Radio Days (1987) - Quotes

Naming Dilemmas in a Family Conversation

Mother: If it's a girl, I thought we could name it Lola.

Father: Lola? What do you want her to be, a stripper?

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A Humorous Take on Conflict Resolution

Father: What do they want, those Nazis? To slaughter everyone on the planet?

Mother: [[W.C. Fields] The Nazis, the Communists. The world would be better off without any of them, believe me. Come here. You know what ] said, don't you? He said, to settle a war the leaders of the countries involved should meet in a stadium and fight it out with socks filled with horse manure.

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The Risks of Free Love in the Neighborhood

Mother: Better be careful. The daughter believes in free love.

Father: Why do you say that?

Mother: You heard what happened to Mrs. Silverman? She couldn't sleep. She was up one night taking a cup of tea and she heard a car pull up 3:00 in the morning. So, you know Mrs. Silverman. She always likes to know what's going on. So, she's peeking out her front door and there's the girl across the street coming back from a folk-singing thing with a tall colored man. You're not gonna believe this, Ceil. She gives the guy a big, long kiss. Well, you can imagine how Rose Silverman reacted. She had a stroke on the spot.

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Balancing Education and Distractions in Youth

Mother: Pay more attention to your schoolwork and less to the radio!

Joe: You always listen to the radio.

Mother: It's different. Our lives are ruined already. You still have a chance to grow up and be somebody.

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Vacation Dilemma: Cruise or Mountains?

Bea: Tess, I can't decide if I should take my vacation on a cruise or go to the mountains. I mean, the men are richer on a cruise, but there's more of them in the resorts. What do you think, Tess?

Mother: Well, I met my husband at a mountain resort. So, I'd advise you to go on a cruise.

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Family Tensions and Unfulfilled Aspirations

Narrator: [about a therapist's radio show] I found the show silly and always imagined my parents on it airing their standard complaints.

Mother: He's a business failure. He never finishes what he starts. We're forced to live with my relatives and thank God for them. And I should have married Sam Slotkin.

Father: Sam Slotkin's dead.

Mother: Yes, but while he was alive, he was working.

Father: She'd be lost without her whole family around her all the time, and you should see em. They're like some kind of tribe. They're like the Huns. Maybe if I had married a more encouraging woman, who knows?

Mother: So who do you think is right?

Mr. Abercrombie: I think you both deserve each other.

Mother: What does that mean?

Father: Look, we didn't come here to be insulted.

Mother: I love him, but what did I do to deserve him?

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Abe's Perspective on New Year's Eve

Abe: Only creeps and crazy people go out on new year's eve.

Ceil: Then you should definitely go out, Abe.

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Frustration with Relationship Expectations

Ceil: Oh, Abe, how come you never take me to the Copacabana or El Morocco?

Abe: Take the gas pipe.

Ceil: [[w:Rita Hayworth|Rita Hayworth] I suppose you would have been happier married to ].

Abe: You gotta ask?

Ceil: Believe me, Abe, those show business celebrities get divorced every six weeks, but we're together forever.

Abe: I may take the gas pipe.

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Lost Teeth and Unexpected Hockey Games

Ceil: Abe, have you seen mama's teeth. She left them in a glass of water yesterday, and she can't find them.

Abe: Kids were playing hockey with them.

Ceil: They were playing hockey with mama's teeth?

Abe: Yeah, the're about the same size as a puck.

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Standards and Expectations in Relationships

Mother: I think you have these qualities that you demand and when you meet a nice man you disqualify him for the smallest fault.

Bea: That's not true.

Mother: So, what was wrong with Nat Bernstein?

Bea: He wore white socks with a tuxedo!

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Reflections on Time and Life's Meaning

Roger: I hope 1944 turns out well. They pass so quickly. Where do they all go?

Biff Baxter: So quickly. Then we get old. And we never knew what any of it was about.

