A Summer Place (1959)

Constance Ford: Helen Jorgenson

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Quotes 

• Helen Jorgenson : [after she has seen Molly Jorgenson and Johnny Hunter kissing]  Well, your daughter didn't waste any time. She's let that boy kiss and maul her her very first night here.

  Ken Jorgenson : Where were they?

  Helen Jorgenson : Down below me, in the garden.

  Ken Jorgenson : If they had anything to hide, you think they'd do it right under your window?

  Helen Jorgenson : Are you defending her cheap behavior?

  Ken Jorgenson : Cheap? A girl kissing a boy in the moonlight? You know Molly's as decent as this boy seems to be.

  Helen Jorgenson : [really angry now]  No decent girl lets a boy kiss and maul her the very first night they meet! I suppose it's your Swedish blood in her. I've read about how the Swedes bathe together and... and have trial marriages and free love. I've read all about that. Anything goes.

  Ken Jorgenson : [angry and disgusted]  So, now you hate the Swedes. How many outlets for your hate do you have, Helen? We haven't been able to find a new house because of your multiplicity of them. We can't buy near a school because you hate kids. They make noise. And there can't be any Jews or Catholics on the block, either. And, oh, yes, it can't be anywhere near the Polish or Italian sections. And, of course, Negroes have to be avoided at all costs. Now, let's see: No Jews, no Catholics, no Italians, no Poles, no children. No Negroes. Do I have the list right, so far? And now, you've added Swedes. And, oh, yes, you won't use a Chinese laundry because you distrust Orientals. And you think the British are snobbish, the Russians fearful, the French immoral, the Germans brutal, and all Latin Americans lazy. What's your plan? To cut humanity out? Are you anti-people and anti-life? Must you suffocate every natural instinct in our daughter, too? Must you label young love-making as cheap and wanton and indecent? Must you persist in making sex, itself, a filthy word?

  [Helen, without a word, leaves the room. Ken slams the door after her] 

• Bart Hunter : As soon as Molly is found - and I'm sure she will be - I suggest you vacate these rooms as swiftly as possible.

  Helen Jorgenson : [incredulously]  Don't tell me that you're on their side!

  Bart Hunter : Let's merely say that I'm not on yours.

• Ken Jorgenson : [after hearing that Johnny threatened to kill his wife]  I wouldn't blame him if he did.

  Helen Jorgenson : [sneering]  Of course you wouldn't. It would make it easier for you to sneak off and sleep with his harlot of a mother!

• Helen Jorgenson : This is Dr. Matthias. I sent for him from the mainland. I want you to take off every stitch you've got on and let him examine you.

  Molly Jorgenson : But we haven't done anything wrong, mama. We slept all night...

  Helen Jorgenson : I'm not asking you for the truth because I know you'd lie. So I'm having him examine you completely and make his own report.

  Molly Jorgenson : No!

  Helen Jorgenson : [grabbing Molly's arm]  You have disgraced me enough, now do as I say!

• Johnny Hunter : Don't you hurt her again. Don't you hurt her. You hurt her and I'll kill you.

  Helen Jorgenson : Don't you dare threaten me.

• Bart Hunter : Do you and your husband often swim in the raw Mrs Jorgenson?

  Helen Jorgenson : Good heavens no!

  Bart Hunter : Oh, she hasn't lived has she Ken?

  Bart Hunter : Why, there's absolutely nothing like galloping bare bottomed into the sea!

• Helen Jorgenson : Don't you ever underestimate the value of a decent reputation.

• Helen Jorgenson : What have you got to say for yourself?

  Molly Jorgenson : We capsized and spent the night on the beach.

  Helen Jorgenson : I imagined as much.

• Helen Jorgenson : [to her daughter]  Must you parade before open windows like a... like a stripteaser?

• Helen Jorgenson : Get that disinfectant bag and clean this bathroom. Don't forget the toilet seat.

  Molly Jorgenson : I'm... I'm sure everything's clean, mother.

  Helen Jorgenson : You can never be too sure.

• Helen Jorgenson : I don't want her stared at.

  Ken Jorgenson : So you insist on de-sexing her. As though sex was synonymous with dirt.

• Helen Jorgenson : [inspecting her flimsy, silver Christmas tree]  The tree should last at least ten years. Solid plastic.

• Helen Jorgenson : You can't ever let him think your kisses come cheap.

• Helen Jorgenson : You have to play a man like a fish.

• Helen Jorgenson : [to her husband]  When we arrive at the inn, I want her to look completely modest.

  Molly Jorgenson : She means like a boy. Flat like a pancake.

• Helen Jorgenson : Très jolie, as the French would say. Très, très jolie!