Dickson: In my estimation, gentlemen, Jones is no risk. Neither are the thousands of other Joneses throughout the country. It’s they who built this nation up to the richest in the world, and it’s up to the banks to give them a break…and the right kind of security. [read more=”Continue reading” less=”Less”]Not stocks and bonds that zig-zag up and down not collateral on paper, but character! That’s Alexander Hamilton’s idea, the finest mind this country has ever known. Those are his exact words, gentlemen. Character! it’s the only thing that will pull this country out of the doldrums.[/read]
– Robert Riskin, American Madness (1932)
Apple Annie: Aw, pull up your chin, Happy. You’re liable to step on it.
-Robert Riskin, Lady For A Day (1933)
Peter Warne: Perhaps you’re interested in how a man undresses. You know, it’s a funny thing about that. Quite a study in psychology. No two men do it alike. You know, I once knew a man who kept his hat on until he was completely undressed. Yeah, now he made a picture. [read more=”Continue reading” less=”Less”] Years later, his secret came out. He wore a toupee. Yeah. You know, I have a method all my own. If you notice, the coat came first, then the tie, then the shirt. Now, uh, according to Hoyle, after that, the, uh, pants should be next. There’s where I’m different… I go for the shoes next. First the right, then the left. After that it’s, uh, every man for himself.
[When he starts to unbuckle his pants, she runs to the other side of the blanket][/read]
-Robert Riskin It Happened One Night (1934)
[Peter hangs a blanket between the twin beds in their room at the autocamp]
Ellie Andrews: That, I suppose, makes everything quite all right?
Peter Warne: Oh this? Well, I like privacy when I retire. Yes, I’m very delicate in that respect. Prying eyes annoy me. Behold the walls of Jericho! [read more=”Continue reading” less=”Less”]Uh, maybe not as thick as the ones that Joshua blew down with his trumpet, but a lot safer. You see, uh, I have no trumpet. Now just to show you my heart’s in the right place, I’ll give you my best pair of pajamas.
[he offers her the pajamas – she ignores them – so he tosses them at her][/read]
-Robert Riskin It Happened One Night (1934)
I never knew a rich man yet who was a good-piggy rider. To be a piggy-backer, it takes complete relaxation—a warm heart—and a loving nature. Take Abraham Lincoln, for instance—a natural piggy-backer.
-Robert Riskin It Happened One Night (1934)
Deeds: What puzzles me is why people seem to get so much pleasure out of, out of hurting each other? Why don’t they try liking each other once in a while?[read more=”Continue reading” less=”Less”]
Deeds:People here are funny. They work so hard at living they forget how to live. Last night, after I left you, I was walking along and – and lookin’ at the tall buildings, and I got to thinking about what Thoreau said. ‘They created a lot of grand palaces here, but they forgot to create the noblemen to put in them.’ I’d rather have Mandrake Falls.[/read]
-Robert Riskin Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
There’s a tiny little engine in the green of this grass and in the green of the trees that has the mysterious gift of being able to take energy from the rays of the sun and store it up. You see that that’s how the heat and power in coal and oil and wood is stored up. Well, we thought if we could find the secret of all those millions of little engines in this green stuff, we could, we could make big ones! And then we could take all the power we could ever need, right from the sun’s rays.
-Robert Riskin You Can’t take it with you (1938)
To most of you, your neighbor is a stranger, a guy with a barkin’ dog and a high fence around him. Now you can’t be a stranger to any guy that’s on your own team. So tear down the fence that separates you. Tear down the fence and you’ll tear down a lot of hates and prejudices. Tear down all the fences in the country and you’ll really have teamwork.[read more=”Continue reading” less=”Less”]
I know a lot of you are saying to yourselves, “He’s askin’ for a miracle to happen. He’s expectin’ people to change all of a sudden. Well, you’re wrong. It’s no miracle. It’s no miracle because I see it happen once every year. And so do you — at Christmas time. There’s somethin’ swell about the spirit of Christmas, to see what it does to people, all kinds of people.
Now, why can’t that spirit, that same, warm Christmas spirit last the whole year around? Gosh, if it ever did, if each and every John Doe would make that spirit last 365 days out of the year, we’d develop such strength, we’d create such a tidal wave of good will that no human force could stand against it. Yes sir, my friends, the meek can only inherit the earth when the John Doe’s start lovin’ their neighbors.
You better start right now. Don’t wait till the game is called on account of darkness.[/read]
-Robert Riskin Meet John Doe (1941)