The Feminine Touch (1941)

Don Ameche: John Hathaway

Photos 

Quotes 

• Shelley Mason : [introducing himself to Julie]  And I'm Shelley Mason, the most distinguished and hated critic in America. You may look, but you mustn't touch.

  Elliott Morgan : [to Shelley Mason]  These are Professor and Mrs. Hathaway.

  Shelley Mason : Professor of what?

  John Hathaway : Psychology.

  Shelley Mason : I never use it, I live by instinct.

  John Hathaway : Obviously.

  [Shelley gives him a nod] 

  Shelley Mason : [to Julie]  At the moment it tells me that you're fascinated by me and want us to be alone.

  Julie Hathaway : You better switch to psychology.

  Shelley Mason : I adore difficult women. Come.

  John Hathaway : Go along with him, Julie. Might be fun.

  Julie Hathaway : Fun? For who?

  Shelley Mason : For me... and for you. A welcome relief from your husband.

  Julie Hathaway : I doubt it.

  [they start to walk away] 

  Shelley Mason : I'm a dangerous and exciting man.

  Julie Hathaway : At your age?

• Freddie Bond : [to Julie, tipsily]  How do you do, I'm Freddie Bond, and you're one of the loveliest sights I've ever seen.

  John Hathaway : I'm John Hathaway and this is my wife.

  Freddie Bond : You never told me you were married.

  Julie Hathaway : Well, that's silly. I've never seen you before in my life.

• John Hathaway : [about the unusually dressed men in the office]  Who... wh... what were they?

  Morgan's Receptionist : Oh, those are five convicts that escaped from Devil's Island. They wrote a bestseller for us, and now they're trying to figure a way to get back on the island, so they can write a sequel.

• Nellie Woods : Show me a woman that's free and I'll show you a woman that sits home at night... alone.

  John Hathaway : Well, look, the very symbol of freedom is a woman. The Statue of Liberty.

  Nellie Woods : Yeah, and did you ever notice? She carries a torch!

  [Nellie quickly raises her arm imitating the Statue of Liberty] 

• John Hathaway : [to "Rubber-Legs" Ryan]  Love is an emotion common to all forms of animal and some of vegetable life. Orchids, catfish, and left tackles all feel love.

• John Hathaway : Rubber-legs, without you in the game Saturday we'd have a hard time beating Laurel, wouldn't we?

  Rubber-legs Ryan : Huh? Are you kidding? Well, they'd tear down the stadium!

  John Hathaway : Then maybe they'd rebuild the library they tore down to build the stadium.

• Elliott Morgan : I'm a very sick man. I'm a hopeless neurotic as far as women are concerned. I have an incurable inferiority complex about them.

  John Hathaway : Mm hmm. And just how does this complex manifest itself?

  Elliott Morgan : Well, the moment I become attracted to a beautiful woman belonging to someone else, I feel inferior. The result is an irresistible compulsion to take that woman away from that man.

  John Hathaway : Ah, and uh, Julie compels you, hmm?

  Elliott Morgan : The strongest compulsion I've ever felt.

  John Hathaway : Well, it's nice of you to warn me.

  Elliott Morgan : Mm, well, I try to be decent.

  John Hathaway : [as he strokes his chin, looking at Elliott's beard]  But you're, uh, you're in for a tough time of it. You, uh, you haven't got a chance.

• Elliott Morgan : Hathaway, I wanna be honest with you. I am terribly attracted by your wife.

  John Hathaway : In the first place, you have no intention of being honest. That's just part of your routine. In the second place, I imagine most men are attracted by Julie. What of it?

• John Hathaway : Where did I ever get the beautiful idea of wanting to marry you?

  Julie Hathaway : When did you ever get the idea that you got the idea of wanting to marry me?

• Julie Hathaway : [as they enter Elliott Morgan's with a big party underway]  I never dreamed there were this many famous writers in the world.

  John Hathaway : There aren't.

• John Hathaway : [to Rubber Legs Ryan]  In the examination yesterday, you turned in a blank paper, except for your thumbprints.

• Rubber-legs Ryan : [in the middle of his makeup oral exam]  Oh, do we have to go and do some more? I've got a headache.

  John Hathaway : Did somebody kick ya in the head?

  Rubber-legs Ryan : Naw, I got it from thinkin'. Thinkin' always give me a headache.

  John Hathaway : That's from using muscles you've never used before. We'll continue.

  Rubber-legs Ryan : Well, the dean said if I got a headaches we could stop.

  John Hathaway : What made the Dean suspect you might get a headache?

  Rubber-legs Ryan : Suspect? It was his idea.

• John Hathaway : We're looking for Elliott Morgan.

  Freddie Bond : Don't! You won't like hm. I'm his lawyer and I ought a know.

• John Hathaway : [stands up, gives the Hitler salute, then turns and goosesteps out of the dean's office]  Heil football!

• Julie Hathaway : Literary people are the strangest people.

