato : Well, I might try that the next time.

• Mae D'Amato : I wish somebody would sprinkle me all over with talcum powder.

• Mae D'Amato : Aren't you going to kiss me before you go?

  Earl Pfeiffer : You don't like me to kiss you in the morning.

  Mae D'Amato : I'd like it this morning.

• Earl Pfeiffer : How did I get here?

  Mae D'Amato : You passed out. Jerry put you to bed. Why didn't you let me sleep it off in the gutter?

  Earl Pfeiffer : Yeah, that's right, why didn't I?

• Mae D'Amato : Always take the man who'll kick the door down. Advice from Mama.

• Mae D'Amato : You're so proud. A moment ago you needed me more than life. Now you're cruel and sarcastic because you think I've seen you naked for a second.

• Mae D'Amato : You wanna put your teeth into me to hurt me?

  Earl Pfeiffer : Get me right.

  Mae D'Amato : Don't touch me!

  Earl Pfeiffer : I'll do anything you want.

  Mae D'Amato : Go to Madagascar... go any place, but get out of here.

• Mae Doyle : Coffee - and a brandy.

  Bartender : Better make it whisky, lady.

• Jerry D'Amato : You comin' home? To stay?

  Mae Doyle : For awhile.

  Jerry D'Amato : There ain't nothin' like home, is there?

  Mae Doyle : That's what they say.

• Mae Doyle : How old are you Peg?

  Peggy : Twenty.

  Mae Doyle : Twenty - the age of miracles.

• Joe Doyle : [handing her a filled cup]  Here's your coffee, Mae.

  Mae Doyle : Oh, thanks, Joe.

  Joe Doyle : [to Peg]  Do you want anything?

  Mae Doyle : A Cadillac!

  [Peg sarcastically sticks her tongue out at Joe] 

• Mae Doyle : You don't have a mean thought in your head, do you, Jerry? That's nice, that's comfortable. A man who isn't mean and doesn't hate women. Will you get me a fresh one, please?

• Mae Doyle : You don't know a thing about me.

  Jerry D'Amato : That ain't important.

  Mae Doyle : People have funny things swimming around inside of them.

• Mae Doyle : You're crude, Earl.

  Earl Pfeiffer : I never claimed to polish.

• Earl Pfeiffer : You're tough to please.

  Mae Doyle : I pick and I choose. My privilege.

• Mae Doyle : Big mouth, fast dollar. What are you trying to buy, the world's approval?

  Earl Pfeiffer : On your way, dust.

• Mae Doyle : I'm fed up with Earl, his wife, his moods, his money, his everything. He's fine for a ride on a roller coaster, but I'm tired of it.

• Mae D'Amato : I feel fine, but it's just so hot.

  Jerry D'Amato : I'm sorry. Papers say we're due for some cool weather.

  Mae D'Amato : Well, the papers ought to know.

• Earl Pfeiffer : Are you happy?

  Mae D'Amato : I'm happy.

  Earl Pfeiffer : No, you're not. You're just like me. You're born and you'd like to get unborn. That's why I drink that shellac, to get unborn.

• Mae D'Amato : Will you try to understand?

  Jerry D'Amato : I don't want to understand! I got as much right to make love to my wife as any man alive.

  Mae D'Amato : Jerry! Jerry, let go of me or I'll smash your face with the first thing I can lay my hands on.

  Jerry D'Amato : You're no good. You're rotten.

  Mae D'Amato : I know, Jerry. I know.

• Earl Pfeiffer : What is it, do you feel guilty? That's the way they want you to feel.

  Mae D'Amato : They?

  Earl Pfeiffer : The world. All the people who haven't got guts enough to do what they wanna do.

• Peggy : I gotta go. I just had to show you the ring.

  Mae D'Amato : Peg, just a second. I'll get Gloria dressed and come with you.

  Peggy : I can't, honey. Joe's waiting. Diamonds make me punctual.