Wife vs. Secretary

Wife vs. Secretary is a 1936 film about a wife whose suspicions about the relationship between her husband and his secretary cause strain in their marriage.

Directed by Clarence Brown. Written by Norman Krasna, Alice Duer Miller and John Lee Mahin, based on the story by Faith Bladwin.

Helen 'Whitey' Wilson

• [about Jake's caricature] Why a man would keep such a horrible picture of himself is beyond me.

Dialogue

Whitey: I want to talk to you.

Linda: We're leaving in a few minutes.

Whitey: It'll only take a minute.

Linda: I'm not at all interested.

Whitey: You're going to hear me though.

Linda: My husband loves me. He's innocent. You want me to go back to him. What else?

Whitey: But I don't want you to go back to him. I hope he never sees you again.

Linda: You're frank about it anyway. You'd really better go.

Whitey: If you leave him now, you'll never get him back.

Linda: Yes, that's occurred to me.

Whitey: He's going to be lonely. His life won't end with you, you know. And when the rebound sets in, he's going to turn to the woman nearest. And you know who it'll be.

Linda: I'm sure I do.

Whitey: Tomorrow he's taking me to Bermuda, as a friend. But it won't go on like this. Pretty soon he'll want to buy me things. That's how it always starts. And then it'll be too late, because if he ever turns to me, I won't turn away.

Linda: You've only a minute.

Whitey: I'll take him second best. But he'll be fairly happy. Not as happy as he was, not as happy as you could make him, but as happy as anybody else could make him. You're still going?

Linda: Yes.

Whitey: You're a fool - for which I'm grateful.

Cast

• Clark Gable - Van Stanhope
• Jean Harlow - Helen 'Whitey' Wilson
• Myrna Loy - Linda Stanhope
• May Robson - Mimi Stanhope
• James Stewart - Dave