Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 Godfrey: Opportunity is just around the corner.
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it`s been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner. Irene: I`m terribly grateful. This is the first time I`ve ever beaten Cornelia at anything and you helped me do it.
Godfrey: Well, that makes me a sort of Cornelia beater doesn`t it?
[last lines]
[Irene is getting ready to marry a surprised Godfrey]
Irene: Stand still, Godfrey. It`ll all be over in a minute.
Cornelia Bullock: You can`t go on like this forever. You really like me and you`re afraid to admit it, aren`t you?
Godfrey: You want me to tell you what I REALLY think of you?
Cornelia Bullock: Please do.
Godfrey: As Smith or as a butler?
Cornelia Bullock: Choose your own weapon.
Godfrey: You won`t hold it against me?
Cornelia Bullock: It`s your day off.
Godfrey: Very well. You belong to that unfortunate category that I would call the "Park Avenue brat". A spoiled child who`s grown up in ease and luxury... who`s always had her own way... and who`s misdirected energies are so childish that they hardly deserve the comment, even of a butler on his off Thursday.
Cornelia Bullock: [hurt and angry] Thank you for a very lovely portrait.
Irene: Godfrey`s gonna be our butler.
Angelica Bullock: He`s gonna be who`s butler?
Irene: He`s gonna work for us.
Angelica Bullock: Oh, that`s ridiculous. You don`t know anything about him. He hasn`t any recommendations...
Irene: Well, the last one had recommendations and stole all the silver.
Angelica Bullock: Well, that was merely a coincidence.
Godfrey: People who take in stray cats say they make the best pets, madam.
Angelica Bullock: I don`t see what cats have got to do with butlers.
Irene: Godfrey loves me! He put me in the shower!
Alexander Bullock: Life in this family is one subpoena after another.
[Irene poses dramatically]
Cornelia Bullock: Oh, I remember that pose so well. I learned it in Dramatics School. It`s Number 8 isn`t it?
Faithful George: Yep, that`s Number 8 all right.
Cornelia Bullock: Am I spoiling your act, dear?
Irene: [under her breath to Cornelia] I`ll spoil something of yours someday and it won`t be your act!
Irene: Life is but an empty bubble.
Godfrey: That`s most of your stock. I knew it had been dumped on the market, so I sold short.
Angelica Bullock: I don`t understand. You sold short. You mean gentlemen`s underwear?
Irene: I went to Venice, and one night I went for a ride in one of those rowboats that the man pushes with a stick. Not a matador. That was in Spain. But something like a matador.
Godfrey: Do you, by any chance, mean a gondolier?
Irene: That was the name of the boat!
Detective: Just a minute, sister!
Molly: If I thought that were true, I`d disown my parents.
Detective: [chuckles] So you got a passion for jewelry, huh?
Molly: Yes... I got a passion for socking cops.
Detective: Where are they?
Molly: Most of them are in cemeteries.
Detective: [notices Carlo by the french doors] Who`s that?
Irene: It`s mother`s protegé.
Detective: No wisecracks. Is that your son?
Alexander Bullock: That? Say, listen. I`ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I`ll be hanged if I`ll plead guilty to that!
Angelica Bullock: Oh, Alexander, you missed all the excitement.
Alexander Bullock: What`s going on?
Angelica Bullock: Oh, let me see. I knew what it was I wanted to say, but somehow it slipped my mind.
Alexander Bullock: What`s the matter with Irene?
Angelica Bullock: Oh, yes, that`s it. Irene`s got herself engaged!
Alexander Bullock: To whom?
Angelica Bullock: Oh, I don`t know, Van something-or-other. I think he`s the boy with his arm around that girl in pink. He`s got lots of money.
Alexander Bullock: Well, he`ll need it.
Angelica Bullock: My ancestors came over on the boat. Oh, not the Mayflower, but the boat after that. What did your ancestors come over on, Godfrey?
Godfrey: As far as I know, they`ve always been here.
Angelica Bullock: They weren`t Indians, I hope.
Godfrey: One can never be sure of one`s ancestors.
Angelica Bullock: You know, you have rather high cheek bones...
Godfrey: Hasn`t anyone ever told you about certain proprieties?
Irene: You use such lovely big words. I like big words. What does it mean?
Godfrey: Well, I`ll try to simplify it. Hasn`t your mother or anyone ever explained to you that some things are proper and some things are not?
Irene: No she hasn`t. She rambles on quite a bit, but then she never has anything to say.
Godfrey: These flowers just came for you, miss. Where shall I put them?
Irene: What difference does it make where one puts flowers when one`s heart is breaking?
Godfrey: Yes, miss. Shall I put them on the piano?
