I Live My Life (1935)

Joan Crawford: Kay

Photos 

Quotes 

• Kay Bentley : It's my life! and I'll live it the way I want! Upside down, catty-corner or slidin' down a pole!

• Mrs. O.H.B. Gage, Kay's Grandmother : Who's his parents?

  Kay Bentley : I imagine they were Mr. and Mrs. O'Neill.

• Terry , Kay Bentley : There's only one thing I dislike more than yachts.

  Kay Bentley : And, what's that?

  Terry : Well, frankly, people off yachts.

• Grove : The Bettiger says that the islands are pretty well stocked with brigands, Miss Kay.

  Kay Bentley : Oh, brigands huh?

  Grove : Yes, yep.

  Kay Bentley : Well, brigands are men aren't they?

  Grove , Kay Bentley : To the best of m knowledge, Miss Kay.

  Kay Bentley : Then I can handled 'em.

• Terry : Max, get the young lady's mule.

  Max : What mule?

  Terry : The young lady's leaving.

  Max : What, uh, the young lady's mule. She ain't got one, boss.

  Max : Oh, but I must have.

  Terry : Where did you tie the mule?

  Kay Bentley : I didn't tie hm. I thought he'd just lay around.

• Kay Bentley : You know, Grove, I was just thinking. I might establish history by being the first one onboard to go ashore. After all, I want my friends to know I've been to Greece.

  Grove : Your father's never been ashore, Miss Kay, but I'm sure all his friends will know he's been in Greece.

• Terry : They thought I was hopelessly batty.

  Kay Bentley : So do I.

  Terry : And, so do I. But crazy or not, here I am, and I am happy.

• Terry , Kay Bentley : A mule doesn't just lay around.

  Kay Bentley : All right, then, what does he do?

  Terry : I don't know, I'm not a mule

  Kay Bentley : Certainly had me fooled.

• Kay Bentley : You know, I think I like archaeology.

  Terry : Do you know anything about it?

  Kay Bentley : I can learn.

• Kay Bentley : You're not very hospitable, are you?

  Terry : Well, this is not an amusement park, you know.

• Kay Bentley : Well, I'm not really a visitor.

  Terry : Oh, a native, perhaps?

  Kay Bentley : No, wrong again. I'm from that yacht over there.

  Terry : over there. Terry: Oh, well I beg your pardon. Of course, being off a yacht understandably entitles you to the keys of the city.

• Terry : [Carrying Kay down the hill]  Well, I think we'll rest awhile, I'm tired.

  Kay Bentley : Sissy!

  Terry , Kay Bentley : Sissy!

  [He picks her up and starts running down the hill] 

  Kay Bentley : Oh, wait a minute now. Hey!

  [She complains all the way down] 

• Kay Bentley : [to the yacht captain]  Mr. Bentley doesn't know Naxos from Jersey City.

• Kay Bentley : Oh, is that a Geek statue?

  Terry : Yes, by Persepholes, I hope.

• Gene : For $3 million, I'd marry Grove.

  Kay Bentley : Yes, I can understand that. After all, I'm marrying you.

• Kay Bentley : I merely told you what I am.

  Terry : Well, stop being what you are. All these pretty words don't mean anything. All this stuff about 'I am what I am and I cannot do anything about it' doesn't fool me for a minute.

  Kay Bentley : I assure you, I am not trying to fool you for a minute. And I haven't the slightest desire to make you think better or worse of me.

• Kay Bentley : You see, ever since I was six weeks old, I've had what I wanted. The only creative work I've ever done is to think of things to want. And now I want something I can't have. I wanna know what it feels like to come all the way from Greece just to see someone. But I won't. Maybe it's because I'm not worth waling to the corner for myself. And when you get back to Naxos, just don't remember me. That's all.

• Terry : Then, why dd you come here?

  Kay Bentley : It must've been something I ate for supper last night.

  Terry : No doubt! Goodbye!

  Kay Bentley : Goodbye!

  Terry : For the last time, I hope.

  Kay Bentley : You can count on that.

  Terry : I intend to.

  Kay Bentley : Good!

• Kay Bentley : Even worthless people turn dull enough to apologize sometimes. I've come to say I'm sorry.

