- Movie Patron: You can't talk to my wife that way - who do you think you are?
- The Countess: I'm a genuine countess with a lot of dough, and if that's your wife she's a tub of guts.
- Tom Baxter: Cecilia, it's clear how miserable you are with your husband. And if he hits you again, you tell me. I'd be forced to knock his teeth out.
- Cecilia: I don't think that'd be such a good idea. He's big.
- Tom Baxter: I'm sorry. It's written into my character to do it, so I do it.
- Moviegoer: I want what happened in the movie last week to happen this week; otherwise, what's life all about anyway?
- Tom Baxter: I guess I have to get a job.
- Cecilia: That's not gonna be so easy either - right now the whole country's out of work.
- Tom Baxter: Well, then, we'll live on love. We'll have to make some concessions, but so what? We'll have each other.
- Cecilia: That's movie talk.
- Tom Baxter: [to Cecilia] I love you. I'm honest, dependable, courageous, romantic, and a great kisser.
- Gil Shepherd: And I'm real.
- Mr. Hirsch's Lawyer: The real ones want their lives fiction and the fictional ones want their lives real.
- Tom Baxter: I don't get hurt or bleed, hair doesn't muss; it's one of the advantages of being imaginary.
- Tom Baxter: I was thinking about something.
- Hooker: I can imagine.
- Hooker 2: Two of us at the same time?
- Tom Baxter: I was thinking about some very deep things. About God and his relation with Irving Saks and R.H. Levine. And I was thinking about life in general. The origin of everything we see about us. The finality of death and how almost magical it seems in the real world, as opposed to the world of celluloid and flickering shadows.
- Hooker 3: [to Emma] Where did you find this clown?
- Jason: What are you people doing here? We can't continue the story 'til Tom gets back.
- Harold: Oh, we don't mind observing you all.
- Harold's Wife: Yes. My husband is a student of the human personality.
- Rita: Oh yeah, well we're not human.
- Harold's Wife: It doesn't matter to Harold. He has trouble with humans.
- Tom Baxter: [pauses after kissing Cecilia] Where's the fade-out?
- Cecilia: What?
- Tom Baxter: Always when the kissing gets hot and heavy just before the lovemaking, there's a fadeout.
- Cecilia: Then what?
- Tom Baxter: Then we're making love in some private, perfect place.
- Cecilia: That's not how it happens here.
- Tom Baxter: What, there's no fade out?
- Cecilia: No, but when you kissed me, I felt like my heart faded out. I closed my eyes, and I was in some private place.
- Tom Baxter: How fascinating. You make love without fading out?
- Cecilia: Yes.
- Tom Baxter: Well, I can't wait to see this!
- Gil's Agent: Tom Baxter's come down off the screen and he's running around New Jersey!
- Gil Shepherd: What are you talking about?
- Gil's Agent: I just spoke to Raoul Hirsch. Nobody knows how it happened, but he's done it!
- Gil Shepherd: How could he do that? It's not physically possible!
- Gil's Agent: In New Jersey anything can happen.
- Gil Shepherd: I worked so hard to make him real.
- Gil's Agent: Maybe you overdid it.
- Gil Shepherd: I'll sue my dialogue coach, that louse.
- Tom Baxter: Slip away from your husband tonight. Meet me here. I'll wait. I want to learn about the real world with you.
- Cecilia: I can't.
- Tom Baxter: Well, look at it this way. How many times is a man so taken with a woman that he walks off the screen to get her?
- Cecilia: It's been hard for everyone. You know, living in a world with no jobs and wars. You probably never even heard of the Great War.
- Tom Baxter: I'm sorry. I missed it.
- Cecilia: Yeah. People get old and sick and never find true love.
- Tom Baxter: You know, where I come from, people don't disappoint. They're consistent. They're always - reliable.
- Cecilia: You don't find that kind in real life.
- Tom Baxter: You look so beautiful in this light.
- Cecilia: But you're not real.
- Tom Baxter: [Tom kisses Cecilia] Was that real enough for you?
- Cecilia: You kiss perfectly. It's what I dreamed kissing would be like.
- Tom Baxter: Come away with me to Cairo.
- Cecilia: Cairo?
- Tom Baxter: We'll live in the desert. Oh, the blue-gold light of sunset falling over your hair...
- Cecilia: I'm sorry. I'm a little tipsy - from the cham -
- [Tom leans in for another kiss]
- Gil Shepherd: He's fictional. You wanna waste time with a fictional character? I mean, you're a sweet girl. You deserve a human.
- Cecilia: But Tom's perfect.
- Gil Shepherd: Yeah, but he's not real. What good is perfect if the man's not real?
- Tom Baxter: I can learn to be real. It's easy. You know, there's nothing to it. Being real comes very naturally to me.
- Gil Shepherd: You can't learn to be real. It's like learning to be a midget. Its not a thing you can learn. Some of us are real, some are not.
- Cecilia: Last week I was unloved. Now, two people love me - and it's the same two people.
- The Countess: Go with the real guy, honey, we're limited.
- Rita: Go with Tom! He's got no flaws!
- Delilah: Go with somebody, child, 'cause I's gettin' bored.
- Larry: I want to go too! I wanna be free! I want out!
- Mr. Hirsch's Lawyer: I'm warning you, that's Communist talk!
- Hooker: Do you wanna tie me up?
- Tom Baxter: [laughs] You're funny! She's funny! The absurd non-sequitur.
- Gil Shepherd: Where's Tom?
