Picture Quotes

“It was easier, and less expensive, to give a party at Chasen’s. ‘We entertain each other because we never know how to enjoy ourselves with other people,’ Reinhardt said to the guests at his table. ‘Hollywood people are afraid to leave Hollywood. Out in the world, they are frightened. They are unsure of themselves. They never enjoy themselves out of Hollywood. Sam Hoffenstein used to say we are the croupiers in a crooked gambling house. And it’s true. Every one of us thinks, You know, I really don’t deserve a swimming pool.’ The guests did not seem to mind what he had said, but on the other hand, there was no indication that anyone had listened to him.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“I believe in friendship,’ Band said to Reinhardt, then made his way to Huston and delivered the present. Huston unwrapped his present. ‘This is just swell, amigo – just wonderful,’ he said to Band. He closed the book and took a cigarette box out of his pocket. It was empty. ‘Get me some cigarettes, will ya, kid?’ he said. Band rushed off for cigarettes.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“Silvia,’ he said, and continued to hum. ‘There is a rumour making the rounds,’ she said, pronouncing each syllable slowly and emphatically. ‘The men are going to play poker after dinner, and the ladies will be given the brush. You know what I am talking about?’ Robinson smiled even more broadly. Garfield said, ‘The girls can go to a movie or something. Eddie, you buy any paintings in Europe?’ ‘Julie, you are not playing poker,’ said Mrs Reinhardt to Garfield. ‘I have news for you,’ said Garfield, ‘I am. Eddie?’ ‘Not this trip,’ Robinson said, without ceasing to grin at Mrs Reinhardt. ‘In New York, a Rouault. The time before in Europe, a Soutine.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“Page 1 A: Here, and throughout the script, please make certain that the expression ‘dum’ is pronounced clearly, and does not sound like the unacceptable expletive ‘damn’. Page 21: The expression ‘damn’ is unacceptable. Page 41: The same applies to the exclamation ‘Lord’, the expression ‘I swear t’ Gawd’. Page 42: The same applies to ‘Lord knows’ and the exclamation ‘Gawd’. Page 44: The exclamation ‘Good Lord’ is unacceptable. Page 65: The expression ‘hell to pay’ is unacceptable. Joseph I. Breen, the writer of the letter, stated that three other uses of the word ‘Lord’ in the script were unacceptable, along with one ‘in God’s name’, two ‘damns’, and three ‘hells’, and, before signing off – cordially – reminded Mr Mayer that the final judgement of the Code Administrator would be based upon the finished picture.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“A man who had been standing at the bar picked up his Martini and strolled over to a front booth near us. ‘I have a great story for you,’ he said to the group seated there. ‘This actor comes back from a funeral and he’s bawling and carrying on, the tears streaming down his face. So his friend tells him he never saw anybody take a funeral so hard. The actor says, “You should have seen me at the grave!”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“I’ll read you Ben’s letter,’ a man near us was saying. ‘He writes, “Whenever I think of Byzantium, I remember you. I hope you survive the court intrigues of Hollywood’s twilight, and when the place crumbles, may you fall from a throne.” ’ ‘I have news for you,’ said his companion. ‘It’s not twilight yet. It’s only smog.’ ‘I have news for you,’ the first man said, staring without restraint at Schary. ‘Ben will be back here. He likes the court intrigues.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“He had learned many lessons simply by watching these battles, he told me. ‘M-G-M is like a medieval monarchy,’ he said. ‘Palace revolutions all the time.’ He leaned back in his swivel chair. ‘L. B. is the King. Dore is the Prime Minister. Benny Thau, an old Mayer man, is the Foreign Minister, and makes all the important deals for the studio, like the loan-outs of big stars. L. K. Sidney, one vice-president, is the Minister of the Interior, and Edgar J. Mannix, another vice-president, is Lord Privy Seal, or, sometimes, Minister without Portfolio.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“He picked up a pad of paper and started sketching horses as he talked. He and Reinhardt, he said, had found a marvellous actor named Royal Dano to play the part of the Tattered Man, and Dano had that singular quality that makes for greatness on the screen.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“When Huston had returned to the studio after his Eastern trip, he told me, he had found that no preparations at all were under way for The Red Badge of Courage. ‘Those uniforms just weren’t being made!’ he said with amazement. ‘I went to see L. B., and L. B. told me he had no faith in the picture. He didn’t believe it would make money.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“I hate stars,’ Huston said, exchanging his empty glass for a full one. ‘They’re not actors. I’ve been around actors all my life, and I like them, and yet I never had an actor as a friend. Except Dad. And Dad never thought of himself as an actor. But the best actor I ever worked with was Dad. All I had to tell Dad about his part of the old man in Treasure was to talk fast. Just talk fast.’ Huston talked rapidly, in a startling and accurate imitation of his father. ‘A man who talks fast never listens to himself. Dad talked like this. Man talking fast is an honest man. Dad was a man who never tried to sell anybody anything.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“It’s an off beat picture,’ Fellows said politely. ‘The public wants pictures like Ma and Pa Kettle. I say make pictures the public wants. Over here,’ he said to a waiter who had entered with a tray holding six Martinis in champagne glasses. ‘No getting away from it, John,’ Fellows went on, handing Huston a drink. ‘Biggest box-office draws are pictures catering to the intelligence of the twelve-year-old.’ People underestimated the intelligence of the twelve-year-old, Huston said.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture

“I happen to like forthright, up-front crooks and villains, and I gloried in finding some of them in Hollywood.”
― Lillian Ross, Picture