• Terry : [Entering the room, dressed in white tie and with an intentionally snobbish air]  Ahem!

  Gene : And just then, in walks what the best-dressed men should wear.

  Terry : Your lapels are too long. Where did you have that suit made?

  Gene : My London tailor made this.

  Terry : Oh, and where were you at the time? Uh, also, your trousers are not supposed to break over the instep.

  Gene : How would you know?

  Terry : Uh, your American tailor told me. He also said it was a pleasure to make trousers for a man who didn't have any hips.

  Kay Bentley : How do you do it, diet?

  Terry : Polo! Hardly a day passes, I don't play my 18 holes of polo.

• Terry : I came all the way from Greece to see you. I was an idiot. Frankly, you're not worth walking from here to the corner for.

  Kay Bentley : [Starting to get up]  Then why don't you walk right out of here?

  Terry : [Pushing her back down]  Sit down!

• Kay Bentley : He's a very nice young man, isn't he?

  Grove : Exceedingly nice, Miss Kay.

  Kay Bentley : And I'm an exceedingly nasty young woman.

  [a long pause as Grove takes and holds a deep breath] 

  Kay Bentley : Go ahead, say it out loud, Grove.

  Grove : Yes, Miss Kay.

• Terry : Tell me, have you ever been punched right in the nose?

  Kay Bentley : No.

  Terry : [Pushing her into a chair]  Sit down!

  Grove : [Appearing through a door]  Did you ring, Miss Kay?

  Kay Bentley : [Getting up from the chair]  I certainly did.

  Terry : [Pushing her back down]  Sit down! No one rang.

  Grove : [Smiling and leaving the rom]  Thank you, sir.

• Kay Bentley : I've told you over and over again. It's no use. I just... don't love you.

• Gene : Hello, darling.

  Kay Bentley : Hello.

  Gene : Well, here's old medicine man Gene with his Dr. Piper's Indian remedy for man and beast.

  Kay Bentley : Gene, this is Mr. O'Neill. Mr. O'Neill, Mr. Piper.

  Terry : How do you do.

  Gene : Have a drink?

  Terry : No thanks

  Gene : Just have your tonsils out?

  Terry : No thanks, I just don't want one.

• Undetermined Role : Polo's beginning to be almost like golf. The first thing you know, there'll be public playing fields.

  Kay Bentley : Oh, it's getting so anyone with eight of 10 ponies can play the game now, don't you think so, Mr. O'Neill?

  Terry : Oh, I don't think you need fear of overcrowding, Miss Bentley. There are millions of people in this country who, if they had one pony, they'd eat it.

  Undetermined Role : I beg your pardon.

  Terry : Oh, that's all right.

• Kay Bentley : I kissed you because... well, because I wanted to kiss you... ..But I didn't kiss you with a marriage license in my pocket.

• Lois, Girl at the Party : How do you ever find these statues? You don't just dig around, do you?

  Terry : No, no. There's very little guesswork about it. Before any digging can be done, there must be months, and perhaps years of historical and geographical research. Oh, and then there are all sort of elements to consider - the season of the year, and the geological strata, and the...

  Lois, Girl at the Party : And, how terribly fascinating, but interesting. Goodbye, Kay.

  Kay Bentley : Goodbye, darling.

  Lois, Girl at the Party : And thank you, Mr. O'Neill, it's been lovely learning all about archaeology.

• Terry : I believe you meant what you just said.

  Kay Bentley : I do.

  Terry : Then why not do something about it?

  Kay Bentley : Aw, I can't.

  Terry : Whadda ya mean you can't?

  Kay Bentley : I just can't - that's the way I am.

  Terry : Oh, stop talking like that. It's so weak. 'I know I'm a spoiled little brat but I can't do anything about it.' You mean, you won't.

• G.P. Bentley : Do you love him?

  Kay Bentley : Well, I must. But how do you know when you're really in love?

  G.P. Bentley : Well, the day after I met your mother, I broke out in a rash.

• Kay Bentley : [On long distance telephone call]  Terry, can you forgive me for the other night?

  Terry : You wanna be forgiven? I forgive you.

  Kay Bentley : Can you forget it?

  Terry : No

  Kay Bentley : But, I didn't mean it

  Terry : Well, that makes everything fine, doesn't it?