Angelica Bullock: You mustn`t come between Irene and Godfrey. He`s the first thing she`s shown any affection for since her pomeranian died last summer.
Angelica Bullock: What happened, what did you say to Carlo?
Alexander Bullock: I said goodbye.
Angelica Bullock: Did he go?
Alexander Bullock: Yes he left very hurriedly through the side window
Cornelia Bullock: Will you do me a big favor?
Faithful George: Who do you want killed?
Cornelia Bullock: I`ll do my own killing.
Alexander Bullock: I`ve just been going over last month`s bills, and I find that you people have confused me with the Treasury Department.
Cornelia Bullock: Oh, don`t start that again, Dad.
Alexander Bullock: I don`t mind giving the government 60% of what I make. But I can`t do it when my family spends 50%!
Irene: Well, why should the government get more money than your own family?
Molly: Mr. Bullock, there`s a hansom cab driver waiting to see you in the kitchen.
Alexander Bullock: What`s he want?
Molly: He wants $50 and his horse.
Alexander Bullock: What horse?
Molly: The one Miss Irene rode up the front steps last night.
Alexander Bullock: Where is his horse? I haven`t got it!
Molly: It`s in the library, where Miss Irene left it.
Godfrey: Does the butler have quarters here in the house, or is that necessary?
Molly: Oh, you won`t need any quarters. Just hang your hat near the door so you can get it quickly on the way out.
Godfrey: Do you mind telling me just what a scavenger hunt is?
Irene: Well, a scavenger hunt is exactly like a treasure hunt, except in a treasure hunt you try to find something you want, and in a scavenger hunt you try to find something that nobody wants.
Godfrey: Hmm, like a forgotten man?
Irene: That`s right, and the one who wins gets a prize, only there really isn`t a prize. It`s just the honor of winning, because all the money goes to charity, that is, if there is any money left over, but there never is.
Godfrey: Well, that clears the whole matter up beautifully.
Godfrey: The only difference between a derelict and a man is a job.
Irene: Can you butle?
Godfrey: Butle?
Irene: Yes, we`re fresh out of butlers. The one we had left this morning.
[tt the city dump]
Irene: Could you tell me why you live in a place like this when there`s so many other nice places?
Godfrey: You really want to know?
Irene: Oh, I`m very curious.
Godfrey: It`s because my real estate agent felt that the altitude would be very good for my asthma.
Angelica Bullock: If you`re going to be rude to my daughter, you might as well at least take your hat off!
Godfrey: Why can`t you let me alone?
Irene: Because you`re my responsibility and someone has to take care of you.
Godfrey: I can take care of myself.
Irene: You can`t look me in the eye and say that. You love me and you know it. You know, there`s no sense in struggling against a thing when it`s got you. It`s got you and that`s all there is to it - it`s got you!
Godfrey: May I be frank?
Molly: Is that your name?
Godfrey: No, my name is Godfrey.
Molly: All right, be frank.
Master of Ceremonies: Are you wanted by the police?
Godfrey: That`s just the trouble. Nobody wants me.
Alexander Bullock: All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people.
Irene: You have a wonderful sense of humor. I wish I had a sense of humor, but I can never think of the right thing to say until everybody`s gone home.
Godfrey: Do you think you could follow an intelligent conversation for a minute?
Irene: I`ll try.
Blake: Take a look at the dizzy old gal with the goat.
Alexander Bullock: I`ve had to look at her for 20 years - that`s MRS. Bullock!
Blake: I`m terribly sorry!
Alexander Bullock: How do you think I feel?
Alexander Bullock: We`ve got to come to an understanding right now: either Carlo is or I am.
Angelica Bullock: Am what?
Alexander Bullock: Well, one of us has got to and that`s all there is to it.
Trivia
Although stars William Powell and Carole Lombard had been divorced for three years by the time they made this, when offered the part Powell declared that the only actress right for the part of Irene was Lombard.
Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" in 2006.
This is the only movie to ever get Oscar nominations for writing, directing and all four acting awards without being nominated for Best Picture. It`s also the only movie to ever get those six nominations and lose them all.
When "My Man Godfrey" was adapted and broadcast as an episode of the Lux Radio Theater on May 9, 1938, David Niven portrayed Tommy Gray. Niven would later star in the remake, My Man Godfrey (1957).
A stand-in (Chick Collins) was used when William Powell carries Carole Lombard over his shoulder up the stairs to her bedroom.
This was the first film to ever receive four acting nominations at the Academy Awards, and it did so in the year that the supporting categories were introduced.
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Carole Lombard
(as Irene Bullock)
with William Powell
(as Godfrey)
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