The Gay Divorcee

The Gay Divorcee is a 1934 film about an American woman who travels to England to seek a divorce from her absentee husband. She meets - and falls for - a dashing performer.
 * Directed by Mark Sandrich. Written by George Marion Jr., Dorothy Yost, and Edward Kaufman, based on the 1932 musical Gay Divorce by Dwight Taylor.

Musical Triumph Of Two Continentstaglines

Guy Holden

 * Chance is the fool's name for fate.
 * You think I'm going to leave you alone with a strange Italian? He might be a tenor!

Aunt Hortense

 * You know, you're beginning to fascinate me, and I resent that in any man.
 * Be feminine and sweet, if you can blend the two.

Tonetti

 * Your wife is safe with Tonetti; he prefers spaghetti.

Dialogue

 * Aunt Hortense: [Going with Mimi to check into the hotel] Oh, Egbert, are you coming with us?
 * Egbert Fitzgerald: What? Hortense, oh my. You can't remain with her. This is supposed to be a clandestine affair. You can't have a clandestine affair between three people!


 * Tonetti: Rodolfo Tonetti at your service.
 * Egbert Fitzgerald: Yes... well, I am Mr. Fitzgerald.
 * Tonetti: Mr. Fitzgerald? [shaking hands] Oh, I'm delightful!
 * Egbert Fitzgerald: Oh, I shouldn't doubt it, old man, I shouldn't doubt it. But, don't you think that a corespondent ought to come to work quieter? Let's have more repose and less Rigoletto.
 * Tonetti: Ha, I am ready for action, and I will do a first-class job.
 * Egbert Fitzgerald: Well, don't be too determined about it. Remember, the lady in question is very sensitive, and you must treat her accordingly.
 * Tonetti: Bene, whichever way the wind she is blowing, that is the way I sail.


 * Egbert Fitzgerald: And now, Tonetti, remember: I want delicacy, tact, assurance, finesse.
 * Tonetti: I've brought everything.


 * Waiter: I have an unnatural passion for rocks.
 * Guy Holden: You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
 * Waiter: Professor Brown, he's a geologist. Him and his wife stopped at the last place I worked. Do you know sir, it was Professor Brown who told me that this sea coast 'round here is really a... an igneous intrusion.
 * Guy Holden: You know, you're somewhat of an igneous intrusion yourself.
 * Waiter: Oh thank you sir!
 * Waiter: Oh thank you sir!


 * Guy Holden: I wonder if she resented me tearing her skirt?
 * Egbert Fitzgerald: Well, I wouldn't at all be surprised. That's the usual reaction. What did you do that for?
 * Guy Holden: She couldn't move.
 * Egbert Fitzgerald: Sounds very unsporting of you, Guy, really!
 * Guy Holden: Well, you don't understand... uh... it was an accident.
 * Egbert Fitzgerald: It usually is.


 * Egbert Fitzgerald: Guy, you're not pining for that girl?!
 * Guy Holden: Pining? Men don't pine. Girls pine. Men just... suffer.


 * Mimi Glossop: Oh, here you are Hortense. I've just had the most embarrassing experience. A man tore my dress off!
 * Aunt Hortense: My goodness! Anyone we know?


 * Guy Holden: I was chasing you, you shouldn't run away like that.
 * Mimi Glossop: Why not?
 * Guy Holden: It's bad for my health.


 * Mimi Glossop: I don't care what you did as a boy.
 * Guy Holden: Well, I did nothing as a girl, so there goes my childhood.


 * Mimi Glossop: Please don't ask me to stay.
 * Guy Holden: All right, I won't. Don't go!


 * Guy Holden: Can I offer you anything? Frosted chocolate? Cointreau? Benedictine? Marriage?
 * Mimi Glossop: What was that last one?
 * Guy Holden: Benedictine?
 * Mimi Glossop: No, the one after that.
 * Guy Holden: Oh, marriage?
 * Mimi Glossop: Do you always propose marriage as casually as that?
 * Guy Holden: There is nothing casual about it. In fact, I've given it long and sincere thought.


 * Tonetti: Signora. Fate is a foolish thing to take chances with!
 * Aunt Hortense: [pause] So are you.

Taglines

 * Musical Triumph Of Two Continents
 * The King and Queen of 'Carioca'
 * Introducing the new dance sensation "The Continental"

Cast

 * Fred Astaire - Guy Holden
 * Ginger Rogers - Mimi Glossop
 * Alice Brady - Aunt Hortense
 * Edward Everett Horton - Egbert Fitzgerald
 * Erik Rhodes - Tonetti
 * Eric Blore - The Waiter
 * William Austin - Cyril Glossop
 * Charles Coleman - The Valet
 * Lillian Miles - Guest
 * Betty Grable - Guest