The Happy Time (1952)

Marcel Dalio: Grandpere Bonnard

Quotes 

• Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard : Look, maman, what Uncle Desmond sent. A photograph of himself and two nice ladies.

  Susan Bonnard : Nice ladies! Jacques, will you look at this? Bibi, go up and wash your hands.

  Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard : They're not dirty!

  Susan Bonnard : At once.

  [Bibi leaves] 

  Susan Bonnard : Well? You know what's on my mind. Show it to Grandpa.

  Grandpere Bonnard : [glancing briefly, then, dismissively]  Too skinny.

  Susan Bonnard : What do you suppose Bibi thinks of a thing like this?

  Jacques Bonnard : Thinks? He thinks nothing. He's only happy that Desmond remembered his birthday.

  Susan Bonnard : But these women! Who ARE they? WHAT are they? You know Bibi imitates all of you. He's even picked up Desmond's trick with the medals.

  Grandpere Bonnard : With the same results.

  Susan Bonnard : Be still. Jacques, he'll realize what this is all about someday.

  Jacques Bonnard : Eh! When he's old enough to realize, he'll be old enough to understand.

  Susan Bonnard : That Desmond-he's becoming the most roving eye in Ottawa. With everything else, does he have to be a traveling salesman? I shudder to think what is happening to women all over Canada.

  Grandpere Bonnard : We have had no reports from the outlying provinces.

  Jacques Bonnard : Don't worry about Desmond. One of these days he will change and settle down.

  Susan Bonnard : That's a transformation devoutly to be wished.

  Grandpere Bonnard : You quote?

  Susan Bonnard : Shakespeare.

  Grandpere Bonnard : Ah! There was an Englishman with glands!

• Susan Bonnard : [Bibi returns to the dining room, adjusting lacy garters on his sleeves]  Bibi, what have you got on your sleeves?

  Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard : They're too long. Before he left town, Uncle Desmond gave me some garters to hold them up.

  Susan Bonnard : Women's garters! Take them off! Look at them! Off some... stranger's legs!

  Grandpere Bonnard : To Desmond she was not a stranger.

  Susan Bonnard : Jacques!

  Jacques Bonnard : Calm yourself, my love. My brother is young.

  Susan Bonnard : Your son is younger.

  Jacques Bonnard : And after all, there is no great harm in catching garters that are thrown from the stage of the Casino Burlesque. It's done by some of our most distinguished citizens. It's a form of sport.

  Susan Bonnard : I don't want garters from the burlesque on my son's arms.

  Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard : Only one is from the burlesque! The other was obtained privately!

  Susan Bonnard : [shrieking, she leaves the room] 

  Jacques Bonnard : Now, Bibi-in the world of men, one does not talk too much. It's enough to have the garters; one does not volunteer the information where they were obtained. You will understand when you are a man.

  Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard : Papa? When will I be?

  Jacques Bonnard : What?

  Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard : When will I be a man?

  Jacques Bonnard : Soon enough.

  Grandpere Bonnard : There is a law of nature, called la puberté, and it is widespread among all animals, being the awakening of a natural appetite. Life will taste better then-like a good soup! It is the seasoning that counts! But it is a hard appetite to satisfy, believe me.

• Jacques Bonnard : Believe me, my love; this bird, in his song-which I understand completely-has expressed a desire to live his own life! It is a desire that must be respected.

  Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard : How do you know what he wants, papa?

  Susan Bonnard : Your father, it seems, understands the language of birds. The first day we met, he told me that he'd been speaking with a lark, who wished us to visit him in the woods.

  Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard : This is how it happened?

  Jacques Bonnard : This is how it began.

  Grandpere Bonnard : [to Susan]  And you-the bird's wish was granted? You went into the woods with him?

  [Susan glances at Bibi, then shrugs] 

  Grandpere Bonnard : You cannot be all Scotch!

  [to Jacques] 

  Grandpere Bonnard : And you are even better than I thought!

• Dr. Marchaud : [taking Grandpere's pulse]  I've warned you before: it's bad enough for a young man to burn the candle at both ends; but with you, there's nothing but the wick-and that's burnt out.

  Grandpere Bonnard : Hmph! A man stumbles in the street - and then the vultures gather!

  Dr. Marchaud : The pulse is like a roller coaster at Luna Park.

  [to Desmond] 

  Dr. Marchaud : Open his shirt.

  Grandpere Bonnard : Must I endure this? I'm not a public display!

  Dr. Marchaud : No, you're a public nuisance.

• Susan Bonnard : [as Grandpere emerges from the house in his finery]  Grandpa!

  Grandpere Bonnard : Ah, bon soir. I'm late.

  Susan Bonnard : Where are you going?

  Grandpere Bonnard : Out.

  Susan Bonnard : You should be in bed!

  Grandpere Bonnard : It is only a matter of time.

• Uncle Desmond Bonnard : What's the occasion, this time?

  Grandpere Bonnard : The Widow Latouche is waiting; I'm late.

  Uncle Desmond Bonnard : Ho ho ho! It will unscrew your billiard table!

  Uncle Louis Bonnard : Believe me, not even a young man can go out every night dancing and never sleep. Something will collapse: maybe the arteries or the veins...

  Grandpere Bonnard : The one who knows of a better way to die-will he step forward?

• Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard : [when Grandpere gives him a parakeet in a cage]  Does he sing?

  Grandpere Bonnard : Only when he's in the mood.

  Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard : And when is he in the mood?

  Grandpere Bonnard : Ah, when he sings, naturally.