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[Kipps has received a letter from Ann]
Pearce: Who's that from? As if we didn't know!
Flo: Does that girl ever run out of ink?
Kipps: No, she never lets me down!
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[Kipps reveals his new-found fortune]
Kipps: [as Shalford] I don't like the way this place is run, so you better wake yourself up, or you'll find yourself out
[shouts]
Kipps: on your ear! 'Ficiency, Shalford! 'Ficiency, System,
[Kipps places a top hat on his head]
Kipps: and that to your blessed economy. And you can stick that on my account!
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[Kipps opens the shop doors, to find Harry standing outside]
Arthur Kipps: Stay away from me. You've got me in enough trouble as it is!
Harry Chitterlow: Time and tide wait for no man, lend me your ears! I've just come from your solicitor.
Arthur Kipps: And?
Harry Chitterlow: And your late grandfather...
Arthur Kipps: I didn't know I had one!
Harry Chitterlow: You had a mother?
Arthur Kipps: Margaret Euphenia!
Harry Chitterlow: Well, she had a father, your grandfather, and on his deathbed, he decided to recognise his illegimate grandson.
Arthur Kipps: Me?
Harry Chitterlow: You!
Arthur Kipps: How much?
Harry Chitterlow: A fortune, my boy!
Arthur Kipps: No!
Harry Chitterlow: ?1250
Arthur Kipps: What?
Harry Chitterlow: A year - and your grandfather's house!
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[Kipps's friends point out that they can't drink champagne in the shop]
Kipps: Oh, Hang the shop!
The others: Hang the shop?
Kipps: Hang the shop, and hang old Shalford!
Mr. Shalford: [appearing behind Kipps] Kipps! That's it! Once more I said and that's it. Well, that is it. You're done for, Kipps. Finished! Sacked!
Kipps: [turning to face Shalford] Watch it, Shalford!
Mr. Shalford: What?
Kipps: I said, you just watch it. You can't sack me. Do you know why? I've just resigned. Right here and now, this minute, resigned. So you act civil, an... and you act respectable, or you'll find that you're the one with the sack!
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Harry Chitterlow: Don't forget old Harry. For ?100, I'll let you have a quarter share of my new play.
Arthur Kipps: A quarter share? I'll take half!
Harry Chitterlow: Spoken like a gent!
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Amazon.com
When orphaned shop clerk Arthur Kipps inherits a fortune, his future seems assured--but money doesn't buy happiness, as the gawky lad learns when he mixes with the swells. The splashy musical Half a Sixpence was adapted from H.G. Wells's novel, Kipps, and it saw considerable success as a stage vehicle for the exuberant Tommy Steele. The film version gets caught in that mid-1960s mode of the lumbering super-production (the kind that helped kill the movie musical). Lavishly mounted by old pro director George Sidney, and boasting some echt-sixties photography by the great Geoffrey Unsworth, Half a Sixpence offers its share of eye candy. The blowhard presence of Cyril Ritchard and the spectacular dancing of Grover Dale help. Then there's Tommy Steele, whose stage-scaled performance is all teeth and hair; he attacks the razzmatazz numbers with ferocity--maybe more ferocity than charm. Songs by David Heneker. --Robert Horton
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