Tender Comrade (1943)

Ginger Rogers: Jo Jones

Photos 

Quotes 

• Jo Jones : We're going to pool all of our salaries and we'll pay the rent, take care of the expenses of the house, and what's left over, we'll split five ways. You see, we're running this joint like a democracy!

  Manya Lodge : Like a democracy! Oh, that's good! That's good. Once, in Germany, we had a democracy. But we...

  Helen Stacey : You lost it.

  Manya Lodge : Nein. We did not lose it. We let it be murdered - like a little child.

• Barbara Thomas : Maybe I'm not so dumb as you think I am. This whole thing would never have happened in the first place if we'd been minding our own business! We wouldn't have to get a government stamp out every time we wanted to buy a piece of butter if they weren't shipping it all to a lot of foreigners! Why, they're rationing gas right here in California where they got more of the stuff than they can haul away! Even the government doesn't know what its going to do tomorrow! They're going to ration this. They're going to ration that. They are. They aren't. Blow hot. Blow cold. He's up. He's down. What kind of business is that, anyway? While we're being pushed around at home, our guys are out fighting in countries they never even heard of! Where a lot of foreigners will turn on us like a pack of wolves the minute its over!

  Doris Dumbrowski : Barbara!

  Barbara Thomas : Well its the truth and you know it!

  Jo Jones : You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Do you know where that kind of talk comes from? It comes straight from Berlin! Every time you say, every time you even THINK IT your double-crossing your own husband!

  Barbara Thomas : No!

  Jo Jones : How can we go on minding our own business when somebody blackjacks us in an alley and you've got Pearl Harbor on your hands! And who wants to get slick and fat when half the people in the world are starving to death for things that we can do without! Mistakes? Sure, we make mistakes! Plenty of them. Do you want a country where they won't stand for a mistake? Go to Germany. Go to Japan. And the first time you open your trap, like you have tonight, you'll find a gun in your stomach! You're the kind of people Hitler counted on when he started this war. Talk! Talk! Talk! And never THINK! And that's the biggest mistake any guy ever thought of making. Because there are NOT enough of you and there are plenty of us and by Judas Priest if it takes...

  [Doorbell rings] 

  Barbara Thomas : That's my date.

  Jo Jones : Saved by the bell!

• Jo Jones : I suppose you don't think hoarding is very important.

  Barbara Thomas : Why don't you relax for a change. Do you think we're going to lose this war or win it, for that matter, on account of a box of lipsticks or a pound of bacon? You know better than that.

  Jo Jones : Well, if it was just one pound of bacon, I don't suppose it would make any difference. But what if 20 or 30 million other women did the same thing?

  Barbara Thomas : I have enough troubles of my own without worrying about 20 or 30 million dames I don't even know.

• Barbara Thomas : Hey! Didn't anyone hear what I said?

  Jo Jones : What's the trouble?

  Barbara Thomas : I think there's another family living in the attic.

  Helen Stacey : It's only mice.

  Jo Jones : They were here before we were!

  Barbara Thomas : Well, why don't they pay their share of the rent?

  Doris Dumbrowski : Why don't you guys go to sleep?

  Barbara Thomas : Okay. Meow. Me-oww. That'll fix 'em.

• Chris Jones : I love you Jo. The way I love you is like a fever that is all over me. Write me, baby. Write me whenever you can. And just keep thinking that everything's gonna turn out all right and it will.

  Jo Jones : Oh, Chris, I'll write you everyday. Every minute, every second, I'll be sending you messages. And remember to take care of yourself and watch yourself if you should catch a cold - you know how they always sneak up on ya. And don't pay any attention to those English or Australian or Chinese girls. And come back to me Chris. Come back to me soon as you can.

  Chris Jones : No matter how tough things are, no matter how bad they seem, all I'll have to do is think of you and I'll come through. Goodbye, girl.

• Jo Jones : Look, why don't we all get together and throw a party for the new bride. Initiate her into war widows local number 37.

