"[seeing a waiter put two drinks on the table] Fine, fine! I no longer have to order drinks. I just attract them. He shall have liquor wherever he goes! [to Engle] As I understand from your communication, Mr. Engle, you're on the brink of self-destruction. May I shake your hand? A brilliant idea! I speak as one who has destroyed himself a score of times. I am, Mr. Engle, a veteran corpse. We are all corpses here! This rendezvous is one of the musical graveyards of the town. Caters to zombies hopping around with dead hearts and price tags for souls. Hmmmp! [offering him one of the drinks] Will you join me, sir? It is the custom here for the dead to drink - heavily! [drinks] Allow me to present my credentials as a fellow cadaver. I'm being divorced by my wife whom I love dearly in my own nasty way. I was disemboweled by another woman. I have written three bad plays in a row, and next year I'll write a worse one. I have neither a home, a single hope, nor a shred of curiosity left. Bankrupt and broke, I've destroyed myself, sir, in becoming famous. I am no longer a man, Mr. Engle, I'm an epitaph over an ash can! And now, sir, what's your story?"

"Douglas Fairbanks Jr. - Bill O'Brien"

"John Qualen - Charles Engle"

"Thomas Mitchell - Eugene 'Gene' Gibbons"

"Rita Hayworth - Nina Barona"

"Stage Doorman: [looking out into the darkened, empty theater] Shhh! Hear that noise? That's the rats - always performing! If I left this scenery here, they'd eat it up - eat the whole theater up if it wasn't for the actors! The hollering frightens them."

"[on the telephone] Hello, Dutch? Bill O'Brien! Say listen, I'm over at the Pigeon Club takin' in the sights, and, uh, I ran into somethin' that I thought might be of mutual interest to us. An out-of-town job came shoo-shooing in here a while ago and throwin' away money like birdseed."

"Jack Roper - Eddie Burns"

"Constance Worth - Sylvia Marbe"

"Eddie Foster - Louie Artino"

"They'll deal you hope off the bottom."

"Ralph Theodore - Dutch Enright"

"I'm pretending there's something swell about you. This delusion came over me while we were dancing. You know, when you look into a girl's eyes and you think you see someone that isn't there... well that's what I saw."

"Oh, if only I had my slave costume and my chains!"

"[to Bill O'Brien] I'll remember this night for a long time. When things don't seem so good, I'll remember Mr. Gibbons, and Mr. Engle... and you."

"Yesterday's pain is tomorrow's joke. And you'll always end up laughing if you can manage not to cut your throat first."

"Walter Sande - Heath"

"Will Wright - "Dad" Newell"

"Don Costello - Leo"

"Frank Faylen - man recommending motel"

"[discovering his wife in close proximity to Eddie Harwood] You've got the wrong lipstick on, Mister."

"[sitting with Johnny in a convertible in the hills overlooking Los Angeles] It takes a lot of lights to make a city, doesn't it?"

"Tom Powers - Captain Hendrickson"

"I know I've got lots of faults, but being in love with you isn't one of them, is it?"

"Howard Freeman - Corelli"

"William Bendix - Buzz Wanchek"

"Howard da Silva - Eddie Harwood"

"Doris Dowling - Helen Morrison"

"Double dame trouble! Double-barrelled action!"

"Tamed by a brunette - framed by a blonde - blamed by the cops!"

"Alan Ladd - Johnny Morrison"

"Helen Morrison: I take all the drinks I like, any time, any place. I go where I want to with anybody I want. I just happen to be that kind of a girl."

"Leo: Just don't get too complicated, Eddie. When a man gets too complicated, he's unhappy. And when he's unhappy, his luck runs out."

"Veronica Lake - Joyce Harwood"

"[to the partygoers] Seems I've lost my manners or would anyone here know the difference?"

"Hugh Beaumont - George Copeland"

"Barry Kelley - Judge Drake"

"Candy Toxton - Adele Morton (credited as Susan Perry)"

"Allene Roberts - Emma"