Daily Dialogue — June 17, 2017

JAN (V.O.): He respected you. He didn’t even try to kiss you. Maybe you just don’t appeal to him. He didn’t write your number down. Why didn’t you think to ask where he was staying?

The phone rings. Jan answers.

JAN: Hello?
BRAD as REX: Ma’am, this is Rex Stetson.
JAN: Oh, hello.
BRAD: I hope I didn’t wake you up.
JAN: O, not at all.
BRAD: I just had to think about your generous offer and all, to call you in case there was anything I needed. Well, I need to go out for dinner tomorrow night and I sure would enjoy seeing a friendly face across the table. Of course, if you’re going to be busy tomorrow night…
JAN: Oh no, I always keep tomorrow open. I mean, I hadn’t planned a thing. I’d love to have dinner with you.
BRAD: Hello, hello, hello, is anybody on this line?
JAN: Yes, I am on the line. Would you please get off it?
BRAD: All right, but you’re on my half-hour.
JAN: Rex, Rex, are you there?
BRAD as REX: Yes, ma’am. Who was that?
JAN: Uh, my party-liner, a horrible man.
BRAD: He sure isn’t very well-mannered.
JAN: Mannered? He isn’t even worth talking about. Now … What were you saying?
BRAD: I’ll be stopping by 7:30.
JAN: All right. That’ll be fine.
BRAD: Miss Morrow? I’ve never been much making fancy speeches, but … I get a nice, warm feeling being near you, ma’am. It’s like being round a pot-bellied stove on a frosty morning.
JAN: Oh Rex, what a lovely thing to say.
BRAD as REX: Well, goodnight, ma’am.
JAN: Goodnight.

She hangs up.

JAN (V.O.): Like a pot-bellied stove on a frosty morning. He does like you.

The phone rings.

JAN: Hello?
BRAD: Miss Morrow, Brad Allen. Hello? Hello?
JAN: Yes?
BRAD: I couldn’t help overhearing part of your conversation.
JAN: I’m sure you couldn’t.
BRAD: And sharing a phone together I feel a certain responsibility for you. Now, look, take my advice. Don’t go out with that man tomorrow night. He’s a phony. Of course, it’s not of my business.
JAN: Oh, that’s right, Mr. Allen, it’s not your business.
REX: Okay, but don’t let that yokel act fool you. This ranch-hand Romeo is just trying to lure you into the nearest barn.
JAN: Don’t judge other people by yourself.
REX: All right, if you don’t take a friendly warning. But I can tell you exactly what he’ll do tomorrow night. He’ll take you to dinner, dancing. Then he’ll find an excuse to stop off at his hotel room for a moment. And that is, Miss Morrow, where the payoff comes.
JAN: Good night, Mr. Allen.

— Pillow Talk (1959), written by Stanley Shapiro & Maurice Richlin, based upon the story by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Telephone. Today’s suggestion by Gisela Wherl.

Trivia: Michael Gordon had hoped to make a sequel to this movie in 1980. It was to be set 20 years after the events of ‘Pillow Talk’ and involve Brad and Jan having their first daughter, played by Kristy NcNichol with Gregory Harrison as her boyfriend, and getting a divorce, which would allow Jonathan to have another chance of wooing Jan. Jan schemes to get Brad back, while he does some scamming of his own. Doris Day and Rock Hudson were both interested in returning for the sequel, but it unfortunately never materialized, with Day’s retirement from acting being one of the reasons why.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Gisela: “The whole plot is driven by the telephone as Jan and Rex share a party-line. It’s a great example, how you can use split screen for fun. Even Rex cannot manage to stay straight-faces after his absurd complement: ‘Like a pot-bellied stove on a frosty morning’. But Jan cannot see his face through the telephone and that’s the reason why Rex can trick her. She fells for him just the way the other girls did. The other girls she made fun of before.”