Dinner at Eight

Darling, I've got Lord and Lady Ferncliffe.

They'll come to dinner next Friday.

I just had a radio from them on the boat.

Wasn't that brilliant of me, getting the Ferncliffes?

Yes, that was very brilliant of you,

if you want the Ferncliffes.

But I do.

You remember them, darling.

They entertained us in London.

I remember them well,

and very dull it was, too.

Australian mutton

and a lot of people who'd been buried for years

and got up just to eat that mutton.

You don't realize how important it is, Oliver.

Everybody will be after them.

I thought you and Ferncliffe had lots in common.

Isn't he interested in shipping, too?

Mr. Oliver Jordan accepts.

Of course, it's terribly short notice.

Oh, thank you, Gustave.

Let's see. Lord and Lady Ferncliffe

the Talbots, the Doctor and Lucy.

Oh, I saw that your precious Carlotta Vance

arrived on the Europa yesterday.

Carlotta? Oh, fine, let's have her.

Of course, she goes with quite a different crowd

than the Ferncliffes over there.

All those impossible fast people.

At her age, too.

Oh, nonsense. Carlotta has no age.

Oliver, just because she was once your favorite actress...

Dad, I thought you'd gone.

Well, if it isn't her ladyship.

Oh, don't look at me, I'm a sight.

Didn't sleep a wink.

I thought I heard you moving around in your room.

Couldn't you sleep, either?

Nerves?

Oh, I don't know. I suppose so.

Say, pips, there isn't anything really wrong, is there?

Now, how can the shipping business go on

if the owner's tie isn't straight?

Paula, I'll want you and Ernest for dinner next Friday.

When does his boat land?

- I don't know, mother. - You don't know?

Aren't you being awfully vague about your fiancé?

I certainly hope Ernest is more excited

about this wedding than you seem to be.

And don't forget, we're going shopping this afternoon.

I can't this afternoon, mother. I'm sorry.

But you've got to. You've simply got to.

Do you realize you're being married in a month

and you haven't got a stitch of trousseau?

Why can't you go shopping with me this afternoon?

I've an engagement.

What engagement?

I'm going to a concert.

A concert? Oh, that reminds me.

When Cousin Hattie comes in this morning,

I want to give her our Philharmonic seats for Thursday.

Whom are you going to the concert with?

Hello. Dr. Talbot's residence?

Mrs. Talbot, please.

Mrs. Oliver Jordan calling.

Paula, what concert...

Lucy? How are you, my dear? Listen, Lucy.

Lord and Lady Ferncliffe arrive from London tomorrow

and I want you and Wayne a week from tonight.

Yes, dinner at 8:00.

Mr. Jordan's late.

He probably stopped at the dock.

Where'd you put those invoices?

- What invoices? - For the Castilian.

What's the hurry? She's not sailing till tomorrow.

Oh, good morning, Mr. Jordan.

Good morning.

It's cold outside.

Why, I thought it was real pleasant.

Not down on the dock.

Fosdick: Cold down there, alright.

Yes. Oh, just a minute.

The Castilian isn't going to sail tomorrow.

- What? - Not sailing?

No use sending a boat out without enough cargo in it

to keep her down in the water.

My, my.

No Jordan boat has missed a trip in 60 years.

I know that.

Will the Santa Clara sail next week?

Oh, cheer up, Fosdick. Cheer up.

It's just as good a line as it ever was.

The best in the world.

Right you are.

Some other people think so, too.

I wish I knew who it was that's trying to buy up our stock.

You're not going to lose control of the line, Mr. Jordan.

Mr. Jordan, your father, your grandfather--

No, no, no. Of course not.

And we're going to put up a fight

they wouldn't be ashamed of, either.

And the first step in that.

Did you get a hold of Mr. Packard?

He's coming in this morning.

Good.

Mr. Jordan...

Miss Carlotta Vance is here to see you.

Carlotta? Here? Outside?

Oliver! Ducky!

Oh, I was never so glad to see anyone in all my life.

Carlotta!

This is a surprise.

Why, you look marvelous.

Do I?

I do, don't I?

Divine.

Oh, Oliver, actually

you're looking handsomer than ever.

- Ahh! - Oh!

Oliver Oliver--

A little gray.

Gray? Nonsense!

Distinguished.

- Come on over and sit down. - Oh, Oliver...

Let me look at you.

Now, what are you doing over here?

Trying to mend my shattered fortune.

Well, you picked a nice day for it.

In the right part of town, too.

There are our financiers

sitting on those benches out there.

Now, come along, Carlotta.

Who did you come down to the Battery to see? Huh?

Not me.

No, sir. I'll not deceive you.

I came down here to see the United States Customs inspector.

Isador J. Greenbaum, the son of a...

Say, why shouldn't I own six fur coats?

Why not, indeed? It's perfectly reasonable.

And when I was standing in the Customs office,

what did I sight?

"Jordan Line."

Says I to myself, says I,

"Maybe the old gentleman is in."

And here you are.

Well, I'm very grateful to Mr. Greenbaum.

Oliver, I'm as flat as a millpond.

I haven't got a sou.

Oliver: Oh, Carlotta, go along with you.

What about all those gilt-edged securities and your theater?

Why, that alone ought to bring you enough to live on.

Hmph, my chief reason for coming to this country

is to get rid of that rat trap.

What's the matter with it?

Why, for six months, they haven't taken

the lock off the door.

It's now known as the "Spiders' rendezvous."

Can't collect rent from them.

You know, when old Stanfield gave me that theater

I thought it was very magnificent of the old boy.

Now I wish I'd taken a sandwich.

Oh, Lotta, you always exaggerated.

I bet you're rolling in wealth.

Well, what have I got?

Railroads, oil, cotton.

That's what they gave you in my day.

I only could take what they had.

And you know what's happened to those things.

You are down to cases.

"International star returns to stage."

Never.

I'll have my double chins

in privacy.

I've seen too many hardened arteries

dragged out to make a first-night holiday.

Oh, no.

Oh, now, Carlotta,

your stock must bring you in a little something.

It can't cost you an awful lot to live over there.

Oh, no?

Well, you saw how it was like at Antibes.

You and Millicent...

10 and 20 for luncheon, cocktails.

Most of them staying on for dinner.

Very same thing at my house in London.

Everybody popping in.

Noel, Winston,

and once in a while, Wales.

I didn't do so badly for a little girl

from Quincy, Illinois, eh, Ducky?

But it all takes money.

But why don't you get rid of all that,

live over here for a while?

Oliver, I've been in New York four days,

the first time I've been back in 10 years.

and I'm lost already.

No, everything's changed.

I couldn't stand it here.

I'd die.

I belong to the Delmonico period.