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The Dangers of Excessive Radio Listening

Mother: I don't know what to do, Rabbi. Every night, he listens to the radio. I can't keep him away. I say, "Go to the beach. Play in the sun. Get some fresh air." No. "The Lone Ranger," "The Shadow," "The Masked Avenger.

Rabbi Baumel: This is not good. This boy needs discipline. Radio, it's all right once in a while. Otherwise, it tends to induce bad values false dreams, lazy habits. Listening to the radio these stories of foolishness and violence this is no way for a boy to grow up!

Joe: You speak the truth, my faithful Indian companion.

Rabbi Baumel: [hits him in a head] To a rabbi you say "my faithful Indian companion"?

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Endless Arguments Over Oceans and More

Narrator: Then there were my father and mother, two people who could find an argument in any subject.

Father: Wait, you think the Atlantic is a greater ocean than the Pacific?

Mother: No. Have it your way. The Pacific is greater.

Narrator: I mean, how many people argue over oceans?

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The Passage of Time and Its Impact

Masked Avenger: I wonder if future generations will ever even hear about us. It's not likely. After enough time, everything passes. I don't care how big we are or how important are our lives.

Rocco: This is a coincidence. I meet nobody from the old neighborhood in years. I finally do, and I gotta kill her.

Father's Frustration with His Child's Distractions

Father: Why can't you be like that, huh? Why can't you be a genius? I'll tell you why. Because you're too busy listening to the radio all the time. That's why!

A Father's Unfiltered Affection

Father: [to Mother] You're lucky I love you, you old douchebag.

Class Distinctions in Nightlife Entertainment

Mother: There are those who drink champagne at nightclubs and us who listen to them drink champagne on the radio.

Beauty and Frustration in the World

Mother: [as she watches anti-aircraft searchlights with husband during a World War II black-out] It's so beautiful. Boy, what a world... it could be so wonderful, if it wasn't for certain people.

Nostalgia for Voices of New Year's Eves

Narrator: [last lines] I never forgot that New Year's Eve when Aunt Bea awakened me to watch 1944 come in. I've never forgotten any of those people or any of the voices we would hear on the radio. Though the truth is, with the passing of each New Year's Eve, those voices do seem to grow dimmer and dimmer.

Struggles of a Broadway Aspiring Broadcaster

Narrator: Sally hung around the Broadway area and tried to break into broadcasting but the only roles she ever seemed to wind up with were in the bedroom.

Aunt Bea's Night of Joy and Hope

Narrator: What Aunt Bea did with the rest of the money was treat us all to a Broadway dance palace. She and Sy seemed very much in love, and she seemed happy. But it was not to be, because after a week Sy did not leave his wife and children, nor did he after two weeks nor ever. And as the year came to a close, Aunt Bea would soon be back to her old dreams of finding a true love. Still, on this night, no one had any thoughts except what a wonderful time we were all having.

Aunt Bea's Unexpected Decision After Panic

Narrator: Despite his bravado, Mr Manulis panicked and bolted out of the car. He was so frightened by the reports of interplanetary invasion that he ran off, leaving Aunt Bea to contend with the green monsters he expected to drop from the sky at any moment. She walked home. Six miles. When Mr Manulis called for a date the next week, she told my mother to say she couldn't see him. She had married a Martian.

The Unconventional Joy of Unexpected Memories

Narrator: For some miraculous reason, it's a wonderful feeling having a teacher you've seen dance naked in front of a mirror.

Nostalgia for Old Radio Stories and Memories

Narrator: I love old radio stories. And I know a million of em. I've collected em down through the years, like a hobby. Anecdotes and gossip and inside stories about the stars. Plus, I recall so many personal experiences from when I grew up and listened to one show after another. This girl singing used to be a favorite at my house - one of many. Now, it's all gone, except for the memories.

A Memorable Experience at Radio City Music Hall

Narrator: My most vivid memory connected with an old radio song I associate with the time that Aunt Bea and her then-boyfriend Chester took me into New York to the movies. It was the first time I'd ever seen the Radio City Music Hall and it was like entering heaven. I just never saw anything so beautiful in my life.