Ball of Fire (1941)
Oscar Homolka: Prof. Gurkakoff
Photos
Quotes
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Prof. Gurkakoff : [discovering Sugarpuss gave back the wrong ring] The subconscious never makes a mistake. She gave you the ring she didn't want - his ring - and she kept the one she wanted - yours.
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Garbage Man : I could use a bundle of scratch right now on account of I met me a mouse last week.
Prof. Oddly : Mouse?
Garbage Man : What a pair of gams. A little in, a little out, and a little more out.
Professor Bertram Potts : I am still completely mystified.
Garbage Man : Well, with this dish on me hands and them giving away 25 smackaroos on that quizzola.
Professor Bertram Potts : Smackaroos?
Prof. Oddly : Smackaroos? What are smackaroos?
Garbage Man : A smackaroo is a...
Professor Bertram Potts : No such word exists.
Garbage Man : Oh, it don't, huh? A smackaroo is a dollar, pal.
Professor Bertram Potts : Well, the accepted vulgarism for a dollar is a buck.
Garbage Man : The accepted vulgarism for a smackaroo is a dollar. That goes for a banger, a fish, a buck, or a rug.
Professor Bertram Potts : Well, what about the mouse?
Garbage Man : The mouse is the dish. That's what I need the moolah for.
Prof. Oddly : Moolah?
Garbage Man : Yeah, the dough. We'll be stepping. Me and the smooch - I mean, the dish, I mean, the mouse. You know, hit the jiggles for a little drum boogie.
Professor Bertram Potts : Please, please, not so fast.
Garbage Man : Brother, we're going to have some hoytoytoy.
Prof. Oddly , Prof. Robinson , Prof. Jerome , Prof. Gurkakoff , Prof. Magenbruch , Prof. Quintana : Hoytoytoy?
Garbage Man : Yeah, and if you want that one explained, you go ask your papas.
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Professor Bertram Potts : I've just finished my article on slang. Twenty-three pages compiled from a dozen reference books. Eight hundred examples. Everything from the idiotic combination "absotively" to the pejorative use of "zigzag." I traced the evolution of "hunky dory," tracked down "skiddo" from "skedaddle." Eight hundred examples and I may as well throw it in the waste basket. Three weeks' work.
Prof. Robinson : Potts, you're hysterical.
Professor Bertram Potts : Outmoded. Based on reference books 20 years old. Take "smooch." Take "dish." Take...
Prof. Oddly : Hoytoytoy?
Professor Bertram Potts : Hoytoytoy. Not one of them included. Living in this house cut off from the world, I've lost touch. And it's inexcusable! That man talked a living language. I embalmed some dead phrases.
Prof. Gurkakoff : But where are you going?
Professor Bertram Potts : Out to collect new data, to tap the sources of slang, the major sources. The streets. The slums. The theatrical and allied professions.
Prof. Robinson : Oh, now, Potts, don't you think that...
Professor Bertram Potts : I know it's regrettable, this loss of time, gentlemen, but it must be done. Leave the key under the mat. I won't be home before 9 o'clock.
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Prof. Quintana : Potts, could you tell us what was it like backstage?
Prof. Oddly : Very vivacious, I imagine.
Prof. Gurkakoff : And perhaps, ballerinas giggling up and down iron staircases.
Prof. Magenbruch : Around and around.
Prof. Jerome : Possibly wearing tights.
Prof. Robinson : Tights...
Prof. Oddly : And that ineffable smell of rice powder.
Prof. Peagram : On nude shoulders.
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Sugarpuss O'Shea : Who was that guy learned so much from watching an apple drop?
Prof. Gurkakoff : Isaac Newton, 1642 to 1727. The law of gravity.
Sugarpuss O'Shea : Yeah, that's him. And I want you to look at me as another apple, Professor Potts. Just another apple.
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Prof. Gurkakoff : I can't find the common denominator between the steps and the music.
Sugarpuss O'Shea : You bet you can't, you're playing a polka, and I taught you a conga.