Imagine, being exposed to seven Miss Americas and muffing the whole seven of them!

—Miss Otis, uh... —Yes, Mr. Diddlebock? —Miss Otis, when your eldest sister, Hortense, came to work here some 17 or 18 years ago, I fell in love with her. She was a lovely girl. —Yes, I know... I mean... that you fell in love with her. She told me. —Oh... She swept me off my feet! My circumstances at that time did not permit even the contemplation of marriage. —I know, she told me. —When she very wisely stopped waiting for me and married the gentleman whose life she has since illuminated, I felt that my own life was ended, that I would never love again, that the sunshine had withdrawn permanently behind the clouds. —I know. —I was mistaken. —Of course! —Because when your next eldest sister, Irma, came to work here, I fell even more deeply in love with her than I had with Hortense. —I know, she told me. Hortense even got a little burned about it. —Well, she needn't have, because when Irma, in her turn, got married and was replaced by your next eldest sister, Harriet, I felt that everything that had gone before was merely an appetizer. —I know, she told me, too. —They were getting better and better. Your mother seemed to be making them nicer every year. —Thank you! —I haven't come to you yet. When Harriet ran away with that headstone salesman, I was inconsolable. —None of us felt very good about it. —I was going to propose the very next day! —She didn't know that. —I had the ring in my pocket. I just made the last payment on it, the one I'd started for Hortense. —You came so close! —I never felt so defeated in my life. I never thought I'd smile again. —Then you met Margie. —That's right! She was even better than the others. —Mother had more practice. —Practice makes perfect. By then, of course, I'd been wiped out in the market. —Oh, was that it? She never knew. —That's right! I started to get on my feet again when your sister Claire came to work. —Why didn't you ask her? Didn't you like her? —Like her? I worshipped her! Only that irresponsible lout, that loafer who married my sister, chose that very moment to kick the bucket with... to pass on without leaving even a dime's worth of insurance. Uh... So I found myself with a ready-made family. —Poor Mr. Diddlebock! I suppose you were in love with Rosemary too while she was here. —Naturally! Of course, I was so in the habit of being in love with your mother's daughters by then that it would be impossible for me to even see one without... without... —Without what, Mr. Diddlebock? —I presume you know I've adored you since the first morning you punched your first time card. You knew it, didn't you? —Well, I... I suspected it. My sisters had warned me. —Of course. Imagine, being exposed to seven Miss Americas and muffing the whole seven of them! —Poor Mr. Diddlebock! —I'm leaving here today. —Oh, no, Mr. Diddlebock! —That's what I really wanted to tell you. I don't know where I'm going, and I very probably won't see you again, so... I want you to take this. It's all paid for. Someday, when you meet some young man who's really worthy of you and who has everything but the engagement ring, you can take that excuse away from him anyway and... Well... ------ "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock" (1947) Director: Preston Sturges Writer: Preston Sturges --- Harold Lloyd as Harold Diddlebock Frances Ramsden as Miss Otis