Movie Quote of the Day (‘My Little Chickadee,’ As Mae West Teaches Math Her Way)

(An out-of-town gold digger in the West vows to tame a class of rowdy adolescent boys who have driven the local schoolmarm into a nervous breakdown.)

Schoolboy [uncredited]: “We was doin' arithmetic on the blackboard when Miss Foster took sick.”

Flower Belle Lee [played by Mae West]: “Oh, arithmetic... I was always pretty good at figures myself.”— My Little Chickadee (1940), screenplay by Mae West and W.C. Fields, directed by Edward F. Cline

Movie Quote of the Day (W.C. Fields, With a Longtime Target)

[The town mob is about to lynch Twillie.]

Cuthbert J. Twillie [played by W.C. Fields]: “I'd like to see Paris before I die... Philadelphia will do.” — My Little Chickadee (1940), screenplay by Mae West and W.C. Fields, directed by Edward F. Cline

Movie Quote of the Day (W.C. Fields, Eliciting Info on an Illicit Woman)

Cuthbert J. Twillie [played by W.C. Fields]: “Tell me, prairie flower, can you give me the inside info on yon damsel with the hothouse cognomen?”

Mrs. Gideon [played by Margaret Hamilton]: “Do you mean Miss Flower Belle Lee?”

Cuthbert J. Twillie:” I don't mean some woman out in China.”

Mrs. Gideon: “Well! I'm afraid I can't say anything good about her.”

Cuthbert J. Twillie:” I can see what's good. Tell me the rest.” — My Little Chickadee (1940), screenplay by Mae West and W.C. Fields, directed by Edward F. Cline

Movie Quote of the Day (‘My Little Chickadee,’ With W.C. Fields on a ‘Game of Chance’)

Cousin Zeb (played by Fuzzy Knight): “Uh, is this a game of chance?”

Cuthbert J. Twillie (played by W.C. Fields): “Not the way I play it, no.”— My Little Chickadee (1940), screenplay by Mae West and W.C. Fields, directed by Edward F. Cline

Movie Quote of the Day (‘My Little Chickadee,’ As W.C. Fields and Mae West Meet)

Cuthbert J. Twillie [played by W.C. Fields]: “May I present my card?”

Flower Belle Lee [played by Mae West]: “'Novelties and Notions.' What kind of notions you got?”

Cuthbert: “You'd be surprised. Some are old, some are new. Whom have I the honor of addressing, m'lady?”

Flower Belle: “Mmm, they call me Flower Belle.”

Cuthbert: “Flower Belle, what a euphonious appellation. Easy on the ears and a banquet for the eyes.”

Flower Belle: “You're kinda cute yourself.”

Cuthbert: “Thank you. I never argue with a lady.”

Flower Belle: “Smart boy.”— My Little Chickadee (1940), screenplay by Mae West and W.C. Fields, directed by Edward F. Cline