- Cecilia: Why?
- Gil Shepherd: Well, he's my character. I created him.
- Cecilia: Didn't the man who wrote the movie do that?
- Tom Baxter: I still can't get over the fact that 24 hours ago I was in an Egyptian tomb. I didn't know any of you wonderful people, and here I am now! I'm on the verge of a madcap Manhattan weekend!
- Jason: I hope you like your martinis very dry.
- Tom Baxter: Oh, no, no thanks. I think I'll wait for that glass of champagne at the Copacabana.
- Cecilia's Sister: The one that I liked is "Okay, America!"
- Cecilia: Oh, yeah! I saw that twice. That was great! When she threatens to kill Lew Ayers.
- Cecilia's Sister: I love Lew Ayers looks! Do you think he's married?
- Cecilia: What do you mean married? Are you crazy? Yes, he's married to Ginger Rogers! God! They got married on a boat off the island of Catalina. They live in Beverly Hills and sometimes holiday in Spain. He used to be married to Lola Lane, but, Ginger's better for him. She's so lovely.
- Tom Baxter: Look, I don't wanna talk any more about what's real and what's illusion. Life's too short to spend time thinking about life. Let's just live it!
- The Countess: You know what they get for rape in a small town? Especially by a man in a pith helmet?
- Tom Baxter: It's so impulsive, but... I'll come. Why not? What's life without a little risk taking? Who knows?
- Monk: All right, go ahead. Just see how far you get. Go on, go on. You won't last. You'll see how it is in the real world. Go on. You'll come back. You're just bluff. You're all phony. You'll be back. It may take a week, it may take an hour, but you'll be back.
- Reporter: If he turns off the projector, you're liable to strand this, this Tom Baxter out in the world someplace. You want an extra guy running around?
- Mr. Hirsch's Lawyer: As your lawyer, I advise you to get control of it fast. A character from one of your productions on the loose? Who knows what he's capable of? Robbery? Murder? I see lawsuits.
- [first lines]
- Theater Manager: Oh Cecilia, be careful! You all right?
- Cecilia: Yeah.
- Theater Manager: You're gonna like this one, it's better than last week's, more romantic.
- Cecilia: I hear there's some jobs opening up over at the ice factory.
- Monk: No, there was nothin'. I was there.
- Cecilia: Yeah?
- Monk: Yeah. I was there. Right.
- Cecilia: Harriet Rufus says all you guys do all day is just pitch pennies and make passes at the girls who walk by.
- Monk: Harriet Rufus is a douche bag.
- Cecilia's Sister: So what were you thinking about?
- Cecilia: Oh, a penthouse. The desert. Kissing on a dance floor.
- Cecilia's Sister: So you did go to the movies last night after all?
- Cecilia: The people were so beautiful. They spoke so cleverly and do such romantic things.
- Tom Baxter: ...Here I am now. I'm on the verge of a madcap - Manhattan - weekend. My God, you must really love this picture.
- Cecilia: Me?
- Tom Baxter: You've been here all day. And I've seen you here twice before.
- Cecilia: You mean me?
- Tom Baxter: Yes, you! You! This is the fifth time you're seeing this.
- Rita: Henry, come here, quickly.
- Tom Baxter: I gotta speak to you.
- [walks from the film, through the screen, into the movie theater]
- Henry: Listen, old sport, you're on the wrong side.
- Rita: Tom, get back here! We're in the middle of a story.
- Tom Baxter: You go on. I want to have a look around. You go on without me.
- Henry: You don't understand what it's like to disappear! To be nothing! To be annihilated! *Don't* - turn the projector off.
- Delilah: What's he doing here? He's not supposed to be here till reel 6. What the hell is going on? Is somebody tryin' to hustle me?
- Cecilia: Shouldn't you be getting back?
- Tom Baxter: I wanna live. I wanna be free to make my own choices.
- Reporter: You should turn the projector off and shut down. This could be the work of Reds or anarchists!
- Movie Goer: I saw the movie just last week. This is not what happens?
- Reporter: Where is the Tom Baxter character?
- Theater Manager: You'll get your money back.
- Movie Goer: I want what happened in the movie last week to happen this week. Otherwise, what's life all about anyway?
- Gil Shepherd: I created the character.
- Gil's Agent: That's my point! As your agent, I would hate to see anything happen to your career now that it's starting to move.
- Gil Shepherd: Like - like what?
- Gil's Agent: Who knows? There's a double of you on the loose. What's he up to? Is he robbing banks? Is he raping broads?
- Gil Shepherd: Is he?
- Gil's Agent: Who knows?
- Gil's Agent: You've got to fly down there and check into it, quick. Right now it's only one movie house, but who knows?
- Gil Shepherd: I'm afraid to fly.
- Gil's Agent: Gil, this is the scandal of all time. You know what happened to Fatty Arbuckle's career?
- Gil Shepherd: I'll fly. I'll fly.
- Tom Baxter: It's beautiful. But I'm not sure exactly what it is.
- Cecilia: Oh, this is a church. You do believe in God, don't you?
- Tom Baxter: Meaning?
- Cecilia: The reason for everything, the world, the universe.
- Tom Baxter: Oh, I think I know what you mean. The two men who wrote "The Purple Rose of Cairo." Irving Sachs and R.H. Levine, they're writers who collaborate on films.
- Cecilia: No. No, I'm talking about something much bigger than that. No, think for a minute. A reason for everything. Otherwise it'd be like a movie with no point - and no happy ending.