Miss Cordelia Biddle Quotes in The Happiest Millionaire (1967)

Miss Cordelia Biddle: [singing to her reflection] Oh, Miss Cordelia Drexel Biddle, I thought I knew you well! But now, Miss Cordelia Drexel Biddle, I just can't tell. Are you Valentine candy, or boxing gloves? Lately you seem very strange... What in the world's coming over you? Everything's starting to change. Are you sonnets by Shelley, or rover boys? Once, any answer would do... Why are you suddenly wondering, which kind of someone are you? Is a boy meant to spar with, or gaze at a star with? Should you kiss him, or blacken his eye? Now if he buys you roses, a right to the nose is really not quite the proper reply... You're so lost in the middle of in-between. Is your destiny canvas, or crêpe de Chine? Will you someday be someone that somebody loves? Are you Valentine candy... or boxing gloves?

Mrs. Cordelia Biddle: Where did you meet this young man, Cordy?

Miss Cordelia Biddle: At a party aunt Gladys and uncle Phil gave. I wrote you about it...

Anthony J. Drexel Biddle: You didn't write us about getting married!

Miss Cordelia Biddle: Well, Papa, he didn't *ask* me until today!

Anthony J. Drexel Biddle: What took him so long?

[looking at the alligator bite on Mr. Biddle's finger]

Miss Cordelia Biddle: What were you doing shaving at this hour of the day?

Anthony J. Drexel Biddle: I haven't been shaving! And since when do I shave my finger?

Miss Cordelia Biddle: Well, you don't shave your ear either, but last week you cut it.

Anthony J. Drexel Biddle: That's different, the ear is in the general vicinity of the face!

Miss Cordelia Biddle: Well, so's the finger when you're shaving!

Anthony J. Drexel Biddle: It's a *bite*, blast it!

Miss Cordelia Biddle: No!

Anthony J. Drexel Biddle: Yes!

Miss Cordelia Biddle: Who?

Anthony J. Drexel Biddle: George! Turned on me just like that, after all these years!

Angie Duke: [singing] There's a shining city, west of here, where dreams are booming into gear... It's no humdrum nine-to-five town; it's a growing, going, bright-alive town! Golden sparks light up the skies there, like a thousand Fourth-of-Julys there! How I want to stake a claim in, roll my sleeves and make a name in... Detroit!

Miss Cordelia Biddle: Detroit?

Angie Duke: Michigan!

[sings]

Angie Duke: You can hear it humming, see it coming, feel it everywhere you go! It's tomorrow morning, the future dawning with a bright and shining glow! It's a land where golden chariots are molded out of dreams... Detroit! Detroit! Detroit! Detroit! It's Detroit!

Miss Cordelia Biddle: Oh, no, I'm not getting married!

[runs out of room]

Angie Duke: Then I'm not either!

Angie Duke: I don't like these pushy girls who think they can trap any man with a big act.

Miss Cordelia Biddle: But you saw me practicing. Didn't that scare you away?

Angie Duke: No. You were so bad at it.

[Mr. Biddle pulls Cordy into a jig with John]

Miss Cordelia Biddle: [surprised] Papa! I thought you didn't like dancing!

Anthony J. Drexel Biddle: Nah, it's that waltzing stuff I don't like! The waltz is for old people!

Miss Cordelia Biddle: [a waltz starts] Oh, it's a waltz. The waltz is for old people.

Angie Duke: Oh is it?

[he pulls Cordy into the dance; they sweep elegantly across the floor and end up on the balcony]

Angie Duke: I don't think the waltz is for old people.

Miss Cordelia Biddle: I was just saying something somebody told me.