Thirteen Women (1932)

Irene Dunne: Laura Stanhope

Photos 

Quotes 

• Jo Turner : I do envy you, Laura. To me, life is just an ashtray full of cigarette butts.

  Laura Stanhope : Why don't you marry again, Jo?

  Jo Turner : Oh, I would if I were sure of getting a kid like Bobby.

  Laura Stanhope : What about the present fiancé?

  Jo Turner : Oh, he's a lot of fun. But all he wants is a well-stocked cellar, a racehorse, bridge... anything but babies. Laura, why don't you marry again sometime?

  Laura Stanhope : No. I could never be dependent on anyone again. I love standing on my own feet.

  Jo Turner : I wonder if any woman can.

  Laura Stanhope : Why not?

  Jo Turner : I say, do you remember how you were always afraid the boys would go too far, and I was afraid that they wouldn't?

• Ursula Georgi : How is your child, Laura? They tell me he's handsome, and bright, and very lovable. Yes, Burns told me. And tomorrow's his birthday. I looked at his star tonight and it was glowing red, like the ball I sent him.

  Laura Stanhope : Why should you want to kill Bobby?

  Ursula Georgi : He's your child, isn't he? Yours.

  Laura Stanhope : What have I done, what has anyone done to make you so inhuman?

  Ursula Georgi : Do I hear the very human white race asking that question? When I was twelve years old, white sailors...

  Laura Stanhope : You're insane, you're insane!

  Ursula Georgi : Maybe I am! But do you know what it means to be a half breed, a half caste, in a world ruled by whites? If you're a male, you're a coolie, and if you're a female, you're, well... The white half of me cried for the courtesy and protection that women like you get. The only way I could free myself was by becoming white. And it was almost in my hands, when you, you and your Kappa Society stopped me.

  Laura Stanhope : You're crazy...

  Ursula Georgi : I spent six years slaving to get money enough to put me through finishing school, to make the world accept me as white. But you and the others wouldn't let me cross the color line.

  Laura Stanhope : But we were young. Maybe we were cruel. But you can't use that to justify murder!

  Ursula Georgi : I can.

• Ursula Georgi : Good evening, Laura.

  Laura Stanhope : Ursula Georgi.

  Ursula Georgi : Does the exclusive Mrs. Stanhope further honor me by remembering my name?

• Jo Turner : Darling, I'm sorry to make a liar out of your infallible swami, but I haven't killed myself over a man yet.

  Laura Stanhope : Jo.

  Jo Turner : He should have known that it's the men that kill themselves over me.

  Laura Stanhope : Sit down, Grace, dear, sit down.

  Grace Coombs : Oh, Jo, please don't be so flippant. What is written in the stars must come to pass.

  Jo Turner : Okay with me. I've had a lot of fun.

  Laura Stanhope : You're both fatalists.

  Jo Turner : Mm, sure! When the gods are fed up with me, pfft, voila!

• Grace Coombs : Do you still doubt, Laura? Are you still laughing, Jo? Yogadachi's been right again. Oh, you must accept his truth as I have.

  Laura Stanhope : That's the trouble with you, Grace, glorifying such rot.

  Grace Coombs : Rot? I tell you that nothing could save Helen, nor May, nor Hazel, from fate. Don't you understand? It was written for them... as it is for all of us.

  Jo Turner : Well if it's all settled for us, why worry?

  Laura Stanhope : Stop talking about it, stop thinking about it! Anyone can think themselves into anything.

  Jo Turner : You two are stumbling in a dark, material world. I am above it, as Yogadachi was. Death means peace, freedom. I shall meet him, gladly.

  Jo Turner : Well, I shan't. Depression or not, personally I'm mad about this world. Oh, go on home, Grace. You give me the creeps.

  Jo Turner : No, no, not I, but what's written for you, only you're afraid to face it.

  Laura Stanhope : Grace, I think you'd better go.

  Jo Turner : Just as you say.

• Laura Stanhope : You've done a lot for me, Jo.

  Jo Turner : We've helped each other, rather. But with Sergeant Clive around, you won't need me.

  Laura Stanhope : Just the same, I hate to see you go.

  Jo Turner : And I hate going, too, only I don't dare stay.

  Laura Stanhope : Why?

  Jo Turner : Oh, well, I've followed my fiancé, and... I'd believe anything of myself when I'm in love.

  Laura Stanhope : Look here, Jo, you surely don't believe your prediction.

  Jo Turner : I'm human too! Do you know, the only credulous animal on the whole face of the earth is the human.

• Ursula Georgi : How is your child, Laura? They tell me he's handsome, and bright, and very lovable. Yes, Burns told me. And tomorrow's his birthday. I looked at his star tonight and it was glowing red, like the ball I sent him.

  Laura Stanhope : Why should you want to kill Bobby?

  Ursula Georgi : He's your child, isn't he? Yours.

  Laura Stanhope : What have I done, what has anyone done, to make you so inhuman?

  Ursula Georgi : [laughing]  Do I hear the very human white race asking that question? When I was twelve years old, white sailors...

  Laura Stanhope : You're insane, you're insane!

  Ursula Georgi : Maybe I am! But do you know what it means to be a half breed, a half caste, in a world ruled by whites? If you're a male, you're a coolie, and if you're a female, you're, well... The white half of me cried for the courtesy and protection that women like you get. The only way I could free myself was by becoming white. And it was almost in my hands, when you, you and your Kappa Society, stopped me.

  Laura Stanhope : You're crazy...

  Ursula Georgi : I spent six years slaving to get money enough to put me through finishing school, to make the world accept me as white. But you and the others wouldn't let me cross the color line.

  Laura Stanhope : But we were young. Maybe we were cruel. But you can't use that to justify murder!

  Ursula Georgi : I can.

• Laura Stanhope : Oh, another one of those messages?

  Grace Coombs : Yes.

  Laura Stanhope : Grace, if you don't stop selling your soul to the devil by believing in those foolish horoscopes...

  Grace Coombs : What about May? And Hazel is in jail.

  Laura Stanhope : It's pitiful, yes... but the result of natural causes. And belief in anything else is believing in magic.

  Grace Coombs : But Laura...

  Laura Stanhope : And you could help the rest of us, Grace, if you'd hush, and stop writing your letters telling us all to prepare for our...

  Grace Coombs : [Interrupting]  But the moon does control the tides, and nothing can live without the sun. Why shouldn't we be controlled?

  Laura Stanhope : Because we're reasoning human beings, silly, and not irresponsible machines.

  Grace Coombs : Listen, Laura. This letter came from the swami just an hour ago. I have to tell you. Listen: "I would do anything to prevent the disasters that have come down upon you and your friends, as I would do anything to save my own life, but I can do neither, for I am helpless too. I knew too much about the heavens. They're killing me. My own horoscope shows that I am to leave this earth before July first."

  Laura Stanhope : [laughing]  Well, if I needed anything more than common sense to disprove your argument, that would be enough. No one is going to take his own life just to prove to twelve women that he's a good stargazer. You're deranged, Grace.

  Grace Coombs : If this happens, if the swami himself does die, how can we disbelieve?