Lady in the Lake (1946)

Audrey Totter: Adrienne Fromsett

Photos 

Quotes 

• Adrienne Fromsett : [to Marlowe]  Perhaps you'd better go home and play with your fingerprint collection.

• Adrienne Fromsett : People who write usually don't know the facts, and people who know the facts usually can't write. Authenticity has very little to do with it. If people who read our magazines knew the facts of life, they wouldn't be reading our magazines.

• Adrienne Fromsett : How d'you get back from the lake so soon?

  Philip Marlowe : Fast dog team.

• Adrienne : Do you fall in love with all of your clients?

  Marlowe : Only the ones in skirts.

• Adrienne Fromsett : We get hundreds of authentic cases submitted to us every week.

  Philip Marlowe : Why don't you print a few?

  Adrienne Fromsett : They aren't all as emotional as yours.

• Adrienne Fromsett : [on Marlowe's submission]  I plan to slash the emotion right out of that story.

• Adrienne Fromsett : What I want you to do is this: I want you to find Mr. Kingsby's wife without his knowing you're looking for her. She's run off with another man. She's a vicious woman - a liar, a cheat and a thief. She may even end up in the hands of the police. He's had 10 years...

  Philip Marlowe : Pardon me if I'm nosey, Miss Fromsett. What makes this any of your business?

  Adrienne Fromsett : I handle all of Mr. Kingsby's affairs. He wishes to divorce her. She must be found before she can be served with the papers.

  Philip Marlowe : [Snorts]  Nice job you have here.

  Adrienne Fromsett : [Smiles]  You think I'm pretty cold-blooded about this, don't you?

  Philip Marlowe : I'd have used a shorter word.

  Adrienne Fromsett : [In an indignant tone of voice]  I don't like your manner.

  Philip Marlowe : I'm not selling it. I'm not selling the story, either, to you. I'm not selling anything. I have an allergy against getting mixed up with tricky females who want to knock off the boss's wife and marry him for themselves.

  Adrienne Fromsett : [Now seriously angry]  People don't talk to me like that, Mr. Marlowe!

  Philip Marlowe : Maybe that's what's the matter with you. Somebody should talk to you like that sometime.

• Adrienne Fromsett : [Marlowe's story]  That wasn't for nothing.

  Philip Marlowe : No, it was for five hundred bucks, and you got a little piece of my soul, along with my services.

• Adrienne Fromsett : [to Marlowe]  I want to be your girl, that's what I want for Christmas.

• Adrienne Fromsett : [reminiscing on her early career, to Marlowe]  If all the malted milks I served were laid end to end...

• Adrienne Fromsett : [Adrienne pitches Marlowe's story to publisher Derace Kingsby]  And he's a very well-known private detective. That's what makes the stuff so authentic. So full of life and vigor and heart. So full of... what would you say it was full of, Mr. Marlowe?

  Philip Marlowe : Short sentences.

• Philip Marlowe : You don't really want to buy my story, do you, Miss Fromsett?

  Adrienne Fromsett : I was about to offer you $200 for it.

  Philip Marlowe : Oh, no, you weren't. Why don't you quit being cute, Miss Fromsett? The real reason you had me up here is because you're looking for a smooth operator who keeps his mouth shut and when you read the story, you said, "Yeah, that's my boy. He's dumb, he's brave and he's cheap." Am I right?

  Adrienne Fromsett : Well, I was about to offer you a commission on a rather delicate and confidential matter...

  Philip Marlowe : Then why didn't you pick up the telephone and call me instead of all this Mickey Mouse about a story?

• Adrienne Fromsett : I noticed you didn't do much talking while the boss was in the office, did you?

  Philip Marlowe : When I made a quick $300 by keeping quiet?

• Adrienne Fromsett : I wonder how it would be to discuss this over a couple of ice cubes. Would you care to try?

  Philip Marlowe : [laughs]  Imagine *you* needing ice cubes.

• Philip Marlowe : Where does Chris Lavery live?

  Adrienne Fromsett : Bay City.

  Philip Marlowe : Address?

  Adrienne Fromsett : 676 Altair Street. The edge of the canyon.

  Philip Marlowe : And you hope he throws me into it.

• Marlowe : What was Mrs. Kingsby doing up at the lake house?

  Adrienne : I could guess, but I haven't been up to count the bottles.

• Marlowe : The girl I like won't be editing a string of crime magazines, or looking for a quick million bucks, or trying to hang a murder on another woman.

  Adrienne : What will this girl do?

  Marlowe : Take care of me. Unglamorous, isn't it?

• Adrienne Fromsett : Please don't be so difficult to get along with. I need help.

  Philip Marlowe : Like I need four thumbs.