How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Singin' in the Rain.
Quote #1
DON: You got anymore little chores you want done in this picture?
Here, Don's talking to Dexter after taking the punch that jumpstarts his career as a stuntman. It shows that, before he was a star, Don was all about adapting and rolling with the punches (sometimes literally) in order to get where he wanted to go professionally.
Quote #2
MAN IN TALKING PICTURES DEMONSTRATION: Hello! This is a demonstration of a talking picture. Notice, it is a picture of me and I am talking. Note how my lips and the sound issuing from them are synchronized together in perfect unison.
If it sounds like the man in the talkie demo is speaking to the audience like they're a bunch of five-year-olds, it's because he is. The technology was super-new. That explains his demo approach as well as the audience's confusion and disbelief that, to modern audiences, seems silly.
Quote #3
ROD: R.F., do you think they'll ever really use it?
R.F.: I doubt it. The Warner brothers are making a whole talking picture with this gadget, The Jazz Singer. They'll lose their shirts. What do you think of it, Dexter?
DEXTER: It'll never amount to a thing.
COSMO: That's what they said about the horseless carriage.
It's pretty interesting that R.F. and Dexter, two of the most powerful men at the studio, are suspicious of change here. Meanwhile, piano-playing Cosmo is looking to the future.