  Barbara Thomas : In what? Nobodies got a room big enough to hold four people without using a shoe horn.

  Doris Dumbrowski : Maybe we could have it at my new place! That is, I'm hunting for a new one now. Just in case Mike gets a furlough or something. You know, a bedroom and a living room.

  Jo Jones : How much are you planning to pay?

  Doris Dumbrowski : Oh, I'm paying twenty now. I thought maybe for a thirty-five, I could get something that would be nice.

  Barbara Thomas : For thirty-five you'll still have a rabbit hutch.

  Jo Jones : You know, all of us together, we put out a lot of money each month for rent. What do you pay, Helen?

  Helen Stacey : Twenty-two Fifty.

  Jo Jones : I pay Eighteen. What about you Barbara?

  Barbara Thomas : Thirty-two Fifty. You see, I like gaudy things.

  Jo Jones : Zero. Five. Ten. One to carry. Eight. Nine. Eleven. Thirteen. Three. One. Four. Five. Seven. Nine... Ninety-three bucks! How do you like that! Ninety-three bucks for a bunch of rat holes! Well, for that kind of dough we could have a real house! With a dining room and a kitchen and a living room and a bedroom a piece! And furnished!

• [last lines] 

  Jo Jones : No matter how tough things are, no matter how hard they seem, think of him. Come on, Jo. Take it on the chin like a good guy; like a soldier's wife should.

• Jo Jones : Oh, Chris, how long can you stay?

  Chris Jones : We're leaving at 6:30 in the morning. Our outfit's going overseas.

  Jo Jones : Oh, Chris! Where?

  Chris Jones : Don't get excited. How do I know? Am I the Secretary of War?

  Jo Jones : I always said it wouldn't happen and I knew it would. I knew it!

  Chris Jones : Hey, hey, this is no funeral.

• Chris Jones : How long have you been up?

  Jo Jones : Since 3. I slept in the chair.

  Chris Jones : What's the idea of that?

  Jo Jones : Well, I either had to get up or be kicked out. You're still an awful bed hog! I thought the army would cure you of that.

• Jo Jones : What do you think of the idea, Helen?

  Helen Stacey : It might work. But, it's only fair to point out that we're all different people and there might be a - clash of personalities, occasionally. We'd have to find some way of adjusting any disputes that might come up.

  Jo Jones : Well, that ought to be simple. We could take a vote. We could run the joint like a democracy!

• Jo Jones : Gee, aren't men fools.

  Doris Dumbrowski : Yes. But, aren't they sweet.

  Jo Jones : Um-hmm.

• Chris Jones : How's my babe, this morning?

  Jo Jones : All right. And don't call me babe.

  Chris Jones : Why not?

  Jo Jones : Because it's not very respectful, you lug.

• Chris Jones : You know, I've been thinking.

  Jo Jones : There you go exaggerating again.

• Jo Jones : Well! If you haven't the nerve of a government mule!

• Jo Jones : Quit shouting at me, Chris Jones! That's a fine way to propose. Yelling at me like I'm a fishwife or something!

• Jo Jones : Do what you like. You will anyhow. But, I should think with Pete out there, somewhere on a ship, you might at least pretend to play square.

  Barbara Thomas : You leave Pete out of this! He's a no-good, double-crossing, woman-chasing, dope! He hasn't written to me for three months. And as far as I'm concerned, he doesn't have to. In the meantime, if some slap-happy, old goat wants to lay a little champagne on the line, I'm just the girl to do it with.

• Jo Jones : All I did yesterday was just to scrub the back porch and clean out the basement and take those slips over to mother's house and get you your breakfast and get you your lunch and get you your...

  Chris Jones : Will you lay off! You sound like I was making a galley slave out of you.

  Jo Jones : Well, that's exactly what you are trying to do. All day long, it's just work, work, work, day-in, day-out, trying to keep the house neat and clean and trying to keep you fed.