  Elliott Morgan : I'll get you a drink. You do sell and it helps.

  John Hathaway : [looking around]  A room full of living examples of what the mind can come to without discipline.

• Elliott Morgan : Say, you've been very smug about your wife.

  John Hathaway : You know, Julie might do you a lot of good.

  Elliott Morgan : Why?

  John Hathaway : A good, solid failure would help you, but, I, I think Julie might do more than that.

  Elliott Morgan : Are you prescribing your wife for me?

  John Hathaway : That's the general idea.

• Dean Hutchinson : It's about Crazy-legs Ryan.

  John Hathaway : Rubber-legs Ryan.

  Dean Hutchinson : I was thinking of Crazy-legs Bilbo, uh, our great end. I was sorry to see him graduate.

  John Hathaway : He didn't. He just played three years and moved on.

• Dean Hutchinson : Hathaway, the trustees of this college are, um, how shall I say, practical men. Their interest in Crazy-legs... uh, Rubber-legs, is not the pedagogical one that we have. Uh, eh, it seems that they are determined to beat Laurel College this Saturday and, uh, therefore...

  John Hathaway : Shall I just change his mark to a passing grade or must we go through the formality of a reexamination?

  Dean Hutchinson : Professor Hathaway! Changing his mark would be cheating. Uh, uh, just what type of examination were you planning to give him?

  John Hathaway : Mmm, I imagine something in one syllable, no writing, and short.

• John Hathaway : Yes, sir, you should see a lot my wife, Mr. Morgan. I can see your salvation in Julie.

  Elliott Morgan : Professor Hathaway, I warn you: you're leading with your chin.

  John Hathaway : [stroking his chin, again, looking at Elliott's beard]  Uh, uh, not my chin... your chin.

• John Hathaway : Julie, you've been very lonely. And what's worse, for the past three or four weeks you felt as if I hadn't needed you. But you should have known all along that Nellie is just somebody I was working with. And that I needed you just as much as I always have.

  Julie Hathaway : [crying]  It always winds up like this, with me feeling like a rat.

  John Hathaway : I don't want you feeling like a rat.

  Julie Hathaway : I am a rat.

• Elliott Morgan : Nellie, I want you to drop everything at the office and concentrate on John and the book night and day until it's finished.

  John Hathaway : [to Julie]  it's going to be pretty lonesome and boring for you.

  Nellie Woods : Wanna bet on that?

• Julie Hathaway : [sitting on the sofa with John's arm around her shoulder]  Two people in love.

  John Hathaway : If ever there were two.

  Julie Hathaway : Then what would you think if you came in and found Elliott and me in this posture?

  John Hathaway : Not what you're thinking.

  Julie Hathaway : Why not?

  John Hathaway : I couldn't. Granted, Nellie and I happened to be in that position when you walked in.

  Julie Hathaway : Happened?

  John Hathaway : Did I make any sudden moves? Did I take my arm away? Did I look guilty?

  Julie Hathaway : No, not even that. You sat there looking as if everything was just too normal and casual for words.

• Julie Hathaway : John, so help me, if you read me anything about the clear eyed woman of today who lives in that book...

  [Julie grabs the manuscript from John and throws it on the floor] 

  John Hathaway : That book can help a lot of people live happier lives.

  Julie Hathaway : Maybe in time we won't even have to try to live happier lives. And they'll just sit around and read the book to each other.

• Julie Hathaway : Ever since we were first married, I made believe you fooled me with all those tricks of yours.

  John Hathaway : I thought they were very clever tricks.

  Julie Hathaway : I loved them. They showed me you were a human being. They also proved to me that when you were a human being, I was smarter than you are.

  John Hathaway : Julie, I'll be a human being.

  Julie Hathaway : You couldn't be, any more than I could be a professor of psychology.

• Julie Hathaway : And let me tell you something else about that unforgivable crime called jealousy. I went out dancing with a man once and another man got fresh with me and the man I was with popped him right in the nose. And he didn't stop to think how long it had been since he had fought either, and maybe he wasn't intelligent but he was a man, and his name was Bob Jordan.

  John Hathaway : Who's Bob Jordan?

• Nellie Woods : And who wants to eliminate Jealousy?

  John Hathaway : Well, don't you?

  Nellie Woods : I love it. How could I know that I wanted a man if I didn't hate everybody else who wanted hm? W.. well, how could I be jealous if I couldn't be jealous?

• John Hathaway : Julie, grown-up intelligent men don't hit each other. In the first place, there are physical reasons. Only in the movies do men fight with the efficiency and stamina of heavyweight champions. In reality, Elliott and I are in no condition to fight. We haven't fought for years.

  Julie Hathaway : You exercise everything morning.

  John Hathaway : For health, not for fighting.

• John Hathaway : I'd gladly lay down my life for you, Julie - if it were necessary. However, hitting Elliott would not only be pointless, but it would be a violation of every principle that I have. It would be the most vicious expression of jealousy. You wouldn't want that, would you?

