The Lost Weekend (1945)

Jane Wyman: Helen St. James

Photos 

Quotes 

• Helen St. James : We're both trying, Don. You're trying not to drink, and I'm trying not to love you.

• Don Birnam : What kind of party was that you asked me to?

  Helen St. James : A cocktail party.

  Don Birnam : Invitation still stand?

• Don Birnam : Are you in the phone book?

  Helen St. James : Yes, but I'm not home very much.

  Don Birnam : Well, I'll call you at your office.

  Helen St. James : Editorial Research. If Henry Luce answers, hang up.

• Don Birnam : Helen's heard the facts. That's all there is to it.

  Helen St. James : Yes, I've heard them and they're not too pleasant. But, they could be worse. After all, you're not an embezzler or a murderer. You drink too much! And that's not fatal.

• Wick Birnem : If it happens, it happens and I hope it does. I've had six years of this. I've had my bellyfull... Who are we fooling? We've tried everything, haven't we? We've reasoned with him. We've baited him. We've watched him like a hawk. We've tried trusting him. How often have you cried? How often have I beaten him up? Scrape him out of a gutter and pump some kind of self-respect into him and back he falls, back in every time.

  Helen St. James : He's a sick person. It's as though there was something wrong with his heart or his lungs. You wouldn't walk out on him if he had an attack. He needs our help.

  Wick Birnem : He won't accept our help. Not Don, he hates us. He wants to be alone with that bottle of his. It's all he gives a hang about. Why kid ourselves? He's a hopeless alcoholic.

• Don Birnam : What are they playing?

  Helen St. James : Brahms second symphony, something by Beethoven, something by Handel and not one note of Grieg.

• Don Birnam : Well, how do you like New York?

  Helen St. James : Love it.

  Don Birnam : Intend to stay long?

  Helen St. James : Oh, sixty years, perhaps.

• Helen St. James : I live here now. I have a job.

  Don Birnam : Doing what?

  Helen St. James : Time Magazine.

  Don Birnam : Oh, Time Magazine. Perhaps you can do something for me?

  Helen St. James : Yes?

  Don Birnam : Could you help me become Man-of-the-Year?

• Don Birnam : Would you like a taxi?

  Helen St. James : No, thanks. I'm taking the subway.

  Don Birnam : Oh, very sensible.

  Helen St. James : As a matter of fact, I'm going to an extremely crazy party on Washington - Square.

• Helen St. James : There must be a reason why you drink, Don? The right doctor could find it.

  Don Birnam : Look, I'm way ahead of the right doctor. I know the reason. The reason is me - what I am. Or, rather, what I'm not. What I wanted to become and didn't.

  Helen St. James : What is it you want to be so much that you're not?

  Don Birnam : A writer! Silly, isn't it.

• Helen St. James : Give me the pawn ticket.

  Don Birnam : Look, I don't want you to go in there and claim it now. It would look queer.

• Helen St. James : I'd rather have you drunk than dead.

• Don Birnam : It's too late. I wouldn't know how to start!

  Helen St. James : The only way to start is to stop!