  Kay Bentley : Well, I, I did mean it, but there was nothing else I could do. I can't explain over the telephone, but please try to forget what I did and what I said. I love you, Terry, and I'll always love you. Please believe me.

  Terry : [Excitedly]  Kay! Where are you?

  Kay Bentley : Never mind where I am. You stay where you are. I'll be in tomorrow. Please don't run away. No, I can't make it tonight. Goodbye, darling, I love you.

• Kay Bentley : She knows you're here now, and if I run away with you, she'll never forgive me.

  Terry : Oh, can we depend on that?

• Kay Bentley : Oh, Terry we need her.

  Terry : For what? To frighten our children?

• G.P. Bentley : Yes, but what about Gene, and your grandmother?

  Kay Bentley : Darling, if they really love each other, who am I to stand in their way?

  G.P. Bentley : Heh, heh, you mean you really feel that way about him?

  Kay Bentley : Uh huh.

• Terry : Your grandmother has something to do with everything. She's the most meddlesome, bigoted, old tyrant that ever forgot to mind her own business.

  Kay Bentley : Why, Terry after all, she, she is my grandmother.

  Terry : Now, let's get this one thing straight about that old battle ax. As far as her money and her orders ae concerned, I don't want any part of either of 'em.

• Kay Bentley : I suppose if I really loved him, I'd... I'd donate all my money to the relief of the frost-bitten second basemen, and spend the rest of my life in a tent cleaning arrow heads.

• Kay Bentley : You're a sweet soul.

  G.P. Bentley : Yes, well, it took you over 20 years to find out what I've known all my life.

• Kay Bentley : Well, you show up at the church, and I won't. That way I can just say I didn't want to marry you.

  Terry : Oh, I see. And then I can be the laughing stock.

  Kay Bentley : Oh, you won't mind that much in Naxos.

  Terry : I wouldn't mind it much on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 43nd Street. The opinion of what you call the world doesn't mean a thing to me, no matter where I am.

• G.P. Bentley : I have an idea he hasn't got a flair for business. He likes archaeology too much.

  Kay Bentley : Now, listen. He didn't wanna be a vice president either, did he?

  G.P. Bentley : No.

  Kay Bentley : Didn't I make him see the light?

  G.P. Bentley : Heh, heh, heh, yes.

  Kay Bentley : I can keep him that way.:

• Kay Bentley : [after Terry's button pushing has brought a bevy of staff into his office as they are kissing]  It's rather fun. It's like necking in Grand Central Station.

• Terry : I can have things done for me, but that's not what I want. I want to do things myself. I, I don't care whether I have three dollars or three million. I cannot sit behnd a desk and worry about southern Indiana when I just wanna be in Naxos just plain digging.

  Kay Bentley : Well, I don't want to be in Naxos, just plain digging. What am I supposed to do, scrape your shovels for you? Or make necklaces out of rocks so you can sell them to the tourists?

• Kay Bentley : Sooner or later, Mr. O'Neill has got to realize there are such things as conventions. They may not make sense all the time - that's probably why people have them. And we might just as well start house-breaking him right now.

• G.P. Bentley : I've got a hunch Terry doesn't like working in the office.

  Kay Bentley : Oh, but darling, I know he doesn't. But he'll get used to it in time.

• Terry : You're asking me, as your husband, to give up every interest I have in the world, and to lead a life that's stupid, dull and loathsome to me. Well, I can't do it. I won't do it.

  Kay Bentley : All right. If everything I stand for is stupid and dull and loathsome to you, for Pete's sake, don't marry me.

  Terry : All right, I won't.

  Kay Bentley : Oh, yes you will. You're not going to jilt me and make me the laughing stock of the world.

  Terry : There'll be no jilting about it. We just won't show up at the church.

• Terry : Do you realize what could be done with all the money that you waste on manicures - hundreds of dollars a year?

  Kay Bentley : What do you mean, hundreds? Thousands! Eighty-three thousand dollars a nail. And my eyebrows, ah ah, that runs into real money. Hand-plucked every Thursday. And, what of it? It's my money and I can spend it on shoe butts or peanuts or baseball bats, if I like. And it's my life, and I'll live it the way I want - upside down, or catty-corner, or sliding down a pole.