  Julie Hathaway : Yes, I would.

  John Hathaway : Besides, it wouldn't be fair to him.

  Julie Hathaway : I'm beginning to think I owe him an apology.

• John Hathaway : Nellie, don't you trust Elliott?

  Nellie Woods : Certainly not.

  John Hathaway : Well then, how can you marry a man you don't trust?

  Nellie Woods : I'd only marry a man I couldn't trust.

• Julie Hathaway : Oh, darling, I'm so glad you're here. I can explain everything.

  John Hathaway : I'm sure you can, besides your being here isn't important. Come out of there Elliott. I wanna talk to you.

  Julie Hathaway : It isn't important?

  Elliott Morgan : [yelling]  I'm not coming out until everybody calms down. Everybody's being too hysterical.

• Elliott Morgan : [yelling from his bathroom]  Get out of my bedroom.

  Julie Hathaway : What do we care what Nellie thinks? She's the least of my troubles.

  Nellie Woods , John Hathaway : [to John as she walks in with John behind her]  Someday we'll sit down and have a nice long talk about your troubles.

  Julie Hathaway : [running to hug him after the statement]  John, you've come.

  John Hathaway : Where's Elliott?

  Nellie Woods : [pointing at the bathroom door and walking up to it]  Come out you worm, and come out talking.

• Julie Hathaway : Well, I didn't think it was so funny and I told hm so. I said you'd be back to knock his block off.

  John Hathaway : No, Julie, you didn't.

  Julie Hathaway : Well, what'd you want me to do - laugh merrily and go off in the woods with him?

• Nellie Woods : [as John gets out of bed after his near drowning]  Oh John, don't. What are you doing?

  John Hathaway : I'm gonna beat Morgan.

  Nellie Woods : Oh no.

  John Hathaway : I'm gonna beat his face to a pulp.

  Nellie Woods : [holding him back]  No, John

  Elliott Morgan : Nellie, stop him. He's gone mad.

• John Hathaway : Where is your beard?

  Elliott Morgan : What?

  John Hathaway : What have you done with your beard?

  Elliott Morgan : My beard? Oh, I shaved it off.

  John Hathaway : Why?

  Elliott Morgan : I got burned.

  John Hathaway : Playing with fire no doubt.

• John Hathaway : [carrying Julie]  Are you angry, Julie?

  Julie Hathaway : I want you to drop me.

  John Hathaway : I won't drop you.

  Julie Hathaway : Then I'm not angry.

• John Hathaway : All you wanna do is talk. I wanna fight.

  [John stomps his bare foot on the ground, right on a huge pine cone, grabs his foot and yells] 

• John Hathaway : You did it just to make me jealous.

  Julie Hathaway : That's right.

  John Hathaway : Then, why pick a man with a beard? You hate beards and you know I know it.

• Elliott Morgan : Haven't I got a right to shave?

  John Hathaway : Not under these circumstances.

• John Hathaway : [to Julie and Elliott]  In the meantime, why don't the two of you take a nice long walk in the park?

  Elliott Morgan : I'm allergic to grass.

  Nellie Woods : And fresh air... and me.

• Julie Hathaway : Miss Woods is in love with Mr. Morgan.

  John Hathaway : What makes you think so?

  Julie Hathaway : I don't think so, I know so. I feel it.

  John Hathaway : You don't feel these things - you figure them out.

  Julie Hathaway : You figure them out. I feel 'em.

• [first lines] 

  [the camera pans around a classroom of half-asleep, bored looking bearded male students finally settling on John, the professor, sitting at his desk at the front of the classroom] 

  John Hathaway : I realize, gentlemen, that you've all taken an oath to give up shaving until such time as our football team triumphs over that of Laurel College. However, I was not aware that you've also bound yourselves to boycott all mental activity as well.

  [John slams his book on his desk catching the attention of the students] 

• John Hathaway : What don't you see?

  Julie Hathaway : I don't see why you're not jealous of Bob Jordan.

  John Hathaway : But I just told you.

  Julie Hathaway : You read me something out of a book. My father never read a book in his life and he loved my mother and he wouldn't let my mother *look* at another man!

  John Hathaway : And what was good enough for your father is good enough for me, is that right?

  Julie Hathaway : And good enough for my grandfather, too!

  John Hathaway : Your grandfather was a notorious wife beater.

  Julie Hathaway : My grandmother never complained. Nor did her mother complain, either.

  John Hathaway : Well, if you go back far enough you'll find they all lived in trees and threw coconuts at one another.

• John Hathaway : Tell me, have you ever known a woman who trusted you?

  Elliott Morgan : Yes, my mother. She...

  Elliott Morgan : [as he stops in realizing his mother didn't]  No, she never trusted me either.

• John Hathaway : Let's, uh, look at this rationally.

  Julie Hathaway : I don't want to be rational.

  John Hathaway : I know, you wanna throw coconuts.