Fred Astaire: Tony Hunter

The Band Wagon

Tony Hunter

Gabrielle Gerard: Oh, that's a very early Degas, isn't it?
[examines painting]
Gabrielle Gerard: 1877.
Tony Hunter: [playing up their age difference] Yeah, I swiped it from his desk in school. Was he sore.

[narration during the Girl Hunt ballet]
Tony Hunter: She came at me in sections - more curves than a scenic railway. She was bad! She was dangerous.

Tony Hunter: She was bad. She was dangerous. I wouldn't trust her any farther than I could throw her. But... she was my kind of woman.

Tony Hunter: Oh, I'm afraid I've been awfully rude, I haven't told you how wonderful you were tonight.
Gabrielle Gerard: Oh, thank you, I'm a great admirer of yours too.
Tony Hunter: Oh, I didn't think you'd ever even heard of me.
Gabrielle Gerard: Heard of you? I used to see all your pictures when I was a little girl. And I'm still a fan, I recently went to see a revival of them at the museum.
Tony Hunter: [offended] Museum? 'Step right this way, ladies and gentlemen, Egyptian mummies, extinct reptiles, and Tony Hunter, the grand old man of the dance!"
Gabrielle Gerard: Oh I-I didn't mean...
Tony Hunter: Young lady, I want you to know I can still thread a needle without my eyeglasses and still occasionally do a soft-shoe shuffle! Nothing balletic, of course.
Gabrielle Gerard: You're not a ballet devotee, are you?
Tony Hunter: Oh, yes! I was going to the ballet before you were born. I saw Pavlova, Carsanova, all the real ballet greats. You don't see dancing like that nowadays. Oh, I'm terribly sorry.
Gabrielle Gerard: Oh, that's all right! I don't expect you to class me with Pavlova. In fact, if she were around, I doubt if she'd be good enough to dance with you. You'd probably insist on an audition first!
Tony Hunter: I sure would, I'd audition my own grandmother.
Gabrielle Gerard: Then why don't you audition mine? She'd be just about right for you! Oh, I'm terribly sorry.
Tony Hunter: Oh, no you're not.
Gabrielle Gerard: No I'm not!
Tony Hunter: Neither am I!
Gabrielle Gerard: Good!

Tony Hunter: No, don't say it - "Tony Hunter! 1953!" I hereby declare my independence. Tony Hunter, 1776.

Tony Hunter: The city was asleep. The joints were closed. The rats and hoods and killers were in their holes.

Tony Hunter: I could smell trouble a mile off. And this poor kid was in trouble! Big trouble! She was scared! Scared as a turkey in November.

Man on train 1: Say, your're from sunny Cal, I bet you know a lot of movie stars out there?
Man on train 2: Well, I gotta confess, I'm just like you and me. I only get to see them in the movies. But, I read about them and I know all about them.
Man on train 1: Yeh. Boy, I'd sure like to meet that Ava Gardner.
Man on train 2: Well, you're a little late. She's married, you know.
Man on train 1: Yeh. Oh! You know this one?
[Showing a photo in a magazine]
Man on train 2: Who's that?
Man on train 1: Tony Hunter.
Man on train 2: Oh, him, the singing, dancing fellow.
Man on train 1: My wife used to go to see all of his pictures. Almost broke up our home. Tony Hunter. Tony Hunter.
Man on train 2: Well, he was good 12, 15 years ago, but the columnist out there say he's through.
Tony Hunter: [Face hidden. Speaking behind a magazine] Through? He's washed up. Hasn't made a picture in three years.
Man on train 1: Did you say something mister?
Tony Hunter: [Puts magazine down] I said I agree with you. That Tony Hunter's a has been. Gotta match? I wouldn't go to see him if they gave away five dollar bills with the ticket.
Man on train 1: Well, we should be pulling...
Tony Hunter: Funny thing about what you're saying boys is that your absolutely true. Here, have an exploding cigar.

Tony Hunter: Now look, now look, I thought I was the only nervous wreck around here. All this time, you've been behaving...
Gabrielle Gerard: [Sobbing] I've behaved terribly to you and I know it. I'm not used to behaving horribly. Its a big strain!

Tony Hunter: [singing] I'll go my way by myself, All alone in a crowd, I'll try to apply myself, And teach my heart how to sing, I'll go my way by myself, Like a bird on the wing, I'll face the unknown, I'll build a world of my own...

Tony Hunter: [singing] I gotta shine on my shoes, I gotta shine on my shoes, I gotta shine on my shoes, I gotta shine on my shoes, I gotta shine on my shoes, I gotta shine on my shoes, I gotta shine on my shoes, I gotta shine on my shoes, Shine the shoes, Shine the shoes, Shine the shoes, Shine the shoes, Shine the shoes, Shine the shoes, Shine the shoes, Shine the shoes, I gotta shine the shoes, Shine the shoes, Shine the shoes, Shine the shoes, Shine, Shine, Shine on my shoes, I gotta Shine on my shoes, I gotta shine on my shoes, I gotta a shine on my shoes, I gotta a shine on my shoes, I gotta a shoe shine, I gotta a shoe shine, I gotta a shoe shine, I gotta a shoe shine, I gotta a shoe shine, I gotta shoe shine, I gotta a shoe shine, I gotta a shoe shine.

Jeffrey Cordova: You could be greater than you ever were! We're going to make you explode on the theater scene like a skyrocket. Not just the old trademark with the top hat, tie and tails; but, a great artist in the peak of his powers. The new Tony Hunter. Tony Hunter 1953!
Tony Hunter: But, can I do it?
Jeffrey Cordova: Oh, its a challenge. Its a challenge to all of us; but, that's what the theater is about. The challenge!
Tony Hunter: Well, whatever I am, whether its the new me or the old me; remember, I'm still just an entertainer.
Jeffrey Cordova: Well, what do you think I am? What do you think they are? What do you think the theater is? It's all entertainment!

Tony Hunter: What's happened to 42nd Street? I just can't get over it! I just can't understand it? I mean, this used to be the great theater street of the town. The New Amsterdam - I had one of my biggest successes there. It ran a year and a half. Noel Coward and Gertie were over here in "Private Lives".

Jeffrey Cordova, Lily Marton, Lester Marton, Tony Hunter: [singing] Some great Shakespearean scene, Where the ghost and a prince meet, And everyone ends in mincemeat...

Jeffrey Cordova, Lily Marton, Lester Marton, Tony Hunter: [singing] The world is stage, The stage is a world of entertainment!

Tony Hunter: This girl, Gerard, its not just her dancing. On top of everything, she's too tall for me. This girl is a giantess!

Tony Hunter: Let's get this straight, I am not Nijinsky. I am not Marlon Brando. I am Mrs. Hunter's little boy, Tony, song and dance man.

Tony Hunter: Do you know what those are on those benches? People. Happy people. Would you believe it, they don't even care if we have a damnation scene in our show or not.
Gabrielle Gerard: Neither do I.