Lorrell Robinson:
[
as Early is kissing her] That feels nice... I mean it feels funny! You're married, aren't you?
James 'Thunder' Early:
Everybody knows Jimmy's married, baby.
Lorrell Robinson:
Well, then, you get your married hands off!
Effie Melody White:
So... Deena's going to sing the lead 'cause you like the way she looks? Am I ugly to you, Curtis?
Curtis Taylor Jr.:
Baby, come on! You know how I feel about you, come on. Don't make it personal.
Effie Melody White:
Well, what am I supposed to do? Deena's beautiful, and she's always been beautiful... but I've got the voice, Curtis! I've got the voice! You can't put me in back; you just can't!
Lorrell Robinson:
You got the same wig I got?
Effie Melody White:
Yeah.
Lorrell Robinson:
You got same the same dress I got?
Effie Melody White:
Yeah.
Lorrell Robinson:
[
Drags it out] Then shut up!
Curtis Taylor Jr.:
Deena, you know why I chose you to sing lead? Because your voice... has no personality. No depth. Except for what I put in there.
James 'Thunder' Early:
[
singing] Jimmy want a rib! Jimmy want a steak! Jimmy want piece of yo chocolate cake!
Effie Melody White:
Tell me something, Curtis. Do you think it's right to promote an amateur performer over a professional?
Curtis Taylor Jr.:
I'm not sure what this is about...
Effie Melody White:
It's about fairness, Curtis. It's about people paying their dues. Isn't that what you keep telling me? "Get in line, Effie. Wait your turn". So why am I sitting here without so much as a B-side on a 45, when an amateur like Martin Luther King Jr. gets his own freaking album? I mean, can he even sing?
C.C. White:
Isn't music supposed to express what people are feeling?
Curtis Taylor Jr.:
Music is supposed to sell.
Effie Melody White:
That's right Curtis. You stopped me once, but you'll never stop me again.
[
sings]
Effie Melody White:
'Cause this time, Effie White's gonna win!
James 'Thunder' Early:
Hey, where you going? You can't leave me, girl! I love you!
Lorrell Robinson:
[
sings] And Lorrell loves Jimmy, / Lorrell loves Jimmy, / Lorrell loves Jimmy, it's true. / But Lorrell and Jimmy are through.
[
speaks]
Lorrell Robinson:
"I got a show to do", remember, baby?
[
sings]
Lorrell Robinson:
Oh, baby, I got a show to do!
Effie Melody White:
[
sings] And I am telling you/ I'm not going./ You're the best man I'll ever know./ There's no way I can ever go./ No, no, no, no way... / No, no, no, no way I'm living without you./ I'm not living without you./ I don't want to be free./ I'm staying, I'm staying,/ And you, and you,/ you're gonna love me.
Deena Jones:
[
during "The Deena Jones Story" promo film] ... I'm somebody, and nobody's gonna hold me down... I'm somebody!
Deena Jones:
[
at the end of her TV "documentary" she sings] ... I'm somebody, and nobody's gonna hold me down... I'm somebody!
James 'Thunder' Early:
[
singing] Jimmy got, Jimmy got, Jimmy got SOUL!
M.C.:
And now the courageous, the curvaceous... Creamettes!
Deena Jones:
It's the DREAMettes! The Dreamettes!
Deena Jones:
Maybe you just don't see me for who I am.
C.C. White:
[
knocking on the dressing room door] You ladies decent?
Deena Jones:
I am. I can't speak for these two.
Lorrell Robinson:
It doesn't take a whiz to know that only a desperate man would drop his pants in living color on national television!
Curtis Taylor Jr.:
Who was the first artist to sing "Hound Dog"?
C.C. White:
Elvis Presley.
Curtis Taylor Jr.:
Big Mama Thorton. She had the number-one single on the R&B charts, but the white stations wouldn't play it, because to them it was just another race record.
Case Worker:
Have you considered asking the girl's father for help?
Effie Melody White:
Magic don't have a father.
May:
I'm amazed, Mr. Taylor. As much as I love my daughter, I never thought she had much of a voice.
Curtis Taylor Jr.:
Oh, Deena has something better. She has a...quality.
May:
You make her sound like a product.
Curtis Taylor Jr.:
A product. I like that!
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