• Jo Jones : I didn't know you so well. Now, I do! Now, I know what you wanted me for in the first place. Me! I'm just a cheap substitute for a housekeeper. All you want is somebody to work and slave and scrub and cook and order the groceries and take care of the laundry and the pressing and clean the house and dust the furniture and lay out your clothes and scrub the bath tub! And then, sit with her hands folded, in the evenings and watch you read!

• Jo Jones : Your wife! You talk as if you had a bill of sale on me or something. Or, I was a horse that you had to lay in a supply of hay for.

• Jo Jones : Don't give me that Horatio Alger 'Woman on a Pedestal' baloney!

• Jo Jones : Look, you want money? Okay! I'll go out and get a job. And we can just stack it up in the bank, higher and higher and higher, until we've got so much, we'll never see each other.

  Chris Jones : Now, there's no reason to fly off the handle.

  Jo Jones : Either you give up this night work and spend your evenings with me, or, I'll go out tomorrow morning and get myself a job!

  Chris Jones : You'll do nothing of the sort, Jo!

  Jo Jones : I will so! I'll sling sodas, I'll wait tables, I'll even wash dishes! You can just make up your mind to it, right now!

• Jo Jones : Oh, Chris, I didn't mean to be such an ornery old hag; but, you make me so darn mad.

  Chris Jones : I guess I'm pretty much of a dope.

  Jo Jones : Oh, no Chris. You're the smartest guy I ever saw; but, you must try to remember that I'm a little bit smart too.

• Jo Jones : I don't want money. I only want you.

• Barbara Thomas : And if you want the truth, I think this rationing and everything that goes with it is just a pain in the neck.

  Doris Dumbrowski : Barbara! You sound like a... fifth columnist.

  Barbara Thomas : Look, you two jumped on me first. The minute I came in the door you started Psalm-singing. Well, now I'm gonna' tell you something. I've been listening to this gabble about how we gotta' do this and we gotta' do that for 3 weeks, and sisters, I'm plenty sick of it. Rationing? Sure, I'll hold still for it because I've got to, but I'm not gonna' run around like a moon-faced Pollyanna saying I like it.

  Barbara Thomas : [continues]  Maybe I'm not so dumb as you think I am. This whole thing would never have happened in the first place if we'd been minding our own business. We wouldn't have to get a government stamp out every time we wanted to buy a piece of butter if they weren't shipping it all to a lot of foreigners. Why, they're rationing gas right here in California, where they got more of the stuff than they can haul away. Even the government doesn't know what it's gonna' do tomorrow. They're gonna' ration this, they're gonna' ration that. They are, they aren't. Blow hot, blow cold. He's up, he's down. What kind of business is that, anyway? And while we're being pushed around at home, our guys are out fightin' in countries they never even heard of, for a lot of foreigners who'll turn on us like a pack of wolves the minute it's over.

  Doris Dumbrowski : Barbara!

  Barbara Thomas : Well, it's the truth, and you know it.

  Jo Jones : You oughta' be ashamed of yourself! Do you know where that kind of talk comes from? It comes straight from Berlin. Every time you say it, every time you even think it, you're double-crossing your own husband.

  Jo Jones : [continues]  How can we go on minding our own business when somebody blackjacks us in an alley and you got Pearl Harbor on your hands? And who wants to get slick and fat when half the people in the world are starving to death for things that we can do without? Mistakes? Sure, we make mistakes, plenty of them. You want a country where they won't stand for a mistake? Go to Germany. Go to Japan. And the first time you open your trap like you have tonight, you'll find a gun in your stomach! You're the kinda' people Hitler counted on when he started this war. Talk, talk, talk, and *never* think. And that's the biggest mistake any guy ever thought of makin', because there're not enough of you and there're plenty of us and by Judas Priest if it takes...

  [she's interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Barbara's date has arrived at the house] 

  Barbara Thomas : That's my date.

  Jo Jones : [snidely]  Saved by the bell!