A Letter to Three Wives

A Letter to Three Wives is a 1949 film about a letter that is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one. Directed and written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on the 1946 novel by John Klempner. All of them wondered which of them wandered!  taglines Porter Hollingsway It's a man's world. Yeah! See something you want, go after it and get it! That's nature. It's why we're made strong and women weak. Strong conquer and provide for the weak. That's what a man's for! Teach our kids that, there'd be more men! Other George Phipps: The purpose of radio writing, as far as I can see, is to prove to the masses that a deodorant can bring happiness... a mouth wash guarantee success and a laxative attract romance. Mrs. Finney: "Good night, Mother dear, and don't wait up." If a daughter of mine ever really talked like that I'd cut her tongue out! Addie Ross: She won't stay mad at him for long. She's too much in love. Pretty soon she'll be full of self-reproach. Ha ha! Women are so silly. Dialogue Mrs. Finney: Can't we have peace in this house even on New Year's Eve? Sadie: You got it mixed up with Christmas. New Year's Eve is when people go back to killing each other. Lora Mae Hollingsway: I've got very definite ideas. Porter Hollingsway: Like what? Lora Mae Hollingsway: There's never been anybody in particular. Nobody special. Porter Hollingsway: Plenty that wanted to, I'll bet. Lora Mae Hollingsway: What do you think? Porter Hollingsway: That you've been waiting for that one guy to come along. Lora Mae Hollingsway: I got very definite ideas. Porter Hollingsway: What's he got to be like, this one guy? Lora Mae Hollingsway: Someone who wants to marry me more than anything else in the world. Porter Hollingsway: You sure got wrong ideas about things. Lora Mae Hollingsway: They may be wrong, but they're definite Porter Hollingsway: OK. OK, you win. I'll marry you. How about it? Lora Mae Hollingsway: Thanks... for nothing. Porter Hollingsway: Now what kind of an answer is that? Lora Mae Hollingsway: I don't know. I just felt like it. That's all. Porter Hollingsway: We'll do all right, kid. We're starting out where it takes most marriages years to get, out in the open. No jokers. You'll see. You've made a good deal, Lora Mae. Mrs. Finney: [walking into the room] Lora Mae, honey, if you want me I'll be over at the Callahans' playing... Lora Mae Hollingsway: Happy new year, Ma. We're gonna get married. Mrs. Finney: ...Bingo! [She faints] Rita Phipps: People in the show business, you know what I mean, those kind of people always drink scotch. George Phipps: Well, I know what you mean, but I wish you wouldn't say it in radio English. "That kind", not "those kind". Rita Phipps: There are men who say "those kind" who earn $100,000 dollars a year. George Phipps: There are men who say "stick 'em up" who earn more. I don't expect to do either. Lora Mae Hollingsway: [who has just finished dressing for a date] How do I look? Sadie: If I was you, I'd show more o' what I got. Maybe wear somethin' with beads. Lora Mae Hollingsway: What I got don't need beads. Deborah Bishop: Why is it that sooner or later no matter what we talk about... we wind up talking about Addie Ross? Addie Ross: [off voice] Maybe it's because if you girls didn't talk about me you wouldn't talk at all. Mrs. Finney: Of all the times to quit a job, just before Christmas with all the bills due and five months due on the icebox! Sadie: You got to make up your mind whether you want your kids happy or your icebox paid up. Lora Mae Hollingsway: I've been a good wife. The best wife your money could buy. Porter Hollingsway: Strictly cash and carry. Lora Mae Hollingsway: Isn't that what you wanted? Isn't that what you told me? "Out in the open. You made a good deal, kid." Did you every stop to think, Porter, that in over 3 years there's one word we've never said to each other, even in fun? Porter Hollingsway: To you, I'm a cash register. You can't love a cash register. Lora Mae Hollingsway: And I'm part of your inventory. You can't love that, either. Porter Hollingsway: I asked you to marry me because I was crazy about you. Lora Mae Hollingsway: You didn't even ask me! Porter Hollingsway: I've been a good husband. You got everything you want. Lora Mae Hollingsway: If you'd only asked me, if you'd only made me feel like a woman instead of a piece of merchandise! Porter Hollingsway: Did you give me a chance to? All you ever showed me was your price tag. Deborah Bishop: Have you any idea how much Lora Mae is in love with you? Porter Hollingsway: [scornfully] No! How much? Deborah Bishop: So much she's afraid to tell you, afraid you'd laugh at her. Porter Hollingsway: Me laugh? She couldn't say it with a straight face. Lora Mae in love with me? It's all she can do to wait it out. Deborah Bishop: Wait it out? Porter Hollingsway: Yeah, like an annuity till it matures. Like a slot machine till it pays off. That's what she's waiting for. A chance to call it off, to collect. "The end of the line. Fares, please." Don't tell me about love and Lora Mae. George Phipps: Come here. Sit down for a minute. [George and Rita sit down] George Phipps: Look, Ri, let's put aside my nausea at the idea of working for the Manleighs. Let's put aside my personal likes and dislikes; they're not important. I'm willing to admit that to a majority of my fellow citizens I'm a slightly comic figure: an educated man. Rita Phipps: Nobody's asking you not to be. Think of the good you could do; maybe raise the standards? George Phipps: Of commercial radio? What's the phrase, "Wait for your laugh?" [Rita sighs] George Phipps: I'm a schoolteacher. That's even worse than being an intellectual. Schoolteachers are not only comic they're often cold and hungry in this richest land on earth. Rita Phipps: And thousands are quitting every year to take jobs that pay them a decent living. George Phipps: That is unhappily true. Rita Phipps: Then why not you? George Phipps: Because I can't think of myself doing anything else! [Rita sighs again] George Phipps: What would happen, do you think, if we all quit? Who'd teach the kids? Who'd open their minds and hearts to the real glories of the human spirit, past and present? Who'd help them along to the future? Radio sponsors? Comic strips? At that I've been luckier than most. Even without what you earn I've managed to keep our heads above water. Rita Phipps: It's quite a strain over a period of time with the water lapping at your chin. George Phipps: And that's where you've been a great help. You made it a lot easier for both of us. I'll admit it has upset my male ego from time to time. Rita Phipps: And your overdeveloped sense of taste and discrimination which is apparently equaled only by that of Addie Ross! George Phipps: Let's try to keep Addie out of this one. Rita Phipps: I am fed up with taste and discrimination! George Phipps: You're not making sense! Rita Phipps: I'm fed up with your nobility and wisdom and superiority and your contempt for me and everything I try to do! George Phipps: You're talking nonsense. Rita Phipps: Everything I say is nonsense! Taglines All of them wondered which of them wandered! Promise! You won't peek-and-tell... the ending! It's a sheer delightful revelation! All of them wondered while one of them wandered! Cast Jeanne Crain - Deborah Bishop Jeffrey Lynn - Bradbury "Brad" Bishop Linda Darnell - Lora Mae Hollingsway Paul Douglas - Porter Hollingsway Ann Sothern - Rita Phipps Kirk Douglas - George Phipps Barbara Lawrence - Georgiana "Babe" Finney, Lora Mae's sister Connie Gilchrist - Mrs. Ruby Finney Florence Bates - Mrs. Manleigh Hobart Cavanaugh - Mr. Manleigh External links 0041587 Category:1949 American films Category:American romantic comedy films Category:Films based on American novels Category:Films whose writers won Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award Category:Films directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz Category:Romantic drama films Category:1949 English-language films