Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. Quotes in The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: [after catching Ray Bolger doing a little softshoe backstage] Buddy, you're better with your feet than you are with your broom.

Ray Bolger: Mr. Ziegfeld, you think so? Gee, I wish you'd give me a chance. I've got talent, and I'd like to get away from shifting scenery and moving props.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: How long have you been a property boy?

Ray Bolger: Five years, but my heart hasn't been in it.

Ray Bolger: You've been working a long time without your heart, buddy.

Hotel doorman: Do you realize you gave me five pounds?

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Yes, I'm trying to lose weight.

Billie Burke: I'm here.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Yes, and so am I.

Billie Burke: But it must seem like kindergarten to you.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Why?

Billie Burke: The great Mr. Ziegfeld, producer of the Follies, surrounded by hundreds of beautiful women, sitting on a bench holding hands, watching the riverboats go back and forth. Doesn't sound a bit like you, does it?

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: No, it doesn't. But, here I am, sitting on a bench, holding hands and watching the riverboats go back and forth... And regretting all the years I haven't known you.

Billie Burke: Didn't Anna Held take up a few of those years?

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Yes, Billie, she did. She was truly a wonderful woman.

Billie Burke: I love you for saying that.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Look, there's another ferryboat going across to the Palisades. Will you keep your eyes on it while I tell you something?

Billie Burke: Must I look at a ferryboat to listen to you?

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Yes, or I won't be able to tell you.

Billie Burke: You mean the great lady's man is bashful?

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Strange as it may seem... in your presence, he is.

Billie Burke: All right, I'm looking.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: I love you, Billie.

[Billie turns to look at him. Flo points]

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: The ferryboat... I haven't anything to offer you, because there's nothing that you really seem to need. You've made the most of yourself unassisted, and that's grand. But

[Billie starts to face him]

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Ferryboat. You're a great star already, so there's little I can offer you. Nothing I can give you... except my love.

Billie Burke: That isn't enough... I expect part of your ambition, half of your trouble, two-thirds of your worries... and all of your respect.

[They kiss]

Sampson: This is about talent.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Something good and cheap no doubt?

Sampson: Exactly! It's a young girl named Brice... Fanny... Fanny Brice. She;s working in burlesque.

Gene Buck: Say, I've seen that girl, Flo!

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Pretty?

Gene Buck: Well, yes and no. Shut your eyes and listen - yes! Open 'em and look - no, but a great performer!

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: We shall have a look at her at once - tonight!

Sandow: This cheese is so strong it could walk over and say hello to your coffee.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Well, it had better not. This coffee's too weak to answer it.

Billie Burke: I wonder what General Grant would think if he knew we were using the very shadow of his tomb as our meeting place?

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Well, I never knew the general personally but I have an idea that he'd approve.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: [after he has hired Jack Billings' valet away from him] Gentlemen never argue about gentlemen's gentlemen.

Sampson: They want the cash.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Did you mean they're telling me that they sent the costumes for this show COD?

Sampson: No, sir, not this show. They want some money on the last show.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: [Scolding the wardrobe man for having dressed Miss Brice in an inappropriately showy costume] How do you expect Miss Brice to sing a sad song about her man, dressed up like a nightingale? I find personalities, and you try to destroy them. I didn't engage Miss Brice as a showgirl.

Clarence: [after having altered Miss Brice's costume to the bare minimum] Is that all right, Mr. Ziegfeld?

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Well, it's all right for now. Tomorrow, get her another outfit. And don't make it, buy it. Go to a second-hand store and get her an old dress. She's supposed to be a, an apache, a poor French girl, an urchin!

Clarence: [meekly] Yes, sir.

Fanny Brice: [looking disappointed] So, to work for Mr. Ziegfeld, I gotta' be an urchin. Even in burlesque I was middle class.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: [referring to Fanny Brice, after her audition performance] She's all right. She's gonna' be great.

Sampson: And I discovered her!

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: [to Sampson] That's right, Sam, and you deserve a raise.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: [to the other men in the room] And I'd give it to him, but I'm afraid he wouldn't approve of the expense.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Oh, Sidney, I'm so terribly broke.

Sidney: But sir, isn't Mr. Billings going to help you?

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Sidney, he hasn't a nickel. He was lying to me just to make me feel better. We're both broke.

Sidney: I wouldn't worry about that, sir. You've been broke before, sir.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Yes, I know. I've always laughed about it. But I can't laugh anymore, Sidney, because I've been wrong. I've got nothing. Nothing to leave anyone.

Sidney: Nothing, sir? You leave them the memories of the finest things ever done on the stage, sir. You'll leave them a name that they can be proud of all their lives. You'll soon feel better, and then you can do more beautiful things than ever before, sir.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: [Last lines] I've got to have more steps. I need more steps... I've got to get higher... higher.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Children play with the dreams of tomorrow. And old men play with the memories of yesterday.

[first lines]

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Ah... Saturday, September twenty fifth. Another heavenly day. Ah, yes. Always a heavenly day.