- Martin Snyder: [to Ruth Etting when she visits him in jail] Tell 'em you seen me in the pokey and I looked great! Tell 'em I like it! Makes me feel like a kid again!
- Martin Snyder: Now look here, you stupid little broad.
- Ruth Etting: Don't you talk to me like that.
- Martin Snyder: I'll talk to you any way I like. Do you know who I am? Do you think I let dames get away with anything?
- Martin Snyder: I like to help a girl when I can. And you've got a very excellent personality, I can see that. All I got to do is write something on one of my card and they'll put you to work. Oh, I must have left them out in my car. Meet me outside, and I'll... Now what's the matter?
- Ruth Etting: I'm not getting into any car with you.
- Orry: Did you or did you not deliberately kick this customer?
- Ruth Etting: Yes, I did. But I warned. I warned him three times.
- Orry: You're fired. Now you...
- Ruth Etting: That's not fair. He's the one that was wrong. It wasn't my fault.
- Orry: He's got 10 cents for a dance. He can't be wrong!
- Dance Hall Hostess: Get wise to yourself, duchess. You're not going any place. Not till you stop hollering, "Hands off."
- Ruth Etting: I'll stop hollering when I want to. Not because the customer's always right.
- Dance Hall Hostess: What did you have to go and make a fuss for?
- Ruth Etting: Why should I let that big ape paw me?
- Dance Hall Hostess: It's natural. They all do it.
- Martin Snyder: Come on, Claire.
- Claire: What?
- Martin Snyder: Get out. Here, buy yourself a horse and buggy. Only beat it.
- Claire: Well Marty, what's the matter? You invite me out for a pleasant evening. I wait who knows how long...
- Martin Snyder: So I changed my mind. Go on, blow.
- [pats Claire's behind, she leaves, to his assistant]
- Martin Snyder: Getting awful beat up, that Claire. Been around too long.
- Martin Snyder: [to his Georgie] So, what're you sitting? Maybe we can catch up with Claire. So she's got a lot of mileage on her.
- Ruth Etting: [singing] You made me love you, I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to do it, You made me want you, And all the time you knew it, I guess you always knew it, You made me happy, sometimes, And you made me glad, But there were times, dear, You made me feel so bad...
- Martin Snyder: One more crack out of you and I'll take you apart.
- Ruth Etting: Marty!
- Fred Taylor: Ah, go away. Why don't you go play cops and robbers where they're scared of you? This isn't Chicago!
- Ruth Etting: [singing] Do like the voodoos do, Listen to, A voodoo melody, They shake their bodies so, To and fro, With every shake, A lucky break, Provin' that there's a way, To chase your cares away, If you would lose, Your weary blues, Shake 'em away, Shakin' the blues away...
- Martin Snyder: Don't use your ritzy Ziegfeld voice on me. Make like you're back in the 10 cents-a-dance joint!
- Ruth Etting: But I'm not, Marty. That's the whole point. I'm right where I wanna be.
- Martin Snyder: All right, come on, girls. Come on.
- [8 girls show their legs]
- Martin Snyder: Oh, come on, get them up. All right, you, you, and you. The rest of you can blow. Now, you three, I want you to remember something. This is strictly legit. You ain't sellin' nothin' but cigarettes.
- Ruth Etting: Wouldn't that be an awful lot of trouble for you?
- Orry: There's some trouble a man just doesn't mind getting into.
- Claire: Can she sing?
- Martin Snyder: What is she, a dummy? Anybody can sing. Put them on a stage. Tell the public they're singers. And they're singers. What does the public know?
- Martin Snyder: What are you doing? What are you doing?
- Ruth Etting: I'm leaving. All I wanted was a chance to sing. And I'll get it! You don't have to do a thing. I'll get it for myself!
- Johnny Alderman: Let's get started and see what we got.
- Ruth Etting: All right.
- Johnny Alderman: You know this?
- Ruth Etting: Da-da. Da-da. Yes.
- [singing]
- Ruth Etting: I can be happy, I can be sad, I can be good, Or, I can be bad, It all depends on you...
- Bernard V. Loomis: You think the Gimp found out you talked to the girl?
- Claire: Maybe. If he has, you think I should crawl into the laundry and apologize?
- Bernard V. Loomis: Well, I would. But I'm an old man and I want to live. What else have I got?
- Ruth Etting: All right. I'll go with you.
- Martin Snyder: Now you're talking, baby!
- Ruth Etting: And then you'll never see me again.
- Martin Snyder: Why?
- Ruth Etting: Because that makes me a tramp and I'm not a tramp, no matter what you think.
- Ruth Etting: I'm ready.
- Martin Snyder: Come on, it's time. Get out there and do your stuff. And don't make me out a horse's neck. I got the place packed with biggies.
- Ruth Etting: [singing] You're mean to me, Why must you be mean to me? Gee, honey, it seems to me, You love to see me cryin', I don't know why I stay home, Each night when you say you'll phone, You don't and I'm left alone, Singin' the blues and sighin'...
- Ruth Etting: All I heard was New York, and naturally I was excited.
- Martin Snyder: New York's crawling with dames that can sing. You know when you're going to go to New York? After I make their tongues hang out for you. I've got plans so big, you wouldn't even understand them, a hick like you.
- Ruth Etting: What plans?
- Martin Snyder: Aha. Look whose tongue is hanging out now.
- Martin Snyder: Listen, Georgie, I wanna put her on the radio. Find out who the top man is at every station. Then ask around, which one we can put the squeeze on. You know what I mean?
- Ruth Etting: [singing] Everybody loves my baby, But my baby, Don't love nobody but me, Nobody but me, Yes, everybody wants my baby, But my baby, Don't want nobody but me, That's plain to see, I am his sweet patootie, and he is my lovin' man, Knows how to do his duty, Loves me like no other can...
- Ruth Etting: You can't tell me what to do!
- Martin Snyder: In a pig's eye, I can!
- Ruth Etting: Do you think you own me?
- Martin Snyder: You're right I own you. That's exactly right!
- Ruth Etting: [singing] Ten cents a dance, That's what they pay me, Gosh, how they, Weigh me down, Ten cents a dance, Dandies and rough guys, Tough guys, Who tear my gown...
- Martin Snyder: You know something, Ruthie? You ought to lay off that stuff. You're gettin' to look like an old bag.
- Ruth Etting: Ha-ha.
- Martin Snyder: You know, what most people don't appreciate - it's a tough business, show business. You gotta have somebody tough on your side.
- Bernard V. Loomis: This is Mr. Snyder. Mr. Hunter, Mr. Snyder.
- Paul Hunter: Very nice to meet you, Mr. Snyder.
- Johnny Alderman: I'm not asking you to change your mind about anything. All I'm asking is let me drive you home.
- Bernard V. Loomis: You're making a big mistake.
- Ruth Etting: I've made so many, one more won't make any difference.
- Ruth Etting: [singing] Love me or leave me, Let me be lonely, You won't believe me, And I love you only, I'd rather be lonely, Than happy with somebody else, You might find the night time, The right time for kissing, But night time is my time, For just reminiscing, Regretting instead of forgetting...
- Johnny Alderman: Will you kindly use your head? That one belongs to the Gimp, bought and paid for.
- Orry: The Gimp?
- Johnny Alderman: So don't make trouble for yourself or me. I got a big investment in this place.
- Orry: It's funny. I would have sworn she hasn't been around much.
- Johnny Alderman: Maybe she hasn't. What she knows, they learn in the cradle.
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